Occult Research into Life Between Death and a New Birth
GA 140
17 February 1913, Stuttgart
I. The Cosmic Aspect of Life between Death and New Birth, The Way through the Planetary Spheres
During the second half of last year, it became my duty to carry on some occult research into life between death and a new birth. We have, it is true, already described what has to be considered there, but a complete knowledge of this part of human life, a real penetration therein, is only possible if one carries on research into it from the most diverse points of view. Though everything found in the writings and cycles about this theme is correct, still to all this may be added that which must be said tonight and perhaps also the day after tomorrow about the subject.
When the human being has stepped through the portals of death—that is, when he has laid aside his physical and his ether body—the soul during the first interval of time is particularly taken up with memories of the span of life it spent on earth. We know, of course, that the soul requires a certain amount of time to free itself from all that connects it with the last earthly life. Now, let us present this process of growing out of the preceding life on earth as it relates to the whole of the universe, to the world.
When the human being leaves his physical body and his ether body, and thus lives only in his astral body, which we may also call the soul body, a complete spatial expansion takes place, one might say: a dilatation of his being into the far reaches of space; this takes place not merely after death, but also in sleep. Every night we really expand over the stellar spaces. After death, we expand slowly and gradually in such a way that we must seek the substance of our soul—for we cannot now say: the substance of our body—in the circumference of the earth, at first far beyond the atmosphere. Farther and farther it expands, until we (though it may sound paradoxical, it comes to that) have expanded the life of our soul over the whole expanse of the sphere which in the end corresponds to the moon's orbit around the earth. We grow so large that the boundary of our being is the orbit of the moon. As long as we thus grow larger, that which we may call the Kamaloka-time prevails. That is the time of inner connection with the preceding life on earth.
Then, however, the expansion goes on. The human being expands in fact out into the world of the stars, and then the time begins when he expands so far that the outer boundary of his being; may be designated as the orbit which, in astronomical terms, is described by Venus, in occult terms by Mercury. Now, the condition of life for man, after he has left the sphere of the moon, depends on the kind of life he led here between birth and death. When he carries his life into the universe to the sphere of Mercury, then he may live there in Such a way that he can easily find contact with people with whom he lived on earth, with whom his soul was united on earth; or, on the other hand, it may be man's fate to have difficulties in finding such contacts—that is to: say, to be condemned to loneliness in expanding his life thus into the sphere of Mercury. And it depends on the way in which he has led his life on earth whether he feels that he is destined to loneliness, or, if one may use the term, to sociability. A person who in life has not cared to awaken in his soul moral feelings a moral way of thinking, a moral mood, benevolence, sympathy—a person who has developed this only to a small extent—feels doomed to loneliness after death when he expands to the sphere of Mercury. And it is difficult for him to find other souls with whom he is united. A person who has developed much sympathy, a moral way of thinking, will live companionably with other souls as he expands to the sphere of Mercury. Thus it is given into our hands to arrange our life between death and a new birth. The sphere of Mercury—in occult terms—is therefore the sphere in which our moral qualities are expressed. It also is the sphere in which what we have developed in the way of moral qualities becomes effective in still another manner.
Another aspect to be considered is the fact that precisely during this passage through the sphere of Mercury (in occult parlance) we have the after-effect of having been in the life between birth and death a conscientious human being, or one lacking conscientiousness. You see, everything that happens in the world here in physical life receives its direction or its causation from the spiritual world. We have several times considered the natural death from old age, which has to occur for man because it is what really must happen to him in order that life may take its right course from incarnation to incarnation. But as we know, there is not merely this death from old age, well founded in evolution; there is also a death which befalls the human being in the flower of youth, even in childhood. There are in the world manifold illnesses, epidemics, and so forth playing a part in human life. And they are not merely the effect of physical causes, but they are ordained, directed from the spiritual world. And this actually comes from the region of Venus, that belt around the earth which, however, in occult parlance we call the sphere of Mercury. That is, if we take the radius from earth to Venus and draw a circle—quite without considering astronomical relations—that, then, is the sphere of Mercury (we mean a circle, not around the sun, but, around the earth); and in this belt, in the space occupied by this plane, there lie the forces by which illnesses and death are directed on earth: death in so far as it does not occur as natural death from old age, but in an irregular manner. Certain spiritual beings are operative there, those beings whom occultism designates as the spirits of illness and death. An individual who (in occult parlance) enters the realm of Mercury after having spent his life on earth as a person without a conscience, condemns himself to become a servant of these—as we may well call them—evil spirits of illness and death, while he is going through this realm. Indeed, we do not have a conception, an impression, of what is meant by a “lack of conscience” until we know this fact. Lack of conscience sentences a human being to bear the yoke of these evil spirits in the realm of Mercury for a time between death and a new birth. And when those forces are developed which are sent from the surrounding realm to the earth so that epidemics, illnesses, take place, so that death at the wrong time takes place, then these souls “without conscience” must cooperate as servants of the spirits of illness and death who send these forces into our physical world.
Something else happens when a trait which is very widespread on earth has its after-effect all the way up to this sphere: laziness. Our life is really conditioned by laziness. Innumerable things would be done differently by men if they were not lazy. Also by laziness, the human being sentences himself to become for a time in the sphere which has just been discussed the servant of those powers which are subordinate to Ahriman, and which we may designate as the powers of hindrance—that is to say, of those spirits who hinder work on earth. Servants of the spirits of hindrance we become for a definite period of time, more or less prolonged, through everything we have poured into our soul by laziness. In this way, we get a conception as to how those forces which we have developed in our soul during our physical life have their effect in that life between death and a new birth.
The next sphere to which the soul expands is designated in occultism as the sphere of Venus. [astronomically: sphere of Mercury.] We prepare ourselves for it by religious qualities, a religious attitude. A human being who has developed in the time between birth and death an attitude which causes his soul to look toward the spiritual primordial powers and primordial forces of the world—such a person is able to be a social being in the sphere of Venus, so that he lives together with other human beings with whom his soul has established relationship on earth. But also other spirits of the Higher Hierarchies enter from then on into the human sphere, and man lives there with spirits of the Higher Hierarchies if he has developed a religious attitude, religious sentiments, religious feelings. On the other hand, if here on earth he has not brought his soul into contact with religious impulses, he sentences himself to loneliness, to seclusion, to tormenting loneliness. If he has been an atheist here on earth, then he will be a completely isolated individual after reaching the sphere with which we are concerned here. And it must be said that those people who today foster an irreligious attitude condemn themselves to complete loneliness. Those, for instance, who unite in the Monist Society, inhibit their inner freedom of movement, and because they have found themselves united here under that “flag,” they sentence themselves to sit each in his own cage, each separate from the other.
The next sphere into which we enter is the sphere of the Sun. Again circumstances are different from those known to physical astronomy. We obtain this sphere if we draw a line between the earth and the sun—that is, if we use this line as the radius and draw a circle around the earth. In the spiritual world, conditions do differ from those in the physical world. We expand to the extent of this sphere after having gone through the sphere of Venus. For this sphere, the preparation valid for the sphere of Venus no longer holds good. For the Venus sphere, we may be prepared in such a way that we find contact with all those souls with whom we have established religious fellowship in the life between birth and death. In the sphere of Venus, human beings are so to speak confined in regions like the regions in which on earth peoples, races, live together. Thus there are in the Venus-sphere regions in which those persons find each other who are related through their religious feelings. This is not sufficient for the sphere of the Sun. In the sphere of the Sun the feeling of loneliness prevails if the human being was prepared on earth only for a certain kind of religious feeling in his soul. In the sphere of the Sun, a person is a social being only when he has developed, in the best sense of the word, an understanding of every religious feeling; when, so to speak, he has developed a deeper tolerance for all religious Systems on earth. Up to our time, since the Mystery of Golgotha, the exoteric Christian faith has been more or less sufficient, for this Christian faith contains in a certain way, though in quite a different way, an understanding of other systems of religion which far transcends that involved in a limited religious system. We can easily convince ourselves of this. Many other religious systems are still confined to certain regions of the earth, and if we wish to see, we can very easily note how the adherent of Hinduism, of Buddhism; and of other faiths; will indeed speak of the equal validity of all religions and of a wisdom common to all religions ... but if we consider more deeply what he means, we find that he means his own religion exclusively. In the last analysis, he demands of other people that they should acknowledge his own religion. That is what he then calls the equal validity of all religions. Read theosophical periodicals originating in India. There, the East Indian religion is considered the one religion, valid for the world, and those who do not accept this are said not to be honest theosophists. Primitive Christianity from the beginning has not been attuned to this idea, especially where it has become occidental religion. If things were in the Occident as, they are in India, we would have today a religion of Wotan; that would be then, what Hinduism is for the orient. The Occident, however, has not taken up the religion, which has evolved from it, but from the beginning the religion of a founder who has lived outside of the Occident, of the Christ Jesus. Unegotistically, the Occident has received a religion into its very being. That is a difference in principle, and in the very essence of Christianity there lies a true tolerance for every religious system, even though this essence may have been little understood by occidental Christians.
In fact, for the Christian, everyone is a Christian, no matter what he may call himself. And it is nothing but narrow-mindedness, if one wants to spread Christian dogma everywhere. Broad-mindedness is something quite different. If one considers the Hindu, the Chinese, the Buddhist, if one enters into the deeper elements of their being, one will find everywhere the beginnings of Christianity and will stress in everything they themselves think the beginnings of Christianity, without having to mention the name of the Christ. But this more narrow Christianity, as it is given today to man between birth and death, is only one preparation for the sphere of the Sun: another thing is necessary—that which we designate in the right, the true sense, as Theosophy. [Rudolf Steiner was talking to members of the Theosophical Society.—Ed.] It gives us an inner comprehension of all religious systems on earth, of their very essence. If we acquire this understanding here on earth, then we prepare ourselves in the right way for the sphere of the Sun. This understanding of the different religions and of the Mystery of Golgotha, of the Christ impulse, is necessary for us if we are not to become hermits in relation to other human souls and in relation to the spirits of the Higher Hierarchies in the sphere of the Sun, between death and a new birth.
When we come into the sphere of the Sun between death and a new birth, we find there two things. The first thing we find is something we can express only in an image: we find an empty throne, an empty World-Throne. And that which we may seek on this empty World Throne we can find only in the pictures of the Akashic Record. On this throne, which we find empty during the time we pass between death and a new birth, the Christ once sat within the Sun sphere. He expanded into the earth sphere through the Mystery of Golgotha, and since that time the inhabitants of the earth must gain here on earth an understanding of the Christ impulse, and must keep this impulse in their memory. Then they will be able to recognize the image which appears in the Akashic Record while gaining a living experience of the Sun sphere. He who has not attained this understanding here on earth will not recognize who at one time was sitting on the throne, and what is preserved as an image only. And he cannot find his way within the Sun-sphere between death and a new birth. There we see why it is the mission of the souls of men on earth to seek here for themselves the connection with the Mystery of Golgotha as we seek it in our spiritual movement. Through this, we keep between death and a new birth the memory of the Christ Impulse, and do not become hermits in the sphere of the Sun, but social beings, by reason of the forces which we have taken with us; so that in a way, by our own strength which we brought with us, we bring to life the image—which is now merely an image in the Sun-sphere—of the Christ. And we must take so much strength with us from the time on earth that this strength remains with us also for the subsequent time, and cannot be lost.
We find a second thing in this sphere of the Sun, a second throne: and it is now occupied by a real being, by Lucifer. And so, between death and a new birth, when we have reached the sphere of the Sun as it has been described, we feel ourselves on the one hand in the presence of Christ, on the other in the presence of Lucifer. If we had not received the Christ impulse, Lucifer alone would have to become our leader. But if we have received the Christ impulse, then we are, on the far voyage through the universe, under the leadership on the one hand of the Christ impulse, on the other of Lucifer; for we also need him for the ensuing times. We also need Lucifer, for he leads us in the right way through the lower spheres of the universe, at first as far as the Mars-sphere.
That is the next sphere to which we expand between death and new birth. In order that Lucifer may lead us in such a way as is fitting for us men, we must have the Christ impulse as a counterbalance; then the Lucifer impulse is salutory for us; otherwise it is evil for us. Another thing has become necessary: in the sphere of Mars, we must have the possibility of taking into account, with our whole being, certain changes which have occurred on Mars in the course of recent centuries. These changes may be described in about the following way. Every heavenly body is related to every other heavenly body through the agency of certain forces; all heavenly bodies stand in a certain relation to the earth. From them the forces radiate. In fact, from Mars and its sphere not only does the light effect radiate, which comes to the earth, but from it also spiritual forces radiate. If we go back to earlier centuries, we find that the forces radiated from Mars which inspired men to that which human beings needed in earlier times: physical forces, to further the evolution of mankind. It is not merely a myth but an occult truth that what has developed as warlike force and warlike complication in the world, what has made man energetic, courageous through centuries and millennia, stems from an influx of the forces of Mars. But such is the life of a planet that its forces go through an ascending and a descending development. And Mars has changed in a certain way its mission during the last centuries. The warlike forces that are developed now are the ebbing warlike life of the previous centuries; new life from inciting forces of Mars does not flow in any longer. For at the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Mars had reached a decisive point, a point which, in the life of Mars, may only be compared to the time when the earth had come to a decisive point, the time of the Mystery of Golgotha. It is a fact of immense importance upon which we touch here. Mars went through a decisive period. That fact was known within the earth-mysteries, in which the decision is made for the great spiritual concerns of earth-existence. That is to say, since the twelfth century, the decisive preparations have been made within the mystery development of the earth in order to take into account the change in the Mars-sphere. The forces which Mars was to send out to bring courage and energy to earth, were past for Mars: they were no longer destined to penetrate to the earth. But by the fact that Mars has gone through such a crisis, there came a change for the souls who live between death and a new birth, in the experiences they would have to go through in the Mars-sphere after death. That is to say: When man goes beyond the sphere of the Sun, forces radiate into the essence of his soul, forces which already have a significance for the next incarnation. The soul who passed through the sphere of Mars in the early times, before the seventeenth century, came into contact with those forces which permeated it with courage and energy. Lucifer was the leader to the sources of courage and energy. But the souls who came in later times could no longer find the characteristic forces: Mars was then going through its crisis. Where, within the Mysteries, the great spiritual decisions are made, there one does not take into consideration merely human life between birth and death, but also its salvation or perdition between death and a new birth; that is, in the Mysteries one sees to it that those things are infused into the spiritual culture of mankind which cause the souls after death to go through the different spheres in the right way.
If we wish to comprehend the meaning of the happenings in the Mars-sphere, we must consider the following. A great decisive matter confronts the Rosicrucian Mysteries because one had to consider that for the development of the earth, very special times were ahead: the times of external material culture, of external material triumphs. We cannot oppose these: though they bring nothing spiritual, we must of necessity experience this time of machines, airplanes, and other inventions. But these times bring a kind of death of the soul. We cannot oppose them, we must gain a living experience of them.—The materialistic era had to come, but it always was the endeavour of higher spiritual beings to create a counter-balance against this materialistic era. When we consider all that has come to light in the development of the earth as a counter-balance against materialism, we have as the last and most significant phenomenon Francis of Assisi; that Francis of Assisi who, in his entity as Francis of Assisi, turned away from all external life, who led in Assisi that life which is known to you and which has been painted so wonderfully by Giotto on the walls of the church of Assisi ... so that even today when these pictures have been painted over so often, life yet radiates movingly from the walls. And even though that place also has gone through a development tending toward materialism, we will have to say: the region around the town of Assisi still is pervaded by the spiritual atmosphere of Francis, that atmosphere which has assimilated the elements of a life alien to the world, but on intimate terms with the soul, not merely with the human soul, but with the soul of Nature. In the cycle Man in the Light of Occultism, Theosophy and Philosophy you may read that wonderful poem into which Francis of Assisi poured what he felt toward the soul of Nature and of Nature's beings. One may say that no poet has found more beautiful accents, and perhaps only Goethe has found again accents as beautiful about the life of Nature. What is the cause of all this? The cause of all this is the fact that Francis of Assisi in his previous incarnation, in the seventh, eighth century, in a Mystery School near the Black Sea, was the pupil of an individuality who was no longer incarnated in a physical body.
This is a noteworthy matter. Francis of Assisi, in his immediately preceding incarnation, had lived in this School of Mysteries, and with other disciples he was a disciple of a being who then worked only in the spiritual body among the pupils including Francis of Assisi. And this was none other than the Buddha, who we know was incarnated for the last time as Gautama Buddha. Nevertheless, he continued to be active in the spiritual body. We know that as a spiritual being he was present at the birth of the child Jesus of St. Luke's Gospel. He has continued to be active in the School in which Francis of Assisi lived in his previous incarnation. There the latter assimilated the impulses of his life so intimately associated with the soul, of that life which was to lead men away from everything that was to spread out on earth, which was to lead away from the purely materialistic life. And all this remained in Francis of Assisi. We see the after-effects of this in the Francis of Assisi incarnation. But it could not come about that on earth, in the era which had the materialistic mission, many souls should join a Francis of Assisi community. Those could not do this who had to progress with the time. So, in a way, a conflict was created. It could not come about that on one side there was only exterior, material culture, on the other disciples of Francis of Assisi. Although Francis of Assisi is great and powerful, on the one side, yet on the other the rules he gave could not be of use for ensuing times. How only could it come about? What had to happen on earth?
This has been established in significant perspectives in the Rosicrucian Mysteries since the twelfth century. There it was said; The human being will have to work with the earthly body, will have to gain a living experience in an external way of the material existence between birth and death, and he will have to go along with the triumphs of this material existence. But for every soul who becomes inured, intimate with material existence, a possibility must be created to have, with part of its nature, an understanding for the inner experience of that which lies in the teachings of Francis of Assisi. It is precisely this which constitutes the essence of progress of souls on earth: that these souls must increasingly develop so to speak two natures, the farther they go into the future; that we with the organs of our soul shall be able to take hold of the impulses of existence on earth, so that we may become familiar with them; but that we should be able to develop within ourselves moments and hours in which we can be given over in solitude to the life of the soul itself. While we become more open to the world and more familiar with it, we must at the same time have hours when we can become familiar with our soul. While on the one hand we follow Edison, we must be able to become quietly, in our hearts, disciples of Francis of Assisi or of his great teacher, the Buddha. Thus every human being must be able to feel even if he is being pushed into material life. And for this development the preparation had to be given in the Rosicrucian Mysteries. Christian Rosenkreuz had the mission to care for it.
How can all this be brought about? Only through the fact that a certain period of the life between death and a new birth may be used for the soul in a very definite way. They said to themselves in the Rosicrucian Mysteries: Mars, so to speak, loses his old task; let us give him a new one.—With the beginning of the seventeenth century, at the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Buddha who had apart from this completed his last incarnation on earth, was sent to Mars, to the sphere of Mars, and one may say, speaking quite correctly: At that precise time the Buddha accomplished for Mars something similar to what the Christ accomplished on earth—only in a larger measure—in the Mystery of Golgotha. That which had always emanated from Mars, and was part of its essence, that very thing the Buddha transformed by his sacrifice. He transformed the whole nature and essence of Mars. For Mars, the Buddha has become the great Redeemer. It was a sacrifice for him. You only have to remember how the Buddha arose to the point of expounding the doctrine of giving the message of universal peace, of harmonious existence. He was then transferred into that planetary sphere from which the force of aggressiveness originated. He, the Prince of Peace, crucified himself, so to speak, though not through the Mystery of Golgotha. In this way, something else is brought into the Mars-sphere: Mars is permeated by the essence of the Buddha. As on earth the substance of the Christ has flowed out from the Mystery of Golgotha, so the peace substance of the Buddha flows into the Mars-sphere, and since then is in the Mars-sphere.
It was thus that they spoke within the Rosicrucian Mystery. In consequence of the sending of the Buddha, human souls could live for some time between death and a new birth in the sphere of Mars, after they had found themselves in the Sun-sphere and had borne the Christ Impulse up to that sphere. After the soul has entered there through the right permeation with the Christ Impulse, and through the guidance of Lucifer, the soul comes out farther into the sphere of Mars; and precisely in our time, an event occurs in the Mars-sphere, which previously could not take place: the souls are permeated by that which no longer can occur on earth,—they are permeated by the Buddha—Francis of Assisi—element. Between death and a new birth each soul—if it is prepared in the right way—can go through that which has become living experience on earth, as in a last blossoming, in the soul-life of Francis of Assisi, but which since that time cannot have a proper home on earth. The human soul by experiencing the sphere of Buddha in the life between death and a new birth can acquire there the strength that will enable it to do what has just been said: it may enter by a new birth into a purely material existence, may be thrown into a terrestrial existence which will be more and more materialistic, and yet will be able to develop forces in another part of the entity of the soul so that it may be given up to the world of the spirit and of the soul. This is the truth about the secrets which are hidden between death and a new birth.
Then, we expand farther and farther into the reaches of the stars, to Jupiter, Saturn, and farther. What has been described now, occurs only, in fact, with the most advanced souls. Those souls which have not fulfilled the conditions and will not fulfil them until later—such souls, in the life between death and a new birth, come into contact only with the spheres nearest the earth. They also go through the other spheres, but in a certain unconscious state akin to sleep. In the outer spheres, in the spheres beyond the sun, the forces are gathered which man must acquire in order to be able to work, to collaborate, in building up a new body as he approaches a new birth. What man consists of has not merely been acquired on earth. It is the greatest short-sightedness of materialists to believe now that man is a creature of the earth. If man builds himself up in this way with the forces which are given to him, if he builds himself up in the most comprehensive meaning of the word, these constructive forces are cosmic forces which man first had to acquire for himself. While expanding, between death and a new birth, to the Sun-sphere, he still has contact with the forces which are after-effects from his previous life. The forces he needs in order to work into the sphere of the earth whatever can construct his physical body out of the surrounding spheres, those forces he must extract from the forces which meet him outside of the Sun-sphere. The human being really must expand into the cosmos between death and a new birth; he then must live with the cosmos, for on earth alone the forces are lacking which really can bring forth the human being. No new human being ever could result from the human germ which originates from the combination of the two sexes, if the following were not to take place.
There is in existence this small human germ. With this human germ unites something immeasurably great and significant, something which had first expanded in a mysterious way into infinite reaches of the world, and then contracted again. After man expands to the spheres of the stars, he begins to contract again. He goes through the spheres of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, and Moon, becoming ever smaller and smaller. And as he grows smaller, he takes into himself the spiritual forces of the cosmos. And he grows ever smaller and smaller. And that which is finally compressed, compacted into a small spiritual globe, that has been actually condensed from an immense dilution. And this now unites with the physical globe which is the germ cell, and fertilizes it by forces from the spiritual realms. Thus we see how man enters existence by birth.
After having gone through his previous death, he expanded into the distant spaces of the universe, became so to speak a giant globe. In spirit, he was together with spiritual beings and facts; then he compresses himself again, becomes ever smaller and smaller, until the time has come when, by the forces inherent in him, lie unites with physical matter. That which forms, together with the human germ cell, the human body, has been brought in from the cosmos. From this human germ cell, even if it were fertilized, nothing could result that might live on earth, if the compressed spirit-globe could not unite with it; this can be ascertained by occult investigation. And what only could result from this human germ-cell? From it only the foundation for the senses and the nervous system could result, but nothing that is capable of living, such as the body of man which must build itself up around the senses and the nervous system; the former does not originate with father and mother. Earth can give the forces for the senses, the nervous system. What grows organically around them, must be brought in from the cosmos. And when finally the time comes when a new science will grasp the processes in the human germ-cell according to the application of occult knowledge, then human beings who think clearly will be able to understand what they now cannot grasp in any scientific presentation. Whether you read Haeckel's sparkling discussions of this matter, or others, you will find everywhere that things are not understandable by themselves. What one does not know is the fact that a third force unites with that which comes from father and mother. The third force comes in from the cosmos. Only one certain group of people know—or today we may say, knew—of this secret, but this state of affairs is coming to an end now. Children and their nurses and educators mention it—or, at least it was mentioned, when they related that the stork or some other sort of being brings in an element by which human beings can enter the world. That is only a metaphoric expression for a spiritual occurrence, but it is more intelligent than what intelligent people maintain today. For our time, however, it is regarded as enlightened to explain human conditions in a materialistic way. This metaphoric presentation really still should have an effect on the children's souls, on their imagination! People do say: The children no longer believe in the stork—because those who tell this fairy-tale no longer believe it themselves. But those who today become anthroposophists believe in the stork, and they will soon find that in this metaphoric presentation a good interpretation is given of spiritual happenings.
Thus we have contemplated the cosmic aspect of life between death and a new birth; the day after tomorrow we will more particularly touch upon the human aspect of practical life.
But now we will consider one more thing. Kant once, following truly, one might say, an inspiration, made this significant statement:
“Two things have made a great impression on me: the starry sky above me and the moral law within me.”
This statement may seem significant to the occultist. For what is the strange relation that exists between the starry sky and that which is best in the life of our soul? Both are one and the same. We expand between death and a new birth as far as the starry sky, and we bring its forces into life and feel them as the most significant forces of our soul. No wonder! We are, indeed, the external images of the heavens. We look up to the starry sky where we were between death and a new birth, and we see that which we have taken into ourselves. No wonder that we feel at one with that which lives in us as guidance for the life of our soul and that which radiates into us from the starry sky, and which we feel effective in us when we appeal to the deepest life of our soul. The starry sky is one and the same with us, and we with it, when we contemplate our existence as a whole.
Thus we must tell ourselves that such an anthroposophical contemplation does not merely give us that which we may call understanding, knowledge, in the usual every-day meaning. It really gives us moral strength and support in the feeling that the whole universe lives in us. And gradually we see ourselves permeated by the universe when we go through life between death and a new birth. Truly, it is hidden to the external eye, this life between death and a new birth; but that also is hidden which in the depth of our soul's existence drives us, impels us. And yet it is in us, it is effective in us and gives us our strength, this our best being. We carry the heavens within us because we experience them before we enter into our physical existence. We then feel the obligation to make ourselves worthy of these heavens which have done so much for us that we owe to them our entire inner being.
More of this the day after tomorrow, when we shall contemplate life more under the aspect of man, and from a point of view which affects rather the practical activity of life.
Die Kosmische Seite Des Lebens Zwischen Tod Und Neuer Geburt. Der Weg Durch Die Sternensphären
Es war mir in der zweiten Hälfte des vorigen Jahres auferlegt, einige okkulte Untersuchungen zu machen über das Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt. Wir haben ja schon von verschiedenen Seiten her dasjenige, was da in Betracht kommt, geschildert, aber eine vollständige Kenntnis, ein wirkliches Eindringen in diesen Teil des menschlichen Lebens ist eigentlich nur möglich, wenn man die Betrachtung von den verschiedensten Gesichtspunkten aus anstellt. Obgleich das alles richtig ist, was in den Schriften und Zyklen über dieses Thema zu finden ist, so kann doch zu alldem noch hinzugefügt werden dasjenige, was wir am heutigen Abend und vielleicht auch übermorgen über die Sache vorzubringen haben.
Wenn der Mensch durch die Pforte des Todes getreten ist, wenn er also abgelegt hat seinen physischen und seinen Ätherleib, dann ist in der ersten Zeit die Seele namentlich hingegeben den Erinnerungen an das verflossene Erdenleben. Wir wissen ja schon, die Seele braucht eine gewisse Zeit, um sich, wenn man den Ausdruck gebrauchen darf, alles dasjenige abzugewöhnen, was sie zusammenhält mit dem letzten Erdenleben. Nun wollen wir uns dieses Herauswachsen aus dem letzten Erdenleben einmal im Zusammenhang mit dem ganzen Universum, mit der Welt, vorstellen.
Wenn der Mensch — und das ist ja nicht nur nach dem Tode, sondern das ist auch schon im Schlaf der Fall — seinen physischen und Ätherleib verläßt und also nur im astralischen Leibe lebt, was wir ja auch als das Seelische bezeichnen können, dann tritt mit dem Menschen, räumlich könnte man sagen, eine völlige Erweiterung ein: eine Ausdehnung seines Wesens in die Weiten. Jede Nacht dehnen wir uns eigentlich aus über die Sternenweiten hin. Nach dem Tode breitet sich der Mensch so aus, langsam und allmählich, daß wir zu suchen haben seine — wir können jetzt vielleicht nicht sagen: Leiblichkeit —, sondern seine Seelenhaftigkeit im Umkreise der Erde, weit zunächst über den Luftkreis hinaus. Immer weiter und weiter dehnt er sich aus, bis der Mensch — so paradox es klingt, stellt es sich doch so heraus — sein Seelensein über den ganzen Umkreis der Kugelfläche ausgedehnt hat, die zusammenfällt am Ende mit dem Umkreis des Mondes um die Erde. Wir wachsen so in die Größe, daß die Grenze unseres Wesens der Umkreis des Mondes um die Erde ist. Solange wir also in diese Größe wachsen, dauert das, was wir als die Kamalokazeit bezeichnen können. Das ist die Zeit des innerlichen Zusammenhanges mit dem letzten Erdenleben.
Dann aber geht die Ausdehnung weiter. Wir erweitern uns tatsächlich zum Sternenzelt hinaus, und es beginnt dann die Zeit, wo der Mensch so hinauswächst, daß die äußerste Grenze seines Seins als der Umkreis bezeichnet werden kann, den heute astronomisch gesprochen die Venus, okkult gesprochen der Merkur beschreibt. Nun hängt die Art des Seins des Menschen, nachdem er die Mondensphäre verlassen hat, davon ab, wie das Leben hier zwischen Geburt und Tod war. Wenn wir uns hinausleben in den Weltenraum bis zur Merkursphäre, so befinden wir uns in ihr entweder so, daß wir leicht Zusammenschluß finden können mit den Menschen, mit denen wir auf Erden zusammen waren, mit denen sich unsere Seelen auf Erden zusammengefunden haben, oder aber es kann auch das uns treffen, daß wir schwierig solchen Zusammenschluß finden können, daß wir gewissermaßen bei diesem Hinausleben in die Merkursphäre zur Einsamkeit verdammt sind. Und ob wir mehr oder weniger zur Einsamkeit oder, wenn der Ausdruck erlaubt ist, zur Geselligkeit uns bestimmt fühlen, das hängt davon ab, wie der Mensch das Erdenleben zugebracht hat. Derjenige Mensch, der im Leben sich wenig darum gekümmert hat, in seiner Seele rege zu machen moralische Empfindungen, moralische Gesinnung, moralische Stimmung, Wohlwollen, Mitgefühl, der Mensch, der das wenig entwickelt hat während des Erdenlebens, der fühlt sich, indem er sich zur Merkursphäre erweitert, nach dem Tode zur Einsamkeit gezwungen. Und schwierig ist es ihm, andere Seelen, mit denen er verbunden ist, zu finden. Der Mensch, der viel Mitleid, moralische Gesinnung entwickelt hat, der lebt, sich erweiternd zur Merkursphäre, mit anderen Seelen gesellig zusammen. So haben wir es in der Hand, uns unser Leben beliebig einzurichten zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt. Die Merkursphäre, okkult gesprochen, ist also diejenige Sphäre, in der unsere moralischen Eigenschaften zum Ausdruck kommen. Sie ist auch diejenige, in welcher sich wirksam erweist noch in anderer Weise, was wir an moralischen Eigenschaften entwickelt haben.
Da kommt zunächst noch in Betracht — gerade während dieses Durchganges durch die Venus- oder Merkursphäre nach dem Tode —, daß nachwirkt, ob man im Leben zwischen Geburt und Tod ein Mensch mit Gewissenhaftigkeit oder mit Gewissenlosigkeit war. Sehen Sie, alles, was in der Welt hier im physischen Leben geschieht, wird dirigiert, wird verursacht zuletzt von der geistigen Welt aus. Wir haben öfters betrachtet den naturgemäßen Alterstod, der für den Menschen eintreten muß, weil er dasjenige ist, was uns eigentlich treffen muß aus dem Grunde, damit das Leben von Inkarnation zu Inkarnation in richtiger Weise vor sich gehen kann. Aber es gibt, wie wir wissen, nicht nur diesen in der Evolution gut begründeten Alterstod; es gibt auch einen Tod, der den Menschen befällt in der Blüte der Jugend, in der Kindheit schon. Es gibt in der Welt die mannigfaltigsten Krankheiten, Seuchen und so weiter, die in das menschliche Leben hineintreten. Und sie werden zuletzt nicht bloß bewirkt durch physische Ursachen, sondern sie werden bestimmt, dirigiert von der geistigen Welt herein. Und eigentlich ist es aus dem Gebiet der Venus, jenes Gürtels um die Erde herum, den wir aber, okkult gesprochen, die Merkursphäre nennen können. Das heißt, wenn wir einen Halbmesser ziehen von der Erde bis zur Venus hin und damit einen Kreis beschreiben — ganz abgesehen von den astronomischen Verhältnissen —, so ist das okkult die Merkursphäre; also einen Kreis nicht um die Sonne, sondern um die Erde herum. Und in diesem Gürtel, in dem Raum, der von diesem Kreis eingenommen wird, da liegen die Kräfte, von denen dirigiert werden auf Erden Krankheiten und Tod; der Tod, nicht soweit er eintritt als naturgemäßer Alterstod, sondern unregelmäßig. Da sind gewisse geistige Wesenheiten wirksam, jene Wesenheiten, die der Okkultismus bezeichnet als die Geister von Krankheit und Tod. Derjenige Mensch, der, okkult gesprochen, in diese Merkursphäre eintritt so, daß er auf Erden sein Dasein als gewissenloser Mensch zugebracht hat, der verurteilt sich nun dazu, während er durch diese Sphäre durchgeht, Diener zu werden dieser — wir können sie schon so nennen — bösen Geister von Krankheit und Tod. Ja, man bekommt erst einen Begriff, einen Eindruck von dem, was eigentlich Gewissenlosigkeit bedeutet, wenn man diese Tatsache weiß. Gewissenlosigkeit verurteilt die Menschen dazu, eine Zeitlang zwischen Tod und Neugeburt in der Merkursphäre in das Joch dieser bösen Geister gebeugt zu sein. Und wenn die Kräfte entwickelt werden, die aus dem Umkreis hereingeschickt werden auf die Erde, damit Seuchen, Krankheiten eintreten, damit der Tod zur Unzeit eintritt, dann müssen diese gewissenlosen Seelen mitarbeiten als Diener dieser Geister von Krankheit und Tod, welche diese Kräfte in unsere physische Welt hereinschicken.
Etwas anderes ist es, wenn da nachwirkt bis in diese Sphäre hinauf das, was sehr verbreitet ist auf Erden: Bequemlichkeit. Unser Leben steht eigentlich ganz im Zeichen der Bequemlichkeit. Unzähliges würden die Menschen anders machen, wenn sie nicht bequem wären. Auch durch die Bequemlichkeit verurteilt sich der Mensch dazu, in der Sphäre, die eben besprochen worden ist, Diener zu werden eine Zeitlang jener Mächte, welche dem Ahriman unterstehen, welche man bezeichnen kann als die Mächte der Hindernisse, also jener Geister, die das Arbeiten auf Erden behindern. Diener der Geister der Hindernisse werden wir für eine bestimmte, mehr oder weniger lange Zeit durch alles, was wir in unsere Seele eingegossen haben durch Bequemlichkeit. So bekommen wir einen Begriff, wie hineinwirken in das Leben zwischen Tod und Neugeburt die Kräfte, die wir hier im physischen Leben in der Seele ausgebildet haben.
Die nächste Sphäre, zu der sich die Seele erweitert, bezeichnet man okkult als Venus-Sphäre, astronomisch als Merkursphäre. Zu ihr bereiten wir uns vor durch religiöse Eigenschaften, religiöse Gesinnung. Ein Mensch, der in sich entwickelt hat in der Zeit zwischen Geburt und Tod eine solche Gesinnung, durch die seine Seele hinblickt nach den geistigen Urmächten und Urkräften der Welt, der kann ein geselliges Wesen sein in der Venus-Sphäre, so daß er zusammenlebt mit anderen Menschen, mit denen seine Seele sich verwandt gemacht hat auf Erden. Aber auch andere Geister der höheren Hierarchien treten von da ab in die menschliche Sphäre ein, und der Mensch lebt da mit Geistern der höheren Hierarchien zusammen, wenn er religiöse Gesinnung, religiöse Empfindung, religiöses Gefühl entwickelt hat. Dagegen verurteilt er sich zur Einsamkeit, zur Abgeschlossenheit, zu quälender Einsamkeit, wenn er seine Seele nicht in Verbindung gebracht hat hier auf Erden mit Impulsen des religiösen Lebens. Wenn er Atheist gewesen ist hier auf Erden, dann wird er ein völlig Einsamer von der Sphäre ab, von der gesprochen worden ist. Und sagen muß man schon, daß zu völliger Einsamkeit sich verdammen die Menschen, die heute geradezu großziehen die Religionslosigkeit. Die Leute, die sich im Monistenbund zum Beispiel zusammenziehen, versperren sich die innere Bewegungsfreiheit, und weil sie sich hier unter dieser Fahne zusammengefunden haben, verurteilen sie sich in jener Sphäre dazu, jeder in seinem eigenen Käfig zu sitzen; jeder wird getrennt sein von dem andern.
Die nächste Sphäre, in die wir eintreten, ist die Sonnensphäre. Wiederum sind die Verhältnisse anders, als sie für die physische Astronomie sind. Wir bekommen diese Sphäre, wenn wir die Erde mit der Sonne verbinden und einen Kreis beschreiben mit dieser Verbindungslinie um die Erde herum. (Es wird gezeichnet.) Geistig sind die Verhältnisse eben anders als im Physischen. Wir verbreitern uns bis zu dieser Sphäre hinaus, nachdem wir die Venus-Sphäre durchlaufen haben. Für diese Sphäre bereitet uns vor nicht mehr dasjenige, was uns für die Venus-Sphäre vorbereitet hat. Für die Venus-Sphäre können wir so vorbereitet sein, daß wir den Zusammenschluß finden mit all denjenigen menschlichen Seelen, welchen wir religiös nahegestanden haben im Leben zwischen Geburt und Tod. In der Venus-Sphäre sind die Menschen gleichsam abgeschlossen in Bezirke, wie diejenigen Bezirke sind, in welchen auf Erden die Völker, die Rassen verbunden sind. So sind in der Venus-Sphäre Bezirke, in denen diejenigen sich zusammenfinden, welche verwandt sind in ihrem religiösen Empfinden. Das genügt aber nicht mehr für die Sonnensphäre. In der Sonnensphäre fühlt man sich einsam, wenn man auf Erden nur vorbereitet war für eine gewisse Art von religiösem Empfinden in der Seele. In der Sonnensphäre ist man ein geselliges Wesen nur, wenn man im besten Sinne des Wortes Verständnis herausgebildet hat für jedes religiöse Empfinden, wenn man gewissermaßen die tiefere Toleranz entwickelt hat für alle Religionssysteme der Erde. Bis in unsere Zeit war seit dem Mysterium von Golgatha das äußere christliche Religionsbekenntnis gewissermaßen ausreichend; denn dieses christliche Religionsbekenntnis enthält in gewisser Weise doch ein über ein beschränktes Religionssystem weiter hinausgehendes Verständnis in ganz anderer Art als andere Religionssysteme. Man kann sich wirklich davon leicht überzeugen. Viele andere Religionssysteme sind noch auf gewisse Bezirke der Erde beschränkt, und man kann, wenn man nur sehen will, sehr leicht sehen, wie der Bekenner der HinduReligion, des Buddhismus und so weiter schon sprechen wird von einer Gleichberechtigung aller Religionen und Religionsweisheit im allgemeinen, aber wenn man tiefer eingeht auf das, was er meint, so finder man, daß er nur seine eigene Religion meint. Er verlangt im Grunde genommen von den anderen Menschen, daß sie seine eigene Religion anerkennen. Das nennt er dann Gleichberechtigung der Religionen. Versuchen Sie, theosophische Zeitschriften zu lesen, welche dem Gebiete Indiens entstammen. Da wird das, was die Inder sagen, als die allgemeine Weltreligion ausgegeben und von denjenigen, die das nicht anerkennen, wird gesagt, daß sie keine redlichen Theosophen seien. Das Urchristentum ist von Anfang an nicht auf diesen Ton gestimmt, besonders da, wo es abendländische Religion geworden ist. Würde es im Abendland so sein, wie es in Indien ist, so hätten wir heute eine Wotan-Religion; das würde dann sein, was zum Beispiel für den Orient die HinduReligion ist. Das Abendland hat aber nicht die aus ihm herausgewachsene Religion genommen, sondern von vornherein die Religion eines Stifters, der außerhalb des Abendlandes gelebt hat, des Christus Jesus. Unegoistisch hat das Abendland eine Religion in sein Wesen aufgenommen. Das ist ein prinzipieller Unterschied. Und es liegt im Grunde genommen die wahre Toleranz gegenüber jedem Religionssystem im Wesen des Christentums, wenn auch dieses Wesen vielleicht von abendländischen Christen schlecht verstanden worden ist.
Eigentlich ist für den Christen jeder ein Christ, wie er sich auch sonst benennen mag. Und es ist nur eine Engherzigkeit, wenn man christliche Dogmen überall verbreiten will. Weitherzigkeit ist etwas ganz anderes. Wenn man den Hindu, den Chinesen, den Buddhisten betrachtet, wenn man auf die tieferen Elemente seines Wesens eingeht, so wird man überall die Anfänge des Christentums finden, wird herausheben aus dem, was er selbst denkt, dasjenige, was die Ansätze des Christentums sind, ohne daß man den Namen des Christus zu nennen braucht. Aber dieses engere Christentum ist doch eigentlich, wie es heute den Menschen zwischen Geburt und Tod gegeben wird, nur eine Vorbereitung für die Sonnensphäre nach dem Tode. Da ist noch etwas anderes notwendig für diese Sonnensphäre: dasjenige ist notwendig, was wir im richtigen, wahren Sinne als T'heosophie bezeichnen. Sie gibt uns jenes innere Verständnis für alle Religionssysteme der Erde, für das Wesen aller Religionssysteme der Erde. Wenn wir uns dieses Verständnis aneignen hier auf Erden, dann bereiten wir uns in rechter Weise für die Sonnensphäre vor. Dieses Verständnis für die verschiedenen Religionen und für das Mysterium von Golgatha, für den ChristusImpuls, müssen wir haben, wenn wir nicht Einsiedler werden sollen gegenüber andern Menschenseelen und gegenüber den Geistern der höheren Hierarchien in der Sonnensphäre zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt.
Wenn wir zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt in die Sonnensphäre hineinkommen, dann finden wir da zweierlei. Das erste, was wir finden, ist etwas, was wir nur bildlich ausdrücken können: wir finden einen leeren Thron, einen leeren Weltenthron. Und dasjenige, was wir suchen können auf diesem leeren Weltenthron, das können wir nur finden in den Bildern der Akasha-Chronik. Auf diesem Thron, den wir da leer finden, wenn wir die Zeit zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt durchleben, hat einstmals innerhalb der Sonnensphäre der Christus gesessen. Er hat sich verbreitet bis in die Erdensphäre hinein durch das Mysterium von Golgatha, und seit jener Zeit müssen die Erdenbewohner hier auf Erden sich ein Verständnis für den Christus-Impuls aneignen können und diesen Impuls gedächtnismäßig behalten: dann können sie erkennen das Bild, das in der Akasha-Chronik erscheint, wenn sie sich hineinleben in diese Sonnensphäre. Wer hier auf Erden sich nicht dieses Verständnis errungen hat, der erkennt nicht, wer da einstmals auf diesem Thron gesessen hat und was jetzt nur noch im Bild vorhanden ist, und er kann sich nicht zurechtfinden im Leben innerhalb der Sonnensphäre zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt. Da sehen wir, wie es Erdenmission der Menschenseelen ist, hier sich den Zusammenhang mit dem Mysterium von Golgatha zu suchen, wie wir ihn suchen innerhalb unserer spirituellen Bewegung. Dadurch behalten wir die Erinnerung zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt von dem ChristusImpuls und werden innerhalb der Sonnensphäre kein Einsiedlerwesen, sondern ein geselliges Wesen durch die Kräfte, die wir mitgenommen haben; so daß wir dann gleichsam durch unsere eigene, mitgebrachte Kraft das Bild beleben — das nur noch als Bild in der Sonnensphäre ist — von dem Christus. Und wir müssen uns so viel Kraft von der Erdenzeit mitnehmen, daß diese Kraft uns auch für die folgende Zeit bleibt und nicht verlorengehen kann.
Aber ein Zweites finden wir noch in dieser Sonnensphäre, einen zweiten Thron, und der ist jetzt eingenommen von einer realen Wesenheit, von Luzifer. Und so fühlen wir uns zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, wenn wir die Sonnensphäre erreicht haben, wie es eben beschrieben worden ist, auf der einen Seite dem Christus, auf der andern Seite dem Luzifer gegenüber. Würden wir den ChristusImpuls nicht in uns aufgenommen haben, so müßte Luzifer allein unser Führer werden. Haben wir aber aufgenommen den ChristusImpuls, so stehen wir auf der weiten Reise durch das Weltall unter der Führung auf der einen Seite des Christus-Impulses, auf der andern Seite des Luzifer; denn diesen brauchen wir auch für die folgenden Zeiten. Wir brauchen auch Luzifer, denn er führt uns jetzt in der richtigen Weise durch die anderen Weltensphären hindurch, zunächst bis zur Mars-Sphäre hin.
Das ist die nächste Sphäre, zu der wir uns erweitern zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt. Damit uns Luzifer in solcher Weise führen kann, wie es für uns Menschen angemessen ist, müssen wir den Christus-Impuls als Gegengewicht haben; dann ist der LuziferImpuls für uns heilsam; sonst ist er ein Schlechtes für uns. Noch etwas anderes ist notwendig geworden: In der Mars-Sphäre müssen wir die Möglichkeit haben, mit unserm ganzen Wesen Rechnung zu tragen gewissen Veränderungen; die auf dem Mars im Laufe der letzten Jahrhunderte sich zugetragen haben. Diese Veränderungen sind etwa in folgender Weise zu schildern. Durch gewisse Kräfte stehen alle einzelnen Weltenkörper in Verbindung miteinander; mit der Erde stehen in Verbindung die anderen Weltenkörper. Von ihnen strahlen die Kräfte aus. Von dem Mars und seiner Sphäre strahlt in der Tat nicht nur die Lichtwirkung aus, die auf die Erde kommt, sondern es strahlen auch geistige Kräfte aus. Wenn wir in ältere Jahrhunderte zurückgehen, finden wir, daß vom Mars ausgestrahlt sind diejenigen Kräfte, welche die Menschen enthusiasmiert haben zu dem, was die Menschen in älteren Zeiten brauchten: physische Kräfte, um die Menschheitsevolution zu fördern. Es ist nicht bloß ein Mythus, sondern eine okkulte Wahrheit, daß dasjenige, was als kriegerische Kraft und kriegerische Verwicklung sich in der Welt entwickelt hat, was die Menschen tatkräftig, mutig gemacht hat durch Jahrhunderte und Jahrtausende, von der Einströmung der Marskräfte herrührt. Aber es ist im Leben eines Planeten so, daß seine Kräfte eine aufsteigende und eine absteigende Entwickelung durchmachen. Und der Mars hat in den letzten Jahrhunderten seine Aufgabe in gewisser Weise geändert. Was jetzt noch an kriegerischen Kräften entwickelt wird, das ist abflutendes kriegerisches Leben der früheren Jahrhunderte; neues strömt nicht mehr an befeuernden Kräften des Mars ein. Denn an der Wende des sechzehnten zum siebzehnten Jahrhundert, da war der Mars an einem entscheidenden Punkt angelangt, an einem Punkte, der sich im Mars-Sein nur vergleichen läßt mit der Zeit, da die Erde an einem entscheidenden Punkte angekommen ist zur Zeit des Mysteriums von Golgatha. Es ist etwas ungeheuer Bedeutsames, was wir hier berühren. Mars ging durch einen entscheidenden Punkt. Das wußte man innerhalb der Erdenmysterien, da wo für die großen geistigen Angelegenheiten des Erdenseins die Entscheidung getroffen wird. Nämlich seit dem zwölften Jahrhundert sind die entscheidenden Vorbereitungen getroffen worden innerhalb der Mysterienentwickelung der Erde, um der Veränderung der Mars-Sphäre Rechnung zu tragen. Die Kräfte, die der Mars aussenden sollte, um Mut und Tatkraft auf die Erde zu bringen, waren vorbei für den Mars: sie sollten nicht mehr auf die Erde hereindringen. Damit aber, daß der Mars eine solche Krisis durchgemacht hat, verändert sich auch für die Seelen, die da leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, dasjenige, was sie durchzumachen hätten in der Mars-Sphäre nach dem Tode. Wenn der Mensch nämlich über die Sonnensphäre hinauskommt, strahlen in sein Seelensein Kräfte ein, die schon für die nächste Inkarnation Bedeutung haben. Die Seele, die in den alten Zeiten, vor dem siebzehnten Jahrhundert durch die Mars-Sphäre durchgegangen war, die kam mit jenen Kräften in Berührung, die sie mit Mut und Tatkraft durchdrangen. Luzifer war der Führer zu den Quellen für Mut und Tatkraft. Aber die Seelen, die in späterer Zeit ankamen, konnten das Charakteristische nicht mehr finden: Mars ging da durch seine Krisis. Da wo innerhalb der Mysterien die großen spirituellen Entscheidungen getroffen werden, da rechnet man nicht bloß mit dem Menschenleben zwischen Geburt und Tod, sondern auch mit seinem Heil und Unheil zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt; das heißt, man sieht in den Mysterien darauf, daß der geistigen Kultur der Menschheit diejenigen Dinge eingefügt werden, die bewirken, daß die Seelen nach dem Tode die verschiedenen Sphären richtig durchmachen können.
Wenn wir begreifen wollen, um was es sich hier in der MarsSphäre handelt, müssen wir folgendes betrachten. Es tritt eine große, entscheidende Sache vom zwölften Jahrhundert ab an die rosenkreuzerischen Mysterien heran dadurch, daß man sich folgendes sagen mußte. Es kommen für die Erdentwickelung ganz besondere Zeiten, die Zeiten der äußeren materiellen Kultur, der äußeren materiellen Triumphe. Gegen diese kann man sich zwar nicht wenden; obwohl sie nichts Geistiges bringen, muß man sie notwendig haben, diese Zeit der Maschinen, Luftschiffe und so weiter, aber sie bringen eine Art von Seelentod. Man kann sich nicht dagegen wenden, der Mensch muß sich da hineinleben. — Das materialistische Zeitalter mußte kommen; nur war es immer die Anstrengung höherer geistiger Wesenheiten, ein Gegengewicht zu schaffen gegen dieses materialistische Zeitalter. Wenn wir alles das betrachten, was in der Erdentwickelung als ein Gegengewicht zutage getreten ist gegen den Materialismus, haben wir die letzte, bedeutsamste Erscheinung in Franz von Assisi; jenem Franz von Assisi, der sich in seinem Franz-von-Assisi-Sein abwandte von allem äußeren Leben, der jenes Ihnen ja bekannte Dasein führte in Assisi, das so wunderbar von Giotto an die Wände der Kirche von Assisi gemalt ist, so daß heute, wo diese Gemälde schon so vielfach übermalt sind, uns das Leben doch noch so ergreifend von den Wänden herunterstrahlt. Und obzwar auch er eine Entwickelung nach dem Materialismus hin durchgemacht hat, so muß man doch sagen: es ist noch verbreitet in der Gegend um den Ott von Assisi herum die spirituelle Atmosphäre des Franziskus, jene Atmosphäre, die in sich aufgenommen hat die Elemente eines zwar weltfremden, aber seelenvertrauten Lebens nicht nur der Menschenseele, sondern vertraut der Seele der Natur. Sie können in dem Zyklus über «Der Mensch im Lichte von Okkultismus, Theosophie und Philosophie» jene wunderbare Dichtung nachlesen, in der Franz von Assisi das ausströmte, was er empfand gegenüber der Seele der Natur und der Naturwesen. Man kann sagen, schönere Töne hat kein Dichter, so schöne Töne über das Naturdasein vielleicht nur Goethe wiedergefunden. Woher kam das alles? Das kam alles davon, daß Franz von Assisi in seiner vorhergehenden Inkarnation, im siebenten, achten Jahrhundert in einer Mysterienschule, die in der Nähe des Schwarzen Meeres war, ein Schüler war einer Individualität, die nicht mehr in einer Inkarnation im physischen Leibe verkörpert war.
Es ist das eine merkwürdige Sache. Franz von Assisi hatte in seiner unmittelbar vorhergehenden Inkarnation in einer Mysterienstätte gelebt, war mit anderen Schülern zusammen Schüler einer Wesenheit, die nur noch im Geistesleib unter den Schülern, zu denen auch Franz von Assisi gehörte, dazumal wirkte. Und dies war kein anderer als der Buddha, von dem wir wissen, daß er als Gautama Buddha zum letzten Mal verkörpert war. Er wirkte dennoch weiter im geistigen Leibe. Wir wissen, daß er noch als geistige Wesenheit der Geburt des Jesusknaben des Lukas-Evangeliums beigewohnt hat. Er hat weiter gewirkt in der Schule, in der Franz von Assisi in seiner vorhergehenden Inkarnation gelebt hat. Da hat dieser die Impulse seines seelenvertrauten Lebens aufgenommen, jenes Lebens, das die Menschen wegführen sollte von all dem, was gerade auf der Erde sich weiter verbreiten sollte, hinwegführen sollte von dem rein materiellen Leben. Und das ist in Franz von Assisi geblieben, das sehen wir nachwirken in der Franz-von-Assisi-Inkarnation. Aber es konnte nicht so kommen, daß auf der Erde in dem Zeitalter, das schon einmal die materialistische Mission hatte, viele Seelen sich etwa einer Franz-von-Assisi-Gemeinschaft anschlossen. Diejenigen konnten es nicht tun, die mit der Zeit fortzuschreiten hatten. So war gewissermaßen ein Zwiespalt geschaffen. Es konnte nicht kommen, daß auf der einen Seite nur äußere, materielle Kultur war, auf der anderen Seite Bekenner des Franz von Assisi. So groß und gewaltig Franz von Assisi ist, so wenig konnte das für die späteren Zeiten taugen, was er als Regeln gegeben hatte. Wie konnte es nur kommen? Was mußte über die Erde kommen?
Das setzte man in bedeutsamen Perspektiven fest in den Rosenkreuzermysterien seit dem zwölften Jahrhundert. Man sagte sich: Der Mensch wird mit dem Erdenleib arbeiten müssen, wird sich hineinleben müssen äußerlich zwischen Geburt und Tod in das materielle Dasein, und er wird mitgehen müssen mit den Triumphen dieses materiellen Daseins. Aber die Möglichkeit muß geschaffen werden für jede Seele, die sich hineinlebt, sich befreundet mit dem materiellen Dasein, mit einem Teil ihres Wesens gleichsam Verständnis für das innerliche Erlebnis zu haben dessen, was im Franz-vonAssisitum liegt. — Darin besteht ja das Wesen des Fortschrittes der Seelen auf Erden, daß diese Seelen gleichsam zwei Naturen erhalten müssen, immer mehr, je weiter sie der Zukunft entgegengehen; daß wir mit unseren Seelengliedern die Impulse des Erdendaseins ergreifen und uns damit befreunden können; daß wir aber in uns auch Augenblicke und Stunden entwickeln müssen, in denen wir einsam hingegeben sein können dem Leben der Seele selber. Während wir weltfreundlicher und weltvertrauter werden, müssen wir zugleich Stunden haben, in denen wir seelenvertraut werden können. Während wir auf der einen Seite dem Edison nachfolgen, müssen wir auf der andern Seite ganz still im Innern Schüler des Franz von Assisi oder seines großen Lehrers, des Buddha, werden können. Das muß jede Seele, wenn sie auch hineingestoßen ist ins materielle Leben, so fühlen können. Und darauf mußte vorbereitet werden in den Rosenkreuzermysterien. Christian Rosenkreutz hatte die Aufgabe, dafür vorzusorgen.
Wie kann das geschehen? Dadurch nur, daß eine gewisse Zeit des Lebens zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt für die Seele in einer ganz bestimmten Weise angewendet werden kann. Da sagte man sich in den Rosenkreuzermysterien: Der Mars verliert sozusagen seine alte Aufgabe; geben wir ihm eine neue. — Mit dem Beginn des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts, um die Wende des sechzehnten zum siebzehnten Jahrhundert, wurde abgesandt der Buddha, der ohnedies seine letzte Erdeninkarnation durchgemacht hatte, nach dem Mars, nach der Mars-Sphäre, und man kann sagen, indem man ganz richtig spricht: In jenem Zeitpunkt hat für den Mars der Buddha etwas Ähnliches vollbracht, wie — nur in einem größeren Maßstab — der Christus auf Erden im Mysterium von Golgatha vollbracht hat. Dasjenige, was vom Mars immer ausgegangen ist und was in seiner Wesenheit lag, hat dazumal der Buddha durch sein Opfer umgewandelt. Er hat die ganze Natur und Wesenheit des Mars umgewandelt. Für den Mars ist der Buddha der große Erlöser geworden. Es war ein Opfer für ihn. Sie brauchen sich nur zu erinnern, wie der Buddha aufgestiegen ist zu der Lehre, der Botschaft vom großen Frieden, vom harmonischen Dasein. Er wurde jetzt hinausversetzt in die planetarische Sphäre, aus der die Kraft des Aggressiven hervorgegangen ist. Er, der Friedensfürst, kreuzigte sich gleichsam, wenn auch nicht durch das Mysterium von Golgatha. So wird etwas anderes in die Mars-Sphäre gebracht: der Mars wird von der Wesenheit des Buddha durchdrungen. Wie auf Erden die Substanz des Christus ausgeflossen ist von dem Mystetium von Golgatha, so strömt aus auf die Mars-Sphäre die Friedenssubstanz des Buddha und ist seitdem in der Mars-Sphäre.
So wurde innerhalb des Rosenkreuzermysteriums gesprochen. Durch die Aussendung des Buddha konnten die Menschenseelen zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt eine Zeitlang in der Sphäre des Mars leben, nachdem sie in der Sonnensphäre sich eingefunden hatten und bis dahin den Christus-Impuls getragen haben. Nachdem die Seele dorthin eingetreten ist durch das richtige Durchdrungensein von dem Christus-Impuls und durch die Führung des Luzifer, kommt die Seele weiter hinaus in die Mars-Sphäre, und gerade in unserer Zeit tritt in der Mars-Sphäre dasjenige ein, was früher nicht hat eintreten können: es werden die Seelen durchdrungen von dem, was auf Erden nicht mehr erfolgen kann, durchdrungen von dem Buddha-Franz-von-Assisi-Element. Zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt kann jede Seele das durchmachen, wenn sie in entsprechender Weise vorbereitet ist, was wie in einem letzten Aufschwung im Seelenleben des Franz von Assisi sich ausgelebt hat auf Erden, was aber seither auf Erden nicht mehr eine rechte Heimat haben kann. Indem die Menschenseele die Sphäre des Buddha in dem Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt auf dem Mars durchmacht, kann sie daselbst die Kraft aufnehmen, die sie zu dem befähigen wird, was eben gesagt worden ist: daß sie später durch eine neue Geburt in ein rein materielles Dasein treten kann, hineingeworfen sein kann in ein Erdendasein, welches immer materialistischer sein wird, aber dennoch Kräfte entwickeln kann mit einem andern Teil des Seelenwesens, um hingegeben zu sein der geistig-seelischen Welt. So liegt es mit den Geheimnissen, die sich verbergen zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt.
Dann verbreiten wir uns immer mehr und mehr in die Sternenweiten hinaus zu Jupiter, Saturn und noch weiter hinaus. Was jetzt geschildert worden ist, das geht eigentlich nur mit den fortgeschrittensten Seelen vor sich. Seelen, welche sich nicht die Bedingungen jetzt erworben haben, sondern sie erst später erwerben werden, solche Seelen verbinden sich in dem Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt nur mit den der Erde zu allernächst gelegenen Sphären. Die anderen Sphären machen sie auch durch, aber in einem gewissen schlafähnlichen, unbewußten Zustand. In den äußeren Sphären, in den Sphären außerhalb der Sonne, werden die Kräfte gesammelt, die der Mensch aufnehmen muß, damit er wieder arbeiten kann, indem er einer neuen Geburt zuschreitet, mitarbeiten kann am Aufbau eines neuen Leibes. Das was im Menschen ist, ist nicht bloß auf der Erde in ihn hereingekommen. Es ist die größte Kurzsichtigkeit, wenn die Materialisten glauben, daß der Mensch ein Geschöpf der Erde sei. Wenn der Mensch sich so aufbaut mit den Kräften, die er mitbekommt, auferbaut im umfänglichsten Sinne, so sind in diesen Kräften des Aufbaues kosmische Kräfte, die der Mensch sich erst holen mußte. Indem er zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt sich erweitert bis zur Sonnensphäre, hat er immer noch zu tun mit den Kräften, die aus dem vorherigen Leben nachwirken. Die Kräfte, die er braucht, um das in die Erdensphäre hineinzuarbeiten, was seinen physischen Leib vom Umkreis her konstruieren kann, das muß er aus den Kräften holen, die außerhalb der Sonnensphäre an ihn herantreten. Der Mensch muß sich wirklich zum Kosmos erweitern zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, er muß mit dem Kosmos leben; denn auf Erden allein sind nicht die Kräfte da, welche den Menschen wirklich zustande bringen können. Aus dem Menschenkeim, der da entsteht durch das Zusammenwirken der beiden Geschlechter, würde niemals ein neuer Mensch entstehen können, wenn nicht folgendes geschehen würde.
Da ist dieser kleine Menschenkeim. Mit diesem Menschenkeim verbindet sich etwas ungeheuer Großes und Bedeutsames, etwas, was sich zuerst verbreitet hat in geheimnisvoller Weise in unendlichen Weltenweiten und was sich dann wieder zusammenzog. Nachdem der Mensch sich verbreitet hat bis zur Sternensphäre hin, beginnt er sich wieder zusammenzuziehen. Er geht durch die Saturn-, Jupiter-, Mars-, Sonnen-, Venus-, Merkur-, Mondsphäre durch, wird immer kleiner und kleiner. Und indem er kleiner wird, hat er in sich hereingenommen die geistigen Kräfte des Kosmos. Und immer kleiner und kleiner wird er. Und das, was da zuletzt komprimiert wird, zusammengedrückt wird als kleine geistige Kugel, das ist eben aus einer ungeheuren Verdünnung zusammengedrückt. Und dieses verbindet sich jetzt mit der physischen Kugel, die die Keimzelle ist, und befruchtet sie von den geistigen Reichen herein. So sehen wir, wie der Mensch durch die Geburt ins Dasein tritt.
Nachdem er durch den letzten Tod ging, verbreitete er sich in Weltenfernen hinaus, wurde gleichsam eine Riesenkugel. Geistig war er mit den geistigen Wesenheiten und Tatsachen zusammen; dann komprimiert er sich wiederum, wird immer kleiner und kleiner, bis der Zeitpunkt gekommen ist, wo er sich durch die ihm innewohnenden Kräfte mit der physischen Materie verbindet. Was mit der menschlichen Keimzelle zusammen einen menschlichen Leib gestaltet, das ist aus dem Kosmos hereingeholt. Aus dieser menschlichen Keimzelle, auch wenn sie befruchtet ist, könnte, was okkult untersucht werden kann, nichts entstehen, das lebensfähig ist auf Erden, wenn sich nicht mit ihr diese zusammengepreßte GeistKugel verbinden könnte. Und was würde nur aus der Menschenkeimzelle entstehen? Aus dieser könnte nur die Anlage für die Sinne und das Nervensystem entstehen, aber nichts, was lebensfähig ist. Die Sinne, das Nervensystem, zu ihnen kann die Erde die Kräfte hergeben. Dasjenige, was um sie herum gegliedert wird, das muß hereingeholt werden aus dem Kosmos. Und erst wenn einmal eine neue Wissenschaft begreifen wird die Vorgänge in der menschlichen Keimzelle nach Anleitung dieser okkulten Erkenntnis, wird dasjenige begreiflich sein, was jetzt einem klar denkenden Menschen in keiner naturwissenschaftlichen Darstellung verständlich sein kann. Ob Sie die geistvollen Auseinandersetzungen darüber bei Haeckel lesen oder andere, Sie werden überall finden, daß die Dinge nicht aus sich selbst heraus verständlich sind. Was man eben nicht weiß, das ist, daß sich ein Drittes mit dem verbindet, was von Vater und Mutter kommt. Das dritte kommt herein aus dem Kosmos.
Eigentlich weiß nur, oder heute kann man sagen, wußte nur eine gewisse Menschenklasse von diesem Geheimnis, aber das hört jetzt immer mehr und mehr auf. Die Kinder und ihre Ammen und Erzieher, bei ihnen kommt oder kam es wenigstens zur Sprache, wenn sie davon erzählten, daß der Storch oder andere Wesenheiten etwas hereinbringen, wodurch die Menschen zur Welt kommen können. Das ist zwar nur ein bildlicher Ausdruck für einen geistigen Vorgang, doch ist es gescheiter, als was heute die gescheiten Leute vertreten. Aber es gilt für die heutige Zeit als aufgeklärt, die menschlichen Verhältnisse materialistisch zu erklären. Diese bildliche Darstellung sollte schon noch auf die kindlichen Seelen, auf ihre Imagination wirken! Freilich, die Menschen sagen: Die Kinder glauben jetzt nicht mehr an den Storch, weil diejenigen, die das Märchen erzählen, das selbst nicht mehr glauben. Aber diejenigen, die heute Anthroposophen werden, die glauben an das Bild des Storches, und sie werden bald finden, daß in diesen bildlichen Darstellungen etwas Gutes gegeben worden ist für die geistigen Vorgänge.
Damit haben wir die kosmische Seite des Lebens zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt betrachtet, übermorgen wollen wir mehr die menschliche Seite des praktischen Lebens berühren.
Jetzt aber wollen wir noch einer Sache gedenken. Kant hat einmal, man möchte sagen, so recht aus einer Ahnung heraus den bedeutsamen Ausspruch getan: «Zwei Dinge erfüllen das Gemüt mit immer neuer Bewunderung und Ehrfurcht: der bestirnte Himmel über mir und das moralische Gesetz in mir.» Der Ausspruch kann dem Okkultisten bedeutsam erscheinen. Denn was besteht für ein merkwürdiges Verhältnis zwischen dem gestirnten Himmel und dem, was in unserem Seelenleben als unser Bestes ist? Es ist beides ein und dasselbe. Wir erweitern uns zwischen Tod und Neugeburt bis über den gestirnten Himmel hinaus, und seine Kräfte bringen wir in das Leben herein und fühlen sie als die bedeutsamsten Kräfte unserer Seele. Kein Wunder, sind wir doch das äußere Abbild desselben! Wir sehen hinauf zum gestirnten Himmel, wo wir waren zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, und sehen das, was wir hereingenommen haben, in uns. Kein Wunder, daß wir uns verwandt fühlen mit dem, was da in uns lebt als Richtungslinien unseres Seelenlebens, und dem, was da aus dem gestirnten Himmel in uns hereinscheint und was wir kraften fühlen in uns, wenn wir an unser tiefstes Seelenleben appellieren. Eins ist der gestirnte Himmel mit uns und wir mit ihm, wenn wir unser gesamtes Dasein betrachten. — So müssen wir uns sagen, daß uns eine solche geisteswissenschaftliche Betrachtung nicht nur dasjenige gibt, was wir Wissen, was wir Erkenntnis nennen können im gewöhnlichen Sinn des Lebens; sie gibt uns wirklich moralische Kraft und Rückhalt in dem Fühlen, daß das ganze Universum in uns lebt. Und stückweise sehen wir uns von diesem Universum durchdrungen werden, wenn wir das Leben zwischen Tod und Neugeburt durchgehen. Ja, es ist verborgen für den äußeren Blick, dieses Leben zwischen Tod und Neugeburt; aber auch das ist verborgen, was in den Tiefen unseres Seelenseins uns antreibt, uns anstiftet. Und dennoch, es ist in uns, wirkt in uns und gibt uns unsere Kraft, dieses unser bestes Sein. Den Himmel tragen wir in uns, weil wir den Himmel durchleben, bevor wir in dieses physische Dasein eintreten. Die Verpflichtung fühlen wir dann, uns dieses Himmels würdig zu machen, der so viel für uns getan hat, daß wir ihm unser ganzes inneres Sein verdanken.
Davon dann übermorgen, wo wir das Leben mehr menschlich von einer solchen Seite betrachten werden, die mehr in die praktische Lebensbetätigung eingreift.
The Cosmic Side of Life Between Death and Rebirth. The Path Through the Spheres of the Stars
In the second half of last year, I was asked to conduct some occult investigations into life between death and rebirth. We have already described what is involved in this from various angles, but a complete understanding, a real insight into this part of human life, is really only possible if one approaches it from a wide variety of perspectives. Although everything found in the writings and cycles on this subject is correct, we can add to all this what we have to say on the matter this evening and perhaps the day after tomorrow.
When a person has passed through the gate of death, when they have laid down their physical and etheric bodies, then in the first period the soul is devoted to memories of their past earthly life. We already know that the soul needs a certain amount of time to wean itself, if one may use the expression, from everything that binds it to its last earthly life. Now let us imagine this growing out of the last earthly life in connection with the whole universe, with the world.
When a person leaves their physical and etheric bodies and lives only in their astral body, which we can also call the soul, then a complete expansion occurs with the person, spatially speaking: an expansion of their being into the vastness. Every night we actually expand beyond the vastness of the stars. After death, the human being expands so slowly and gradually that we have to search for his — we cannot perhaps say “physicality” — but rather his soul nature in the circle surrounding the Earth, far beyond the circle of the air. He expands further and further until, paradoxical as it may sound, he has spread his soul over the entire circumference of the sphere, which ultimately coincides with the circumference of the moon around the Earth. We grow so large that the boundary of our being is the circumference of the moon around the Earth. As long as we grow into this greatness, what we can call the Kamaloka period lasts. This is the time of inner connection with the last earthly life.
But then the expansion continues. We actually expand out into the starry canopy, and then the time begins when human beings grow out so far that the outermost boundary of their being can be described as the circumference that today, in astronomical terms, is described by Venus, and in occult terms by Mercury. Now, the nature of human existence after leaving the lunar sphere depends on what life was like here between birth and death. When we live out our lives in outer space up to the Mercury sphere, we find ourselves either in a position where we can easily connect with the people we were with on Earth, with whom our souls came together on earth, or we may find it difficult to find such a connection, so that we are, in a sense, condemned to loneliness during this life in the Mercury sphere. And whether we feel more or less destined for loneliness or, if the expression is permitted, for sociability, depends on how the human being has spent his or her life on earth. Those who have cared little in life about awakening moral feelings, moral attitudes, moral moods, goodwill, and compassion in their souls, those who have developed these qualities little during their earthly life, feel compelled to loneliness after death as they expand into the Mercury sphere. And it is difficult for them to find other souls with whom they are connected. People who have developed a great deal of compassion and moral attitudes live sociably with other souls as they expand into the Mercury sphere. So it is in our hands to arrange our lives as we wish between death and rebirth. The Mercury sphere, in occult terms, is therefore the sphere in which our moral qualities are expressed. It is also the sphere in which the moral qualities we have developed prove effective in other ways.
First of all, it should be noted that during this passage through the Venus or Mercury sphere after death, it has an effect whether one was a conscientious or unscrupulous person during one's life between birth and death. You see, everything that happens in the world here in physical life is directed and ultimately caused by the spiritual world. We have often considered natural death in old age, which must occur for human beings because it is what must happen to us for the life to proceed in the right way from incarnation to incarnation. But as we know, there is not only this death in old age, which is well founded in evolution; there is also a death that befalls human beings in the prime of youth, even in childhood. There are the most diverse diseases, epidemics, and so on in the world that enter into human life. And ultimately they are not merely caused by physical factors, but are determined and directed by the spiritual world. And actually they originate in the realm of Venus, that belt around the Earth which, in occult terms, we can call the Mercury sphere. That is to say, if we draw a radius from the Earth to Venus and thus describe a circle — quite apart from astronomical conditions — then occultly speaking, this is the Mercury sphere; that is, a circle not around the Sun, but around the Earth. And in this belt, in the space occupied by this circle, lie the forces that direct disease and death on Earth; death, not insofar as it occurs as natural old age, but irregularly. Certain spiritual beings are at work there, those beings that occultism refers to as the spirits of disease and death. The person who, occultly speaking, enters this sphere of Mercury in such a way that he has spent his life on earth as a person without conscience, condemns himself, while passing through this sphere, to become a servant of these—we can already call them that—evil spirits of disease and death. Yes, one only gets an idea, an impression of what unscrupulousness actually means when one knows this fact. Unscrupulousness condemns people to be bent under the yoke of these evil spirits for a time between death and rebirth in the Mercury sphere. And when the forces are developed that are sent from the surrounding sphere to the earth so that epidemics and diseases occur, so that death comes at the wrong time, then these unscrupulous souls must cooperate as servants of these spirits of disease and death, which send these forces into our physical world.
It is something else when what is very widespread on earth continues to have an effect up into this sphere: comfort. Our lives are actually completely dominated by comfort. People would do countless things differently if they were not comfortable. Through comfort, human beings also condemn themselves to become servants for a time in the sphere we have just discussed, servants of those powers that are subject to Ahriman, which can be described as the powers of obstacles, that is, those spirits that hinder work on earth. We become servants of the spirits of obstacles for a certain period of time, which may be longer or shorter, through everything we have poured into our souls through comfort. This gives us an idea of how the forces we have developed in our souls here in physical life influence the life between death and rebirth.
The next sphere into which the soul expands is referred to occultly as the Venus sphere and astronomically as the Mercury sphere. We prepare ourselves for it through religious qualities and religious sentiment. A person who has developed such a disposition within themselves between birth and death, through which their soul looks toward the spiritual primordial powers and forces of the world, can be a sociable being in the Venus sphere, living together with other people with whom their soul has become related on earth. But other spirits from the higher hierarchies also enter the human sphere from there, and the human being lives there together with spirits from the higher hierarchies if he has developed a religious attitude, religious feeling, and religious sentiment. On the other hand, if he has not brought his soul into contact with the impulses of religious life here on earth, he condemns himself to loneliness, isolation, and tormenting solitude. If he has been an atheist here on earth, he will become completely lonely in the sphere we have been talking about. And it must be said that people who today actively promote irreligion are condemning themselves to complete loneliness. People who gather together in the Monist League, for example, deny themselves inner freedom of movement, and because they have gathered under this banner, they condemn themselves in that sphere to sit in their own cage; each will be separated from the other.
The next sphere we enter is the sun sphere. Again, the conditions are different from those of physical astronomy. We obtain this sphere when we connect the earth with the sun and describe a circle with this connecting line around the earth. (This is drawn.) Spiritually, the conditions are different from those in the physical realm. We expand outwards to this sphere after passing through the Venus sphere. What prepared us for the Venus sphere no longer prepares us for this sphere. For the Venus sphere, we can be prepared in such a way that we find union with all those human souls to whom we were close in religion during our life between birth and death. In the Venus sphere, people are, as it were, enclosed in districts, like those districts on earth in which peoples and races are connected. Thus, in the Venus sphere, there are districts in which those who are related in their religious feelings come together. But this is no longer sufficient for the sun sphere. In the solar sphere, one feels lonely if one was only prepared on earth for a certain kind of religious feeling in the soul. In the solar sphere, one is only a sociable being if one has developed an understanding of every religious feeling in the best sense of the word, if one has developed, so to speak, a deeper tolerance for all religious systems on earth. Until our time, since the Mystery of Golgotha, the outward Christian profession of faith was, in a sense, sufficient; for this Christian profession of faith contains, in a certain way, an understanding that goes far beyond a limited religious system, in a completely different way than other religious systems. One can really convince oneself of this quite easily. Many other religious systems are still limited to certain regions of the earth, and if one is willing to see, it is very easy to see how the adherents of Hinduism, Buddhism, and so on will speak of the equality of all religions and religious wisdom in general, but if one delves deeper into what they mean, one finds that they mean only their own religion. Basically, they demand that other people recognize their own religion. They call this equality of religions. Try reading theosophical magazines that come from India. There, what the Indians say is presented as the universal world religion, and those who do not recognize this are said to be dishonest theosophists. From the beginning, early Christianity was not attuned to this tone, especially where it became a Western religion. If it were the same in the West as it is in India, we would have a Wotan religion today; that would then be what Hinduism is for the Orient, for example. However, the West did not take the religion that grew out of it, but from the outset took the religion of a founder who lived outside the West, Jesus Christ. The West unselfishly took a religion into its being. This is a fundamental difference. And true tolerance toward every religious system lies at the heart of Christianity, even if this essence has perhaps been poorly understood by Western Christians.
Actually, for Christians, everyone is a Christian, whatever they may call themselves. And it is merely narrow-mindedness to want to spread Christian dogma everywhere. Open-mindedness is something completely different. If you look at Hindus, Chinese, Buddhists, if you delve into the deeper elements of their nature, you will find the beginnings of Christianity everywhere, you will highlight from what they themselves think those elements that are the beginnings of Christianity, without needing to mention the name of Christ. But this narrower Christianity, as it is given to people today between birth and death, is really only a preparation for the solar sphere after death. Something else is necessary for this solar sphere: that which we call, in the true sense of the word, theosophy. It gives us the inner understanding of all religious systems on earth, of the essence of all religious systems on earth. If we acquire this understanding here on earth, then we are preparing ourselves in the right way for the solar sphere. We must have this understanding of the various religions and of the mystery of Golgotha, of the Christ impulse, if we are not to become hermits in relation to other human souls and to the spirits of the higher hierarchies in the solar sphere between death and new birth.
When we enter the solar sphere between death and rebirth, we find two things. The first thing we find is something we can only express figuratively: we find an empty throne, an empty world throne. And what we can seek on this empty world throne can only be found in the images of the Akashic Chronicle. On this throne, which we find empty when we live through the time between death and new birth, Christ once sat within the solar sphere. He spread into the Earth sphere through the Mystery of Golgotha, and since that time, the inhabitants of Earth must be able to acquire an understanding of the Christ impulse and keep this impulse in their memory: then they can recognize the image that appears in the Akashic Records when they live themselves into this solar sphere. Those here on earth who have not gained this understanding do not recognize who once sat on this throne and what now remains only in image, and they cannot find their way in life within the sphere of the sun between death and new birth. Here we see how it is the earthly mission of human souls to seek the connection with the mystery of Golgotha, as we seek it within our spiritual movement. In this way, we retain the memory of the Christ impulse between death and new birth and do not become hermits within the solar sphere, but rather sociable beings through the forces we have brought with us, so that we then, as it were, enliven the image of Christ—which is now only an image in the solar sphere—through our own power that we have brought with us. And we must take so much strength with us from our time on earth that this strength remains with us for the time that follows and cannot be lost.
But we find something else in this solar sphere, a second throne, which is now occupied by a real being, by Lucifer. And so, when we have reached the sun sphere, as just described, we feel ourselves between death and new birth, with Christ on one side and Lucifer on the other. If we had not taken the Christ impulse into ourselves, Lucifer alone would have to become our guide. But if we have taken in the Christ impulse, we stand on the long journey through the universe under the guidance of the Christ impulse on one side and Lucifer on the other, for we also need him for the times that follow. We also need Lucifer, for he now guides us in the right way through the other spheres of the world, first to the sphere of Mars.
This is the next sphere into which we expand between death and new birth. In order for Lucifer to guide us in a way that is appropriate for us humans, we must have the Christ impulse as a counterweight; then the Lucifer impulse is beneficial for us; otherwise it is bad for us. Something else has also become necessary: in the sphere of Mars, we must have the opportunity to take into account with our whole being certain changes that have taken place on Mars over the last few centuries. These changes can be described in the following way. Through certain forces, all the individual world bodies are connected with one another; the other world bodies are connected with the Earth. The forces radiate from them. From Mars and its sphere, not only does the light that reaches Earth radiate out, but spiritual forces also radiate out. If we go back to earlier centuries, we find that the forces radiating from Mars were those that inspired people to do what they needed to do in earlier times: physical forces to promote human evolution. It is not merely a myth but an occult truth that what has developed in the world as a warlike force and warlike entanglement, what has made people energetic and courageous through centuries and millennia, originates from the influx of the forces of Mars. But it is the nature of a planet's life that its forces undergo an ascending and a descending development. And Mars has changed its task in a certain way in recent centuries. What is still developing now in terms of warlike forces is the ebbing warlike life of earlier centuries; new forces are no longer flowing in from the fiery forces of Mars. For at the turn of the sixteenth to the seventeenth century, Mars had reached a decisive point, a point that can only be compared in the life of Mars with the time when the Earth reached a decisive point at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha. What we are touching upon here is something of tremendous significance. Mars passed through a decisive point. This was known within the Earth mysteries, where decisions are made for the great spiritual affairs of Earth's existence. Namely, since the twelfth century, decisive preparations have been made within the mystery development of the Earth to take account of the change in the Mars sphere. The forces that Mars was supposed to send out to bring courage and energy to the Earth were over for Mars: they were no longer to penetrate the Earth. But with Mars having gone through such a crisis, what the souls living between death and new birth have to go through in the Mars sphere after death also changes. For when human beings pass beyond the solar sphere, forces that are already significant for the next incarnation shine into their soul being. The soul that passed through the sphere of Mars in ancient times, before the seventeenth century, came into contact with those forces that imbued it with courage and energy. Lucifer was the guide to the sources of courage and energy. But the souls that arrived later could no longer find what was characteristic of that time: Mars was going through its crisis. Where great spiritual decisions are made within the mysteries, one does not merely reckon with human life between birth and death, but also with its salvation and damnation between death and new birth; that is, one sees in the mysteries that those things are incorporated into the spiritual culture of humanity which enable souls to pass correctly through the various spheres after death.
If we want to understand what is happening here in the sphere of Mars, we must consider the following. A great and decisive event approached the Rosicrucian mysteries from the twelfth century onwards, in that one had to say the following. Very special times are coming for the evolution of the earth, times of external material culture, of external material triumphs. One cannot turn against these; although they bring nothing spiritual, one must necessarily have this age of machines, airships, and so on, but they bring a kind of death of the soul. One cannot turn against them; human beings must live their way into them. The materialistic age had to come; but it was always the effort of higher spiritual beings to create a counterweight to this materialistic age. When we consider everything that has come to light in the development of the earth as a counterweight to materialism, we find the last and most significant manifestation in Francis of Assisi, that Francis of Assisi who, in his being Francis of Assisi, turned away from all external life and led the life you know in Assisi, which is so wonderfully painted by Giotto on the walls of the church in Assisi, so that today, even though these paintings have been painted over so many times, the life still shines down from the walls in such a moving way. And although he also underwent a development toward materialism, one must nevertheless say that the spiritual atmosphere of Francis is still widespread in the area around Assisi, that atmosphere which has absorbed the elements of a life that is indeed unworldly, but familiar to the soul, not only to the human soul, but also to the soul of nature. In the cycle on “Man in the Light of Occultism, Theosophy, and Philosophy,” you can read that wonderful poem in which Francis of Assisi poured out what he felt toward the soul of nature and the nature beings. One can say that no poet has ever found such beautiful tones, perhaps only Goethe has found such beautiful tones about the existence of nature. Where did all this come from? It all came from the fact that Francis of Assisi, in his previous incarnation in the seventh or eighth century, was a student in a mystery school near the Black Sea, where he was a disciple of an individuality that was no longer incarnated in a physical body.
It is a remarkable thing. In his immediately preceding incarnation, Francis of Assisi had lived in a mystery school, where he was, together with other students, a pupil of a being who was then working only in the spirit body among the students, including Francis of Assisi. And this was none other than the Buddha, whom we know was incarnated for the last time as Gautama Buddha. He nevertheless continued to work in the spiritual body. We know that he was still present as a spiritual being at the birth of the baby Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. He continued to work in the school where Francis of Assisi lived in his previous incarnation. There he took up the impulses of his soul-familiar life, the life that was to lead people away from all that was spreading on earth at that time, away from purely material life. And this remained in Francis of Assisi; we see its after-effects in the incarnation of Francis of Assisi. But it could not happen that in the age that already had a materialistic mission, many souls would join a community like that of Francis of Assisi. Those who had to move forward with the times could not do so. Thus, a conflict was created, so to speak. It could not happen that on the one hand there was only external, material culture, and on the other hand followers of Francis of Assisi. As great and powerful as Francis of Assisi is, what he had given as rules was of little use for later times. How could this happen? What had to come over the earth?
This was established in significant perspectives in the Rosicrucian mysteries since the twelfth century. It was said: Man will have to work with the earthly body, will have to live outwardly between birth and death in material existence, and he will have to go along with the triumphs of this material existence. But the possibility must be created for every soul that lives into it, that befriends material existence, to have, with a part of its being, as it were, an understanding of the inner experience of what lies in the Franz von Assisitum. This is the essence of the progress of souls on earth, that these souls must acquire two natures, as it were, more and more as they move toward the future; that we can grasp the impulses of earthly existence with the members of our soul and become friends with them; but that we must also develop moments and hours within ourselves in which we can be alone and devoted to the life of the soul itself. As we become more friendly and familiar with the world, we must at the same time have hours in which we can become familiar with our souls. While on the one hand we follow Edison, on the other hand we must be able to become, in our innermost being, disciples of Francis of Assisi or of his great teacher, the Buddha. Every soul must be able to feel this, even if it has been thrust into material life. And this had to be prepared for in the Rosicrucian mysteries. Christian Rosicrucius had the task of providing for this.
How can this happen? Only by allowing a certain period of life between death and rebirth to be used in a very specific way for the soul. In the Rosicrucian mysteries, it was said: Mars loses its old task, so to speak; let us give it a new one. — At the beginning of the seventeenth century, at the turn of the sixteenth to the seventeenth century, the Buddha, who had already undergone his last incarnation on earth, was sent to Mars, to the sphere of Mars, and one can say, quite correctly: At that time, the Buddha accomplished something for Mars similar to what Christ accomplished on Earth in the Mystery of Golgotha, only on a larger scale. What had always emanated from Mars and lay in its essence was transformed by the Buddha through his sacrifice. He transformed the entire nature and essence of Mars. The Buddha became the great redeemer for Mars. It was a sacrifice for him. You only need to remember how the Buddha ascended to the teaching, the message of great peace, of harmonious existence. He was now transferred to the planetary sphere from which the force of aggression had emerged. He, the Prince of Peace, crucified himself, as it were, though not through the mystery of Golgotha. Thus something else is brought into the sphere of Mars: Mars is permeated by the essence of the Buddha. Just as on earth the substance of Christ flowed out from the mystery of Golgotha, so the substance of peace from Buddha flows out into the sphere of Mars and has been there ever since.
This is what was said within the Rosicrucian mystery. Through the sending forth of the Buddha, human souls were able to live for a time in the sphere of Mars between death and new birth, after they had gathered in the sphere of the Sun and carried the Christ impulse until then. After the soul has entered there through being rightly permeated by the Christ impulse and through the guidance of Lucifer, the soul moves further out into the sphere of Mars, and precisely in our time, something occurs in the sphere of Mars that could not occur earlier: the souls are permeated by what can no longer take place on earth, permeated by the Buddha-Francis-of-Assisi element. Between death and new birth, every soul can go through what was lived out on earth in a final upsurge in the soul life of Francis of Assisi, but which since then can no longer find a true home on earth, provided it is properly prepared. By passing through the sphere of the Buddha in the life between death and new birth on Mars, the human soul can absorb the power that will enable it to do what has just been said: that it can later, through a new birth, enter into a purely material existence, be thrown into an earthly existence that will become increasingly materialistic, but nevertheless be able to develop forces with another part of the soul being in order to be devoted to the spiritual-soul world. Such are the mysteries that lie hidden between death and new birth.
Then we spread out more and more into the vastness of the stars, to Jupiter, Saturn, and even further. What has now been described actually only happens to the most advanced souls. Souls that have not yet acquired the necessary conditions, but will only acquire them later, connect in the life between death and new birth only with the spheres closest to the Earth. They also pass through the other spheres, but in a kind of sleep-like, unconscious state. In the outer spheres, in the spheres outside the sun, the forces are gathered that human beings must absorb in order to be able to work again, to move toward a new birth, to cooperate in building a new body. What is in human beings did not come into them merely on Earth. It is the greatest short-sightedness when materialists believe that human beings are creatures of the earth. When human beings build themselves up in this way with the forces they receive, build themselves up in the most comprehensive sense, then these forces of building contain cosmic forces that human beings first had to obtain. By expanding between death and new birth to the sphere of the sun, he still has to deal with the forces that continue to work from his previous life. The forces he needs to work into the sphere of the earth, which can construct his physical body from the surrounding environment, he must obtain from the forces that approach him from outside the sphere of the sun. Between death and new birth, human beings must truly expand into the cosmos; they must live with the cosmos, for the forces that can truly bring human beings into being are not found on earth alone. The human germ that arises through the interaction of the two sexes could never give rise to a new human being unless the following happened.
There is this tiny human germ. Connected to this human germ is something immensely great and significant, something that first spread out in a mysterious way into infinite worlds and then contracted again. After spreading out to the sphere of the stars, the human being begins to contract again. It passes through the spheres of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon, becoming smaller and smaller. And as it becomes smaller, it takes in the spiritual forces of the cosmos. And they become smaller and smaller. And that which is finally compressed, squeezed together into a small spiritual sphere, is compressed from an immense dilution. And this now connects with the physical sphere, which is the germ cell, and fertilizes it from the spiritual realms. Thus we see how human beings come into existence through birth.
After passing through the final death, it spread out into distant worlds, becoming, as it were, a giant sphere. Spiritually, it was united with spiritual beings and realities; then it compressed itself again, becoming smaller and smaller until the moment came when, through its inherent forces, it connected with physical matter. What, together with the human germ cell, forms a human body is brought in from the cosmos. From this human germ cell, even if it is fertilized, nothing that is viable on earth could arise, according to occult research, if this compressed spirit sphere could not connect with it. And what would arise from the human germ cell alone? From it could arise only the basis for the senses and the nervous system, but nothing that is viable. The earth can provide the forces for the senses and the nervous system. That which is structured around them must be brought in from the cosmos. And only when a new science understands the processes in the human germ cell according to the instructions of this occult knowledge will it be possible to comprehend what is now incomprehensible to a clear-thinking person in any scientific description. Whether you read the spirited debates on this subject by Haeckel or others, you will find everywhere that things are not understandable in themselves. What we do not know is that a third element is connected with what comes from the father and mother. The third comes in from the cosmos.
Actually, only a certain class of people knew about this secret, or at least that is what we can say today, but this is now becoming less and less the case. Children and their nannies and educators, at least among them, talked about it when they told stories about storks or other beings bringing something that enabled human beings to come into the world. This is only a figurative expression for a spiritual process, but it is more intelligent than what clever people believe today. But it is considered enlightened in our time to explain human relationships in materialistic terms. This figurative representation should still have an effect on children's souls, on their imagination! Of course, people say that children no longer believe in the stork because those who tell the fairy tale no longer believe in it themselves. But those who become anthroposophists today believe in the image of the stork, and they will soon discover that something good has been given to spiritual processes in these pictorial representations.
We have thus considered the cosmic side of life between death and new birth. The day after tomorrow we will touch more on the human side of practical life.
But now let us consider one more thing. Kant once made a significant statement, which one might say was based on an intuition: “Two things fill the mind with ever new admiration and awe: the starry sky above me and the moral law within me.” This statement may seem significant to the occultist. For what is this strange relationship between the starry sky and what is best in our soul life? They are one and the same. Between death and rebirth, we expand beyond the starry sky, and we bring its forces into life and feel them as the most significant forces of our soul. No wonder, since we are the outer image of the same! We look up to the starry sky, where we were between death and rebirth, and see within ourselves what we have taken in. No wonder we feel related to what lives within us as the guiding principles of our soul life, and to what shines into us from the starry sky and what we feel as strength within us when we appeal to our deepest soul life. The starry sky is one with us and we are one with it when we consider our entire existence. — So we must say to ourselves that such a spiritual scientific consideration not only gives us what we can call knowledge in the ordinary sense of life; it gives us real moral strength and support in the feeling that the whole universe lives within us. And bit by bit we see ourselves being permeated by this universe as we pass through life between death and rebirth. Yes, this life between death and rebirth is hidden from the outer eye; but what drives us, what inspires us in the depths of our soul is also hidden. And yet it is within us, working in us and giving us our strength, our best being. We carry heaven within us because we live through heaven before we enter this physical existence. We then feel the obligation to make ourselves worthy of this heaven, which has done so much for us that we owe it our entire inner being.
More on this the day after tomorrow, when we will look at life from a more human perspective, one that intervenes more in practical life activities.