6. Life between Death and Rebirth II

Life Between Death and Rebirth
GA 140

28 November 1912, Munich

The lecture given the day before yesterday on the conditions between death and a new birth shows how closely the whole being of man is connected with the universal life in the cosmos. It is really only during his earthly life that the human being is fixed to one place, occupies a small space, whereas during the period between death and a new birth he is part of the planetary system and, at a later period after death, even of the world beyond the planetary system. In his development between birth and death the human being is the expression of a microcosmic image of the macrocosm, so between death and a new birth he is macrocosmic; he is poured out into the macrocosm. He is a macrocosmic being, and he must draw forth from the macrocosm the forces he needs for his next incarnation.

During the first period after death man still bears the shells of earthly life around him. He is connected with what earthly life gave him and was able to make of him. This period is especially close to the needs and the interests of the heart. Occult vision observes someone who has left the physical plane a comparatively short time ago in the sphere of kamaloca, which extends in the macrocosmic sense to the orbit of the Moon. Man's soul and spirit expand in such a way that he dwells in the whole Moon sphere. During this period he is still entirely bound up with the earthly world. The wishes, desires, interests, sympathies, antipathies he has developed formerly draw him back to the earthly world. During the kamaloca period he is enclosed within the atmosphere of his own astral nature acquired on the earth. He still wishes to have what he wished to have on earth. He is interested in the things that interested him on earth. The reason for this kamaloca period is that he may put away these interests, and inasmuch as they are dependent on physical organs, and this is true of all sense enjoyment, they cannot be satisfied. Gradually he is weaned from them precisely because they cannot be satisfied. It will be understood that this refers to the individuality of man in the narrowest sense, to that part of the astrality of a human being that has to be extirpated, removed.

In yet another respect man bears his earthly connections with him into kamaloca, for the beings or events that he will encounter there are dependent upon the nature of his inner life, the disposition of his soul. For instance, let us consider a man who goes through the gate of death and another to whom he had a close relationship who passed somewhat earlier through the gate of death. Both are in kamaloca and they may find one another. Occult investigation shows that man is not only concerned with his own development—the process of getting rid of his desires and interests, for instance—but soon after death, following a brief embryonic period of sleep, he is reunited with those individuals to whom he was closely connected on earth. Yet, generally speaking, there is little prospect that a man finds all those who are with him in kamaloca. Space and time relationships, and especially those of space, are quite different there. It is not that one does not approach such beings. A man may come close to them but may not notice them because perception there is born out of the closeness of a connection in life. So, shortly after death in the kamaloca period, a man finds himself in the environment of those with whom he was closely related in life, and thus in the beginning hardly any other beings come into consideration. The relationships after death are still in accordance with what we formerly have developed. In kamaloca we are related to others in exactly the same way as we were on earth except that we cannot do what is still possible here, that is, change the relationship. It remains as it was on the earth. Here we can develop hatred for someone we once loved, or love for one whom we once hated. We can endeavor to transform our relationship. This is not possible in kamaloca.

Suppose we come across a person who died before us. At first we feel related to him in a way that corresponds to the last relationship we had with him on earth. Then, as you know, we live backwards in time. If formerly we had a different relationship, this cannot be produced artificially. We must live backwards quietly and reach the corresponding period of time when we can again experience the relationship we formerly had with him. This again cannot be changed. It expresses itself as it did on earth. One can readily imagine that this is an exceedingly painful experience, and this is true in a certain sense. It is just as if one wished to move, but were chained to the ground. One feels spiritually bound to a relationship that was established on earth. One literally feels in a state of coercion. Naturally, if this condition of coercion is sufficiently intense, the relationship will be painful. Now in order to understand this condition rightly and sense it from the heart, we should not merely imagine it to be painful. In many respects it is so but the dead one is not conscious only of the painful aspect. He is definitely aware that this condition is necessary, and that to avoid such pain would merely mean to create future obstacles in one's path.

What happens as a result of this process? Imagine that after death we are experiencing the relationship we had formed with another person in life. Through the fixed gaze of our perception, through the experience of the relation, forces are formed in our soul, at first in their spiritual prototypes. These are needed so that our karma might lead us rightly into the future, so that we may find ourselves together with the other person in a next incarnation in such a way that the karmic adjustment may come about. The forces necessary for this karmic adjustment are welded together technically, as it were.

To begin with, the dead one can hardly bring about any change in his environment, and yet the instinctive longing to do so does arise at times. Unfulfilled wishes acquire great significance for him but mostly those that do not always come to the surface of consciousness in life. In this connection it is exceedingly important to pay attention to the following. In our everyday life on the physical plane we are conscious of our sympathies and make mental representations of them, too, but below this lies the subconsciousness. This does not rise powerfully into our upper consciousness, into the true ego-consciousness. As a result, something incomplete rises into the consciousness of the human being. Indeed, he hardly ever lives himself out fully as a conscious being in life. Our soul life is exceedingly complex. Man is seldom truly himself. It may happen that out of prejudice, indolence or for some other reason, a man in his ordinary consciousness strongly dislikes or even hates something, while in his subconsciousness there is a powerful longing for the very thing he hates in his upper consciousness. Moreover, the soul frequently tries to delude itself about such matters.

Let us take an example. Two people are living together. One of them comes to anthroposophy and is enthusiastic about it, the other does not share this enthusiasm. In fact, the more the former becomes interested in anthroposophy, the more the latter rages against spiritual science and slanders it. Now the following is possible, for human soul life is complicated. The one who slandered anthroposophy would have become an anthroposophist himself at some time if his friend or the person related to him had not become an anthroposophist. The one who is living with him is the hindrance to his becoming an anthroposophist. This certainly can happen. The one who slanders anthroposophy, bringing forward all manner of things against it in his ego-consciousness, may have the most intense longing for it in his subconsciousness or astral consciousness. Indeed, the more he slanders spiritual science the stronger is his wish for it. It may well occur that a man slanders those things in his upper consciousness that appear all the more strongly in his subconsciousness.

Death, however, transforms untruths into truths. Thus one can observe that human beings passing through the gate of death who out of indolence or for similar reasons have slandered spiritual science, and this is applicable to many other things, experience after death a profound longing of which they were unaware during life. So it can be observed that human beings pass through the gate of death who apparently showed no wish for some particular thing, and in whom, nevertheless, after death a most intense desire for it arises. During our trials in the kamaloca period it is therefore immaterial whether our wishes, desires and passions are present in our upper ego-consciousness or whether they dwell in our astral subconsciousness. Both work as burning factors after death, but those wishes and desires we have concealed during life are even more active after death.

It should be borne in mind that by the very nature of the soul everything connected with it will, under all circumstances, make an impression on it. The following has been carefully investigated and it is good if we take an example in connection with anthroposophy. Suppose two people are living together on earth. One of them is a zealous anthroposophist, the other does not wish to hear anything about spiritual science. Now because spiritual science is in his environment, the latter does not remain uninfluenced by it in his astral body. Things of considerable significance and of which we are not aware are constantly happening to our souls. They work in a spiritual way and there are influences that transform our soul life.

So we find hardly anyone who has lived in the environment of an anthroposophist, however obstinate his opposition, who in his subconscious does not show a leaning towards spiritual science. It is precisely among the opponents of anthroposophy that one finds after death a sphere of wishes in which a passionate longing for spiritual science is manifest. This is why a practice that has become customary among us has proved to be so beneficial for the dead, that is, to read to those who during their lives were unwilling to receive much anthroposophy. This proves to be extraordinarily beneficial for the souls concerned. This should be done by vividly picturing the face of the person who has died as he was during the last period of his life on earth. Then one takes a book and quietly goes through it sentence by sentence with one's thoughts directed towards the dead person as if he were sitting in front of one. He will receive this eagerly and gain much from it.

Here we reach a point where anthroposophy enters into life in a practical way. Here materialism and spirituality do not merely confront one another as theories but as actual forces. In fact, by means of spirituality bridges of communication are created between people irrespective of whether they are living or dead. Out of an active spiritual life we can help the dead in this and many other ways of which we shall speak when the opportunity arises.

If we do not stand within the spiritual life, however, the result is not only a lack of knowledge. It also means that we dwell within a limited space of existence encompassed only by the physical world. A materialistically minded person at once loses the connection with one who has passed through the gate of death. This shows how very important it is for the one world to work into the other. If, for instance, the dead person, who has an intense longing to learn something of spiritual wisdom, must forego this wish, it will remain a burden to him. At most, it might be possible, although even in kamaloca this is hardly likely, that he would encounter another soul who has died and with whom he has had such a connection on earth that by the mere nature of the relationship he would find some limited satisfaction. In fact it hardly comes into the picture as compared with the considerable service and the acts of charity that the living can perform for the dead.

Consider the situation of the dead one. He has some intense wish. In the period after death this wish cannot be satisfied because what we bear in our soul is unchangeably rigidified, but from the earth a stream can flow into this otherwise fixed longing. That is actually the only way in which the things that play into our soul can be altered. Therefore, during the first period after death, for the experience of the dead person much depends on the kind of spiritual understanding that is unfolding by the living who were closely related to him.

By acting in accordance with what may be learned through spiritual science, relationships of quite a different kind can be formed in life, relationships that work over from the one world into the other. In this connection there has not yet been much progress, particularly in making anthroposophy into a life force. So much has to be done still in developing anthroposophy so that real powers arise. It is therefore good to make oneself familiar with the truths of spiritual science and then to direct one's whole way of life in accordance with them. If anthroposophy were understood in this deeper sense, it would pulsate like life blood and there would be less discussion and strife in the world about spiritual theories. We should remember that not only our existence on earth but the whole life of mankind is transformed through spiritual science. Once anthroposophy becomes, by way of an understanding of the ideas, more a matter of the heart, men will act and behave in the anthroposophical spirit, to use trivial words. Then such interrelationships will arise more and more often.

We must now broach a matter that is not so easily acceptable, although it can be grasped if one gives thought to it. Man's knowledge on the physical plane is extraordinarily misleading. It is really most deceptive because on the physical plane he knows no more than the facts and connections that he observes. Whereas for the ordinary scientists of the materialistically minded this is the be-all and end-all of what he terms reality, it constitutes the merest trifle of soul life.

Let me give you an apparently paradoxical example. No doubt we remember Schopenhauer's words that truth must blush because it is paradoxical. Man is aware of facts and combines them intellectually. He knows, for example that it is half past seven. He goes out of his house and crosses the street. At eight o'clock he has arrived somewhere. He knows this by means of sense perception, through intellectual combination, but in most cases he does not realize why he did not leave his house two or three minutes later than intended. Few people will bother to consider such a fact as leaving a few minutes earlier or later. Nevertheless, this may be of significance.

I will take the grotesque example, but examples of this kind in miniature are constantly happening in life, of a man being three minutes late. Had he left his house punctually he would have been run over and killed, and he was not killed because he was three minutes late. It is unlikely that events will happen in this grotesque manner, and yet they are occurring all the time in such a way more or less, but people are not aware of them. The man started out three minutes late, and just as it is true that he would be dead had he left his house punctually at eight o'clock, it is true that he is now alive. His karma saved him from death because he started three minutes late. Now this may appear unimportant, but it is not so. In fact, a person is only indifferent to such an event to the extent that he is unaware of the true reality. If he knew, he would no longer be indifferent.

If you were aware of the fact that had you left punctually you would be dead then it would not be a matter of indifference to you. It would actually make a deep impression on you and a profound influence would radiate into your soul as a result of this awareness. You need only recall the significance of such an event for our soul life when such an event actually happens. But is this not tantamount to saying we are constantly going through life with firmly closed eyes? This is in fact true.

A man knows what is occurring externally but he is not aware of what would have happened to him had things gone just a little differently. That means that knowledge of the different possibilities is withheld from his soul. The soul lives indifferently, whereas the knowledge of the various possibilities would shatter or uplift our inner consciousness. Man knows the merest trifle about existing connections. He only knows what emerges from the circumstances. As a result, the life of soul is poor, and what would otherwise be expressed fails to be so. One perhaps would not make such a seemingly paradoxical statement if it were not for the fact that one runs one's head up against it in investigating life after death. Among the many things that arise in the soul we must include what has just been described. After death many things appear vividly before the soul of which it had no inkling that at such a moment you were in danger of your life ... at such and such a time you threw away your happiness ... here you were lazy, and had you not been so easy-going you might have been able to do some good. A host of things that one has not experienced confronts one after death. What appears ludicrous actually becomes reality after death. A whole world of which one is not aware in life then comes to expression.

Are not the things of which we have been speaking really there? Let us again take the example in which we started out three minutes later than intended, and that we thereby have avoided death. We are unaware of this. To the materialist the fact of not knowing something is regarded as unimportant. An intelligent person does not attach undue importance to the fact that he knows or does not know something because he realizes that things are simply there whether he be aware of them or not. The play and opposition of forces was there and so were we. All the preparatory conditions for our death were present. Forces were working towards one another. They passed on another by, and yet they approached one another. There are many such cases in life. Something is actually there. We do not perceive it, but it is around us nevertheless.

If in our present cycle of evolution people continually acquire an understanding for the spiritual world, things that cannot exist for sense perception but are nevertheless in our environment will work upon us in a definite way. This leads us to an extraordinarily interesting fact. Suppose that events happen as they have been described, and that we avoid death because we left three minutes late. This will make no impression whatsoever on the materialist. But in the man who gradually unfolds an understanding in his heart for such connections there will be a change. Remember that the development of anthroposophy is only just beginning. If he has understood and lived in anthroposophy, not merely acquired an external understanding of it but really lived in it with his heart and mind, then his experience will be different. He may start three minutes late, thereby avoiding death, but at the moment when death would have struck had the circumstances been different, he will sense something within him that will manifest as a feeling for the various possibilities. This will be the result as anthroposophy becomes the life blood of the soul.

What will happen when we gradually unfold such feelings, when human nature directs itself according to spiritual-scientific understanding? Moments in which something might have happened to us lift us for a short time into a kind of temporary mediumistic condition during which we are able to let the spiritual world shine into our consciousness. Such moments may be exceedingly fruitful when a person is to know consciously something of the working of the dead on him. Moments when events that have not happened are experienced in the way described awaken impressions out of the spiritual world. The whole strange realm of a world of subtle sensing will unfold in those who draw near to anthroposophy.

Humanity is evolving, and only an obtuse person would maintain that the human race has always been endowed with the same soul forces.

Soul powers change, and although it is true to say that today man is primarily equipped for external perception upon which he works with his thinking, it is equally true that through experiences of the kind that have been described he will evolve into a period when soul-spiritual forces will develop. In this respect, too, we have the prospect of spiritual science becoming a real force intervening creatively in life. Earlier we considered how influences from the physical plane can be exerted on the life after death, and now we have seen where doors or windows can be created so that the experiences of the dead can be perceived here in earthly life. I also wanted to give you an idea of how opportunities arise to establish communication between the two worlds.

Among the many things that can be said about the life between death and rebirth, and we shall get to know them as time goes on, let me just mention this one today. During the life between death and a new birth we find that essentially three forces—of thinking, of feeling and of will or wish—come to expression in the soul. The forces of thinking or of the intellect express themselves in such a way that our consciousness is either clear or vague; for forces of feeling in that we are more or less compassionate or hardhearted, more or less religious or irreligious in our attitude; the forces of volition and wish in that our deeds are more or less egotistical. Thus these three kinds of forces assert themselves. These soul forces each have a different significance for the life after death.

Let us first consider the intellectual forces. How do they assist us after death? They help to render our conscious experience of the period between death and a new birth particularly clear. In fact, the more we endeavor to think clearly and truly during our physical existence, the greater our efforts to acquire a true knowledge of spiritual realities, the brighter and clearer will be our consciousness between death and a new birth. I will speak quite concretely here. A man, for example, who is untrue in his intellectual qualities, who lacks interest in acquiring real knowledge of the conditions obtaining in the spiritual world, will find that, although a consciousness develops, slowly it will become dim. Strange as it may seem, this dimming of consciousness after death causes us to pass through a certain period more rapidly. We pass the more quickly through the spiritual world the more asleep we are. If, therefore, a man is obtuse in his intellect, although he will retain his consciousness for a time, he will not be able to maintain it beyond a certain point. His obtuseness will bring about a twilight condition, and from then onward his life in the spiritual world will pass rapidly and he will return comparatively soon to a physical body.

It is different with the forces of will and wish. They help us to draw forth from the macrocosmic environment between death and rebirth strong or weak forces that are needed for building up our next earthly existence. A man who enters into these macrocosmic conditions with an immoral attitude of soul will not be able to attract the forces essential to a proper building up of the astral and etheric bodies, which will then be stultified. This produces weaklings or the like. Thus it is morality that makes us capable of drawing the forces from the higher worlds that we need for the following incarnation. Intellectuality and morality are closely connected with what the human becomes as a result of his sojourn in the super-sensible world between death and rebirth.

The forces of the heart and of feeling, the innermost forces in the human soul, come before us objectively in the corresponding period between death and a new birth. They are outside us. This is significant. One who is capable of love and compassion lives through his life between death and a new birth surrounded by pictures that promote life and happiness corresponding to the measure of his compassion. These come before the soul as his environment. Pictures of hatred appear to the one who has hated.

At a certain stage of the period between death and a new birth we behold as an outer cosmic painting what we are in our innermost being. There is no better painter than these forces, and the firmament after death is filled with what we truly are in heart and mind. We behold this innermost tableau just as here on earth we behold the firmament of the heavens. Thus we have a firmament between death and a new birth, and it remains with us. It is conditioned by whether we have received the Mystery of Golgotha into the innermost depths of our soul in the sense referred to previously as expressed in the words of St. Paul, “Not I but the Christ in me.” If we experience the Christ within us, then we have the possibility during our Sun existence to experience in the surrounding Akasha picture-world the Christ in His most wondrous form, in His manifested glory, as the element in which we live and dwell. This thought need not merely have an egotistical significance. It may also be of objective significance because in our further existence this outspread picture is again taken into the soul and is brought down into our next incarnation. As a result, we do not only make ourselves into better human beings, but also into a better force in the evolution of the earth.

So the efforts we make to transform our heart forces are intimately connected with our faculties in the next life, and we see the technique that is at work in transforming our heart forces into a great cosmic panorama, a cosmic firmament between death and a new birth that is then again incorporated into our being, giving us stronger forces than previously. Thus an all-around strengthening process is the result of the fact that we behold in the period between death and a new birth what has been experienced inwardly in life.

We have once again considered matters of considerable importance in relating to the conditions of existence between death and a new birth. They are significant because on earth we are in fact nothing else than what life between death and a new birth has made of us. Furthermore, if we ignore them, we shall be less and less able to gain a true knowledge of our own being. If we ignore the conditions of existence between death and a new birth, we shall be incapable of true action and thinking in times to come. These studies are part of wider matters that can be mentioned in relation to the life between death and a new birth. I wished to make a beginning with a content that is to become more and more the substance of spiritual science.

Das Leben Zwischen Dem Tode Und Einer Neuen Geburt II

Die Betrachtung, die wir vorgestern haben anstellen können über das Leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt, zeigt uns ja, wie eng die ganze menschliche Wesenheit zusammenhängt mit dem, was man das universelle Leben im Weltenall nennen kann. Denn wenn Sie sich mancherlei von dem überlegen, was da gesagt worden ist, so werden Sie daraus entnehmen können, daß der Mensch eigentlich nur während seiner Erdenzeit gewissermaßen an einen Ort gebannt ist, daß er nur während seiner Erdenzeit einen geringen Raum einnimmt, während er in der ganzen Zeit zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt dem Planetensystem und sogar der Welt außerhalb desselben in späterer Zeit nach dem Tode einverleibt ist. Wenn wir für die Entwickelung zwischen der Geburt und dem Tode oftmals sagen, um einen okkulten Tatbestand auszudrücken, der Mensch zeige sich als eine Art mikrokosmischen Abbildes des Makrokosmos, so müssen wir jetzt sagen: Zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt ist eigentlich der Mensch selber makrokosmisch; er ist ergossen in den Makrokosmos; er erweist sich da so recht als ein makrokosmisches Wesen, denn er muß in dieser Zwischenzeit die Kräfte, die er für seine nächste Inkarnation braucht, aus dem Makrokosmos ziehen. Und zwar können wir dieses makrokosmische Leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt so auffassen, daß der Mensch in der ersten Zeit nach dem Tode gewissermaßen noch, wenn man sich so ausdrücken darf, die Eierschalen des irdischen Lebens an sich trägt, zusammenhängt mit dem, was das irdische Leben ihm geben konnte, was das irdische Leben aus ihm machen konnte. Dies ist ja die Zeit, welche zunächst besonders nahe geht den Bedürfnissen und Interessen des menschlichen Herzens. Wenn der okkulte Blick hingewendet wird auf irgend jemand, der vor verhältnismäßig kurzer Zeit den irdischen Plan verlassen hat, so ist er ja, wie wir wissen, in der Kamalokasphäre. Das ist die Sphäre, die, makrokosmisch gesprochen, bis zum Umkreis des Mondes geht. Der Mensch lebt sich also hinein, ausdehnend seine seelisch-geistige Wesenheit so, daß er die ganze Mondensphäre bewohnt. In dieser Zeit — das wissen wir ja schon -— ist der Mensch ganz und gar noch verbunden mit der irdischen Welt. Die Wünsche, die Begierden, die Interessen, die Sympathien, die Antipathien, die er ausgebildet hat, die bilden Kräfte — das haben wir ja öfters schon beschrieben —, die ihn gleichsam zurückneigen zur irdischen Welt. Der Mensch ist da während der Kamalokazeit in einem gewissen Sinne eingeschlossen wie in eine Atmosphäre seiner eigenen astralischen Natur, wie er sie sich auf der Erde angeeignet hat. Er wünscht sich noch immer das, was er sich auf der Erde gewünscht hat; er hat Interesse an dem, woran er auf der Erde Interesse gehabt hat. Und diese Zeit des Kamaloka ist ja gerade dazu da, daß der Mensch diese Wünsche abwickeln kann, aber daß diese Wünsche und Begierden — insofern sie abhängig sind von den physischen Organen, und alle sinnlichen Genüsse zum Beispiel sind davon abhängig — ihm nicht befriedigt werden können und er sie also durch die Unmöglichkeit der Befriedigung sich abgewöhnt. Dies alles, was wir ja öfter geschildert haben in bezug auf den Menschen unmittelbar nach dem Tode, bezieht sich aber, wie wir leicht einsehen können, auf die Individualität des Menschen, im engsten Sinn des Wortes auf das, was der Mensch gleichsam aus seiner Astralität herauszureißen hat, was er sich abgewöhnen muß, was er von sich entfernen muß.

In einer andern Beziehung noch trägt der Mensch mit sich hinaus zunächst in die Kamalokazeit die irdischen Zusammenhänge, und zwar in folgender Weise: Das, womit der Mensch zusammenhängt, sei es an Tatsachen, sei es an Wesenheiten der Kamalokagzeit, das hängt von seinem inneren Leben ab, hängt davon ab, wie das Betreffende vorgebildet, veranlagt ist in seiner Seele. Zum Beispiel: ein Mensch geht durch die Pforte des Todes. Etwas früher ist irgend jemand, dem er nahegestanden hat, schon durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen, so daß wir sagen können: Beide Gestorbenen befinden sich in der Kamalokasphäre; sie können sich dort finden. Die okkulte Untersuchung zeigt durchaus, daß der Mensch nicht nur etwa beschäftigt ist mit seiner eigenen Entwickelung, mit der Abgewöhnung seiner Wünsche, Begierden, Interessen und so weiter, sondern daß er bald nach dem Tode, nach einer kurzen, man möchte sagen, embryonalen Schlafenszeit die Menschen findet, denen er auf der Erde nahegestanden. Dagegen ist für diese erste Zeit im allgemeinen nicht gerade eine Aussicht vorhanden, daß der Mensch etwa jedes Wesen, das da mit ihm zugleich in der Kamalokasphäre ist, wirklich finden kann. Raum- und Zeitverhältnisse sind ja da ganz andere, namentlich Raumverhältnisse. Nicht darum handelt es sich, daß man nicht in die Nähe kommt von Wesen, denen man nicht nahegestanden hat, man mag ihnen so nahe als möglich kommen, man nimmt sie nicht wahr. Zum Wahrnehmen gehört, daß man dem betreffenden Wesen im Leben nahegestanden hat. Also diejenigen, denen man im Leben nahegestanden hat — es kommen da zunächst kaum andere Wesen als Menschen in Betracht-, die finden sich auch in der Umgebung eines Verstorbenen bald in der Kamalokazeit. Die Verhältnisse, in denen wir uns da nach dem Tode zu solchen Wesenheiten befinden, die richten sich auch noch ganz nach den irdischen Verhältnissen, die wir zu ihnen ausgebildet haben. Und zwar in einer Weise, die ich auch schon vorgestern charakterisiert habe: in einer solchen Weise, daß wir genauso und der vollen Wahrheit entsprechend zu einem mit im Kamaloka sich befindenden Menschen stehen, wie wir im Erdenleben gestanden haben, aber das nicht können, was wir während der Erdenzeit noch können, das heißt, etwa das Verhältnis ändern. Es bleibt so bestehen, wie es auf der Erde war. Auf der Erde können wir zu einem Menschen, den wir geliebt haben, nachher Haß entwickeln und zu einem Menschen, den wir gehaßt haben, Liebe entwickeln; wir können uns bemühen, unsere Beziehung zu ihm zu ändern. So ist es nicht in der Kamalokazeit. Wir treffen einen Menschen, der vor uns hingestorben ist, und wir fühlen uns zunächst zu ihm in ein solches Verhältnis gebracht, wie es entsprochen hat dem letzten Verhältnis, das wir zu ihm auf der Erde gehabt haben. So stehen wir zu ihm. Dann leben wir ja, wie Sie wissen, rückwärts in der Zeit. Haben wir vorher ein anderes Verhältnis zu ihm gehabt, so können wir das nicht künstlich herbeiführen, sondern wir müssen ruhig zurückleben und durchleben dann nach dem entsprechenden Zeitpunkte ein Verhältnis, das wir zu ihm früher gehabt haben, das wir wieder nicht ändern können, das sich genau so ausdrückt, wie es sich auf der Erde ausgedrückt hat.

Man könnte leicht glauben, daß dieses ein außerordentlich schmerzvoller Zustand ist. Das ist er auch in einer gewissen Beziehung; man fühlt ihn sogar durchaus so, wie man etwa fühlt, wenn man gern ginge und angefesselt ist am Erdboden. Man fühlt sich geistig an ein Verhältnis, das auf der Erde gegeben worden ist, gebunden; man fühlt sich in einer Zwangslage. Das ist durchaus richtig. Und wenn diese Zwangslage eine starke ist, so ist das Verhältnis natürlich peinigend. Nun muß man, um einen solchen Zustand richtig zu verstehen und gemütsmäßig zu würdigen, nicht etwa nur den Gedanken haben, das sei ein schmerzlicher Zustand — schmerzlich ist er schon in vieler Beziehung — aber der Tote, der hat nicht nur das Bewußtsein, ein schmerzlicher Zustand sei vorhanden, sondern er hat das ganz entschiedene Bewußtsein, daß dieser Zustand notwendig ist, daß er sein muß, daß man sich geradezu Steine in den Weg wälzen würde, die die Entwickelung aufhalten, wenn man solchen Schmerz nicht durchmachen würde.

Was geschieht denn dadurch, daß man das alles durchmacht? Nehmen wir an, wir erleben so das Verhältnis zu einem andern Menschen nach dem Tode, schauen also ein gewisses Verhältnis, das wir zu ihm gefunden haben im Leben, das wir gebildet haben, an, erleben es. Durch das Anschauen, durch das Erleben, durch das Hinstarren gleichsam, bilden sich in unserer Seele die Kräfte aus, zunächst in ihren geistigen Vorbildern, die wir brauchen, damit uns unser Karma in weiterer Zukunft richtig leitet, damit wir uns einfinden bei der Wiederverkörperung mit dem andern Menschen zusammen so, daß der karmische Ausgleich kommen kann. So werden gleichsam technisch gezimmert die Kräfte, die zum karmischen Ausgleich notwendig sind.

Ändern kann der Tote an dem, was ihm zunächst in der Umgebung entgegentritt, kaum etwas; aber es tritt zuweilen doch für den Toten das intensive Bedürfnis auf, dieses oder jenes zu ändern. Man möchte sagen: Eine große Bedeutung gewinnen für den Toten unerfüllte Wünsche, aber solche unerfüllte Wünsche, die während des Lebens nicht immer ganz in das Bewußtsein heraufspielen. Und da kommt etwas in Betracht, was außerordentlich wichtig ist zu beachten. Im gewöhnlichen Leben hier auf dem physischen Plan, da fühlen wir ja gewiß diese oder jene Neigung, diese oder jene Sympathie in unserem Bewußtsein, machen uns diese oder jene Vorstellung; aber unter diesem Bewußtsein ist ja das astrale, das Unterbewußtsein. Das taucht nicht mit sehr starker Kraft in das Oberbewußtsein, in das eigentliche Ich-Bewußtsein herauf. Dadurch kommt etwas Unvollständiges, möchte man sagen, in das Bewußtseinsleben des Menschen. Der Mensch lebt sich eigentlich als bewußtes Wesen kaum jemals im Leben ganz aus. Wie der Mensch sich darlebt, das ist, könnte man sagen, keineswegs immer ganz wahr; das menschliche Seelenleben ist ja etwas außerordentlich Kompliziertes. Es kann vorkommen, daß jemand in seinem gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein, in seinem Ich-Bewußtsein, aus Vorurteilen heraus, aus Bequemlichkeit heraus, aus diesem oder jenem Grund heraus etwas gar nicht mag, vielleicht sogar haßt, während in seinem Uhnterbewußtsein ein intensiver Wunsch nach dem ist, was er in seinem Oberbewußtsein sogar haßt. Und es kommt vor, daß die menschliche Seele oftmals intensiv arbeitet daran, gerade über solche Dinge sich zu täuschen.

Es kann zum Beispiel vorkommen, daß zwei Menschen miteinander leben. Der eine von diesen zweien, die in irgendeinem Verhältnis stehen, kommt an die Geisteswissenschaft oder Anthroposophie heran, fühlt sich von ihr begeistert; der andere, der mit ihm lebt, fühlt sich nicht begeistert, sondern wird immer schrecklicher und schrecklicher in seinem Verhältnis, je mehr der andere sich in die Geisteswissenschaft einlebt, schimpft immer mehr und mehr über diese Geisteswissenschaft, verlästert sie. Nun ist folgendes möglich — denn das menschliche Seelenleben ist kompliziert —, daß dieser andere, der die Geisteswissenschaft verlästert, wenn just nicht sein Freund oder ein anderswie mit ihm Zusammenlebender Anthroposoph geworden wäre, vielleicht selbst bei irgendeiner geeigneten Gelegenheit es geworden wäre. Es hindert ihn gerade der, der mit ihm lebt, daß er selbst es auch wird. Das kann durchaus vorkommen; und es kann vorkommen, daß ein solcher, der diese Geisteswissenschaft verlästert, der alles mögliche gegen die Geisteswissenschaft vorbringt in seinem Ich-Bewußtsein, in seinem Unterbewußtsein oder astralen Bewußtsein den intensivsten Wunsch danach hat — ja, daß, je mehr er die Geisteswissenschaft verlästert, desto stärker und stärker der Wunsch in ihm wird nach ihr. Im Leben hier auf der Erde lässt sich nämlich solches durchaus durchführen, daß man im Oberbewußtsein Dinge verlästert, die im Unterbewußtsein stärker und stärker zutage treten; aber der Tod macht Wahrheiten aus Unwahrheiten. Und so kann man bemerken, daß Menschen durch die Pforte des Todes gehen, die, sei es aus Bequemlichkeit oder aus solchen Dingen heraus, wie wir sie geschildert haben, die Geisteswissenschaft verlästert haben; es kann also vorkommen, und das kann für alles mögliche anwendbar sein, daß sie nach dem Tode, weil da die Wahrheit sich in der Menschenseele geltend macht, den Wunsch, den sie nicht bemerkt haben, in intensivster Weise fühlen. Und man kann nachweisen, daß Menschen durch die Pforte des Todes gehen, die scheinbar nach einer Sache gar keinen Wunsch gehabt haben, und daß doch nach dem Tode ein Wunsch mit aller Intensität hervortritt. Also darauf kommt es nicht an bei der Prüfung unserer Kamalokazeit, ob unsere Wünsche, Begierden, Leidenschaften und so weiter im Oberbewußtsein, im Ich-Bewußtsein sind, sondern ob sie auch im astralischen, im Unterbewußtsein sind. Beide wirken in gleicher Weise brennend nach dem Tode, und die Wünsche und Begierden, die wir verhüllt haben hier im Leben, die wirken eigentlich noch intensiver nach dem Tode.

Nun muß bei einer solchen Sache berücksichtigt werden, daß irgend etwas, was an sich mit der Menschenseele verwandt ist, unter allen Umständen einen Eindruck auf diese Menschenseele macht. Was ich Ihnen jetzt sage, das ist gut untersucht; es kann wirklich als eine wichtige menschlich-seelische Tatsache erscheinen, und es ist gut, daß wir gerade an dem Beispiel der Geisteswissenschaft die Sache ins Auge fassen. Nehmen wir an, zwei Menschen lebten hier miteinander; der eine sei eifriger Anthroposoph und der andere wolle nichts davon wissen. Nun bleibt aber dieser andere, weil Geisteswissenschaftliches in seiner Umgebung getrieben wird, in seinem astralischen Leibe nicht unbeeinflußt davon. Es geschehen wahrhaftig mit unseren Seelen ungeheuer bedeutungsvolle Dinge, von denen wir nichts wissen, die eben auf spirituelle Weise auf uns wirken, und es gibt Dinge, die einfach durch ihre Natur die menschliche Seele formen, verändern. Und so kann man sagen: Man findet kaum irgend jemand, der in eines Anthroposophen Umgebung war, wenn er noch so obstinat dagegen war, der nicht in seinem Unterbewußtsein einen Hang zur Geisteswissenschaft bekommen hätte. Man findet gerade bei den mit Geisteswissenschaft zusammenhängenden Gegnern, daß sie nach dem Tode eine Wunschessphäre haben, von der man mit aller Entschiedenheit sagen kann: sie bringt sich dadurch zum Ausdruck, zur Geltung, daß sie leidenschaftlich dann nach spiritueller Wissenschaft verlangt. Deshalb hat es sich so wohltuend für solche Tote erwiesen, was ja vielfach in unseren Kreisen gemacht wird, daß den Toten, die während des Lebens wenig von Geisteswissenschaft haben aufnehmen wollen, nach dem Tode — wie man das nennen kann — vorgelesen wird. Das erweist sich als außerordentlich wohltuend für die Betreffenden. Das wird in der Weise gemacht, daß man versucht, sich, um eine Imagination zu haben, ein lebendiges Bild von dem Gesichte des betreffenden Toten vorzustellen, wie er in der letzten Zeit auf der Erde war, dal3 man sich ein Buch nimmt und ganz in der Stille mit dem Gedanken an den Toten, wie wenn er einem gegenübersitzen würde, ihm vorliest, die Dinge Satz für Satz durchgeht. Das saugt der Tote mit aller Begierde auf und hat unendlich viel davon. Ja, sehen Sie, hier stehen wir an einem Punkt, wo spirituelle Weisheit wahrhaftig recht praktisch wird im Leben, an einem der Punkte, wo Materialismus und Spiritualität nicht nur wie Theorien einander gegenüberstehen, sondern wie Lebensmächte, so daß man sagen kann: Durch das Herankommen an die Spiritualität wird die Kommunikation, die Verbindung geschaffen zwischen menschlichen Individualitäten, gleichgültig ob sie im Leben oder im Tode sind. Wir können den Toten nützen, wenn wir im spirituellen Leben darinnen stehen, auf die geschilderte und auf noch manch andere Weise, von der bei Gelegenheit noch gesprochen werden soll. Stehen wir aber nicht im spirituellen Leben darinnen, so bedeutet das nicht nur einen Mangel an Wissen, an Erkenntnis, sondern bedeutet, daß es uns wahrhaftig in eine ganz begrenzte Sphäre des Daseins hereinstellt: nämlich nur in die Sphäre des Physischen; so daß wir, wenn wir materialistisch gesinnt sind und nur in der Materie leben, den Zusammenhang sofort verlieren mit irgendeiner Individualität, wenn sie durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen ist. Da haben wir an dem, was gesagt worden ist, ein Beispiel, wie ungeheuer bedeutungsvoll das Hineinwirken der einen Welt in die andere ist. Der Tote selbst muß — wenn er zum Beispiel den intensiven Wunsch hat, nach dem Tode dies oder jenes kennenzulernen von spiritueller Weisheit — das entbehren, er muß mit dem Wunsche beladen bleiben. Es könnte höchstens die Möglichkeit geben, daß er, was aber in der Kamalokazeit für ihn kaum möglich ist, irgend jemanden, der auch gestorben ist, dort findet, der in einem solchen Verhältnis zu ihm gestanden hatte auf der Erde, daß er durch das bloße Dasein, durch das Verhältnis, in dem er zu ihm steht, eine Art von Befriedigung — aber das wäre auch gar keine große — gewähren könnte. Aber das kommt nicht in Betracht gegenüber dem, was an ungeheuren Wohltaten, an Guttaten der noch Lebende, der auf dem physischen Plan noch Stehende, dem Toten gewähren kann.

Bedenken Sie die Lage des Toten! Er hat den intensivsten Wunsch nach dem oder jenem. Das kann ihm in der Zeit nach dem Tode nicht befriedigt werden, weil die Dinge unwandelbar starr bleiben, die wir in der Seele tragen; aber von der Erde herauf kann kommen ein Strom, der da eindringt in diesen sonst starr bleibenden Wunsch. Und das ist eigentlich der einzige Weg, wie die Dinge, die in unserer Seele spielen, geändert werden können. Und man darf sagen: In der nächsten Zeit nach dem Tode hängt vieles, ungeheuer vieles von dem, wie der Tote leben und sich fühlen kann, davon ab, welches spirituelle Verständnis diejenigen für ihn entwickeln, die ihm nahegestanden hatten und zurückgeblieben sind auf dem physischen Plan.

Wir machen uns, wenn wir uns im Sinne dessen verhalten, was wir durch die spirituelle Wissenschaft erfahren können, zu Gestaltern von ganz anderen Lebensverhältnissen, von Lebensverhältnissen, welche von der einen Welt in die andere hineinwirken. In dieser Beziehung muß man ja sagen, daß heute noch nicht gerade sehr weit fortgeschritten ist die Ausbildung der Geisteswissenschaft zu Lebensmächten. Man hätte so ungeheuer viel zu tun, dasjenige, was die Geisteswissenschaft begründen kann an realen Mächten, wirklich auszubilden, und es könnte gut sein so, daß man sich bekannt machte mit den geisteswissenschaftlichen Wahrheiten und dann das gesamte Leben danach einrichtete. Würde man in diesem tiefen Sinne Geisteswissenschaft verstehen, würde man sie so zu einem Lebensnerv machen, dann würde über spirituelle Theorien wenig diskutiert und gestritten werden auf der Erde. Das ist das, was wir bedenken sollen. Durch spirituelle Wissenschaft wird nicht nur das irdische Leben verändert, sondern das gesamte Leben der Menschheit. Und wird einmal Geisteswissenschaft viel, viel mehr auf dem Umwege durch das Begreifen der Ideen Herzenssache werden, werden sich die Menschen — wenn man das triviale Wort gebrauchen darf — im Sinne der Geisteswissenschaft verhalten und benehmen, dann wird auch immer mehr und mehr das Wechselverhältnis der einzelnen Welten zueinander hervortreten.

Da muß man allerdings etwas berühren, was einem nicht so leicht, möchte ich sagen, geglaubt wird, obwohl es eingesehen werden kann, wenn man sich die Sache überlegt. Das Wissen des Menschen nämlich ist, insofern es Wissen auf dem physischen Plane ist, etwas außerordentlich Trügerisches, wirklich etwas außerordentlich Trügerisches; denn der Mensch weiß ja auf dem physischen Plane wirklich gar nichts anderes als die Tatsachen und die Zusammenhänge, die er beobachtet. Das ist, während es für den gewöhnlichen Wissenschafter oder für den materialistisch gesinnten Menschen das ganze Um und Auf ist dessen, was er Realität nennt, das wenigste, wenn man das Seelenleben in seiner Ganzheit ins Auge faßt.

Ich will Ihnen ein scheinbar paradoxes Beispiel sagen; aber wir können uns ja an das Wort Schopenhauers erinnern, daß die Wahrheit erröten muß, weil sie paradox ist. Der Mensch weiß Tatsachen und kombiniert die Tatsachen. Er weiß, nun ja: Es ist halb acht Uhr. Da ist er weggegangen von seinem Hause, hat diese oder jene Straße überschritten. Um acht Uhr ist er da oder dort angekommen. So etwas weiß er durch die Sinneswahrnehmung, so etwas weiß er durch, sagen wir, Verstandeskombination; aber nicht weiß er in den meisten Fällen, warum er nicht um zwei oder drei Minuten früher oder später weggegangen ist. Die wenigsten Menschen werden sich Gedanken darüber machen, wenn sie da oder dort um drei oder vier Minuten früher oder später weggehen; aber das kann etwas ausmachen. Ich will ein groteskes Beispiel wählen — aber Beispiele im Kleinen von solcher Art kommen immer im Leben vor —, das Beispiel, daß der Mensch drei Minuten sich verspätet habe. Wäre er um acht Uhr pünktlich weggegangen, so wäre er, sagen wir, wirklich an etwas gekommen, was ihn überfahren, getötet hätte. Er ist nicht getötet worden, weil er sich um drei Minuten verspätet hat. In dieser grotesken Weise wird es seltener vorkommen, aber solches in mehr oder weniger wirklich realer Art kommt immer und immer wieder im Leben vor, nur wissen es die Menschen nicht. Sein Karma hat ihn beschützt vor dem Tode, indem er drei Minuten später weggegangen ist. Nun könnte das unbedeutend, gleichgültig erscheinen, aber es ist nicht gleichgültig; denn denken Sie sich einmal, daß der Mensch nur dadurch gleichgültig ist für eine solche Sache, daß er sie nicht weiß: in dem Augenblick, wo er sie wüßte, wäre er gar nicht gleichgültig. Wenn Sie wüßten: ich bin drei Minuten später weggegangen, als ich wollte; wäre ich zur rechten Zeit weggegangen, dann wäre ich tot — dann wäre es nicht gleichgültig für Sie, dann würde es einen mächtigen Eindruck auf Ihre Seele machen, dann würde eine tiefe Wirkung ausgehen von diesem Wissen auf Ihre Seele. Erinnern Sie sich nur, wenn wirklich so etwas vorkommt, welche Bedeutung das für das Seelenleben hat. Heißt denn das aber etwas anderes als: der Mensch geht eigentlich fortwährend mit fest verbundenen Augen durchs Leben? Das tut er nämlich. Er weiß das, was äußerlich vorgeht, er weiß aber nicht, wenn die Dinge ein wenig anders wären, was mit ihm alles geschehen wäre. Das heißt, dieses Wissen von den Möglichkeiten entzieht sich den Seelenkräften. Die Seele lebt gleichgültig dahin, während sie durch Wissen erschüttert, gehoben werden könnte, durch Wissen von den Möglichkeiten. Also dadurch, daß der Mensch das wenigste weiß von den Zusammenhängen, die da sind, nur das weiß, was eben durch die Umstände herauskommt, dadurch ist das Seelenleben des Menschen arm, dadurch drückt sich in diesem Seelenleben nicht das aus, was sich sonst ausdrücken würde. Vielleicht würde man überhaupt nicht leicht auf einen scheinbar so paradoxen Satz kommen, wie er jetzt ausgeführt worden ist, wenn nicht die Untersuchungen des Lebens nach dem Tode einen sozusagen mit der intellektuellen Nase darauf stoßen würden; denn unter dem Mancherlei, was auftritt in der Seele, ist das, was eben jetzt charakterisiert worden ist als nicht zum Bewußtsein kommend. Stark tritt vor die Seele des Menschen nach dem Tode vieles, wovon er während des Lebens keine Ahnung gehabt hat; stark tritt vor die Seele: Da warst du in Lebensgefahr, da hast du dir ein Glück verscherzt, da warst du bequem, und wenn du nicht bequem gewesen wärest, so hättest du dies oder jenes erreicht, dies oder jenes Gute bewirken können. Eine ganze Welt von Nichterlebtem tritt nach dem Tode einem entgegen. Was dem Materialisten lächerlich erscheint im physischen Leben, das wird nach dem Tode Realität, das wird Wirklichkeit, wahre Wirklichkeit. So daß man sagen muß: man lernt allerdings von dem, was um einen herum ist und im Leben nicht zum Ausdruck kommt, nach dem Tode eine ganze Welt kennen.

Sind denn nun diese Dinge gar nicht da, von denen hier die Rede ist? Nehmen wir einmal den Fall an: Nun gut, wir sind drei Minuten später von unserem Hause weggegangen, als wir wollten, sind dadurch dem Tod entgangen. Wir wissen das gar nicht. Daß wir es nicht wissen als Menschen, das macht eben nur für den Materialisten etwas aus. Der gescheite Mensch weiß, daß es darauf nicht ankommt, ob er etwas davon weiß oder nicht. Der gewöhnlich gescheite Mensch weiß, daß sich die Dinge nicht kümmern um sein Wissen, sondern daß sie da sind auch ohne sein Wissen. Der Kräftezusammenhang, das Gegeneinanderwirken der Kräfte war da. Es war vielleicht die Eisenbahn da, die uns hätte überfahren können; wir waren auch da, alle Vorbereitungen waren da zu unserem Tode. Die Kräfte haben zueinander gewirkt, sie haben nur aneinander vorbei gewirkt; aber sie haben sich zusammengedrängt. Solches ist viel in unserer Umgebung um uns herum im Leben. Da ist es. Wir nehmen es nicht wahr, aber es ist um uns herum. Wenn nun die Menschen nach der Bestimmung unseres Zeitenzyklus, nach der in die Zukunft hineingehenden Menschheitsevolution, nach und nach Verständnis gewinnen werden für die spirituelle Welt, dann wird das, was ja allerdings für die sinnliche Auffassung und den Verstand nicht da sein kann, aber doch in unserer Umgebung ist, es wird in einer gewissen Weise auf uns wirken. Und hier kommen wir auf eine außerordentlich interessante Tatsache. Nehmen wir an, die Sache lag wirklich so wie geschildert, daß wir dem Tode entgangen wären dadurch, daß wir uns drei Minuten verspätet haben: der Materialist, der spürt gar nichts davon; derjenige Mensch, der sich nach und nach — heute ist die spirituelle Wissenschaft noch im Anfang ihrer Entwickelung — Verständnis verschafft in seinem Herzen für solche Zusammenhänge, bei dem verändert sich wahrhaftig die Seele. Er geht dann, wenn

Und was werden wir zum Beispiel durch so etwas nach und nach fühlen können, wenn die menschliche Natur sich zu geisteswissenschaftlichem Verständnis wird durchgerungen haben? Nun, wir werden durch solch einen Moment, wo etwas hätte geschehen können, was mit uns im Zusammenhang steht, zu einer Art von zeitweiligem Medium werden — nach den Definitionen, die ich in meinen öffentlichen Vorträgen gegeben habe -, in einen kurz dauernden medialen Zustand kommen, indem wir in die Lage kommen, hereinscheinen zu lassen die geistige Welt in unser Bewußtsein. Solche Momente können die fruchtbarsten sein für den Menschen, wenn nun die Toten auf ihn hereinwirken, wenn er etwas bewußt wissen soll über die Toten. Momente von ungeschehenen Tatsachen, die mit uns zusammenhängen in solcher Weise, wie es geschildert worden ist, solche Momente, die mit uns zusammenhängen, die werden in gewisser Weise Erwecker für Eindrücke aus der geistigen Welt heraus. Die ganz eigentümliche Art eines ahnungsvollen Lebens wird sich gerade dadurch in den Seelen derer entwickeln, welchen Geisteswissenschaft nahetritt im Leben; dies aus dem Grunde, weil ja die Menschheit wirklich in Evolution ist und nur ein ganz kurzverständiger Mensch glauben kann, das Menschengeschlecht sei über alle Zeiten hin mit denselben Seelenkräften behaftet. Die seelischen Kräfte ändern sich, und so wahr der Mensch heute vorzugsweise veranlagt ist, äußerlich wahrzunehmen und das Wahrgenommene denkend zu verarbeiten, so wahr wird er durch solche Verhältnisse, wie sie nun geschildert worden sind, sich hinein entwickeln in ein Zeitalter, in dem psychisch-spirituelle Kräfte ausgebildet werden. Also ist auch in dieser Weise Aussicht vorhanden, daß die Geisteswissenschaft eine Lebensmacht werden wird, die stark gestaltend eingreifen wird in das Leben. Vorhin haben wir gesehen, wie eine Wirkung ausgeübt werden kann von dem physischen Plan aus hinauf in das Leben nach dem Tode; jetzt sehen wir, wo Tore oder Fenster geschaffen werden können, damit das, was die Toten erleben, geschaut werden kann hier im physischen Leben. — Ich wollte Ihnen damit auch einen Begriff geben davon, wie sozusagen die Gelegenheiten sich bilden der Kommunikation der beiden Welten.

In dieser Beziehung wird ja ungeheuer viel gesündigt in der Verbreitung von allerlei kuriosen Lehren und namentlich manchmal kuriosen Praktiken. Während der, welcher mit solchen Dingen bekannt ist, weiß, daß, wenn er mit irgendeinem Toten zusammenkommen will, erst eine Gelegenheit geschaffen werden muß — ich sehe jetzt ab von solchen Gelegenheiten, die auf medialem Wege zustandekommen -, eine Gelegenheit, daß sich gleichsam das Fenster zu dem Toten öffnet, gibt es ja viele leichtsinnige Menschen, denen mitgeteilt wird, daß der oder jener etwas wissen will von einem Gestorbenen, sehr bald, nach wenigen Stunden, einem sagen: Ich habe mit ihm gesprochen, es geht ihm gut. — Ich habe das nicht wenige Male erlebt, daß das vorgekommen ist. Das ist auch so etwas, was das Kapitel vom Autoritätswahn berührt und all dem Unfug, der damit getrieben wird.

Aber ein anderes können Sie daraus noch sehen: Sie können daraus ersehen — weil ja die Kamalokasphäre im wesentlichen im Astralraum ist —, wie mit der astralischen Welt zusammenhängt die Welt der Möglichkeiten; die Welt nicht dessen, was hier in der physischen Welt geschieht, sondern was geschehen könnte. Und das bitte ich Sie, machen Sie geradezu zum Gegenstand einer Art Meditation, daß das, was möglich ist in der physischen Welt, aber nicht wirklich wird, daß das eine Art Atmosphäre, eine Art Kommunikationsatmosphäre für den astralen Raum abgibt.

Von all den vielen Dingen, die zu sagen wären über das Leben zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt und von denen wir ja manches im Laufe der nächsten Zeit kennenlernen werden, sei heute nur noch das eine erwähnt: Im Laufe des Lebens zwischen Geburt und Tod finden wir ja vorzugsweise, daß in der Seele dreierlei, sagen wir Kräfte zum Ausdruck kommen: die Denkkräfte, die Gefühlskräfte und die Willens- und Wunschkräfte. Die Denkkräfte, die intellektuellen Kräfte so, daß wir ein wenig heller oder weniger hell sind, die Gemüts- oder Gefühlskräfte so, daß wir mehr oder weniger mitleidsvoll oder hartherzig sind, mehr oder weniger religiös oder irreligiös veranlagt sind, die Wunsch- und Willenskräfte so, daß unsere Taten mehr oder weniger egoistisch oder unegoistisch sind. So kommen diese dreierlei Arten von Seelenkräften zwischen Geburt und Tod zur Geltung. Für das Leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt haben diese verschiedenen Seelenkräfte eine ganz verschiedene Bedeutung. Nehmen wir zuerst die intellektuellen Kräfte. Wozu, so können wir uns fragen, verhelfen sie uns nach dem Tode? Die intellektuellen Kräfte verhelfen uns nach dem Tode dazu, unsere Bewußtheit, das bewußte Durchleben der Zeit zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt besonders hell zu machen, so daß, je mehr wir uns Mühe geben in dem physischen Leben, erstens klar und zweitens richtig und wahrhaftig zu denken, je mehr wir uns Mühe geben, uns mit spirituellen Tatsachen in rechtmäßiger Weise bekanntzumachen, unser Bewußtsein desto mehr sich aufhellt zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt, so daß — und ich will da gleich das Konkrete schildern - ein Mensch, der unwahrhaftig ist in bezug auf seine intellektuellen Eigenschaften, der kein besonderes Interesse hat, aus der Wahrhaftigkeit heraus mit den geistigen Verhältnissen bekanntzuwerden, die man. nur durch Erkenntnis erreichen kann, zwar nach dem Tode ein Bewußtsein entwickeln wird, aber ein Bewußtsein, das sich langsam herabdämpfen wird. Und nun ist das Eigentümliche dies, daß das Herabdämpfen des Bewußtseins nach dem Tode verursacht, daß wir eine gewisse Zeit schneller durchlaufen, das heißt, wir laufen schneller in der geistigen Welt, wenn wir mehr schlafend sind, als ordentlich wachend. Wenn also einer stumpf ist gegen alles, was intellektuelle Kräfte sind, so bleibt er eine Zeit nach dem Tode bewußt, aber dann kann er das Bewußtsein nicht mehr aufrechterhalten; seine Dumpfheit bewirkt einen Dämmerzustand, und dann verläuft das übrige Leben rasch, und er kommt verhältnismäßig bald ins irdische Leben zurück.

Anders verhält es sich für die Kräfte, die den Willen und Wunsch betreffen. Diese Kräfte verhelfen uns dazu, starke oder schwache Kräfte herauszuziehen aus den makrokosmischen Verhältnissen in der Zeit zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt, wie wir sie brauchen zum Aufbau unseres nächsten Lebens. Kommt man durch unmoralische Seelenstimmung in solche Verhältnisse, wie wir sie geschildert haben, so kann man die nötigen Kräfte nicht herausziehen, die den astralischen- oder Ätherleib ordentlich aufbauen sollen; die werden dann verkümmert sein. Man wird schwächlich sein und dergleichen. Moralität ist also das, was uns dazu befähigt, die Kräfte, die wir brauchen für die folgende Inkarnation, aus der höheren Welt herauszuziehen. So hängen Intellektualität und Moralität eng mit dem zusammen, was aus dem Menschen sozusagen durch seinen Aufenthalt zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt in der übersinnlichen Sphäre wird. Die Gemüts- oder Gefühlskräfte, gewissermaßen die innersten Kräfte der menschlichen Seele, die treten uns in der entsprechenden Zeit zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt objektiv entgegen; die sind außer uns. Das ist sehr bedeutungsvoll. Ein Mensch, der liebe- und mitleidsfähig ist, der durchlebt das Leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt so, daß ihm die lebensfördernden, seligmachenden, starkmachenden Bilder, die dem Mitleid entsprechen, als seine Umwelt, als das, in dem er sich befindet, vor die Seele tritt. Dem Hasser treten die Bilder des Hasses vor die Seele, Wie wir sind in unserem Innersten, wir schauen es in gewisser Zeit zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt als Weltengemälde außer uns. Es gibt keinen so guten Maler, als es die Kräfte sind zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt. Für die innersten Seelenkräfte unseres Gemütes ist unser Firmament dasjenige, was wir zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt schauen, so wie wir das Himmelsfirmament sehen hier auf Erden. Es ist unser Firmament zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt. Es ist immer bei uns. Es hängt damit zusammen, daß wir, wenn wir in das Innerste unserer Seele so, wie es vorgestern erwähnt worden ist, das Mysterium von Golgatha aufgenommen haben, wenn wir uns ein Verständnis für das Paulinische Wort erworben haben: «Nicht ich, sondern der Christus in mir», wenn wir den Christus in uns erleben, dann haben wir während des Sonnenseins die Möglichkeit, das, was da erwähnt worden ist als Akasha-Bilderwelt um uns herum, den Christus in seiner schönsten, großartigsten Gestalt, wie man sagt, in seiner Offenbarungsglorie zu schauen wie das Element, in dem wir leben und weben. Dieser Gedanke braucht nicht bloß eine egoistische Bedeutung zu haben, sondern er kann eine ganz sachliche Bedeutung haben. Denn das, was wir da als Gemälde ausgebreitet finden, das nehmen wir beim Weitergang wiederum in unsere Seele auf und bringen es in die nächste Inkarnation und machen uns dadurch nicht nur zu einem besseren Menschen, sondern zu einer besseren Kraft in der Erdenentwickelung.

So hängt das, was wir an unserem Gemüt arbeiten, geradezu mit unseren Fähigkeiten in dem nächsten Leben innig zusammen, und wir haben wiederum gleichsam die Technik kennengelernt, wie sich unsere Gemütskräfte als großer Weltenteppich, als Weltenfirmament um uns herum bilden zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt, um dann wiederum in uns zu sein in entsprechender Weise mit stärkerer Kraft als im vorhergehenden Leben: denn alles verstärkt sich dadurch, daß man, was man in einem Leben innerlich durchlebt hat, in der Zwischenzeit zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt um sich schaut und dadurch sich mit dem Erlebten stärker macht, all die Kräfte noch entwickelt, die aus dem lebendigen Schauen hervorgehen.

So haben wir wiederum einiges besprochen von den Dingen, die so unendlich wichtig sind, über die Verhältnisse zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt, die wichtig sind aus dem Grunde, weil wir ja im Leben auf der Erde doch nichts anderes sind als das, was das Leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt aus uns gemacht hat, und weil wir zu einer wirklichen Erkenntnis unseres eigenen Wesens und deshalb auch zu einem wirklichen Tun und Handeln und Denken in der Menschenzukunft immer weniger werden kommen können, wenn wir unberücksichtigt lassen das, was in einer spirituellen Welt zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt vorgeht. Diese Betrachtungen sind ein Teil ausgebreiteter Dinge, die da gesagt werden können über das Leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt. Ich wollte zunächst einmal einen Anfang machen mit dem, was ja auf die eine oder andere Weise in der nächsten Zeit immer mehr und mehr zum Inhalt der Geisteswissenschaft werden soll.

Life Between Death and a New Birth II

The consideration we were able to make the day before yesterday about life between death and a new birth shows us how closely the whole human being is connected with what can be called the universal life in the universe. For if you consider some of what has been said, you will be able to conclude that human beings are actually only confined to a certain place during their earthly life, that they occupy only a small space during their earthly life, while during the entire period between death and a new birth they are incorporated into the planetary system and even into the world outside it in a later period after death. When we often say, in order to express an occult fact, that between birth and death the human being appears as a kind of microcosmic image of the macrocosm, we must now say: Between death and a new birth, the human being is actually macrocosmic; he is poured out into the macrocosm; there he truly reveals himself as a macrocosmic being, for in this intermediate period he must draw from the macrocosm the forces he needs for his next incarnation. We can understand this macrocosmic life between death and a new birth in such a way that, in the first period after death, the human being still carries, so to speak, the eggshells of earthly life, connected with what earthly life could give him, what earthly life could make of him. This is the time that is initially particularly close to the needs and interests of the human heart. When the occult gaze is turned to someone who has left the earthly plane relatively recently, they are, as we know, in the Kamaloka sphere. This is the sphere which, in macrocosmic terms, extends to the orbit of the moon. The human being lives into this sphere, expanding his soul-spiritual being so that he inhabits the entire sphere of the moon. During this time — as we already know — human beings are still completely connected to the earthly world. The desires, cravings, interests, sympathies, and antipathies that they have developed form forces — as we have often described — that draw them back, as it were, to the earthly world. During the Kamaloka period, the human being is, in a certain sense, enclosed in an atmosphere of his own astral nature, as he has acquired it on earth. He still desires what he desired on earth; he is interested in what he was interested in on earth. And this Kamaloka period is precisely there so that the human being can work through these desires, but so that these desires and cravings — insofar as they are dependent on the physical organs, and all sensual pleasures, for example, are dependent on them — cannot be satisfied and he thus weans himself of them through the impossibility of satisfaction. All this, which we have often described in relation to the human being immediately after death, refers, as we can easily understand, to the individuality of the human being, in the narrowest sense of the word, to what the human being must, as it were, tear out of his astrality, what he must wean himself from, what he must remove from himself.

In another respect, human beings initially carry their earthly connections with them into the Kamaloka period in the following way: That with which human beings are connected, whether to facts or to beings of the Kamaloka period, depends on their inner life, on how the relevant thing is preformed and predisposed in their soul. For example, a person passes through the gate of death. Some time earlier, someone close to him has already passed through the gate of death, so that we can say: Both deceased persons are in the Kamaloka sphere; they can find each other there. Occult research shows quite clearly that human beings are not only concerned with their own development, with weaning themselves off their desires, cravings, interests, and so on, but that soon after death, after a short, one might say embryonic, period of sleep, they find the people to whom they were close on earth. On the other hand, during this initial period, there is generally no prospect that a person will actually find every being that is in the Kamaloka sphere at the same time as them. The conditions of space and time are completely different there, especially the conditions of space. It is not a question of not coming close to beings with whom one has not been close; no matter how close one comes to them, one does not perceive them. Perception requires that one has been close to the being in question during life. So those to whom one was close in life—and here, initially, hardly any beings other than humans come into consideration—soon find themselves in the surroundings of a deceased person during the Kamaloka period. The conditions in which we find ourselves after death in relation to such beings are still entirely determined by the earthly conditions we have developed in relation to them. And this is in a way that I already described the day before yesterday: in such a way that we relate to a person in Kamaloka exactly as we did in earthly life, in accordance with the full truth, but we cannot do what we could do during our earthly life, that is, change the relationship. It remains as it was on earth. On earth, we can develop hatred for a person we loved and love for a person we hated; we can try to change our relationship with them. This is not the case in the Kamaloka period. We meet a person who died before us, and we initially feel toward them in the same way as we did in our last relationship with them on Earth. That is how we feel toward them. Then, as you know, we live backwards in time. If we had a different relationship with them before, we cannot artificially bring that about, but must calmly live back and then, at the appropriate moment, live through the relationship we had with them earlier, which we cannot change again and which expresses itself exactly as it did on earth.

One could easily believe that this is an extremely painful state. In a certain sense, it is; one even feels it exactly as one feels when one would like to walk and is tied to the ground. One feels spiritually bound to a relationship that existed on earth; one feels in a predicament. That is quite correct. And if this predicament is a strong one, then the relationship is naturally painful. Now, in order to understand such a state correctly and appreciate it emotionally, one must not simply think that it is a painful state — it is painful in many respects — but the dead person is not only aware that that a painful state exists, but he has the very definite awareness that this state is necessary, that it must be so, that one would literally roll stones in the way to hinder development if one did not go through such pain.

What happens as a result of going through all this? Let us assume that we experience the relationship with another person after death, that we look at a certain relationship that we found with them in life, that we formed, and experience it. Through observing, through experiencing, through staring, as it were, the forces are formed in our soul, initially in their spiritual models, which we need so that our karma can guide us correctly in the future, so that we can find ourselves together with the other person in reincarnation in such a way that karmic balance can be achieved. In this way, the forces necessary for karmic balance are, as it were, technically constructed.

The dead can hardly change anything in their immediate surroundings, but sometimes they feel an intense need to change this or that. One might say that unfulfilled desires gain great significance for the dead, but these are unfulfilled desires that did not always come fully to consciousness during life. And here something comes into consideration that is extremely important to note. In ordinary life here on the physical plane, we certainly feel this or that inclination, this or that sympathy in our consciousness, we form this or that idea; but beneath this consciousness is the astral, the subconscious. This does not emerge with great force into the superconscious, into the actual ego-consciousness. This results in something incomplete, one might say, entering the conscious life of the human being. As a conscious being, the human being hardly ever lives life to the fullest. How the human being lives out his life is, one might say, by no means always entirely true; the human soul life is something extraordinarily complicated. It can happen that someone in their ordinary consciousness, in their ego-consciousness, out of prejudice, out of convenience, or for this or that reason, does not like something at all, perhaps even hates it, while in their subconscious there is an intense desire for what they even hate in their superconsciousness. And it happens that the human soul often works intensively to deceive itself about such things.

For example, it can happen that two people live together. One of these two, who are in some kind of relationship, comes into contact with spiritual science or anthroposophy and feels enthusiastic about it; the other, who lives with him, does not feel enthusiastic, but becomes more and more terrible in his relationship the more the other becomes involved in spiritual science, ranting more and more about this spiritual science and slandering it. Now, the following is possible — because the human soul life is complicated — that this other person, who slanders spiritual science, might have become an anthroposophist himself at some suitable opportunity if his friend or someone else living with him had not become an anthroposophist. It is precisely the person living with him who prevents him from becoming one himself. This can certainly happen; and it can happen that someone who slanders spiritual science, who brings up all kinds of arguments against it in his ego consciousness, has the most intense desire for it in his subconscious or astral consciousness — indeed, that the more he slanders spiritual science, the stronger and stronger the desire for it becomes within him. In life here on earth, it is quite possible to slander things in the conscious mind that become stronger and stronger in the subconscious; but death turns truths into untruths. And so we can observe that people pass through the gate of death who, whether out of convenience or for reasons such as those we have described, have slandered spiritual science; it can therefore happen, and this can apply to all kinds of things, that after death, because the truth asserts itself in the human soul, they feel the desire they did not notice in the most intense way. And it can be proven that people pass through the gate of death who apparently had no desire for anything, and yet after death a desire emerges with all its intensity. So when examining our Kamaloka period, it is not important whether our desires, cravings, passions, and so on are in our conscious mind, in our ego consciousness, but whether they are also in the astral, in the subconscious. Both have the same burning effect after death, and the desires and cravings that we have concealed here in life actually have an even more intense effect after death.

Now, in such a case, it must be taken into account that anything that is related to the human soul will, under all circumstances, make an impression on that human soul. What I am about to tell you has been well researched; it can truly be regarded as an important fact about the human soul, and it is good that we are considering this matter using the example of spiritual science. Let us assume that two people lived here together; one was an enthusiastic anthroposophist and the other wanted nothing to do with it. Now, because spiritual science is being practiced in his environment, the other person is not unaffected by it in his astral body. Truly, things of tremendous significance happen to our souls, things we know nothing about, things that affect us in a spiritual way, and there are things that, simply by their nature, shape and change the human soul. And so one can say: one can hardly find anyone who has been in the company of an anthroposophist, no matter how obstinate they were against it, who has not acquired a tendency toward spiritual science in their subconscious. It is precisely among opponents of spiritual science that one finds that after death they have a sphere of desire which one can say with all certainty expresses itself and asserts itself in their passionate longing for spiritual science. That is why it has proved so beneficial for such dead people, as is often done in our circles, that the dead who have had little interest in spiritual science during their lives are read to after death, as it were. This proves to be extremely beneficial for those concerned. This is done in such a way that, in order to have an image in one's mind, one tries to imagine a living picture of the face of the deceased as they were in their last days on earth. One takes a book and, in complete silence, with the thought of the deceased as if they were sitting opposite, reads aloud, going through the text sentence by sentence. The deceased absorbs this with all their desire and benefits infinitely from it. Yes, you see, here we are at a point where spiritual wisdom truly becomes practical in life, at one of the points where materialism and spirituality stand not only as opposing theories, but as opposing forces in life, so that one can say: By approaching spirituality, communication, the connection between human individualities, is created, regardless of whether they are alive or dead. We can be of use to the dead if we are involved in spiritual life, in the way described and in many other ways, which will be discussed on another occasion. But if we are not involved in spiritual life, this does not only mean a lack of knowledge and insight, but also that we are truly confined to a very limited sphere of existence: namely, only in the physical sphere; so that if we are materialistic and live only in matter, we immediately lose contact with any individuality once it has passed through the gate of death. What has been said gives us an example of how enormously significant the interaction of one world with the other is. The dead person himself must — if, for example, he has an intense desire to learn this or that about spiritual wisdom after death — go without it; he must remain burdened with the desire. At most, there could be the possibility that he finds someone there who has also died and who had such a relationship with him on earth that, through their mere existence, through the relationship they have with him, they could grant him a kind of satisfaction — but that would not be very great. But that is out of the question in view of the immense benefits and good deeds that the living, those still on the physical plane, can grant the dead.

Consider the situation of the dead! They have the most intense desire for this or that. This cannot be satisfied in the time after death because the things we carry in our souls remain unchangeably rigid; but from the earth there can come a stream that penetrates this otherwise rigid desire. And that is actually the only way in which the things that play in our souls can be changed. And one may say: In the immediate period after death, much, an enormous amount, depends on how the deceased can live and feel, on the spiritual understanding developed for him by those who were close to him and have remained behind on the physical plane.

When we behave in accordance with what we can learn through spiritual science, we become creators of completely different living conditions, living conditions that have an effect from one world to the other. In this regard, it must be said that the development of spiritual science into life forces is not yet very advanced. There is so much to do in order to truly develop what spiritual science can establish as real forces, and it would be good to familiarize oneself with the truths of spiritual science and then organize one's entire life accordingly. If spiritual science were understood in this profound sense and made into a lifeblood, there would be little discussion and dispute about spiritual theories on earth. That is what we should consider. Spiritual science changes not only earthly life, but the entire life of humanity. And once spiritual science becomes much, much more a matter of the heart through the understanding of ideas, people will—if one may use the trivial word—behave and act in accordance with spiritual science, and then the interrelationship of the individual worlds will become more and more apparent.

Here, however, we must touch upon something that is not so easy to believe, I would say, although it can be understood if one thinks about it. For human knowledge, insofar as it is knowledge on the physical plane, is something extremely deceptive, truly something extremely deceptive; for on the physical plane, human beings really know nothing other than the facts and the connections they observe. While this is the be-all and end-all of what the ordinary scientist or materialistic person calls reality, it is the least of it when one considers the soul life in its entirety.

I will give you a seemingly paradoxical example; but we can remember Schopenhauer's words that truth must blush because it is paradoxical. Man knows facts and combines facts. He knows, for example, that it is half past seven. He left his house and crossed this or that street. At eight o'clock he arrived here or there. He knows this through sensory perception, he knows this through, let us say, intellectual combination; but in most cases he does not know why he did not leave two or three minutes earlier or later. Very few people will think about it if they leave three or four minutes earlier or later; but it can make a difference. I will choose a grotesque example — but small examples of this kind always occur in life — the example of a person being three minutes late. If he had left on time at eight o'clock, he would, let us say, have really come to something that would have run him over and killed him. He was not killed because he was three minutes late. This grotesque example is rare, but things like this happen over and over again in life in a more or less real way; people just don't know it. His karma protected him from death by making him leave three minutes later. Now, this may seem insignificant, indifferent, but it is not indifferent; for just think that a person is only indifferent to such a thing because he does not know it: the moment he knew it, he would not be indifferent at all. If you knew: I left three minutes later than I wanted to; if I had left at the right time, I would be dead — then it would not be indifferent to you, then it would make a powerful impression on your soul, then this knowledge would have a profound effect on your soul. Just remember, when something like this really happens, what significance it has for the life of the soul. But does that mean anything other than that human beings actually go through life with their eyes permanently blindfolded? For that is what they do. They know what is happening externally, but they do not know what would have happened to them if things had been a little different. This means that this knowledge of possibilities is withheld from the soul forces. The soul lives indifferently, while it could be shaken and uplifted by knowledge, by knowledge of possibilities. So, because human beings know so little about the connections that exist, knowing only what circumstances reveal, their soul life is poor, and what would otherwise express itself is not expressed in this soul life. Perhaps one would not easily arrive at such a seemingly paradoxical statement as the one just made if the investigations of life after death did not, so to speak, point one to it with one's intellectual nose; for among the many things that occur in the soul is that which has just been characterized as not coming to consciousness. After death, many things come strongly before the soul of the human being of which he had no idea during life; they come strongly before the soul: You were in mortal danger, you forfeited your happiness, you were comfortable, and if you had not been comfortable, you would have achieved this or that, you could have done this or that good. A whole world of unexperienced things confronts us after death. What seems ridiculous to the materialist in physical life becomes reality after death, it becomes true reality. So that one must say: after death, one learns about a whole world from what is around one and does not come to expression in life.

Are the things we are talking about here not there at all? Let us assume the following case: We left our house three minutes later than we intended to, and thus escaped death. We do not know this. The fact that we do not know this as human beings is only important to materialists. Intelligent people know that it does not matter whether they know something or not. The ordinarily intelligent person knows that things do not care about his knowledge, but that they are there even without his knowledge. The interplay of forces, the counteracting forces, was there. Perhaps the train was there that could have run us over; we were also there, all the preparations for our death were there. The forces interacted with each other, they only interacted past each other; but they pushed themselves together. There is much of this in our environment around us in life. It is there. We do not perceive it, but it is around us. When, according to the destiny of our cycle of time, according to the evolution of humanity into the future, people gradually gain understanding of the spiritual world, then that which cannot be perceived by the senses or understood by the intellect, but which nevertheless exists in our environment, will begin to affect us in a certain way. And here we come to an extremely interesting fact. Let us assume that things really were as described, that we escaped death by being three minutes late: the materialist feels nothing of this; but the person who gradually—spiritual science is still in its infancy today—gains understanding in his heart for such connections, his soul is truly transformed. Once they have gained an understanding of this spiritual science, once they have lived with it for a while and not merely gained an outward understanding, but once it has become part of their soul, once they live with its concepts and feelings and so on, they may leave three minutes later and escape death — but at the moment when death could have come, if circumstances had been different, they feel something, he feels something within himself. Learning to feel according to possibilities will come about when anthroposophy becomes the lifeblood of the soul.

And what, for example, will we gradually be able to feel through something like this when human nature has struggled to attain spiritual scientific understanding? Well, through such a moment, when something could have happened that is connected with us, we will become a kind of temporary medium — according to the definitions I have given in my public lectures — we will enter into a brief mediumistic state in which we are able to let the spiritual world shine into our consciousness. Such moments can be the most fruitful for human beings, when the dead influence them, when they are meant to know something consciously about the dead. Moments of unfulfilled events that are connected with us in the way I have described, moments that are connected with us, become in a certain sense awakening agents for impressions from the spiritual world. The very peculiar nature of a life full of premonitions will develop precisely in the souls of those who are drawn to spiritual science in their lives; this is because humanity is truly evolving, and only a very short-sighted person can believe that the human race has been endowed with the same soul forces throughout all ages. The soul forces change, and just as man today is predominantly inclined to perceive externally and to process what he perceives through thinking, so will he, through conditions such as those just described, develop into an age in which psychic-spiritual forces are formed. Thus, there is also the prospect that spiritual science will become a life force that will have a powerful formative influence on life. Earlier we saw how an effect can be exerted from the physical plane up into life after death; now we see where gates or windows can be created so that what the dead experience can be seen here in physical life. — I wanted to give you an idea of how, so to speak, opportunities arise for communication between the two worlds.

In this regard, an enormous amount of sin is committed in the dissemination of all kinds of curious teachings and, in particular, sometimes curious practices. While those who are familiar with such things know that if they want to come into contact with a dead person, an opportunity must first be created — I am now disregarding opportunities that come about through mediums — an opportunity for the window to the dead to open, so to speak. There are many reckless people who, when told that someone wants to know something from a deceased person, very soon, after a few hours, say: “I spoke with him, he is well.” I have experienced this quite a few times. This is also something that touches on the chapter about the delusion of authority and all the nonsense that goes with it.

But you can see something else from this: you can see—because the Kamaloka sphere is essentially in the astral space—how the world of possibilities is connected to the astral world; the world not of what happens here in the physical world, but of what could happen. And I ask you to make this the subject of a kind of meditation: that what is possible in the physical world but does not actually happen creates a kind of atmosphere, a kind of communication atmosphere for the astral space.

Of all the many things that could be said about life between death and a new birth, and of which we will learn much in the course of the next few lectures, let us mention only one today: in the course of life between birth and death, we find that three things, let us say forces, are expressed in the soul: the forces of thought, the forces of feeling, and the forces of will and desire. The powers of thinking, the intellectual powers, so that we are a little brighter or less bright; the powers of the mood or feeling, so that we are more or less compassionate or hard-hearted, more or less religious or irreligious; the powers of desire and will, so that our actions are more or less selfish or unselfish. These three types of soul forces come into play between birth and death. For the life between death and a new birth, these different soul forces have a completely different meaning. Let us first consider the intellectual forces. We may ask ourselves, what do they help us to achieve after death? After death, the intellectual forces help us to make our consciousness, the conscious experience of the time between death and a new birth, particularly clear, so that the more we strive in physical life to think clearly, correctly, and truthfully, the more we strive to to acquaint ourselves with spiritual facts in the right way, the more our consciousness brightens between death and a new birth, so that — and I will describe this concretely — a person who is untruthful in relation to his intellectual qualities, who has no particular interest in becoming acquainted with the spiritual conditions that can only be attained through truthfulness, will indeed develop consciousness after death, but a consciousness that will slowly fade away. can only be attained through knowledge, will develop a consciousness after death, but a consciousness that will slowly fade away. And now the peculiar thing is that the fading away of consciousness after death causes us to pass through a certain period more quickly, that is, we move more quickly in the spiritual world when we are more asleep than when we are properly awake. So if someone is dull to everything that is intellectual power, they remain conscious for a time after death, but then they can no longer maintain consciousness; their dullness causes a twilight state, and then the rest of their life passes quickly, and they return to earthly life relatively soon.

The situation is different for the forces that affect the will and desire. These forces help us to draw out strong or weak forces from the macrocosmic conditions in the time between death and a new birth, as we need them to build up our next life. If one comes into such conditions as we have described through an immoral state of mind, one cannot draw out the necessary forces that are needed to build up the astral or etheric body properly; these will then be stunted. One will be weak and so on. Morality is therefore what enables us to draw from the higher world the forces we need for the next incarnation. Thus, intellectuality and morality are closely connected with what becomes of the human being, so to speak, through his stay in the supersensible sphere between death and a new birth. The powers of the mind or feelings, which are, in a sense, the innermost powers of the human soul, objectively confront us at the appropriate time between death and a new birth; they are outside of us. This is very significant. A person who is capable of love and compassion lives through the life between death and a new birth in such a way that the life-giving, blissful, strengthening images that correspond to compassion appear before the soul as its environment, as that in which it finds itself. Those who hate see images of hatred before their souls. As we are in our innermost being, we see it in a certain period between death and a new birth as a picture of the world outside ourselves. There is no painter as good as the forces between death and a new birth. For the innermost soul forces of our mind, our firmament is what we see between death and a new birth, just as we see the firmament of heaven here on earth. It is our firmament between death and a new birth. It is always with us. It is connected with the fact that when we have taken in the mystery of Golgotha into the innermost part of our soul, as mentioned the day before yesterday, when we have gained an understanding of the Pauline words: “Not I, but Christ in me,” when we experience Christ within us, then during our sun existence we have the opportunity to see what has been mentioned as the Akashic image world around us, Christ in his most beautiful, most magnificent form, as they say, in his revelatory glory, as the element in which we live and breathe. This thought does not need to have a purely egoistic meaning, but can have a very practical significance. For what we find spread out before us as a painting, we take up again in our soul as we go on, and bring it into the next incarnation, thereby making ourselves not only better human beings, but also a better force in the evolution of the earth.

Thus, what we work on in our minds is intimately connected with our abilities in the next life, and we have, as it were, learned the technique by which our mental forces form a great world tapestry, a world firmament around us between death and a new birth, in order to then be within us again in a corresponding manner with greater power than in the previous life: for everything is strengthened by the fact that what one has experienced inwardly in one life is looked upon in the interval between death and a new birth, thereby strengthening oneself with what one has experienced and developing all the powers that arise from living observation.

Thus we have again discussed some of the things that are so infinitely important, about the conditions between death and a new birth, which are important for the reason that in life on earth we are nothing other than what what life between death and a new birth has made us, and because we will be less and less able to come to a real understanding of our own nature and therefore also to real action and thinking in the future of humanity if we ignore what happens in a spiritual world between death and a new birth. These considerations are part of a broader discussion that can be had about life between death and a new birth. I wanted to start with what will, in one way or another, increasingly become the content of spiritual science in the near future.

The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Life Between Death and RebirthGA 140