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Theosophy
GA 9

Translated by Steiner Online Library

The Three Worlds

I. The World of Souls

[ 1 ] Observation of human beings has shown that they belong to three worlds. The substances and forces that build up their bodies are taken from the world of physical corporeality. They have knowledge of this world through the perceptions of their external physical senses. Those who trust only these senses and develop only their perceptive abilities cannot gain insight into the other two worlds, the soul and the spirit. Whether a person can convince themselves of the reality of a thing or being depends on whether they have a perceptive organ, a sense, for it. Of course, it can easily lead to misunderstandings when, as is the case here, the higher perceptive organs are called spiritual senses. For when one speaks of “senses,” one automatically associates this with the idea of the “physical.” After all, the physical world is also referred to as the “sensual” world, in contrast to the ‘spiritual’ world. In order to avoid misunderstanding, it must be taken into account that here we are speaking of “higher senses” only comparatively, in a figurative sense. Just as the physical senses perceive the physical, so the soul and spiritual senses perceive the soul and spiritual. The term “sense” is used only in the sense of “organ of perception.” Human beings would have no knowledge of light and color if they did not have eyes that were sensitive to light; they would know nothing of sounds if they did not have ears that were sensitive to sound. In this regard, the German philosopher Lotze rightly says: “Without an eye that senses light and without an ear that senses sound, the whole world would be dark and silent. There would be as little light or sound in it as there would be toothache without a nerve in the tooth that senses pain.” — To see what is being said here in the right light, one need only consider how different the world must appear to lower life forms than it does to humans, who have only a kind of sense of touch or feeling spread over the entire surface of their bodies. Light, color, and sound cannot exist for them in the same sense as for beings endowed with eyes and ears. The air vibrations caused by a shotgun blast may also have an effect on them when they are hit by them. An ear is necessary for these air vibrations to be perceived by the soul as a bang. And for certain processes in the subtle substance called ether to reveal themselves as light and color, an eye is necessary. — Only through one of his organs receiving an effect from it does man know anything about a being or thing. This relationship of man to the world of reality is aptly expressed in the following statement by Goethe: "Actually, we undertake in vain to express the essence of a thing. We become aware of effects, and a complete history of these effects would at best encompass the essence of that thing. We strive in vain to describe a person's character; but if we compile their actions, their deeds, a picture of their character will emerge. Colors are acts of light, acts and sufferings . . . Colors and light are in the most precise relationship to each other, but we must think of both as belonging to nature as a whole; for it is nature as a whole that wants to reveal itself to the sense of sight in this way. In the same way, the whole of nature reveals itself to another sense . . . Thus nature speaks downwards to other senses, to known, misunderstood, unknown senses; thus it speaks to itself and to us through a thousand phenomena. To the attentive observer, it is nowhere dead or mute." It would be incorrect to interpret this statement by Goethe as denying the knowability of the essence of things. Goethe does not mean that one should only perceive the effect of a thing and that its essence is hidden behind it. Rather, he means that one should not speak of such a “hidden essence” at all. The essence is not behind its revelation; rather, it comes to light through revelation. However, this essence is often so rich that it can reveal itself to other senses in yet other forms. What is revealed belongs to the essence, but because of the limitations of the senses, it is not the whole essence. This Goethean view is also entirely in line with the meaning of Spiritual Science intended here.

[ 2 ] Just as the eye and ear develop in the body as organs of perception, as senses for physical processes, so too can human beings develop spiritual and mental organs of perception within themselves, through which the soul and spirit worlds are opened up to them. For those who do not have such higher senses, these worlds are “dark and silent,” just as the physical world is “dark and silent” to a being without ears and eyes. However, the relationship of human beings to these higher senses is somewhat different from that to the physical senses. Kind Mother Nature usually ensures that the latter are fully developed in human beings. They come about without any effort on their part. Human beings must work on the development of their higher senses themselves. They must train their soul and spirit if they want to perceive the world of the soul and spirit, just as nature has trained their body so that they can perceive their physical environment and orient themselves in it. Such training of higher organs, which nature has not yet developed itself, is not unnatural; for in the higher sense, everything that human beings accomplish is also part of nature. Only those who would claim that man must remain at the stage of development at which he is released from the hand of nature — only they could call the training of higher senses unnatural. They “misjudge” the significance of these organs in the sense of Goethe's statement quoted above. But such a person should also oppose all human education, because it too continues the work of nature. And in particular, they would have to oppose the operation of people born blind. For the person who awakens their higher senses in the manner described in the last part of this writing experiences something similar to what happens to the person born blind who undergoes the operation. The world appears to him with new qualities, with processes and facts that the physical senses do not reveal. It is clear to him that he does not arbitrarily add anything to reality through these higher organs, but that without them the essential part of this reality would have remained hidden to him. The soul and spirit worlds are not beside or outside the physical world; they are not spatially separated from it. Just as the previously dark world shines in light and color for the blind-born person who has undergone surgery, so too do things that previously appeared to him only physically reveal their spiritual and mental qualities to the spiritually and mentally awakened person. However, this world is also filled with processes and beings that remain completely unknown to those who are not spiritually and mentally awakened. — (Later in this book, we will discuss the development of the soul and spiritual senses in more detail. Here, we will first describe these higher worlds themselves. Those who deny these worlds are simply saying that they have not yet developed their higher organs. Human development is not complete at any stage; it must always continue.)

[ 3 ] People often instinctively create a mental image of the “higher organs” that is too similar to the physical ones. However, it should be made clear that these organs are spiritual or soul structures. One should therefore not expect that what one perceives in the higher worlds is merely a nebulous, diluted materiality. As long as one expects something like this, one will not be able to arrive at a clear mental image of what is actually meant by “higher worlds.” It would not be as difficult for many people as it really is to know something about these “higher worlds” — at first only the basics — if they did not have a mental image of what they are supposed to perceive being something refined and physical. Since they assume this, they generally do not want to acknowledge what it really is. They find it unreal, do not accept it as something that satisfies them, and so on. Certainly, the higher stages of spiritual development are difficult to access; but the level that is sufficient to recognize the nature of the spiritual world — and that is already a lot — would not be so difficult to reach if one were willing to free oneself from the prejudice that consists in forming a mental image of the soul and spirit as nothing more than a finer physical reality.

[ 4 ] Just as we do not know a person completely if we only have a mental image of their physical appearance, so we do not know the world around us if we only know what our physical senses reveal to us. And just as a photograph becomes understandable and full of life to us when we get so close to the person photographed that we learn to recognize their soul, so too can we only truly understand the physical world when we get to know its soul and spiritual basis. That is why it is advisable to speak first of the higher worlds, the soul and spirit worlds, and only then to assess the physical world from a point of view related to Spiritual Science.

[ 5 ] It is somewhat difficult to speak of the higher worlds in the present cultural epoch. For this cultural epoch is above all great in its knowledge and mastery of the physical world. Our words have initially acquired their character and meaning in relation to this physical world. However, we must use these common words in order to connect with what is familiar. This opens the door to misunderstanding for those who only want to trust their outer senses. Some things can initially only be expressed and hinted at in parables. But this is how it must be, for such parables are a means by which human beings are first referred to these higher worlds and by which their own elevation to them is promoted. (This elevation will be discussed in a later chapter, which will refer to the training of the soul and spiritual organs of perception. At first, human beings should learn about the higher worlds through parables. Then they can think about gaining insight into them for themselves.) 1See Remarks and Additions. On page 96.

[ 6 ] Just as the substances and forces that compose and govern our stomach, our heart, our lungs, our brain, and so on, originate in the physical world, so our soul characteristics, our instincts, desires, feelings, passions, wishes, sensations, and so on, originate in the soul world. The human soul is a member of this spiritual world, just as the body is a part of the physical world. If one wants to indicate a difference between the physical world and the spiritual world, one can say that the latter is much finer, more mobile, and more malleable in all its things and beings than the former. However, one must remain clear that when one enters the spiritual world, one enters a world that is completely new compared to the physical world. So when one speaks of coarser and finer in this respect, one must remain aware that one is comparatively indicating what is fundamentally different. This is the case with everything that is said about the soul world in words borrowed from physical corporeality. Taking this into account, one can say that the structures and beings of the soul world consist of soul substances and are guided by soul forces in the same way as physical substances and forces do in the physical world.

[ 7 ] Just as spatial expansion and spatial movement are peculiar to physical forms, so irritability and instinctive desire are peculiar to spiritual things and beings. That is why the soul world is also referred to as the world of desires or wishes, or as the world of “longing.” These expressions are borrowed from the human soul world. It must therefore be noted that the things in those parts of the soul world that lie outside the human soul are as different from the soul forces in it as the physical substances and forces of the physical outer world are from the parts that make up the physical human body. (Instinct, desire, craving are terms for the material aspects of the soul world. This material aspect can be described as “astral.” If we take more account of the forces of the soul world, we can speak of “desire beings.” However, we must not forget that the distinction between ‘material’ and “force” cannot be as strict here as it is in the physical world. An impulse can just as well be called “force” as “matter.”

[ 8 ] For those who are gaining insight into the soul world for the first time, the differences between it and the physical world can be confusing. But this is also the case when opening up a previously inactive physical sense. A blind person who has undergone surgery must first learn to orient themselves in the world they previously knew through their sense of touch. Such a person, for example, first sees objects with their eyes; then he sees them outside himself, but at first they appear to him as if they were painted on a surface. Only gradually does he grasp the depth, the spatial distance of things, and so on. — In the soul world, completely different laws apply than in the physical world. Now, of course, many soul formations are bound to those of other worlds. The human soul, for example, is bound to the physical human body and to the human spirit. The processes that can be observed in it are therefore influenced by both the physical and the spiritual world. This must be taken into account when observing the spiritual world, and one must not refer to as spiritual laws what originates from the influence of another world. — When, for example, a person sends out a wish, it is carried by a thought, a mental image of the mind, and follows its laws. But just as one can determine the laws of the physical world by disregarding the influences that, for example, humans have on its processes, so too is something similar possible with the spiritual world.

[ 9 ] An important difference between spiritual processes and physical ones can be expressed by describing the interaction in the former as much more internal. In physical space, for example, the law of “impact” prevails. When a moving ivory ball collides with a stationary one, the latter continues to move in a direction that can be calculated from the movement and elasticity of the former. In the soul realm, the interaction of two entities that collide with each other depends on their inner properties. They penetrate each other, growing together, as it were, if they are related to each other. They repel each other when their essences conflict. In physical space, for example, there are certain laws governing vision. Distant objects are seen in perspective reduction. When looking down an avenue, according to the laws of perspective, the more distant trees appear to be closer together than the nearer ones. In the soul realm, on the other hand, everything appears to the observer, both near and far, at the distances that correspond to its inner nature. This naturally provides a source of manifold errors for those who enter the soul realm and want to cope with the rules they bring with them from the physical world.

[ 10 ] One of the first things one must learn in order to orient oneself in the soul world is to distinguish between the different types of its formations in a similar way to how one distinguishes between solid, liquid, and gaseous bodies in the physical world. To do this, one must know the two fundamental forces that are particularly important here. They can be called sympathy and antipathy. The nature of a spiritual entity is determined by how these fundamental forces act within it. Sympathy is the force with which a spiritual entity attracts others, seeks to merge with them, and asserts its kinship with them. Antipathy, on the other hand, is the force with which soul structures repel and exclude each other, asserting their individuality. The role that a soul structure plays in the spiritual world depends on the extent to which these fundamental forces are present in it. Three types of soul entities must first be distinguished, depending on the effect of sympathy and antipathy within them. These types differ from one another in that sympathy and antipathy exist within them in very specific mutual relationships. Both fundamental forces are present in all three. Let us first consider an entity of the first type. It attracts other formations in its environment by virtue of the sympathy that reigns within it. But in addition to this sympathy, there is also antipathy within it, through which it repels what is in its environment. Outwardly, such a formation will appear as if it were endowed only with forces of antipathy. But this is not the case. There is sympathy and antipathy within it. Only the latter predominates. It has the upper hand over the former. Such entities play a selfish role in the soul realm. They repel much around them and attract only a little lovingly to themselves. Therefore, they move through the soul realm as unchanging forms. Through the power of sympathy that is within them, they appear greedy. At the same time, however, this greed appears insatiable, as if it could not be satisfied, because the prevailing antipathy repels so much that is accommodating that no satisfaction can occur. If one wants to compare soul formations of this kind with something in the physical world, one can say that they correspond to solid physical bodies. This region of soul materiality should be called the blaze of desire. — That which is mixed with the souls of animals and humans from this blaze of desire determines what is called the lower sensual drives in them, their prevailing selfish instincts. — The second type of soul structure is one in which the two fundamental forces are in balance, in which sympathy and antipathy are equally strong. These structures approach other structures with a certain neutrality; they have a kindred effect on them without particularly attracting or repelling them. They do not draw a firm boundary between themselves and their environment, as it were. They constantly allow other structures in their environment to influence them; they can therefore be compared to the fluid substances of the physical world. And there is nothing greedy about the way such structures attract others to themselves. The effect referred to here occurs, for example, when the human soul perceives a color. When I perceive the color red, I first receive a neutral stimulus from my environment. Only when the pleasure of the red color is added to this stimulus does another soul effect come into play. What causes the neutral stimulus are soul formations that are in such an interrelationship that sympathy and antipathy keep each other in balance. The soul substance that comes into play here must be described as completely malleable and fluid. Unlike the first, it does not move selfishly through the soul space, but in such a way that its existence receives impressions everywhere, that it proves to be related to many things it encounters. An expression that could be applied to it might be: fluid irritability. — The third stage of soul formations is that in which sympathy has the upper hand over antipathy. Antipathy causes selfish self-assertion, but this recedes behind the inclination toward the things of the environment. Imagine such a formation within the soul space. It appears as the center of an attractive sphere that extends over the objects of the environment. Such formations must be described in particular as desire-materiality. This designation seems correct because, through the existing antipathy, which is only weaker than sympathy, the attraction still has the effect that the attracted objects are to be brought into the structure's own sphere. Sympathy thus acquires a selfish undertone. This desire-matter can be compared to the gaseous or airy bodies of the physical world. Just as a gas strives to expand in all directions, so desire-materiality spreads in all directions.

[ 11 ] Higher levels of soul materiality are characterized by the fact that one fundamental force, namely antipathy, completely recedes, and only sympathy proves to be the actual effective force. Now, this can initially assert itself within the parts of the soul structure itself. These parts attract each other. The power of sympathy within a soul structure is expressed in what is called pleasure. And any reduction in this sympathy is displeasure. Displeasure is only a reduced pleasure, just as cold is only a reduced warmth. Pleasure and displeasure are what live in human beings as the world of feelings — in the narrower sense. Feeling is the weaving of the soul within itself. What we call its comfort depends on the way in which the feelings of pleasure and displeasure weave within the soul.

[ 12 ] An even higher level is occupied by those soul formations whose sympathy does not remain confined to the realm of their own life. These differ from the three lower levels, as does the fourth, in that the power of sympathy does not have to overcome any opposing antipathy. It is through these higher types of soul materiality that the diversity of soul formations comes together to form a common soul world. Where antipathy comes into play, the soul entity strives for something else for the sake of its own life, in order to strengthen and enrich itself through the other. Where antipathy is silent, the other is accepted as a revelation, as a manifestation. This higher form of soul materiality plays a similar role in the soul realm as light does in physical space. It causes one soul structure to absorb the existence and essence of the others for their own sake, or one could also say, to allow itself to be irradiated by them. By drawing from these higher regions, the soul beings are awakened to true soul life. Their dull life in darkness opens up to the outside, shines and radiates into the soul space itself; the sluggish, dull weaving within, which wants to close itself off through antipathy when only the substances of the lower regions are present, becomes strength and liveliness that emanates from within and pours outwards. The flowing irritability of the second region only has an effect when the structures meet.

[ 13 ] Then, however, one flows into the other. But contact is necessary here. In the higher regions, free radiation and outpouring prevail. (The essence of this area is rightly described as “radiation,” because the sympathy that is developed has such an effect that the expression taken from the effect of light can be used as a symbol for it.) Just as a plant withers in a cellar, so do soul structures without the soul substances of the higher regions that enliven them. Soul light, active soul essence and the actual soul life in the narrower sense belong to these regions and communicate with the soul beings from here.

[ 14 ] Three lower and three upper regions of the soul world must therefore be distinguished; and both are mediated by a fourth, resulting in the following division of the soul world:

  1. Region of the fire of desire
  2. Region of flowing irritability
  3. Region of wishes
  4. Region of pleasure and displeasure
  5. Region of the light of the soul
  6. Region of active soul power
  7. Region of soul life

[ 15 ] Through the first three regions, the soul structures receive their characteristics from the relationship between antipathy and sympathy; through the fourth region, sympathy weaves within the soul structures themselves; through the three highest, the power of sympathy becomes freer and freer; luminous and invigorating, the soul substances of this region permeate the soul space, awakening what would otherwise lose itself in its own existence.

[ 16 ] It should actually be superfluous, but for the sake of clarity, it should be emphasized here that these seven divisions of the soul world do not represent separate areas. Just as solids, liquids, and gases interpenetrate in the physical world, so too do the fervor of desire, flowing irritability, and the forces of the world of desire interpenetrate in the soul world. And just as in the physical world heat permeates bodies and light illuminates them, so it is in the soul world with pleasure and displeasure and with the light of the soul. And something similar takes place with the active soul force and the actual life of the soul.

2. The soul in the soul world after death

[ 1 ] The soul is the link between the spirit of the human being and his body. Its forces of sympathy and antipathy, which through their mutual relationship cause the soul expressions: desire, irritability, wish, pleasure, and displeasure, and so on. These powers are not only active between soul entities, but they also express themselves toward the beings of other worlds, the physical and spiritual worlds. While the soul dwells in the body, it participates, in a sense, in everything that goes on in that body. When the physical functions of the body proceed regularly, pleasure and comfort arise in the soul; when these functions are disturbed, displeasure and pain arise. And the soul also has a share in the activities of the mind: this thought fills it with joy, that with disgust; a correct judgment has the approval of the soul, a false one its displeasure. — Yes, the stage of development of a human being depends on whether the inclinations of his soul lean more toward one direction or the other. The more his soul sympathizes with the expressions of the mind, the more perfect a human being is; the more his inclinations are satisfied by the functions of the body, the more imperfect he is.

[ 2 ] The spirit is the center of the human being, the body is the mediator through which the spirit observes and recognizes the physical world and through which it acts in it. The soul, however, is the mediator between the two. It releases the physical impression that the vibrations of the air make on the ear, the sensation of sound, and experiences the pleasure of this sound. It communicates all this to the spirit, which thereby attains an understanding of the physical world. A thought that arises in the spirit is transformed by the soul into a desire for realization and can only then become action with the help of the physical instrument. — Now, human beings can only fulfill their destiny by allowing the spirit to direct all their actions. The soul can by itself direct its inclinations toward the physical as well as the spiritual. It lowers its feeling threads, as it were, toward the physical just as it stretches them upward toward the spiritual. By sinking into the physical world, its own essence is permeated and colored by the nature of the physical. But since the spirit can only work in the physical world through its mediation, it is thereby directed toward the physical. Its creations are drawn toward the physical by the forces of the soul. Consider the undeveloped human being. The inclinations of his soul are attached to the activities of his body. He feels pleasure only in the impressions that the physical world makes on his senses. And his spiritual life is also drawn down into this sphere. His thoughts serve only to satisfy his physical needs. — As the spiritual self lives from incarnation to incarnation, it should increasingly receive its direction from the spiritual. Its knowledge should be determined by the spirit of eternal truth, its actions by eternal goodness.

[ 3 ] Death, viewed as a fact of the physical world, means a change in the functions of the body. With death, the body ceases to be the mediator between the soul and the spirit. Furthermore, in its functions, it shows itself to be completely subject to the physical world and its laws; it passes into it in order to dissolve in it. Only these physical processes of the body can be observed with the physical senses after death. What happens to the soul and spirit then eludes these senses. For even during life, the soul and spirit can only be observed with the senses insofar as they find their external expression in physical processes. After death, such expression is no longer possible. Therefore, observation by the physical senses and the science based on them cannot be considered for the fate of the soul and spirit after death. Here, a higher knowledge comes into play, based on the observation of processes in the soul and spirit world.

[ 4 ] Once the spirit has detached itself from the body, it is still connected to the soul. And just as the body chained it to the physical world during physical life, so now the soul chains it to the spiritual world. – But his true essence cannot be found in this soul world. It is only meant to connect him with the field of his activity, with the physical world. In order to appear in a new incarnation with a more perfect form, he must draw strength and fortification from the spiritual world. But he has become entangled in the physical world through the soul. He is bound to a soul being that is permeated and colored by the nature of the physical, and he himself has thus taken on this direction. After death, the soul is no longer bound to the body, but only to the spirit. It now lives in a spiritual environment. Therefore, only the forces of this world can still have an effect on it. And the spirit is also initially bound to this life of the soul in the spiritual world. It is bound to it in the same way that it is bound to the body during physical incarnation. When the body dies is determined by its laws. In general, it must be said that it is not the soul and spirit that leave the body, but rather the body is released by them when its forces can no longer function in the sense of the human organization. The relationship between soul and spirit is the same. The soul releases the spirit into the higher, spiritual world when its powers can no longer function in accordance with the human soul organization. The spirit is freed at the moment when the soul has surrendered to dissolution that which it can only experience within the body, retaining only that which can live on with the spirit. This remnant, which is experienced in the body but can be imprinted as fruit in the spirit, connects the soul with the spirit in the purely spiritual world. In order to understand the fate of the soul after death, we must therefore consider its process of dissolution. Its task was to give the spirit direction toward the physical. The moment it has fulfilled this task, it takes the direction toward the spiritual. Because of the nature of its task, it should actually be immediately active only spiritually when the body falls away from it, when it can no longer be a connecting link. And it would be so if it had not been influenced by its life in the body and drawn to it by its inclinations. Without this coloring, which it has received through its connection with the physical, it would immediately after disembodiment follow the mere laws of the spiritual-soul world and develop no further inclination toward the sensual. And that would be the case if, at death, human beings had completely lost all interest in the earthly world, if all desires, wishes, and so on connected with the existence they had left behind had been satisfied. But if this is not the case, what remains in this direction clings to the soul.

[ 5 ] In order to avoid confusion, a careful distinction must be made here between what binds a person to the world in such a way that it can be balanced out in a subsequent incarnation, and what binds them to one particular incarnation, namely the last one. The former is balanced by the law of fate, karma; the latter, however, can only be shed by the soul after death.

[ 6 ] Death is followed by a period in which the soul sheds its inclinations toward physical existence in order to follow the pure laws of the spiritual-soul world and free the spirit. It is natural that this period will be longer the more the soul was attached to the physical. It will be short for a person who was not very attached to physical life, but long for someone who had all their interests tied to this life, so that at the time of death many desires, wishes, and so on still live in the soul.

[ 7 ] The easiest way to get a mental image of the state in which the soul lives in the period immediately after death is to consider the following. Let us take a rather crude example: the pleasures of a gourmet. He derives pleasure from the titillation of his palate through food. The pleasure is, of course, not physical, but spiritual. The soul experiences pleasure and also the desire for pleasure. However, in order to satisfy this desire, the corresponding physical organ, the palate, etc., is necessary. After death, the soul does not immediately lose this desire, but it no longer has the physical organ that is the means of satisfying it. It is now – albeit for a different reason, but one that is similar and has a much stronger effect – as if a person were suffering from burning thirst in a region where there is no water far and wide. Thus, the soul suffers burning deprivation of pleasure because it has discarded the physical organ through which it can experience pleasure. This is the case with everything the soul desires that can only be satisfied through the physical organs. This state (of burning deprivation) lasts until the soul has learned to no longer desire that which can only be satisfied through the body. And the time spent in this state can be called the place of desires, although of course it is not a “place” in the literal sense.

[ 8 ] When the soul enters the spiritual world after death, it is subject to its laws. These laws have an effect on it, and it depends on this effect how the inclination toward the physical is eradicated in it. The effects must be different, depending on the types of soul substances and soul forces in whose realm it is now placed. Each of these types will exert its purifying, refining influence. The process that takes place here is such that everything antipathetic in the soul is gradually overcome by the forces of sympathy, and that this sympathy itself is led to its highest peak. For through this highest degree of sympathy with the whole of the remaining soul world, the soul will, as it were, melt into it, become one with it; then its selfishness will be completely exhausted. It ceases to exist as a being inclined toward physical and sensual existence: the spirit is liberated through it. Thus, the soul purifies itself through the regions of the soul world described above until it becomes one with the region of perfect sympathy with the universal soul world. The fact that the spirit is bound to its soul until this last moment of liberation stems from the fact that it has become completely related to it through its life with it. This relationship is much greater than that with the body. For it is indirectly connected to the latter through the soul, but directly connected to the former. It is, after all, its own life. Therefore, the spirit is not bound to the decaying body, but to the gradually liberating soul. Because of the direct connection between the spirit and the soul, the former can only feel free from the latter when it has itself become one with the universal soul world.

[ 9 ] Insofar as the soul world is the abode of human beings immediately after death, it can be called the “place of desires.” The various religious systems that have incorporated an awareness of these conditions into their teachings know this “place of desires” under the names “purgatory,” “purifying fire,” and so on.

[ 10 ] The lowest region of the soul world is that of the flames of desire. After death, everything in the soul that is coarse, selfish, and connected with the lowest bodily life is eradicated through these flames. For through such desires, the soul can experience the effects of the forces of this region of the soul world. The unsatisfied desires that remain from physical life form the point of attack. The sympathy of such souls extends only to what can nourish their selfish nature; and it is far outweighed by the antipathy that pours out over everything else. But now the desires turn to physical pleasures that cannot be satisfied in the soul world. This impossibility of satisfaction increases greed to the highest degree. At the same time, however, this impossibility must gradually extinguish greed. The burning desires gradually consume themselves, and the soul has learned that the only way to prevent the suffering that must come from them is to extinguish such desires. During physical life, satisfaction occurs again and again. This covers up the pain of burning greed with a kind of illusion. After death, in the “purifying fire,” this pain appears completely unveiled. The corresponding experiences of deprivation are endured. It is a dark state in which the souls find themselves. Of course, only those people whose desires in physical life were directed toward the coarsest things can fall into this state. Natures with few desires pass through it without noticing, for they have no affinity with it. It must be said that the longer souls are influenced by the fire of desire, the more they have become akin to this fire through their physical life; the more they therefore need to be purified in it. Such purification should not be described as suffering in the same sense as one would perceive something similar in the sensory world only as suffering. For after death, the soul desires purification, because only through this can an imperfection existing within it be eradicated.

[ 11 ] A second type of process in the soul world is such that sympathy and antipathy are in balance. Insofar as a human soul is in the same state after death, it is influenced by these processes for a time. Immersion in the external trinkets of life and the joy of fleeting sensory impressions cause this state. People live in it insofar as it is caused by the aforementioned soul inclinations. They allow themselves to be influenced by every triviality of the day. But since their sympathy is not directed toward any particular thing, the influences quickly pass. Everything that does not belong to this futile realm is antipathetic to such people. If, after death, the soul experiences this state without the sensory-physical things that are necessary for its satisfaction, it must finally die out. Of course, the deprivation that prevails in the soul before its complete extinction is painful. This painful situation is the school for the destruction of the illusion in which the human being is enveloped during physical life.

[ 12 ] Thirdly, in the soul world, the processes with a predominance of sympathy come into consideration, those with a predominance of desire. The souls experience their effect through everything that maintains an atmosphere of desires after death. These desires also gradually die away because of the impossibility of their satisfaction.

[ 13 ] The region of pleasure and displeasure in the soul world, which has been described above as the fourth, imposes special trials on the soul. As long as it dwells in the body, it participates in everything that concerns this body. The weaving of pleasure and displeasure is linked to it. It causes its well-being and comfort, displeasure and discomfort. During physical life, human beings perceive their body as their self. What is called self-consciousness is based on this fact. And the more sensual people are, the more their sense of self takes on this character. After death, the body as the object of this sense of self is missing. The soul, which has retained this feeling, therefore feels as if it has been hollowed out. It is overcome by a feeling as if it has lost itself. This lasts until it is recognized that the true human being does not lie in the physical. The effects of this fourth region therefore destroy the illusion of the physical self. The soul learns to no longer perceive this physicality as something essential. It is healed and purified of its attachment to physicality. In this way, it has overcome what previously chained it strongly to the physical world, and it can fully develop the powers of sympathy that go outwards. It has, so to speak, detached itself from itself and is ready to pour itself sympathetically into the general soul world.

[ 14 ] It should not go unmentioned that the experiences of this region are undergone to a particular degree by suicides. They leave their physical body by artificial means, while all the feelings associated with it remain unchanged. In natural death, the decay of the body is accompanied by a partial dying away of the feelings attached to it.

In the case of suicides, the torment caused by the feeling of sudden emptiness is compounded by the unsatisfied desires and wishes that led them to take their own lives.

[ 15 ] The fifth stage of the soul world is that of the soul light. Sympathy for others already has a high value in it. Souls are related to it insofar as they did not lose themselves in the satisfaction of base needs during their physical life, but took joy and pleasure in their environment. Nature worship, insofar as it had a sensual character, is subject to purification here, for example. However, one must distinguish this kind of enthusiasm for nature from that higher life in nature which is of a spiritual nature and which seeks the spirit that is revealed in the things and processes of nature. This kind of sense of nature belongs to the things that develop the spirit itself and establish something lasting in this spirit. However, this sense of nature must be distinguished from a desire for nature that has its basis in the senses. In contrast to this, the soul needs purification just as much as it does from other inclinations that are based on mere physical existence. Many people see a kind of ideal in institutions that serve sensual well-being, in an educational system that primarily brings about sensual comfort. It cannot be said that they are only serving their selfish desires. But their soul is nevertheless focused on the sensory world and must be healed by the power of sympathy that reigns in the fifth region of the soul world, which lacks these external means of satisfaction. Here, the soul gradually recognizes that this sympathy must take other paths. And these paths are found in the outpouring of the soul into the soul realm, brought about by sympathy with the soul environment. — Even those souls who initially demand an increase in their sensual well-being from their religious activities are purified here. Whether their longing is for an earthly paradise or a heavenly one, they find this paradise in the “land of souls”; but only for the purpose of realizing its worthlessness. All these are, of course, only individual examples of purifications that take place in this fifth region. They could be multiplied at will.

[ 16 ] The sixth region, that of the active soul force, is where the purification of the action-hungry part of the soul takes place, which is not selfish in character, but has its motives in the sensual satisfaction that actions bring. Natures that develop such a thirst for action give the outward impression of being idealists; they show themselves to be self-sacrificing individuals. In a deeper sense, however, what matters to them is the enhancement of sensual pleasure. Many artistic natures and those who devote themselves to scientific activity because they enjoy it belong here. What chains them to the physical world is the belief that art and science exist for the sake of such pleasure.

[ 17 ] The seventh region, that of the actual life of the soul, frees man from his last inclinations toward the sensual-physical world. Each preceding region takes from the soul what is related to it. What now still surrounds the spirit is the opinion that its activity should be entirely devoted to the sensory world. There are highly gifted personalities who, however, ponder little else than the events of the physical world. One can call such a belief materialistic. This belief must be destroyed, and it will be in the seventh region. There, souls see that there are no objects for materialistic thinking in true reality. Like ice melting in the sun, this belief of the soul melts away here. The soul being is now absorbed by its world, the spirit free from all bonds. It soars up into the regions where it lives only in its own environment. — The soul has fulfilled its previous earthly task, and after death, what remained of this task as a bondage for the spirit has been dissolved. By overcoming its earthly remnants, the soul has returned to its element.

[ 18 ] From this description, we can see that the experiences of the soul world, and thus also the conditions of soul life after death, become less and less repugnant to the soul the more the human being has shed what clings to him from his earthly connection with physical corporeality in the form of immediate kinship with it. Depending on the preconditions created in physical life, the soul will belong to one region or another for a longer or shorter period of time. Where it feels kinship, it will remain until this is extinguished. Where no kinship exists, it passes over the possible influences without feeling. The aim here is only to describe the basic characteristics of the soul world and to present the nature of the soul's life in this world in general terms. The same applies to the following descriptions of the spirit world. It would exceed the limits of this book to go into further characteristics of these higher worlds. For what can be compared with spatial conditions and the passage of time, in relation to which everything here is completely different from the physical world, can only be understood if it is described in great detail. Some important information on this subject can be found in my “Occult Science.”

3. The Spirit World

[ 1 ] Before we can consider the spirit on its further journey, we must first observe the realm it enters. It is the “world of the spirit.” This world is so unlike the physical world that everything said about it must seem fantastical to those who trust only their physical senses. And what has already been said about the “world of the soul” applies here to an even greater extent: one must use parables to describe it. For our language, which mostly serves only sensory reality, is not exactly rich in expressions that can be directly applied to the “spirit world.” Especially here, therefore, it must be requested that some of what is said be understood only as a hint. Everything described here is so dissimilar to the physical world that it can only be described in this way. The author of this account is always aware of how little his statements can truly resemble experience in this field, due to the imperfection of our linguistic means of expression, which are calculated for the physical world.

[ 2 ] Above all, it must be emphasized that this world is woven from the substance (the word “substance” is of course used here in a very figurative sense) of which human thought is composed. But just as thought lives in human beings, it is only a shadow image, a shadow of its real essence. Just as the shadow of an object on a wall relates to the real object that casts this shadow, so the thought that appears through the human mind relates to the essence in the “spirit world” that corresponds to this thought. When the spiritual sense of man is awakened, he perceives this thought-being as truly as the physical eye perceives a table or a chair. He walks in an environment of thought-beings. The physical eye perceives the lion, and thinking directed toward the physical perceives only the thought of the lion as a shadow, as a shadowy image. The spiritual eye sees the thought of the lion in the “spirit world” as truly as the physical eye sees the physical lion. Once again, we can refer to the parable already used in relation to the “land of the soul.” Just as the newly operated blind person suddenly sees his surroundings with the new qualities of colors and lights, so too does the person who learns to use his “spiritual eye” see his surroundings filled with a new world, the world of “living” thoughts or spirit beings. — In this world, the spiritual archetypes of all things and beings that exist in the physical and soul worlds can now be seen. Imagine the image of a painter existing in the mind before it is painted. Then you have a parable of what is meant by the term archetype. It does not matter here that the painter may not have such an archetype in his mind before he paints; that it only gradually emerges in its entirety during the practical work. In the real “world of the spirit,” such archetypes exist for all things, and physical things and beings are copies of these archetypes. — If someone who trusts only their outer senses denies this archetypal world and claims that archetypes are only abstractions that the comparative mind derives from sensory things, this is understandable; for such a person cannot perceive this higher world; they know the world of thoughts only in its shadowy abstractness. They do not know that the spiritually perceptive person is as familiar with spiritual beings as they are with their dog or cat, and that the archetypal world has a far more intense reality than the sensory-physical world.

[ 3 ] However, the first glimpse into this “spirit world” is even more confusing than that into the soul world. For the archetypes in their true form are very unlike their sensory afterimages. But they are just as unlike their shadows, the abstract thoughts. — In the spiritual world, everything is in constant, dynamic activity, in ceaseless creation. There is no rest, no lingering in one place, as there is in the physical world.2See Remarks and Additions to Page 122.

For the archetypes are creative beings. They are the master craftsmen of everything that arises in the physical and spiritual world. Their forms change rapidly, and each archetype has the potential to take on countless specific forms. They allow the special forms to spring forth from themselves, as it were; and no sooner is one created than the archetype sets about allowing the next to spring forth from itself. And the archetypes are related to each other in a more or less familial way. They do not work in isolation. One needs the help of the other for its creation.

Countless archetypes often work together to bring about this or that entity in the spiritual or physical world.

[ 4 ] In addition to what can be perceived through “spiritual seeing” in this “spirit realm,” there is something else here that can be regarded as an experience of “spiritual hearing.” As soon as the “clairvoyant” ascends from the soul realm to the spirit realm, the archetypes perceived also become “resounding.” This “resounding” is a purely spiritual process. A mental image must be created without any thought of a physical sound. The observer feels as if in a sea of sounds. And in these sounds, in this spiritual sounding, the beings of the spiritual world express themselves. In their harmonies, rhythms, and melodies, the archetypal laws of their existence, their mutual relationships and affinities are expressed. What the mind perceives as law or idea in the physical world is presented to the “spiritual ear” as something spiritual and musical. (The Pythagoreans therefore called this perception of the spiritual world “music of the spheres.” For the owner of the “spiritual ear,” this “music of the spheres” is not merely something figurative or allegorical, but a well-known spiritual reality.) If one wants to gain an understanding of this “spiritual music,” one must eliminate all mental images of sensual music as perceived by the “material ear.” This is a matter of “spiritual perception,” that is, one that must remain silent to the “sensual ear.” For the sake of simplicity, references to this “spiritual music” will be omitted in the following descriptions of the “spirit world.” One can form a mental image of everything described as an “image” or something ‘luminous’ being at the same time something that “sounds.” Every color, every perception of light corresponds to a spiritual tone, and every interaction of colors corresponds to a harmony, a melody, and so on. It is important to realize that even where sound prevails, the perception of the “spiritual eye” does not cease. Sound is simply added to light. Where “primordial images” are mentioned in the following, “primordial sounds” should also be considered. Other perceptions are also added, which can be described metaphorically as “spiritual tasting” and so on. However, these processes will not be discussed here, as the aim is to evoke a mental image of the “spirit world” through a few types of perception selected from the whole.

[ 5 ] First of all, it is necessary to distinguish between the different types of archetypes. In the “spirit world” too, a number of levels or regions must be distinguished in order to orient oneself. Here too, as in the “soul world,” the individual regions are not to be thought of as layered on top of each other, but as interpenetrating and intermingling. The first region contains the archetypes of the physical world, insofar as it is not endowed with life. The archetypes of minerals can be found here, as well as those of plants; but only insofar as they are purely physical, that is, insofar as one does not take into account the life within them. The physical forms of animals and humans can also be found here. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of what is found in this region; it is only meant to illustrate with obvious examples. — This region forms the basic framework of the “spirit world.” It can be compared to the solid land of our physical earth. It is the continental mass of the “spirit world.” Its relationship to the physical world can only be described comparatively. One can get a mental image of this by imagining a limited space filled with physical bodies of the most diverse kinds. Now imagine these physical bodies disappearing and being replaced by hollow spaces in their forms. Imagine the previously empty spaces filled with the most diverse forms, which are related to the former bodies in manifold ways. This is roughly what it looks like in the lowest region of the world of archetypes. In it, the things and beings that are embodied in the physical world exist as “voids.” And in the spaces between them, the dynamic activity of the archetypes (and the “spiritual music”) takes place. In physical embodiment, the voids are now filled with physical matter, so to speak. Anyone who looked into space with both physical and spiritual eyes would see the physical bodies and, between them, the dynamic activity of the creative archetypes. The second region of the “spirit world” contains the archetypes of life. But here, this life forms a perfect unity. As a fluid element, it flows through the world of the spirit, pulsating through everything like blood. It can be compared to the seas and waters of the physical earth. However, its distribution is more similar to the distribution of blood in the animal body than to that of the seas and rivers. Flowing life, formed from thought substance, is how one could describe this second stage of the “spirit world.” This element contains the creative primal forces for everything that appears in physical reality as animate beings. Here it becomes apparent that all life is one, that life in human beings is related to the life of all their fellow creatures.

[ 6 ] The archetypes of everything spiritual must be described as the third region of the “spirit realm.” Here one finds oneself in a much thinner and finer element than in the first two regions. Comparatively speaking, it can be described as the air circle of the “spirit realm.” Everything that goes on in the souls of the other two worlds has its spiritual counterpart here. All sensations, feelings, instincts, passions, and so on are present here again in a spiritual form. The atmospheric processes in this air circle correspond to the sufferings and joys of the creatures in the other worlds. The longing of a human soul appears here like a gentle breeze; a passionate outburst like a stormy gust of wind. Anyone who can form mental images about what is being considered here will penetrate deeply into the sighing of every creature when they focus their attention on it. One can speak here, for example, of stormy thunderstorms with flashing lightning and rolling thunder; and if one pursues the matter further, one finds that in such “spirit storms” the passions of a battle fought on earth are expressed.

[7]The archetypes of the fourth region do not relate directly to the other worlds. In a certain sense, they are beings that govern the archetypes of the three lower regions and mediate their coming together. They are therefore busy ordering and grouping these subordinate archetypes. This region therefore exerts a more comprehensive activity than the lower ones.

[ 8 ] The fifth, sixth, and seventh regions differ significantly from the previous ones. This is because the entities found in them provide the archetypes of the lower regions with the impetus for their activity. In them one finds the creative powers of the archetypes themselves. Those who are able to ascend to these regions become acquainted with the “intentions,” 3See Remarks and Additions to Pages 127 and 129.

that underlie our world. Like living germ points, the archetypes are still ready here to take on the most diverse forms of thought beings. When these germ points are led into the lower regions, they spring up, as it were, and reveal themselves in the most diverse forms. The ideas through which the human spirit acts creatively in the physical world are the reflection, the shadow of these seed thought beings of the higher spiritual world. The observer with the “spiritual ear,” who ascends from the lower regions of the “spirit world” to these higher ones, becomes aware of how the sounds and tones are transformed into a “spiritual language.” He begins to perceive the “spiritual word,” through which things and beings now reveal their nature to him not only through music, but also express it in “words.” They tell him, as it is called in Spiritual Science, their “eternal names.” That such designations as “intentions” are meant only as ‘parables’ is self-evident from what has been said above about the difficulties of linguistic expression. There is no thought of reviving the old “doctrine of expediency.”

[ 9 ] One must have in one's mental image that these thought-germ beings are of a composite nature. Only the germ shell, as it were, is taken from the element of the world of thought. And this encloses the actual core of life. This brings us to the boundary of the “three worlds,” for the core originates from even higher worlds. When man was described in a previous section in terms of his constituent parts, this core of life was indicated for him, and the “life spirit” and “spirit man” were named as his constituent parts. 4See Comments and additions to page 128.

Similar life kernels also exist for other world beings. They originate from higher worlds and are transferred to the three mentioned above in order to fulfill their tasks there. — Here we shall now follow the further pilgrimage of the human spirit through the “spirit world” between two incarnations. In doing so, the conditions and peculiarities of this “world” will once again become clear.

4. The spirit in the spirit world after death

[ 1 ] When the human spirit has passed through the “world of souls” on its journey between two incarnations, it enters the “land of spirits” to remain there until it is ready for a new physical existence. The meaning of this stay in the “land of spirits” can only be understood if one knows how to interpret the task of man's pilgrimage through life in the right way. While embodied in the physical body, the human being works and creates in the physical world. And he works and creates in it as a spiritual being. What his spirit conceives and develops, he imprints on physical forms, physical substances, and forces. As a messenger of the spiritual world, he must therefore embody the spirit of the physical world. Only by incarnating can human beings work in the physical world. They must accept the physical body as their tool so that they can work on the physical through the physical and so that the physical can work on them. But what works through this physical corporeality of human beings is the spirit. From this spirit come the intentions and directions for working in the physical world. — As long as the spirit works in the physical body, it cannot live in its true form as spirit. It can only shine through the veil of physical existence, as it were. For in truth, human thought life belongs to the spiritual world; and as it appears in physical existence, its true form is veiled. One could also say that the thought life of the physical human being is a shadow image, a reflection of the true spiritual being to which it belongs. Thus, during physical life, the spirit interacts with the earthly physical world on the basis of the physical body. Now, even though one of the tasks of the human spirit, as long as it progresses from incarnation to incarnation, is to work on the physical world, it could not possibly fulfill this task adequately if it lived only in physical existence. For the intentions and goals of the earthly task are no more developed and achieved within the earthly embodiment than the plan of a house comes into being on the building site where the workers are at work. Just as this plan is worked out in the architect's office, so the goals and intentions of earthly creation are formed in the “land of spirits.” The human spirit must live again and again in this land between two incarnations in order to be equipped with what it brings from there and be able to approach the work of physical life. Just as the architect, without working with bricks and mortar, draws up the plans for the house in his studio in accordance with architectural and other laws, so the architect of human creation, the spirit or higher self, must develop the abilities and goals in the “land of spirits” according to the laws of that land, in order to then transfer them to the earthly world. Only when the human spirit dwells again and again in its own realm will it be able to carry the spirit into the earthly world through the physical-bodily tools. – On the physical stage, human beings learn about the qualities and powers of the physical world. There, during the creative process, they gather experience about the demands that the physical world places on those who want to work in it. There, they learn, as it were, the properties of the material in which they want to embody their thoughts and ideas. They cannot extract the thoughts and ideas themselves from the material. Thus, the earthly world is both the scene of creation and of learning. In the “spirit world,” what has been learned is then transformed into the living ability of the spirit. The above comparison can be continued to clarify the matter. The architect works out the plan for a house. This is then carried out. In the process, he gains a wealth of diverse experiences. All these experiences increase his abilities. When he works out the next plan, all these experiences flow into it. And this next plan appears enriched by everything that was learned in the previous one. So it is with successive human lives. In the intervals between incarnations, the spirit lives in its own realm. It can devote itself entirely to the demands of spiritual life; it develops itself in all directions, freed from physical corporeality, and works into this development the fruits of the experiences of its previous lives. Thus, its gaze is always directed toward the scene of its earthly tasks, and it constantly works to follow the earth, insofar as it is the place of its activity, through the development necessary for it. He works on himself so that, in each incarnation, he can perform his services in earthly life in accordance with the condition of the earth. — This is, of course, only a general picture of successive human lives. And reality will never correspond completely with this picture, but only more or less. Circumstances may cause a person's subsequent life to be much more imperfect than a previous one. But on the whole, such irregularities in successive lives balance each other out within certain limits.

[ 2 ] The formation of the spirit in the “spirit world” takes place as a result of the human being becoming accustomed to the various regions of this world. His own life merges with these regions in a corresponding sequence; he temporarily assumes their characteristics. They thereby permeate his being with their essence, so that the former can then act with the latter strengthened in the earthly realm. — In the first region of the “spirit world,” the human being is surrounded by the spiritual archetypes of earthly things. During earthly life, he only gets to know the shadows of these archetypes, which he grasps in his thoughts. What is merely thought on earth is experienced in this region. Man walks among thoughts, but these thoughts are real beings. What he perceived with his senses during his earthly life now affects him in its thought form. But the thought does not appear as the shadow hidden behind things; rather, it is a living reality that creates things. Human beings are, as it were, in the workshop of thought, where earthly things are formed and shaped. For in the “land of the spirit” everything is full of life and activity. Here the world of thought is at work as a world of living beings, creative and formative. There one sees how what one has experienced in earthly existence is formed. Just as one experiences sensory things as reality in the physical body, so now, as a spirit, one experiences the spiritual forces of formation as real. Among the thought beings that are present there is also the thought of one's own physical body. One feels detached from it. Only the spiritual being is felt to belong to oneself. And when one perceives the discarded body, as in memory, no longer as physical but as a thought being, then its belonging to the outer world already emerges in one's view. One learns to regard it as something belonging to the outer world, as a member of this outer world. Consequently, one no longer separates one's physicality from the rest of the outer world as something more closely related to one's own self. One feels a unity in the entire outer world, including one's own physical embodiments. One's own embodiments merge here with the rest of the world into a unity. Thus, one looks here at the archetypes of physical-bodily reality as a unity to which one has belonged. One therefore gradually learns to recognize one's kinship, one's unity with the environment through observation. One learns to say to it: That which spreads out around you here was you yourself. This is one of the basic ideas of ancient Indian Vedanta wisdom. Already during earthly life, the “wise” person acquires what the other experiences after death, namely the idea that he himself is related to all things, the idea: “That is you.” In earthly life, this is an ideal to which the life of thought can devote itself; in the “land of spirits,” it is an immediate fact that becomes ever clearer to us through spiritual experience. And in this land, man himself becomes more and more aware that, in his very essence, he belongs to the spirit world. He perceives himself as a spirit among spirits, as a member of the primordial spirits, and he will feel within himself the words of the primordial spirit: “I am the primordial spirit.” (The wisdom of Vedanta says: “I am Brahman,” which means that I belong as a member to the primordial being from which all beings originate. ) — One sees that what is grasped in earthly life as a shadowy thought, and what all wisdom aims at, is experienced directly in the “spirit world.” Indeed, it is only thought of during earthly life because it is a fact in spiritual existence.

[ 3 ] Thus, during his spiritual existence, man sees the circumstances and facts in which he finds himself during his earthly life from a higher vantage point, as it were from outside. And in the lowest region of the “spirit world” he lives in this way in relation to earthly circumstances that are directly connected with physical reality. – On earth, human beings are born into a family, into a people; they live in a certain country. All these circumstances determine their earthly existence. Because of the circumstances in the physical world, they find this or that friend. They engage in this or that business. All this determines their earthly living conditions. All of this now confronts them during their life in the first region of the “spirit world” as living thought beings. They experience all of this again in a certain way. But they experience it from the active-spiritual side. The family love they have practiced, the friendship they have shown, become alive within them from within, and their abilities are enhanced in this direction. That which acts as the power of family and friendship love in the human spirit is strengthened. In this respect, he later re-enters earthly existence as a more perfect human being. — It is, in a sense, the everyday circumstances of earthly life that ripen as fruits in this lowest region of the “spirit land.” And that part of the human being which is completely absorbed in these everyday circumstances will feel most connected to this region during the longest part of spiritual life between two incarnations. — The people with whom one lived in the physical world are found again in the spiritual world. Just as everything that belonged to the soul through the physical body falls away, so too does the bond that connects soul to soul in physical life detach itself from the conditions that have meaning and effect only in the physical world. Yet beyond death, everything that was soul to soul in physical life continues into the spiritual world. It is natural that words coined for physical circumstances can only inaccurately describe what happens in the spiritual world. However, insofar as this is taken into account, it can certainly be described as correct when it is said that souls that belonged together in physical life find each other again in the spiritual world in order to continue their life together there in a corresponding manner. — The next region is that in which the common life of the earthly world flows as a thought entity, as it were, as the fluid element of the “spirit land.” As long as one observes the world in physical embodiment, life appears to be bound to individual living beings. In the “spirit world,” it is detached from this and flows through the whole land like lifeblood. There is a living unity that is present in everything. During earthly life, only a reflection of this appears to humans. And this is expressed in every form of worship that humans offer to the whole, to the unity and harmony of the world. The religious life of human beings is written from this reflection. Human beings become aware of the extent to which the comprehensive meaning of existence does not lie in the transitory, in the individual. They regard this transitory as a “parable” and image of an eternal, harmonious unity. They look up to this unity with reverence and worship. They offer religious cult rituals to it. — In the “spirit world,” it is not the reflection that appears, but the real form as a living thought being. Here, humans can truly unite with the unity they have worshipped on earth. The fruits of religious life and everything connected with it emerge in this region. Human beings now learn from spiritual experience to recognize that their individual destiny should not be separated from the community to which they belong. The ability to recognize oneself as a member of a whole is formed here. Religious feelings, everything that has already strived for a pure, noble morality in life, will draw strength from this region during a large part of the spiritual intermediate state. And the human being will be reincarnated with an increase in their abilities in this direction.

[ 4 ] While in the first region one is with the souls with whom one was connected in the previous physical life through the closest bonds of the physical world, in the second region one enters the realm of all those with whom one felt united in a broader sense: through shared worship, shared beliefs, and so on. It must be emphasized that the spiritual experiences of the previous regions remain during the following ones. Thus, the human being is not torn away from the bonds formed through family, friendship, and so on when he enters the life of the second and subsequent regions. — Nor are the regions of the “spirit world” separated like ‘departments’; they interpenetrate each other, and the human being experiences himself in a new region not because he has “entered” it in any external form, but because he has acquired within himself the inner abilities to perceive what he was previously unaware of.

[ 5 ] The third region of the “spirit world” contains the archetypes of the soul world. Everything that lives in this world is present here as a living thought entity. There one finds the archetypes of desires, wishes, feelings, and so on. But here in the spirit world, nothing selfish clings to the soul. Just as all life in the second region, in this third region all desires, wishes, all pleasure and displeasure form a unity. The desires and wishes of others do not differ from my own desires and wishes. The sensations and feelings of all beings are a shared world that encompasses and surrounds everything else, just as the physical atmosphere surrounds the earth. This region is, as it were, the atmosphere of the “spirit world.” Everything that a person has accomplished in earthly life in the service of the community, in selfless devotion to their fellow human beings, will bear fruit here. For through this service, through this devotion, they have lived in a reflection of the third region of the “spirit world.” The great benefactors of the human race, the devoted natures, those who perform great services in the communities, have acquired their ability to do so in this region, after having earned the right to a special relationship with it in previous lives.

[ 6 ] It is evident that the three regions of the “spirit world” described above are related in a certain way to the worlds below them, to the physical and the soul world. For they contain the archetypes, the living thought beings, which take on physical or spiritual existence in these worlds. Only the fourth region is the “pure spirit world.” But even this is not so in the full sense of the word. It differs from the three lower regions in that in these the archetypes of those physical and spiritual conditions are encountered which man finds in the physical and spiritual world before he himself intervenes in these worlds. The conditions of everyday life are linked to the things and beings that man finds in the world; the transitory things of this world direct his gaze to their eternal source; and even the fellow creatures to whom his selfless mind is devoted are not there through human beings. But through them, the creations of the arts and sciences, technology, the state, and so on, in short, everything that human beings incorporate into the world as original works of their spirit, are present in the world. Without his intervention, none of these things would have any physical representation in the world. The archetypes of these purely human creations are found in the fourth region of the “spirit world.” The scientific achievements, artistic ideas and forms, and technological concepts that humans develop during their earthly lives bear fruit in this fourth region. Artists, scholars, and great inventors draw their inspiration from this region during their stay in the “spirit world” and increase their genius here in order to be able to contribute to the further development of human culture to a greater extent when they reincarnate. — One should not form a mental image of this fourth region of the “spirit world” as only being significant for particularly outstanding people. It is significant for all people. Everything that occupies people in physical life beyond the sphere of everyday desires and wishes has its source in this region. If human beings did not pass through it in the time between death and a new birth, they would have no interests in a further life that led beyond the narrow circle of personal conduct to the general human sphere. — It has been said above that this region cannot be called the “pure spirit world” in the full sense. This is because the state in which people left cultural development on earth plays into their spiritual existence. In the “land of spirits,” they can only enjoy the fruits of what they were able to achieve according to their talents and the degree of development of the people, state, and so on, into which they were born.

[ 7 ] In the even higher regions of the “spirit world,” the human spirit is now freed from all earthly bonds. It ascends to the “pure spirit world,” where it experiences the intentions and goals that the spirit set for itself in earthly life. Everything that has already been realized in the world brings the highest goals and intentions into existence only in a more or less faint image. Every crystal, every tree, every animal, and also everything that is realized in the realm of human creativity—all of this provides only reflections of what the spirit intends. And during its incarnations, the human being can only connect to these imperfect reflections of the perfect intentions and goals. Thus, within one of his incarnations, he can only be such a reflection of what is intended for him in the realm of the spirit. What he actually is as a spirit in the “spirit world” only comes to light when he ascends to the fifth region of the “spirit world” in the intermediate state between two incarnations. What he is here is truly himself. This is what receives an outer existence in the manifold incarnations. In this region, the true self of the human being can freely express itself in all directions. And this self is therefore that which always appears anew as the one in every incarnation. This self brings with it the abilities that have been developed in the lower regions of the “spirit world.” It thus carries the fruits of previous lives into the following ones. It is the bearer of the results of previous incarnations.

[ 8 ] The self is therefore in the realm of intentions and goals when it lives in the fifth region of the “spirit realm.” Just as the architect learns from the imperfections that have arisen and incorporates into his new plans only what he has been able to transform from these imperfections into perfections, so the Self, from its results in previous lives in the fifth region, discards that which is connected with the imperfections of the lower worlds and fertilizes the intentions of the “spirit land” with which it now lives together with the results of its previous lives. It is clear that the power that can be drawn from this region will depend on how much the self has acquired during its incarnation of such results that are suitable for inclusion in the world of intentions. The self that has sought to realize the intentions of the spirit during its earthly existence through an active life of thought or through wise, active love will acquire a great entitlement to this region. Those who have been completely absorbed in everyday circumstances, who have lived only in the transitory, have not sown seeds that can play a role in the intentions of the eternal world order. Only the little that has been accomplished beyond the interests of the day can unfold as fruit in these upper regions of the “land of spirits.” But one should not think that what is considered here is primarily that which brings “earthly fame” or the like. No, what is considered is precisely that which, in the smallest circle of life, leads to the awareness that every single thing has its significance for the eternal course of existence.

[ 9 ] One must become familiar with the idea that in this region, human beings must judge differently than they can in physical life. If, for example, he has acquired little that is related to this fifth region, he feels the urge to imprint an impulse on his next physical life that will cause this life to unfold in such a way that the corresponding effect of the deficiency will become apparent in its destiny (karma). What then appears in the following earthly life as a painful fate, from the point of view of this life—and may even be deeply lamented as such—is found by the human being in this region of the “spirit world” to be absolutely necessary for him. Since the human being lives in his true self in the fifth region, he is also lifted out of everything that envelops him from the lower worlds during his incarnations. He is what he always was and always will be during the course of his incarnations. They live in the reign of the intentions that exist for these incarnations and which they integrate into their own self. They look back on their own past and feel that everything they have experienced in it is incorporated into the intentions they have to realize in the future. A kind of memory of their former lives and a prophetic foresight of their later ones flash up. — One sees: that which has been called the “spirit self” in this writing lives in this region, insofar as it is developed, in its appropriate reality. It forms itself and prepares itself in order to enable the fulfillment of spiritual intentions in earthly reality in a new incarnation.

[ 10 ] If, during a series of stays in the “spirit world,” this “spirit self” has developed to such an extent that it can move completely freely in this realm, then it will increasingly seek its true home here. Life in the spirit will become as familiar to it as life in physical reality is to earthly human beings. From then on, the perspectives of the spirit world also act as the decisive ones that it makes its own, more or less consciously or unconsciously, for the following earthly lives. The self can feel itself to be a member of the divine world order. The barriers and laws of earthly life do not affect its innermost essence. The power for everything it accomplishes comes to it from the spiritual world. But the spiritual world is a unity. Those who live in it know how the Eternal has created the past, and they can determine the direction for the future from the Eternal. The view of the past expands to a perfect one. A person who has reached this stage sets themselves goals to be accomplished in their next incarnation. From the “spirit world” they influence their future so that it proceeds in accordance with truth and spirituality. During the intermediate state between two incarnations, the person finds themselves in the presence of all those exalted beings before whose eyes divine wisdom lies unveiled. For they have climbed to the level where they can understand it. In the sixth region of the “spirit world,” the human being will accomplish in all his actions that which is most appropriate to the true nature of the world. For he cannot seek what is good for him, but only what should happen according to the right course of the world order. The seventh region of the “spirit world” leads to the border of the “three worlds.” Here, humans face the “life kernels” that are transferred from higher worlds to the three described in order to fulfill their tasks there. When humans reach the border of the three worlds, they recognize themselves in their own life kernel. This means that the mysteries of these three worlds must be solved for them. They thus overlook the whole life of these worlds. In physical life, the abilities of the soul through which it has the experiences in the spiritual world described here are not conscious under normal living conditions. They work in their unconscious depths on the physical organs that bring about consciousness of the physical world. This is precisely the reason why they remain imperceptible to this world. The eye does not see itself either, because the forces that make other things visible are at work within it. If one wants to judge to what extent a human life between birth and death can be the result of previous earthly lives, one must take into consideration that a point of view located within this life itself, as one must naturally take it at first, does not provide any possibility of judgment. From such a point of view, for example, an earthly life might appear to be painful, imperfect, and so on, whereas from a point of view outside this earthly life itself, with its suffering and imperfection, it must be seen as the result of previous lives. By entering the path of knowledge in the sense described in one of the following chapters, the soul detaches itself from the conditions of physical life. It can then perceive in images the experiences it undergoes between death and a new birth. Such perception makes it possible to describe the processes of the “spirit world” as has been done here in outline form. Only if one does not fail to keep in mind that the whole constitution of the soul is different in the physical body than in purely spiritual experience will one see the description given here in the right light. 5See Remarks and Additions. On page 144.

5. The physical world and its connection with the soul and spirit world

[ 1 ] The structures of the soul world and the spirit world cannot be the object of external sensory perception. The objects of this sensory perception are to be ranked as a third world alongside the two worlds described. Even during his physical existence, man lives simultaneously in the three worlds. He perceives the things of the sensory world and acts upon them. The entities of the soul world influence him through their powers of sympathy and antipathy; and his own soul, through its inclinations and aversions, through its desires and cravings, causes waves in the soul world. The spiritual essence of things, however, is reflected in his world of thoughts; and he himself, as a thinking spirit being, is a citizen of the spirit world and a companion of everything that lives in this realm of the world. From this it becomes clear that the sensory world is only a part of what surrounds human beings. This part stands out from the general environment of human beings with a certain independence, because it can be perceived by the senses, which disregard the soul and spirit, which also belong to this world. Just as a piece of ice floating on water is made of the same material as the surrounding water but stands out from it due to certain properties, so too are the things of the senses made of the same material as the surrounding world of souls and spirits; and they stand out from these due to certain properties that make them perceptible to the senses. They are — figuratively speaking — condensed spiritual and soul formations; and this condensation enables the senses to perceive them. Indeed, just as ice is only a form in which water exists, so too are sensory objects only a form in which soul and spirit beings exist. Once this has been understood, it can also be understood that, just as water can turn into ice, so can the spirit world turn into the soul world and the soul world into the sensory world.

[ 2 ] From this point of view, it also becomes clear why human beings can think about sensory things. For there is a question that every thinking person must ask themselves, namely: what is the relationship between the thought that a human being has about a stone and the stone itself? For those people who take a particularly deep look at the external world of nature, this question appears with complete clarity before their spiritual eye. They sense the harmony between the human world of thought and the structure and arrangement of nature. The great astronomer Kepler, for example, expresses this harmony in a beautiful way: “It is true that the divine call, which calls people to learn astronomy, is written in the world itself, not in words and syllables, but in substance, by virtue of the appropriateness of human concepts and senses to the chain of heavenly bodies and conditions.” — Only because the things of the sensory world are nothing other than condensed spiritual beings can human beings, who rise to these spiritual beings through their thoughts, understand things in their thinking. The things of the senses originate in the spirit world; they are only another form of spiritual beings. And when human beings think about things, their inner being is only directed away from the sensory form and toward the spiritual archetypes of these things. Understanding a thing through thought is a process that can be compared to that by which a solid body is first liquefied in fire so that the chemist can then examine it in its liquid form.

[ 3 ] The spiritual archetypes of the sensory world appear in the various regions of the spirit world (see above). In the fifth, sixth, and seventh regions, these archetypes are still found as living germ points; in the four lower regions, they take shape as spiritual formations. The human spirit perceives these spiritual formations in a shadowy reflection when it seeks to understand sensory things through its thinking. How these formations have condensed into the sensory world is a question for those who strive for a spiritual understanding of their environment. — First of all, for human sensory perception, this environment is divided into four clearly distinct stages: the mineral, the plant, the animal, and the human. The mineral kingdom is perceived by the senses and understood by thinking. When one thinks about a mineral body, one is thus dealing with two things: the sensory object and the thought. Accordingly, one must form the mental image that this sensory object is a condensed thought being. Now, one mineral being acts on another in an external way. It collides with it and moves it; it warms it, illuminates it, dissolves it, and so on. This external mode of action can be expressed through thought. Human beings think about how mineral things interact with each other in accordance with external laws. In this way, their individual thoughts expand into a mental image of the entire mineral world. And this mental image is a reflection of the archetype of the entire mineral sensory world. It can be found as a whole in the spiritual world. — In the plant kingdom, the external effect of one thing on another is complemented by the phenomena of growth and reproduction. The plant grows and produces beings of its own kind. In addition to what humans encounter in the mineral kingdom, there is also life here. Simply reflecting on this fact provides an insight that sheds light on the matter. Plants have within themselves the power to give themselves their living form and to produce this form in beings of their own kind. And between the formless nature of mineral substances, as we encounter them in gases, liquids, and so on, and the living form of the plant world, the forms of crystals stand in the middle. In crystals, we must seek the transition from the formless mineral world to the living formative power of the plant kingdom. — In this outwardly sensory process of formation — in the two kingdoms, the mineral and the plant — one must see the sensory condensation of the purely spiritual process that takes place when the spiritual germs of the three upper regions of the spirit world form into the spirit forms of the lower regions. The process of crystallization corresponds in the spiritual world as its archetype to the transition from the formless spiritual germ to the formed structure. If this transition condenses in such a way that the senses can perceive its result, it presents itself in the sensory world as a mineral crystallization process. — Now, however, a formed spiritual germ is also present in plant life. But here the formed being has retained its living formative capacity. In the crystal, the spiritual germ has lost its formative capacity in the process of formation. It has lived out its life in the form it has brought about. The plant has form and, in addition, the ability to form. The quality of the spirit seeds in the upper regions of the spirit world has been preserved in plant life. The plant is therefore form like the crystal, and in addition has the power of formation. Apart from the form which the primordial beings have taken in the plant form, another form is at work on it, which bears the imprint of the spirit beings from the upper regions. However, only what is expressed in the finished form is perceptible to the senses in the plant; the formative beings that give this form its vitality are present in the plant kingdom in a way that is imperceptible to the senses. The physical eye sees the small lily of today and the larger one after some time. The formative power that develops the latter from the former is invisible to the eye. This formative power entity is the invisibly weaving part of the plant world. The spirit germs have descended one level in order to work in the realm of form. In Spiritual Science, we can speak of elemental realms. If we designate the archetypes, which do not yet have form, as the first elemental realm, then the sensually invisible forces that act as the master craftsmen of plant growth are members of the second elemental realm. — In the animal world, sensation and instinct are added to the abilities of growth and reproduction. These are expressions of the soul world. A being endowed with them belongs to this world, receives impressions from it, and exerts effects on it. Now, every sensation, every instinct that arises in an animal being is brought forth from the depths of the animal soul. Form is more permanent than sensation or instinct. One can say that just as the changing form of a plant relates to the rigid form of a crystal, so the life of sensation relates to the more permanent living form. The plant, as it were, blossoms in its form-building power; it constantly attaches new forms during its life. First it puts down roots, then it forms leaves, then flowers, and so on. The animal concludes with a form that is complete in itself and develops within it the varied life of sensation and instinct. And this life has its existence in the soul world. Just as the plant is that which grows and reproduces, so the animal is that which feels and develops its instincts. For the animal, these are the formless, which develops into ever new forms. Ultimately, they have their archetypal processes in the highest regions of the spirit world. But they are active in the soul world. Thus, in the animal world, the force beings that guide growth and reproduction as sensually invisible beings are joined by others that have descended one step deeper into the soul world. In the animal kingdom, the master craftsmen who bring about sensations and instincts are formless beings who clothe themselves in soul envelopes. They are the actual architects of animal forms. In Spiritual Science, the realm to which they belong can be described as the third elemental kingdom. — In addition to the abilities mentioned in connection with plants and animals, human beings are also equipped with the ability to process sensations into mental images and thoughts and to regulate their instincts through thinking. The thought that appears in plants as form and in animals as soul force appears in human beings as thought itself, in its own form. Animals are soul; human beings are spirit. The spirit being has descended one step further. In animals, it forms the soul. In humans, it has entered the sensory material world itself. The spirit is present within the human sensory body. And because it appears in sensory garb, it can only appear as that shadowy reflection which thought represents of the spirit being. Through the conditions of the physical brain organism, the spirit appears in man. — But the spirit has also become man's inner being. Thought is the form that the formless spirit being takes in man, just as it takes form in plants and soul in animals. As a result, man has no elemental realm outside himself that builds him up, insofar as he is a thinking being. His elemental realm works in his physical body. Only insofar as man is a form and a sentient being do the elemental beings of the same kind that work on plants and animals work on him. The thought organism, however, is developed entirely from within the physical body. In the spirit organism of the human being, in his nervous system developed into a perfect brain, one has before one, in a sensually visible form, what works in plants and animals as a non-sensual force being. This causes the animal to show self-feeling, but the human being to show self-consciousness. In animals, the spirit feels itself as a soul; it does not yet perceive itself as spirit. In humans, the spirit recognizes itself as spirit, albeit — due to physical conditions — as a shadowy reflection of the spirit, as thought. — In this sense, the threefold world is structured as follows:

  1. The realm of archetypal formless beings (first elemental realm);
  2. the realm of form-creating beings (second elemental realm);
  3. the realm of soul beings (third elemental realm);
  4. the realm of created forms (crystal forms);
  5. the realm that becomes sensually perceptible in forms, but in which the form-creating beings are at work (plant realm);
  6. the realm that becomes sensually perceptible in forms, but in which the form-creating and soul-living beings are also at work (animal realm); and
  7. the realm in which the forms are perceptible to the senses, but in which the form-creating and soul-expressing beings also work, and in which the spirit itself forms itself in the form of thought within the sensory world (human realm).

[ 4 ] This shows how the basic components of the human being living in the body are connected with the spiritual world. The physical body, the etheric body, the sentient soul body, and the intellectual soul are to be regarded as archetypes of the spirit world condensed in the sensory world. The physical body comes into being when the archetype of the human being is condensed into a sensory appearance. This physical body can therefore also be called an entity of the first elemental realm condensed into sensory clarity. The etheric body comes into being when the form thus created is kept mobile by a being that extends its activity into the sensory realm but is not itself perceptible to the senses. To characterize this being fully, one must say that it has its origin in the highest regions of the spirit world and then forms itself in the second region into an archetype of life. As such an archetype of life, it acts in the sensory world. In a similar way, the entity that builds up the sentient soul body has its origin in the highest regions of the spirit world, forms itself in the third region of the same into the archetype of the soul world, and acts as such in the sensory world. The intellectual soul, however, is formed by the archetype of the thinking human being taking shape as a thought in the fourth region of the spirit world and acting as such directly as a thinking human being in the sensory world. — Thus, the human being stands within the sensory world; thus, the spirit works on his physical body, on his etheric body, and on his sentient soul body. This is how this spirit manifests itself in the intellectual soul. The archetypes thus work on the three lower members of the human being in the form of beings that in a certain sense stand opposite him externally; in his intellectual soul he himself becomes a (conscious) worker on himself. — And the beings that work on his physical body are the same ones that form mineral nature. Beings of the kind that live in the plant kingdom work on his etheric body, and beings that live in the animal kingdom in a way that is imperceptible to the senses, but whose activity extends into these kingdoms, work on his sentient soul body.

[ 5 ] This is how the different worlds interact. The world in which human beings live is the expression of this interaction.

[ 6 ] Once one has understood the sensory world in this way, one also gains an understanding of beings of a different kind than those that exist in the four realms of nature mentioned above. An example of such beings is what is called the national spirit. This does not appear directly in a sensory way. It lives out in the sensations, feelings, inclinations, and so on, which are observed as common to a people. It is a being that does not embody itself sensually; but just as man shapes his body sensually, so it shapes its own from the substance of the soul world. This soul body of the national spirit is like a cloud in which the members of a people live, whose effects appear in the souls of the people concerned, but which does not originate from these souls themselves. For those who do not imagine the national spirit in this way, it remains a shadowy mental image without substance or life, an empty abstraction. — And something similar could be said about what is called the spirit of the times. Yes, this broadens the spiritual view to include a multitude of other beings, both lower and higher, who live in the human environment without being perceptible to the senses. However, those who have spiritual insight perceive such beings and can describe them. The lower types of such beings include everything that those who perceive the spiritual world describe as salamanders, sylphs, undines, and gnomes. It should not be necessary to say that such descriptions cannot be regarded as images of the reality underlying them. If they were, the world they refer to would not be a spiritual one, but a grossly sensual one. They are illustrations of a spiritual reality that can only be represented in this way, through parables. It is quite understandable that those who only accept sensory perception regard such beings as the products of a wild imagination and superstition. Of course, they can never be seen by sensory eyes because they have no sensory body. Superstition does not lie in regarding such beings as real, but in believing that they appear in a sensory way. Beings of this kind participate in the structure of the world, and one encounters them as soon as one enters the higher realms that are closed to the physical senses. Superstitious are not those who see in such descriptions the images of spiritual realities, but those who believe in the sensory existence of the images, as well as those who reject the spirit because they believe they must reject the sensory image. – There are also beings who do not descend into the soul world, but whose shell is woven only from formations of the spirit realm. Man perceives them and becomes their companion when he opens his spiritual eye and ear to them. – Through such an opening, much becomes understandable to man that he can only stare at without understanding. Everything becomes clear around them; they see the causes of what appears as effects in the sensory world. They grasp what they would either completely deny without spiritual eyes or have to content themselves with saying, “There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your school wisdom.” More sensitive, spiritually perceptive people become restless when they sense another world around them besides the sensory one, become vaguely aware of it, and have to grope within it like a blind person among visible objects. Only clear knowledge of these higher realms of existence, understanding insight into what goes on in them, can truly strengthen people and lead them to their true destiny. Through insight into what is hidden from the senses, people expand their being in such a way that they perceive their life before this expansion as “dreaming about the world.”

6. Of thought forms and the human aura

[ 1 ] It has been said that the structures of one of the three worlds are only real to human beings if they have the abilities or organs to perceive them. Humans perceive certain processes in space as light phenomena only because they have well-formed eyes. How much of what is real is revealed to a being depends on its receptivity. Therefore, humans must never say that only what they can perceive is real. Many things may be real that they lack the organs to perceive. — Now, the soul world and the spirit realm are just as real, indeed in a much higher sense real than the sensory world. Although no sensory eye can see feelings or mental images, they are real. And just as humans perceive the physical world through their external senses, so feelings, drives, instincts, thoughts, and so on become perceptions for their spiritual organs. Just as, for example, spatial processes can be seen as color phenomena through the physical eye, so too can the aforementioned soul and spiritual phenomena become perceptions through the inner senses, analogous to the physical color phenomena. However, only those who have walked the path of knowledge described in the next chapter and have developed their inner senses can fully understand what is meant by this. thus developed their inner senses. For such a person, the soul phenomena in the soul world surrounding them and the spiritual phenomena in the spiritual realm become super-sensibly visible. Feelings that they experience in other beings radiate like light phenomena from the feeling being; thoughts to which they turn their attention flood the spiritual space. For him, a thought of one human being that relates to another human being is not something imperceptible, but a perceptible process. The content of a thought lives as such only in the soul of the thinker; but this content has effects in the spiritual world. These are the perceptible process for the spiritual eye. As actual reality, the thought flows from one human being to another. And the way this thought affects the other is experienced as a perceptible process in the spiritual world. Thus, for those whose spiritual senses are open, the physically perceptible human being is only part of the whole human being. This physical human being becomes the center of soul and spiritual emanations. The rich and manifold world that opens up before the “seer” can only be hinted at. A human thought, which otherwise lives only in the listener's understanding, appears, for example, as a spiritually perceptible color phenomenon. Its color corresponds to the character of the thought. A thought that springs from a sensual impulse of the human being has a different coloration than a thought conceived in the service of pure knowledge, noble beauty, or eternal goodness. Thoughts that spring from sensual life pervade the soul world in shades of red.6See Remarks and Additions. To page 158 ff.

A thought through which the thinker ascends to a higher level of knowledge appears in a beautiful light yellow. A thought that springs from devoted love shines in a magnificent pink. And just like the content of a thought, its greater or lesser degree of certainty is also expressed in its supersensible form of appearance. The thinker's precise thought appears as a form with definite outlines; the confused mental image appears as a blurred, cloudy form.

[ 2 ] And the soul and spirit being of the human being appears in this way as a supersensible part of the whole human being.

[ 3 ] The color effects perceptible to the “spiritual eye,” which radiate around the physical human being perceived in his activity and envelop him like a cloud (roughly egg-shaped), are a human aura. The size of this aura varies from person to person. However, on average, one can create a mental image of the whole human being appearing twice as long and four times as wide as the physical being.

[ 4 ] A wide variety of colors now flood the aura. And this flooding is a true picture of inner human life. Individual colors are as changeable as this. However, certain lasting characteristics are also expressed in lasting basic colors: talents, habits, and character traits.

[ 5 ] For people who are not yet familiar with the experiences of the “path of knowledge” described in a later chapter of this book, misunderstandings may arise about the nature of what is described here as the “aura.” One might form a mental image of what is described here as “colors” standing before the soul in the same way that a physical color stands before the eye. However, such a “soul color” would be nothing more than a hallucination. Spiritual Science has nothing whatsoever to do with impressions that are “hallucinatory.” And in any case, they are not meant in the description given here. One arrives at a correct mental image when one keeps the following in mind. The soul not only experiences the sensory impression of a physical color, but also has a spiritual experience of it. This spiritual experience is different when the soul perceives a yellow surface through the eye than when it perceives a blue surface. Let us call this experience “life in yellow” or “life in blue.” The soul that has entered the path of knowledge has the same “experience in yellow” in relation to the active soul experiences of other beings: an “experience in blue” in relation to the devoted moods of the soul. The essential thing is not that the “seer” sees as “blue” in the mental image of another soul as he sees this ‘blue’ in the physical world, but that he has an experience that entitles him to call the mental image “blue,” just as the physical human being calls a curtain, for example, “blue.” Furthermore, it is essential that the “seer” is aware that he is standing in a body-free experience with this experience of his, so that he receives the opportunity to speak of the value and meaning of soul life in a world whose perception is not mediated by the human body. Even though this meaning of the description must be taken into account, it is quite natural for the “seer” to speak of “blue,” “yellow,” “green,” and so on in the “aura.”

[ 6 ] The aura varies greatly according to people's different temperaments and dispositions; it also varies according to their degree of spiritual development. A person who indulges entirely in their animalistic urges has a completely different aura from someone who lives largely in their thoughts. The aura of a religiously inclined person differs significantly from that of someone who is absorbed in the trivial experiences of the day. In addition, all changing moods, all inclinations, joys, and pains find expression in the aura.

[ 7 ] One must compare the auras of different kinds of soul experiences in order to understand the meaning of the color tones. First, let us take soul experiences that are permeated by strongly pronounced emotions. These can be divided into two different types: those in which the soul is driven to these emotions primarily by its animal nature, and those that take on a more refined form, which are strongly influenced by reflection, so to speak. In the former type of experiences, brown and reddish-yellow color currents of all shades flood the aura in certain places. In those with more refined emotions, shades of lighter reddish-yellow and green appear in the same places. It can be observed that with increasing intelligence, the green tones become more frequent. Very intelligent people who are completely absorbed in satisfying their animal instincts show a lot of green in their aura. However, this green will always have a stronger or weaker tinge of brown or brown-red. Unintelligent people show a large part of their aura flooded with brown-red or even dark blood-red currents.

[ 8 ] The aura is significantly different from such emotional states when the soul is calm, thoughtful, and reflective. The brownish and reddish tones recede and various shades of green emerge. When thinking intensely, the aura shows a soothing green undertone. This is how those natures appear who can be said to know how to find their way into every situation in life.

[ 9 ] The blue tones appear in devoted moods. The more a person puts themselves at the service of a cause, the more significant the blue nuances become. Two very different types of people can also be encountered in this regard. There are natures who are not accustomed to developing their thinking power, passive souls who, in a sense, have nothing to contribute to the flow of world events except their “good nature.” Their aura glows in a beautiful blue. This is also evident in many devoted, religious natures. Compassionate souls and those who like to live a life of doing good have a similar aura. If such people are also intelligent, green and blue currents alternate, or the blue itself takes on a greenish hue. It is characteristic of active souls, in contrast to passive ones, that their blue is saturated with bright colors from within. Inventive natures, those who have fruitful thoughts, radiate bright colors from an inner point, as it were. This is most evident in those personalities who are called “wise,” and especially in those who are filled with fruitful ideas. In general, everything that indicates mental activity takes the form of rays spreading out from within, while everything that originates from animal life takes the form of irregular clouds flooding the aura.

[ 10 ] Depending on whether the mental images that spring from the activity of the soul are placed at the service of one's own animalistic instincts or at the service of ideal, objective interests, the corresponding aura formations show different colors. The inventive mind, which uses all its thoughts to satisfy its sensual passions, shows dark blue-red nuances; on the other hand, the mind that selflessly puts its thoughts into an objective interest shows light red-blue shades. A life in the spirit, coupled with noble devotion and self-sacrifice, reveals pink or light violet colors.

[ 11 ] Not only the basic constitution of the soul, but also temporary emotions, moods, and other inner experiences show their flood of colors in the aura. A sudden outburst of intense anger produces red floods; wounded pride, which manifests itself in a sudden surge, can be seen appearing in dark green clouds. — But the color phenomena do not only appear in irregular cloud formations, but also in clearly defined, regularly shaped figures. If you notice a person experiencing a moment of fear, you will see this reflected in their aura, for example, as wavy blue stripes with a blue-reddish shimmer running from top to bottom. In a person who you notice is waiting anxiously for a certain event, you can see red-blue stripes continuously radiating from the inside to the outside of their aura.

[ 12 ] For accurate spiritual perception, every sensation that a person receives from the outside must be noticed. People who are strongly excited by every external impression show a continuous flicker of small blue-red dots and spots in their aura. In people who do not feel things vividly, these spots have an orange-yellow or even a beautiful yellow color. So-called “absent-mindedness” in people manifests itself as bluish, greenish spots of more or less varying shape.

[ 13 ] For a more highly trained “spiritual vision,” three types of color phenomena can be distinguished within this “aura” that surrounds and radiates around people. First, there are colors that are more or less opaque and dull in character. However, when we compare these colors with those seen by our physical eyes, they appear fleeting and transparent in comparison. Within the supersensible world itself, however, they make the space they fill comparatively opaque; they fill it like fog formations. — A second type of color is those that are, as it were, entirely light. They illuminate the space they fill. Through them, this space itself becomes a space of light. — The third type of colored phenomena is quite different from these two. These have a radiant, sparkling, glittering character. They do not merely illuminate the space they fill: they shine through and radiate it. There is something active, something moving within these colors. The others have something calm and dull about them. These, on the other hand, seem to generate themselves continuously. — The first two types of colors fill the space as if with a fine liquid that remains calm within it; the third fills it with a constantly stirring life, with never-ending activity.

[ 14 ] These three types of colors are not simply juxtaposed in the human aura; they are not located exclusively in separate parts of space, but interpenetrate each other in the most diverse ways. One can see all three types interacting in one place in the aura, just as one can see and hear a physical body, for example a bell, at the same time. This makes the aura an extraordinarily complex phenomenon, because one is dealing, so to speak, with three auras that are intertwined and interpenetrating. But one can gain clarity by focusing one's attention alternately on one of these three auras. One then does something in the supersensible world similar to what one does in the sensible world, for example, when one closes one's eyes in order to devote oneself completely to the impression of a piece of music. The “seer” has, so to speak, three kinds of organs for the three types of color. And in order to observe undisturbed, he can open one or the other type of organ to impressions and close the others. At first, a “seer” may only have developed the one type of organ that is sensitive to the first type of colors. Such a person can only see one aura; the other two remain invisible to him. Similarly, someone may be sensitive to the first two types, but not to the third. — The higher level of “clairvoyance” consists in a person being able to observe all three auras and, for the purpose of study, to direct their attention alternately to one or the other.

[ 15 ] The threefold aura is the supersensible expression of the human being's essence. The three members: body, soul, and spirit, are expressed in it.

[ 16 ] The first aura is a reflection of the influence that the body exerts on the soul of the human being; the second characterizes the soul's own life, which has risen above the immediate sensory stimuli but is not yet devoted to the service of the eternal; the third reflects the dominion that the eternal spirit has gained over the transitory human being. When descriptions of the aura are given — as has been done here — it must be emphasized that these things are not only difficult to observe, but above all difficult to describe. Therefore, no one should see anything other than inspiration in such descriptions.

[ 17 ] For the “seer,” the peculiarity of the soul life is expressed in the nature of the aura. When he encounters a soul life that is completely devoted to the respective sensual drives, desires, and momentary external stimuli, he sees the first aura in the brightest colors; the second, on the other hand, is only weakly developed. One sees only sparse color formations in it; the third, however, is barely hinted at. Here and there, a glimmer of color appears, indicating that even in such a state of mind, the eternal lives within the human being as a predisposition, but that it is suppressed by the marked influence of the sensual. The more the human being casts off his instinctive nature, the less obtrusive the first part of the aura becomes. The second part then enlarges more and more and fills the color body within which the physical human being lives more and more completely with its luminous power. And the more the human being proves himself to be a “servant of the eternal,” the more the wondrous third aura appears, that part which bears witness to the extent to which the human being is a citizen of the spiritual world. For the divine self shines through this part of the human aura into the earthly world. Insofar as people show this aura, they are flames through which the deity illuminates this world. Through this part of the aura, they show the extent to which they know how to live not for themselves but for the eternally true, the noble, the beautiful, and the good: the extent to which they have wrestled with their narrow selves to sacrifice themselves on the altar of the great work of the world.

[ 18 ] Thus, the aura expresses what the human being has made of himself in the course of his incarnations.

[ 19 ] All three parts of the aura contain colors of various shades. However, the character of these shades changes with the degree of development of the human being. — In the first part of the aura, one can see the undeveloped instinctual life in all shades from red to blue. These shades have a dull, unclear character. The intrusive red shades indicate sensual desires, carnal lusts, and addiction to the pleasures of the palate and stomach. Green nuances seem to be found especially in those lower natures who tend toward dullness and indifference, who greedily indulge in every pleasure but shy away from the efforts that bring them satisfaction. Where passions vehemently desire some goal that acquired abilities are not up to, brownish-green and yellowish-green aura colors appear. Certain modern lifestyles, however, virtually breed this type of aura.

[ 20 ] A personal sense of self that is rooted entirely in base inclinations, i.e., the lowest level of egoism, manifests itself in unclear yellow to brown tones. Now, it is clear that animalistic instincts can also take on a pleasant character. There is a purely natural capacity for self-sacrifice that is already found to a high degree in the animal kingdom. This development of an animalistic instinct finds its most beautiful fulfillment in natural maternal love. These selfless natural instincts are expressed in the first aura in light reddish to pinkish shades. Cowardly fearfulness and nervousness in response to sensory stimuli are reflected in brown-blue or gray-blue colors in the aura.

[ 21 ] The second aura again shows a wide variety of color shades. A strongly developed sense of self, pride, and ambition are expressed in brown and orange formations. Curiosity is also revealed by red-yellow spots. Bright yellow reflects clear thinking and intelligence; green is the expression of understanding of life and the world. Children who are quick to grasp things have a lot of green in this part of their aura. A good memory seems to be revealed by “green-yellow” in the second aura. Rose red indicates a benevolent, loving nature; blue is a sign of piety. The more piety approaches religious fervor, the more blue turns to violet. Idealism and a serious outlook on life are seen as indigo blue.

[ 22 ] The basic colors of the third aura are yellow, green, and blue. Bright yellow appears here when the mind is filled with lofty, comprehensive ideas that grasp the individual from the whole of the divine world order. When thinking is intuitive and completely free from sensual mental images, this yellow has a golden sheen. Green expresses love for all beings; blue is the sign of selfless sacrifice for all beings. If this capacity for sacrifice increases to the point of strong will, which actively places itself in the service of the world, the blue brightens to light violet. If, despite a more highly developed soul, pride and ambition are still present as the last remnants of personal egoism, then, alongside the yellow nuances, there appear those that tend toward orange. — It should be noted, however, that in this part of the aura, the colors are quite different from the shades that humans are accustomed to seeing in the sensory world. A beauty and sublimity confronts the “seer” here that cannot be compared to anything in the ordinary world. — This description of the “aura” cannot be properly assessed by those who do not place primary importance on the fact that “seeing the aura” means an expansion and enrichment of what is perceived in the physical world. An expansion that aims to recognize the form of soul life that has spiritual reality beyond the sensory world. This entire description has nothing to do with interpreting a person's character or thoughts from a hallucinatory aura. It aims to expand our knowledge of the spiritual world and has nothing to do with the dubious art of interpreting human souls from their auras.

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