The Threshold of the Spiritual World
GA 17
V. Concerning Reincarnation and Karma; Man's Astral Body and the Spiritual World; and Ahrimanic Beings
[ 1 ] It is especially difficult for the soul to recognise that there is something prevailing within its life which is environment to the soul in the same way as the so-called outer world is environment to the ordinary senses. The soul unconsciously resists this, because it imagines its independent existence imperilled by such a fact; and therefore instinctively turns away from it. For though more modern science theoretically admits the existence of the fact, this does not mean that it is as yet fully realised, with all the consequences of inwardly grasping it and becoming permeated with it. If, however, our consciousness can attain to realising it as a vital fact, we learn to discern in the soul's nature an inner nucleus, which exists independently of everything that may be developed in the sphere of the soul's conscious life between birth and death. We learn to know in our own depths a being of which we feel our own self to be the creation, and by which we also feel that our body, the vehicle of consciousness, has been created, with all its powers and attributes.
In the course of this experience the soul learns to feel that a spiritual entity within it is growing to maturity, and that this entity withdraws itself from the influence of conscious life. It begins to feel that this inner entity becomes more and more vigorous, and also more independent, in the course of the life between birth and death. It learns to realise that the entity bears the same relation to the rest of experience, between birth and death, as the developing germ in the being of a plant bears to the sum-total of the plant in which it is developing: with the difference that the germ of the plant is of a physical, whilst the germ of the soul is of a spiritual nature.
The course of such an experience leads one to admit the idea of repeated earthly lives. In the nucleus of the soul, which is to a certain degree independent of the soul, the latter is able to feel the germ of a new human life. Into that life the germ will carry over the results of the present one, when it has experienced in a spiritual world after death, in a purely spiritual way, those conditions of life in which it cannot share as long as it is enveloped in a physical earthly body between birth and death.
[ 2 ] From this thought there necessarily results another, namely, that the present physical life between birth and death is the product of other lives long past, in which the soul developed a germ which continued to live on in a purely spiritual world after death, till it was ripe for entering upon a new earthly life through a new birth; just as the germ of the plant becomes a new plant when, after having been detached from the old plant in which it was formed, it has been for a while in other conditions of life.
[ 3 ] When the soul has been adequately pre-pared, clairvoyant consciousness learns to immerse itself in the process of the development in one human life of a germ, in a certain way independent, which carries over the results of that life into later earthly lives. In the form of a picture, yet essentially real, as though it were about to reveal itself as an individual entity, there emerges from the waves of the life of the soul a second self, which appears independent of and set over the being which we have previously looked upon as ourself. It seems like an inspirer of that self. And we as this latter self, then flow into one with our inspiring, superior self.
[ 4] Now our ordinary consciousness lives in this state of things, which is thus beheld by clairvoyant consciousness, without being aware of the fact. Once again it is necessary for the soul to be strengthened, in order that one may hold one's own, not only as regards a spiritual outer world with which one blends, but even as regards a spiritual entity which in a higher sense is one's own self, and which nevertheless stands outside that which is necessarily felt to be the self in the physical world. The way in which the second self rises out of the waves of the soul's life, in the form of a picture, yet essentially real, is quite different in different human individualities. I have tried in the following plays picturing the soul's life, “The Portal of Initiation,” “The Soul's Probation,” “The Guardian of the Threshold,” and “The Awakening of the Soul,” to portray how various human individualities work their way through to the experience of this “other self.”
[ 5 ] Now even if the soul in ordinary consciousness knows nothing about its being inspired by its other self, yet that inspiration is nevertheless there, in the depths of the soul. It is, however, not expressed in thoughts or inner words; but takes effect through deeds, through events or through something that happens. It is the other self that guides the soul to the details of its life's destiny, and calls forth capacities, inclinations, aptitudes, and so forth within it. This other self lives in the sum-total or aggregate of the destiny of a human life. It moves alongside of the self which is conditioned by birth and death, and shapes human life, with all that it contains of joy and sorrow. When clairvoyant consciousness joins that other self, it learns to say “ I ” to the total aggregate of the life-destiny, just as physical man says “ I ” to his individual being. That which is called by an Eastern word Karma, grows together in the way that has been indicated, with the other self, or the spiritual ego. The life of a human being is seen to be inspired by his own permanent entity, which lives on from one life to another; and the inspiration operates in such a way that the life-destiny of one earthly existence is the direct consequence of previous ones.
[ 6 ] Thus man learns to know himself as another being, different from his physical personality, which indeed only comes to expression in physical existence through the working of this being. When the consciousness enters the world of that other being, it is in a region which, as compared with the elemental world, may be called the world of the spirit.
[ 7 ] As long as we feel ourselves to be in that world, we find ourselves completely outside the sphere in which all the experiences and events of the physical world are enacted. We look from another world back upon the one which we have in a certain sense left behind. But we also arrive at the knowledge that, as human beings, we belong to both worlds. We feel the physical world to be a kind of reflected image of the world of the spirit. Yet this image, although reflecting the events and beings of the spiritual world, does not merely do this, but also leads an independent life of its own, although it is only an image. It is as though a person were to look into a mirror, and as though his reflected image were to come to independent life whilst he was looking at it.
Moreover, we learn to know spiritual beings who bring about this independent life of the reflected image of the spiritual world. We feel them to be beings who belong to the world of the spirit with regard to their origin, but who have left the arena of that world, and sought their field of action in the physical world. We thus find ourselves confronting two worlds which act one upon the other. We will call the spiritual world the higher, and the physical world the lower.
[ 8 ] We learn to know these spiritual beings in the lower world through having to a certain extent transferred our point of view to the higher world. One class of these spiritual beings presents itself in such a way that through them we discover the reason why man experiences the physical world as substantial and material. We discover that everything material is in reality spiritual, and that the spiritual activity of these beings consolidates and hardens the spiritual element of the physical world into matter. However unpopular certain names are in the present day, they are needed for that which is seen as reality in the world of spirit. And so we will call the beings who bring about materialisation the Ahrimanic beings. It appears that their original sphere is the mineral kingdom. In that kingdom they reign in such a way that there they can bring fully into manifestation what is their real nature. In the vegetable kingdom and in the higher kingdoms of nature they accomplish something else, which only becomes intelligible when the sphere of the elemental world is taken into account. Seen from the world of the spirit, the elemental world also appears like a reflection of that world. But the reflected image in the elemental world has not so much independence as that in the physical world. In the former, the spiritual beings of the Ahrimanic class are less dominant than in the latter. From the elemental world, however, they do develop, amongst other things, the kind of activity which comes to expression in annihilation and death. We may even say that in the higher kingdoms of nature the part of the Ahrimanic beings is to introduce death. So far as death is part of the necessary order of existence, the mission of the Ahrimanic beings is legitimate.
[ 9 ] But when we view the activity of the Ahrimanic beings from the world of the spirit, we find that something else is connected with their work in the lower world. Inasmuch as their sphere of action is there, they do not feel bound to respect the limits which would restrain their activity if they were operating in the higher world from which they originate. In the lower world they struggle for an independence which they could never have in the higher sphere. This is especially evident in the influence of the Ahrimanic beings on man, inasmuch as man forms the highest kingdom of nature in the physical world. As far as the human life of the soul is bound up with physical existence, they strive to give that life independence, to wrench it free from the higher world, and to incorporate it entirely in the lower. Man as a thinking soul originates from the higher world. The thinking soul which has become clairvoyant also enters that higher world. But the thinking which is evolved in, and bound up with, the physical world, has in it that which must be called the influence of the Ahrimanic beings. These beings desire to give, as it were, a kind of permanent existence to a sense-bound thinking within the physical world. At the same time as their forces bring death, they desire to hold back the thinking soul from death, and only to allow the other principles of man to be carried away by the stream of annihilation. Their intention is that the human power of thought shall remain behind in the physical world and adopt a kind of existence approximating ever more and more to the Ahrimanic nature.
[ 10 ] In the lower world what has just been described is only expressed through its effects. Man may strive to saturate himself in his thinking soul with the forces which recognise the spiritual world, and know themselves to live and have their being within it. But he may also turn away with his thinking soul from those forces, and only make use of his thought for laying hold of the physical world. Temptations to the latter course of action come from the Ahrimanic powers.
Von den wiederholten Erdenleben und vom Karma. Von dem astralischen Leib des Menschen und von der geistigen Welt. Von ahrimanischen Wesenheiten
[ 1 ] Die Anerkennung, daß im Seelenleben etwas waltet, was dem Bewußtsein der Seele so Außenwelt ist wie die im gewöhnlichen Sinne so genannte Außenwelt, wird der Seele besonders schwer. Sie sträubt sich - unbewußt - dagegen, weil sie ihr Eigensein durch diesen Tatbestand gefährdet glaubt. Sie wendet instinktiv den geistigen Blick von diesem Tatbestand ab. Daß die neuere Wissenschaft theoretisch die Sache als solche zugesteht, ist noch nicht ein Voll-Erleben dieser Tatsache mit allen Konsequenzen des inneren Erfassens derselben und des Sich-Durchdringens mit ihr. Kann das Bewußtsein dazu gelangen, diese Tatsache lebensvoll zu erfühlen, dann lernt es im Seelenwesen einen inneren Kern erkennen, welcher selbständig wesenhaft gegenüber allem ist, was im Bereich des bewußten Seelenlebens zwischen Geburt und Tod sich entwickeln kann. Es lernt das Bewußtsein in seinem Untergrunde ein Wesen kennen, als dessen Geschöpf es sich selber fühlen muß. Und als dessen Geschöpf es auch den Leib mit allen seinen Kräften und Eigenschaften fühlen muß, der der Träger dieses Bewußtseins ist. Die Seele lernt im Verfolg eines solchen Erlebens das Heranreifen einer in ihr befindlichen geistigen Wesenheit empfinden, welche sich den Einflüssen des bewußten Lebens entzieht. Sie kommt dazu, zu fühlen, wie diese innere Wesenheit im Verlaufe des Lebens zwischen Geburt und Tod immer kraftvoller, aber auch selbständiger wird. Sie lernt erkennen, daß diese Wesenheit innerhalb dieses Lebens zwischen Geburt und Tod zu dem übrigen Erleben sich so stellt, wie der im Pflanzenwesen sich entwickelnde Keim zu der Gesamtheit der Pflanze, in welcher er sich entwickelt. Nur ist der Pflanzenkeim ein physisches Wesen, der Seelenkeim ein geistiges. - Der Verfolg eines solchen Erlebens führt dann zur Anerkennung des Gedankens von den wiederholten Erdenleben des Menschen. Die Seele kann in ihrem von ihr bis zu einem gewissen Grade unabhängigen Wesenskern den Keim zu einem neuen Menschenleben erfühlen, in das dieser Keim die Früchte des gegenwärtigen hinübertragen wird, wenn er in einer geistigen Welt nach dem Tode jene Lebensbedingungenin einer rein geistigen Weise erfahren haben wird, die ihm dann nicht zuteil werden können, wenn er von einem physischen Erdenleib zwischen Geburt und Tod umhüllt ist.
[ 2 ] Aus diesem Gedanken ergibt sich dann mit Notwendigkeit der andere, daß das gegenwärtige Sinnesleben zwischen Geburt und Tod das Ergebnis ist anderer langvergangner Erdenleben, in denen die Seele einen Keim entwickelt hat, der nach dem Tode in einer rein geistigen Welt weiter gelebt hat, bis er gereift war, ein neues Erdenleben durch eine neue Geburt anzutreten, wie der Pflanzenkeim zur neuen Pflanze wird, nachdem er, losgelöst von der alten Pflanze, in der er sich gebildet hat, eine Zeitlang unter anderen Lebensbedingungen gewesen ist.
[ 3] Das übersinnliche Bewußtsein lernt durch die entsprechenden Seelenvorbereitungen in den Vorgang untertauchen, der darin besteht, daß sich in einem Menschenleben ein in gewisser Weise selbständiger Kern ausbildet, welcher die Früchte dieses Lebens in folgende Erdenleben hinüberführt. - Bilderhaft, wesenhaft, wie wenn es sich als Eigenwesen offenbaren wollte, taucht aus den Seelenfluten ein zweites Selbst auf, das dem Wesen, das man vorher als sein Selbst angesprochen hat, wie selbständig, übergeordnet erscheint. Es nimmt sich wie ein Inspirator dieses Selbstes aus. Der Mensch fließt als dieses letztere Selbst zusammen mit dem inspirierenden, übergeordneten.
[ 4 ] Was das übersinnliche Bewußtsein so als Tatbestand durchschaut, in dem lebt das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein, ohne daß es davon weiß. Wieder bedarf es der Seelenstärkung, um sich aufrechtzuerhalten jetzt nicht nur gegenüber einer geistigen Außenwelt, mit der man verschmilzt, sondern sogar mit einer geistigen Wesenheit, die man in einem höheren Sinne selber ist, und die doch außerhalb dessen steht, was man in der Sinnenwelt notwendig als sein Selbst erfühlen muß. (Die Art, wie dieses zweite Selbst sich aus den Seelenfluten bilderhaft, wesenhaft erhebt, ist für die verschiedenen Menschenindividualitäten ganz verschieden. In meinen szenischen Seelengemälden «Die Pforte der Einweihung », «Die Prüfung der Seele», «Der Hüter der Schwelle» und «Der Seelen Erwachen» versuchte ich darzustellen, wie verschiedene Menschenindividualitäten sich zu dem Erleben dieses «anderen Selbstes» hindurcharbeiten.)
[ 5 ] Wenn nun auch die Seele im gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein nichts weiß von der Inspiration durch ihr «anderes Selbst », so ist diese Inspiration aber doch in den Seelentiefen vorhanden. Nur ist diese Inspiration keine solche in Gedanken oder inneren Worten; sie wirkt durch Taten, durch Vorgänge, durch ein Geschehen. Dieses «andere Selbst » ist es, welches die Seele hinführt zu den Einzelheiten ihres Lebensschicksals, und welches in ihr die Fähigkeiten, Neigungen, Anlagen usw. hervorruft. - Dieses «andere Selbst» lebt in der Gesamtheit des Schicksals eines Menschenlebens. Es geht neben dem Selbst, das zwischen Geburt und Tod seine Bedingungen hat, einher und gestaltet das menschliche Leben mit allem, was Erfreuliches, Erhebendes, Schmerzvolles in dasselbe einschlägt. Das übersinnliche Bewußtsein lernt, indem es mit diesem «anderen Selbst» sich zusammenfindet, zu der Gesamtheit des Lebensschicksals so «Ich» zu sagen, wie der physische Mensch zu seinem Eigenwesen «Ich » sagt. Was man mit einem morgenländischen Worte «Karma» nennt: es wächst in der angedeuteten Art mit dem «anderen Selbst», mit dem «geistigen Ich-Wesen» zusammen. Der Lebenslauf eines Menschen erscheint inspiriert von seiner eigenen Dauerwesenheit, die von Leben zu Leben sich weiterführt; und die Inspiration erfolgt so, daß die Lebensschicksale eines folgenden Erdenseins als die Folge sich ergeben der vorangehenden Erdenleben.
[ 6 ] So lernt der Mensch sich selbst erkennen als eine «andere Wesenheit», eine solche, welche er nicht im Sinnensein ist, und die sich in diesem Sinnensein nur durch ihre Wirkungen zum Ausdruck bringt. Wenn das Bewußtsein in diese Welt eintritt, so ist es in einem Gebiete, das dem elementarischen gegenüber als das Geistgebiet bezeichnet werden kann.
[ 7 ] Solange man sich in diesem Gebiete erfühlt, findet man sich vollkommen außer dem Kreise stehend, in dem alle Erlebnisse und Erfahrungen der Sinneswelt sich abspielen. Man sieht aus einer anderen Welt auf diejenige zurück, welche man gewissermaßen verlassen hat. Man gelangt aber zu der Erkenntnis, daß man als Mensch den beiden Welten angehört. Man empfindet die Sinnenwelt wie eine Art Spiegelbild der Geisteswelt. Doch als ein Spiegelbild, in welchem die Vorgänge und Wesenheiten der Geisteswelt nicht bloß gespiegelt werden, sondern das, obgleich es Spiegelbild ist, ein selbständiges Leben in sich führt. Wie wenn ein Mensch sich in einem Spiegel sähe und, indem er sich sieht, das Spiegelbild selbständiges Leben gewänne. - Und man lernt geistige Wesenheiten kennen, welche dieses selbständige Leben des Spiegelbildes der Geisteswelt bewirken. Diese geistigen Wesenheiten empfindet man als solche, welche ihrem Ursprunge nach der Geisteswelt angehören, die aber den Schauplatz dieser Welt verlassen haben und in der Sinneswelt ihr Wirkensfeld entwickeln. So sieht man sich zweien Welten gegenüber, welche aufeinander wirken. Es soll die geistige Welt hier als die obere, die Sinneswelt als die untere Welt bezeichnet werden.
[ 8 ] Man lernt in der unteren Welt die gekennzeichneten geistigen Wesenheiten dadurch kennen, daß man gewissermaßen seinen Gesichtspunkt selbst in die obere Welt verlegt hat. Eine Art dieser geistigen Wesenheiten stellt sich so dar, daß man in ihr den Grund findet, warum der Mensch die Sinneswelt als eine stoffliche, materielle erlebt. Man erkennt, daß alles Stoffliche in Wahrheit geistig ist, und daß die geistige Wirksamkeit jener Wesen das Geistige der Sinneswelt zum Stofflichen verfestigt, verhärtet. So unbeliebt gewisse Namen in der Gegenwart auch sind, man braucht sie für dasjenige, was man in der Geisteswelt als wirklich erschaut. Deshalb seien hier die Wesen, welche dieses Verstofflichen der Sinneswelt bewirken, die ahrimanischen Wesenheiten genannt. Nun zeigt sich in bezug auf diese ahrimanischen Wesenheiten auch, daß sie ihr ureigenes Gebiet im Reiche des Mineralischen haben. Im Mineralreiche herrschen diese Wesenheiten so, daß sie in diesem Reiche voll zur Offenbarung bringen, was sie ihrer Natur nach sind. - Im Pflanzenreiche und in den höheren Naturreichen vollbringen sie etwas anderes. Verständlich wird dieses andere erst, wenn man das Gebiet der elementarischen Welt in Betracht zieht. Auch diese elementarische Welt erscheint, von dem Geistgebiete aus gesehen, wie eine Spiegelung dieses Geistgebietes. Doch ist die Selbständigkeit des Spiegelbildes in der elementarischen Welt keine so große wie diejenige der physischen Sinneswelt. In der ersteren herrschen die geistigen Wesenheiten von der Art der ahrimanischen weniger als in der Sinneswelt. Doch entwickeln diese ahrimanischen Wesenheiten von der elementarischen Welt aus unter anderem diejenige Wirksamkeit, welche in Vernichtung und Tod des Daseins ihren Ausdruck findet. Man kann geradezu sagen, daß für die höheren Naturreiche die ahrimanischen Wesenheiten die Aufgabe haben, den Tod herbeizuführen. Insoferne der Tod zur notwendigen Ordnung des Daseins gehört, ist die Aufgabe der ahrimanischen Wesenheiten in dieser Ordnung begründet.
[ 9 ] Man erfährt aber, wenn man die Wirksamkeit der ahrimanischen Wesenheiten vom Geistgebiet aus beobachtet, daß mit ihrem Wirken in der unteren Welt noch etwas anderes zusammenhängt. Indem sie in dieser Welt ihren Schauplatz haben, fühlen sie sich nicht an die Ordnung gebunden, die ihren Kräften zukäme, wenn sie in der oberen Welt wirkten, in welcher sie ihren Ursprung haben. Sie streben in der unteren Welt nach einer Selbständigkeit, welche sie in der oberen niemals haben könnten. Dies äußert sich insbesondere in der Wirksamkeit der ahrimanischen Wesenheiten auf den Menschen, insoferne der Mensch das höchste Naturreich der Sinneswelt bildet. Sie streben das menschliche Seelenleben, soweit dieses an das Sinnessein des Menschen gebunden ist, zu verselbständigen, es loszureißen von der oberen Welt und es ganz ihrer eigenen Welt einzuverleiben. Der Mensch als denkende Seele hat seinen Ursprung in der oberen Welt. Die geistig schauend gewordene, denkende Seele tritt auch in diese obere Welt ein. Das in der Sinneswelt zur Entfaltung kommende und an diese gebundene Denken hat in sich dasjenige, was als Einfluß der ahrimanischen Wesenheiten zu bezeichnen ist. Diese Wesenheiten wollen gewissermaßen dem Sinnesdenken innerhalb der Sinneswelt eine Art dauernden Daseins geben. Indem ihre Kräfte den Tod bringen, wollen sie die denkende Seele dem Tode entreißen und nur das andere Wesenhafte am Menschen in die Vernichtung einströmen lassen. Die Menschendenkkraft aber soll, nach ihren Intentionen, im Sinnesbereich zurückbleiben und ein Sein annehmen, das der Natur des Ahrimanischen immer ähnlicher werden soll.
[ 10 ] In der unteren Welt drückt sich das eben Geschilderte nur durch seine Wirkung aus. Der Mensch kann darnach streben, in seiner denkenden Seele sich mit den Kräften durchdringen zu lassen, welche die geistige Welt anerkennen, welche in derselben sich lebend und wesend wissen. Er kann aber auch sich mit seiner denkenden Seele von solchen Kräften abwenden, kann sein Denken nur dazu benützen, die Sinneswelt zu ergreifen. Die Verlockungen zu dem letzteren kommen von den ahrimanischen Kräften.
On repeated earth lives and karma. Of the astral body of man and of the spiritual world. Of ahrimanic entities
[ 1 ] It is particularly difficult for the soul to recognize that there is something in the life of the soul that is as external to the consciousness of the soul as the so-called external world in the ordinary sense. It resists it - unconsciously - because it believes that its own being is endangered by this fact. It instinctively turns its spiritual gaze away from this fact. The fact that the newer science theoretically concedes the matter as such is not yet a full experience of this fact with all the consequences of the inner grasp of it and of penetrating itself with it. If the consciousness can come to feel this fact full of life, then it learns to recognize an inner core in the soul being, which is independently essential in relation to everything that can develop in the realm of the conscious soul life between birth and death. Consciousness learns to know a being in its subsoil as whose creature it must feel itself to be. And as its creature it must also feel the body with all its powers and qualities, which is the bearer of this consciousness. In the course of such an experience the soul learns to feel the maturing of a spiritual entity within it, which withdraws from the influences of conscious life. It comes to feel how this inner entity becomes more and more powerful, but also more independent, in the course of life between birth and death. It learns to recognize that within this life between birth and death this entity relates to the rest of experience in the same way as the germ developing in the plant being relates to the entirety of the plant in which it develops. Only the plant germ is a physical being, the soul germ a spiritual one. - The pursuit of such an experience then leads to the recognition of the idea of the repeated earth lives of the human being. The soul can sense in its core of being, which is to a certain degree independent of itself, the germ of a new human life, into which this germ will carry over the fruits of the present one, when it will have experienced in a spiritual world after death those conditions of life in a purely spiritual way, which cannot be granted to it when it is enveloped by a physical earthly body between birth and death.
[ 2 ] From this thought then necessarily follows the other, that the present sensory life between birth and death is the result of other long-past earth lives in which the soul has developed a germ, which after death continued to live in a purely spiritual world until it had matured to take on a new earthly life through a new birth, just as the plant germ becomes a new plant after it has been under different living conditions for a time, detached from the old plant in which it was formed.
[ 3] The supersensible consciousness learns through the corresponding soul preparations to immerse itself in the process, which consists in the fact that in a human life a nucleus develops that is independent in a certain way, which carries the fruits of this life over into subsequent earth lives. - In a pictorial, essential way, as if it wanted to reveal itself as a being of its own, a second self emerges from the floods of the soul, which appears to be independent, superior to the being that was previously addressed as its own self. It appears like an inspirer of this self. The human being flows as this latter self together with the inspiring, superior one.
[ 4 ] What the supersensible consciousness thus sees through as a fact, the ordinary consciousness lives in without knowing it. Again, it requires the strengthening of the soul in order to maintain itself now not only in the face of a spiritual outer world with which it merges, but even with a spiritual entity which it is itself in a higher sense, and which nevertheless stands outside of what it must necessarily feel as its self in the sense world. (The way in which this second self rises from the floods of the soul in a pictorial, essential way is quite different for the various human individualities. In my scenic soul paintings "The Gate of Initiation", "The Trial of the Soul", "The Guardian of the Threshold" and "The Soul's Awakening", I tried to depict how different human individualities work their way through to the experience of this "other self".
[ 5 ] Although the soul knows nothing of the inspiration of its "other self" in ordinary consciousness, this inspiration is nevertheless present in the depths of the soul. Only this inspiration is not one in thoughts or inner words; it works through deeds, through processes, through an event. It is this "other self" that leads the soul to the details of its life's destiny, and which evokes the abilities, inclinations, dispositions, etc. in it. - This "other self" lives in the totality of the destiny of a human life. It goes along with the self, which has its conditions between birth and death, and shapes human life with everything that is joyful, uplifting or painful. By uniting with this "other self", the supersensible consciousness learns to say "I" to the totality of life's destiny in the same way that the physical human being says "I" to his own being. What is called "karma" with an oriental word: it grows together in the manner indicated with the "other self", with the "spiritual I-being". The course of a person's life appears inspired by his own permanent being, which continues from life to life; and the inspiration takes place in such a way that the life destinies of a subsequent earthly being arise as the consequence of the preceding earthly lives.
[ 6 ] Thus man learns to recognize himself as an "other entity", one which he is not in his sensual being, and which expresses itself in this sensual being only through its effects. When consciousness enters this world, it is in a realm that can be described as the spiritual realm in contrast to the elementary realm.
[ 7 ] As long as one feels oneself in this realm, one finds oneself standing completely outside the circle in which all experiences of the sensory world take place. One looks back from another world to the one one has left, so to speak. But one comes to the realization that as a human being one belongs to both worlds. The sense world is perceived as a kind of mirror image of the spiritual world. But as a mirror image in which the processes and entities of the spiritual world are not merely reflected, but which, although it is a mirror image, leads an independent life in itself. As if a person saw himself in a mirror and, by seeing himself, the reflection gained independent life. - And one gets to know spiritual entities which bring about this independent life of the mirror image of the spiritual world. These spiritual entities are perceived as belonging to the spiritual world according to their origin, but which have left the scene of this world and develop their field of activity in the sense world. Thus we are confronted with two worlds which interact with each other. The spiritual world should be referred to here as the upper, the sensory world as the lower world.
[ 8 ] In the lower world one gets to know the designated spiritual entities by having, as it were, transferred one's point of view to the upper world. One type of these spiritual entities presents itself in such a way that one finds in it the reason why man experiences the sense world as a material one. One recognizes that everything material is in truth spiritual, and that the spiritual activity of those beings solidifies and hardens the spiritual of the sensory world into the material. As unpopular as certain names are in the present, they are needed for that which one sees as real in the spiritual world. That is why the beings who bring about this materialization of the sense world are called the ahrimanic beings. Now with regard to these ahrimanic beings it also shows that they have their very own area in the realm of the mineral. In the mineral kingdom these entities rule in such a way that in this kingdom they fully manifest what they are by nature. - In the plant kingdom and in the higher kingdoms of nature they accomplish something else. This other thing only becomes comprehensible when we consider the realm of the elemental world. Seen from the spiritual realm, this elementary world also appears like a reflection of this spiritual realm. However, the independence of the mirror image in the elementary world is not as great as that of the physical sense world. In the former, the spiritual entities of the ahrimanic kind dominate less than in the sense world. But these ahrimanic entities develop from the elementary world, among other things, that effectiveness which finds its expression in the destruction and death of existence. It can almost be said that for the higher kingdoms of nature the ahrimanic entities have the task of bringing about death. Insofar as death is part of the necessary order of existence, the task of the ahrimanic entities is founded in this order.
[ 9 ] But when one observes the activity of the ahrimanic entities from the spiritual realm, one learns that something else is connected with their work in the lower world. Because they have their scene in this world, they do not feel bound to the order that would apply to their powers if they worked in the upper world, where they have their origin. They strive for an independence in the lower world that they could never have in the upper world. This expresses itself particularly in the effect of the ahrimanic entities on man, in so far as man forms the highest natural kingdom of the sense world. They strive to make the life of the human soul, insofar as it is bound to the human being's senses, independent, to tear it away from the upper world and to incorporate it completely into their own world. The human being as a thinking soul has its origin in the upper world. The thinking soul that has become spiritually seeing also enters this upper world. The thinking that unfolds in the sense world and is bound to it has within it that which is to be described as the influence of the ahrimanic entities. These entities want to give sense thinking a kind of permanent existence within the sense world. By bringing death through their powers, they want to snatch the thinking soul from death and allow only the other beingness in man to flow into destruction. According to their intentions, however, the human thinking power should remain in the realm of the senses and take on an existence that should become more and more similar to the nature of the Ahrimanic.
[ 10 ] In the lower world, what has just been described expresses itself only through its effect. Man can strive to let himself be permeated in his thinking soul with the forces which recognize the spiritual world, which know themselves to be alive and present in it. But he can also turn away from such forces with his thinking soul, can only use his thinking to grasp the sensory world. The temptations to the latter come from the ahrimanic forces.