The Threshold of the Spiritual World
GA 17
X. Concerning the Boundary between the Physical World and Supersensible Worlds
[ 1 ] In order to understand the mutual relations of the various worlds, we must take into account the fact that a force which in one world is bound to develop activity in conformity with the order of the universe, may, when it comes to be developed in another world, be directed against that order. Therefore it is necessary for man's being that there should exist in his etheric body the two opposing forces, the capacity for transformation into other beings, and the strong ego-feeling, or feeling of self. Neither of these forces of the human soul can be unfolded in physical existence except in a deadened form. In the elemental world they exist in such a way as to make man's being possible by their mutual balance, just as sleep and the waking state make human life in the physical world possible. The relation of two such opposing forces can never be that of one effacing the other, but must be of such a kind that both are developed and act upon each other in the way of balance or compensation.
Now it is only in the elemental world that the ego-feeling and the capacity for transformation act upon each other in the way indicated; the physical world can only be worked upon, in conformity with the order of the universe, by the result of these two forces in their mutual relationship and cooperation. If the capacity for transformation which it is necessary for a person to possess in his etheric body were to extend in the same degree to physical existence, he would feel himself in his soul as something which in considering his physical body he is not. The physical body gives man in its own world a certain fixed stamp, by means of which he is put into that world as a particular personal being. He is not put into the elemental world with his etheric body in this manner. In the elemental world, in order to be a human being in the full sense, he must be able to assume the most varied forms. If this were impossible to him, he would be condemned to complete isolation in the elemental world; he would not be able to know about anything in it except himself; for he would not feel himself related to any other being or event. This, in the elemental world would be equivalent to the non-existence of those beings or events, as far as such a person was concerned.
If, however, the human soul were to develop in the physical world the capacity for transformation necessary for the elemental world, its personal identity would be lost. Such a soul would be living in contradiction with itself. In the physical world, the capacity for transformation must be a power at rest in the depths of the soul; a power which gives the soul its fundamental tone or keynote, but which does not come to development in that world.
Clairvoyant consciousness has therefore to live itself into the capacity for transformation; if it were not able to do this, it could make no observations in the elemental world. It thus acquires a faculty which it should only bring to bear so long as it knows itself to be in the elemental world, and which it must suppress as soon as it returns to the physical world. Clairvoyant consciousness must ever observe the boundary of the two worlds, and must not use in the physical world faculties adapted for a supersensible world. If the soul, knowing itself to be in the physical world, were to allow the capacity for transformation possessed by its etheric body to go on working, ordinary consciousness would become filled with conceptions which do not correspond to any being in the physical world. Confusion would reign in the life of the soul's thought. Observation of the boundary between the worlds is a necessary presupposition for the right working of clairvoyant consciousness. One who wants to acquire this consciousness must be careful that no disturbing element creeps into his ordinary consciousness through his knowledge of supersensible worlds.
If we learn to know the guardian of the threshold we know the state of our soul with regard to the physical world, and whether it is strong enough to banish from physical consciousness the forces and faculties, belonging to supersensible worlds, which should not be allowed to be active in ordinary consciousness. If the supersensible world is entered without the self-knowledge brought about by the guardian of the threshold, we may be overwhelmed by the experiences of that world. These experiences may thrust themselves into physical consciousness as illusive pictures. In that case they assume the character of sense-perceptions, and the necessary consequence is that the soul takes them for realities when they are not so. Rightly developed clairvoyance will never take the pictures of the elemental world for reality in the sense in which physical consciousness has to take the experiences of the physical world as realities. The pictures of the elemental world are only brought into their true association with the realities to which they correspond, by the soul's faculty of transformation.
[ 2 ] Again, the second force necessary for the etheric body—the strong ego-feeling—should not be projected into the soul's life within the physical world in the same way as is appropriate for it in the elemental world. If it is, it then becomes a source of immoral propensities, as far as these are connected with egoism. It is at this point in its observation of the universe that spiritual science finds the origin of evil in human action. It would be misunderstanding the order of the world to surrender oneself to the belief that this order could be maintained without the forces which form the source of evil. If these forces were non-existent, the etheric being of man could not come to development in the elemental world. These forces are entirely good when they come into operation in the elemental world only. They bring about evil when they do not remain at rest in the depths of the soul, there regulating man's relation to the elemental world, but are transferred to the soul's experience within the physical world and are changed thereby into selfish impulses. In this case they work against the faculty of love and thus become the causes of immoral action.
[ 3 ] If the strong ego-feeling passes from the etheric to the physical body, it not only effects a strengthening of egoism, but a weakening of the etheric body. Clairvoyant consciousness has to make the discovery that on entering the supersensible world, the necessary ego-feeling is weak in proportion as egoism in the experiences of the physical world is strong. Egoism does not make a human being strong in the depths of his soul, but weak. And when man passes through the gateway of death, the effect of the egoism which has been developed during the life between birth and death is such as to make the soul weak for the experiences of the supersensible world.
Von der Grenze zwischen der Sinneswelt und den übersinnlichen Welten
[ 1 ] Für die Erkenntnis des Verhältnisses der verschiedenen Welten kommt in Betracht, daß eine Kraft, die in einer Welt eine dem Sinne der Weltenordnung gemäße Wirkung entfalten muß, sich dann gegen diese Weltenordnung richten kann, wenn sie in einer anderen Welt zur Entfaltung kommt. So ist es für die Wesenheit des Menschen notwendig, daß in seinem ätherischen Leibe die zwei Gegenkräfte vorhanden sind: die Verwandlungsfähigkeit in andere Wesenheiten und das starke Ich- oder Selbstgefühl. Beide Kräfte der menschlichen Seele können nicht ohne Abdämpfung von der Seele im Sinnessein zur Entfaltung gebracht werden. In der elementarischen Welt sind sie so vorhanden, daß sie durch ihren gegenseitigen Ausgleich die menschliche Wesenheit möglich machen, wie Schlaf und Wachen in der Sinneswelt das menschliche Leben möglich machen. Es könnte das Verhältnis zweier solcher Gegenkräfte nie so sein, daß die eine die andere auslöscht, sondern es muß so sein, daß beide zur Entwickelung kommen und ausgleichend aufeinander wirken.- Nun können Ich-Gefühl und Verwandlungsfähigkeit nur in der elementarischen Welt aufeinander in der angedeuteten Art wirken; in die Sinneswelt hinein kann nur das im Sinne der Weltenordnung wirken, was aus beiden Kräften in ihrem gegenseitigen Verhältnis und Zusammenwirken sich ergibt. Wenn der Grad von Verwandlungsfähigkeit, welchen ein Mensch in seinem ätherischen Leibe haben muß, in das Sinnessein hineinwirkte, so würde der Mensch seelisch sich als etwas fühlen, was er in Gemäßheit seines physischen Leibes nicht ist. Der physische Leib gibt dem Menschen in der Sinneswelt eine feste Prägung, durch die er als ein bestimmtes persönliches Wesen in diese Welt hineingestellt ist. So ist er mit seinem ätherischen Leibe nicht in die elementarische Welt hineingestellt. In dieser muß er, um in vollem Sinne Mensch sein zu können, die manigfaltigsten Formen annehmen können. Wäre ihm dieses unmöglich, so wäre er in der elementarischen Welt zur völligen Einsamkeit verdammt; er könnte von nichts als nur von sich selber etwas wissen; er fühlte sich mit keinem Wesen und keinem Vorgange verwandt. Dies aber wäre für diese Welt gleichbedeutend damit, daß die entsprechenden Wesen und Vorgänge für einen solchen Menschen nicht vorhanden wären. - Brächte aber die Menschenseele in der Sinneswelt die ihr für die elementarische Welt notwendige Verwandlungsfähigkeit zur Entwickelung, so ginge ihr die persönliche Wesenheit verloren. Eine solche Seele lebte im Widerspruch mit sich selbst. Es muß für die physische Welt die Verwandlungsfähigkeit eine in den Seelentiefen ruhende Kraft sein; eine Kraft, welche der Seele ihre Grundstimmung gibt, die aber nicht in der Sinneswelt zur Entfaltung kommt. - Das übersinnliche Bewußtsein muß sich in die Verwandlungsfähigkeit hineinleben; es könnte, wenn es dazu nicht imstande wäre, keine Beobachtungen in der elementarischen Welt machen. So eignet sich das übersinnliche Bewußtsein eine Fähigkeit an, die es nur zur Anwendung bringen soll, solange es in der elementarischen Welt sich weiß; die es aber unterdrücken muß, sobald es wieder in die Sinneswelt zurückkehrt. Es muß das übersinnliche Bewußtsein stets die Grenze der beiden Welten beachten; es muß mit Fähigkeiten, welche einer übersinnlichen Welt angemessen sind, sich nicht in der Sinneswelt betätigen. Ließe die Seele, wenn sie in der Sinneswelt sich weiß, die Verwandlungsfähigkeit ihres ätherischen Leibes fortwirken, so würde sich das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein erfüllen mit Vorstellungen, welche in der Sinneswelt keiner Wesenheit entsprechen. Die Seele käme in die Verworrenheit des Vorstellungslebens hinein. Die Beachtung der Grenze zwischen den Welten ist eine notwendige Voraussetzung für die richtige Wirkung des übersinnlichen Bewußtseins. - Wer das übersinnliche Bewußtsein erreichen will, muß darauf bedacht sein, daß sich durch das Wissen von übersinnlichen Welten nichts Störendes in sein gewöhnliches Bewußtsein einschleiche. - Lernt man den «Hüter der Schwelle» kennen, so weiß man dadurch, wie es mit der Seele in der Sinneswelt steht, wie stark sie ist, um aus dem sinnlich-physischen Bewußtsein dasjenige zu verbannen, was in ihm nicht wirksam sein darf von Kräften und Fähigkeiten der übersinnlichen Welten. Tritt man ohne die durch den «Hüter der Schwelle» vermittelte Selbsterkenntnis in die übersinnliche Welt ein, so kann man von den Erlebnissen dieser Welt überwältigt werden. Diese Erlebnisse können sich als illusionäre Bilder in das physisch-sinnliche Bewußtsein hereindrängen. Sie nehmen dann den Charakter von Sinneswahrnehmungen an; und die notwendige Folge davon ist, daß die Seele sie für Wirklichkeit hält, was sie nicht sind. Die richtig entwickelte Hellsichtigkeit wird niemals die Bilder der elementarischen Welt in dem Sinne für Wirklichkeit halten, wie das physisch-sinnliche Bewußtsein die Erlebnisse der Sinneswelt für Wirklichkeit halten muß. Die Bilder der elementarischen Welt werden durch die Verwandlungsfähigkeit der Seele erst mit der Wirklichkeit, der sie entsprechen, in den richtigen Zusammenhang gebracht.
[ 2 ] Auch die zweite, dem ätherischen Leib notwendige Kraft - das starke Ichgefühl - darf nicht in das Leben der Seele innerhalb der Sinneswelt so hereimagen, wie sie der elementarischen Welt angemessen ist. Wenn sie es doch tut, so wird sie in der Sinneswelt zum Quell der unsittlichen Neigungen, insoferne diese mit dem Egoismus zusammenhängen. - Die Geisteswissenschaft findet an diesem Punkte ihrer Weltbetrachtung den Ursprung des «Bösen» im menschlichen Handeln. Es hieße die Weltordnung verkennen, wenn man sich dem Glauben hingäbe, daß diese Weltordnung auch ohne die Kräfte bestehen könne, welche den Quell des Bösen bilden. Wären diese Kräfte nicht vorhanden, so könnte die ätherische Wesenheit des Menschen in der elementarischen Welt nicht zur Entwickelung kommen. Diese Kräfte sind durchaus gute Kräfte, wenn sie nur in der elementarischen Welt zur Wirksamkeit kommen; sie bringen das Böse dadurch zustande, daß sie nicht in den Seelentiefen in Ruhe verbleiben und dort das Verhältnis des Menschen zur elementarischen Welt regeln, sondern daß sie in das Erleben der Seele innerhalb der Sinneswelt versetzt werden und sich dadurch in Triebe des Egoismus verwandeln. Sie wirken dann der Liebefähigkeit entgegen und werden eben dadurch die Ursprünge des unsittlichen Handelns.
[ 3 ] Geht das starke Ich-Gefühl von dem ätherischen Leib in den physischen über, so bewirkt dies nicht nur eine Verstärkung des Egoismus, sondern auch eine Schwächung des ätherischen Leibes. Das übersinnliche Bewußtsein muß die Entdeckung machen, daß beim Eintritte in die übersinnliche Welt das notwendige Ich-Gefühl um so schwächer ist, je stärker der Egoismus im Erleben innerhalb der Sinneswelt ist. Der Egoismus macht den Menschen in seinen Seelentiefen nicht stark, sondern schwach. - Und wenn der Mensch durch die Pforte des Todes schreitet, so tritt die Wirkung des Egoismus, welcher in dem Leben zwischen Geburt und Tod entwickelt worden ist, so ein, daß dieser die Seele schwach für die Erlebnisse der übersinnlichen Welt macht.
On the boundary between the sensory world and the supersensible worlds
[ 1 ] For the realization of the relationship between the different worlds, it is important to consider that a force which in one world must unfold an effect corresponding to the sense of the world order can then be directed against this world order when it unfolds in another world. Thus it is necessary for the being of man that the two opposing forces are present in his etheric body: the ability to transform into other beings and the strong sense of self. Both forces of the human soul cannot be brought to unfold without being attenuated by the soul in the senses. In the elementary world they are present in such a way that through their mutual balance they make the human entity possible, just as sleep and waking in the sensory world make human life possible. The relationship between two such opposing forces could never be such that the one extinguishes the other, but it must be such that both come to development and have a balancing effect on each other." Now ego-feeling and the ability to transform can only work on each other in the elementary world in the way indicated; only that which results from the mutual relationship and cooperation of the two forces can work into the sense world in the sense of the world order. If the degree of transformability that a human being must have in his etheric body were to have an effect on his sensory being, then the human being would feel himself to be something in his soul that he is not in accordance with his physical body. The physical body gives man a fixed imprint in the sense world, through which he is placed in this world as a certain personal being. Thus he is not placed in the elementary world with his etheric body. In this world, in order to be fully human, he must be able to assume the most varied forms. If this were impossible for him, he would be condemned to complete solitude in the elementary world; he could know nothing of anything but himself; he would feel himself related to no being and no process. For this world, however, this would mean that the corresponding beings and processes would not exist for such a person. - But if the human soul were to develop in the sense world the capacity for transformation necessary for the elementary world, it would lose its personal essence. Such a soul would live in contradiction with itself. For the physical world, the ability to transform must be a power resting in the depths of the soul; a power which gives the soul its basic mood, but which does not unfold in the sense world. - The supersensible consciousness must live itself into the capacity for transformation; if it were not able to do so, it could not make observations in the elementary world. Thus the super-sensible consciousness acquires an ability which it should only use as long as it knows itself in the elementary world, but which it must suppress as soon as it returns to the sense world. The supersensible consciousness must always observe the border between the two worlds; it must not operate in the sensory world with abilities that are appropriate to a supersensible world. If the soul, when it knows itself in the sensory world, were to allow the transforming ability of its etheric body to continue to work, the ordinary consciousness would be filled with ideas that do not correspond to any entity in the sensory world. The soul would enter into the confusion of imaginative life. The observance of the boundary between the worlds is a necessary condition for the right effect of the supersensible consciousness. - Whoever wants to attain supersensible consciousness must be careful that nothing disturbing creeps into his ordinary consciousness through the knowledge of supersensible worlds. - If one becomes acquainted with the "Guardian of the Threshold", one will know the state of the soul in the sensory world, how strong it is to banish from the sensory-physical consciousness that which may not be effective in it from the powers and abilities of the supersensible worlds. If one enters the supersensible world without the self-knowledge mediated by the "Guardian of the Threshold", one can be overwhelmed by the experiences of this world. These experiences can force their way into the physical-sensory consciousness as illusionary images. They then take on the character of sensory perceptions; and the necessary consequence of this is that the soul takes them for reality, which they are not. Properly developed clairvoyance will never regard the images of the elementary world as real in the same sense that the physical-sensory consciousness must regard the experiences of the sense world as real. The images of the elemental world are only brought into the right context with the reality to which they correspond through the soul's ability to transform.
[ 2 ] The second force necessary for the etheric body - the strong sense of self - must not enter the life of the soul within the sensory world in a way that is appropriate to the elementary world. If it does, it becomes the source of immoral inclinations in the sense world, insofar as these are connected with egoism. - At this point in its view of the world, spiritual science finds the origin of "evil" in human action. It would be misjudging the world order to believe that this world order could exist without the forces that form the source of evil. If these forces were not present, the etheric being of man could not develop in the elementary world. These forces are perfectly good forces if they only become effective in the elementary world; they bring about evil by not remaining at rest in the depths of the soul and regulating there the relationship of man to the elementary world, but by being transferred into the experience of the soul within the sense world and thereby transforming themselves into instincts of egoism. They then work against the ability to love and thus become the origins of immoral behavior.
[ 3 ] If the strong sense of self passes from the etheric body into the physical body, this not only strengthens egoism but also weakens the etheric body. The supersensible consciousness must make the discovery that on entering the supersensible world the stronger the egoism in the experience within the sense world, the weaker the necessary ego feeling. Egoism does not make man strong in the depths of his soul, but weak. - And when man passes through the gate of death, the effect of egoism, which has been developed in the life between birth and death, occurs in such a way that it makes the soul weak for the experiences of the supersensible world