Cosmology, Religion and Philosophy
GA 25
IV. Exercises of Cognition and Will
[ 1 ] We said that for the development of ‘inspired cognition’ one of the basic exercises is to banish from the consciousness pictures which have arisen in it in meditation or in the sequel to the process of meditation. But this exercise is really only a preliminary one to another. By the banishing we get to the point of visualizing the course of our life in the way our last survey demonstrated. We attain also to a view of the spiritual Cosmos in so far as this can express itself in etheric life. We receive a picture of the living etheric Cosmos projected on to the human being. We see how everything which we can call heredity passes on in a continuous process from the physical organisms of the ancestors to the physical organisms of posterity. But we see also how a repeatedly new effect of the etheric cosmos occurs for the facts of the etheric organism. This fresh effect from the etheric cosmos works in opposition to heredity. It is of a kind which affects only the individual man. It is specially important for the teacher to have an insight into these things.
[ 2 ] To progress in supernatural knowledge it is necessary to perfect the exercise of banishing the imaginative pictures more and more. Through it the energy of the soul for this banishing is continually strengthened. For at first we attain only to a review of the course of our life since birth. What we have there before us is indeed something psychic and spiritual, but at the same time it is not something which can be said to have an existence beyond the physical life of man.
[ 3 ] In continuing these exercises of inspiration it becomes clear that the power of obliterating the imaginative pictures grows ever greater, and later becomes so great that the whole picture of one's life's course can be banished from the consciousness. We then have a consciousness that is freed also from the content of our own physical and etheric human nature.
[ 4 ] Into this in a higher sense empty consciousness there then enters through a higher inspiration a picture of the psychic-spiritual nature as it was before man left the psychic-spiritual world for the physical, and there formed union with the body which exists through conception and the development of the embryo. We get a vision of how the astral and Ego-organization covers itself with an etheric organization which comes from the etheric Cosmos, and with a physical one which arises from the sequence of heredity.
[ 5 ] Only in this way do we acquire knowledge of the eternal inner being of man, which during his life on earth exists in the reflection of the soul's imagination, feeling, and Will. But we acquire also through it the idea of the true nature of this imaginative presentation; for in point of fact this is not present in its true shape within the limits of the earth-life.
[ 6 ] Look at a human corpse. It has the shape and the limbs of a man, but life has gone out of it. If we understand the nature of the corpse, we do not regard it as an end in itself, but as the remains of a living physical man. The external forces of Nature, to which the corpse is surrendered, can destroy it well enough; but they cannot construct it. In the same Way, from a higher stage of vision, one recognizes earthly human thought to be the dead remains of that living thought which belonged to man before he was transplanted from his existence in the spiritual, psychic world into his life on earth. The nature of earthly thought is as little comprehensible from itself as the form of the human organism is from the forces which work in the corpse. We must recognize earthly thought as dead thought, if we want to recognize it rightly.
[ 7 ] If we are on the way to such a recognition, we can then also completely see the nature of earthly will. This is recognized in a certain sense as a more recent part of the soul. That which is hidden behind the will stands to thought in the same relationship as, in the physical organism, the baby does to the old man on his deathbed. Only with the soul, babyhood and old age do not develop in sequence after one another, but exist side by side. [ 8 ] We see, however, from what has been explained, certain results for a Philosophy which intends to form its ideas only on the experience of life on earth. It receives as contents only dead, or at least, expiring ideas. Its duty therefore can be only to recognize the dead character of the thought-world and to draw conclusions from what is dead on the basis of something which was once living. Just so far as one keeps to the method of intelligible proof, one can have no other aim. This purely ‘intellectual’ Philosophy therefore, can lead to the true nature of the soul only indirectly. It can examine the nature of human thought and recognize its transitoriness, and so it can indirectly show that something dead points to something living, as the corpse points to a living man.
[ 9 ] Only ‘inspired cognition’ can arrive at a real vision of what is the true soul. The corpse of thought is again animated in a certain sense through exercises for this inspiration. We are not, it is true, transferred back completely into the condition that existed before life on earth began; but we bring to life in us a true picture of this condition, from the nature of which we can realize that it is projected out of a pre-terrestrial existence into a terrestrial one.
[ 10 ] By means of developing intuition by exercises of the Will it comes about that the pre-terrestrial existence which had in thought died out during the earth-life is brought to life again in the subconscious mind. Through these exercises man is brought into a condition by means of which he enters upon the world of the spiritual, apart from his physical and etheric organism. He experiences what existence is after the dissolution from the body; he is given a pre-vision of what really happens after death. He can speak of the continuity of the spiritual part of the soul after going through the gates of death.
[ 11 ] Again the purely intellectual conceptual Philosophy can attain to the recognition of the immortality of the soul only by an indirect way. As it recognizes in thought something that can be compared with a dead body, so in the will it can establish something comparable with a seed. Something that has life in itself, which points beyond the dissolution of the body, because its nature shows itself, even during life on earth, independent of it. So, since we do not stand still at thought, but use all soul-life as experience of self, we can reach an indirect realization of the everlasting nucleus of the human being. Further we must not limit our contemplation to thought, but subject the interchange of thought with the other forces of the soul to philosophical methods of proof. But still with all this we come only to experience the everlasting human nucleus as it is in the earth-life, and not to a vision of the condition of the human spirit and the human soul before and after it. This is the case, for instance, with Bergson's Philosophy, which rests on a comprehensive self-experience of what is evident in the earth-life, but which refuses to step into the region of real supersensible knowledge.
[ 12 ] Every Philosophy which remains within the sphere of the ordinary consciousness can reach only an indirect knowledge of the true nature of the human soul.
Cosmology if it is to be of a kind that the total human being is influenced through it, can be acquired only through the imaginative, inspired and intuitive knowledge. Within ordinary consciousness it has only the testimony for the human soul-life that dies out and re-awakens like seed. From this fact it can formulate ideas based on unprejudiced observations which point to something Cosmic, and lay it open. Still, these ideas are only that which pours into the inner being of man from the spiritual Cosmos, and moreover reveals itself in a changed form within him. Philosophy indeed had in former times a branch called Cosmology. But the real subject matter of this Cosmology were ideas which had become very abstract, which had by tradition subsisted from old forms of Cosmology. Humanity had developed these ideas at a time when an old dream-like Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition still existed. They were taken out of their tradition and woven into the material of pure intellectual, logical or dialectic demonstration. Men were often quite unconscious of the fact that these ideas were borrowed; they were considered new and original. Gradually it was found that in the inner life of the spirit no real inner connection with these ideas existed. Therefore this ‘rational Cosmology’ fell almost completely into discredit. It had to give place to the physical Cosmology, built up on the nature-knowledge of the physical senses, which, however, to the unprejudiced eye, no longer embraced man in its scope.
A true Cosmology can arise again only when imaginative, inspired and intuitive knowledge are allowed their place, and their results applied to the knowledge of the universe.
[ 13 ] What has had to be said concerning Cosmology applies still more to knowledge of a religious kind. Here we have to build up knowledge which has its origins in the experience of the spiritual world. To draw conclusions concerning such experience from the subject-matter of ordinary consciousness is impossible. In intellectual concepts the religious content cannot be opened out but only clarified. When one began to seek for proofs of God's existence, the very search was a proof that one had already lost the living connection with the divine world. For this reason also no intellectualistic proof of God's existence can be given in any satisfactory way. Any theory formed from the ordinary consciousness alone is obliged to work into an individual system ideas borrowed from tradition. Formerly, philosophers tried to get also a ‘rational Theology’ from this ordinary consciousness. But this compared with the Theology based on traditional ideas suffered the same fate as ‘rational Cosmology’, only still more so. Whatever came to light as a direct ‘God-experience’ remains in the world of feeling or will, and in fact prevents the transition to any method of conceptual proof. Philosophy itself has fallen into the error of seeing in a purely historical religion religious forms which have existed and still exist. It does this from an incapacity to attain through the ordinary consciousness to ideas on a subject which can be experienced only outside the physical and etheric organism.
[ 14 ] A new basis for the knowledge of the religious life can be won only by a recognition of the imaginative, inspired and intuitive methods, and by the application of their results to this life.
IV. Erkenntnisgrundlagen einer wahren Philosophie, Kosmologie und Religion
[ 1 ] Für die Entwickelung des inspirierten Erkennens wurde gesagt, daß eine grundlegende Übung ist, Bilder, die im Meditieren oder in der Folge des Meditationsvorganges im Bewußtsein entstanden sind, aus dem Bewußtsein fortzuschaffen. Diese Übung ist aber zunächst eigentlich nur eine Vorübung für eine andere. Man gelangt durch dieses Fortschaffen dazu, den eigenen Lebenslauf so zu überschauen, wie das in der letzten Betrachtung dargestellt worden ist. Man gelangt auch zu einer Anschauung des geistigen Kosmos, insofern sich dieser in einem ätherischen Geschehen auslebt. Man erhält, auf den Menschen projiziert, ein Bild des ätherisch lebenden Kosmos. Man sieht, wie alles, was man zur Vererbung rechnen kann, von den physischen Organismen der Vorfahren auf die physischen Organismen der Nachkommen in einem fortlaufenden Geschehen übergeht. Man schaut aber auch, wie sich für die Tatsachen des ätherischen Organismus eine fortwährend neue Wirkung des ätherischen Kosmos einstellt. Diese Wirkung stellt sich der Vererbung entgegen. Sie ist eine solche, die nur den individuellen Menschen betrifft. In diese Dinge Einsicht zu haben, ist ganz besonders für den Erzieher wichtig.
[ 2 ] Um weiterzukommen in übersinnlicher Erkenntnis, ist notwendig, die Übung des Fortschaffens der imaginativen Bilder immer mehr auszubilden. Man verstärkt dadurch die Seelenenergie für dieses Fortschaffen. Denn zunächst erreicht man nur eine Überschau über den Lebenslauf seit der Geburt. Man hat da zwar ein Seelisch-Geistiges des Menschen vor sich, aber ein solches, von dem man nicht sagen kann, daß es ein Dasein über das physische Leben des Menschen hinaus hat.
[ 3 ] In der Weiterführung dieser Übungen für die Inspiration zeigt sich, daß die Kraft des Fortschaffens für die imaginativen Bilder immer größer wird. Sie wird dann im weiteren so groß, daß man auch das Totalbild des eigenen Lebenslaufes aus dem Bewußtsein fortschaffen kann. Man hat dann ein auch von dem Inhalte der eigenen physischen und ätherischen Menschenwesenheit befreites Bewußtsein.
[ 4 ] In dieses in einem höheren Grade leeres Bewußtsein tritt dann durch eine höhere Inspiration ein Bild von der seelisch-geistigen Wesenheit, so wie diese war, bevor der Mensch aus einer seelisch-geistigen Welt in die physische eingetreten ist und da sich mit dem Körper vereinigt hat, der durch Empfängnis und Keimesentwickelung entsteht. Man erhält eine Anschauung davon, wie die astralische und Ich-Organisation sich einkleidet in eine ätherische, die aus dem ätherischen Kosmos stammt, und in eine physische, die in der physischen Vererbungsfolge entsteht.
[ 5 ] Erst auf diese Art erhält man die Erkenntnis von dem ewigen Wesenskern des Menschen, der sich während des Erdendaseins in dem Abglanz des Vorstellens, Fühlens und Wollens der Seele auslebt. Man erhält aber auch dadurch die Idee von der wahren Natur des Vorstellens. Dieses ist nämlich innerhalb des Erdendaseins gar nicht in seiner wahren Gestalt vorhanden.
[ 6 ] Man sehe sich einen menschlichen Leichnam an. Er hat die Form, die Gliederung des Menschen. Das Leben ist aus ihm geschwunden. Versteht man das Wesen des Leichnams, so hält man ihn nicht für etwas Ursprüngliches. Man erkennt ihn als Rest des lebenden physischen Menschen. Die Kräfte der äußeren Natur, denen der Leichnam überliefert wird, können ihn wohl zerstören; sie können ihn aber nicht aufbauen. - In ähnlicher Art erkennt man, auf einer höheren Stufe der Anschauung, das menschliche Erden-Denken als den leichnamartigen Rest dessen, was das Denken als Lebendiges war, bevor der Mensch aus seinem Erleben in der geistig-seelischen Welt in das Erdendasein übergetreten ist. Die Wesenheit des irdischen Denkens ist aus sich selbst ebensowenig begreiflich wie die Form des menschlichen Organismus aus den Kräften, die im Leichnam walten. Man muß das irdische Denken als ein totes erkennen, wenn man es recht erkennen will.
[ 7 ] Ist man auf dem Wege zu einem solchen Erkennen, dann kann man auch die Wesenheit des irdischen Wollens durchschauen. Man erkennt dies als einen in einer gewissen Art jüngeren Bestandteil der Seele. Was sich hinter dem Wollen verbirgt, steht zu dem Denken in einer solchen Beziehung, wie für den physischen Organismus das ganz junge Kind zu dem ersterbenden Greise. Nur ist es für die Seele so, daß Kindheit und Greisenalter, ja leichnamartiges Dasein, nicht nacheinander sich entwickeln, sondern nebeneinander bestehen.
[ 8 ] Man sieht aber aus dem Dargelegten gewisse Folgen für eine Philosophie, die ihre Ideen nur aus dem Erleben des Erdendaseins heraus gestalten will. Sie erhält zu ihrem Inhalte nur tote oder wenigstens ersterbende Ideen. Ihre Obliegenheit kann daher nur sein, den toten Charakter der Gedankenwelt zu erkennen, und von dem Toten auf ein vorher vorhanden gewesenes Lebendiges zu schließen. Insofern man in der begrifflich-beweisenden Methode des physischen Menschen bleibt, kann man gar nichts anderes wollen. Diese bloß intellektualistische Philosophie kann zu dem wahren Wesen der Seele daher nur auf eine indirekte Art gelangen. Sie kann die Natur des menschlichen Denkens untersuchen und das Ersterbende desselben erkennen. Dann kann sie indirekt beweisen, daß das Tote auf ein Lebendiges hindeutet wie der Leichnam auf einen lebenden Menschen.
[ 9 ] Zu einer wirklichen Anschauung des wahrhaft Seelischen kann nur die inspirierte Erkenntnis kommen. Durch die Seelenübungen für die Inspiration wird der Denk-Leichnam wieder in einem gewissen Sinne belebt. Man wird zwar nicht vollständig zurückversetzt in den Zustand vor dem Beginn des Erdendaseins; aber man belebt in sich ein wahres Bild dieses Zustandes, aus dessen Wesenheit man erkennen kann, daß es aus einem vorirdischen Dasein in das Erdendasein hereingestrahlt wird.
[ 10 ] Durch die Ausbildung der Intuition in Willensübungen ergibt sich, daß im Unterbewußten das im Denken erstorbene vorirdische Dasein während des Erdendaseins wieder belebt wird. Durch diese Willensübungen wird der Mensch in einen Zustand versetzt, durch den er außerhalb seines physischen und ätherischen Organismus in die Welt des Geistigen eingeht. Er erhält das Erlebnis des Daseins nach Ablösung vom Körper. Damit ist ihm eine Vor-Anschauung gegeben von dem, was im Tode wirklich eintritt. Er kann aus dieser Anschauung heraus über die Fortdauer des Seelisch-Geistigen nach dem Durchgange durch den Tod sprechen.
[ 11 ] Die rein intellektualistische Begriffsphilosophie kann zu einer Anerkennung der Seelenunsterblichkeit wieder nur auf indirektem Wege gelangen. Sie kann, wie sie im Denken etwas Leichnamartiges erkennt, in dem Wollen etwas Keimhaftes feststellen, etwas, das ein in sich bestehendes Leben hat, welches über die Körperauflösung hinausweist, weil sich seine Wesenheit auch schon während des Erdendaseins als von diesem unabhängig zeigt. Auf diese Art, indem man nicht beim Denken stehenbleibt, sondern das gesamte Seelenleben zum Selbst-Erlebnis macht, kann man zu einer indirekten Anerkennung des ewigen menschlichen Wesenskernes gelangen. Man muß dazu seine Betrachtung nicht auf das Denken beschränken, sondern das Wechselspiel des Denkens mit den andern Seelenkräften der philosophischen Beweismethode unterwerfen. Man kommt damit aber doch nur zu einem Erleben des ewigen menschlichen Wesenskernes, so wie er im Erdendasein ist, nicht zu einer Anschauung des Zustandes vom menschlichen Geistig-Seelischen vor und nach dem Erdendasein. In dieser Lage ist z. B. die Bergsonsche Philosophie, die auf einem umfassenden Selbsterleben dessen fußt, was im Erdendasein ergriffen werden kann, die aber das Gebiet der wirklichen übersinnlichen Erkenntnis doch nicht betreten will.
[ 12 ] Alle Philosophie, die bloß innerhalb des gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein stehenbleiben will, kann nur eine indirekte Erkenntnis des wahren Wesens der Menschenseele erlangen. Kosmologie in einer Art, daß durch sie auch die gesamte menschliche Wesenheit mitumfaßt wird, kann nur durch die imaginative, inspirierte und intuitive Erkenntnis erlangt werden. Innerhalb des gewöhnlichen Bewußtseins liegen ihr nur die Zeugnisse für das ersterbende und keimhaft wiedererwachende menschliche Seelenleben vor. Aus diesem Tatbestand kann sie sich bei unbefangener Betrachtung Ideen bilden, die auf Kosmisches hindeuten und ein solches erschließen lassen. Allein diese Ideen sind eben doch nur dasjenige, was aus dem geistigen Kosmos in das Menscheninnere hereinstrahlt und sich dazu auch noch innerhalb des Menschen in veränderter Form zeigt. Die Philosophie hatte in früheren Zeiten zwar noch einen Teil, der als Kosmologie auftrat. Allein der wirkliche Inhalt dieser Kosmologie waren sehr abstrakt gewordene Ideen, die sich traditionell aus alten Formen der Kosmologie erhalten hatten. Die Menschheit hatte diese Ideen ausgebildet, als noch eine alte traumhafte Imagination, Inspiration und Intuition vorhanden waren. Man entnahm diese Ideen der Tradition und faßte sie in das Gewebe des rein intellektuellen logischen oder dialektischen Beweisens. Man war sich dabei oft gar nicht bewußt, daß man diese. Ideen überkommen hatte. Man hielt sie für selbsterzeugt. Allmählich fand man, daß im neueren Geistesleben kein wirklicher innerer Lebenszusammenhang mit diesen Ideen vorhanden ist. Deshalb kam diese «rationelle Kosmologie» fast ganz in Mißkredit. Sie mußte das Feld räumen der aus den rein physisch-sinnlichen Naturerkenntnissen aufgebauten physischen Kosmologie, die aber, für eine unbefangene Beobachtung, den Menschen nicht mehr mitumfaßt. Eine wahre Kosmologie wird erst wieder entstehen können, wenn Imagination, inspirierte und intuitive Erkenntnis gelten gelassen und ihre Ergebnisse für die Erkenntnis der Welt verwertet werden.
[ 13 ] Für die Erkenntnis auf dem Religionsgebiete gilt in noch höherem Grade dasjenige, was für die Kosmologie gesagt werden mußte. Auf dem Religionsgebiete müssen Erkenntnisse erworben werden, die aus einem Erleben der geistigen Welt stammen. Ein Schliessen auf solche Erlebnisse aus dem Inhalte des gewöhnlichen Bewußtseins ist nicht möglich. In intellektuellen Begriffen kann der Religionsinhalt nicht erschlossen, sondern nur verdeutlicht werden. Als man anfing, nach Gottesbeweisen zu suchen, war dieses Suchen selbst schon ein Beweis dafür, daß man den lebendigen Zusammenhang mit der göttlichen Welt verloren hatte. Deshalb kann auch kein intellektualistischer Gottesbeweis in einer befriedigenden Weise geführt werden. In traditionell übernommenen Ideen, die nur durch eine eigene Denkarbeit in ein System gebracht werden, muß jede bloß auf das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein hauende Theologie arbeiten. Früher haben die Philosophen auch eine «rationelle Theologie» aus diesem gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein heraus gewinnen wollen. Allein diese ist der auf traditionellen Ideen ruhenden Theologie gegenüber in einem noch höheren Grade als die «rationelle Kosmologie» deren Schicksal verfallen. Was aber aufgetaucht ist als unmittelbares «Gott-Erleben», das bleibt in der Gefühls- oder Willenswelt und vermeidet es sogar, zu irgendeiner begrifflich beweisenden Methode überzugehen. Die Philosophie selbst ist darauf verfallen, in einer bloßen Religionsgeschichte bestandene und bestehende Religionsformen zu betrachten. Sie tut dieses aus der Ohnmacht heraus, durch das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein zu Ideen über das zu kommen, was nur außerhalb des physischen und ätherischen Organismus erlebt werden kann.
[ 14 ] Eine neue Erkenntnisgrundlage des religiösen Lebens kann nur gewonnen werden durch Anerkennung der imaginativen, inspirierten und intuitiven Erkenntnismethoden und durch Verwertung von deren Ergebnissen für dieses Leben.
IV. Foundations of knowledge of a true philosophy, cosmology and religion
[ 1 ] For the development of inspired cognition, it has been said that a fundamental exercise is to remove from consciousness images that have arisen in meditation or as a result of the meditation process. However, this exercise is actually only a preliminary exercise for another one. Through this process of clearing away, one comes to see the course of one's own life as described in the last meditation. We also gain an insight into the spiritual cosmos, insofar as this is lived out in an etheric event. Projected onto the human being, one receives an image of the etherically living cosmos. We see how everything that can be counted as heredity passes from the physical organisms of the ancestors to the physical organisms of the descendants in a continuous process. But you can also see how the facts of the etheric organism are subject to a continually new effect of the etheric cosmos. This effect is opposed to heredity. It is one that affects only the individual human being. Having insight into these things is particularly important for the educator.
[ 2 ] In order to progress in supersensible knowledge, it is necessary to train the practice of creating imaginative images more and more. This strengthens the soul's energy for this development. For at first one only achieves an overview of the course of life since birth. There is indeed a soul-spiritual aspect of the human being before us, but one that cannot be said to have an existence beyond the physical life of the human being.
[ 3 ] In the continuation of these exercises for inspiration, it becomes apparent that the power of creation for the imaginative images becomes ever greater. It then becomes so great that one can also create the total picture of one's own life out of one's consciousness. One then also has a consciousness liberated from the content of one's own physical and etheric human being.
[ 4 ] Through a higher inspiration, an image of the soul-spiritual entity then enters this consciousness, which is empty to a higher degree, as it was before the human being entered the physical world from a soul-spiritual world and united with the body that comes into being through conception and germ development. One gets an idea of how the astral and ego organization is clothed in an etheric one, which originates from the etheric cosmos, and in a physical one, which arises in the physical sequence of heredity.
[ 5 ] It is only in this way that one gains knowledge of the eternal essence of man, which lives itself out during earthly existence in the reflection of the imagination, feeling and will of the soul. But this also gives us the idea of the true nature of imagination. This is because it is not present in its true form within the earthly existence.
[ 6 ] Look at a human corpse. It has the form, the structure of a human being. Life has vanished from it. If one understands the nature of the corpse, one does not regard it as something original. It is recognized as a remnant of the living physical human being. The forces of external nature, to which the corpse is delivered, can destroy it, but they cannot build it up. - In a similar way, at a higher level of perception, one recognizes human earthly thinking as the corpse-like remnant of what thinking was as a living thing before man passed from his experience in the spiritual-soul world into earthly existence. The essence of earthly thinking is just as incomprehensible by itself as the form of the human organism is by the forces that rule in the corpse. One must recognize earthly thinking as a dead one if one wants to recognize it right.
[ 7 ] If one is on the way to such recognition, then one can also see through the essence of the earthly will. One recognizes this as a certain kind of younger component of the soul. What is hidden behind the will is related to the thinking in the same way as the very young child is related to the dying old man in the physical organism. Only for the soul it is so that childhood and old age, even corpse-like existence, do not develop one after the other, but exist side by side.
[ 8 ] However, one can see from what has been explained certain consequences for a philosophy that only wants to form its ideas from the experience of earthly existence. It receives only dead or at least dying ideas for its content. Its obligation can therefore only be to recognize the dead character of the world of thought and to conclude from the dead to a previously existing living thing. Insofar as one remains in the conceptual-proving method of the physical man, one can want nothing else. This merely intellectualist philosophy can therefore only arrive at the true nature of the soul in an indirect way. It can examine the nature of human thought and recognize the first dying of it. Then it can prove indirectly that the dead points to the living, just as the corpse points to a living person.
[ 9 ] Only inspired knowledge can lead to a real insight into the truly spiritual. Through the soul exercises for inspiration, the thinking corpse is revived in a certain sense. One is not completely transported back to the state before the beginning of earthly existence; but one revives within oneself a true image of this state, from whose essence one can recognize that it is radiated from a pre-earthly existence into earthly existence.
[ 10 ] Through the training of intuition in exercises of the will, it results that in the subconscious the pre-earthly existence that has died in the mind is revived during the earthly existence. Through these exercises of the will the human being is placed in a state through which he enters the world of the spiritual outside his physical and etheric organism. He receives the experience of existence after detachment from the body. This gives him a foretaste of what really happens in death. From this view, he can speak about the continuation of the soul-spiritual after the passage through death.
[ 11 ] The purely intellectualistic conceptual philosophy can only arrive at a recognition of the immortality of the soul indirectly. Just as it recognizes something corpse-like in thinking, it can determine something germinal in the will, something that has a life existing in itself, which points beyond the dissolution of the body, because its essence shows itself to be independent of this even during earthly existence. In this way, by not stopping at thinking, but by making the entire life of the soul a self-experience, one can arrive at an indirect recognition of the eternal human essence. To do this, one must not limit one's contemplation to thinking, but subject the interplay of thinking with the other powers of the soul to the philosophical method of proof. However, this only leads to an experience of the eternal human essence as it is in earthly existence, not to a view of the state of the human spiritual-soul before and after earthly existence. Bergson's philosophy, for example, is in this position, which is based on a comprehensive self-awareness of what can be grasped in earthly existence, but which does not want to enter the realm of real supersensible knowledge.
[ 12 ] All philosophy that merely wants to remain within ordinary consciousness can only attain an indirect knowledge of the true essence of the human soul. Cosmology in such a way that it also encompasses the entire human being can only be attained through imaginative, inspired and intuitive knowledge. Within ordinary consciousness it only has the evidence of the first dying and germinal reawakening of human soul life. From these facts, it can form ideas which, when viewed impartially, point to the cosmic and allow such a thing to be inferred. However, these ideas are only that which radiates from the spiritual cosmos into the human being's inner being and also shows itself within the human being in a changed form. In earlier times, philosophy still had a part that appeared as cosmology. But the real content of this cosmology were ideas that had become very abstract and had traditionally been preserved from old forms of cosmology. Mankind had formed these ideas when an old dreamlike imagination, inspiration and intuition were still present. These ideas were extracted from tradition and incorporated into the fabric of purely intellectual logical or dialectical reasoning. One was often not even aware that one had inherited these ideas. ideas. They were thought to be self-generated. Gradually it was discovered that there was no real inner life connection with these ideas in modern intellectual life. That is why this "rational cosmology" was almost completely discredited. It had to give way to a physical cosmology based on purely physical and sensual knowledge of nature, which, however, no longer encompassed the human being for an unbiased observer. A true cosmology will only be able to emerge again when imagination, inspired and intuitive knowledge are accepted and their results are utilized for the knowledge of the world.
[ 13 ] What had to be said for cosmology applies to an even greater degree to knowledge in the field of religion. In the field of religion, knowledge must be acquired that comes from an experience of the spiritual world. It is not possible to deduce such experiences from the content of ordinary consciousness. The content of religion cannot be inferred in intellectual terms, but can only be clarified. When people began to search for proofs of God, this search itself was already proof that they had lost the living connection with the divine world. That is why no intellectualistic proof of God can be given in a satisfactory way. In traditionally adopted ideas, which can only be brought into a system through one's own mental work, every theology that merely appeals to the ordinary consciousness must work. In the past, philosophers also wanted to gain a "rational theology" from this ordinary consciousness. This theology, however, has succumbed to the fate of theology based on traditional ideas to an even greater degree than "rational cosmology". But what has emerged as a direct "God-experience" remains in the world of feeling or will and even avoids going over to any conceptually proving method. Philosophy itself has lapsed into considering existing forms of religion in a mere history of religion. It does this out of the impotence to arrive at ideas through ordinary consciousness about what can only be experienced outside the physical and ethereal organism.
[ 14 ] A new basis of knowledge of the religious life can only be gained by recognizing the imaginative, inspired and intuitive methods of knowledge and by utilizing their results for this life.