Karmic Relationships II
GA 236
18 May 1924, Dornach
Lecture XI
If we are to understand the real nature of karma, it is of paramount importance to turn our attention to the extent to which the cosmos participates in the evolution of mankind.
In order, therefore, to be able to envisage those Beings of the spiritual cosmos who play a part in man's evolution, let us consider, to begin with, man's connection with the beings belonging to the earthly realm. Man on earth is surrounded by beings of the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms, and must be regarded as having all these three kingdoms of nature within him—in a higher form. In a certain respect man is related to the mineral kingdom through his physical organism but he elaborates what is otherwise to be found in the external mineral kingdom into a higher form of existence.
Through his etheric body man is related to the realm of the plants, but again he elaborates this within himself. The same holds good of man's relationship through his astral body to the beings of the animal world. When, therefore, we think of the spatial environment of man we must realise that he bears the mineral, the plant and the animal kingdom within him.
Just as man bears within him these external kingdoms of nature, so does he bear within him—but in respect of time, not of space—the kingdoms of the higher Hierarchies. And we can only understand human karma in all its aspects when we know how the various realms of the Hierarchies work upon man through the course of his earthly life.
In considering how the mineral kingdom works upon man, we have to do with the processes connected with nourishment. For whatever means of nourishment man draws from kingdoms higher than the mineral, are reduced, in the first place, to the mineral condition. Passing on to the plant kingdom, we know that man has within him life-forces, vital forces. Again, in reference to the animal kingdom we know that through his astral body man raises mere life into a higher sphere, into the sphere of perceptive experience. In short, we can follow the sequences of processes in the three kingdoms of nature as well as within the human organism.
In the same way we can follow the workings of the higher Hierarchies in man's life of soul-and-spirit. The mineral nature, the plant nature, the animal nature in man can be understood in the light of the processes operating in the three kingdoms of nature in space. Equally, we must understand the higher forces operating in the life of man.
To begin with, we will consider human destiny and endeavour to understand how the kingdoms of the Hierarchies work into it. But here we must study, not what is present simultaneously in man, namely, physical body, etheric body and astral body but in connection with the working of the Hierarchies we must study what transpires in man's earthly life in the succession of time—regarded, of course, from the spiritual point of view.
In our anthroposophical studies we have always recognised distinct periods in the course of human life: from birth until the change of teeth at about the 7th year; from the change of teeth to puberty; from puberty to the 21st year where the differentiation is less perceptible; then from the 21st year to the 28th; from the 28th year to the 35th; from the 35th year to the 42nd; from the 42nd year to the 49th; from the 49th year to the 56th; and so on. Concerning what lies beyond the 56th year I shall speak in the next lecture. To-day we shall consider the course of human life up to the 56th year.
We have therefore three periods of life up to the 21st year, then three further periods, and so on.
Man says “I” of himself. But many forces play upon this “I”. Outwardly considered, the “I” is worked upon by mineral forces, plant forces and animal forces; inwardly, in the aspect of soul-and-spirit, the “I” is worked upon by the third Hierarchy, by the Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai, by the second Hierarchy (Exusiai, Kyriotetes, Dynamis), and by the first Hierarchy (Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones).
These Beings do not, however, all work into the course of man's life in the same way. Even externally there is a difference in the influences taking effect in the human being according to his age. When, for example, we observe a little child at the very beginning of earthly life, we find what is characteristic of the animal kingdom especially marked in him; a growing, thriving, upbuilding process.
When we consider the last portion of life, the years that lead into old age, we find evidence of a mineralising process; the organism becomes sclerotic, brittle. Because this mineralising process is more subtle and intimate in man it works more strongly in him than in the animals—with the exception of the higher animals. The difference there is due to conditions into which we cannot enter now, but which will be dealt with on some later occasion. Whereas in the animal the ebbing of the life-forces begins directly the up-building process is complete, the human being carries over important phases of his development into the period of decline which in reality begins already in the thirties. A very great deal in the evolution of humanity would simply not exist if human beings developed in the same way as the animals, carrying nothing over into old age. Human beings can carry very much into old age, and many momentous achievements of culture are due to what has thus been carried over into old age, into the period of physical decline when the mineralising process is particularly in evidence.
Outwardly, then, it is clearly perceptible that at the beginning of earthly life the animal nature predominates, at the end of earthly life the mineral nature, and in the intervening period the plant nature.
But in respect of the working of the higher Hierarchies upon man the difference is even more emphatic. In earliest childhood the Third Hierarchy—Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai—work with particular strength upon the life of soul-and-spirit. The activity of this Third Hierarchy embraces, properly speaking, the first three periods of life. The Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai work throughout this period. In the little child and the young human being the organism is all the time being built up by the soul-and-spirit. This activity embraces almost everything: and into it works forces from the world of the Third Hierarchy, the Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai.
At the 14th year the Second Hierarchy (Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes) begins to work. So that here, again through three periods, between the 14th and 35th years, I must write: Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes. You will see, my dear friends, that in the period between the 14th and 21st years the Third and the Second Hierarchy together exercise their influences upon the human being. It is not until the 21st year that the Second Hierarchy begins to work by itself.
At puberty, great cosmic processes, which until this age are not present in the human being, begin in some measure to be active in him. Little reflection is needed to perceive that when he becomes capable of procreation the human being is able to receive into himself from the cosmos those forces which co-operate in the creation of a new physical man. Before the age of puberty these cosmic forces do not work in the human being. A change takes place in the physical organism at puberty whereby it is imbued with mightier forces than it previously contained. These stronger forces are not present in the child before that age. In the child are the weaker forces which, to begin with, work only upon the soul in earthly life, not upon the body.
In the 35th year a period begins when the human being becomes weaker in respect of his inner soul-forces, less able than he was before to withstand the onset of the destructive forces of his organism. Before the 35th year the organism itself provides essential support, for its inherent tendency is to upbuild. This tendency continues on into the thirties but then a destructive tendency begins to predominate. This process of destruction cannot be counteracted even by the forces emanating from the Beings of the Second Hierarchy. Henceforth the soul must receive from the cosmos enough support to prevent the normal course of life being ended by death at the age of 35. For if until the 21st year only the Beings of the Third Hierarchy were to work and then from the 14th to the 35th year only the Beings of the Second Hierarchy, we should be ripe for death at the age of 35, that is to say at the very middle of earthly life proper—unless the physical body were still to hold together from sheer inertia. Death does not occur at this time because actually from the 28th year, not only from the 35th, and again through three periods, the Beings of the First Hierarchy, the Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones, work upon man.
Again there is a period, between the 28th and the 35th years, when the Second and the First Hierarchies are working together. Thus in point of fact the Second Hierarchy works by itself during the period from the 21st until the 28th year of life.
As I said before, we will consider the later period of life in the next lecture. You will naturally say: But is a human being who has passed his 49th year forsaken by all the Hierarchies? We shall consider that on another occasion. What has been said to-day need not therefore be taken as applying only to those who are under the age of 49 and not to the others. To begin with, however, we must learn to know how the Hierarchies pour their forces, their particular strength into human life as it runs its course.
Naturally you must not think that such matters can be adequately studied by setting them out diagrammatically. This is never possible when we have to do with any higher form of life.
For many years I have been speaking of man as a threefold being: the man of nerves-and-senses, the rhythmic man, the metabolic-limb man. A professor once inferred from this—what will professors not infer!—that I divided man into three—head, chest, abdominal system. This was because he thought of everything side by side. I have of course always emphasised that although the nerves-and-senses system is concentrated mainly in the head, it extends through the whole organism. The same is true of the rhythmic system. The three members must not be thought of in spatial juxtaposition. You must also conceive the sequence of which we have been speaking, in the same way: the working of Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai is limited, in the main, to the first three periods of life, but the aftermath of these periods continues through the whole of life, just as the nerves-and-senses system is concentrated mainly in the head but is present through the whole organism. We can feel with the big toe, because it too contains nerves-and-senses life.
Nevertheless this threefold membering of the human being is a reality; so too is the other threefold membering of which I am speaking to-day.
When you study these periods in human life, you will be able to say: on the spiritual side, the human “I” is subject to any number of influences proceeding from the spiritual world, just as on the physical side it is subject to influences coming from the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms. As human beings we stand with our “I” in the midst of what is coming to us in a most complicated way from the cosmos. And this activity which extends spiritually from the cosmos, from the Hierarchies, to man, is also concerned with the shaping of karma during physical life on earth.
It is the Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai who bring us from the spiritual world into the physical world, and it is they who mainly accompany us through the first three periods of life. They work most strongly of all upon the nerves-and-senses system. In all the complicated and wonderful development taking place in our sense-life and in our intellectual life up to the age of 21—in all this, the Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai participate.
Countless happenings take place behind the scenes of the ordinary consciousness. And it is precisely in these happenings that the Beings of the higher Hierarchies participate.
Then again from puberty, from about the 14th year onwards, Beings whose forces are stronger than those of the Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai, begin to take hold of the rhythmic system. The real task of the Beings of the Third Hierarchy, the Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai, is to influence our life of soul. From pre-earthly existence we bring with us into the first three epochs of life such strong forces that the soul is able to work powerfully upon the body. During this period, only the comparatively weaker forces of the Third Hierarchy are required to come to our help.
Now the forces which the Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai need in order to guide and direct human life up to the 21st year, stream to them from the spiritual radiations of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. When physical science comes to describe the cosmos, it is extremely naïve. From Saturn, Jupiter and Mars radiate forces of which the Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai have the very deepest understanding.
When man is passing through the life between death and a new birth, he enters, first of all, into the Moon-sphere, where he comes into contact with Beings who were once on earth and who are stern judges of the good and the evil he brings with him. For the time being he must leave behind in the Moon-sphere the evil that is part of him. He cannot bear it into the Sun-sphere.
Then he passes through the Sun-sphere and still farther out into the cosmos. The forces of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn begin to work upon him. He passes through the whole of life between death and a new birth, and only on the path of return, when he has come again into the Moon-sphere, do Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai approach him, saying, as it were: We have learned from Saturn, Jupiter and Mars that thou art crippled.—I have said that the evil must be left behind, but this means that man leaves something of himself behind. He enters as a cripple into the Sun-sphere as well as into the regions beyond. And there the gaze of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars falls upon him.
Truly, my dear friends, this life between death and a new birth is complicated! As soon as we pass through the gate of death, what I have described takes place in the Moon-sphere. Man must leave behind whatever of his being has identified itself with evil. It is as though the physical body were obliged to leave its limbs behind. Because he has identified himself with evil, man enters the Sun-sphere and all the rest of the cosmos in a maimed, mutilated condition, for he has been obliged to leave behind certain parts of his being. And when, having passed through the Sun-sphere, he enters the spheres of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, he feels how Mars, Jupiter and Saturn gaze upon him with the penetrating eye of justice; for as the weavers of cosmic justice they watch him in order to behold how much of his being he may bear upwards. They gaze upon him. Each one of us perceives how much good or evil has become part of us, what we have been able to bear upwards, as well as what is lacking, that is to say, what we were obliged to leave behind; each one of us realises to what extent we are identified with evil, how much is lacking in us. The gaze directed upon us by the Beings of Mars, Saturn and Jupiter makes us realise our imperfections and shortcomings.
When a man returns again, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars have in the intervening time communicated to the Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai what they beheld and experienced when he passed before them with all his imperfections. The Beings of the Third Hierarchy weave this into him, so that there is inscribed in his being what he has to do in compensation. In these first three epochs of life when Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai work upon the human being with particular strength, the demands of karma are inscribed into the nerves-and-senses system, into the head-system.
When the 21st year has been passed (—how things are with human beings who die before that age will be explained in later lectures—) the karmic demands upon life have already been stamped into a man. If one is able to read what is there in some human being of 21, one can perceive what karmic demands are inscribed into him; for it is in this period up to the 21st year, that these demands are inscribed. They lie mainly in the hidden, occult foundations of the nerves-and-senses system, in that which spiritually underlies the nerves-and-senses system.
When, on the other hand, we direct our attention to the further course of life, when we observe the human being between the ages of 28 and 49, we find that it is less a matter of the inscribing of karmic demands, but rather of the fulfilment of karma, the discharging of karma. For it is particularly in this period of life that what has been inscribed into a man's being in the first three epochs of life must be brought to karmic fulfilment.
So that here (see diagram) I can write: fulfilment of karma (28th to 49th years). During the period from the 21st year to the 28th year, karmic demands and karmic fulfilment are in balance.
Now there is one remarkable phenomenon to which attention must be paid in our time. In the present epoch of evolution there are a great many human beings whose last incarnation of importance occurred in the first centuries after the founding of Christianity, up to about the 8th or 9th century. (—This does not imply that there has been no other incarnation in the intervening time, but if this was the case it was an unimportant one.—) If we were to make a survey of the human beings living in our time and sharing in its culture, we should find that by far the greater number of them had their last important incarnation in the first seven or eight centuries after the founding of Christianity.
Now this period was one that had a striking effect upon the human beings then living. This can be perceived to-day when one observes certain people in respect of their karma. Again and again, my dear friends, I have set myself the task of studying a number of people from this particular point of view, people who have acquired a certain amount of contemporary culture, intellectual culture, and also, speaking comparatively, considerable learning. Think of the large numbers of people nowadays who have become teachers in secondary schools, civil servants, and the like. They have learned a great deal, they have been to secondary schools, even to universities, and have really become exceedingly clever. (I do not mean this ironically, I only ask you to take it in connection with what I have said at other times about such things.) There are untold numbers of clever people to-day. The majority, indeed, are so clever that one can hardly tell them anything, for they know it already! Everyone has his own point of view; everyone passes judgment on what he hears.
That is how things are in our time, but only in our time. In earlier epochs it was quite different. Then there were individuals who had knowledge and the others listened to them. Clever people were by no means as numerous as they are to-day, when even in youth they are already clever. Just think of how many people under the age of 21 write—I will not say poetry, for this they have always done—but newspaper articles, even serious critiques.
In our time, then, intellectuality is very highly developed. In the case of most individuals this intellectuality is influenced, fundamentally, by their incarnation during the first seven or eight centuries after the founding of Christianity. In these centuries the feeling in the human soul for what came from pre-earthly existence into earthly life was all the time growing weaker. Men were beginning more and more to take an interest in what comes after death and were less and less concerned with what had preceded earthly life. In this connection I have frequently pointed out that we have no adequate expression for eternity but only for the half of eternity which has a beginning and never ends. For this part of the eternity of man's existence we have the word ‘immortality’, but unlike ancient languages we have not a word for the other half of eternity, which has never had a beginning. But eternity embraces both ‘immortality’ and ‘un-bornness’. We have come into this world as beings to whom birth means only a metamorphosis, just as we depart from the earthly world through death which again signifies only a metamorphosis, not an end.
The strong consciousness that was alive in man until the early Christian centuries: ‘I have descended from the spiritual world into physical existence’—this consciousness grew fainter and fainter and man began to confine himself to that other thought: I am here! What went before does not interest me. What does interest me is what follows after death.—This was the consciousness that grew stronger and stronger during the first Christian centuries. The feeling for pre-earthly existence grew dim in those who at that time were passing through their last incarnation of importance, and that is why intellectual cleverness now is entirely directed to the earthly. Great though it is, it is directed entirely to the earthly. Striking and tremendously significant discoveries can be made in this domain when one embarks on investigations into karma. I will mention two cases.
The first is that of a man who taught history in a secondary school, an extremely clever man and really impressive as a teacher. Until the time when the karmic demands were still working and then through this neutral zone here (see previous diagram)—that is to say until the beginning of the thirties—his cleverness was very evident. He was one of the many really clever men of our time. But the moment he entered this phase here (28th to 49th year) his cleverness was no longer a support and his moral impulses were in jeopardy. There was nothing left but intellectuality, which was then undermined. When the forces which are not bound up with the nerves-and-senses system but in the later part of life with the metabolic system began to work, the lower nature of the metabolic-limb system undermined what had previously come to a very fine form of expression in the nerves-and-senses system. The man in question, who in respect of intellect had begun his life really well, actually ended in degeneracy; there was a moral débâcle. That is one example.
And now another example—of a personality who was even more intelligent than the one I have just mentioned—but again merely intelligent. He was extremely short-sighted and was possessed of really remarkable intelligence. Up to the age of 30, this personality too, because of his intelligence, had a strong influence upon his fellow-men. When, however, he had passed his 30th or certainly his 35th year, when the nerves-and-senses system was no longer working so powerfully but when the metabolic-limb system became especially active in this later phase of life, this man, who had previously been so able and clever, became utterly trivial and banal, absorbed in petty squabbles. I had known him in his youth and confess that I was astonished when I found him subsequently among people who were taken up with all kinds of party factions. Observation of the path that leads from karmic demands to karmic fulfilments disclosed that the forces of intelligence in men of our time, prepared as they were in the earlier incarnation during the first Christian centuries, were not strong enough to enable the soul to reach the realm of the First Hierarchy in the period when the soul becomes weaker and the body puts up greater resistance.
And then it became evident to me that the large numbers of men to-day who are so clever, who can, above all, be made so clever through their education—these men in the first epoch of life develop the capacity to reach up with the forces of their intelligence to the Third Hierarchy, to the Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai. This they achieve. And in this epoch of life they are personalities of great promise.
When they come into the realm of the Second Hierarchy, they are, as it were, given over to this Hierarchy. The Second Hierarchy reaches down to men; practically all human beings become capable of procreation. This cosmic Hierarchy reaches downwards. Here there is no real abyss between man and the Hierarchy.
When, however, man reaches his 28th year and must begin to find a relation to the still higher Hierarchy, the First Hierarchy, he must find this relation with his whole nature, right down into the metabolic-limb system. Here he needs stronger forces of inner support in the spiritual realm; and the seed which was planted in him during an earlier life, in an epoch when men ceased to think about pre-earthly existence, proves unable to supply these forces.
In connection with karma, one would fain impress upon all true educators and teachers the urgent necessity of imbuing intellectuality with such spiritual strength that when the human being is passing through the later years of life, what has been permeated with moral force in his intellect may be able to hold the balance against the forces which draw him away from the First Hierarchy. (See arrow in diagram.)
It is a matter of no small interest in this age of ours to compare the second part of human life with the first, and those who have an aptitude for observing life should certainly begin to practice observation from this standpoint. For the things of which I have spoken occur in ordinary life; the examples I have given are taken from everyday life and could be multiplied a hundred—nay, a thousandfold; they are to be found everywhere. But something else of the same kind can also be found at a higher level of life. I have always been interested in the spiritual development of human beings and when I look at many who were creative in early life, who made a great impression on their contemporaries, perhaps as young poets or artists in some sphere, of whom it was said when they were 24, 25, 26, 27 years old: “What wonderful talent!” ... well, they grew older; after the poetic and artistic achievements of youth the stream dried up and they were of no account at all in the sphere where they had once been of real significance.
If you go through the names of those who made reputations as young poets or artists and then lost all right to be included in the annals of literature or art, you will find abundant proof of what I am saying. But what I have told you will, at the same time, show you how the different epochs in human life reveal in manifold ways how karma and the impulses of karma take effect.
Everything that is merely intellectualistic and materialistic can really only influence a human being inwardly in his youth. The spiritual that is infused into the intellectuality—that alone can hold its own through the whole of earthly life—in accordance with karma. Therefore when we observe the kind of destinies I have described, we must look back to previous incarnations which failed to turn men's eyes to that vista of the spiritual which can be revealed only when the gaze is directed to the life before birth, not merely to the life after death.
Life in our time is often fraught with this tragedy and there is so much that does not stand the test of the years. In youth, ideals are plentiful; in old age few remain. Older people rely more upon the State and upon their pensions than upon the sustaining power of life itself; they need support from outside because they cannot find what brings them into relation with the First Hierarchy.
You see, therefore, that if we are to study karma in the right way, we must pay attention to these different, but interpenetrating, members of man's being.—When man is passing through the first three epochs of life he lives in relation to the Third Hierarchy. Then, inwardly and unconsciously, he begins to be related to the Second Hierarchy and finally to the First Hierarchy. Only on the basis of this knowledge are we able to judge to what extent a man enables the karmic impulses within him to come to expression. For this knowledge of man's relation to the higher Hierarchies, this knowledge alone can reveal human life in concrete reality.
Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai say to us in our subconsciousness during the first three epochs of life: All this thou hast brought over from earlier epochs, from earlier earthly lives. This thou must take upon thyself.—In our subconscious experience of destiny this is said to us. And in truth, throughout these three epochs of life this message of destiny constantly resounds within us. From the Hierarchy of the Angeloi there rings forth: This is what Saturn, Jupiter and Mars have meted out to thee. Their forces have revealed it to us.
Then there follows all that comes from the Second Hierarchy, from the realm of the Sun; and finally what comes from the First Hierarchy, from the sphere of Venus, Mercury and Moon. And just as it is especially the Angeloi whose call resounds in our subconsciousness during the first three periods of life: Saturn, Jupiter and Mars have told us that this is ordained for thee ... so from the 28th year onwards it is the Seraphim who also speak in the unconscious realm of the soul, saying: All this remains with thee because thou canst not fulfil it, because thou art unable to reach up to us; this remains with thee and thou must bear it into the next earthly life; thou canst not balance it because thou hast not the strength.
Under the level of man's consciousness speak the forces of karma, the forces that shape destiny. They speak from all the three higher Hierarchies. And if we have a delicate faculty of perception for what enters our life as destiny, then we can also look behind this vista of destiny and begin to apprehend with reverence and awe how through the course of our life the Beings of all the three Hierarchies are weaving this destiny. And in truth only then do we learn to look at life in the right way.
For who would be satisfied, if, when asking us about a man of whose life on earth he wants to know something, and presumes we can tell him, we merely answer: ‘Oh, he is called Joseph Müller.’ All that we can tell him is just the name! But the questioner had expected that he would hear something more than a name: events in the man's life, something that throws light on the forces and impulses that influenced his earthly life! No one who really wants to know something about a human being can be satisfied with merely knowing his name. But in this materialistic age of ours people are, unfortunately, satisfied with the designation ‘Man’. In respect of all that lies behind the ordinary consciousness wherein work Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai, Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes, Cherubim, Seraphim, Thrones—people to-day are satisfied with the general designation ‘Man’. They do not look at the concrete realities. But this they must learn to do; they must turn their eyes again to these concrete realities of human life.
Elfter Vortrag
Wenn man das Wesen des Karma verstehen will, handelt es sich vor allen Dingen darum, auf alles das hinblicken zu können, was an der menschlichen Entwickelung aus dem Weltenall heraus beteiligt ist.
Um nun hinblicken zu können auf die an der Menschenentwickelung beteiligten Wesenheiten aus dem geistigen Weltenall, wollen wir doch einmal, um das Verständnis zu stützen, auf den Zusammenhang des Menschen mit den Erdenwesen vorausgehend ein wenig hinschauen.
Wir sehen den Menschen auf der Erde umgeben von den Wesenheiten des mineralischen, des pflanzlichen, des tierischen Reiches, und wir wissen ja, daß wir den Menschen so zu betrachten haben, daß eigentlich alle drei Naturreiche in ihm leben und in ihm eine höhere Form annehmen. Der Mensch ist gewissermaßen durch seinen physischen Organismus mit dem Mineralreiche verwandt. Nur verarbeitet er dasjenige, was sonst im mineralischen Reiche ist, in einer höheren Weise. Er ist durch seinen Ätherleib mit dem Pflanzenreiche verwandt. Wiederum verarbeitet er in einer höheren Weise dasjenige, was sonst im Pflanzenreiche ist, in sich. Und ebenso ist es bei der Verwandtschaft, die der Mensch durch seinen astralischen Leib mit den Wesenheiten des 'Tierreiches hat. Wir können also sagen: Betrachten wir den Raum um den Menschen herum, dann finden wir, daß der Mensch das mineralische, das pflanzliche und das tierische Reich in sich trägt.
Ebenso wie der Mensch diese äußeren Naturreiche des Raumes in sich trägt, trägt er in sich — nur eben der Zeit nach, nicht dem Raume nach — die Reiche der höheren Hierarchien. Und man kann das ganze Werk des Karma am Menschen nur verstehen, wenn man ins Auge faßt, wie die verschiedenen Reiche der Hierarchien an der Menschenwesenheit im Verlaufe des Erdenlebens wirken.
Wenn wir in Betracht ziehen, wie das mineralische Reich am Menschen wirkt, so treten uns ja die Vorgänge entgegen, innerhalb welcher der Mensch seine Nahrungsmittel aufnimmt. Denn alles, was er aus den höheren Reichen gegenüber dem Mineralreich aufnimmt, mineralisiert er ja zunächst. Wenn wir auf das Pflanzenreich hinblicken, so sehen wir, wie der Mensch die Vital-, die Lebenskräfte in sich hat. Wiederum, wenn wir auf das tierische Reich hinblicken, so sehen wir, wie der Mensch von seinem astralischen Leibe aus das bloße Leben in eine höhere Sphäre heraufhebt, in das Reich der Empfindungen. Kurz, wir können die Reihe der Naturwirkungen in den drei Reichen ebenso verfolgen wie die Reihe der Wirkungen im menschlichen Organismus.
Ebenso aber können wir verfolgen, was mit dem Menschen geschieht in seelisch-geistiger Beziehung aus den höheren Hierarchien heraus. Des Menschen eigenes Mineralisches, des Menschen eigenes Pflanzliches, des Menschen eigenes Tierisches verstehen wir aus der Wirksamkeit der drei Naturreiche im Raume. Ebenso müssen wir dasjenige, was im Menschen waltet — zunächst fassen wir dasjenige ins Auge, was im Menschen als Schicksal waltet -, aus dem Hineinwirken eben der Reiche der Hierarchien verstehen. Da müssen wir aber nun nicht das, was gleichzeitig im Menschen ist, betrachten — physischer Leib, Ätherleib, Astralleib sind ja gleichzeitig im Menschen -, da müssen wir, für die Reiche der Hierarchien, dasjenige betrachten, was im irdischen Leben nacheinander im Menschen ist, und müssen es so betrachten, wie gegenüber einer geistigen Betrachtung eben das Nacheinander aufgefaßt werden kann.
Nun, wir haben ja, ich möchte sagen, durch unsere sämtlichen anthroposophischen Betrachtungen hindurch immer die Gliederung des Menschen nach seinem Lebenslauf betrachtet: von der Geburt bis etwa um das 7. Jahr herum zum Zahnwechsel, vom Zahnwechsel bis zu der Geschlechtsreife, von der Geschlechtsreife bis zum 21. Jahre, wo die Differenzierungen nicht mehr so sichtbar sind, dann vom 21. Jahre bis zum 28. Jahre, vom 28. bis zum 35. Jahre, vom 35. bis zum 42. Jahre, vom 42. bis 49. Jahre, vom 49. bis 56. Jahre und so weiter (siehe Zeichnung Seite 193). Über das, was über das 56. Jahr hinausliegt, werde ich dann das nächste Mal noch zu sprechen haben; ich werde jetzt einmal den menschlichen Lebenslauf bis zum 56. Jahre zu betrachten haben.
Da haben wir deutlich eine Gliederung von drei Lebensabschnitten bis zum 21. Lebensjahre, und zweitens drei Lebensabschnitte, und dann das, was sich weiter daran schließt. Ich will die letzten Lebensabschnitte noch so bezeichnen (siehe Zeichnung Seite 193).
Der Mensch sagt zu sich «Ich». Aber dieses Ich steht ja in einer Summe von Wirkungen drinnen. Nach außen betrachtet sind es die Wirkungen des Mineralischen, des Pflanzlichen, des Tierischen, nach innen, nach dem Geistig-Seelischen betrachtet, die Wirkungen der dritten Hierarchie: der Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai, die Wirkungen der zweiten Hierarchie: Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes, die Wirkungen der ersten Hierarchie: Seraphim, Cherubim, Throne.
Doch nicht in gleicher Weise wirken diese Wesenheiten in seinen Lebenslauf hinein. Wir können ja schon sagen: Auch die Außenseite des Menschen ist in einer gewissen Weise von verschiedener Wirkung durchsetzt gemäß dem Lebenslaufe. Wenn wir zum Beispiel das Kind betrachten ganz im Anfange seines Erdenlebens, da müssen wir sagen: Dasjenige, was wir sonst im Tierreiche finden, das ist da besonders ausgeprägt: ein wachsendes, sprossendes, aufbauendes Leben.
Wenn wir den letzten Abschnitt des Lebens betrachten, wo es schon ins Greisenhafte hineingeht, dann haben wir in dem Sklerotisieren, in dem Brüchigwerden des Organismus ein Mineralisierendes, ein viel stärker Mineralisierendes, weil intimer mineralisierend, als das bei den Tieren vorhanden ist, mit Ausnahme der höheren Tiere, bei denen das auf Bedingungen beruht, die hier nicht weiter zu besprechen sind, sondern bei einer anderen Gelegenheit besprochen werden können. Während beim Tiere eigentlich sofort das Aufhören der Vitalkräfte beginnt, wenn der Aufbau nicht mehr da ist, trägt ja der Mensch gerade wichtige Teile, wichtige Zeiten seiner Entwickelung in die Abbauperiode hinein, die eigentlich schon in den Dreißigerjahren beginnt. Und es wäre vieles in der Menschheitsentwickelung nicht da, wenn die Menschen sich ebenso wie die Tiere entwickeln würden: daß sie eigentlich nichts in die Greisenhaftigkeit hineintragen. Die Tiere tragen nichts hinein in die Greisenhaftigkeit. Die Menschen aber können in die Greisenhaftigkeit viel hineintragen, und wichtige Errungenschaften der menschlichen Kulturentwickelung sind eben doch dem zu verdanken, was von den Menschen in die Greisenhaftigkeit, in das Abbauleben hineingetragen werden kann.
Da ist also das Mineralisierende. So daß wir sagen können: Nach außen hin ist schon, deutlich bemerkbar, im Beginne des Erdenlebens das Tierische vorherrschend, am Ende des Erdenlebens das Mineralische und zwischendurch das Pflanzliche.
Nun aber, viel deutlicher, viel dezidierter tritt dieser Unterschied auf beim Hereinwirken der höheren Hierarchien auf den Menschen. Da kann man sagen, daß das erste Kindesalter ganz besonders starke Hereinwirkungen hat auf das seelisch-geistige Leben von der Seite der dritten Hierarchie, der Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai. Diese Wirkung der dritten Hierarchie (siehe Zeichnung), die umfaßt eigentlich die drei ersten Lebensabschnitte.
In den drei ersten Lebensabschnitten haben wir das Hereinwirken von Angeloi, Archangeloi und Archai. Da wirkt beim Kinde und beim jungen Menschen in alledem, was vom Seelisch-Geistigen aus aufbauend wirkt auf seinen Organismus — und das ist ja sehr vieles, das ist ja fast alles -, dasjenige, was an Kräften hereinwirken kann aus der Welt der dritten Hierarchie, der Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai.
Mit dem 14. Lebensjahre beginnt die zweite Hierarchie zu wirken: Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes. So daß ich also hier (siehe Zeichnung) wiederum durch drei Abschnitte hindurch, also zwischen dem 14. und 35. Jahre, zu verzeichnen habe: Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes. Sie sehen, meine lieben Freunde, in dem Zeitabschnitt vom 14. bis zum 21. Jahre wirken zugleich ausschlaggebend auf den Menschen die dritte und die zweite Hierarchie zusammen. Erst mit dem 21. Jahre tritt dasjenige ein, was alleinige Wirkung der zweiten Hierarchie ist.
Da, mit der Geschlechtsreife, greift in den Menschen etwas von Weltenprozessen, von kosmischen Prozessen ein, die bis zu diesem Lebensalter der Geschlechtsreife nicht in dem Menschen sind.
Und Sie brauchen ja nur zu überlegen, daß, indem er fortpflanzungsfähig wird, der Mensch fähig wird, diejenigen Kräfte aus dem Weltenall aufzunehmen, die bei der Neubildung, bei der physischen Neubildung des Menschen eben mitwirken. Diese Kräfte aus dem Kosmos entbehrte der Mensch bis zur Geschlechtsreife. Es tritt also da in seinem physischen Organismus jene Veränderung ein, die sozusagen gewaltigere Kräfte in den physischen Organismus hineinsendert, als sie vorher drinnen waren. Das Kind hat diese gewaltigeren, stärkeren Kräfte noch nicht. Es hat noch die schwächeren Kräfte, die nur auf die Seele zunächst wirken im Erdenleben, nicht auf den Körper.
Nun aber beginnt mit dem 35. Jahre eine Zeit für den Menschen, in der er im Grunde genommen innerlich seelisch schwächer wird, als er früher war, gegenüber, man möchte sagen, dem Ansturm der Abbaukräfte seines Organismus. Vor diesem 35. Jahre unterstützt uns als Mensch ja der Organismus ganz wesentlich. Er hat die Tendenz, aufbauend zu sein. Und diese Tendenz, aufbauend zu sein, dauert eigentlich noch bis in die Dreißigerjahre herein. Dann aber beginnt eine sehr starke, überwiegende Abbautendenz. Gegen diese überwiegende Abbautendenz können selbst diejenigen Kräfte nicht aufkommen, die aus dem Wesen der zweiten Hierarchie kommen. Da muß unsere Seele weiterhin aus dem Kosmos heraus so unterstützt werden, daß wir nicht mit 35 Jahren schon sterben im normalen Leben. Denn wenn nur bis zum 21. Jahre die Wesen der dritten Hierarchie, vom 14. bis 35. Jahre die Wesen der zweiten Hierarchie wirken würden, dann würden wir eigentlich zum Sterben reif sein in der Mitte unseres wirklichen Erdenlebens, wenn nicht, ich möchte sagen, aus Trägheit der physische Körper noch hielte. Das ist deshalb nicht der Fall, weil nun in der Tat, und zwar nicht erst vom 35. Jahre ab, sondern schon vom 28. Jahre ab, wiederum durch drei Epochen, bis zum 49. Lebensjahre, die Wesenheiten der ersten Hierarchie, Seraphim, Cherubim, Throne, auf den Menschen einwirken.
Wiederum haben Sie einen Zeitraum zwischen dem 28. und 35. Lebensjahre, wo nun die zweite und die erste Hierarchie zusammenwirken. So daß die eigentliche alleinige Wirksamkeit der zweiten Hierarchie vom 21. bis zum 28. Jahre vorhanden ist.
Wie gesagt, das, was nun darauf folgt, werde ich das nächste Mal betrachten. Sie können ja allerdings fragen: Wenn nun jemand über 49 Jahre alt ist, ist er denn da von allen Hierarchien verlassen? — Aber wie gesagt, was da eintritt, das wollen wir schon noch betrachten. Es wird deshalb das, was heute zu sagen ist, nicht bloß anwendbar sein für diejenigen, die unter 49 Jahren sind, sondern auch für die anderen. Zunächst aber haben wir es tatsächlich so mit dem menschlichen Lebenslaufe zu halten, daß in dieser Weise die Hierarchien ihre besondere Kraft und ihre besondere Stärke in seinen Lebenslauf hereinverpflanzen.
Natürlich müssen Sie, wenn so etwas betrachtet wird, nicht denken, die Dinge dürfen nun bloß schematisch betrachtet werden. Das darf nirgends geschehen, wo man in das Gebiet eines nur einigermaßen höheren Lebens kommt.
Ich mußte ja immer seit einer Reihe von Jahren schon von der Dreigliederung des menschlichen Wesens in Nerven-Sinnesmenschen, in rhythmischen Menschen, in Stoffwechsel-Gliedmaßenmenschen reden. Daraus hat ein Professor — was machen Professoren nicht alles! — gemacht, ich hätte den Menschen dreigegliedert in Kopf-, in Brust- und Bauchsystem, weil er die Sache schematisch nebeneinandergestellt hat. Nun, ich habe immer betont: das Nerven-Sinnessystem ist zwar hauptsächlich im Kopfe konzentriert, aber es durchzieht wiederum den ganzen Menschen. Ebenso ist es mit dem rhythmischen System. Die Dinge sind nicht räumlich nebeneinanderzustellen. Und so auch müssen Sie hier diese Aufeinanderfolge betrachten: Hauptsächlich ist die Wirkung von Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai auf die drei ersten Lebensepochen beschränkt, aber sie sind wiederum im ganzen Lebenslauf enthalten, so wie das Nerven-Sinnessystem hauptsächlich im Kopfe enthalten ist, aber im ganzen Menschenorganismus wiederum vorkommt. Wir fühlen ja auch mit der großen Zehe, da ist auch Nerven-Sinnesleben drinnen. Trotzdem besteht diese Dreigliederung zu Recht. Und es besteht auch jene Dreigliederung zu Recht, von der ich Ihnen heute spreche.
Nun aber können Sie, wenn Sie die Gliederung des menschlichen Lebenslaufes in dieser Art ansehen, sich sagen: Das menschliche Ich ist nach der geistigen Seite hin ebenso eingespannt in eine Summe von Wirkungen, die aus dem geistigen Reiche herunterkommen, wie es nach unten, nach der physischen Seite hin, eingespannt ist in die Reihe der Wirkungen, die von Tieren, Pflanzen, Mineralien herkommen. Wir sind wirklich als Menschen so, daß wir mit unserem Ich drinnenstehen in dem, was vom Kosmos heraus in einer komplizierten Weise an uns geschieht. Und in dieser Wirkungsweise, die da geistig vom Kosmos heraus aus den Hierarchien auf den Menschen sich erstreckt, in dieser liegt die Gestaltung des Karma während des physischen Erdenlebens.
Eigentlich bringen uns ja Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai herein aus der geistigen Welt in die physische Welt, und sie begleiten uns hauptsächlich durch die drei ersten Lebensepochen. Dasjenige, worauf sie am stärksten wirken, das ist wiederum unser Nerven-Sinnessystem. Und an alledem, was in einer so komplizierten, wunderbaren Weise sich bis zum 21. Lebensjahre hin an Ausgestaltung unseres Sinnes- und Verstandeslebens, unseres Kopflebens einstellt, an alledem sind die Wesenheiten der Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai beteiligt.
Unendlich viel geschieht da sozusagen hinter den Kulissen des gewöhnlichen Bewußtseins. Und eben an dem, was hinter diesen Kulissen des gewöhnlichen Bewußtseins geschieht, sind diese Wesenheiten beteiligt.
Und wiederum, ins rhythmische System herein greifen, von der Geschlechtsreife, ungefähr vom 14. Lebensjahre an, diejenigen Mächte ein, welche stärkere Kräfte haben als Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai. Die Wesenheiten der dritten Hierarchie, Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai, die sind eigentlich darauf angewiesen, unser Seelisches zu ergreifen. Wir bringen uns für die drei ersten Lebensepochen aus dem vorirdischen Dasein so starke Kräfte mit, die nachwirken, daß da die Seele auf den Leib intensiv wirken kann. Da bedarf es nur der schwächeren Kräfte der dritten Hierarchie, um dem Menschen zu Hilfe zu kommen. Aber sehen Sie, diejenigen Kräfte, welche Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai brauchen, um in der richtigen Weise unser Menschenleben zu lenken und zu leiten bis zum 21. Jahre hin, diese Kräfte strömen diesen Wesenheiten zu aus dem, was geistig ausstrahlt von Saturn, Jupiter, Mars (siehe Zeichnung). Es ist schon so, daß die Weltenkörper nicht nur diejenigen Wirkungen ausstrahlen, von denen die physische Wissenschaft spricht. Diese physische Wissenschaft ist ja mit Bezug auf die Schilderung des Weltwesens eigentlich recht einfältig. Von Saturn, Jupiter und Mars strahlen Kräfte aus, für die eigentlich das stärkste Verständnis Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai haben. Und wenn der Mensch nun durch das Leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt durchgeht — wir haben es ja beschrieben —, da kommt er zuerst in die Mondregion zu denjenigen Wesen, die einmal auf der Erde waren, die scharfe Beurteiler dessen sind, was er an Gutem und Bösem mitbringt. Da muß er zunächst zurücklassen, was mit ihm an Bösem vereinigt ist. Er kann es nicht in die Sonnenregion tragen. Er geht dann durch die Sonnenregion hindurch und weiter hinaus in das Weltenall. Es wirken dann die Kräfte von Mars, Jupiter und Saturn auf ihn. Dann geht er durch das ganze Leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt durch, kommt wieder zurück, und erst wenn er wiederum ganz in die Mondenregion hereinkommt, dann treten ihm Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai entgegen und sagen ihm gewissermaßen: uns hat Saturn, Jupiter, Mars gesagt, daß du nach gewissen Richtungen hin verkümmert bist -, so wie das in dem letzten Vortrage hier beschrieben worden ist. Ich sagte, das Böse muß zurückgelassen werden, aber damit läßt der Mensch ja etwas von sich selbst zurück. Er kommt als ein verkümmerter Mensch in die Sonnenregion und auch in die äußere Region hinauf. Da schauen ihn an Saturn, Jupiter und Mars.
Oh, meine lieben Freunde, dieses Leben zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt ist recht kompliziert! Wir treten das Leben an zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt, indem wir durch die Todespforte geschritten sind. Dasjenige spielt sich ab, was ich in bezug auf die Mondenregion beschrieben habe. Der Mensch muß all das zurücklassen, was an ihm, an seinem Wesen sich mit dem Bösen identifiziert hat. Das ist so, wie wenn der physische Leib Glieder zurücklassen müßte. Der Mensch kommt sozusagen verstümmelt um das, was er zurücklassen mußte, weil es sich mit dem Bösen identifiziert hat, in der Sonnenregion und in den übrigen Weiten des Weltenalls an. Und wenn dann der Mensch durch die Sonnenregion hindurch in das Gebiet von Mars, Jupiter und Saturn tritt, dann fühlt er: die schauen ihn an mit dem durchdringenden Blicke ihres Gerechtigkeitswebens, ihres Weltgerechtigkeitswebens, schauen sie ihn an, wieviel er von seinem Menschen da hinauftragen darf. Da schauen sie ihn an. Da spürt ein jeder von uns, wieviel sich mit ihm von dem Guten vereinigt hat, was er da hinauftragen darf und was ihm fehlt, was er zurückgelassen hat, zurücklassen mußte, wie sehr er sich identifizierte mit dem Bösen. Das fehlt ihm. Und an der Art und Weise, wie er von den Wesen von Mars, Saturn und Jupiter angeschaut wird, spürt er, ein wie mangelhafter Mensch er ist.
Und dann, wenn er wieder zurückkehrt, haben mittlerweile Saturn, Jupiter und Mars dasjenige, was sie an dem Menschen, der unvollkommen an ihnen vorbeigegangen ist, erlebt, erschaut haben, kosmisch mitgeteilt der dritten Hierarchie - Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai. Das verweben jetzt diese Wesen mit dem Menschen, so daß er eingeschrieben in sich enthält, was er zu tun hat, was er auszugleichen hat.
Und man möchte sagen: In diesen ersten drei Lebensepochen, wo Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai besonders auf den Menschen wirken, da werden die karmischen Forderungen in das menschliche Nerven-Sinnessystem, in das menschliche Kopfsystem eingeschrieben.
Wenn wir durch unser 21. Lebensjahr geschritten sind — wie es sich bei Menschen, die früher sterben, verhält, will ich auch noch in den späteren Vorträgen auseinandersetzen —, dann hat sich in uns all das eingeprägt, was die karmischen Forderungen für das Leben sind. Man kann es dem Einundzwanzigjährigen, wenn man in ihm lesen kann, ansehen, was in ihn eingeschrieben ist an karmischen Forderungen. Da, in dieser Zeit also, da prägen sich in dem Menschen die karmischen Forderungen aus (siehe Zeichnung Seite 193). Die tragen wir hauptsächlich in den okkulten, in den verborgenen Untergründen unseres Nerven-Sinnessystems, in dem, was geistig-seelisch unserem NervenSinnessystem zugrunde liegt.
Dagegen wenn wir mehr gegen den weiteren Verlauf des Lebens hinblicken, wenn wir den Menschen anschauen von seinem 28. bis zu seinem 49. Lebensjahre, dann haben wir es weniger mit einem Einprägen von karmischen Forderungen zu tun, sondern mehr mit dem, was nun die Erfüllung des Karma ist, das Abladen des Karma. Namentlich in dieser Lebensperiode tritt dasjenige auf, was karmische Erfüllung ist, was wir abzuladen haben um dessentwillen, das sich eingeprägt hat in den ersten drei Lebensepochen.
So daß ich hierher (siehe Zeichnung Seite 193) schreiben kann: Vom 28. Jahre bis zum 49. Jahre «Karmische Erfüllungen». Dazwischen liegen die Jahre vom 21. bis zum 28., wo sich beides die Waage hält — karmische Forderungen und karmische Erfüllungen.
Nun liegt aber etwas Eigentümliches vor, das insbesondere in unserem Zeitalter notwendig ist zu beachten. In der gegenwärtigen Entwickelungsepoche der Menschheit sind sehr viele Menschen vorhanden, die ihre letzte maßgebende Inkarnation — nicht als ob darauf keine mehr gefolgt wäre, aber die war dann weniger maßgebend — durchgemacht haben so in den ersten Jahrhunderten nach der Begründung des Christentums bis zum 8., 9. Jahrhundert hin. Wenn wir bei den weitaus meisten Menschen, die in der Gegenwart leben und Anteil an der Kultur haben, Umschau halten, dann finden wir, daß die Mehrzahl dieser Menschen ihre maßgebende Inkarnation in den ersten sieben bis acht Jahrhunderten seit der Begründung des Christentums hatten.
Das war aber die Zeit, die in folgender Weise eigentümlich auf die Menschen wirkte — das geht einem heute auf, wenn man karmisch gewisse Menschen betrachtet. Immer wieder habe ich es mir zur Aufgabe gemacht, gerade auch nach diesem Gesichtspunkte viele Menschen karmisch zu betrachten, Menschen, die eine gewisse Bildung erreicht haben, die heute Zeitbildung ist, Kopfbildung hauptsächlich ist, Menschen, die eigentlich verhältnismäßig viel gelernt haben.
Sie brauchen ja nur zu beachten, wie groß das Heer derjenigen Menschen heute ist, die Gymnasiallehrer, Beamte und so weiter geworden sind. Die haben verhältnismäßig viel gelernt, das Gymnasium oder die Realschule, sogar die Universität besucht — wirklich, ich meine das nicht ironisch, aber wohl im Zusammenhang mit alldem, was ich über solche Begriffe schon gesagt habe -, sie sind eigentlich ungeheuer gescheit geworden.
Nach dieser Richtung hin gibt es heute wirklich außerordentlich viel gescheite Leute. Denken Sie nur, daß ja die meisten Menschen heute so gescheit sind, daß man ihnen kaum etwas sagen kann; sie wissen ja schon alles. Jeder hat einen Standpunkt. Jeder urteilt über das, was ihm gesagt wird.
So ist es nur in unserer Zeit, so war es durchaus nicht in früheren Zeitepochen. Da waren einzelne Leute, die haben etwas gewußt; die anderen haben hingehorcht auf diejenigen, die etwas gewußt haben. Da war es gar nicht üblich, daß so viele Menschen gescheit waren wie heute. Nicht wahr, man wird schon in sehr früher Jugend heute gescheit; denken Sie nur, wie viele Menschen unter ihrem 21. Lebensjahre heute schon, ich will gar nicht sagen, Gedichte machen, das haben sie immer getan, sondern sogar Feuilletons schreiben, ja sogar Kritiken schreiben.
Also die Ausbildung der Intellektualität, die ist heute eine außerordentlich starke. Aber sie ist heute bei den meisten Menschen im wesentlichen beeinflußt von denjenigen Inkarnationen, die in den ersten sieben bis acht Jahrhunderten seit der Begründung des Christentums stattgefunden haben. Da wurde immer geringer und geringer das Gefühl in der menschlichen Seele für das, was aus vorirdischem Leben in das irdische hereinkommt. Die Menschen fingen an, sich eigentlich immer mehr und mehr nur für das zu interessieren, was auf den Tod folgt, und interessierten sich immer weniger und weniger für das, was dem Erdenleben vorausgegangen war. Ich habe das oftmals dadurch ausgedrückt, daß ich sagte: Wir haben ja für die Ewigkeit keine durchgreifende Bezeichnung, sondern nur für die halbe Ewigkeit, die eigentlich anfängt und niemals aufhört. Da, für diesen Teil der Ewigkeit (siehe Zeichnung, Pfeil) des Menschen haben wir das Wort Unsterblichkeit; aber wir haben nicht für die andere Hälfte der Ewigkeit, die niemals angefangen hat, ein Wort Ungeborenheit, wie es ältere Sprachen hatten. Das haben wir nicht. Aber die ganze Ewigkeit umfaßt eben Unsterblichkeit und Ungeborenheit.
Wir sind ebenso als Wesen, bei denen die Geburt nur eine Umwandlung bedeutet, in die Welt hereingekommen, wie wir herauskommen aus der Erdenwelt dadurch, daß wir den Tod durchmachen, der nicht ein Ende, sondern nur eine Umwandlung bedeutet.
So können wir sagen: Dieses starke Bewußtsein, das bis in die ersten christlichen Jahrhunderte herein wirksam war in den Menschen: Ich bin aus Geistigem heruntergestiegen zum physischen Dasein -, das wurde immer geringer, und immer mehr beschränkte man sich darauf: Ich bin nun einmal da; was vorhergegangen ist, interessiert mich nicht, das ist mir ja sicher. Was vorangegangen ist, das interessiert mich nicht; mich interessiert, was auf den Tod folgt. — Dieses Bewußtsein kam immer mehr und mehr auf. Und diese Entwickelung, die vollzog sich in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten. Da wurde sozusagen in diejenigen Menschen, die da ihre maßgebende Inkarnation durchmachten, dieses gedämpfte Gefühl für das vorirdische Leben hineingedrängt. Und die Gescheitheit nimmt daher die Richtung nach dem bloß Irdischen an. Sie ist eine große, diese Gescheitheit, sie nimmt aber die Richtung nach dem bloß Irdischen an. Ungeheuer Frappierendes, ungeheuer Bedeutsames tritt einem, wenn man karmische Betrachtungen anstellt, auf diesem Gebiete entgegen.
Ich will zwei Fälle herausgreifen: einen Menschen, der Geschichtslehrer war in einer höheren Schule, ein sehr gescheiter Mensch, der eigentlich als Geschichtslehrer schon einen Eindruck durch sein Wesen zunächst machen konnte. Wenn ich sein Leben ins Auge fasse bis zu dem Zeitpunkt, wo die karmischen Forderungen durch diese neutrale Zone hier hindurch (siehe Zeichnung Seite 193), also bis zum Anfange der Dreißigerjahre wirkten, da konnte man sagen: seine Gescheitheit kam heraus. Er war einer von den vielen gescheiten Menschen, sogar hervorragend gescheiten Menschen der Gegenwart. Aber in dem Augenblicke, wo er hier in diese Region hier kam, da half ihm die Gescheitheit nichts mehr, da wurde es mit den moralischen Impulsen bedenklich. Da blieb es bei der bloßen Intellektualität, die dann untergraben wurde. Als die Kräfte in Betracht kamen, die nun nicht an das Nerven-Sinnessystem, sondern gegen das Ende des Lebens an das Stoffwechsel-Gliedmaßensystem gebunden sind, da unterdrückte die niedere Natur des Stoffwechsel-Gliedmaßensystems dasjenige, was im Nerven-Sinnessystem vorher ganz schön herausgekommen ist.
Die betreffende Persönlichkeit, die eigentlich intellektuell ihr Leben gut begonnen hatte, endete im Grunde genommen in moralischer Verkommenheit, mit einem moralischen Debacle. Das ist ein Beispiel.
Ein anderes Beispiel: Eine Persönlichkeit, die eigentlich noch gescheiter war als die erste, die ich jetzt eben beschrieben habe, die sogar als ganz hervorragend intelligent galt, die aber eben etwas nur Intelligentes hatte, aus ungeheuer kurzsichtigen Augen heraus eine große Intelligenz entwickelte.
Diese Persönlichkeit wiederum, sie entwickelte, wenn man so bis gegen das 30. Jahr sie betrachtete, durch ihre Intelligenz einen starken Einfluß auf ihre Mitmenschen. Als sie über das 30. Jahr oder gar über das 35. Jahr hinaus war, als dann nicht mehr so stark wirkte das Nerven-Sinnessystem, sondern als das Stoffwechsel-Gliedmaßensystem wirkte gegen das Ende des Lebens zu, da wurde diese Persönlichkeit, die vorher als etwas recht Kluges galt, vor allen Dingen trivial, banal und ging dann auf in einem banalen, parteimäßigen Leben. Ich habe den Lebenslauf dieser Persönlichkeit verfolgt. Ich muß sagen, es war mir etwas ganz Merkwürdiges, da ich diese Persönlichkeit gekannt habe in ihren jüngeren Jahren, daß diese Persönlichkeit von mir später wiederum gefunden wurde unter Leuten, die in ganz trivialem Parteileben aufgingen. Der Weg von den karmischen Forderungen in die karmischen Erfüllungen hinein hat sich so erwiesen, daß die intelligenten Kräfte bei den Menschen der Gegenwart, die durch ein voriges Erdenleben in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten bis zum 8., 9. Jahrhundert herauf zubereitet worden sind, nicht tragfähig genug waren, um in der Zeit, wo nun die Seele schwächer wird, wo der Körper den größeren Widerstand bietet, hinaufzureichen in die erste Hierarchie.
Und da stellte sich mir dieses dar: Jene zahlreichen Menschen in der Gegenwart, die so gescheit sind, die vor allen Dingen durch die Schulbildung so gescheit gemacht werden können, die entwickeln in dieser ersten Lebensepoche die Möglichkeit, mit ihren Gescheitheitskräften bis in die dritte Hierarchie, Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai hinaufzureichen. Das erlangen sie. Da sind sie vielversprechende Persönlichkeiten.
Indem sie in die zweite Hierarchie eintreten, sind sie mehr dieser Hierarchie hingegeben. Die kommt ja zu den Menschen herunter; fortpflanzungsfähig werden fast alle. Diese kosmische Hierarchie kommt herunter. Da ist sozusagen kein rechter Abgrund zwischen den Menschen und der höheren Hierarchie.
Kommt es aber mit dem 28. Jahre dahin, daß der Mensch nun zu der höheren Hierarchie, zu der ersten Hierarchie Beziehung finden muß, da muß es durch seinen ganzen Menschen bis ins StoffwechselGliedmaßensystem hinein geschehen. Da braucht er stärkere innere Haltekräfte im Geistigen. Da reicht eben dasjenige nicht aus, was aus früheren Erdenleben aus jenem Zeitalter im Menschen keimend gemacht worden ist, wo nicht mehr gedacht worden ist an das vorirdische Leben.
Man möchte, wenn man gerade auf die karmische Entwickelung hinweisen will, sagen: Stark muß die Mahnung an den wirklichen Erzieher der Menschheit, an den wahren Pädagogen sein, der Intellektualität so viel von geistig Kraftvollem einzuflößen, daß, wenn der Mensch dann seine spätere Lebenszeit durchmacht, das, was in seinem Intellekt durchmoralisiert ist, denjenigen Kräften die Waagschale halten kann, die hinunterziehen (siehe Zeichnung Seite 193, Pfeil nach unten), hinweg von der ersten Hierarchie.
Es ist ja wirklich nicht von geringem Interesse, gerade in unserem Zeitalter den zweiten Teil des menschlichen Lebens mit dem ersten zu vergleichen. Nach dieser Richtung müßten eigentlich Menschen, die Sinn für Lebensbeobachtunghhaben, rechte Lebensbeobachtung anstellen. Denn das tritt hervor, meine lieben Freunde, im gewöhnlichen Leben. Was ich jetzt als Beispiele angeführt habe, das sind Beispiele aus dem gewöhnlichen Leben, Beispiele, die verhundert-, vertausendfacht werden können, die überall sich finden. Aber auch etwas anderes könnte man finden, wo sich dasselbe zeigt, nur, ich möchte sagen, in einem höheren Gebiete des Lebens. Wenn ich, der ich mich immer interessiert habe für die geistigen Entwickelungsgänge der Menschen, auf eine Anzahl von solchen Menschen blicke, die produktiv ins Leben hereingetreten sind, die sogar großen Eindruck auf ihre Mitmenschen, sagen wir, als jugendliche Dichter oder sonst als jugendliche Künstler gemacht haben, und dann hinschaue auf dieselben, von denen man noch gesagt hat, als sie 24, 25, 26, 27 Jahre alt gewesen sind: ein großartiges, gewaltiges Talent! — sie wurden älter, alles versiegte, es blieb beim Jugendlichen Dichten, beim jugendlichen Künstlertum. Später versiegte alles. Sie waren nichts mehr auf dem Gebiete, auf dem sie einmal bedeutend waren.
Gerade wenn Sie die Namen derjenigen durchgehen, die nur als jugendliche Dichter oder Künstler bekanntgeworden sind, dann sich selber ausgestrichen haben aus der lebendigen Literaturgeschichte oder Kunstgeschichte, dann werden Sie das bewahrheitet finden, was ich sage. Aber Sie werden durch das, was ich so sage, zugleich darauf hingewiesen, wie die verschiedenen Lebensepochen beim Menschen in der verschiedensten Weise zeigen, wie das Karma, wie die karmischen Impulse in das Menschenleben eingreifen.
Alles das, was nur intellektualistisch und materialistisch ist, kann eigentlich nur in der Jugend den Menschen innerlich erfassen. Nur das, was dem Intellektualistischen als Spirituelles beigemischt ist, kann durch das ganze Menschenleben hindurch halten, ich meine karmisch durch die Erdenleben hindurch.
Wenn wir also sehen, daß solche Schicksale, wie die beschriebenen, auftreten, dann müssen wir auf frühere Erdenleben zurückblicken, wo dem Menschen der Hinblick auf das eigentlich Spirituelle, den man ja nur in rechter Weise haben kann, wenn man auf das vorgeburtliche, nicht nur auf das nachtodliche Leben sieht, nicht gegeben worden ist.
Es ist in unserem Zeitalter eigentlich diese Lebenstragik vielfach vorhanden, und wir haben so vieles, was nicht vorhält für das ganze Menschenleben. Wir haben in unserem Zeitalter viel von jugendlichen Idealen, aber wenig von alten Idealen. Die Alten verlassen sich viel mehr auf den Staat und auf die Pension als auf das lebendige Leben, weil sie die Stütze von außen brauchen, weil sie das nicht finden können, was sie zu der ersten Hierarchie in Beziehung bringt.
Und so kommt es, daß, wenn wir richtig karmisch betrachten wollen, wir diese verschiedenen Glieder des Menschen, die aber ineinandergreifen, beachten müssen. Ich will jetzt nicht sagen, daß über das 49. Jahr hinaus das Leben geschenkt ist; wie gesagt, das werden wir noch betrachten. Aber wenn der Mensch die Lebensepochen (siehe Zeichnung Seite 193), diese ersten drei, diese zweiten drei und dann diese durchgemacht hat, dann lebt er zuerst so, daß er Beziehungen hat zur dritten Hierarchie. Er knüpft dann Beziehungen an, innerlich, unbewußt, zur zweiten Hierarchie, dann zur ersten Hierarchie. Darnach kann man erst beurteilen, inwiefern der Mensch den karmischen Impulsen in sich die Möglichkeit gibt, sich auszugestalten. Denn das erst, dieses Wissen von den Beziehungen zu den höheren Hierarchien, gibt das konkrete Menschenleben.
Angeloi, Archangelo, Archai sagen uns in unserem Unterbewußten gewissermaßen in den ersten drei Lebensepochen: Das alles hast du herübergetragen aus früheren Epochen, aus früherem Erdendasein, das mußt du auf dich nehmen. - In dem unbewußten Teil unseres Schicksalerlebens wird uns das gesagt. Und es tönt eigentlich immer in diesen drei Lebensepochen in uns schicksalsmäßig herein, namentlich von der Hierarchie der Angeloi: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars haben dies oder jenes über dich verhängt. Wir haben es aus ihren Kräften gelesen.
Dann folgt alles das, was von der zweiten Hierarchie kommt, aus dem Bereich der Sonne. Und endlich folgt dasjenige, was von der ersten Hierarchie in dieser Weise kommt aus dem Bereiche von Venus, Merkur, Mond. Und so wie uns namentlich die Angeloi im Unterbewußten in den ersten drei Epochen unseres Lebens zurufen: Das haben uns Saturn, Jupiter, Mars gesagt, daß dir im Leben das auszutragen vorgesetzt ist —, so finden sich dann von dem 28. Lebensjahr an in unserem Unbewußten die Seraphim, die ja eben auch im Unbewußten sprechen: Und das alles bleibt dir, weil du es nicht erfüllen kannst, weil du zu uns nicht heraufreichst, das bleibt dir, und du mußt es ins nächste Erdenleben hineintragen; du kannst es nicht ausgleichen, du hast die Stärke nicht dazu.
Unter dem Bewußtsein des Menschen sprechen die karmischen Mächte, die schicksalbildenden Mächte. Sie sprechen aus allen drei höheren Hierarchien. Und wenn wir Empfindung haben für das, was schicksalsmäßig in unser Leben eingreift, dann können wir auch hinter diesem Hinblicken auf unser Schicksal in heiliger Scheu ahnen, wie im Verlaufe unseres Lebens weben an diesem unserem Schicksale die Wesenheiten aller drei Hierarchien. Dann eigentlich betrachten wir unser Leben erst richtig.
Denn sehen Sie, wer wäre denn zufrieden, wenn er uns nach einem Menschen frägt, über den er etwas in bezug auf sein Erdenleben wissen will, weil er voraussetzt, daß wir etwas von ihm wissen — und wir sagen ihm: Der heißt Josef Müller. - Wir wissen ihm nichts zu sagen als den Namen. Er hat darauf gewartet, daß er über diesen Menschen etwas erfährt, was wahrhaftig mehr ist als der Name: Ereignisse aus seinem irdischen Leben, Aufschluß über Kräfte, Impulse, die aus dem irdischen Leben auf ihn gewirkt haben. Man kann sich nicht, wenn man von einem Menschen in bezug auf sein irdisches Leben etwas wissen will, mit dem bloßen Namen begnügen. Aber in unserem heutigen materialistischen Zeitalter begnügen sich leider die Menschen mit Bezug auf das, was hinter dem gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein steht und worin wirken Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai, Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes, Cherubim, Seraphim und Throne — mit dem Namen «Mensch», noch dazu mit einem allgemeinen Namen «Mensch». Sie schauen nicht hin auf das Konkrete. Das aber muß eintreten, daß die Menschen lernen, auf das Konkrete wiederum hinzuschauen.
Eleventh Lecture
If one wants to understand the nature of karma, it is above all a matter of being able to look at everything that is involved in human development out of the universe.
In order to be able to look at the beings from the spiritual universe involved in the development of man, let us first take a look at the connection of man with the earth beings in order to support our understanding.
We see man on earth surrounded by the beings of the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms, and we know that we have to look at man in such a way that actually all three kingdoms of nature live in him and take on a higher form in him. To a certain extent man is related to the mineral kingdom through his physical organism. Only he processes that which is otherwise in the mineral kingdom in a higher way. He is related to the plant kingdom through his etheric body. Again, it processes in itself in a higher way that which is otherwise in the plant kingdom. And it is the same with the relationship that man has through his astral body with the beings of the animal kingdom. So we can say: If we look at the space around man, we find that man carries within himself the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms.
Just as man carries within himself these outer natural kingdoms of space, he carries within himself - only in time, not in space - the kingdoms of the higher hierarchies. And one can only understand the whole work of karma on man if one considers how the various kingdoms of the hierarchies work on the human being in the course of earthly life.
When we consider how the mineral kingdom works on man, we are confronted with the processes within which man absorbs his food. For everything that he takes in from the higher kingdoms, as opposed to the mineral kingdom, he first mineralizes. If we look at the plant kingdom, we see how man has the vital, the life forces within him. Again, if we look at the animal kingdom, we see how man raises mere life from his astral body into a higher sphere, into the realm of sensations. In short, we can follow the series of natural effects in the three realms as well as the series of effects in the human organism.
But we can also follow what happens to the human being in a soul-spiritual relationship from the higher hierarchies. We understand man's own mineral, man's own vegetable, man's own animal nature from the activity of the three kingdoms of nature in space. In the same way we must understand that which is active in man - first of all we must consider that which is active in man as fate - from the influence of the realms of the hierarchies. But we do not have to look at what is in man at the same time - the physical body, etheric body and astral body are in man at the same time - we have to look at what is in man in succession in earthly life for the realms of the hierarchies, and we have to look at it in such a way that succession can be understood in relation to spiritual observation.
Now, I would like to say that throughout all our anthroposophical observations we have always considered the organization of the human being according to the course of his life: from birth to about the 7th year to the change of teeth, from the change of teeth to sexual maturity, from sexual maturity to the 21st year, where the differentiations no longer exist. Then from age 21 to age 28, from age 28 to age 35, from age 35 to age 42, from age 42 to age 49, from age 49 to age 56 and so on (see diagram on page 193). I will have to talk about what lies beyond the 56th year next time; I will now have to look at the human course of life up to the 56th year.
There we have a clear structure of three stages of life up to the age of 21, and secondly three stages of life, and then what follows on from that. I would like to describe the last stages of life in this way (see drawing on page 193).
The human being says “I” to himself. But this “I” stands within a sum of effects. Seen outwardly, they are the effects of the mineral, the vegetable, the animal; seen inwardly, according to the spiritual-soul, they are the effects of the third Hierarchy: the Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai, the effects of the second Hierarchy: Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes, the effects of the first Hierarchy: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones.
However, these entities do not affect the course of his life in the same way. We can already say that the outer side of man is also permeated in a certain way by various effects according to the course of his life. If, for example, we look at the child at the very beginning of its life on earth, we must say that what we otherwise find in the animal kingdom is particularly pronounced there: a growing, sprouting, constructive life.
If we look at the last stage of life, where it already enters into old age, then we have in the sclerotization, in the brittleness of the organism a mineralizing, a much more strongly mineralizing, because more intimately mineralizing, than is present in the animals, with the exception of the higher animals, in which this is based on conditions that are not to be discussed further here, but can be discussed on another occasion. Whereas in animals the cessation of the vital forces actually begins immediately when the build-up is no longer there, man carries important parts, important periods of his development into the period of decline, which actually begins in the thirties. And there would be much in the development of mankind that would not be there if men were to develop in the same way as animals: that they actually carry nothing into old age. Animals carry nothing into old age. Humans, however, can carry a great deal into senility, and important achievements in the development of human culture are due to what can be carried by humans into senility, into the life of degradation.
So there is the mineralizing. So that we can say: Outwardly the animal is already, clearly noticeable, predominant at the beginning of life on earth, at the end of life on earth the mineral and in between the vegetable.
Now, however, this difference appears much more clearly, much more decidedly when the higher hierarchies influence the human being. It can be said that the first childhood has a particularly strong influence on the soul-spiritual life from the side of the third Hierarchy, the Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai. This effect of the third Hierarchy (see drawing) actually encompasses the first three stages of life.
In the three first stages of life we have the influence of Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai. In the child and in the young human being, in everything that has a constructive effect on his organism from the soul-spiritual - and that is very much, that is almost everything - that which can work in from the world of the third Hierarchy, the Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai.
At the age of 14 the second Hierarchy begins to work: Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes. So that here again (see drawing) I have to record through three stages, i.e. between the 14th and 35th years: Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes. You see, my dear friends, in the period from the 14th to the 21st year the third and the second Hierarchy act together decisively upon man. Only at the age of 21 does that occur which is the sole effect of the second hierarchy.
There, with sexual maturity, something of world processes, of cosmic processes, intervenes in the human being, which are not in the human being up to this age of sexual maturity.
And you need only consider that, by becoming capable of reproduction, the human being becomes capable of absorbing those forces from the universe which are involved in the new formation, in the physical new formation of the human being. Man was deprived of these forces from the cosmos until he reached sexual maturity. A change then occurs in his physical organism which, so to speak, sends more powerful forces into the physical organism than were there before. The child does not yet have these more powerful, stronger forces. It still has the weaker forces that initially only affect the soul in earthly life, not the body.
But now, at the age of 35, a time begins for the human being in which he basically becomes inwardly soul-weaker than he used to be, one might say, in the face of the onslaught of the degrading forces of his organism. Before this 35th year, the organism supports us as human beings quite substantially. It has the tendency to be constructive. And this tendency to be constructive actually lasts well into the thirties. But then a very strong, predominant tendency to degrade begins. Even those forces which come from the nature of the second Hierarchy cannot rise up against this predominant tendency to degrade. Our soul must continue to be supported from the cosmos in such a way that we do not die at the age of 35 in normal life. For if the beings of the third Hierarchy were only active up to the age of 21, and the beings of the second Hierarchy from the age of 14 to 35, then we would actually be ready to die in the middle of our real life on earth, if the physical body were not, I would like to say, still holding out of inertia. This is not the case because, in fact, the entities of the first hierarchy, seraphim, cherubim, thrones, have an effect on the human being, not only from the 35th year, but already from the 28th year, again through three epochs, up to the 49th year of life.
Again you have a period between the 28th and 35th year of life, when the second and first Hierarchies work together. So that the actual sole activity of the second Hierarchy is present from the 21st to the 28th year.
As I said, I will look at what follows next time. You may ask, however, if someone is over 49 years old, is he then abandoned by all Hierarchies? - But as I said, we will look at what happens next. What we have to say today will therefore not only be applicable to those under 49, but also to the others. First of all, however, we actually have to deal with the human course of life in such a way that the hierarchies transplant their special power and their special strength into his course of life.
Of course, when something like this is considered, you must not think that things can now be considered merely schematically. This must not happen anywhere where one enters the realm of an only somewhat higher life.
For a number of years I have always had to speak of the threefold division of the human being into nervous-sensory man, rhythmical man, metabolic-limb man. One professor - what professors don't do! - made out that I had divided the human being into three parts: head, chest and abdominal system, because he had schematically juxtaposed them. Well, I have always emphasized that although the nervous-sensory system is mainly concentrated in the head, it in turn permeates the whole person. It is the same with the rhythmic system. Things cannot be juxtaposed spatially. And so you must also consider this sequence here: The effect of Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai is mainly limited to the first three epochs of life, but they are in turn contained in the whole course of life, just as the nervous-sensory system is mainly contained in the head, but in turn occurs in the whole human organism. We also feel with the big toe, which also contains nerve-sense life. Nevertheless, this threefold structure rightly exists. And the threefold structure that I am talking to you about today also rightly exists.
Now, however, if you look at the structure of the human course of life in this way, you can say to yourself: The human ego is just as involved on the spiritual side in a sum of effects that come down from the spiritual realm as it is involved downwards, on the physical side, in the series of effects that come from animals, plants, minerals. As human beings we really are such that we stand with our ego within what happens to us from the cosmos in a complicated way. And in this mode of action, which extends spiritually from the cosmos out of the hierarchies to the human being, lies the shaping of karma during physical life on earth.
The Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai actually bring us from the spiritual world into the physical world, and they accompany us mainly through the first three epochs of life. The thing they have the strongest effect on is our nervous-sensory system. And the entities of the Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai are involved in everything that takes place in such a complicated, wonderful way up to the 21st year of life in the shaping of our sensory and intellectual life, our head life.
Infinitely much happens behind the scenes, so to speak, of ordinary consciousness. And it is precisely in what happens behind the scenes of ordinary consciousness that these beings are involved.
And again, into the rhythmic system, from sexual maturity, from about the age of 14, those powers intervene which have stronger forces than Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai. The entities of the third hierarchy, Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai, are actually dependent on taking hold of our soul. For the first three epochs of life we bring with us from the pre-earthly existence such strong forces that the soul can have an intensive effect on the body. Only the weaker forces of the third Hierarchy are needed to come to man's aid. But you see, those forces which Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai need in order to direct and guide our human life in the right way up to the 21st year, these forces flow to these entities from that which radiates spiritually from Saturn, Jupiter, Mars (see drawing). It is indeed the case that the world bodies do not only radiate those effects of which physical science speaks. This physical science is actually quite simple-minded with regard to the description of the world being. Forces radiate from Saturn, Jupiter and Mars, for which the Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai actually have the strongest understanding. And when man now passes through life between death and a new birth - as we have described - he first comes into the lunar region to those beings who were once on earth, who are keen judges of what good and evil he brings with him. There he must first leave behind whatever evil is united with him. He cannot carry it into the solar region. He then passes through the solar region and further out into the universe. The forces of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn then act upon him. Then he goes through the whole life between death and a new birth, comes back again, and only when he again comes completely into the lunar region, then Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai meet him and tell him, as it were: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars have told us that you have wasted away in certain directions - just as it was described here in the last lecture. I said that evil must be left behind, but in doing so man leaves something of himself behind. He comes up into the solar region and also into the outer region as a stunted human being. There Saturn, Jupiter and Mars look at him.
Oh, my dear friends, this life between death and a new birth is quite complicated! We enter life between death and a new birth by having passed through the gate of death. What I have described in relation to the lunar region takes place. The human being must leave behind all that in him, in his being, which has identified itself with evil. It is as if the physical body had to leave limbs behind. Man arrives in the solar region and in the other expanses of the universe mutilated, so to speak, by what he had to leave behind because it had identified with evil. And when man then steps through the solar region into the region of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, then he feels: they look at him with the penetrating gaze of their weaving of justice, their weaving of world justice, they look at him to see how much of his human being he may carry up there. There they look at him. Each one of us senses how much of the good has united with him, what he is allowed to carry up there and what he lacks, what he has left behind, had to leave behind, how much he identified with evil. He lacks that. And by the way he is looked at by the beings of Mars, Saturn and Jupiter, he senses how flawed a human being he is.
And then, when he returns, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars have in the meantime cosmically communicated to the third hierarchy - Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai - what they have experienced and seen in the human being who has passed them by imperfectly. These beings now interweave this with the human being, so that he contains inscribed within himself what he has to do, what he has to balance.
And one would like to say: In these first three epochs of life, when Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai have a special effect on the human being, the karmic demands are inscribed into the human nervous-sensory system, into the human head system.
When we have passed through our 21st year of life - I will also discuss the situation with people who die earlier in the later lectures - then everything that the karmic demands for life are has been imprinted in us. If you can read the twenty-one-year-old, you can see what karmic demands are inscribed in him. It is during this time that the karmic demands are formed in a person (see drawing on page 193). We carry these mainly in the occult, in the hidden undergrounds of our nervous-sensory system, in that which spiritually and mentally underlies our nervous-sensory system.
On the other hand, if we look more towards the further course of life, if we look at the human being from his 28th to his 49th year of life, then we have less to do with an imprinting of karmic demands, but more with what is now the fulfillment of karma, the unloading of karma. Particularly in this period of life, that which is karmic fulfillment occurs, that which we have to unload for the sake of that which has been imprinted in the first three epochs of life.
So that I can write here (see drawing page 193): From the 28th year to the 49th year “Karmic fulfillments”. In between are the years from the 21st to the 28th, where both are in balance - karmic demands and karmic fulfillments.
Now, however, there is something peculiar that is particularly important to note in our age. In the present developmental epoch of mankind there are very many people who have undergone their last decisive incarnation - not as if it had not been followed by another, but that was then less decisive - in the first centuries after the foundation of Christianity up to the 8th, 9th century. If we look around at the vast majority of people who live in the present and have a share in culture, we find that the majority of these people had their decisive incarnation in the first seven to eight centuries since the foundation of Christianity.
But that was the time that had a peculiar effect on people in the following way - this becomes clear to us today when we look at certain people karmically. Again and again I have made it my task to look at many people karmically from this point of view, people who have achieved a certain education, which today is time education, mainly head education, people who have actually learned relatively much.
You need only consider how large the army of people is today who have become high school teachers, civil servants and so on. They have learned a relatively large amount, attended grammar school or secondary school, even university - really, I don't mean that ironically, but probably in connection with everything I have already said about such concepts - they have actually become incredibly clever.
Towards this direction, there really are an extraordinary number of clever people today. Just think that most people today are so clever that you can hardly tell them anything; they already know everything. Everyone has a point of view. Everyone makes judgments about what they are told.
It's only like that in our time, it wasn't like that at all in earlier eras. There were individual people who knew something; the others listened to those who knew something. It was not at all common for so many people to be as clever as they are today. It's true that people become clever at a very early age nowadays; just think how many people under the age of 21 are already, I don't want to say writing poetry, they've always done that, but even writing feuilletons, even writing reviews.
So the development of intellectuality is extraordinarily strong today. But for most people today it is essentially influenced by the incarnations that took place in the first seven to eight centuries since the founding of Christianity. The feeling in the human soul for what comes into the earthly life from the pre-earthly life became less and less. People began to be more and more interested only in what followed death and less and less interested in what had preceded life on earth. I have often expressed this by saying that we do not have a comprehensive term for eternity, but only for half eternity, which actually begins and never ends. There, for this part of man's eternity (see drawing, arrow) we have the word immortality; but we do not have for the other half of eternity, which never began, a word unbornness, as older languages had. We do not have that. But the whole of eternity includes immortality and unbornness.
We came into the world as beings for whom birth is only a transformation, just as we come out of the earth world by going through death, which is not an end but only a transformation.
So we can say: This strong consciousness, which was active in people until the first Christian centuries: I have descended from the spiritual to the physical existence - that became less and less, and more and more people limited themselves to this: I am here; I am not interested in what has gone before, I am sure of that. I am not interested in what has gone before; I am interested in what follows death. - This consciousness arose more and more. And this development took place in the first Christian centuries. This subdued feeling for the pre-earthly life was, so to speak, forced into those people who were going through their decisive incarnation. And cleverness therefore takes the direction of the merely earthly. It is a great one, this cleverness, but it takes the direction of the merely earthly. When one makes karmic observations, one encounters something tremendously astonishing, tremendously significant in this area.
I will single out two cases: a man who was a history teacher in a secondary school, a very clever man who was actually able to make an impression through his nature as a history teacher. If I look at his life up to the time when the karmic demands worked through this neutral zone here (see drawing on page 193), i.e. up to the beginning of the thirties, one could say that his cleverness came out. He was one of the many clever people, even outstandingly clever people of the present day. But the moment he came to this region, his cleverness was no longer of any help to him, his moral impulses became questionable. He was left with mere intellectuality, which was then undermined. When the powers came into consideration, which are now not bound to the nervous-sensory system, but towards the end of life to the metabolic-limb system, the lower nature of the metabolic-limb system suppressed that which had previously emerged quite beautifully in the nervous-sensory system.
The personality in question, who had actually started life well intellectually, basically ended up in moral depravity, with a moral debacle. That's one example.
Another example: a personality who was actually even more clever than the first one I have just described, who was even considered to have excellent intelligence, but who had something only intelligent, who developed a great intelligence out of tremendously short-sighted eyes.
This personality, in turn, developed a strong influence on her fellow human beings through her intelligence, if you look at her up to the age of 30. When he was over the age of 30 or even over the age of 35, when the nervous-sensory system no longer had such a strong effect, but when the metabolic-limb system was at work towards the end of his life, this personality, which had previously been regarded as something quite clever, became above all trivial, banal, and then merged into a banal, party-like life. I followed the course of this personality's life. I must say that it was quite strange to me, having known this personality in his younger years, that I later found him again among people who were absorbed in quite trivial party life. The path from the karmic demands into the karmic fulfillments proved to be such that the intelligent forces in the people of the present, which had been prepared by a previous life on earth in the first Christian centuries up to the 8th, 9th century, were not strong enough to reach up into the first hierarchy at the time when the soul is now weakening, when the body offers the greater resistance.
And then this presented itself to me: Those numerous people in the present who are so clever, who can be made so clever above all through school education, develop the possibility in this first epoch of life of reaching up with their powers of cleverness into the third Hierarchy, Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai. This they attain. There they are promising personalities.
When they enter the second hierarchy, they are more devoted to this hierarchy. It comes down to human beings; almost all of them become capable of procreation. This cosmic hierarchy comes down. There is no real abyss, so to speak, between humans and the higher hierarchy.
But when it comes to the 28th year that man must now find a relationship to the higher Hierarchy, to the first Hierarchy, it must happen through his whole man right into the metabolic limb system. There he needs stronger inner holding forces in the spiritual. That which has been germinated in man from earlier earthly lives from that age is not sufficient, where no thought has been given to the pre-earthly life.
If one wants to point to the karmic development, one would like to say: The admonition to the real educator of mankind, to the true pedagogue, must be strong, to instil into intellectuality so much of what is spiritually powerful that, when man then goes through his later lifetime, that which is thoroughly moralized in his intellect can hold the balance against those forces which pull downwards (see drawing page 193, arrow downwards), away from the first Hierarchy.
It is really not of little interest, especially in our age, to compare the second part of human life with the first. In this direction, people who have a sense for observing life should actually make a correct observation of life. For, my dear friends, this is what emerges in ordinary life. What I have now given as examples are examples from ordinary life, examples that can be multiplied a hundredfold, a thousandfold, that can be found everywhere. But you could also find something else where the same thing can be seen, only, I would say, in a higher area of life. When I, who have always been interested in the spiritual development of people, look at a number of such people who have entered life productively, who have even made a great impression on their fellow men, let us say, as young poets or otherwise as young artists, and then look at those of whom it was still said when they were 24, 25, 26, 27 years old: a great, tremendous talent! - They grew older, everything dried up, they were left with youthful poetry, youthful artistry. Later, everything dried up. They were no longer anything in the field in which they were once significant.
If you go through the names of those who only became known as youthful poets or artists and then cut themselves out of the living history of literature or art, you will find what I say to be true. But at the same time, what I say will point out to you how the different epochs of human life show in the most diverse ways how karma, how karmic impulses intervene in human life.
All that which is merely intellectualistic and materialistic can actually only grasp a person inwardly in his youth. Only that which is mixed with the intellectualistic as spiritual can last throughout human life, I mean karmically throughout earthly life.
When we therefore see that such destinies as those described occur, then we must look back to earlier lives on earth where man was not given the view of the actual spiritual, which one can only have in the right way if one looks at the pre-natal, not only at the post-mortal life.
In our age, this life tragedy is actually present in many ways, and we have so much that does not last for the whole of human life. In our age we have a lot of youthful ideals, but little of old ideals. The old rely much more on the state and on pensions than on living life, because they need external support, because they cannot find that which relates them to the first hierarchy.
And so it is that, if we wish to consider karma correctly, we must take account of these different members of man, which, however, interlock. I do not want to say now that life is given beyond the 49th year; as I said, we shall consider that later. But when man has passed through the epochs of life (see drawing on page 193), these first three, these second three and then this one, then he lives first in such a way that he has relationships with the third hierarchy. He then establishes relationships, inwardly, unconsciously, to the second hierarchy, then to the first hierarchy. Only after this can one judge to what extent the human being gives the karmic impulses within himself the possibility of shaping themselves. For only this knowledge of the relationships to the higher hierarchies gives the concrete human life.
Angeloi, Archangelo, Archai tell us in our subconscious, so to speak, in the first three epochs of life: You have carried all this over from earlier epochs, from earlier earthly existence, you must take it upon yourself. - We are told this in the unconscious part of our life of destiny. And it actually always resounds in us in these three epochs of life, namely from the hierarchy of the Angeloi: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars have decreed this or that for you. We have read it from their forces.
Then follows everything that comes from the second hierarchy, from the realm of the Sun. And finally, that which comes from the first hierarchy in this way follows from the realm of Venus, Mercury and the Moon. And just as the Angeloi call out to us in the subconscious in the first three epochs of our lives: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars have told us that this is what you have to bear in life - so from the age of 28 onwards the Seraphim, who also speak in the unconscious, are to be found in our unconscious: And all this remains with you, because you cannot fulfill it, because you do not reach up to us, it remains with you, and you must carry it into the next life on earth; you cannot make up for it, you do not have the strength to do so.
The karmic powers, the fate-forming powers, speak beneath the consciousness of the human being. They speak from all three higher hierarchies. And if we have a feeling for that which intervenes in our life in terms of destiny, then we can also sense, behind this view of our destiny, in sacred awe, how in the course of our life the entities of all three hierarchies weave together our destiny. Only then do we really look at our life properly.
For you see, who would be satisfied if he asked us about a person about whom he wants to know something in relation to his life on earth, because he assumes that we know something about him - and we tell him: His name is Josef Müller. - We know nothing to tell him except the name. He has been waiting to learn something about this person that is truly more than the name: events from his earthly life, information about forces, impulses that have had an effect on him from his earthly life. If you want to know something about a person with regard to his earthly life, you cannot be satisfied with his name alone. But in our present materialistic age, unfortunately, people are content with the name “man”, and with a general name “man” at that, with reference to what stands behind the ordinary consciousness and in what the Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai, Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes, Cherubim, Seraphim and Thrones work. They do not look at the concrete. But this must happen so that people learn to look at the concrete again.