Karmic Relationships II
GA 236
30 May 1924, Dornach
Lecture XIII
The ability to perceive karmic connections in human life demands a clear understanding of laws and conditions of existence with which, generally speaking, the man of modern times is entirely unfamiliar. For into the karmic connections extending from one earthly life into another, spiritual laws are working, spiritual laws which will be totally misconstrued if they are associated in the very slightest degree with causation similar to what is meant when we speak in the ordinary way of ‘cause’ and ‘effect’ in the world.
In order to understand the real nature of karmic connections we must, in the first place, have a clear and exact perception of what is happening within man behind the sphere of his ordinary consciousness. And it is only by observing the being of man as revealed to super-sensible cognition, to Initiation-knowledge, that such understanding can be attained.
Let us therefore consider to-day how the attainment of Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition makes it increasingly possible for man to recognise how he lives, as man, within the whole cosmos. This will enable us to continue the study of certain matters that were touched upon in recent lectures and will eventually lead to an understanding of karma.
It has often been said, even in public lectures, that at the stage of Imaginative Cognition a tableau of the present earthly life spreads out before man. A vista of his life lies before him in mighty pictures and he is able to behold things that cannot be yielded by memory in the ordinary sense.
In this vista which opens out as a result of the striving for Imaginative Knowledge, man is, to begin with, entirely within his physical and etheric bodies, but through the appropriate exercises he makes himself completely independent of everything by which impressions are transmitted to him from his physical body. In the activity of Imaginative Cognition man is therefore independent of his sense-impressions, and also of his intellectual knowledge. He lives entirely in the etheric body and the memory-tableau lies outspread before him.
We can therefore say: man is now living in the super-sensible, inwardly detached from his physical body. And in point of fact it would not be so difficult as it actually is for the majority of people to acquire this faculty of Imaginative Knowledge, if only there were a stronger inclination to break through the inner link between the life of soul and the physical body.
It is, of course, comparatively easy to break through the link with direct sense-perception. But remember that a man is also connected with his physical body through the attitude and tenor of soul he acquires in his earthly life. After all, our moods of soul are also dependent upon the physical body, are essentially influenced by the physical body. When a man ascribes one thing or another to his capacities, his talents or other qualities of soul, this is all connected with his experiences in the physical body. If he is to acquire the faculty of genuine Imaginative Knowledge he must free himself from all this; and if he succeeds, even if only for a moment, he knows what Imaginative Knowledge is and the life-tableau begins gradually to unfold.
It is necessary to bear in mind the difference between the condition of being bound up with the physical body and thus living within it, and the condition of being independent of the physical body but for all that remaining within it. There is a real difference, and it is the latter condition that obtains in the activity of Imaginative Knowledge. We remain within the physical body, we do not leave it, but we are nevertheless independent of it.
When you remain with your soul and spirit within the physical body, then you fill the physical body, even if you are not bound up with it. I will illustrate this diagrammatically.—
Let us think, first, of man's ordinary, everyday condition. Take this (a) to represent the physical body (inner curves), this the etheric body (outer curves) and this the soul and spirit (short branching lines).
The etheric body is connected everywhere with the physical body through the muscles, bones and nerves. These connections are everywhere, proceeding from the etheric body to the physical body. Now picture to yourselves that you have a porous clay vessel and you pour liquid into it. The liquid fills the pores and runs out into the porous clay. But it may also happen that your vessel is not porous and in that case none of the liquid is absorbed; the liquid will then be in the vessel but there will be no channels into the clay walls. In the activity of Imaginative Knowledge man is in this sense within his body but the etheric body does not enter into the muscles, the bones and so forth. This condition can be indicated by (b) in the diagram. Physical body; then etheric body which is now on its own; and within, the soul and spirit. All that has happened is that the etheric body is now inwardly detached. The result of this detachment will of course be perceptible when returning to the previous condition. It is therefore only natural that when a man really tries to make himself free of his physical body but remains within it, as is the case in the activity of Imaginative Cognition, he is aware not only of exhaustion but of actual heaviness. He becomes intensely aware of his physical body because he has now to make his way into it again.
This is the condition obtaining in the activity of Imaginative Cognition but not in that of Inspiration, Inspired Knowledge. In the activity of Inspired Cognition—which begins, as I have described to you, with consciousness that has been emptied of images—man is outside his physical body with the soul and spirit. Thus (c) in the diagram represents the soul and spirit outside the physical and etheric bodies.
The outer configuration must therefore be the same as in sleep. Knowledge through Inspiration is possible only when with his ego and astral body a man can be outside the etheric body.
And now, when he returns into his physical and etheric bodies, he notices the presence there of something else; the physical and etheric bodies are not at all as he is accustomed to know them; something is there within them. This is very important, because knowledge of it gives an indication of the whole process of Initiation.
At first, a certain difficulty is experienced in coming back into the physical and etheric bodies after the state of Inspiration, because there is the feeling of diving down into something quite different.
Remember what I told you yesterday about the backward survey of the memory-tableau. If this memory-tableau is blotted out in the activity of Inspired Knowledge, we perceive what it is that is present there within the physical body. And when the memory-picture of the phase between birth and the 7th year, until the time of the change of teeth, is blotted out, we perceive that within this physical body there was an Angelos, an Angel! We actually behold there a Being of the Third Hierarchy. So that what happens is this. We succeed in getting outside the physical body and then return into it as into our house and home ... and lo! we meet our Angel there when we look back upon the phase of life from birth until the 7th year.
Knowledge of such truths existed in the days of the ancient, instinctive clairvoyance, knowledge which took different forms in the various epochs of evolution; and these truths were taken into account in establishing certain customs and usages.
In olden times men were fully conscious that the giving of names should conform with spiritual realities. Generally speaking, people to-day are indifferent about the kind of names their children receive. For some the only consideration is whether the name has a pretty sound. There is often an element of coquetry in giving a name to a child; people ‘fancy’ the name. But in olden times men were mindful of the child's relation to the spiritual world and chose the name accordingly. In an epoch, for example, when a prophetic being was venerated under the name of ‘Elisha’, girls were sometimes named ‘Elisa-beth’, that is to say, the ‘house of Elisha’. In this way expression was given to the hope that by placing a child in the world with this name, the grace of the prophet would be ensured. And so the names were given with this aim in view.
What were the grounds for this? It was known that when man has been outside his body and then returns into it, he sees himself as the bearer of spiritual Beings. And the whole conception that little children, especially, are guarded by their Angel originates in the fact that when with Initiation-knowledge we look back upon the phase of life from birth to the 7th year, we experience what I described yesterday by saying that when this phase in the memory-tableau is blotted out, the Hierarchy of the Angeloi, that is to say, the deeds and activities of the Moon-sphere shine through.
Again, when we look back upon the phase from the 7th to the 14th years and then return into the body, we find an Archangelos. This Archangel is of course also present within the human being from birth until the 7th year, but we do not find the Archangel when we are looking back only at the phase between birth and the 7th year.
And so when we return into the body after having been outside it, we become aware that there, within the body, are Beings of all the higher Hierarchies. But this form of self-knowledge, the knowledge that the body is the bearer of the Beings of the higher Hierarchies, cannot be acquired in any other way than by having first been outside the body and then returning into it again.
This can be understood only when it is connected with another fact. I have told you that the many stars in the heavens are but the outer signs of colonies of gods. Where the stars sparkle in the heavens there are, in reality, colonies of spiritual Beings. But you must not imagine that these gods have their consciousness only in Venus, or only in the Sun, or in Mercury, or in Sirius. They have their main habitation, the focal point of their existence in these several spheres, and this is true of all spiritual Beings of the cosmos who have anything to do with the earth. But it is impossible to say of their existence in the cosmos that they have their dwelling-place only in Mars, only in Venus, and so forth. Paradoxical as it will seem, I am nevertheless obliged to say that the Divine Beings who belong to the earth and who people Mars, Venus, Jupiter or another of the planets—also the Sun—would be blind if they inhabited only one of these spheres. They would live, they would be active—just as we can walk about and take hold of things even if we have no eyes; but they would not see—I mean, of course, in the way in which Divine Beings ‘see’—they would lack a certain faculty for perceiving what is happening in the cosmos. But this, my dear friends, will lead you to ask: Where, then, is the eye of the gods, where is their organ of perception? This organ of perception is provided by the Moon, our neighbour in the cosmos—in addition to all its other functions. All the Divine Beings belonging to the Sun, to Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, have their eye in the Moon and are at the same time in the Moon.
And now think of some of the things of which we have spoken here from time to time. Take only one fact. The Moon was once part of the earth, and separated from the earth only in the course of time. Before the separation of the Moon, therefore, the eye of the gods was bound up with the earth; the gods beheld the cosmos from the earth. Hence at that time the great primeval Teachers too were able to impart their wisdom to mankind. For in that they were living on the earth, and the Moon was still within the earth, they could gaze into the cosmos with the eye of the gods. When the Moon departed, remembrance of this vision of the gods remained with them for a time; thus they could behold, in remembrance, what was now seen with the eye of man, and could communicate this to the gods. But the primeval Teachers themselves had then to make their way to the Moon, where they are to this day, and to found a colony there in order to be able to see with the eye of the gods.
And now turn your minds to something else. From the Moon, Jahve reigned over the heart and soul of the Jewish people, and those of the primeval Teachers who were still associated with the cult and the teaching of Jahve united with him in the Moon, in order to look out into the cosmos through his eyes. In time to come the Moon will again be united with the earth and then it will be possible for man on the earth to gaze into the cosmos with the eye of the gods. Vision of the cosmos will then be a natural human faculty.
It is only by understanding these things that we can come to know the nature of the universe. For only when man views the universe in this way can he have any true conception of the function of the Moon.
And now we have the reason why freedom, free spiritual activity, can be unfolded in earthly life. As long as the Moon was connected with the earth, as long as the primeval Teachers taught men out of their store of remembrance, and as long as this teaching was preserved in the Mysteries—actually until the 14th century A.D.—all wisdom consisted in what had been seen with the eye of the gods. Only since the period I indicated to you, only since the year 1413, has it become utterly impossible for the earth to see with the eye of the gods. So that with the development of the Consciousness Soul, freedom begins to be within the reach of men.
But in point of fact man is on the earth only in the activity of sense-perception and intellectual knowledge, for the latter is also bound up with the physical body. The truth of the matter is as follows. Let us picture the human being. It is only in his sense and intellectual knowledge that he extends beyond the Hierarchies who are within him. In respect of all that lies behind his intellect, he is filled with the Third Hierarchy; in all that lies behind his feeling, he is filled with the Second Hierarchy; in all that lies behind his willing, he is filled with the First Hierarchy.
We are therefore in very truth within the Hierarchies and it is only in respect of our sensory organs and intellect that we extend beyond their realm. It is actually as though we were swimming, with the head rising a little out of the water. With our senses and our intellect we rise out of the ocean of the activities of the Hierarchies.
All this we find when, having experienced the reality of perception outside the body, we return again into the body. And then we find that in very truth man is the House of the Gods.
Something else will now be clear to you. When the gods desire cosmic vision, they gaze through the eye of the Moon. But when they desire to behold the cosmos from the earth—whereby an entirely different aspect is revealed—then they must look from out of man. The human race is the other eye of the gods!
In very ancient times it was natural for man to be able to see with the eye of the gods because the Moon was within the earth. And he will be able to do so again when in future time the Moon and the earth are re-united. Through Initiation, however, through becoming aware on returning into the body that the gods are present there, and through coming to know these gods, man learns to behold the world through the “eye of man.” Thus Initiation reveals to man what in earlier times was revealed to the gods through the eye of the Moon.
What we do with our everyday consciousness, the intentions we form, and so forth—all this depends upon ourselves; but our karma is shaped and fashioned by the Hierarchies within us. They are the architects and shapers of an entirely different World-Order, a World-Order belonging to the soul, to the moral sphere of life. This is the other aspect of man, the aspect of the Hierarchies who are within him.
As long as we remain at the stage of Imaginative Knowledge we are convinced, as we look back over our own earthly life, that we are a unity; we are also convinced that certain actions in life are free, because they proceed from this unity. With Imaginative Knowledge we perceive little of our karma. When we reach the stage of Inspired Knowledge, however, and then return into the body, we feel ourselves divided into a world of countless Hierarchies. We return into the body and at first do not know our identity. Are we the Angel, are we a Being of one of the Hierarchies, one of the Dynamis, or Exusiai? We are divided into a world of Beings, dazed by the multiplicity of our nature, for we are one with all these Beings.
At this point the appropriate exercises must make a man so inwardly strong that he can assert his unity over against this multiplicity. And then—it is of course all an after-effect of the life between death and rebirth—he perceives how karma is shaped by the interweaving activities of the many Beings within him. Countless Divine Beings take part in the shaping of human karma. It is therefore true to say that man leads an earthly life in the real sense only in respect of his intellectual and sensory activity. In the activity of his life of feeling and of will—yes, and even in a more remote and hidden activity of thought—man shares in the life of the gods. In a hidden thought-activity he shares in the life of the Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai; in respect of what is hidden in his life of feeling he shares in the life of the Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes; and in respect of his will he shares in the life of the Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones.
What we call human destiny is therefore an affair of the gods and as such it must be regarded.
But what does this mean for earthly life? If a man cannot accept his destiny with inner composure, if he rebels against his destiny, if—from his personal point of view of course—he is discontented with it, if he brings his destiny into confusion by subjective decisions, then it is as though he were continually disturbing the gods in the shaping of his destiny. Destiny can of a truth only be lived through in the right way when life is accepted with inner composure and tranquillity. To feel and perceive how destiny works is something that brings with it hard and heavy tests for human nature. If a man can succeed in taking his destiny earnestly, this experience will give him a strong and deep impulse to live in communion with the spiritual world. And life itself will unfold in him a feeling for connections of destiny, of karma.
Men of the modern age have to a great extent lost this sensitivity, this delicacy of perception; their perceptions have become crude. But suppose there is someone who looks back with more delicate perception upon the relationship he had with a human being who was an example to him in his youth—a teacher, perhaps. People do not always feel contemptuous about those who were their teachers; many look back with inner happiness to those who educated them. When this is so, the recollection can deepen into a very intimate experience. It may come to us that between our 7th and 14th years, for example, we always felt obliged to do whatever this revered teacher did; or we may realise that when this teacher told us something we felt as though we had already heard it, as though it were just being repeated. It is actually one of the most beautiful experiences in life when we remember something of this kind, feeling that it was repetition. And then it strikes us that something must underlie this experience. Healthy human reason will tell us that there is nothing to account for it in the present earthly life, and then the same reasoning faculty points us to previous lives. There are indeed many whose attention is directed in this way to earlier lives on earth.
Now what does it mean when we can look back to a teacher with feelings like these? It means that in our present life destiny has led this teacher to us. It is our karma to have such a teacher and it points to a previous earthly life.
As a rule—and this is shown by occult observation—as a rule it is not the case that in the previous earthly life the teacher was also our teacher; the relationship then was quite different. From a teacher we receive thoughts, ideas, even if they are clothed in the form of pictures; in true education we receive thoughts and ideas. When this is the case it points back, as a rule, to a relationship where feelings, not thoughts, were communicated by the person in question; there was less opportunity for receiving thoughts from him, but feelings were communicated—feelings which can be transmitted in so many different ways. And the same may apply to the present and a future earthly life.
Let us suppose that in this present life a man feels drawn by warm, inner sympathy to some other person with whom life does not bring him into specially close contact, whom he merely meets but to whom he is strongly drawn. In such a case it may happen that these feelings of sympathy lead to the other becoming his teacher in a later-life.
What, then, has actually happened? When feelings of sympathy and attraction towards another person unfold in a man, this is the result of what the Beings of the Second Hierarchy—the Kyriotetes, Dynamis, Exusiai—unfold in and around the human being.
Then, in the next life, when the influence does not work by way of the feelings but by way of thoughts and ideas, this means that the Beings of the Second Hierarchy have given over what they wrought in a preceding life, to the Beings of the Third Hierarchy, to the Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai; and it is they who are now working within the human being.
When, therefore, our karma unfolds from one earthly life to another, this means that actual deeds are passed on from one Hierarchy to another and that in the cosmos, in the spiritual cosmos, something of immense significance is taking place.
In looking at a man's destiny we gaze, as it were through a veil, into a wide vista of cosmic happenings. If we can become conscious of this, the impression will be one of tremendous power. You have only to picture it to yourselves, entering into it with the right feeling and understanding.
Imagine now that you are observing the manifestations of destiny in the life of a human being. This should never be done in a spirit of indifference, for in observing the destiny of a human being we are in truth beholding deeds which have poured from the highest Hierarchy into the lowest Hierarchy, and again from the lowest into the highest Hierarchy. We are gazing upon a weaving activity of life in the ranks of the Hierarchies when we study the destiny of a human being. It is something that must be contemplated with deep piety and veneration, because as we behold this destiny the world of the gods lies manifest before us.
This was the feeling I tried in some measure to convey when I was writing the Mystery Plays. Throughout the Plays you will find scenes that have their setting in earthly life and others that have their setting in the spiritual world. And I have also made it evident how not only the higher Hierarchies but elemental beings, also the Ahrimanic and Luciferic powers, mingle in the living, weaving deeds that flow from above downwards and from below upwards when the destiny of man is being fulfilled.
Think of the scenes when Strader and Capesius are within the super-sensible world in quite different forms of existence but for all that the same individuals. This is only the other side of man's life which is just as truly part of him—the side that belongs to the world of the gods and not to the world of the minerals, the animals, the plants, the mountains, the clouds, the trees and so forth. To learn to contemplate the destinies of human beings with reverence and awe—that too is something that the times demand of us. It is a dreadful experience to read biographies from the pens of materialistically-minded authors to-day, for they write without an iota of reverence for the destiny of the one whose life they are narrating. Of a truth it would be well for biographers to realise that when they intrude into the life of a human being, even if only for the purpose of describing it, they are coming into invisible contact with all the Hierarchies.
Deliberations of this kind lead us to the ‘feeling’ side of Anthroposophy. We realise that everything offered to us in Anthroposophy must also move our feelings. For in Anthroposophy it is not merely a question of acquiring knowledge; feelings about the world are quickened within us, feelings which alone can enable us to find our rightful place in life. And without such feelings we cannot truly understand or perceive the laws by which the karma of man is pervaded.
Dreizehnter Vortrag
Die Betrachtung der karmischen Zusammenhänge im Menschenleben erfordert in der Tat das völlige Verständnis von gesetzmäßigen Verhältnissen in der Welt, die der heutige Mensch mehr oder weniger ungewohnt ist. Denn es handelt sich ja darum, daß in die karmischen Zusammenhänge, die von einem Erdenleben in das andere hinübergreifen, Gesetzmäßigkeiten hineinwirken, die geistiger Art sind, geistiger Art so, daß man sie schon verkennt, wenn man nur im geringsten Grade daran denkt, daß es sich um eine Verursachung handelt, die in irgendeiner Beziehung ähnlich sei derjenigen, die wir sonst in der Welt finden, wenn wir von Ursache und Wirkung sprechen.
Man muß eigentlich zunächst ganz genau einsehen, was im Inneren des Menschen vor sich geht hinter dem gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein, wenn man ein Verständnis für dasjenige gewinnen will, was karmische Zusammenhänge sind. Und ein Verständnis für das, was hinter dem gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein liegt, kann eigentlich nur die Betrachtung des menschlichen Wesens geben, wie es sich der übersinnlichen Erkenntnis, der Initiationserkenntnis darbietet.
Gehen wir deshalb, namentlich um gewisse Dinge weiterzuführen, die in den letzten Vorträgen hier angedeutet worden sind und die dann in ihrer weiteren Ausführung zum vollständigen Verständnis des Karma führen werden, heute einmal darauf ein, wie der Mensch, wenn er aufsteigt zur imaginativen, zur inspirierten, zur intuitiven Erkenntnis, immer mehr und mehr die Möglichkeit gewinnt, einzusehen, wie er selbst als Mensch eigentlich im gesamten Kosmos drinnensteht.
Es ist ja öfter, sogar in öffentlichen Vorträgen, hervorgehoben worden, daß durch diese imaginative Erkenntnis ein Lebenstableau für das gegenwärtige Erdenleben sich vor dem Menschen ausbreitet, daß der Mensch sein Leben in gewaltigen Bildern überschaut, daß er dabei gerade dasjenige überschaut, was diegewöhnliche Erinnerung nicht geben kann.
Man kann sagen: Bei dieser Überschau, die ja aus dem Streben nach imaginativer Erkenntnis hervorgeht, ist der Mensch zunächst ganz in seinem physischen und ätherischen Leibe drinnen. Er macht sich durch die entsprechenden Übungen nur ganz unabhängig von alldem, was aus dem physischen Leibe heraus Eindrücke vermittelt. Der Mensch wird also durch die imaginative Erkenntnis unabhängig von seinen Sinneseindrücken, unabhängig von seiner Verstandeserkenntnis. Er lebt im Erkennen nur im ätherischen Leibe. Dadurch hat er dieses Erinnerungstableau.
Also wir können sagen: Der Mensch lebt im Übersinnlichen, aber er lebt im Übersinnlichen so, daß er sich innerlich losgetrennt hat von seinem physischen Leibe. Sehen Sie, diese imaginative Erkenntnis wäre eigentlich gar nicht so schwierig zu erringen, wie es bei den meisten Menschen tatsächlich der Fall ist, wenn mehr Neigung dazu vorhanden wäre, den innerlichen Zusammenhalt des ganzen seelischen Lebens mit dem physischen Leibe zu durchbrechen.
Natürlich, man kann verhältnismäßig leicht dasjenige durchbrechen, was an die unmittelbare sinnliche Auffassung geknüpft ist. Aber denken Sie sich nur, daß der Mensch ja mit seinem physischen Leibe auch durch die Seelenverfassung zusammenhängt, die er sich im Erdenleben aneignet. Wir sind ja, wenn wir in Lebensstimmungen sind für den physischen Plan, abhängig auch von dem physischen Leibe. Lebensstimmungen sind durchaus auch durch den physischen Leib bedingt. Wenn der Mensch dies oder jenes seinem Können, seinen Talenten, seiner sonstigen inneren Seelenverfassung zuschreibt, so hängt das alles mit seinem Erleben im physischen Leibe zusammen. Von alldem muß man, will man wirkliche imaginative Erkenntnis erlangen, frei werden. Wenn man nur eine Minute lang wirklich frei wird, so weiß man schon, was imaginative Erkenntnis ist, und dann eröffnet sich schon allmählich das Lebenstableau.
Nun müssen Sie diesen Unterschied ins Auge fassen zwischen «mit dem physischen Leibe verbunden sein und dadurch drinnen sein im physischen Leibe», und «nicht mit dem physischen Leibe verbunden sein und doch drinnenstecken im physischen Leibe.» Das ist ein Unterschied, und das macht gerade die imaginative Erkenntnis aus: drinnen steckenbleiben im physischen Leibe, gar nicht herausgehen, aber dennoch unabhängig werden von ihm.
Wenn Sie selber mit Ihrem seelisch-geistigen Leben im physischen Leibe bleiben, dann ist das so, daß Sie ihn ausfüllen, auch wenn Sie nicht mit ihm verbunden sind. Sie füllen ihn aus. Ich möchte schematisch dieses so zeichnen.
Nehmen wir die gewöhnliche tägliche Lebensverfassung des Menschen an. Nehmen wir an, das sei der physischen Leib (siehe Zeichnung a, außen, hell), das sei der ätherische Leib (lila) und das sei das GeistigSeelische (gelb). Nun ist das in der folgenden Weise: Der Mensch hängt überall mit Muskeln, Knochen, Nerven von seinem ätherischen Leibe aus mit dem physischen Leibe zusammen. Diese Zusammenhänge sind überall da von dem ätherischen Leibe zu dem physischen Leibe. Denken Sie sich also, damit wir einen Vergleich haben: Sie haben ein poröses Tongefäß und schütten eine Flüssigkeit hinein, die Flüssigkeit füllt die Poren dieses porösen Tongefäßes aus. Es ist also die Flüssigkeit ausgelaufen in das poröse Tongefäß.
Nun kann es aber auch so sein, daß Sie nicht ein poröses 'Tongefäß haben, sondern ein solches, welches gar nichts von der Flüssigkeit in sich aufnimmt; dann wird die Flüssigkeit nur eben darinnen sein in dem Tongefäß, gar keine Verbindung mit dem Inneren der Wände des Tongefäßes selber haben. So ist der Mensch in der imaginativen Erkenntnis in seinem Leibe drinnen, aber der Ätherleib geht nicht in die Muskeln, in die Knochen und so weiter hinein. So daß ich das dann so zeichnen kann: Physischer Leib (siehe Zeichnung b); der Ätherleib bleibt aber jetzt für sich, und da drinnen ist das Geistig-Seelische des Menschen. Es ist nur im Inneren des Menschen der Ätherleib herausgehoben. Die Folge dieses Heraushebens muß natürlich zur Wahrnehmung gelangen, wenn man wiederum in den alten Zustand zurückkommt. Daher ist es nur natürlich, daß der Mensch, wenn er wirklich sich bemüht herauszukommen aus seinem physischen Leibe und dennoch drinnenbleibt, wie es bei der imaginativen Erkenntnis der Fall ist, daß er sich nicht nur ermüdet, sondern schwer fühlt, daß er seinen physischen Leib dann stark fühlt, weil er ja wiederum hineinkriechen muß.
Das ist so für das imaginative Erkennen, nicht aber für das inspirierte Erkennen. Das inspirierte Erkennen, das bei leerem Bewußtsein, wie ich Ihnen auseinandergesetzt habe, eintritt, dieses inspirierte Erkennen bewirkt, daß der Mensch mit seinem Geistig-Seelischen außerhalb seines physischen Leibes ist. Das ist also (Zeichnung c) das Geistig-Seeelische außerhalb des physischen und des Ätherleibes.
Die äußere Konfiguration muß also sein wie im Schlaf. Der Mensch muß mit seinem Ich und mit seinem astralischen Leib ganz außerhalb des Ätherleibes sein können. Dann erst tritt die inspirierte Erkenntnis ein.
Wenn aber jetzt der Mensch wiederum zurückkehrt in seinen physischen und Ätherleib, dann merkt er, daß in diesem physischen und Ätherleib etwas darinnen ist, daß dieser physische und Ätherleib gar nicht so sind, wie man sie sonst erfaßt, sondern daß da etwas darinnen ist. Das ist sehr wichtig. Und es ist deshalb sehr wichtig, weil eigentlich dadurch, daß man das weiß, der ganze Vorgang der Initiation bezeichnet wird.
Man gelangt ja zunächst dazu, eine gewisse Schwierigkeit zu haben, nach der Inspiration wiederum in den physischen Leib zurückzukommen, weil man eigentlich das Gefühl hat, man taucht in etwas ganz anderes unter als das, in dem man gewöhnlich als in seinem physischen und in seinem Ätherleib drinnensteckt.
Nun erinnern Sie sich, daß ich Ihnen gestern gesagt habe: Wenn man zurückblickt und das Erinnerungstableau hat, und dieses Erinnerungstableau dann durch die inspirierte Erkenntnis auslöscht, wenn man also in der inspirierten Erkenntnis ist, dann nimmt man eben in der inspirierten Erkenntnis wahr, was da drinnen ist im physischen Leibe. Man nimmt nämlich wahr, wenn man auslöscht das Erinnerungstableau für die Zeit von der Geburt bis zum siebenten Jahre, bis zum Zahnwechsel: In diesem physischen Leibe war eine Engelwesenheit drinnen. Man nimmt eine dritte Hierarchie in einem Wesen wirklich wahr. So daß der Tatbestand dieser ist: Man gelangt aus seinem physischen Leib heraus, kommt wiederum in diesen physischen Leib als in sein menschliches Haus zurück, und siehe da, man trifft seinen Engel drinnen, wenn man auf die Zeit von der Geburt bis zum siebenten Lebensjahre zurückblickt.
Sehen Sie, solche Tatsachen wurden schon einmal in der Menschheitsentwickelung gewußt, und zwar zu verschiedenen Zeiten in verschiedener Weise gewußt im alten instinktiven Hellsehen, und mit solchen Tatsachen rechnete man bei gewissen Veranstaltungen des menschlichen Lebens.
Man hatte ja in alten Zeiten durchaus das Bewußtsein, daß man die Namengebung einrichtet nach geistigen Tatsachen. Heute ist es den Leuten in der Regel gleichgültig, was ihre Kinder für Namen bekommen. Für manchen ist ja nur ein Gesichtspunkt der, daß die Sache schön klingt und dergleichen. Manchmal ist sogar eine gewisse Koketterie bei der Namengebung da. Es gefällt den Leuten der Name. Es gab alte Zeiten, in denen die Namengebung zusammenhing mit einer Beziehung, die man sich dachte, mit einer Beziehung des Kindes zur geistigen Welt. Nehmen Sie zum Beispiel ein Zeitalter an, in dem man eine prophetische Wesenheit mit Namen Elisa verehrt hat: da hat man gewisse weibliche Kinder genannt Elisabeth, das heißt das Haus des Elisa. Und so ist ausgedrückt gewesen, daß man dieses Kind in die Welt hereingesetzt hat unter der Voraussetzung, daß man sich dadurch die Gnade des betreffenden Propheten sichern wollte. Und so sind die Namen gegeben worden in dieser Absicht.
Warum? Weil man gewußt hat, daß der Mensch, wenn er außer seinem Leibe ist und wieder in seinen Leib zurückkehrt, daß er dann eigentlich wird zum Träger, daß er sich sieht als den Träger geistiger Wesenheiten. Und der ganzen Vorstellung, daß insbesondere Kinder von ihrem Engel geschützt werden, der liegt zugrunde, daß man bei der Initiation, wenn man auf diese Zeit von der Geburt bis zum siebenten Jahre zurückblickt, das erlebt, was ich gestern dadurch charakterisiert habe, daß ich sagte: Wenn man im Erinnerungstableau diese Zeit auslöscht, so scheint die Hierarchie der Angeloi durch, beziehungsweise die Mondenverrichtungen. — Ich sagte gestern schon: Das ist etwas verschoben, aber auf das alles werden wir zu sprechen kommen. — Also man sieht das zugleich dann als etwas, das im Menschen drinnensteckt.
Und wiederum, wenn man zum Beispiel auf dasjenige zurückblickt, was vom siebenten bis vierzehnten Jahre liegt, und dann zurückkehrt in seinen Leib, so findet man eine Erzengelwesenheit. Diese Erzengelwesenheit ist natürlich auch von der Geburt bis zum siebenten Jahre darinnen. Man findet sie nur nicht, wenn man nur auf diesen Zeitraum zurückblickt von der Geburt bis zum siebenten Lebensjahre. Und so ist es, daß man bei dieser Rückkehr von außerhalb des Leibes in den Leib hinein gewahr wird: Da drinnen sind ja alle Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien. Nur kann man zu dieser Art von Selbsterkenntnis, daß der Leib der Träger der Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien ist, gar nicht anders kommen als dadurch, daß man erst draußen ist und wiederum in den Leib zurückkehrt.
Das kann aber wieder nur im Zusammenhange mit einer anderen Tatsache verstanden werden. Sehen Sie, in der Welt sind viele Sterne, und ich habe Ihnen gesagt, diese Sterne sind nur die äußeren Zeichen für Götterkolonien. Kolonien geistiger Wesenheiten sind in Wirklichkeit da, wo das äußere Zeichen des Sternes funkelt. Aber Sie dürfen sich nicht vorstellen, daß diese Götter mit ihrem Bewußtsein nur, sagen wir zum Beispiel, in der Venus oder in der Sonne oder im Merkur oder im Sirius und so weiter sind, sondern hauptsächlich sind sie dort. Dort sozusagen haben sie den Schwerpunkt ihres Wesens. Aber alle geistigen Wesenheiten des Kosmos, die irgend etwas zu tun haben mit der Erde, die können gar nicht so im Weltenall existieren, daß man sagen kann, sie bewohnen nur Mars oder Venus. So paradox es Ihnen klingen wird, muß ich doch sagen: Die Götterwesenheiten, die zur Erde gehören, und die Mars-, Venus-, Jupiter- und so weiter -bewohner sind, auch die Sonnenbewohner, wären blind, wenn Sie nur die Sonne oder den Mars oder den Jupiter bewohnen würden. Sie wären so blind, wie wir blind sind, wenn wir kein Auge haben. Sie wären da, würden wirken, wie wir gehen können und greifen können, wenn wir kein Auge haben, aber sie würden nicht sehen — natürlich auf Götterart ist das gemeint -, sie würden nicht wahrnehmen durch ein gewisses Wahrnehmungsvermögen, was im Kosmos vorgeht. Daraus aber müssen Sie sich die Frage aufwerfen, meine lieben Freunde: Wo ist das Auge, das Wahrnehmungsvermögen der Götter? Wo ist das? — Und sehen Sie, dieses Wahrnehmungsvermögen der Götter ist neben dem, was er noch sonst ist, der Mond, der unser Nachbar im Kosmos ist. Alle göttlichen Wesenheiten von Sonne, Merkur, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn haben im Monde ihr Auge. Sie sind zugleich im Monde.
Und nun bedenken Sie, was alles mit den Dingen, die hier zum Beispiel betrachtet worden sind, eigentlich gesagt ist. Nehmen Sie nur die eine Tatsache. Vom Monde wurde gesagt, daß er einmal ein Teil der Erde war und erst im Verlaufe der Zeit aus der Erde herausgegangen ist. Damals also war das Auge der Götter mit der Erde verbunden, die Götter beschauten von der Erde aus das Weltenall. Daher konnten damals auch die großen Urlehrer die Weisheit, die sie der Menschheit gebracht haben, dieser Menschheit geben. Denn indem sie auf der Erde lebten, schauten sie mit dem Auge der Götter in den Kosmos hinaus, weil der Mond in der Erde war. Und als der Mond wegging, konnten sie eine Zeitlang noch die Erinnerung haben, konnten aus der Erinnerung heraus sehen, was mit dem Auge der Menschheit angeschaut da war, konnten die Götter belehren, mußten aber dann ihren Weg zum Monde machen und selber eine Kolonie begründen, wo jetzt eben die Urlehrer sind, damit sie mit dem Auge der Götter schauen können.
Bedenken Sie ein anderes: Jahve regierte das jüdische Herz, die jüdische Seele vom Monde aus, und diejenigen der großen Urlehrer der Menschheit, die noch teilnahmen an dem Jahve-Kultus und der JahveLehre, die hatten sich verbunden gerade mit Jahve im Monde, um mit seinem Auge in den Kosmos hinauszuschauen. Der Mond wird sich wieder einmal vereinigen mit der Erde. Dann wird der Mensch wiederum auf der Erde die Möglichkeit haben, mit dem Auge der Götter in den Kosmos hinauszuschauen. Dann wird er ein naturgemäßes Hinausschauen in den Kosmos haben. Das alles, sehen Sie, sind Tatsachen, welche den Menschen erst die wahre Natur des Weltenalls lehren können. Denn erst wenn man die Welt so anschaut, schaut man zum Monde in der richtigen Weise hin.
Und jetzt bekommen wir auch den Grund, warum auf Erden gerade die Freiheit sich entwickeln kann. Solange der Mond mit der Erde verbunden war, und solange die alten Urlehrer aus ihrer Erinnerung heraus die Menschen lehrten, und solange man dann in den Mysterien noch das von den alten Urlehrern Gelehrte aufbewahrte, was ja bis ins 14. nachchristliche Jahrhundert hinein dauerte, so lange war alle Weisheit das mit den Augen der Götter Geschaute. Erst seit dem Zeitenraum, den ich Ihnen angegeben habe, 1413, ist die Erde ganz in die Unmöglichkeit versetzt, mit den Augen der Götter zu schauen. Da beginnt also mit der Entwickelung der Bewußtseinsseele die Möglichkeit, die Freiheit für die Menschen zu entwickeln.
Aber eigentlich ist der Mensch ja auf der Erde nur in bezug auf seine sinnliche Wahrnehmung und in bezug auf alles das, was Verstandeserkenntnis ist, denn das hängt mit dem sinnlich-physischen Leib zusammen. — In Wahrheit ist die Sache so: Wenn wir uns den Menschen vorstellen (Zeichnung Seite 228), so ist er nur in bezug auf seine Sinne und auf seine Verstandeserkenntnis herausragend über die Hierarchien, die über ihm wohnen - ich müßte also das Rote über den Wärmesinn und alles führen (rot) —, während er mit Bezug auf alles, was hinter seinem Verstande liegt, ausgefüllt ist mit der dritten Hierarchie (hellgrün). Mit Bezug auf alles, was hinter seinem Fühlen liegt, ist er ausgefüllt mit der zweiten Hierarchie (Brust, orange), für alles das, was hinter seinem Wollen ist, mit der ersten Hierarchie (Rumpf, gelb).
Wir sind also eigentlich in den Hierarchien drinnen und ragen nur mit unseren Sinnesorganen und mit unserem Verstande aus der Welt der Hierarchien heraus. Wir sind wirklich so als Menschen, wie wenn wir schwimmen würden und nur ein wenig oben mit dem Kopf herausragen würden. So ragen wir mit unseren Sinnen und mit unserem Verstande aus dem Meere der Hierarchienwirkungen heraus.
Das findet man alles, wenn man wieder aus dem außerleiblichen Wahrnehmungszustand in den Leib zurückkehrt. Da findet man, wie der Mensch das Haus der Götter ist.
Daraus geht Ihnen aber ein weiteres hervor, meine lieben Freunde: Wenn die Götter kosmisch schauen wollen, dann schauen sie durch den Mond. Wenn die Götter heute noch von der Erde aus, was einen ganz anderen Aspekt gibt, den Kosmos betrachten wollen, dann müssen sie aus dem Menschen heraus schauen. Und das Menschengeschlecht ist das andere Auge der Götter.
Auf naturgemäßee Weise konnte der Mensch in uralten Zeiten mit dem Auge der Götter schauen, weil der Mond mit der Erde vereinigt war. Er wird es wieder können, wenn der Mond sich wieder mit der Erde vereinigen wird. Durch die Initiation, dadurch, daß der Mensch gewahr wird beim Zurückgehen in den Leib, daß das ja Götter sind, und er diese Bekanntschaft mit den Göttern macht, lernt er durch des Menschen Auge die Welt betrachten. So daß die Initiation dasselbe gibt, was eben früher die Benützung des Mondenauges den Göttern gegeben hat.
Alles das, was wir nun mit dem gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein tun, die Absichten, die wir mit dem gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein realisieren, sind von uns abhängig; aber unser Karma wird von den Hierarchien, die in uns sind, geformt und gebildet. Da haben Sie also die eigentlichen Gestalter einer ganz anderen Weltenordnung, einer Weltenordnung, die vom Moralisch-Seelischen ausgeht. Das ist die andere Seite des Menschen, die Hierarchienseite.
Solange man bei der imaginativen Erkenntnis bleibt und zurückschaut auf das eigene Erdenleben, so lange ist man völlig überzeugt davon, daß man als Mensch eine Einheit ist; man ist auch völlig überzeugt davon, daß gewisse Handlungen im Leben frei sind, weil man sie aus der Einheit der Menschennatur heraus vollbringt. Man merkt auch noch nicht viel von seinem Karma bei der bloßen imaginativen Erkenntnis. Tritt die inspirierte Erkenntnis ein und kehrt man wiederderum zurück in den Leib, dann fühlt man sich aufgeteilt in eine Welt von unzähligen Hierarchien. Man gelangt in seinen Leib zurück und weiß zunächst nicht, wer man ist. Ist man der Engel, ist man dieses Wesen aus der Hierarchie der Dynamis, Exusiai und so weiter? Man ist aufgeteilt in eine Welt von Wesenheiten. Man ist betäubt von der Vielheit seines Wesens, denn man ist mit diesen Wesen allen eins.
Da muß dann durch die entsprechenden Übungen der Mensch so stark werden, daß er demgegenüber seine Einheit geltend machen kann. Aber dann sieht man auch - es ist dieses ja die Nachwirkung des Lebens zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt -, wie das Karma geformt wird durch das Zusammenwirken so vieler Wesenheiten, die in einem drinnen sind. Da wirken ja unzählige Wesen mit bei dem, was das Karma formt; unzählige Götterwesen wirken da mit. So daß man wirklich sagen kann: Die Menschenwesenheit bringt nur in bezug auf die Verstandestätigkeit und die Sinnentätigkeit ein Erdenleben zu. In bezug auf die Gefühls- und Willenstätigkeit lebt ja der Mensch das Götterleben mit. Ja sogar in bezug auf eine weiter zurückliegende verborgene Gedankentätigkeit lebt der Mensch das Götterleben mit: In bezug auf eine verborgene Gedankentätigkeit das Leben der Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai; in bezug auf das Verborgene im Gefühlsleben das Leben der Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes; in bezug auf den Willen lebt der Mensch mit das Leben der Cherubim, Seraphim, Throne. Dieses, was man menschliches Schicksal nennt, ist daher eine Götterangelegenheit und muß als Götterangelegenheit auch behandelt werden.
Was heißt denn aber das für das Erdenleben? Der Mensch ist eigentlich, wenn er sich nicht dazu bequemt, eine gewisse Gelassenheit zu entwickeln gerade in bezug auf sein Schicksal, wenn er mit seinem Schicksal grollt, wenn er, von sich aus natürlich, mit seinem Schicksal unzufrieden ist, wenn er in das Schicksal durch subjektive Entschlüsse hineinpfuscht, da ist der Mensch eigentlich so, wie wenn er fortwährend die Götter stören würde bei der Bildung seines Schicksals. Man kann eigentlich nur in seinem Schicksal leben, wenn man mit Gelassenheit das Leben hinnehmen kann. Und empfinden, wie das Schicksal wirkt, das gehört eben zu den Dingen, die mit starken Prüfungen der Menschennatur verknüpft sind. Und kann der Mensch wirklich dazu gelangen, es mit seinem Schicksal ernst zu nehmen, dann wird er gerade aus dem Erleben seines Schicksals die größten Antriebe erfahren können, die stärksten Impulse aufnehmen können, um mit der geistigen Welt zu leben. Und dann wird der Mensch zunächst eine Empfindung bekommen, aus dem Leben heraus eine Empfindung bekommen, wie Schicksalszusammenhänge sind.
Den neuzeitlichen, modernen Menschen ist ja diese Feinheit, Zartheit der Empfindung vielfach verlorengegangen. Sie empfinden grob. Aber nehmen Sie einmal an, der Mensch läßt sich in einer zarteren Empfindung darauf ein, innerlich sein Verhältnis zu überschauen, das er zu einem Menschen gehabt hat, der in der Jugend ihm Vorbild, Lehrer oder irgend etwas war. Es ist ja nicht ausschließlich so, daß die Menschen auf solche, die ihre Lehrer waren, nur so zurückblicken müssen, daß sie sie eigentlich verachten, sondern es gibt ja auch durchaus die Möglichkeit und die Fälle, wo die Menschen mit einer gewissen inneren Befriedigung zurückblicken auf solche, die ihre Erzieher, ihre Vorbilder waren. Da kann sich dann dieses Zurückblicken im intimen inneren Erleben in einer gewissen Weise vertiefen. Man kann finden, wie man zum Beispiel zwischen dem siebenten und vierzehnten Jahre empfand: Das, was diese verehrte Lehrerautorität machte, das müsse man auch machen, man könne gar nicht anders, als das auch machen. Oder man fühlt, wenn diese verehrte Lehrerindividualität etwas lehrt, etwas sagt, als ob man das schon gehört hätte, als ob das nur Wiederholung wäre. Das gehört sogar zu den schönsten Errungenschaften des Lebens, wenn man auf so etwas hinsehen kann wie auf eine Wiederholung. Und dann kommt man darauf: Da muß ja etwas zugrunde liegen. Und da kann man schon mit dem gesunden Menschenverstand sagen: In diesem Leben kann natürlich da nichts zugrunde liegen. Da wird man durch den gesunden Menschenverstand auf frühere Erdenleben verwiesen. So werden auch viele Menschen durch ihren gesunden Menschenverstand auf frühere Erdenleben verwiesen.
Nun, was liegt vor, wenn man in dieser Weise auf einen Lehrer oder auf einen Erzieher zurückblicken kann? Da liegt das vor, meine lieben Freunde: Der Mensch hat in diesem Leben diesen Erzieher durch das Schicksal erhalten. Es ist ja nun einmal ein Karma, einen Lehrer durch ein Schicksal zu erhalten. Das weist zurück auf früheres Erdenleben.
In der Regel — das zeigt nun die okkulte Beobachtung - ist es nicht so, daß in diesem früheren Erdenleben der Lehrer bereits Lehrer war des Betreffenden, sondern er stand zu ihm in einem ganz anderen Verhältnisse. Man nimmt die Gedanken auf, wenn man einem Lehrer oder einem Erzieher gegenübersteht — wenn auch im Bilde -, man nimmt in der richtigen Pädagogik gerade die Gedanken, die Vorstellungen auf. Wenn das der Fall ist, so führt das in der Regel zurück auf ein früheres Erdenverhältnis, wo man nicht Gedanken, sondern Gefühle aufgenommen hat von der betreffenden Persönlichkeit, wo man weniger Gelegenheit hatte, Gedanken aufzunehmen, als vielmehr Gefühle aufzunehmen von der betreffenden Persönlichkeit, die in der mannigfaltigsten Weise durch das Leben vermittelt sein können. Wir können dasselbe auch für das jetzige und ein folgendes Erdenleben charakterisieren.
Nehmen wir einmal an, jemand hat in diesem Erdenleben Gelegenheit, viel innere herzliche Sympathie zu haben für diesen oder jenen Menschen, mit dem er heute nicht sonderlich in ein Lebensverhältnis kommt, dem er nur begegnet, aber der ihm ungeheuer sympathisch ist. Es kann dann so sein, daß diese Sympathien, die da entwickelt werden in dem jetzigen Erdenleben, dazu führen, daß der Betreffende, der diese Sympathien entwickelt, in einem folgenden Erdenleben den, für den er die Sympathien entwickelt, zum Lehrer hat, zum Erzieher hat.
Und was ist da objektiv dann geschehen? Wenn man zu jemandem Gefühlssympathien entwickelt, dann hängt das ab von dem, was die Wesenheiten der zweiten Hierarchie, die Wesenheiten der Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes im Menschen und um den Menschen herum für ihn entfalten.
Wenn dann im nächsten Leben der Einfluß nicht auf dem Umweg der Gefühle, sondern auf dem Umweg der Gedanken und Vorstellungen geschieht, dann haben die Wesenheiten der zweiten Hierarchie dasjenige, was sie in einem vorhergehenden Leben getan haben, an die Wesenheiten der dritten Hierarchie, an Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai abgegeben, und die wirken jetzt im Menschen darinnen.
So daß, denken Sie, das folgende vorliegt: Wenn unser Karma von einem Erdenleben zum anderen sich entwickelt, dann bedeutet das, daß Taten, wirkliche Taten übergehen von einer Hierarchie auf die andere, daß im Kosmos, im geistigen Kosmos etwas ungeheuer Bedeutungsvolles geschieht.
Wir blicken also gewissermaßen, wenn wir auf das Schicksal des Menschen sehen, wie durch einen Schleier in ein weitausgebreitetes Weltgeschehen. Das kann schon, wenn wir uns das so recht zum Bewußtsein bringen, im allerhöchsten Grade einen sehr starken Eindruck auf den Menschen machen. Sie brauchen sich das wirklich nur recht gemütsmäßig vorzustellen.
Stellen Sie sich vor, Ste überschauen das schicksalsmäßige Leben eines Menschen. Man sollte das schicksalsmäßige Leben eines Menschen wahrhaftig nicht gleichgültig überschauen, denn indem man auf das Schicksal eines Menschen hinschaut, überschaut man eigentlich etwas, was an Taten sich von der obersten Hierarchie in die unterste, von der untersten wiederum zurück in die oberste ergießt. Auf ein Weben und Arbeiten und Leben in der Reihenfolge der Hierarchien schaut man, wenn man auf das Schicksal eines Menschen hinschaut. Man sollte im Grunde genommen das Schicksal eines Menschen mit einer ungeheuren inneren Pietät, mit tiefer innerer Ehrfurcht betrachten, weil man, indem man das Schicksal eines Menschen betrachtet, vor der ganzen Welt der Götter steht.
Das habe ich eigentlich etwas zur Empfindung bringen wollen, als ich meine Mysterien verfaßte, wo Sie immer finden Bilder, die im Erdenleben vor sich gehen, und Bilder, die drüben in den geistigen Welten vor sich gehen. Und ich habe in meinen Mysterien auch anschaulich gemacht, wie nicht nur schließlich die oberen Hierarchien, sondern auch die Elementarwesen, und wie das Ahrimanische und Luziferische in das Leben und Weben der Taten, die von oben nach unten, von unten nach oben erfließen, sich hineinmischen, wenn das Schicksal des Menschen sich erfüllt.
Denken Sie an die Szenen, die sich abspielen für Strader und Capesius im Übersinnlichen, wo sie als ganz andere Wesensformen auftreten, aber dieselben sind. Das ist ja nur die andere Seite, die wirklich im Menschen ist, dasjenige, was in der Welt der Götter, und nicht in der Welt der Erdenreiche, der Mineralien, der Tiere, der Pflanzen, der Berge, der Wolken und Bäume und so weiter ist. Wie mit heiliger Scheu hinzuschauen auf die Schicksale der Menschen, das ist auch etwas, was wir uns aneignen müssen, was die Zeit sich aneignen muß. Wenn man Biographien liest, die unsere heutigen materialistisch gesinnten Menschen schreiben, so ist es eigentlich furchtbar, denn die werden ohne heilige Scheu vor dem Schicksal desjenigen geschrieben, für den man diese Biographie schreibt. Eigentlich sollten Biographen wissen, daß, indem sie in ein Menschenleben auch nur schildernd hineingreifen, sie in einer unsichtbaren Weise in alle Hierarchien hineingreifen.
Durch solche Erwägungen kommt man zu der Gefühlsseite der Anthroposophie, wird gewahr, wie alles, was als Anthroposophisches an uns herankommt, auch unser Gefühl berühren muß, wie wir nicht nur etwas lernen, sondern wie wir auch angeregt werden, über die Welt Gefühle zu entwickeln, Gefühle, die uns eigentlich erst richtig in das Menschenleben hereinstellen. Und ohne daß wir auf solche Gefühle geführt werden, können wir eigentlich jene Gesetzmäßigkeit nicht durchschauen, die das Karma des Menschen durchzieht. Die kosmische Form des Karma und die individuelle Betrachtung karmischer Zusammenhänge
Thirteenth Lecture
The consideration of the karmic connections in human life does indeed require a complete understanding of lawful relationships in the world, which today's human being is more or less unaccustomed to. For the point is that in the karmic connections which reach from one life on earth into the other, laws are at work which are of a spiritual nature, of such a spiritual nature that one already misjudges them if one thinks only in the slightest degree that it is a matter of causation which is in any way similar to that which we otherwise find in the world when we speak of cause and effect.
In order to gain an understanding of what karmic connections are, one must first understand exactly what is going on within the human being behind the ordinary consciousness. And an understanding of what lies behind the ordinary consciousness can actually only be gained by observing the human being as it presents itself to supersensible knowledge, to initiatory knowledge.
Therefore, especially in order to continue certain things that have been hinted at here in the last lectures and which will then lead in their further development to a complete understanding of karma, let us today look at how man, when he ascends to imaginative, to inspired, to intuitive knowledge, gains more and more the possibility of seeing how he himself as man actually stands within the entire cosmos.
It has often been emphasized, even in public lectures, that through this imaginative insight a life tableau for the present life on earth spreads out before man, that man sees his life in powerful images, that he sees precisely that which ordinary memory cannot give.
One can say: In this overview, which emerges from the striving for imaginative knowledge, the human being is initially completely inside his physical and etheric body. Through the corresponding exercises, he only makes himself completely independent of everything that conveys impressions from the physical body. Thus, through imaginative cognition, man becomes independent of his sensory impressions, independent of his intellectual cognition. He lives in cognition only in the etheric body. This gives him this memory tableau.
So we can say: Man lives in the supersensible, but he lives in the supersensible in such a way that he has inwardly separated himself from his physical body. You see, this imaginative realization would actually not be as difficult to achieve as it actually is for most people if there were more inclination to break through the inner cohesion of the entire spiritual life with the physical body.
Of course, it is relatively easy to break through that which is linked to the immediate sensory perception. But just think that man is also connected with his physical body through the constitution of soul which he acquires in earthly life. When we are in the moods of life for the physical plan, we are also dependent on the physical body. Moods of life are also conditioned by the physical body. If a person ascribes this or that to his ability, his talents, his other inner constitution of soul, then all this is connected with his experience in the physical body. If you want to attain real imaginative knowledge, you must become free of all this. If you become really free for just one minute, you already know what imaginative cognition is, and then the tableau of life gradually opens up.
Now you have to consider this difference between “being connected with the physical body and thus being inside the physical body” and “not being connected with the physical body and yet being inside the physical body.” That is a difference, and that is precisely what constitutes imaginative cognition: remaining stuck inside the physical body, not going out at all, but nevertheless becoming independent of it.
If you yourself remain in the physical body with your soul-spiritual life, then it is so that you fill it, even if you are not connected to it. You fill it. I would like to draw it schematically like this.
Let us assume the usual daily state of life of a human being. Let us assume that this is the physical body (see drawing a, outside, light), this is the etheric body (purple) and this is the spiritual body (yellow). Now this is as follows: The human being is connected everywhere with muscles, bones and nerves from his etheric body to the physical body. These connections are everywhere from the etheric body to the physical body. So think of it, so that we have a comparison: You have a porous clay vessel and pour a liquid into it, the liquid fills the pores of this porous clay vessel. So the liquid has leaked into the porous clay vessel.
Now it can also be the case that you do not have a porous clay vessel, but one that does not absorb any of the liquid; then the liquid will only be inside the clay vessel, having no connection at all with the inside of the walls of the clay vessel itself. Thus the human being in imaginative cognition is inside his body, but the etheric body does not enter the muscles, the bones and so on. So that I can then draw it like this: Physical body (see drawing b); but the etheric body now remains for itself, and in there is the spiritual-soul of the human being. The etheric body is only lifted out from within the human being. The consequence of this lifting out must naturally come to perception when one returns to the old state. Therefore it is only natural that if a person really tries to get out of his physical body and yet remains inside, as is the case with imaginative cognition, that he not only tires but feels heavy, that he then feels his physical body strongly because he has to crawl back in again.
This is the case for imaginative cognition, but not for inspired cognition. Inspired cognition, which occurs with empty consciousness, as I have explained to you, this inspired cognition has the effect that man is outside his physical body with his spiritual-soul. This is therefore (drawing c) the spiritual-soul outside the physical and etheric body.
The outer configuration must therefore be as in sleep. The human being must be able to be completely outside the etheric body with his ego and his astral body. Only then does inspired cognition occur.
But when the human being now returns to his physical and etheric body, then he realizes that there is something in this physical and etheric body, that this physical and etheric body are not at all as one usually perceives them, but that there is something inside. That is very important. And it is very important because the whole process of initiation is actually signified by knowing this.
At first you have a certain difficulty in returning to the physical body after the inspiration, because you actually have the feeling that you are immersed in something quite different from what you are usually stuck in as in your physical and etheric body.
Now remember that I told you yesterday: When one looks back and has the memory tableau, and then erases this memory tableau through inspired cognition, that is, when one is in inspired cognition, then one perceives in inspired cognition what is inside the physical body. For one perceives, when one erases the memory tableau for the time from birth to the seventh year, until the change of teeth: In this physical body there was an angelic being. One really perceives a third hierarchy in a being. So that the fact is this: one comes out of one's physical body, comes back into this physical body as into one's human house, and behold, one meets one's angel inside when one looks back on the time from birth to the seventh year of life.
You see, such facts were already known once in the development of mankind, and indeed known in different ways at different times in the old instinctive clairvoyance, and such facts were reckoned with at certain events of human life.
In ancient times people were well aware that naming was based on spiritual facts. Today, people are generally indifferent to what names their children are given. For some, the only point of view is that it sounds nice and the like. Sometimes there is even a certain coquetry in the naming process. People like the name. There were old times when naming was connected with a relationship that was thought of, with a relationship of the child to the spiritual world. Take, for example, an age in which a prophetic being by the name of Elisha was venerated: certain female children were called Elizabeth, that is, the house of Elisha. And so it was expressed that this child was brought into the world on the condition that the grace of the prophet in question would be secured. And so the names were given with this intention.
Why was this? Because it was known that man, when he is out of his body and returns into his body, that he then actually becomes a carrier, that he sees himself as the carrier of spiritual entities. And the whole idea that children in particular are protected by their angel is based on the fact that at initiation, when one looks back on this time from birth to the seventh year, one experiences what I characterized yesterday by saying: If one erases this time in the memory tableau, then the hierarchy of the Angeloi shines through, or rather the lunar dispositions. - I already said yesterday that this is somewhat shifted, but we will come back to all this. - So at the same time you see it as something that is inside the human being.
And again, if you look back, for example, to that which lies between the seventh and fourteenth years, and then return to your body, you will find an archangel being. This archangelic being is of course also present from birth to the seventh year. You just don't find it if you only look back at this period from birth to the seventh year of life. And so it is that on this return from outside the body into the body one becomes aware of it: All the beings of the higher hierarchies are in there. But one cannot come to this kind of self-knowledge, that the body is the carrier of the beings of the higher hierarchies, in any other way than by first being outside and then returning into the body.
But again, this can only be understood in connection with another fact. You see, there are many stars in the world, and I have told you that these stars are only the outer signs of colonies of gods. Colonies of spiritual beings are in reality where the outer sign of the star sparkles. But you must not imagine that these gods with their consciousness are only, for example, in Venus or in the sun or in Mercury or in Sirius and so on, but mainly they are there. That is where they have the center of their being, so to speak. But all the spiritual beings of the cosmos that have anything to do with the earth cannot exist in the universe in such a way that one can say that they only inhabit Mars or Venus. As paradoxical as it may sound to you, I must say that the divine beings who belong to the earth and who inhabit Mars, Venus, Jupiter and so on, including the inhabitants of the sun, would be blind if they only inhabited the sun or Mars or Jupiter. They would be as blind as we are blind if we had no eyes. They would be there, they would act as we can walk and grasp if we have no eyes, but they would not see - of course this is meant in the way of the gods - they would not perceive what is going on in the cosmos through a certain perceptive faculty. But from this, my dear friends, you must pose the question: Where is the eye, the perceptive faculty of the gods? Where is it? - And you see, this perceptive faculty of the gods is, apart from what else it is, the moon, which is our neighbor in the cosmos. All the divine beings of the sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn have their eyes in the moon. They are also in the moon.
And now consider what has actually been said with the things that have been considered here, for example. Take just one fact. It was said of the moon that it was once a part of the earth and only in the course of time emerged from the earth. At that time, therefore, the eye of the gods was connected with the earth, the gods viewed the universe from the earth. That is why the great primal teachers were able to give the wisdom they brought to humanity to humanity. For while they lived on earth, they looked out into the cosmos with the eye of the gods, because the moon was in the earth. And when the moon went away, they could still have the memory for a time, could see from memory what was there seen with the eye of humanity, could teach the gods, but then had to make their way to the moon and establish a colony themselves, where the original teachers are now, so that they can see with the eye of the gods.
Think of another thing: Yahweh ruled the Jewish heart, the Jewish soul from the moon, and those of the great primal teachers of mankind who still took part in the cult of Yahweh and the teaching of Yahweh had united with Yahweh in the moon in order to look out into the cosmos with his eye. The moon will once again unite with the earth. Then man will again have the opportunity on earth to look out into the cosmos with the eye of the gods. Then he will have a natural way of looking out into the cosmos. All these, you see, are facts which can only teach man the true nature of the universe. For it is only when one looks at the world in this way that one looks at the moon in the right way.
And now we also get the reason why freedom can develop on earth. As long as the moon was connected with the earth, and as long as the ancient primal teachers taught people from their memories, and as long as the mysteries still preserved what had been taught by the ancient primal teachers, which lasted until the 14th century AD, all wisdom was what was seen with the eyes of the gods. It is only since the period I have indicated to you, 1413, that the earth has been entirely reduced to the impossibility of seeing with the eyes of the gods. Thus, with the development of the consciousness soul, the possibility of developing freedom for human beings begins.
But actually man is only on earth with regard to his sensual perception and with regard to everything that is intellectual knowledge, because that is connected with the sensual-physical body. - The truth of the matter is this: If we imagine the human being (drawing page 228), he is only superior to the hierarchies that dwell above him in relation to his senses and his intellectual cognition - I would therefore have to lead the red over the sense of warmth and everything (red) - while he is filled with the third hierarchy (light green) in relation to everything that lies behind his intellect. With regard to everything that lies behind his feeling, he is filled with the second hierarchy (chest, orange), for everything that lies behind his will, with the first hierarchy (torso, yellow).
So we are actually inside the hierarchies and only protrude from the world of hierarchies with our sense organs and our intellect. We really are as human beings, as if we were swimming and only protruding a little at the top with our heads. This is how we protrude from the sea of hierarchical effects with our senses and our intellect.
We find all this when we return to the body from the out-of-body state of perception. There you find how man is the house of the gods.
But another thing emerges from this, my dear friends: if the gods want to look cosmically, then they look through the moon. If the gods today still want to look at the cosmos from the earth, which gives a completely different aspect, then they must look out of man. And the human race is the other eye of the gods.
In a natural way, man was able to look with the eye of the gods in ancient times because the moon was united with the earth. He will be able to do so again when the moon reunites with the earth. Through initiation, through the fact that man becomes aware when he goes back into the body that these are gods, and he makes this acquaintance with the gods, he learns to look at the world through man's eye. So that initiation gives the same thing that the use of the moon's eye gave to the gods in the past.
All that we now do with the ordinary consciousness, the intentions that we realize with the ordinary consciousness, are dependent on us; but our karma is shaped and formed by the hierarchies that are within us. So there you have the actual shapers of a completely different world order, a world order that emanates from the moral-soul. This is the other side of the human being, the hierarchy side.
As long as one remains with the imaginative cognition and looks back on one's own life on earth, one is completely convinced that one is a unity as a human being; one is also completely convinced that certain actions in life are free because one accomplishes them out of the unity of human nature. One does not yet realize much of one's karma in mere imaginative cognition. When inspired realization occurs and you return to your body, you feel divided into a world of innumerable hierarchies. You return to your body and initially do not know who you are. Are you the angel, are you this being from the hierarchy of dynamis, exusiai and so on? You are divided into a world of entities. You are stunned by the multiplicity of your being, because you are one with all these beings.
Then, through the appropriate exercises, man must become so strong that he can assert his unity against them. But then you also see - this is the after-effect of life between death and a new birth - how karma is formed through the interaction of so many beings that are within you. Countless beings are involved in what forms karma; countless divine beings are involved. So that one can really say: The human being only brings about an earthly life in relation to the activity of the intellect and the activity of the senses. With regard to the activity of feeling and will, man lives the life of the gods. Even in relation to a hidden thought activity that lies further back, man lives the life of the gods: In relation to a hidden thought activity, the life of the Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai; in relation to the hidden in the emotional life, the life of the Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes; in relation to the will, man lives with the life of the Cherubim, Seraphim, Thrones. This, what is called human destiny, is therefore a matter for the gods and must also be treated as a matter for the gods.
But what does this mean for life on earth? Actually, if man does not make himself comfortable enough to develop a certain serenity with regard to his fate, if he resents his fate, if he is naturally dissatisfied with his fate, if he interferes with fate through subjective decisions, then man is actually as if he were constantly disturbing the gods in the formation of his fate. You can only live in your destiny if you can accept life with composure. And feeling how fate works is one of the things that are linked to strong tests of human nature. And if a person can really come to take his fate seriously, then he will be able to experience the greatest impulses from the experience of his fate, to absorb the strongest impulses in order to live with the spiritual world. And then the person will first of all get a sense, from life, of how destiny is connected.
Modern people have often lost this subtlety and delicacy of feeling. They feel coarsely. But suppose, for a moment, that a person allows himself, with a more delicate feeling, to survey inwardly the relationship he has had with a person who in his youth was a role model, a teacher or something else. It is not exclusively the case that people only look back on those who were their teachers in such a way that they actually despise them, but there is also the possibility and the cases where people look back with a certain inner satisfaction on those who were their educators, their role models. This looking back can then deepen in a certain way in the intimate inner experience. You can find out how you felt between the ages of seven and fourteen, for example: What this revered teacher authority did, one had to do that too, one could not help but do that too. Or you feel when this revered individual teacher teaches something, says something, as if you had already heard it, as if it were just repetition. That is one of the most beautiful achievements in life, when you can look at something as if it were a repetition. And then you realize that there must be something underlying it. And then you can say with common sense: Of course there can't be anything underlying it in this life. Common sense refers us to previous lives on earth. In the same way, many people are referred to previous earthly lives by their common sense.
Now, what happens when you can look back in this way to a teacher or an educator? This is the case, my dear friends: the person has received this teacher in this life through fate. After all, it is karma to receive a teacher through fate. This points back to previous lives on earth.
As a rule - as occult observation now shows - it is not the case that in this earlier earthly life the teacher was already the teacher of the person concerned, but that he was in a completely different relationship to him. When one is confronted with a teacher or an educator - even if in image - one takes up the thoughts, the ideas, in the right pedagogy. If this is the case, it usually leads back to an earlier relationship on earth, where one did not absorb thoughts but feelings from the personality concerned, where one had less opportunity to absorb thoughts than to absorb feelings from the personality concerned, which can be mediated in the most varied ways through life. We can also characterize the same for the present and a subsequent life on earth.
Suppose someone has the opportunity in this earthly life to have much inner heartfelt sympathy for this or that person with whom he does not particularly have a life relationship today, whom he only meets, but who is tremendously sympathetic to him. It can then be the case that these sympathies, which are developed in the present life on earth, lead to the person concerned, who develops these sympathies, having the person for whom he develops the sympathies as a teacher, as an educator in a subsequent life on earth.
And what has happened objectively? If one develops emotional sympathies for someone, then this depends on what the entities of the second hierarchy, the entities of the Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes unfold for him in and around the human being.
If then in the next life the influence does not take place by the detour of feelings, but by the detour of thoughts and conceptions, then the Beings of the second Hierarchy have handed over what they have done in a previous life to the Beings of the third Hierarchy, to Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai, and they now work within the human being.
So that, think of the following: When our karma develops from one life on earth to another, it means that deeds, real deeds, pass from one Hierarchy to another, that something tremendously significant happens in the cosmos, in the spiritual cosmos.
So when we look at the destiny of man, we see, as it were, through a veil into a far-reaching world event. If we really bring this to our consciousness, it can make a very strong impression on people. You really only need to imagine this in a very emotional way.
Imagine that you are looking over the fateful life of a human being. You really should not look over a person's fateful life indifferently, because by looking at a person's fate you are actually looking over something that flows from the highest hierarchy to the lowest, and from the lowest back to the highest. When you look at a person's destiny, you are looking at weaving and working and living in the order of the hierarchies. Basically, one should look at the fate of a person with a tremendous inner reverence, with deep inner awe, because by looking at the fate of a person, one stands before the whole world of the gods.
I actually wanted to express this somewhat when I wrote my Mysteries, where you will always find images that take place in earthly life and images that take place over there in the spiritual worlds. And in my mysteries I also illustrated how not only the upper hierarchies, but also the elemental beings, and how the Ahrimanic and Luciferic interfere in the life and weaving of the deeds that flow from above downwards, from below upwards, when the destiny of man is fulfilled.
Think of the scenes that take place for Strader and Capesius in the supersensible, where they appear as completely different forms of being, but are the same. That is only the other side which is really in man, that which is in the world of the gods, and not in the world of the earthly kingdoms, the minerals, the animals, the plants, the mountains, the clouds and trees and so on. How to look with holy awe at the destinies of people is also something that we must acquire, that time must acquire. If you read the biographies written by today's materialistic-minded people, it is actually terrible, because they are written without a sacred fear of the fate of the person for whom the biography is written. Biographers should actually know that by even just describing a human life, they are reaching into all hierarchies in an invisible way.
Through such considerations one comes to the emotional side of anthroposophy, becomes aware of how everything that comes to us as anthroposophical must also touch our feelings, how we not only learn something, but how we are also stimulated to develop feelings about the world, feelings that actually only really introduce us to human life. And without being led to such feelings, we cannot actually see through the laws that run through human karma. The cosmic form of karma and the individual consideration of karmic connections.