First Steps in Supersensible Perception
GA 218
17 November 1922, London
I. First Steps in Supersensible Perception
There is no doubt that at the present time numbers of people are longing to know something of the spiritual worlds and even modern scientists have been at pains to discover paths leading to knowledge of the Supersensible. But in all these attempts to penetrate to the supersensible world, modern man finds stumbling-blocks created by the judgments issuing from modern scientific thinking with all the authority it commands; and in regard to the many sources from which people imagine that knowledge of the supersensible world can be derived, the prevailing opinion is that concerning the supersensible worlds there can be no exact knowledge in the sense of modern science, for none of the evidence put forward stands up to any valid test.
Now the anthroposophical Spiritual Science of which I am venturing to speak to you in these lectures, strives to reach exact, genuinely exact, knowledge of the supersensible world: “exact,” not in the sense that experiments are made as in domains of science concerned with the external world, but in the sense that inner faculties of soul otherwise slumbering in man during his everyday life and ordinary scientific pursuits are unfolded in such a way that the full clarity of consciousness implicit in really exact science is maintained throughout. Whereas, therefore, in exact scientific thinking, consciousness is maintained as it is in ordinary life and exactitude of method is strictly adhered to during investigation of the external world, in anthroposophical Spiritual Science we proceed by adopting an initial attitude of what I will call intellectual humility, saying to ourselves: “I was once a child and my faculties then fell far, far short of those I have acquired through education and through life and now possess as an adult human being.” It is quite evident that certain faculties which did not previously function have unfolded since childhood, and the question arises naturally: Is it not possible, then, that faculties are slumbering in the adult human being just as his present faculties were slumbering in his soul during childhood? Provided that certain methods are put into practice, these faculties can indeed be drawn forth from the soul.
In anthroposophical Spiritual Science these inner faculties must be drawn out in such a way that the methods whereby the actual approach to supersensible knowledge is made, are in line with our own development. The preparation for looking into the higher world presupposes exactitude of method. As I said in my last lectures here,1Knowledge and Initiation, 14th April 1922; Knowledge of Christ Through Anthroposophy, 15th April 1922. it is possible for “exact clairvoyance” to be acquired by methods as precise and systematic as those employed when the facts of ordinary knowledge are being used in the investigation of nature.
I shall speak less to-day of how this exact clairvoyance can actually be attained—I shall mention this merely in passing, for the two previous lectures dealt with the methods for the attainment of exact clairvoyance, and information about these methods is available from the book that has been translated into English under the title, Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment.
I want to-day to indicate why it is that in his ordinary life the human being is unable to penetrate into the higher worlds. This is denied to him, primarily because he is only capable of perceiving the world in the actual present. Our eyes can perceive the world and its phenomena, our ears can hear sounds in the immediate present only. So it is with all our senses. We can only know the past of our earthly life in recollection or remembrance, that is to say, in pale, shadowy thoughts. Just think how living and concretely real were experiences undergone ten years ago and how pale and shadowy are our thoughts and recollections of them to-day.
Everything that lies outside the present moment can only live in man's ordinary consciousness in the form of shadowy remembrance. But this shadowy remembrance can be kindled and fired into higher reality through the methods which, as I have said, I do not propose to discuss in detail to-day through methods of mediation in thought, concentration upon thoughts, self-training and the like.
A man who applies such methods to himself, learning thereby to live in his thoughts with all the intensity with which he otherwise lives in his external sense-impressions only, acquires a certain faculty of observing the world not only in the immediate present. Depending upon the aptitude of the individual concerned, exercises leading to this result must of course be practiced for a long time, in conscientious, systematic meditation and concentration. Many a human being, especially in the present age, already brings with him at birth the faculty which can be developed by these methods. This does not mean that the faculty is immediately evident at birth, but at a certain moment in life it emerges from within the human being and he knows that had it not come with him at birth it would have been impossible for him to acquire it in the ordinary course of his existence. This faculty consists in being able to live within the thoughts themselves, just as through his body, man lives in the physical world.
Such a statement must not be taken lightly. Let it be remembered that man owes to his living participation in the physical world everything that enables him to claim an existence of his own. When he reaches the stage where without depending upon impressions received through the eyes, ears and other senses he can unfold an inner life as active and intense as the life of these outer senses, an inner life consisting not merely of shadowy thoughts but of inwardly living thoughts experienced with all the intensity otherwise implicit only in sense-impressions ... then he knows the reality of a second kind of existence, a different form of self-consciousness. I will call it an awakening—an awakening to a life not outside the body but within the innermost core of being, while the physical body is as quiescent and as insensible to impressions from outside as is otherwise the case only during sleep.
If we think about our own inner life and being, we find that in ordinary existence we really only know what has been conveyed to us via the senses. But sense-perceptions tell us nothing whatever about our inner life and being. With ordinary consciousness we cannot look inwards in the real sense. But when the new kind of self-consciousness in the realm of pure thinking is unfolded, we learn to look inwards just as in ordinary existence we can look outwards, into the external world.
The experience then arising can be described somewhat as follows:—As we look into the external world, the sun or some source of light must be there to illumine the objects around us. Through the light that is outside us, we perceive these objects. When, in the process of pure thinking, consciousness of this second existence awakens—it is however a process of actual “beholding” as colourful and rich in content as sense-perception—then we can become aware of an inner light ... not in a figurative sense but as a spiritual reality ... a light which illumines our own inner life and being just as in the ordinary way objects are illumined for us by some external source of light.
This condition of human experience, therefore, may be called “clairvoyance,” “clear seeing.” And this clairvoyance in the spiritual self-consciousness that has now been awakened, engenders, in the first place, the faculty whereby a man is able once again to be consciously present in every moment he has lived through during his earthly existence.
The following, for example, is possible—I say to myself: When I was 18 years old, I had certain experiences. But now, when the new consciousness has awakened, I no longer merely remember these experiences; I can actually live through them again with greater or less intensity. Once again I am the human being I was at the age of 18 or 15 or 10 ... A man can transfer himself in consciousness into every moment of his life and he thereby unfolds an inner, illumined perception of what, in contrast to the spatial body in which the senses are contained, may be called a “Time-body.”
But this Time-body is ever-present, ever in operation; it is not experienced in a succession of separate moments, but as one complete whole. It is present in all its inner mobility. A vista arises before the human being of the whole of his previous earthly life, whereas in ordinary circumstances he merely recollects this earthly life in shadowy thoughts. The whole course of his earthly existence lights up for him, but in such a way that he lives consciously in each single moment.
When this inner illumination arises, a man knows that he is the bearer not only of a physical, spatial body. He knows that he is the bearer of a second: ethereal body, a body actually woven from the pictures of his past earthly life, but pictures which, with creative power, shape this earthly life itself, shape and mould the very organism and its activities. He thus learns to know the reality of a second man within himself. This second man is conscious of living within a delicate, ethereal world of light—just as the spatial body lives in a physical world. The world is revealed in its finer, more delicate formations; the delicate, ethereal formations perceived in this way underlie everything physical.
Strange to say, it is only possible to keep very brief hold of what is experienced in this finer body. A man who by the development of exact clairvoyance has filled his ether-body, or “body of formative forces,” with light, is able to perceive the etheric reality of the world and of his own being; but in most cases he will find that the impressions pass away very quickly; they cannot be retained. And he is aware of a kind of anxiety to return as quickly as may be to the perceptions of the physical body in order to be assured of an inner sense of consolidation as a human being, as a personality. He experiences his own self in his ether-body. In this ether-body he also perceives etheric realities of the higher world. But at the same time, he finds how fleeting all these impressions are; he cannot keep hold of them for any length of time, indeed he must always resort to some means of help.
By way of example, let me tell you what procedure I myself adopt in order to prevent the impressions of this etheric vision from vanishing too rapidly. Whenever such impressions come, I try not only to perceive them but to write them down; in this way, the inner activity is carried out not only by abstract faculties of soul but is strengthened by the act of writing down the impressions. The point of importance is not the subsequent reading of what has been written but the strengthening of the activity which, to begin with, is purely etheric.
In this way a quality so fluid and evanescent that it quickly passes away pours as it were into the ordinary human faculties. This condition is not induced unconsciously as in the. case of a medium, but in full consciousness. An ethereal quality is poured into the ordinary human faculties. This enables us, too, to understand something of great importance, namely, how we can “keep hold” of a supersensible, etheric world (later on we shall be speaking of other supersensible worlds) ... a world which embraces the course of our life hitherto and also the etheric realities of outer nature extending to the sphere of the stars. This ether-world becomes a reality and consciousness of the self within this ether-world arises; moreover, we know that it is impossible, without returning again to the physical body, to keep a hold on this world for longer than at most two to three days—even when the faculties have been developed to a high degree. Certain powers of which I will speak presently enable one who is an Initiate in the modern sense to perceive all this with clear vision; such a man knows, too, what it is that he is able in this way to hold within his ether-body, or body of formative forces, without the support of the bodily faculties. It is the same as the vision that arises before the higher self-consciousness when, as the human being passes through the gate of death, the physical body is laid aside and >begins to decay. This vision, too, for the reasons given above, can remain only for some two or three days after death.
Through the development of exact clairvoyance, therefore, the first conditions of existence into which man passes after death, can be experienced; they are experienced in advance, with conscious knowledge. The conditions which the Initiate is able to experience consciously in advance, set in for every human being when the physical body is laid aside at death. But in the ordinary way a man can retain consciousness of these conditions for no longer than two or three days—that is to say, for as long as he is able, having developed higher knowledge, to hold fast his ether-body, or body of formative forces. (I shall explain presently why it is that the human being is, nevertheless, conscious during the existence after death.)
For two or three days after death the human being has, in his ether-body, consciousness of the etheric world. Then this consciousness fades away; he becomes aware that the ether-body is falling away from him just as the physical body fell away and that he must pass into a different state of consciousness in order to live on after death as a conscious individuality.
The reality of what I am now describing to you as the first moments after death (they are the first moments of the cosmic existence to follow) can be affirmed by one who has acquired the faculty of seeing into the higher world, because he experiences in advance the conditions which in the normal life of man set in only after death. Because he has developed the intensified consciousness of self that is no longer dependent upon the body, he experiences in advance, in his present consciousness, these moments which immediately follow death. He is able to shed light upon his own higher existence and to realise that he has within himself the light which during the first two or three days after death will reveal to him a world quite different from the world revealed to him by his senses during earthly life between birth and death.2The lectures were delivered by Dr. Steiner in three sections as indicated in the text, translations being given after each.
This inner illumination is necessary before it is possible to survey that supersensible picture of the course of earthly life which, as I have said, lasts for a few days after death. A man must kindle within himself a spiritual light which shines inwards. Instead of being aware only of the present moment in the way made possible by the senses, he will then reach a higher stage.
The attainment of further knowledge of the Supersensible depends not only upon a change in perceptive consciousness but also upon a change in the state of ordinary existence. Our ordinary existence as human beings is enclosed within the spatial, physical body; the boundaries of our skin also constitute the boundaries of our actual life. Our life extends as far as our body. Within this field of experience, we cannot reach what I have so far been describing as knowledge of the higher worlds. Knowledge of the higher worlds can only be attained when ordinary experience is transcended by consciousness that is not confined within the boundaries of the spatial body but participates in the life of the whole world around. This extended consciousness leads to knowledge of the higher worlds. As I have said, on this occasion I propose merely to speak about the methods through which a modern Initiate acquires exact knowledge of the higher worlds. The rest is to be found in the book mentioned above.
When we have acquired the faculty not only of experiencing a second existence in the life of thought—an existence that still remains within the confines of the spatial body—but also the faculty of living outside the body, a further stage is reached. It is attained when we are capable not only of letting thoughts live with full intensity in our consciousness but of eliminating them at will as the result of systematic exercises and practice. By this means, consciousness arises of experiences outside the body. Let me give a simple example.
Suppose we are looking at a quartz crystal. It is there before our eyes. A person who is trying to make himself into a medium or to induce some kind of self-hypnosis stares fixedly at the crystal and the impression it makes puts him into a state of confused consciousness. Such procedure is altogether alien to anthroposophical Spiritual Science. The exercises it adopts are of an entirely different character and can be described as follows:—We look steadily at, say, a crystal, until we can entirely ignore it as an object physically perceived, and re-orientate our attention. A crystal is there before us and we learn gradually to see it not with physical eyes but with eyes of soul; the physical eyes are open but are not used for the purpose of looking at the physical crystal and in this act of inner cognition the crystal in front of us is eliminated, as a physical object, from our vision.—The same procedure may also be adopted with a colour; it is there before us but we no longer look at it as colour, we eliminate it from our physical vision.
Such an exercise can also be applied to thoughts engendered in the immediate present by circumstances of external life, or to those which arise in the form of remembrances or recollections of earlier moments of earthly life.—Such thoughts are eliminated, emptied from the consciousness, so that we are simply awake and in a state of consciousness from which the external world is altogether excluded.
If such exercises are conscientiously carried out, we discover that it is possible for our life to extend beyond the boundaries of our spatial body. Then, in the real sense, we share in the life of the whole surrounding world instead of perceiving its physical phenomena only.
Thereby, in complete clarity of consciousness, an experience arises which may be compared with recollection of the life passed through during sleep. Just as acts of ordinary perception are limited to the immediately present moment, so is our ordinary life limited to the experiences that have arisen in the hours of our waking consciousness.
Just think of it—When you think back over your life, the periods of sleep are always blanks sofar as ordinary consciousness is concerned. Nothing that has been experienced by the soul during these periods of sleep is remembered; remembrance, therefore, is a stream in which there are constant interruptions, but this fact is usually ignored.
The experiences of the soul during sleep arise like intensified remembrances in consciousness which has awakened to such a degree that with it the human being is able to live outside his body. This condition leads to the second stage of knowledge in the supersensible world and we become aware, to begin with, of what we experience as beings of soul when the physical body is asleep and quiescent, when it has no perceptions, when the will is not functioning and when the soul has, so to speak, temporarily departed from the body. In ordinary waking life we can in this way recollect the experiences through which we have passed while outside the body during every period of sleep. But it is very important to understand what these experiences really are. The experiences of the soul from the moment of falling asleep to that of waking are, of course, experiences in a realm outside the body, and actual awareness of them is possible only when consciousness of life outside the body has awakened. At this stage, knowledge comes to us not only of something which, like the “time-body,” is illumined by an inner light, but with the faculty of waking remembrance that is now illumined by exact clairvoyance, we learn to know what really comes to pass in us during sleep. This experience will, at first, cause astonishment. Living in the physical body with our ordinary consciousness, we have within us, lungs, heart, and so forth; from the moment of falling asleep to the moment of waking we have, in very truth, not a personal, human consciousness but a cosmic consciousness. In this higher state of consciousness, it is as though the after-images of the planetary and starry worlds were within us. This may sound strange, but it is perceptible reality at this stage of higher knowledge. We feel ourselves within the all-pervading cosmic life and contemplate the world from this cosmic vantage-point.
Experiencing as inner reality what was round about us in ordinary life, during every period of sleep we live through in backward sequence, all the experiences that came to us here, in the physical world, from the previous moment of waking to that of falling asleep. If, for example, after a normal day we go to sleep, we live backwards over the experiences of the day—first the experiences of the evening, then those of the afternoon, then those of the morning. Thus during sleep at night, we live backwards through all the experiences of the day.
The development of the exact clairvoyance of which I am speaking here, is connected with this power of conscious recollection of the experiences of sleep. Just as in the ordinary way we can remember things experienced years ago in full waking consciousness, by means of this exact clairvoyance we can call up remembrance of this backward sequence of the day's experiences. And so in actual fact, this exact clairvoyance is an extension of the ordinary faculty of recollection or remembrance. We look back upon our experiences during sleep, knowing that in sleep we have been living outside the boundaries of the physical body in a cosmic existence which is a reflection of the whole life of the universe; during this cosmic existence we live backwards through the happenings of the day. We find then, that the time taken by this backward review is shorter than that taken by the experiences themselves in physical life. When we are able in the real sense to investigate this realm of existence through systematic practice and increasingly exact knowledge, we discover that this backward review takes place three times more quickly than the physical experiences in our ordinary consciousness. Let us say that a man is awake for two thirds of his whole life and asleep for one third—During the one third spent in sleep, therefore, he lives through the experiences which, in the physical world, have occupied two thirds of his existence.
When exact clairvoyance enables us in waking consciousness to remember the life of sleep, we also realise that this backward review is significant, not so much in itself, but as a foreshadowing. Ask yourselves what you think about a recollection of something that happened to you 20 years ago—You say: “I experience it now in shadowy thoughts of remembrance; but the remembrance itself is the guarantee that it is not phantasy but a picture of an actual experience in my past earthly fife.”—Just as remembrance itself is the guarantee that it is related to a real experience in the past so the conscious recollection of the experiences of sleep is the guarantee that in itself it is only the foreshadowing of something belonging to the future.
Proof that a remembrance relates to something in the past is not needed. When exact clairvoyance has been acquired, it is equally unnecessary to prove that the recollection of these night-experiences is not a phantastic picture of the present. It reveals in itself that it has to do with the future—indeed with that moment in the future when the physical body of a man will be actually laid aside at death, whereas now, in exact clairvoyance, it is only figuratively laid aside.
By this means, knowledge arises of what the human being experiences after death, when the three days of which I have spoken, have elapsed. This process also enables us to understand the significance of those two or three days after death when the human being is aware of living in a cosmic consciousness, when from the vantage-point, of the Cosmos he once again surveys the etheric picture of his life, looking back over the course of his earthly existence. We learn to know that these first days after death are followed by a life which runs its course three times more quickly than earthly existence. This same knowledge, after all, resulted from conscious recollection of the experiences passed through during sleep. The etheric vision which persists for only a short time after death is followed by a life lasting some 20 or 30 years, or maybe less—according to the age reached in earthly existence. Approximately—for everything here is approximate—this life runs its course three times more quickly than earthly existence. If therefore a man dies at the age of 30, the life of which I am speaking now will last for about 10 years; if someone has reached the age of 60 and then dies, he lives through his life in the backward sequence of events, in 20 years ... but all these periods are approximate.
With exact clairvoyance these things become known, just as a past experience is known through an act of recollection or remembrance. Thus, we learn to know that death is followed by a life in the supersensible world during which we live through the whole of our past earthly life in backward sequence. Every night we live backwards through the events of the preceding day; after death we live back over the whole of our earthly life. We experience it all once again in its spiritual aspect and thereby unfold a true judgment of our own moral worth. During the period after death we unfold consciousness of our personal, moral qualities, of our moral worth, just as here on Earth we are conscious of life in a body of flesh and blood. After death we live in a world that is conditioned by our own moral qualities and our deeds on Earth. By living through earthly life again in backward sequence and because we are not diverted from true moral judgment by instincts, natural urges and passions but survey our life from a purely spiritual standpoint, it is possible for us to form a true judgment of our own moral worth.
The forming of such a judgment requires the length of time of which I have just been speaking. When this period after death has come to an end, the backward-flowing remembrance of our moral life on Earth fades away and we must now pass onwards through the spiritual worlds with a different kind of consciousness. Knowledge of this different kind of consciousness can also be attained by exact clairvoyance.
The attainment of such knowledge depends upon the capacity not only to live outside the confines of the spatial body but to unfold a kind of consciousness entirely different from that belonging to the physical world. At this stage the human being discovers that a supersensible, purely spiritual state of existence follows the period during which judgment of the moral qualities is formed—this period lasts, as we have heard, for a third of the time spent in earthly life. This is followed by a different kind of existence, by a life that is purely spiritual. But before knowledge of it can be acquired, exact clairvoyance must have developed to a still higher stage.
If you think about the experiences undergone during sleep, you will realise that the human being does indeed lead a life outside his physical, spatial body. But he has no real freedom of movement in this life. He has to make his way through the experiences that have come to him during the hours of waking consciousness—only in reversed order. And a man who through exact clairvoyance has attained supersensible insight into these experiences—he too feels as though he is confined in a world which he is able to call up into his clairvoyant vision but in which he cannot move, in which he is fettered. Freedom of movement in the spiritual world—this is what must be acquired as the third stage of supersensible knowledge. Without such freedom of movement, it is not possible for spiritual consciousness in the real sense to arise.
In addition to exact clairvoyance, a power which I will call that of “ideal magic” must be acquired. I use this term in order to distinguish it from the unlawful form of magic which resorts to external means and is fraught with a great deal of charlatanism. A firm distinction must be made between such practices and what I now mean when I speak of “ideal magic.” I mean the following: —
When a man surveys his life with ordinary consciousness, he can perceive how in certain respects he changed with the passing of every year or decade. His habits have changed—slowly maybe, but definitely nevertheless. Certain faculties have developed, others seem to have disappeared. Anyone who honestly observes certain faculties of his earthly life can say to himself that more than once he became a changed being. But this change has been wrought by life; he has surrendered himself to life and life educates him, trains him, moulds and shapes his soul.
A man who is intent upon finding his way into the supersensible world as a real knower, in other words one who strives to acquire the power of ideal magic, must not only be able to make his thoughts so inwardly forceful and intense that he becomes aware of a second existence as described above, but he must be capable of freeing his will, too, from bondage to the physical body. In ordinary life the will can only be brought into operation by making use of the physical body—be it through the legs, arms, or organs of speech. The physical body provides the basis for the life of will. But the following is possible and must, furthermore, be systematically carried out by anyone who as a spiritual investigator wishes to add to the power of exact clairvoyance that of ideal magic. He must develop such strength, of will that at a certain point in his life he can, at his own bidding, get rid of some habit and acquire an altogether different one. Even with the most resolute will, it may take a man several years to change certain forms of experience, but it is possible, nevertheless. Instead of allowing life in the physical body to be his educator, he can take this education and self-training into his own hands.
Exercises of will such as I have described in the book mentioned above, will lead one who is striving to be an Initiate in the modern sense to the stage where he is able not only to be conscious during sleep of what he has experienced by day. He will be able to induce a condition which is not that of sleep but is lived through in full, clear consciousness. At this stage he is capable of movement and action even during sleep; he is not, as in ordinary consciousness, a merely passive being while outside his body, but he can act and be active in the spiritual world. If he is incapable of this, he will make no progress during his sleep-life. One who becomes in the true sense a modern Initiate has acquired the faculties whereby he can also be active as a self-conscious human being in the life which runs its course between the onset of sleep and the moment of waking. And when the will becomes operative while he is actually living outside the body, he will be able gradually to unfold an altogether different kind of consciousness, namely, the consciousness that can actually perceive what the human being experiences during the period after death following the one described. With this more highly developed consciousness, vistas open out of the existence which follows earthly life and of the existence which precedes it. We behold a life which runs its course through a spiritual world just as physical life on Earth runs its course through a physical world. We learn to know ourselves as beings of pure Spirit in a spiritual world just as here, on Earth, we know ourselves as physical beings in the physical world. And it is now possible to ascertain the duration of this life—the period during which we assess our own moral worth.
By integrating will into the life of soul in this way through ideal magic, we learn to understand the nature of the consciousness that awakens in us as adult human beings, and to compare it with the dim consciousness of earliest childhood.
As you well know, ordinary consciousness has no remembrance of these first years of childhood. The consciousness of the human being in this period of his life is dull and dim; his entry into the world is wrapped in sleep. The ordinary consciousness of an adult human being is clear and intense in comparison with the dim, dark consciousness of the first years of earthly life. But one who has acquired the power to put ideal magic into operation in the way described, understands the difference between his waking consciousness as an adult and this dim consciousness of early childhood; he knows that he rises to a higher level as he passes from the dim consciousness of childhood into the clearer consciousness of adult years. And with knowledge of how the dreamlike consciousness of childhood is related to that of adult life he is able to understand how his adult consciousness is related to that illumined consciousness which, imbued with the power not only of exact clairvoyance but also of ideal magic, makes him capable of moving freely in the spiritual world. He learns to move freely in the spiritual world just as after early childhood when he had no such freedom of movement, he learnt to move about freely in the physical body. In addition, therefore, to knowledge of how the consciousness of childhood is related to that of ordinary adult life, he learns to know how ordinary consciousness is related to a higher, purely spiritual consciousness.
Thereby a man is led to the realisation that in his life after death he is not only a spiritual being living among spiritual beings, but he can discover how long this life lasts. Here again I must quote as an example the recollection of an experience of earthly life. We realise that just as this recollection bears within it a reality belonging to the past, so this new experience bears within it the knowledge that the higher consciousness of the Initiate anticipates as it were this spiritual existence after death. And then we learn to know how this purely spiritual life is related to the earthly life that has stretched from birth to death.
When an Initiate looks back to his earliest childhood, he knows that as the years advance, the easier it is for him to look into the spiritual world. There are, of course, human beings who while still comparatively young have the power to see into the spiritual world. But this vision increases in clarity and exactitude with every year that passes. The faculty of entering into this other state of consciousness grows constantly stronger and with it comes clearer and clearer knowledge of the relation between the one state and the other. For example: a man has reached the age of forty and is only able, let us say, to remember back as far as his third or fourth year. By studying how the length of the period of the dreamlike consciousness of childhood is related to these forty years, we learn to recognise that the spiritual life after death will be longer than the span of an earthly life by as many times as this earthly life as a whole is longer than the dreamy life of earliest childhood; hence the life after death lasts for many centuries. The period during which the moral life is re-experienced and assessed after death is followed by a purely spiritual life during which man lives for many centuries as a spiritual being among other spiritual beings. During this period of existence, he has around him the tasks which belong to the spiritual world, just as here, in earthly existence, he has around him those which belong to the physical world.
When exact clairvoyance and the power to move freely in the spiritual world have been acquired, the nature of these tasks is revealed.—All the forces which finally lead over to a new life on the Earth are drawn from this spiritual world in which the human being lives after death. The future life on Earth stands there as a goal from the very beginning of the life after death. And this life on Earth as a human being ... it is in very truth a microcosm ... this microcosm is the outcome of great and mighty experiences in the spiritual world after death.
Now a seed in the physical world is minute—nevertheless it unfolds and later on will grow into a large plant or animal. It is also possible to speak of a spirit-seed which the human being unfolds and develops when his physical life on Earth is over. In communion with Spiritual Beings and out of the spiritual forces of the universe, he elaborates a spirit-seed for his new earthly life. This process is not a recapitulation of the past earthly life but embraces modes of activity and realities of being far greater and mightier than can ever exist on Earth. In his post-earthly existence, amid the experiences and realities of the spiritual world, the human being prepares his future earthly life.
I have spoken of the cosmic consciousness which arises in human beings after their death.—This cosmic consciousness is, after all, present every night during sleep, although in such dimness that, to use a contradictory expression, it is really an ‘unconscious consciousness.’—Because they have this cosmic consciousness in their post-mortem, spiritual existence, human beings live together not only with other spiritual beings who never come down to the Earth, having their abode in worlds of pure Spirit, but paramountly with all the souls who are either incarnate in human physical bodies or, having themselves passed through the gate of death, have also entered into the cosmic consciousness that is common to all.
The relationships woven on Earth between soul and soul, in the family, among individuals who have found one another inasmuch as they have met in physical bodies—all such ties in their earthly form are laid aside. What men experience as lovers, as friends, as associates of other human beings near to them in some way, in short, all experiences in the physical body—all are laid aside just as the physical body itself is laid aside. … But because these ties of family, of friendship, of love and affection have been unfolded here, on the Earth, they are transmuted after death into those spiritual experiences which help to build a later life.
Even during the period when the moral worth of the past life is assessed, the human being is working not for himself alone but for and in communion with souls who were esteemed and loved by him on Earth.
Through exact clairvoyance and through ideal magic these things become matters of actual knowledge, of direct vision, not of mere belief. Indeed, it may truly be said that in the physical world an abyss stretches between souls, however dear they may be to one another, for their meeting takes place in the body and the relationships between them can only be such as are determined by the conditions of bodily existence. But when a human being himself is in the spiritual world, the physical body belonging to one whom he loved and has now left behind does not constitute an obstacle to living communion with the soul. Just as the faculty for “seeing through” physical objects must be acquired before it is possible to gaze into the spiritual world, so the human being who has passed through the gate of death can penetrate through the bodies of those he has left behind, and enter into communion with their souls while they are still living on the Earth.
I wanted to speak to you in this first lecture of how perception of the supersensible life of man can be developed. I have tried to indicate that when we strive to unfold exact clairvoyance and the power of ideal magic, it is possible to speak with real knowledge of the higher worlds, just as exact natural science is able to speak about the physical world. As we learn to penetrate more and more deeply into these higher worlds—and undoubtedly there are human beings who by developing their faculties will be capable of this—we shall find that no branch of science, however highly developed, can deter us from accepting the knowledge which can be revealed through exact clairvoyance and ideal magic concerning man's existence not only on the Earth between birth and death but also between death and the return to earthly life through a new birth.
In the lecture tomorrow I shall speak of the impulse brought into the life of man on Earth by the Christ Event, the Event of Golgotha. It will then be my task to show that the knowledge of which I have been speaking, inasmuch as it is a concern of every single individual, sheds light upon the whole evolution of the human race on Earth and can therefore also reveal what the entry of Christ into earthly existence signified for mankind.
The aim of these lectures is to show, on the one hand, that in speaking of supersensible knowledge there is no need to be at variance with the exact scientific thinking of modern times. The theme of the lecture tomorrow will be that the Mightiest of all Events in the life of mankind on Earth—the Christ Event—is revealed in a new and even more radiant light to souls who are willing to receive knowledge of the supersensible world in the way set forth.
To-morrow, then, I shall be speaking of the relation of anthroposophical Spiritual Science to Christianity.
Exakte Erkenntnis Der Übersinnlichen Welten Im Sinne Der Anthroposophischen Geisteswissenschaft
Es ist zweifellos, daß sich in der Gegenwart eine große Zahl von Menschen danach sehnt, etwas zu wissen von den geistigen, von den übersinnlichen Welten, und selbst Männer der Wissenschaft haben sich ja in der neueren Zeit vielfach damit befaßt, Wege zu finden, durch die man zur Erkenntnis der übersinnlichen Welt kommen kann. Allein bei allen diesen Versuchen, in die übersinnliche Welt hineinzukommen, stellt sich dem modernen Menschen ja immer das in den Weg, was aus der modernen Wissenschaft heraus als Urteilsfähigkeit folgt, was an Autorität aus dieser modernen Wissenschaft heraus vorhanden ist. Und gegenüber so mancher Quelle, aus der man zu schöpfen glaubt für die Erkenntnis der übersinnlichen Welt, macht sich das Urteil geltend: Ja, aber eine exakte Erkenntnis, wie wir sie gewöhnt sind in der Wissenschaft zu entwickeln, eine exakte Erkenntnis der übersinnlichen Welten kann es doch nicht geben, denn all das hält nicht stand. Demgegenüber strebt jene anthroposophische Geisteswissenschaft, von der ich Ihnen heute und in den nächsten Tagen mir erlauben werde zu sprechen, eine wirklich exakte Erkenntnis der übersinnlichen Welt an. Eine exakte Erkenntnis nicht dadurch, daß in demselben Sinne, wie für die Wissenschaft der äußeren Welt, Experimente gemacht werden, sondern so, daß innere Fähigkeiten der Seele, die sonst im alltäglichen Leben und in der gewöhnlichen Wissenschaft im Menschen nur schlummern, auf eine solche Art entwickelt werden, daß bei all dieser Entwickelung die menschliche Besonnenheit so aufrechterhalten bleibt, wie das nur in der exakten Wissenschaft geschieht. Während man also in der exakten Wissenschaft sein Bewußtsein so behält, wie man es im gewöhnlichen Leben hat, und dann sich in den Methoden exakt verhält bei der Untersuchung der äußeren Welt, verfährt man in der anthroposophischen Geisteswissenschaft so, daß man sich eines Tages unterwirft dem, was ich nennen möchte intellektuelle Bescheidenheit, indem man sich sagt: Du warst einmal Kind, du hast damals Fähigkeiten gehabt, die nicht im entferntesten an diejenigen Fähigkeiten heranreichen, die du jetzt als erwachsener Mensch hast, und die du dir angeeignet hast durch Erziehung, durch das Leben. — Gerade so, wie man von der Kindheit auf gewisse Fähigkeiten entwickelt hat, die vorher eben nicht da waren, so kann man sich sagen, gibt es vielleicht auch im erwachsenen Menschen Fähigkeiten, die bei ihm schlummern, so wie seine jetzigen Fähigkeiten geschlummert haben in der Seele des Kindes. Und man kann durch gewisse Methoden diese Fähigkeiten aus der Seele herausholen.
Nun müssen bei der anthroposophischen Geisteswissenschaft, die hier gemeint ist, diese Fähigkeiten auf eine solche Art aus der Seele herausgeholt werden, daß die Methoden, die man dann, bevor man an eine Erkenntnis geht, auf seine eigene Entwickelung anwendet, eben in dieser eigenen Entwickelung exakt vor sich gehen. Man präpariert sich also für das Schauen in die höhere Welt hinein so, daß die Präparation, die man auf sich selber anwendet, eine exakte Methode voraussetzt. Deshalb kann man, wie ich mir schon erlaubte, bei meinen letzten Vorträgen hier in diesem Saale zu sagen, auf diese Art zu einer exakten Clairvoyance, zu einem exakten Hellsehen kommen. Es ist auf eine exakte Weise erworben, wie man sonst mit den gewöhnlichen Erkenntnissen eben auf exakte Weise die Natur erforscht.
Ich werde heute weniger zu sprechen haben von der Art und Weise, wie man sich dieses exakte Hellsehen erwirbt. Ich werde das Entsprechende gelegentlich erwähnen, denn ich habe bereits in den erwähnten vorigen Vorträgen von den Methoden gesprochen, durch die man zur exakten Clairvoyance kommt, und man kann sich über diese Methoden unterrichten namentlich aus dem Buche, das ins Englische übersetzt ist und das im Englischen eben den Titel trägt: «The Way of Initiation.»
Dagegen möchte ich zunächst heute darauf aufmerksam machen, wodurch dem Menschen im gewöhnlichen Leben versagt ist, einzudringen in die höheren Welten. Das ist ihm vor allen Dingen dadurch versagt, daß er nur immer im gegenwärtigen Augenblicke die Welt wahrnehmen kann. Durch unsere Augen können wir nur im gegenwärtigen Augenblicke die Welt und ihre Erscheinungen sehen. Durch unsere Ohren können wir nur im gegenwärtigen Augenblicke Töne hören. Und so ist es mit allen unseren Sinnen. Alles, was zunächst die Vergangenheit unseres eigenen Erdenlebens ist, können wir nur in der Erinnerung wissen, das heißt in abgeblaßten Gedanken. Man vergleiche nur einmal, wie lebendig, wie konkret dasjenige war, was wir im Dasein vor zehn Jahren durchgemacht haben, und wie blaß, schattenhaft der Gedanke ist, mit dem wir uns heute daran erinnern.
Und so ist alles, was über den gegenwärtigen Augenblick hinausgeht, für das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein des Menschen so, daß es in ihm nur in der schattenhaften Erinnerung leben kann. Aber diese schattenhafte Erinnerung kann zu einem höheren Leben angefacht und angefeuert werden. Und das geschieht durch diejenigen Methoden, die ich, wie gesagt, heute weniger erörtern will, durch die Methode der Meditation in Gedanken, der Konzentration auf Gedanken, der Selbsterziehung und so weiter.
Derjenige, der solche Methoden auf sich anwendet, wodurch er lernt, in Gedanken ebenso intensiv zu leben, wie man sonst nur in den äußeren Sinneseindrücken lebt, der erlangt eine gewisse Fähigkeit, die darinnen besteht, daß er nicht nur im gegenwärtigen Augenblicke die Welt betrachten kann. Solche Übungen, welche dazu führen, daß man nicht nur im gegenwärtigen Augenblicke die Welt betrachten kann, müssen allerdings lange Zeit, je nach den betreffenden Anlagen des Menschen, in sorgfältiger und systematischer, eben in exakter Meditation und Konzentration ausgeführt werden. Manche Menschen bringen gerade in der gegenwärtigen Zeit die Fähigkeit, die man auf diese Weise ausbilden kann, schon bei ihrer Geburt mit. Das heißt, sie ist nicht gleich bei der Geburt so da, daß sie offenbar werden kann, aber sie tritt aus dem Inneren hervor in einem gewissen Zeitpunkte des Lebens, und man weiß, man hätte sich sie nicht im gewöhnlichen Leben erworben, wenn man sie nicht schon durch die Geburt mitgebracht hätte. Diese Fähigkeit besteht darin, daß man in den Gedanken drinnen so leben kann, wie man sonst durch seinen Körper in der sinnlichen Welt lebt.
Man nehme eine solche Aussage nicht allzu leicht. Man bedenke, daß der Mensch alles das, wodurch er sich selbst ein Dasein zuschreibt, seinem Miterleben mit der Sinneswelt verdankt. Wenn der Mensch so weit kommt, daß er, ohne daß er sich auf die Eindrücke der Augen, der Ohren, auf die Eindrücke anderer Sinne verläßt, dennoch ein inneres Leben entwickelt, das nun innerlich intensiv ist, wie sonst nur das Leben der Sinne, ein inneres Leben, das nicht bloß in schattenhaften Gedanken lebt, sondern in innerlich lebendigen Gedanken, daß man die Gedanken so erlebt, wie man sonst nur die Sinneseindrücke erlebt, dann erlebt man allerdings ein zweites Dasein, dann erlebt man ein anderes Selbstbewußtsein. Man erlebt geradezu dasjenige, was ich nennen möchte: Aufwachen, nicht außerhalb des Leibes, sondern im Innern des Menschen zu einem Leben erwachen, trotzdem der physische Leib so ruhig und durch die Sinne so unempfänglich ist, wie er sonst nur im Schlafe ist.
Wenn wir in uns selbst hineinschauen, finden wir, daß wir eigentlich nur dasjenige wissen im gewöhnlichen Leben, was wir durch die Sinne aufgenommen haben. Wir wissen von unserem eigenen Inneren durch unmittelbare Wahrnehmungen nichts. Wir können durch das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein nicht hineinschauen in unsere innere Organisation. Wenn wir ein Selbstbewußtsein im reinen Denken erwerben, dann lernen wir ebenso nach innen schauen, wie wir sonst nach außen schauen können.
Dann fühlen wir etwa das Folgende: Wenn wir sonst nach außen schauen, muß die Sonne oder ein Licht da sein, welches seine Strahlen wirft auf die Gegenstände um uns her. Durch dieses Licht, das außer uns ist, sehen wir die Gegenstände um uns her. Wenn wir uns bewußt werden in diesem zweiten Dasein im reinen Denkprozesse, der aber dann ein Anschauungsprozeß ist, der so farbig und intensiv ist wie sonst die Sinneswahrnehmung, dann empfinden wir gewissermaßen — ja, nicht nur gewissermaßen, sondern im eigentlichen Sinne, nur ist der Sinn geistig gemeint —, wir empfinden ein inneres Licht, ein Licht, durch das wir in unser eigenes Inneres so hineinleuchten, wie wir sonst die Gegenstände beleuchtet bekommen durch die äußeren Lichter.
Deshalb kann man diesen Zustand des menschlichen Erlebens eine Clairvoyance, ein Hellsehen nennen. Und dieses Hellsehen bei dem erwachten Selbstbewußtsein im Geiste, dieses Hellsehen bringt zunächst die Fähigkeit hervor, daß man in jedem Momente, den man auf Erden erlebt hat, wiederum drinnen sein kann.
Man kann zum Beispiel ganz gut erleben: Du warst achtzehn Jahre alt, Mit diesen achtzehn Jahren gingst du durch diese oder jene Erlebnisse. — Man hat aber nicht nur eine Erinnerung an diese Erlebnisse, man erlebt sie mehr oder weniger stark ja wieder. Man ist abermals der Mensch, der man mit achtzehn Jahren oder mit fünfzehn Jahren oder mit zehn Jahren gewesen ist. Man kann sich versetzen in jeden Augenblick seines Lebens, und man gelangt dadurch zu einem inneren erleuchteten Anschauen dessen, was man gegenüber dem Raumesleib, der unsere Sinne enthält und uns die äußere Anschauung liefert, einen Zeitleib nennen kann.
Aber dieser Zeitleib ist auf einmal da. Nicht daß man ihn in Momenten hintereinander erlebt, er ist auf einmal da. Er ist da in seiner inneren Beweglichkeit. Man überschaut sich in seinem ganzen bisherigen Erdenleben, wie man sich sonst nur in schattenhaften Gedanken an dieses Erdenleben erinnert. Man durchleuchtet seinen ganzen Erdenlauf, aber so, daß man in jedem Momente drinnensteht.
Wenn man diese innere Erleuchtung erlebt, dann weiß man, man trägt nicht nur diesen physischen Menschenleib, diesen Raumesleib an sich. Man weiß, der Mensch trägt einen zweiten, einen feineren Leib in sich, einen Leib, der eigentlich gewoben ist aus den Bildern des bisherigen Erdenlebens, aber aus solchen Bildern, die zu gleicher Zeit dieses Erdenleben selber schöpferisch gestalten, nämlich unseren Organismus und unsere Tätigkeiten gestalten, unseren Organismus, in dem wir sind, unsere Tätigkeiten, die wir ausgeübt haben. So lernt man einen zweiten Menschen in sich kennen.
Und diesen zweiten Menschen, den man kennenlernt auf diese Art, den nimmt man so wahr, daß er sich in der Tat erlebt - wie sich der physische Raumesleib in einer physischen Welt erlebt — in einer feinern ätherischen, ich möchte sagen, in einer durchleuchteten Welt. Die Welt ist noch einmal da. Die Welt ist in feineren Gestalten da. Allem Physischen liegen feinere ätherische Gestaltungen zugrunde, die man auf diese Weise schaut.
Und man erlebt das Eigentümliche, daß man alles, was man in diesem feineren Leibe erlebt, nur kurze Zeit festhalten kann. Meistens ist es so, daß derjenige, der sich diese exakte Clairvoyance erworben hat und dadurch seinen Äther- oder Bildekräfteleib, wie ich ihn auch nennen möchte, durchleuchtet hat, daß er das Ätherische der Welt, das Ätherische seiner selbst wahrnimmt, daß er aber auch zu gleicher Zeit erkennen muß, wie ungeheuer schnell die Eindrücke verschwinden. Man kann sie nicht festhalten. Man bekommt eine Art von Ängstlichkeit, nur rasch wieder zurückzukehren zu den Wahrnehmungen des physischen Leibes, damit man eine innerliche Festigkeit als Mensch, als Persönlichkeit habe. Und man erlebt sich in seinem Ätherleib. Man erlebt auch Dinge der höheren Welt in diesem Ätherleib, dasjenige, was in der höheren Welt ätherisch ist. Aber man schaut zugleich, wie flüchtig alle diese Eindrücke sind, man kann sie nicht lange festhalten, man kann sie nur dadurch festhalten, daß man sich irgendwie hilft.
Ich möchte als Beispiel anführen, wie ich mir selber helfe, um die Eindrücke dieses ätherischen Schauens nicht allzu schnell verschwinden zu lassen: Ich versuche jedesmal, nachdem solche Eindrücke da sind, sie nicht nur zu schauen, sondern sie aufzuschreiben; so daß die Tätigkeit, die ausgeübt wird, nicht nur ausgeübt wird durch die abstrakten Fähigkeiten der Seele, sondern festgehalten wird durch das Aufschreiben. Es kommt nicht darauf an, daß man die Dinge hinterher liest, aber es kommt darauf an, daß man eine stärkere Tätigkeit einfließen läßt in diejenige Tätigkeit, die zunächst eine rein ätherische ist.
Dadurch gießt man sozusagen das, was ungeheuer flüchtig und flüssig ist und was schnell hinweghuscht, in seine gewöhnlichen menschlichen Fähigkeiten hinein. Es geschieht das alles nicht wie beim Medium unbewußt, sondern es geschieht mit vollem Bewußtsein. Aber man gießt das alles in seine gewöhnlichen menschlichen körperlichen Fähigkeiten hinein. Dadurch kann man es festhalten. Dadurch kommt man auch in die Lage, etwas sehr Wichtiges zu begreifen. Man kommt in die Lage, zu begreifen, wie festzuhalten ist eine übersinnlich-ätherische Welt zunächst - wir werden nachher von anderen übersinnlichen Welten sprechen -, aber eine übersinnlich-ätherische Welt, die einen selbst umfaßt in seinem bisherigen Lebenslauf und die das Ätherische der äußeren Natur umfaßt bis in die Sternenwelt hinauf. Man lernt diese ätherische Welt kennen. Man lernt sich selber in dieser ätherischen Welt erleben; und man weiß, daß, ohne daß man an den physischen Leib wieder herankommt, es unmöglich ist, diese Welt länger als höchstens zwei bis drei Tage festzuhalten. Wenn man die Fähigkeiten sehr stark ausgebildet hat, kommt es dazu, daß man diese Welt zwei bis drei Tage festhalten kann. Und da man dann durch Dinge, von denen ich gleich nachher sprechen werde, dies alles überschauen kann als moderner Eingeweihter, so weiß man auch zu beurteilen, was das ist, das man da, ohne sich auf die körperlichen Fähigkeiten zu stützen, in seinem Ätherleib oder in seinem Bildekräfteleib festhält. Es ist dasjenige, was man, wenn der Mensch durch die Todespforte schreitet aus dem physischen Leib, der zerfällt und abgelegt wird, was man da zunächst aus seinem höheren Selbstbewußtsein heraus schaut, und was aus diesem Grunde auch nicht länger als zwei bis drei Tage nach dem Tode des physischen Leibes bei dem menschlichen Selbstbewußtsein verbleiben kann.
So erlebt man durch die Gestaltung der exakten Clairvoyance die ersten Zustände, die beim Menschen nach dem Tode eintreten; man erlebt sie aus dem Grunde, weil man sie erkennend vorerlebt.
Dasjenige, was der Eingeweihte erkennend vorerlebt, das tritt nun bei jedem Menschen ein, wenn er seinen physischen Leib ablegt. Aber der Mensch würde weiter kein Bewußtsein haben — wodurch er trotzdem ein Bewußtsein hat nach dem Tode, das werde ich nachher erklären —, der Mensch würde kein Bewußtsein all die Zeit hindurch haben, in der er durch die höhere Erkenntnis seinen Äther- oder Bildekräfteleib festhalten kann, das heißt zwei bis drei Tage.
Zwei bis drei Tage nach dem Tode hat also der Mensch ein im Ätherleib lebendes Bewußtsein von der ätherischen Welt. Dann legt er dieses Bewußtsein ab. Er erlebt, wie der Ätherleib gewissermaßen von ihm abfällt, wie zuerst der physische Leib abgefallen ist, und wie er nötig hat, in ein anderes Bewußtsein überzugehen, um nach dem Tode als bewußtes Menschenwesen weiterzuleben.
Das, was ich Ihnen hier schildere als die ersten Augenblicke gewissermaßen — denn gegenüber dem Weltendasein sind es die ersten Augenblicke —, das darf derjenige, der sich die charakterisierte Fähigkeit erworben hat, in die höhere Welt hineinzuschauen, behaupten, weil er das vorerlebt, was sonst im Menschenleben normal nach dem Tode eintritt. Dadurch, daß er jenes starke Selbstbewußtsein sich erworben hat, das nicht mehr auf den Leib angewiesen ist, erlebt er diese Momente unmittelbar nach dem Tode schon in diesem Bewußtsein vor.
Er gelangt dazu, sein eigenes höheres Leben zu beleuchten, und er gelangt dadurch dazu, jenes Licht in sich selber zu erkennen, wodurch er nach dem Tode in den ersten zwei bis drei Tagen eine Welt um sich herum hat, die anders ist als diejenige Welt, die wir um uns herum haben, wenn wir durch unsere Sinne hinausschauen in unsere Umgebung während unseres Erdenlebens zwischen Geburt und Tod.
Was nach diesen Tagen eintritt, das will ich, nachdem dieser Teil des Vortrages übersetzt ist, weiter auseinandersetzen.
Um den übersinnlichen Teil des irdischen Lebenslaufes zu überschauen, der in seinem Charakter, wie ich gesagt habe, noch einige Tage nach dem Tode nachlebt, braucht man die geschilderte innere Erleuchtung. Man muß gewissermaßen in sich selber das geistige Licht anfachen, das nach innen leuchtet. Dann kommt man darüber hinaus, bloß in dem gegenwärtigen Augenblicke wahrzunehmen, wie das durch die Sinne möglich ist.
Um zu weiteren Erkenntnissen in der übersinnlichen Welt zu kommen, ist notwendig, daß sich nicht nur der Wahrnehmungszustand beim Menschen ändere, sondern daß sich auch der Lebenszustand selber ändert. Wir Menschen haben im gewöhnlichen Leben einen solchen Lebenszustand, daß unser Leben eingeschlossen ist in unseren physischen Raumeskörper. Die Grenzen unserer Haut sind zu gleicher Zeit die Grenzen unseres Lebens. Unser Leben reicht so weit, als unser Körper reicht. Innerhalb eines solchen Erlebniszustandes kann man nicht hinauskommen über dasjenige, was ich bis jetzt beschrieben habe an Erkenntnissen der höheren Welten. Man kann für Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten erst dadurch hinauskommen aus dem gewöhnlichen Erleben, daß man sich ein Erleben aneignet, das nicht eingeschlossen ist in die Grenzen des Raumesleibes, sondern das miterlebt die ganze Welt, die sonst um einen herum ist.
Und auch ein solches Miterleben kann für die Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten erworben werden. Ich will nur, wie ich schon gesagt habe, gelegentlich einiges anführen von den Methoden des modernen Eingeweihten, durch die er Erkenntnis der höheren Welten exakt erwirbt. Das übrige ist in der genannten Schrift zu finden.
Wenn man nicht nur sich die Fähigkeit erwirbt, ein zweites Dasein im Gedankenleben zu haben, das noch immer eingeschlossen bleibt in den Raumesleib, sondern wenn man sich die Fähigkeit erwirbt, außer seinem Leibe zu leben, dadurch, daß man nicht bloß Gedanken intensiv in seinem Bewußtsein leben läßt, sondern sie auch ganz übungsgemäß, durch systematische Übungen aus seinem Bewußtsein immer fortschaffen kann, dann erwirbt man sich diesen Erlebenszustand außerhalb des Leibes. Ich will eine einfache Übung angeben.
Man nehme an, man schaue einen Kristall an. Man hat durch seine Augen diesen Kristall vor sich. Derjenige, der ein bloßes Medium sein will oder zu einer Artvon Hypnose kommen will, der starrt diesen Kristall an, und der Eindruck, den der Kristall auf ihn macht, versetzt ihn in einen Zustand der Unbesonnenheit. Damit hat anthroposophische Geisteswissenschaft nichts zu tun. Sie muß zu ganz anderen Übungen ihre Zuflucht nehmen. Für sie handelt es sich darum, daß, indem man einen Kristall anschaut, man zuletzt dazu kommt, von ihm abzusehen, zu abstrahieren, wie man sonst von Gedanken nur abstrahiert. So hat man einen Kristall vor sich und lernt durch ihn nicht physisch, aber seelisch durchzuschauen, so daß man seine Augen nicht benützt, um ihn anzuschauen, trotzdem man sie voll offen hat, und man gestaltet das seelische Erkennen so, daß man den Kristall nicht mehr vor sich hat, daß man ihn für die Anschauung wegschafft, Man kann diese Übungen auch so machen, daß man eine Farbe, die man vor sich hat, wegschafft, so daß man sie, trotzdem man sie vor sich hat, nicht mehr schaut.
Und so kann man insbesondere Übungen machen dahingehend, daß man Gedanken, die durch das äußere Leben im gegenwärtigen Augenblicke auftauchen, oder aber in früheren Momenten des Erdenlebens durchgemacht worden sind und jetzt als Erinnerungen auftauchen, daß man solche Gedanken fortschafft, das Bewußtsein von ihnen leer macht, damit man bloß wacht und eigentlich nichts von der äußeren Welt in seinem Bewußtsein hat.
Macht man solche Übungen, dann findet man in sich die Möglichkeit, mit seinem Leben nicht mehr innerhalb der Grenzen seines Raumesleibes zu bleiben, sondern über denselben hinauszugehen. Man erlebt dann das Leben der ganzen Umwelt mit, die man sonst nur in ihren sinnlichen Erscheinungen anschaut.
Dadurch tritt vor allen Dingen im ganz besonnenen Bewußtsein etwas auf, was ich vergleichen kann mit einer Erinnerung an das Leben, das man im Schlafe zubringt, an das Leben, das man zubringt vom Einschlafen bis zum Aufwachen. Geradeso wie man sich für das gewöhnliche Wahrnehmen auf den gegenwärtigen Augenblick beschränkt sieht, so sieht man sich für das gewöhnliche Leben beschränkt auf dasjenige, was man immer im wachen Zustande erlebt hat.
Denken Sie nur, wenn Sie sich zurückerinnern an Ihr Leben, so sind ja immer die Zeiten, die Sie durch den Schlaf haben, für das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein leer. Was da die Seele vom Einschlafen bis zum Aufwachen immer erlebt hat, das tritt nicht in der Erinnerung auf, so daß wir in der Erinnerung eigentlich immer eine unterbrochene Strömung haben. Wir nehmen nur nicht immer Notiz davon.
Dasjenige aber, was die Seele jedesmal zwischen dem Einschlafen und dem Aufwachen erlebt, das steht wie eine intensive Erinnerung vor demjenigen Bewußtsein, das so erwacht ist, daß der Mensch mit ihm außerhalb seines Leibes leben kann. Dadurch tritt die zweite Stufe der Erkenntnis der übersinnlichen Welten ein, und wir können zunächst gewahr werden, was wir durchmachen als Seele, wenn unser Leib, unser physischer Leib, ruhig, wie seelenlos, ohne Wahrnehmung, ohne Willensäußerungen in Ruhe schlafend beharrt. Wir können uns dadurch im gewöhnlichen Tagesleben gewissermaßen erinnern an dasjenige, was wir außerhalb des Leibes jedesmal zwischen dem Einschlafen und Aufwachen erlebt haben. Nur müssen wir uns eben klar sein, daß, was da auftritt, von uns in der richtigen Weise beurteilt werden muß. Wir lernen ja kennen, daß das, was die Seele erlebt vom Einschlafen bis zum Aufwachen, außerhalb des Leibes erlebt wird. Wir können es nur anschauen, wenn wir ein Bewußtsein, einen Lebenszustand entwickeln können außerhalb des Leibes. Und wir lernen jetzt nicht nur etwas kennen, was gewissermaßen durch ein inneres Licht bestrahlt wird, wie unser eigener Zeitleib, wie ich das geschildert habe, sondern wir lernen jetzt in der Tageserinnerung, die nur zu dieser exakten Clairvoyance höherer Art aufgestiegen ist, dasjenige erkennen, was wir jedesmal zwischen dem Einschlafen und Aufwachen wirklich erleben. Nur ist zunächst dieses Erleben etwas Frappierendes. So wie wir im Tagesleben im gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein in unserem physischen Leibe leben, in uns Lunge, Herz und so weiter haben, so haben wir vom Einschlafen bis zum Aufwachen tatsächlich nicht ein persönliches menschliches Bewußtsein, sondern ein kosmisches Bewußtsein. Wir haben ein Bewußtsein, als ob in uns — so paradox das klingt, es ist der anschauenden Erkenntnis dieses wahrnehmbar — leben würden Nachbildungen der Planeten- und Sternenwelten. Wir fühlen uns im Alleben des Kosmos. Wir schauen gewissermaßen die Welt an von dem Gesichtspunkte des Allebens im Kosmos.
Und indem wir das, was wir sonst um uns haben, dann innerlich in uns erleben, gehen wir — und zwar im wirklichen Lebenszustande rückwärts — jedesmal beim Schlafen dasjenige durch, was wir hier im physischen Leben durchlebt haben vom vorigen Aufwachen bis zum Einschlafen.
Wenn wir also zum Beispiel regelmäßig einen Tag durchwacht haben und dann in der Nacht schlafen, dann zeigt es sich, daß wir, indem wir einzuschlafen beginnen, die letzten Erlebnisse, die wir am Abend gehabt haben, bevor wir in den Schlaf gekommen sind, rückwärts erleben, dann die mehr am Nachmittag liegenden. Und so erleben wir rücklaufend das ganze Tagesleben die Nacht hindurch.
Wie gesagt, es handelt sich für die exakte Clairvoyance, von der ich hier sprach, darum, daß man im gewöhnlichen Tagesleben diese Rückerinnerung an diese nächtlichen Erlebnisse hat. Gerade so, wie man sich in der gewöhnlichen Erinnerung rückerinnert an das, was man im Tagesbewußtsein vor Jahren erlebt hat, so kann man durch die exakte Clairvoyance erleben dieses rückwärtige Erleben des Tageslebens. Und so hat man in der Tat etwas wie eine erweiterte Erinnerung in dieser exakten Clairvoyance vor sich. Man schaut zurück auf sein schlafendes Erleben. Man weiß, daß man schlafend außerhalb des physischen Raumesleibes erlebt, daß man in einer wirklichen Weltwesenheit, die gewissermaßen ein Nachbild der ganzen Welt in sich im Bewußtsein hat, daß man in einer solchen Weltwesenheit sein eigenes Tagesdasein rückwärts erlebt. Und man findet dann auch, daß dieses Tagesdasein im rückwärtigen Erleben nicht so lange braucht, als es hier in der physischen Welt braucht. Man lernt allmählich, indem man wirklich Forscher wird auf diesem Gebiete, das heißt in systematischer Weise, immer mehr und mehr die Dinge kennen durch eine exakte Erfahrung, man lernt erkennen, wie dieses Rückwärtserleben dreimal so schnell vor sich geht als das physische Erleben im gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein. So daß also jemand, der etwa zwei Drittel seiner Zeit wach ist und dann ein Drittel der Zeit schläft, in diesem Drittel der Zeit auch dasjenige durchlebt, was er in den zwei Dritteln im physischen Dasein durchgemacht hat. So daß man also kennenlernt ein Leben, das der Mensch außer seinem Leibe entfaltet, das rückwärts verläuft mit dreifacher Schnelligkeit.
Indem man sich im gewöhnlichen Tagesleben durch exakte Clairvoyance an dieses nächtliche schlafende Leben erinnert, weiß man zu gleicher Zeit, daß dieses schlafende Rückerleben keine eigene Bedeutung hat. Das, was man im Tagesbewußtsein hat in der exakten Clairvoyance, ist schon eine Erinnerung. Aber dasjenige, woran man sich als an die Schlafeserlebnisse erinnert, das zeigt, daß es keine eigene Bedeutung hat, sondern nur eine Vorbedeutung. Und das ist so. Fragen Sie sich, wie beurteilen Sie eine Erinnerung an ein Erlebnis, das Sie vor zwanzig Jahren gehabt haben? — Sie sagen sich: Ich erlebe in schattenhaften Gedanken. Aber diese Erinnerung bietet mir durch ihr eigenes Wesen die Garantie, daß ich keine Phantasie vor mir habe, sondern daß sie ein Abbild ist dessen, was in der Vergangenheit meines Erdenlebens von mir wirklich, tatsächlich einmal erlebt worden ist. So wie die Erinnerung in sich eine Garantie enthält, daß sie sich auf etwas ganz anderes bezieht, was wirklich in der Vergangenheit ist, so trägt dasjenige, auf das man hinsieht als auf ein nächtliches Erleben, die Garantie in sich, daß es keine eigene Bedeutung hat, sondern auf ein Zukünftiges weist.
Man braucht der Erinnerung nicht zu beweisen, daß sie sich auf ein Vergangenes bezieht. Man braucht ebensowenig, wenn man die exakte Clairvoyance erlangt hat, demjenigen, was man da überschaut von seinen nächtlichen Erlebnissen, zu beweisen, daß es nicht eine Phantasterei der Gegenwart ist. Man sieht ihm an, daß es sich auf die Zukunft des Menschen bezieht, und zwar auf jene Zukunft des Menschen, wo der Mensch seinen physischen Leib mit dem Tode wirklich abgelegt haben wird, wie er ihn jetzt bloß in der exakten Clairvoyance bildhaft abgelegt hat.
Und dadurch lernt man erkennen, was der Mensch erlebt nach dem Tode, wenn er die drei Tage absolviert hat, von denen ich gesprochen habe. Ja, man lernt durch diesen erinnerungsähnlichen Vorgang auch die Bedeutung der zwei bis drei Tage nach dem Tode erkennen, wo man sich wie in einem Weltbewußtsein fühlt, in einem kosmischen Bewußtsein, wo man das Ätherische von sich nun von dem Kosmos aus noch einmal überschaut, wo man zurückblickt auf dasjenige, was man durchlebt hat in seinem irdischen Lebenslauf. Und man lernt erkennen, was man nachher erlebt, und zwar so, daß sich anschließt an das Todesereignis ein Leben, das dreimal so schnell verläuft als das Erdenleben. Man lernte ja das kennen durch die Anschauung der nächtlichen Erlebnisse.
Man weiß, an die ätherische Anschauung, die nur kurze Zeit nach dem Tode dauert, schließt sich ein Leben an, das zwanzig, dreißig Jahre oder auch kürzer dauert, je nachdem der Mensch in seinem Erdenleben alt geworden ist. Ungefähr — das alles ist ja approximativ — dreimal so schnell als das Erdenleben verläuft dieses Leben. Ist also jemand dreißig Jahre alt geworden, so erlebt er dasjenige Leben, das ich jetzt meine, nach dem Tode dreimal so schnell, also in zehn Jahren. Ist jemand sechzig Jahre alt geworden, erlebt er rückwärts sein Leben, nach dem Tode, in zwanzig Jahren; aber alles approximativ genommen.
Das alles wird erkannt, wie durch eine Erinnerung eine durchlebte Tätigkeit erkannt wird, in der exakten Clairvoyance. Und so lernen wir erkennen, daß sich an unseren Tod ein übersinnliches Erleben anschließt, ein Erleben in der übersinnlichen Welt, welches ein Rückwärtserleben unseres ganzen Erdenlebens ist. Jede Nacht durchleben wir den vorhergehenden Tag. Nach unserem Tode erleben wir rückwärts verlaufend unser ganzes Erdenleben. Wir machen alles wieder durch. Und wir eignen uns, indem wir alles, was wir im Erdenleben durchgemacht haben, in einer geistigen Form wieder durchmachen, ein zutreffendes Urteil über unseren eignen moralischen Wert an.
Wir gliedern uns gewissermaßen durch diese Zeit, die wir nach dem Tode durchmachen, ein Bewußtsein ein von unserer moralischen Persönlichkeit, von unserem moralischen Werte, wie wir uns hier auf dieser Erde ein Bewußtsein aneignen von dem Leben im Fleische und im Blute. Wir leben nach dem Tode in demjenigen, was wir als moralischer Mensch hier auf Erden waren. Indem wir alle die Ereignisse wieder durchmachen, rückwärts verlaufend, und dadurch nicht mehr abgezogen sind von der moralischen Beurteilung durch unsere Instinkte, Triebe, Leidenschaften, sondern sie rein geistig überschauen, lernen wir ein zutreffendes, ein richtiges Urteil über unsere eigene moralische Qualität kennen.
Zu dieser Beurteilung ist diejenige Zeit notwendig, von der ich eben gesprochen habe. Haben wir diese Zeit nach dem Tode absolviert, dann schwindet das hin, was moralisches Innenleben ist, die Rückerinnerung an unseren moralischen Wert auf der Erde, und wir müssen weiterschreiten durch die geistigen Welten mit einem anderen Bewußtsein, das nun auch durch exakte Clairvoyance kennengelernt werden kann.
Da ist dann notwendig, daß der Mensch nicht nur leben lernt außerhalb seines Raumesleibes, sondern daß er leben lernt in einem ganz anderen Bewußtsein, als er es hier innerhalb der physischen Welt hat. Dann lernt der Mensch erkennen, wie sich anschließt an das Erleben seiner moralischen Qualität durch ein Drittel der Zeit seines vorangehenden Erdenlaufes ein übersinnliches, ein geistiges Erleben. Er lernt erkennen, was sich anschließt. Es schließt sich dann an ein anderes, ein rein geistiges Leben. Dazu muß aber erst die Möglichkeit gewonnen werden, daß die exakte Clairvoyance aufsteigt von dem gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein zu einem reinen, höheren Bewußtsein und daß sie dieses höhere Bewußtsein voll beurteilen lernt.
So habe ich versucht, Ihnen zwei Zustände nach dem Tode zu schildern. Den dritten werde ich sogleich nachher schildern, wenn die bisherige Darstellung übersetzt ist.
Wenn Sie dieses Hineinschauen in das Rückwärtserleben während des Schlafzustandes ins Auge fassen, so wie ich es geschildert habe, so werden Sie sehen, daß in diesem Rückwärtserleben der Mensch zwar außerhalb seines physischen Raumesleibes ein Leben hat; er ist gewissermaßen außer sich, neben sich. Aber dieses Leben ist, ich möchte sagen, so, daß man sich in ihm nicht bewegen kann. Man muß im Grunde genommen das ausführen, nur in der anderen Richtung, was man ausgeführt hat während des gewöhnlichen Bewußtseins am Tage. Und auch derjenige, welcher durch exakte Clairvoyance einen übersinnlichen Einblick in diese Erlebnisse erhält, von denen ich gesprochen habe, der fühlt sich wie hineingebannt in eine Welt, an die er sich erinnert im Tagesbewußtsein der Clairvoyance, aber in der er sich nicht bewegen kann, in die er eingespannt, gefesselt ist. Dasjenige, was man als einen dritten Zustand der höheren Erkenntnis und des höheren Lebens erringen muß, das ist die freie Bewegung in der geistigen Welt. Sonst kann man nicht eintreten in die Erkenntnis des rein geistigen, des rein übersinnlichen Bewußtseins.
Man muß hinzuerwerben zu der exakten Clairvoyance das, was ich bezeichnen werde als ideelle Magie. Wohl zu unterscheiden von der unrichtigen Magie, die äußerlich ausgeführt wird, die mit vielem Scharlatanhaften verknüpft ist; wohl zu unterscheiden davon ist dasjenige, was ich jetzt meine als ideelle Magie.
Unter dieser ideellen Magie verstehe ich das Folgende: Wenn der Mensch für das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein sein Leben überblickt, dann sieht er, wie er eigentlich mit jedem Jahr und mit jedem Jahrzehnt ein anderer geworden ist in einer gewissen Beziehung. Die Gewohnheiten haben sich, wenn auch langsam, so doch geändert. Gewisse Fähigkeiten hat man sich angeeignet, gewisse Fähigkeiten sind auch verschwunden. Wer sich ehrlich anblickt in bezug auf gewisse Fähigkeiten des Erdenlebens, der kann sich jeweilig sagen, daß er ein anderer geworden ist. Aber das hat das Leben aus uns gemacht. Wir haben uns ganz hingegeben dem Leben, und das Leben erzieht uns, trainiert uns, bildet unsere Seelenformation aus.
Aber wer in die übersinnliche Welt erkennend eintreten will, wer mit anderen Worten ideelle Magie erwerben will, der muß nicht bloß seine Gedanken innerlich so intensiv machen, daß er ein zweites Dasein von sich dadurch erkennt, wie ich es geschildert habe, sondern er muß auch seinen Willen befreien von der Gebundenheit an den physischen Leib. Wir können unseren Willen im gewöhnlichen Leben nur in Bewegung bringen dadurch, daß wir uns unseres physischen Leibes, unserer Beine, unserer Arme, unserer Sprachwerkzeuge bedienen. Der physische Leib ist die Grundlage für unser Willensleben. Aber wir können folgendes machen, und das hat wiederum in ganz systematischer Weise derjenige durchzuführen, der als Geistesforscher zur ideellen Magie kommen will und diese hinzu erwerben will zu der exakten Clairvoyance. Er hat zum Beispiel einen so starken Willen zu entwickeln, daß er sich in einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt seines Lebens sagt: Du sollst dir eine bestimmte Gewohnheit abgewöhnen, und dafür eine andere deiner Seele einverleiben.
Man wird, wenn man energischen Willen angewendet hat, manchmal Jahre brauchen, um sich in dieser Beziehung ganz umzuwenden für gewisse Erlebnisformen, aber man kann das. Man kann sozusagen nicht bloß das Leben durch den physischen Leib sich Erzieher sein lassen, sondern man kann diese Erziehung, diese Selbstzucht nun auch selbst in die Hand nehmen.
Durch solche energischen Willensübungen, die ich wiederum in den genannten Büchern beschrieben habe, gelangt derjenige, der im modernen Sinne ein Eingeweihter, ein Initiierter werden will, dazu, nun nicht bloß das nachzuerleben im Schlafe, was er am Tage erlebt hat. Er gelangt dazu, Zustände herbeizuführen, die nicht Schlaf sind, die bei voller Besonnenheit erlebt werden und die ihm aber dennoch die Möglichkeit bieten, während er schläft, beweglich zu sein, etwas zu tun, so daß er außerhalb seines Leibes nicht bloß passiv ist, wie das beim gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein der Fall ist, nicht bloß passiv ist in der geistigen Welt, sondern handeln kann in der geistigen Welt, tätig sein kann in der geistigen Welt. Der Mensch bringt sich sonst während seines Schlafzustandes nicht weiter. Derjenige, der in diesem Sinne ein moderner Initiierter wird, der trägt die Fähigkeiten, tätig zu sein, zu handeln, in sein Wesen als Mensch auch für das Leben hinein, das zwischen dem Einschlafen und Aufwachen erlebt wird. Und wenn man so den Willen in das menschliche Wesen hineinträgt in dem Zustande, in dem dieses Wesen außerhalb des Leibes lebt, dann gelangt man dazu, ein ganz anderes Bewußtsein in sich auszubilden: dasjenige Bewußtsein, das nun wirklich schauen kann, was der Mensch erlebt in der Zeit, die sich an die geschilderte nach seinem Tode anschließt. Und da erlebt man tatsächlich durch dieses andere Bewußtsein die Möglichkeit, hineinzuschauen in unser nachirdisches Erdenleben ebenso wie in unser vorirdisches Erdenleben. Man schaut hinein, wie man ein Leben durchlebt, welches ebenso eine geistige Welt durchläuft, wie das physische Erdenleben eine physische Welt durchläuft. Man lernt sich erkennen als reiner Geist in einer geistigen Welt, wie man sich hier, innerhalb der physischen Erde, als physischer Leib innerhalb der physischen Welt erkennt. Und es bietet sich einem nun die Möglichkeit, auch ein Urteil darüber zu bekommen, wie lange dieses Leben, ich möchte sagen, nach der moralischen Bewertungszeit, die ich früher geschildert habe, dauert.
Indem man nämlich auf diese Weise den Willen durch ideelle Magie in sein Seelenleben hineinträgt, lernt man dieses Bewußtsein, das man als erwachsener Mensch hat, erkennen und in der richtigen Weise zu vergleichen mit dem dumpfen Bewußtsein, das man in der ersten Zeit seines Erdenlebens als kleines Kind, als Säugling gehabt hat.
Sie wissen, daß das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein sich nicht an diese allerersten Jahre der Kindheit zurückerinnern kann. Da lebt der Mensch wie in einem dumpfen Bewußtsein; wie schlafend lebt er sich herein in die Welt. Und unser gewöhnliches Bewußtsein als Erwachsener ist hell und intensiv und durchleuchtet, eben gegenüber diesem dumpfen, finsteren Bewußtsein, in das wir zurückblicken und das wir gehabt haben, während wir die erste Lebenszeit hier auf Erden durchmachten. Aber derjenige, der in der geschilderten Weise zur ideellen Magie aufsteigt, der lernt den Unterschied erkennen zwischen seinem gewöhnlichen Wachbewußtsein als erwachsener Mensch, und diesem dumpfen Kindheitsbewußtsein. Er lernt gewissermaßen erkennen, daß er wie über eine Stufe heraufsteigt von dem dumpfen Kindesbewußtsein zu dem helleren Bewußtsein als Erwachsener. Und aus dem Verhältnis, das er ja kennt, zwischen dem kindlichen Bewußtsein, das wie ein Traumbewußtsein ist, und seinem Bewußtsein während der Erwachsenheit, aus diesem Verhältnis lernt er auch beurteilen das andere Verhältnis zwischen seinem Bewußtsein als Erwachsener und jenem durchleuchteten Bewußtsein, in das er nicht nur exakte Clairvoyance, sondern ideelle Magie hineingetragen hat, so daß er sich in der geistigen Welt jetzt frei bewegen kann.
Ich möchte sagen, wir lernen uns in der geistigen Welt frei bewegen, geradeso wie wir uns als Körper haben frei bewegen gelernt während des physischen Erdenlebens aus der Kindheit heraus, wo wir uns nicht bewegen konnten. Man lernt also hinzu erkennen zu dem Verhältnis, das man von der ersten Kindheit zu dem gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein hat, das andere Verhältnis des erwachsenen Bewußtseins zu einem höchsten, rein geistigen Bewußtsein.
Dadurch aber lernt man auch erkennen, wie man nicht nur in dem nachirdischen Leben, nach dem Tode, ein Geist ist unter Geistern, mit denen man zusammen arbeitet, sondern man eignet sich auch ein Urteil darüber an, wie lange dieses geistige Leben unter geistigen Wesenheiten dauert. Wiederum müßte ich das Beispiel von dem Erinnern an ein gewöhnliches Erlebnis anführen. Man sieht ein: Wie die Erinnerung in sich vergangene Wirklichkeit trägt, so trägt dasjenige, was man jetzt erlebt, in sich ein richtiges Urteil darüber, daß man in dem höheren Bewußtsein des Initiierten nicht etwas hat, was eine eigene Bedeutung hat, sondern etwas, was hinweist auf das Leben als Geist unter Geistern nach dem Tode. Und man lernt erkennen, wie sich dieses rein geistige Leben zu dem Erdenleben verhält, das man hier zwischen Geburt und Tod durchgemacht hat.
Sieht man nämlich als Initiierter zurück auf sein allererstes Kindheitsleben, so weiß man, es wird einem immer leichter möglich, in die geistige Welt hineinzuschauen, je älter man wird. Gewiß, es gibt verhältnismäßig jugendliche Personen, die gut hineinsehen können in die geistige Welt. Aber exakter und klarer wird dieses Hineinschauen mit jedem Jahre, mit dem man älter wird. Man erlangt immer mehr und mehr die Fähigkeit, in dieses andere Bewußtsein hinüberzugehen; dadurch lernt man erkennen, wie sich ein Bewußtsein zu dem anderen verhält. Man lernt folgendes erkennen: Man ist zum Beispiel vierzig Jahre alt geworden und man hat ja nur die Möglichkeit, sich zurückzuerinnern, sagen wir, bis zu seinem dritten, vierten Jahre. Man betrachtet diese Verhältnisse, wievielmal die vierzig Jahre mehr sind, als das unbewußte traumhaft kindliche Bewußtsein. Man lernt erkennen, wie das Leben im Geiste nach dem Tode ebensovielmal länger sein wird, als dieses Erdenleben im ganzen länger ist als das Leben als kleines Kind im traumhaften Zustande; das erstreckt sich auf viele Jahrhunderte. So daß sich anschließt an das Nacherleben des moralischen Zustandes ein rein geistiges Leben des Menschen als Geist unter Geistern, das nach Jahrhunderten dauert. In diesem Erleben hat der Mensch die Aufgaben der geistigen Welt ebenso um sich, wie er hier im Erdenleben die Aufgaben der physischen Welt um sich hat.
Aber diese Aufgaben, die zeigen sich für jene exakte Clairvoyance, die unterstützt wird von dem, ich möchte sagen, Herumwandeln in der geistigen Welt, durch ideelle Magie, sie zeigen sich dadurch, daß aus dem Wesen der geistigen Welt, in der man nach dem Tode lebt, alles dasjenige an Kräften herausgearbeitet wird, was dann hinführt zu einem folgenden Leben auf der Erde. Dieses folgende Leben auf der Erde steht einem als Ziel bevor, vom Anfange an des Lebens nach dem Tode. Und dieses Leben auf Erden im Menschen ist ja ein wirklicher Mikrokosmos. Dieser Mikrokosmos wird herausgearbeitet aus einem gewaltigen Erleben in der geistigen Welt nach dem Tode.
Sehen Sie, wenn man hier in der physischen Welt von einem Keime spricht, dann ist der Keim klein und entfaltet sich; nachher wird er eine große Pflanze oder ein großes Tier. Ich könnte auch von einem Geistkeim sprechen, den der Mensch ausbildet nach seinem physischen Leben auf Erden, nach dem Tode. Er arbeitet im Zusammenhang mit geistigen Wesenheiten aus den Geistkräften der Welt einen Geistkeim heraus für sein späteres Erdenleben. Und dieses Erarbeiten ist nicht etwa eine Wiederholung des Erdenlebens, sondern das schließt Betätigungsweisen, Wesenhaftes in sich, das größer und gewaltiger ist, selbstverständlich, als all das, was auf Erden erlebt werden kann. Das Zubereiten des künftigen Erdenlebens unter den Erfahrungen der geistigen Welt, das ist es, was der Mensch zunächst für sich erlebt im nachirdischen Leben.
Und dazu kommt, daß ja das kosmische Bewußtsein auftritt, wie ich es geschildert habe. Dadurch, daß in dem einen Menschen das kosmische Bewußtsein auftritt, und in dem anderen Menschen ebenso, ja, dieses kosmische Bewußtsein allnächtlich schon vorhanden ist, wenn auch in einem dumpfen Zustande, so daß es kein wirkliches Bewußtsein ist, sondern — wenn ich den paradoxen Ausdruck gebrauchen darf ein unbewußtes Bewußtsein ist, dadurch leben die Menschen, indem sie als geistige Wesen leben, nicht nur mit anderen geistigen Wesenheiten zusammen, die niemals auf die Erde kommen, sondern eben in der reinen Geisteswelt wohnen; sie leben vielmehr dadurch auch mit all den Seelen zusammen, die entweder in physischen Menschenleibern verkörpert sind, oder aber, die selbst durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen sind und dasselbe durchmachen wie sie: durchmachen das kosmische Bewußtsein, das alle gemeinsam haben.
Und es ist wirklich so, daß dasjenige, was sich hier angesponnen hat auf Erden von Seele zu Seele, in der Familie, unter Menschen, wo wir uns gefunden haben dadurch, daß wir uns in physischen Menschenleibern begegnet sind, wir uns dadurch aber auch als Seelen gefunden haben, es ist so, daß wir das alles, was wir hier auf Erden gefunden haben, dann abgelegt haben; was wir erleben als Liebende, was wir erleben als Freunde, als uns sonst nahestehende Menschen, was wir erleben durch unsere physischen Erfahrungen im physischen Leibe, das streifen wir ab, das legen wir ab, ebenso wie wir diesen physischen Leib selber ablegen. Aber dadurch, daß wir hier Verhältnisse des Familienhaften, der Freundschaft, der Liebe entwickelt haben, pflanzt sich das geistig fort durch die Pforte des Todes hinein in jene GeistErlebnisse, die ein späteres Leben aufbauen. Und wir arbeiten nicht nur für uns allein, sondern wir arbeiten - sogar schon in der Zeit, wo wir die moralische Beurteilung unseres vergangenen Lebens haben — mit den Menschenseelen zusammen, die uns hier wert und lieb geworden sind in der Welt.
Das alles wird durch exakte Clairvoyance und durch ideelle Magie nicht nur etwas, was dem Glauben unterliegt, sondern es wird eine wirkliche Erkenntnis. Es dringt herein in das unmittelbare Anschauen des Menschen. Ja, wir können sogar sagen: Hier in der physischen Welt ist ein Abgrund zwischen den Seelen, auch wenn sie sich noch so lieb haben, denn sie begegnen sich innerhalb ihrer Körperhaftigkeit, und sie können nur in solche Wechselverhältnisse treten, die durch körperliche Beziehungen vermittelt sind. Aber wenn der Mensch selber in der geistigen Welt ist, dann ist nicht einmal das der Fall, daß der physische Leib, der hier einem zurückgelassenen geliebten Wesen eigen ist, ein Hindernis ist, um mit seiner Seele zusammen zu leben. So wie man sich aneignen muß für das Hineinschauen in die geistige Welt die Fähigkeit, durchzuschauen durch irdische Gegenstände, wie ich es geschildert habe, so hat derjenige, der durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen ist, Gemeinschaft durch den Körper hindurch mit den Seelen, die er hier als ihm nahestehende zurückgelassen hat. Er erlebt sie auch noch, solange sie auf der Erde sind, bis zu ihrem eigenen Tode, als Seelen.
Das möchte ich zunächst heute im Beginne dieser drei Vorträge gesagt haben über dasjenige, was Einsichten geben kann in das wirkliche übersinnliche Leben des Menschen. Ich möchte darauf hingewiesen haben, daß dadurch, daß exakte Clairvoyance und ideelle Magie angestrebt werden, tatsächlich in solcher Weise — wissenschaftlich erkennend — über die höheren Welten gesprochen werden kann, wie durch die exakte Naturerkenntnis über die Sinneswelt gesprochen werden kann. Und man wird sehen, indem man sich immer mehr und mehr einleben wird — denn Menschen werden schon da sein, die ihre Fähigkeiten entwickeln werden, um sich in diese Welten einzuleben —, man wird sehen, daß keine Wissenschaft, so vollkommen sie sich auch entwickelt hat, ein Hindernis dafür sein kann, das anzunehmen, was mit echter wissenschaftlicher Gesinnung durch exakte Clairvoyance und durch ideelle Magie an Erkenntnissen dem Menschen gegeben werden kann über das, was er durchmacht, nicht nur hier auf dieser Erde zwischen Geburt und Tod, sondern auch zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt bis zu einem Wiederkehren in einem Erdenleben.
Wie diese wiederkehrenden Leben sind und inwiefern sie ein Ende erreichen, davon will ich dann morgen sprechen, wenn ich mir gestatten werde, darzustellen, welche Beziehung das Christus-Ereignis, das Ereignis von Golgatha hereingebracht hat in das menschliche Erdenleben.
Da werde ich zu zeigen haben, daß diejenige Erkenntnis, von der ich gesprochen habe, insofern sie den Menschen als einzelnen angeht, hinleuchtet auf die ganze Entwickelung des Menschengeschlechtes durch das Leben der Erde, und dadurch auch hinleuchten kann auf dasjenige, was eigentlich durch den Eintritt des Christus in das Erdenleben für die Menschheit geschehen ist.
Und so soll gezeigt werden durch diese Vorträge auf der einen Seite, daß man nicht gegen die heutige exakte Naturwissenschaft zu gehen braucht, wenn man von übersinnlichen Erkenntnissen spricht. Und das soll der Gegenstand des morgigen Vortrags sein, daß auch das für das Erdenleben der Menschheit wichtigste Ereignis, das Christus-Ereignis, in einer neuen Gestalt, in einer leuchtenderen Gestalt, vor die menschliche Seele tritt, wenn diese menschliche Seele sich bereit erklärt, anzunehmen die hier gemeinten Erkenntnisse der übersinnlichen Welt.
Die Beziehung der anthroposophischen Geisteswissenschaft zum Christentum zu erörtern, wird dann meine Aufgabe morgen sein.
Exact Knowledge of the Supersensible Worlds in the Sense of Anthroposophical Spiritual Science
There is no doubt that in the present day a large number of people long to know something of the spiritual, of the supersensible worlds, and even men of science have in recent times often concerned themselves with finding ways by which one can come to knowledge of the supersensible world. However, in all these attempts to enter the supersensible world, modern man is always hindered by what follows from modern science as the ability to judge, what authority is available from this modern science. And in the face of many a source from which one believes to draw for the knowledge of the supersensible world, the judgment asserts itself: Yes, but an exact knowledge, as we are accustomed to developing it in science, an exact knowledge of the supersensible worlds cannot exist, because none of that holds up. On the other hand, anthroposophical spiritual science, which I will take the liberty of speaking to you about today and in the next few days, strives for a truly exact knowledge of the supersensible world. An exact knowledge not by conducting experiments in the same sense as for the science of the outer world, but in such a way that inner faculties of the soul, which otherwise only lie dormant in everyday life and in ordinary science, are developed in such a way that in all this development human prudence is maintained in a way that only happens in exact science. So while in exact science one retains one's consciousness as one has it in ordinary life, and then behaves exactly in one's methods in the investigation of the outer world, in anthroposophical spiritual science one proceeds in such a way that one day one submits to what I would like to call intellectual modesty, by saying to oneself: You were once a child, you had abilities then which do not remotely approach those abilities which you now have as an adult human being, and which you have acquired through education, through life. - Just as you have developed certain abilities from childhood onwards that were not there before, you can say that there may also be abilities in the adult person that lie dormant in him, just as his current abilities lay dormant in the soul of the child. And certain methods can be used to extract these abilities from the soul.
Now in anthroposophical spiritual science, which is meant here, these abilities must be brought out of the soul in such a way that the methods which one then applies to one's own development before one goes to a realization, proceed exactly in this own development. Thus one prepares oneself for seeing into the higher world in such a way that the preparation which one applies to oneself presupposes an exact method. That is why, as I took the liberty of saying in my last lectures here in this hall, you can achieve an exact clairvoyance, an exact clairvoyance, in this way. It is acquired in an exact way, just as one otherwise investigates nature in an exact way with ordinary knowledge.
Today I will have less to say about the way in which one acquires this exact clairvoyance. I will mention this occasionally, for I have already spoken in the previous lectures mentioned of the methods by which one arrives at exact clairvoyance, and one can learn about these methods from the book which has been translated into English and which bears the title: “The Way of Initiation.”
Today, however, I would first like to draw attention to the fact that in ordinary life man is denied access to the higher worlds. This is denied him above all by the fact that he can only ever perceive the world in the present moment. Through our eyes we can only see the world and its phenomena in the present moment. Through our ears we can only hear sounds in the present moment. And so it is with all our senses. Everything that is initially the past of our own life on earth, we can only know in memory, that is, in faded thoughts. Just compare how vivid, how concrete what we went through in our existence ten years ago was, and how pale, shadowy the thought is with which we remember it today.
And so everything that goes beyond the present moment is such for the ordinary consciousness of man that it can only live in him in the shadowy memory. But this shadowy memory can be kindled and fanned into a higher life. And this happens through those methods which, as I said, I will discuss less today, through the method of meditation in thought, concentration on thought, self-education and so on.
He who applies such methods to himself, whereby he learns to live in thought as intensely as one otherwise lives only in the outer impressions of the senses, attains a certain ability which consists in the fact that he can not only contemplate the world in the present moment. Such exercises, which lead to the ability to contemplate the world not only in the present moment, must, however, be carried out for a long time, according to the respective dispositions of the person, in careful and systematic, exact meditation and concentration. Some people are born with the ability that can be developed in this way. That is to say, it is not there at birth in such a way that it can become manifest, but it emerges from within at a certain point in life, and one knows that one would not have acquired it in ordinary life if one had not already brought it with one at birth. This ability consists in the fact that one can live in one's thoughts in the same way as one otherwise lives through one's body in the sensual world.
Do not take such a statement too lightly. Consider that man owes everything by which he ascribes existence to himself to his co-experience with the sensory world. When man comes so far that, without relying on the impressions of the eyes, the ears, the impressions of other senses, he nevertheless develops an inner life that is now inwardly intense, as otherwise only the life of the senses is, an inner life that does not merely live in shadowy thoughts, but in inwardly living thoughts, that one experiences the thoughts as one otherwise only experiences the sense impressions, then one certainly experiences a second existence, then one experiences a different self-consciousness. One experiences precisely what I would like to call: awakening, not outside the body, but awakening to a life within the human being, despite the fact that the physical body is so calm and so unresponsive through the senses as it is otherwise only in sleep.
When we look into ourselves, we find that we actually only know in ordinary life what we have taken in through the senses. We know nothing of our own inner being through direct perception. We cannot see into our inner organization through ordinary consciousness. When we acquire self-awareness in pure thinking, then we learn to look inwards just as we can otherwise look outwards.
Then we feel something like this: When we otherwise look outwards, there must be the sun or a light that casts its rays on the objects around us. Through this light, which is outside of us, we see the objects around us. When we become conscious in this second existence in the pure process of thinking, which is then a process of perception that is as colorful and intense as sensory perception otherwise is, then we feel to a certain extent - yes, not only to a certain extent, but in the actual sense, only the sense is meant spiritually - we feel an inner light, a light through which we shine into our own inner being in the same way as we otherwise get the objects illuminated by the outer lights.
This is why this state of human experience can be called clairvoyance. And this clairvoyance in the awakened self-consciousness in the spirit, this clairvoyance first produces the ability that one can be inside again in every moment that one has experienced on earth.
For example, you can experience it quite well: You were eighteen years old, and during those eighteen years you went through this or that experience. - But you don't just have a memory of these experiences, you relive them to a greater or lesser extent. You are once again the person you were when you were eighteen or fifteen or ten. You can take yourself back to every moment of your life and thereby attain an inner, enlightened view of what we can call a temporal body as opposed to the spatial body, which contains our senses and provides us with the external view.
But this temporal body is suddenly there. It is not experienced in successive moments, it is there all at once. It is there in its inner mobility. One looks over oneself in one's entire earthly life to date, as one otherwise only remembers this earthly life in shadowy thoughts. One illuminates one's entire earthly course, but in such a way that one is present in every moment.
When you experience this inner enlightenment, then you know that you are not only carrying this physical human body, this space body. One knows that the human being carries a second, a finer body within him, a body that is actually woven from the images of the previous earthly life, but from such images that at the same time creatively shape this earthly life itself, namely shape our organism and our activities, our organism in which we are, our activities that we have practiced. In this way we get to know a second person within ourselves.
And this second human being, whom one gets to know in this way, one perceives in such a way that he actually experiences himself - as the physical space body experiences itself in a physical world - in a finer etheric, I would like to say, in a transilluminated world. The world is there once again. The world is there in finer forms. All physical things are based on finer ethereal forms, which we see in this way.
And one experiences the peculiarity that one can only hold on to everything one experiences in this finer body for a short time. It is usually the case that the person who has acquired this exact clairvoyance and has thereby illuminated his etheric or formative body, as I would also like to call it, perceives the etheric of the world, the etheric of himself, but at the same time he must also recognize how tremendously quickly the impressions disappear. One cannot hold on to them. One develops a kind of anxiety to return quickly to the perceptions of the physical body so that one has an inner stability as a human being, as a personality. And you experience yourself in your etheric body. One also experiences things of the higher world in this etheric body, that which is etheric in the higher world. But at the same time you see how fleeting all these impressions are, you cannot hold on to them for long, you can only hold on to them by helping yourself somehow.
I would like to give you an example of how I help myself to prevent the impressions of this ethereal vision from disappearing too quickly: Every time I have such impressions, I try not only to see them, but to write them down; so that the activity that is being practiced is not only practiced by the abstract faculties of the soul, but is recorded by writing it down. It is not important that one reads things afterwards, but it is important that one allows a stronger activity to flow into that activity which is initially a purely ethereal one.
Through this you pour, so to speak, what is tremendously fleeting and fluid and what quickly flits away into your ordinary human abilities. All this does not happen unconsciously, as with the medium, but with full consciousness. But you pour it all into your ordinary human physical faculties. This enables you to hold on to it. This also enables you to grasp something very important. One comes to understand how to hold on to a supersensible etheric world at first - we will speak of other supersensible worlds later - but a supersensible etheric world that encompasses oneself in one's previous course of life and that encompasses the etheric of outer nature up to the starry world. One gets to know this etheric world. One learns to experience oneself in this etheric world; and one knows that, without returning to the physical body, it is impossible to hold on to this world for more than two or three days at most. If one has developed the faculties very strongly, one can hold on to this world for two or three days. And since one can then, as a modern initiate, survey all this through things of which I will speak shortly, one also knows how to judge what it is that one holds in one's etheric body or in one's body of formative forces without relying on one's physical abilities. It is that which, when the human being passes through the gate of death from the physical body, which disintegrates and is discarded, is what one initially sees out of one's higher self-consciousness, and which for this reason cannot remain with the human self-consciousness for more than two to three days after the death of the physical body.
Thus, through the formation of exact clairvoyance, one experiences the first states that occur in man after death; one experiences them for the reason that one cognitively pre-experiences them.
That which the initiate cognitively pre-experiences now occurs in every human being when he lays down his physical body. But the human being would continue to have no consciousness - whereby he nevertheless has a consciousness after death, I will explain later - the human being would have no consciousness throughout the time in which he can hold on to his etheric or formative forces body through higher cognition, that is, two to three days.
Two to three days after death man therefore has a consciousness of the etheric world living in the etheric body. Then he sheds this consciousness. He experiences how the etheric body, as it were, falls away from him, how first the physical body has fallen away, and how he has to pass over into another consciousness in order to live on as a conscious human being after death.
What I am describing to you here as the first moments, so to speak - for they are the first moments in relation to the world existence - can be claimed by the one who has acquired the characterized ability to look into the higher world, because he pre-experiences what otherwise normally occurs in human life after death. Because he has acquired that strong self-consciousness which is no longer dependent on the body, he experiences these moments immediately after death already in this consciousness.
He comes to illuminate his own higher life, and he thereby comes to recognize that light in himself, whereby he has a world around him after death in the first two to three days, which is different from the world we have around us when we look out through our senses into our surroundings during our earthly life between birth and death.
What happens after these days, I want to discuss further after this part of the lecture has been translated.
In order to survey the supersensible part of the earthly course of life, which, as I have said, lives on in its character for several days after death, one needs the inner enlightenment I have described. One must, so to speak, kindle the spiritual light within oneself that shines inwards. Then one goes beyond merely perceiving in the present moment, as is possible through the senses.
In order to come to further insights into the supersensible world, it is necessary that not only the state of perception in man changes, but that the state of life itself also changes. In ordinary life we humans have such a state of life that our life is enclosed in our physical space body. The boundaries of our skin are at the same time the boundaries of our life. Our life reaches as far as our body reaches. Within such a state of experience one cannot go beyond what I have described so far in terms of knowledge of the higher worlds. One can only get out of the ordinary experience for knowledge of the higher worlds by acquiring an experience that is not enclosed within the boundaries of the spatial body, but that experiences the whole world that is otherwise around us.
And such a co-experience can also be acquired for the knowledge of the higher worlds. I will only, as I have already said, occasionally mention some of the methods of the modern initiate by which he exactly acquires knowledge of the higher worlds. The rest can be found in the aforementioned scripture.
If one not only acquires the ability to have a second existence in the life of thought, which still remains enclosed in the spatial body, but if one acquires the ability to live outside one's body by not only allowing thoughts to live intensively in one's consciousness, but also by always being able to remove them from one's consciousness through systematic exercises, then one acquires this state of experience outside the body. I will give you a simple exercise.
Suppose you are looking at a crystal. You have this crystal in front of you through your eyes. The person who wants to be a mere medium or wants to achieve a kind of hypnosis stares at this crystal, and the impression the crystal makes on him puts him into a state of recklessness. Anthroposophical spiritual science has nothing to do with this. It must have recourse to quite different exercises. For it it is a matter of looking at a crystal and finally coming to look away from it, to abstract from it, as one otherwise only abstracts from thoughts. So you have a crystal in front of you and learn to look through it, not physically, but mentally, so that you do not use your eyes to look at it, even though you have them fully open, and you shape your mental cognition in such a way that you no longer have the crystal in front of you, that you put it away for viewing, You can also do these exercises in such a way that you put away a color that you have in front of you, so that you no longer look at it, even though you have it in front of you.
And so one can especially do exercises in such a way that one gets rid of thoughts which arise through the outer life in the present moment, or which have been gone through in earlier moments of earthly life and now arise as memories, that one gets rid of such thoughts, empties the consciousness of them, so that one merely wakes up and actually has nothing of the outer world in one's consciousness.
When one does such exercises, one finds within oneself the possibility of no longer remaining within the boundaries of one's spatial body, but of going beyond it. One then experiences the life of the whole environment, which one otherwise only looks at in its sensual appearances.
Through this, above all, something arises in the completely prudent consciousness that I can compare with a memory of the life that one spends in sleep, of the life that one spends from falling asleep to waking up. Just as one sees oneself limited to the present moment for ordinary perception, so one sees oneself limited for ordinary life to that which one has always experienced in the waking state.
Just think, if you remember back to your life, the times that you have through sleep are always empty for the ordinary consciousness. What the soul has always experienced from falling asleep to waking up does not appear in the memory, so that we actually always have an interrupted flow in the memory. We just do not always take note of it.
But that which the soul experiences every time between falling asleep and waking up stands like an intense memory before that consciousness which has awakened in such a way that man can live with it outside his body. Thus the second stage of knowledge of the supersensible worlds occurs, and we can first become aware of what we go through as souls when our body, our physical body, remains quietly asleep, as if soulless, without perception, without expressions of will. In this way we can, so to speak, remember in ordinary daily life what we have experienced outside the body each time between falling asleep and waking up. But we must be clear that what occurs there must be judged by us in the right way. We learn that what the soul experiences from falling asleep to waking up is experienced outside the body. We can only see it if we can develop a consciousness, a state of life outside the body. And now we not only get to know something that is, so to speak, illuminated by an inner light, like our own temporal body, as I have described, but we now learn to recognize in the day memory, which has only risen to this exact clairvoyance of a higher kind, that which we really experience every time between falling asleep and waking up. But at first this experience is something astonishing. Just as we live in ordinary consciousness in our physical body during the day and have lungs, heart and so on within us, so from the time we fall asleep until we wake up we actually do not have a personal human consciousness, but a cosmic consciousness. We have a consciousness as if - as paradoxical as this sounds, it is perceptible to the observing cognition - replicas of the planetary and stellar worlds were living within us. We feel that we are part of the cosmos. We look at the world, so to speak, from the point of view of living in the cosmos.
And by experiencing inwardly what we otherwise have around us, we go through - and indeed in the real state of life backwards - every time we sleep, what we have lived through here in physical life from the previous waking up to falling asleep.
If, for example, we have regularly woken through a day and then sleep at night, then it turns out that, as we begin to fall asleep, we experience the last experiences we had in the evening before we went to sleep backwards, then those that were more in the afternoon. And so we experience the whole of our daytime life backwards through the night.
As I said, for the exact clairvoyance I was talking about here, it is a matter of having this recollection of these nocturnal experiences in ordinary daytime life. Just as one recalls in ordinary memory what one experienced in daytime consciousness years ago, one can experience this backward experience of daytime life through exact clairvoyance. And so you do indeed have something like an extended memory in front of you in this exact clairvoyance. One looks back on one's sleeping experience. One knows that one experiences sleeping outside the physical space body, that one experiences one's own daytime existence backwards in a real world entity, which to a certain extent has an afterimage of the whole world within itself in consciousness, that one experiences one's own daytime existence backwards in such a world entity. And one then also finds that this daily existence in the backward experience does not take as long as it takes here in the physical world. Gradually, by really becoming a researcher in this field, that is, in a systematic way, one learns to know things more and more through exact experience, one learns to recognize how this backward experience proceeds three times as fast as the physical experience in ordinary consciousness. So that someone who is awake for about two-thirds of his time and then sleeps for one-third of his time also experiences in this third of the time what he has gone through in the two-thirds of his physical existence. So that one gets to know a life that man unfolds outside his body, which runs backwards with threefold speed.
By remembering this nocturnal sleeping life in ordinary daytime life through exact clairvoyance, one knows at the same time that this sleeping re-experience has no meaning of its own. That which one has in daytime consciousness in exact clairvoyance is already a memory. But that which one remembers as sleep experiences shows that it has no meaning of its own, but only a pre-meaning. And that is so. Ask yourself, how do you judge a memory of an experience you had twenty years ago? - You say to yourself: I am experiencing in shadowy thoughts. But this memory, by its very nature, offers me the guarantee that I do not have a fantasy before me, but that it is an image of what I really, actually experienced in the past of my life on earth. Just as memory contains in itself a guarantee that it refers to something quite different that is really in the past, so that which one looks at as a nocturnal experience carries in itself the guarantee that it has no meaning of its own, but points to something in the future.
There is no need to prove to memory that it refers to a past. Nor is it necessary, when one has attained exact clairvoyance, to prove to what one sees of one's nocturnal experiences that it is not a phantasy of the present. One can see that it refers to the future of man, and indeed to that future of man where man will really have laid aside his physical body at death, as he has now merely laid it aside pictorially in the exact clairvoyance.
And through this one learns to recognize what man experiences after death, when he has completed the three days of which I have spoken. Yes, through this memory-like process one also learns to recognize the significance of the two to three days after death, when one feels as if one is in a world consciousness, in a cosmic consciousness, where one looks over the etheric of oneself once again from the cosmos, where one looks back on what one has lived through in one's earthly life. And one learns to recognize what one experiences afterwards, in such a way that the event of death is followed by a life that runs three times as fast as life on earth. You get to know this through the contemplation of nocturnal experiences.
We know that the etheric experience, which lasts only a short time after death, is followed by a life that lasts twenty, thirty years or even less, depending on how old the person has become in his earthly life. Approximately - and this is all approximate - this life runs three times as fast as life on earth. So if someone is thirty years old, he will experience the life I am talking about three times as quickly after death, i.e. in ten years. If someone is sixty years old, he experiences his life backwards, after death, in twenty years; but all taken approximately.
All this is recognized as an activity lived through is recognized through a memory, in exact clairvoyance. And so we learn to recognize that our death is followed by a supersensible experience, an experience in the supersensible world, which is a backward experience of our whole life on earth. Every night we relive the previous day. After our death we experience our whole life on earth in reverse. We go through everything again. And by reliving everything we went through in earthly life in a spiritual form, we acquire an accurate judgment of our own moral worth.
Through this time, which we go through after death, we acquire an awareness of our moral personality, of our moral value, just as we acquire an awareness of life in the flesh and in blood here on this earth. After death we live in what we were as a moral person here on earth. By going through all the events again, going backwards, and thus no longer being detached from the moral judgment by our instincts, drives, passions, but rather seeing them purely spiritually, we learn to know an accurate, a correct judgment of our own moral quality.
The time I have just spoken of is necessary for this judgment. Once we have completed this time after death, that which is moral inner life, the recollection of our moral value on earth, fades away and we must move on through the spiritual worlds with a different consciousness, which can now also be known through exact clairvoyance.
There it is then necessary that man not only learns to live outside of his space body, but that he learns to live in a completely different consciousness than he has here within the physical world. Then man learns to recognize how the experience of his moral quality is followed by a supersensible, a spiritual experience through a third of the time of his previous earthly course. He learns to recognize what follows. It is then followed by another, a purely spiritual life. For this, however, the possibility must first be gained that the exact clairvoyance ascends from the ordinary consciousness to a pure, higher consciousness and that it learns to fully assess this higher consciousness.
So I have tried to describe to you two states after death. I will describe the third immediately afterwards, when the previous description has been translated.
If you consider this looking into the backward experience during the state of sleep, as I have described it, you will see that in this backward experience man does have a life outside of his physical space body; he is to a certain extent outside of himself, beside himself. But this life is, I would say, such that one cannot move within it. Basically, one has to carry out, only in the other direction, what one has carried out during ordinary consciousness during the day. And also the person who, through exact clairvoyance, receives a supersensible insight into these experiences of which I have spoken, feels as if spellbound into a world which he remembers in the daytime consciousness of clairvoyance, but in which he cannot move, in which he is confined, bound. That which one must attain as a third state of higher knowledge and higher life is free movement in the spiritual world. Otherwise one cannot enter into the knowledge of the purely spiritual, the purely supersensible consciousness.
In addition to exact clairvoyance, one must acquire what I will call ideal magic. This is to be distinguished from the incorrect magic that is performed externally, which is linked to many charlatanic things; what I now mean as ideal magic is to be distinguished from this.
By this ideal magic I mean the following: When a person looks over his life for the ordinary consciousness, he sees how he has actually become a different person in a certain respect with every year and with every decade. Habits have changed, albeit slowly. Certain skills have been acquired and certain skills have disappeared. Anyone who looks at himself honestly with regard to certain abilities of life on earth can say that he has become someone else. But that is what life has made of us. We have given ourselves completely to life, and life educates us, trains us, forms our soul formation.
But whoever wants to enter the supersensible world in a cognitive way, whoever wants to acquire ideal magic in other words, must not only make his thoughts so intense inwardly that he recognizes a second existence of himself through it, as I have described, but he must also free his will from the bondage to the physical body. In ordinary life we can only set our will in motion by using our physical body, our legs, our arms, our instruments of speech. The physical body is the basis for our life of will. But we can do the following, and this again has to be carried out in a very systematic way by those who, as spiritual researchers, want to come to ideal magic and want to acquire this in addition to exact clairvoyance. He has, for example, to develop such a strong will that he says to himself at a certain point in his life: You should break yourself of a certain habit and in return incorporate another into your soul.
If one has applied a strong will, it will sometimes take years to completely change one's attitude towards certain forms of experience, but it can be done. You can, so to speak, not only let life be your educator through the physical body, but you can now also take this education, this self-discipline into your own hands.
Through such energetic exercises of the will, which I have again described in the books mentioned, the one who wants to become an initiate in the modern sense, an initiate, comes to not only relive in sleep what he has experienced during the day. He comes to bring about states which are not sleep, which are experienced in full contemplation and which nevertheless offer him the possibility of being mobile while he sleeps, of doing something, so that he is not merely passive outside his body, as is the case with ordinary consciousness, is not merely passive in the spiritual world, but can act in the spiritual world, can be active in the spiritual world. Otherwise the human being does not progress during his state of sleep. The person who becomes a modern initiate in this sense carries the ability to be active, to act, into his being as a human being for the life that is experienced between falling asleep and waking up. And if one thus carries the will into the human being in the state in which this being lives outside the body, then one comes to form a completely different consciousness in oneself: that consciousness which can now really see what the human being experiences in the time that follows the time described after his death. And through this other consciousness one actually experiences the possibility of looking into our post-earthly life on earth as well as into our pre-earthly life on earth. One looks into how one lives through a life which passes through a spiritual world just as the physical life on earth passes through a physical world. One learns to recognize oneself as a pure spirit in a spiritual world, just as one recognizes oneself here, within the physical earth, as a physical body within the physical world. And you are now offered the opportunity to make a judgment about how long this life lasts, I would say, according to the moral evaluation time I described earlier.
By bringing the will into your soul life in this way through ideal magic, you learn to recognize this consciousness that you have as an adult human being and to compare it in the right way with the dull consciousness that you had in the first time of your life on earth as a small child, as an infant.
You know that the ordinary consciousness cannot remember these very first years of childhood. There man lives as if in a dull consciousness; as if asleep he lives his way into the world. And our ordinary consciousness as adults is bright and intense and illuminated, in contrast to this dull, dark consciousness that we look back on and that we had during our first lifetime here on earth. But the one who ascends to ideal magic in the way described learns to recognize the difference between his ordinary waking consciousness as an adult human being and this dull childhood consciousness. He learns to recognize, so to speak, that he ascends as if over a step from the dull child consciousness to the brighter consciousness as an adult. And from the relationship, which he knows, between the childish consciousness, which is like a dream consciousness, and his consciousness during adulthood, from this relationship he also learns to judge the other relationship between his consciousness as an adult and that illuminated consciousness into which he has brought not only exact clairvoyance, but ideal magic, so that he can now move freely in the spiritual world.
I would like to say that we learn to move freely in the spiritual world, just as we have learned to move freely as a body during our physical life on earth from childhood, where we could not move. So in addition to the relationship that we have from our first childhood to our ordinary consciousness, we learn to recognize the other relationship of adult consciousness to a supreme, purely spiritual consciousness.
But through this one also learns to recognize how one is not only in the after-earthly life, after death, a spirit among spirits with whom one works together, but one also acquires a judgment about how long this spiritual life lasts among spiritual beings. Again, I would have to give the example of remembering an ordinary experience. One can see this: Just as memory carries within it past reality, so that which one experiences now carries within it a correct judgment that in the higher consciousness of the initiate one does not have something that has a meaning of its own, but something that points to life as a spirit among spirits after death. And one learns to recognize how this purely spiritual life relates to the earthly life one has gone through here between birth and death.
For if an initiate looks back to his very first childhood life, he knows that the older he gets, the easier it becomes for him to look into the spiritual world. Certainly, there are relatively young people who can see well into the spiritual world. But this insight becomes more precise and clearer with every year that you grow older. One acquires more and more the ability to go over into this other consciousness; thereby one learns to recognize how one consciousness relates to the other. You learn to recognize the following: For example, you have reached the age of forty and you only have the possibility of remembering back to, say, your third or fourth year. You look at these relationships, how many times the forty years are more than the unconscious dreamlike childlike consciousness. One learns to recognize how life in the spirit after death will be just as many times longer than this life on earth as a whole is longer than life as a small child in a dreamlike state; this extends over many centuries. So that the after-experience of the moral state is followed by a purely spiritual life of man as a spirit among spirits, which lasts for centuries. In this experience man has the tasks of the spiritual world around him just as he has the tasks of the physical world around him here in earthly life.
But these tasks, they show themselves for that exact clairvoyance, which is supported by, I would like to say, walking around in the spiritual world, through ideal magic, they show themselves in that from the nature of the spiritual world, in which one lives after death, all that power is worked out, which then leads to a following life on earth. This following life on earth stands before one as a goal, from the beginning of life after death. And this life on earth in man is a real microcosm. This microcosm is worked out of a tremendous experience in the spiritual world after death.
You see, when one speaks of a germ here in the physical world, then the germ is small and develops; afterwards it becomes a large plant or a large animal. I could also speak of a spiritual germ that a person develops after his physical life on earth, after death. In connection with spiritual beings, he works out a spiritual germ from the spiritual forces of the world for his later life on earth. And this working out is not a repetition of life on earth, but includes modes of activity, beings that are greater and more powerful, of course, than anything that can be experienced on earth. The preparation of the future life on earth under the experiences of the spiritual world, that is what man first experiences for himself in the after-earthly life.
And in addition the cosmic consciousness appears as I have described it. Because cosmic consciousness arises in one person, and in the other person likewise, indeed, this cosmic consciousness is already present nightly, even if in a dull state, so that it is not real consciousness, but - if I may use the paradoxical expression - an unconscious consciousness, thereby people, by living as spiritual beings, not only live together with other spiritual beings who never come to earth, but just dwell in the pure spiritual world; they also live together with all those souls who are either embodied in physical human bodies or who have themselves passed through the gate of death and are going through the same as they are: going through the cosmic consciousness that they all have in common.
And it is really so that what has been spun here on earth from soul to soul, in the family, among people, where we have found each other by meeting in physical human bodies, but we have also found each other as souls, it is so that we have then discarded everything that we have found here on earth; What we experience as lovers, what we experience as friends, as people who are otherwise close to us, what we experience through our physical experiences in the physical body, that we strip off, that we discard, just as we discard this physical body itself. But because we have developed relationships of family, friendship and love here, this spiritually carries on through the gate of death into those spiritual experiences that build up a later life. And we not only work for ourselves alone, but we work - even at the time when we have the moral judgment of our past life - together with the human souls who have become valuable and dear to us here in the world.
Through exact clairvoyance and through ideal magic, all this becomes not only something that is subject to faith, but it becomes a real realization. It penetrates into the immediate vision of man. Yes, we can even say that here in the physical world there is an abyss between the souls, no matter how much they love each other, for they meet within their corporeality, and they can only enter into such interrelationships that are mediated by physical relationships. But when man himself is in the spiritual world, then it is not even the case that the physical body, which here belongs to a beloved being left behind, is an obstacle to living together with his soul. Just as one must acquire the ability to see through earthly objects in order to look into the spiritual world, as I have described, so the one who has passed through the gate of death has communion through the body with the souls he has left behind here as his loved ones. He still experiences them as souls as long as they are on earth, until their own death.
That is what I would like to have said today at the beginning of these three lectures about that which can give insights into the real supersensible life of man. I would like to have pointed out that by striving for exact clairvoyance and ideal magic, one can actually speak about the higher worlds in such a way - scientifically recognizing - as one can speak about the sense world through the exact knowledge of nature. And one will see, as one settles in more and more - for there will already be people who will develop their abilities to settle into these worlds - one will see that no science, however perfectly it has developed, can be an obstacle to accepting this, what can be given to man with a genuine scientific attitude through exact clairvoyance and through ideal magic about what he goes through, not only here on this earth between birth and death, but also between death and a new birth up to a return in an earthly life.
How these recurring lives are and to what extent they come to an end is what I will talk about tomorrow, when I will take the liberty of describing the relationship that the Christ event, the event of Golgotha, has brought into human earthly life.
There I will have to show that the knowledge of which I have spoken, in so far as it concerns man as an individual, shines on the whole development of the human race through the life of the earth, and thus can also shine on that which actually happened for mankind through the entry of the Christ into earth life.
And so it is to be shown through these lectures on the one hand that one does not need to go against today's exact natural science when one speaks of supersensible knowledge. And this shall be the subject of tomorrow's lecture, that also the most important event for the earthly life of mankind, the Christ-event, comes before the human soul in a new form, in a more luminous form, when this human soul declares itself ready to accept the knowledge of the supersensible world meant here.
To discuss the relationship of anthroposophical spiritual science to Christianity will then be my task tomorrow.