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The Forming of Destiny and Life after Death
GA 157a

18 November 1915, Berlin

2. On the forming of Destiny

My first sad and heavy duty is to acquaint you with the fact that our dear friend, the leader of the Munich Lodge, Fraulein Stinde, now belongs to those whom we have to reckon to-day as the ‘Sphere-Beings.’ She left this physical plane yesterday evening. It is not possible just now to speak about this extremely severe and significant loss to our society. As a beginning to our consideration for to-day I will merely say these few words concerning this event, which is so painful and important to us.

Fraulein Stinde belongs to those who are certainly known to the greater number of our friends. She belongs to those who have grasped our matters in the deepest depths of their hearts and have completely identified themselves with them. In her house (and that of her friend the Grafin Kalckreuth) I was able as early as 1903 to give the first intimate lectures in our sphere, which I had to give in Munich. And one may say that from this first occasion when Fraulein Stinde approached us, she united with our aims not only her whole personality but the whole power of her work, so valuable, so excellent and influential. She forsook the artistic calling which was previously so dear to her, in order to put herself and her powers entirely at the service of our work, and since then she has worked intensely for this, in a rare, objective, quite impersonal manner, both in narrower and wider circles. She was the soul of our whole work in Munich. And she was one of those souls, of whom one could say, that through the inner qualities of her being she gave the very best guarantee that in Munich itself, our aims would be able to develop in the best possible manner. You know what an immense task was laid on all those persons helping in Munich in those early years, through the performances of the Mystery Plays and everything connected with them. Fraulein Stinde and her friend Grafin Kalckreuth gave themselves up absolutely to this work, and above all, it may be said, with the understanding created by the profound nature of their studies, and by the will which may itself be born of this. I may perhaps point out that the intense labour which Fraulein Stinde accomplished, really very considerably exhausted her life-strength in later years. It must be admitted that the valuable life-force which was perhaps too rapidly used up of late, was devoted to our cause in the most beautiful and deeply satisfactory manner. Probably no one among those who knew her most intimately, could help feeling that this personality was one of our very best workers. It is true many of the activities of Fraulein Stinde have been misunderstood, and it is to be hoped that the sun-like force that proceeded from her personality will presently be recognised, even by those of our friends and followers who through prejudice have misunderstood her work. And those of our wider circle who could observe all she did for our cause, will, in common with those more closely connected with her, preserve the most faithful recollection of her. We are sure that in her case we may quite specially emphasise the mantram which must often be uttered during these days in connection with the departure of many of our friends from the physical plane. It may be especially emphasised with reference to Fraulein Stinde, that amidst the many attacks and oppositions which our cause encounters in the world, we reckon on the help of those in the spiritual-world—we reckon on those who have only changed the form of their existence, and who, in spite of their passage through the gate of death, are still truly united with us in soul, and are most significant and important co-workers. The many veils which surround those still incarnate in the physical body, gradually fall away, and the souls of these dear departed friends—of this we are sure—work in our midst, and we specially need their help. We need the help of those no longer assailed from the physical plane, those who have no longer to consider the limits of the physical plane. If we have the deep and earnest belief in the success of our cause in the civilisation of the world, it is because we have the full consciousness that those who formerly belonged to us, are still our best forces, that they work among us from the spiritual world with spiritual means. The trust in our cause that we require, will often be strengthened by the knowledge that we must thank our departed friends for being in our midst in order that, by uniting our forces with theirs, we can accomplish the labour which is laid upon us for the spiritual civilisation of the world. I should now like to continue the considerations which we began to develop in our last lecture. Such times as our own, in which the enigma of death approaches the human soul in so many different forms—and on this we laid stress in our last lecture—urges us quite specially to investigate what man is certainly able to acquire regarding the spiritual world. Times like our own, in which humanity is exposed to such severe trials, are destined for the very purpose of leading the human soul to inquire as to the beings of the spiritual world. For who does not see at each step in what is happening to-day—and is happening in the greater part of the civilised world—who does not see at almost every stage the great riddle of Life confronting him? And who does not feel that great connections lie concealed behind such events as those occurring around us to-day and which, as they occur, convulse the souls and hearts of men with pain and sorrow, though fill them also with hope and confidence? Certainly, he who beholds the events of the world with but a short-sighted vision, will judge such far-reaching events by those which immediately precede and follow them. But one who externally, without entering into esoteric considerations, regards the course of cosmic events and compares earlier times with the present, will become conscious of how very much may be connected first with that, let us say, which in quite a different manner, runs its course later on in the Cosmos, as effect. Consider there are now many people who say: “The present events of the war are merely the results of external political opposition among the various nations and peoples.” Certainly, that is true, and there is no question of bringing forward anything in objection to the truth of such a conception in a limited sense; but, if we consider, for example, the wars which were waged in the beginning of the Middle Ages between the Central European peoples and those of South Europe and above all the peoples belonging to the Roman Empire, we must say that the wars which took place then in political strife also proceeded from the opposition, the political opposition which then existed; they had their causes in those oppositions in their immediate vicinity. These battles have now run their course. They have evoked certain configurations in the entire life of Europe. If we investigate but a little into history and consider what happened at that time through the battles of the Central European peoples with, let us say, the peoples of the Roman Empire, we shall come to the conclusion that out of the earlier configuration of the European World there has arisen a later one. But if we wish to estimate correctly the real point at issue, we must consider all the historical results. For these historical results which have occurred in Europe could not have arisen as they have, if those battles had ended the other way. And what was the consequence of this European History? The whole manner in which Christianity spread and grew in Europe is the result of it! And if we consider these deep connections we can say: In all that happened in the following centuries, the facts lie thus: the events of these centuries are karmically connected with their causes, the battles of those times. That means that the events to which we have alluded, are connected with the whole later configuration of the European World even in its spiritual relations. Just consider that in all its gravity, and you will admit that Christianity then spread in Europe and so fashioned itself, that through the youthful Germanic peoples opposing the Roman peoples who had now grown old, and through the uniting of their youthful forces with that which flowed into humanity as the announcement of Christianity, a certain European atmosphere was thereby created, into which the souls descending later were born. Thus the souls lived and developed in the following centuries, in accordance with these events. Thus we may say: If a man at that time had asserted: ‘How does that affect things? It is merely a political opposition between the nations of South and Central Europe,’ he would be right. But if another had said: ‘Just look, the configuration of the spiritual civilisation of all the following centuries will result from what is happening’—he also would be right, and in a much deeper sense. If we seek the immediate causes of anything by pointing to the opposing forces nearest at hand, we do not therewith touch on the entire gravity of the occurrence. The affairs of this world are all very intimately connected. And if we require inner strengthening in order, as it were, to find the right forces for the support of our work, we need only remind ourselves that in a still smaller circle than our present one, were once seated together those who, when Christianity was first announced represented its great Cosmic Truths. I have already often used this comparison. But we shall apply it yet again to-day. There was a time which we can describe as follows: We see the old Roman Empire. We see it with its old philosophy. We see it living entirely in the atmosphere of the old heathen philosophy. We see this Empire with the people who in a sense formed the upper classes. And there below, truly more underneath than our ‘under’ signifies to-day—literally underneath, in the catacombs under the earth, we see the first small handful of Christians, possessing something quite foreign to the world-culture up above, but which they carried so deeply in their hearts that its force became truly cosmically creative. Let us picture to ourselves these catacombs. There, underneath in the catacombs, with their thoughts directed to the Christ-impulse, were the first Christians—and above, over their heads, the Romans, who behaved quite differently from the first Christians. You know all that, I need not relate it further. But if you picture two centuries later, how different everything appears! That which was above is swept away, and that which was venerated underground in secret has found its way to the surface! Certainly, the times and the forms in which such doings occur change; but the essential remains. Concerning those who to-day advocate the external scientific and spiritual culture it may be said—though this is not to be taken literally—they feel themselves above, and call that which is striven for in our circles, the philosophy of a few sectarians, derived from a few abnormal minds. But he who really penetrates the nature of these conceptions of ours and who above all permeates himself with them, may have the assurance that here too some day what is kept under will be on the top. Here then our thoughts may dwell on the transformed world which will arise out of these difficult times of ours, on the spiritual which mankind must learn to grasp. For there hardly exists a greater similarity in historical evolution, than that between our own times and that which played its part in the epoch when the old Roman culture was still above, and Christianity, tended by a few faithful souls, was still below.

I should like to point out—if I may do so without seeming narrow-minded through a too exact and pedantic reference to these things, for in these days we should be very broad indeed—that it is especially good to hold before the soul as imaginative pictures our own epoch and that of the Rome at the first appearance of Christianity.

Now, many who to-day oppose what we call Spiritual Science, cannot fail to feel the entirely different nature of that which Spiritual Science must advocate, in contradistinction to that which is otherwise upheld among the so-called ‘normal’ people of to-day. And here we need only observe, if we wish to understand this correctly, how the first announcement of Christianity was completely opposed to that which was upheld among the Romans, the normal men of those times: with such a thought we must make ourselves acquainted, for it is again and again leveled against us that with the accepted means of cognition man cannot reach worlds such as those with which we are concerned. We must really so grasp the more intimate work in our groups as to be able to say: This life in our groups is not useless. It is not without significance to this cause of ours, that we should meet together in such groups, and again and again renew, not only acquaintance with the theoretical results of our doctrine, which is not of importance, but also renew our warm feelings and sensations for the actual things and beings of the spiritual world. Thereby we accustom ourselves to that manner of psychic sensing and feeling which above all makes it possible for us to take up spiritual truths in a different way from those who are unprepared. In our group meetings there must occasionally be imparted to you something from the higher and later parts of spiritual knowledge. We cannot always start afresh from the beginning. But this intimacy within the life of the groups must make it possible for a number of our friends to take into themselves, into their souls, such things as I pointed out in the last lecture, namely, the special manner of verifying our spiritual knowledge, and of taking it into oneself. We cannot verify these things in the same manner as man does in the external world when he contacts things with his eyes: but he who has a feeling for such facts as I pointed out last time, will, even if he does not himself see into the spiritual world, feel that through the mutual support of spiritual truths the value of these truths is intensified. Therefore I shall yet again draw attention to the very significant fact that on the one side, through many years of study, the definite point of view is reached, that a third of our life between birth and death—in time—is again lived through after death; while now on the other side a quite different point of view is discovered—namely, that in reality we experience our sleep life in a special form during the time we call Kamaloka, and that this time also occupies a third of the life on the physical plane. These two points of view are quite independent of each other and have been discovered from different starting points. We have also shown on other occasions how, from three or four different points of view, one always comes to the same conclusion. Thus do the truths support each other. But for this, we must ourselves acquire the right feeling. This will produce something like a natural elemental feeling for the truth of this spiritual knowledge. I must often appeal to this, otherwise I could not give out the later and higher truths in the various group-meetings.

Last time we drew attention to the fact that the right connection of our Ego-consciousness between death and rebirth is, as it were, kindled through that panoramic review of our last earth-life which takes place after death. We go over our life again in a kind of tableau. You must quite clearly understand what a man there really beholds. We are here accustomed to stand on the physical plane, forming, in a sense, a kind of central point of our cosmic horizon, and we see the world around us which makes an impression on our senses. In normal life on the physical plane, we do not look into ourselves, we turn our gaze outwards. Now, if we want to form an idea of the life immediately following death, it is important to keep in mind that this gaze on the panorama of life is absolutely different from the perception we are accustomed to use on the physical plane. On the physical plane we look out of ourselves and regard the world as our environment. ‘We are here, we look outwards, and not into ourselves.’ Immediately after death we have a few days in which our field of vision is filled with that which we have undergone between birth and death. We then look within from the circumference to the centre. We regard our own life in its chronological course. Whereas we usually say: ‘Here are we and everything else is outside us’ ... immediately after death we have the consciousness that this distinction between us and the world does not exist. For we look from the circumference on to our own life, which for these few days is our world. In ordinary perception on the physical plane we behold hills, houses, rivers, trees, etc., so, in the same way, we see that which we have undergone in life from a certain personal standpoint, as our own immediate world. And because we see it, that gives the starting point for the maintenance of the Ego through the entire life between death and rebirth. It is that which strengthens and invigorates the soul, so that between death and rebirth it always knows: ‘I am an Ego!’ Here in physical life we realise our Ego through the fact—which I have often pointed out—that we stand in a certain relation to our body. Consider: if you reflect closely on a dream you will say: In the dream you have no clear feeling of the Ego, but often a feeling of separation. That is because man here on the physical plane only really feels his Ego through contact with his body. You can represent it very crudely thus: If you move your finger through the air—there is nothing there! Move it further—there is still nothing. When you touch something, however, in coming against something, you know of yourself, you become aware of yourself. We are thereby made aware of our Ego. Not the Ego itself is aroused—the Ego is a Being—but the consciousness of the Ego. The opposition makes us aware of our Self. Thus we are Ego-conscious in the physical body because of our living in it. For this reason we have received the physical body. In the life between death and rebirth we have an Ego-consciousness, because we have received the forces which proceed from the vision of the previous life. We come to a certain extent in contact with that which the world of space gives us and thereby win our Ego-consciousness for the life between birth and death. We come in contact with that which we ourselves have experienced between birth and death in the last life, and thereby have our Ego-consciousness for the life between death and rebirth.

There now follows the quite different life which occupies a third of the time of the life between birth and death, and which is usually called the Kamaloka life. This life follows. It is of such a nature that we may say a widening of our vision appears. While during the first few days our vision is really directed only to our self, to our past life, not to the personality—this, as time goes on, becomes quite different. Certainly the power of knowing oneself as an Ego remains. But there now appears, and you can gather for yourselves, from the lectures and books, what I am about to say—there now appears something quite peculiar, to which man has first to accustom himself, because the whole method of perceiving in that world is quite different from what it is here on the physical plane. A great part of that which man has to undergo after death consists in inwardly accommodating himself to a different mode of perception. Here we have nature around us. What we here regard in the physical world as nature is absolutely nonexistent in that world which is ours between death and rebirth. To see nature here we have our physical eyes, ears, and the whole physical apparatus of perception. And this nature as it exists with its fullness of colour and other characteristics could not be perceived by other, different organs of perception. Therefore we are endowed with a physical body, that we may be able to perceive nature. After death, in the place of what is here around us as nature, we have around us the spiritual world which we describe as the world of the hierarchies and world of pure being, of pure soul. Not matter or substance or objects which have colour, but pure being. That is the essential point. Therefore naturally the astonishment is greatest for those souls who denied the spirit while here in physical life. For those, who deny the spirit and believe nothing of the spiritual, are placed in a world which they have denied, and which is completely unknown to them. They have compulsorily to live in a world whose existence they actually refused to admit.

Thus we are encompassed by a spiritual environment of pure being, of pure soul. And now gradually emerge souls, fashioning themselves out of this universal soul-world, for at first there are souls everywhere—souls whom we do not recognise. We know they are all souls, but we do not recognise them individually; and gradually the individual souls appear more distinctly and concretely. And especially at this time appear those souls with whom we have lived here on the physical plane, the souls of men with whom we have lived here. While we face this fullness of souls we learn to know among whom we are: this soul is so and so, that soul is someone else, and so on. We make acquaintance with these souls. First of all we must recognise the fact that the whole relation in which we stand to the world then, between death and rebirth, is essentially different, in yet other respects to the relation in which we stand here on the physical plane. Here we say that the world is outside us; after death we have really the consciousness that the world is within us. Just imagine that for a moment here, on the earth, you were to dissolve entirely, that you were to vanish into vapour. The vaporous cloud which is you spreads out more and more and only ceases to spread further when it reaches the firmament. It expands, but it can get no further. Let us consider for a moment the firmament as a being. You then feel yourself as this firmament and now see everything within it; thus you stand outside with your consciousness and see the world inside. You feel yourself in such a way that everything that appears is within you. Just as here a pain is inside us, in like manner after death beings appear in us as inner experience. That brings about the infinite intimacy of the experiences between death and rebirth, the fact of being so bound together with them that we actually have them as our own inner experiences. And here there is a certain distinction. Consider such a soul as I have instanced, which one begins to recognise and of which all one can know at first is: ‘Yes, it is there, but it has no form. It is not yet perceptible, but it is there.’ To make it perceptible one has to accomplish an inner activity, an activity somewhat like the following: Let us suppose ourselves placed in the spiritual. If I feel behind me something which I do not see, the following idea arises in me: It is there, but I must accomplish an activity in order to get some conception of it. I may say it is comparable to touching a thing so as to get an idea of it. This inner activity is necessary if the imagination is to appear. I know the being is there, but I have first to create the imagination by uniting myself inwardly with the being. That is the one way in which man can perceive souls. The other manner is this: that one does not oneself accomplish this inner activity with such intensity, but it arises of its own accord. It appears without one's having very much to do with it. It is somewhat like our perception of something here, only of course it is transferred into the spiritual. And this distinction can exist between two souls. Of the one, man receives a perception through being very active himself; of the other, through an imagination arising out of itself. You only need be attentive to recognise this distinction. For if you become acquainted with a soul that requires more activity to be perceived; that is the soul of one who has died. But a soul that appears more of its own accord is a soul which is incarnate here on the earth in a physical body. These distinctions are really there. Man stands—with a few exceptions, which we can mention at the proper time—man stands in union after death both with the souls who have died and those who are still here on earth. And the distinction lies in a man's knowing which kind of soul he has to deal with; he knows he must be active or passive, according to the way in which there arises the imagination of the soul which he faces.

Now, there is one idea, one characteristic, which has indeed been expressed many times already, but which we will once more bring forward in connection with the life which occupies a third of the earth-life just elapsed, and which we are accustomed to call the life in Kamaloka. If you are living here on the earth and somebody strikes you, you are aware of it. You perceive it, and say: he has struck me. And as a rule it makes a difference whether somebody hits you, or whether you hit him, and if you hear something said by someone, you have not the same experience as when you yourself say something. All this is quite reversed in Kamaloka life, in which we live our life backwards between death and rebirth. To use this rough illustration it is then as follows. If you have given anybody a blow in life, you feel what the other person felt through the blow. If you have injured another through a word, you experience the feeling you caused him. Thus you feel the experience of the other soul. In other words, you experience the results brought about by your own deeds. We experience in this journey backwards everything which other people have experienced through us during our life here, between birth and death. If you have lived here between birth and death with many hundreds of men, these men have experienced something through you. But here in physical life you cannot feel that which those others felt and experienced through you, you only experience what they make you go through. After death this is reversed, and it is essential that we should experience everything in this review which others have suffered through us. Thus we undergo the effects of the last earth existence, and the task of these years really lies in our experiencing them. Now, while we are undergoing these effects, the experience is transformed in us into forces, and it happens in the following manner: Suppose I have offended a man, who has thereby suffered bitterly. During Kamaloka I now experience this bitterness myself. I go through it as my own experience. And while I now experience it, it makes good in me the force which must work as opposition; that is, while I undergo this bitterness, I create in myself the force to wipe away from the world this bitterness. I thus realise all the effects of my deeds and thereby absorb the force to wipe them away. And during this time in Kamaloka—which lasts a third of the earth-life—I absorb all the forces which may be expressed as an intense longing in the now disembodied soul, to remove everything which destroys perfection by retarding the soul's evolution. If you ponder over this you will see that man himself makes his own Karma, that is, that he has in himself the wish to become such that everything undesirable may be wiped out. Thus is Karma prepared, during this particular time. We incorporate into our souls the force which we must take up between death and rebirth, in order to bring about in the next incarnation that configuration of our life which we are able to regard as the right one. This is how Karma is created. In order to understand these things aright—not only theoretically but so to grasp them that they may penetrate deeply into our forces of feeling and willing—we must be clear that the whole mode of feeling common to the dead is absolutely different from that of the living. The living may very easily say, ‘I pity this or that dead man because he has to suffer something from which he cannot escape!’ But suppose he has terribly wronged another and can do nothing to put it right, you may perhaps feel sorry for the dead man, but that is quite uncalled for; for he desires nothing more than to be able to evolve the forces whereby he can balance the wrong. That is the very thing which he regards as precious. You would thus be wishing that he should not reach what he himself most longs for. To attain this he must undergo all the aforesaid suffering, for the positive develops out of the negative. Through insight into that which we have done, we develop the power of making compensation.

Thus we may say that at the end of this Kamaloka period a man has already determined, in accordance with his last life and its recapitulation, how he will enter the next incarnation in his existence; and in what relation he will stand to this or that person in order to compensate this or that. There we actually determine our Karma for the life we are to enter.

The first part of our time is spent in assimilating from the spiritual world the forces through which we can build up humanity in general, and through which we can form for ourselves a body suitable for our own individuality. First we have the plan of our Karma. Then we must fashion the human body to this end. That requires a much longer time, and takes place later on. Now, you can see from this that the essential of the time in Kamaloka lies in the fact that it gives us the possibility of ethically preparing our next incarnation in the right manner. We must be quite clear that each following incarnation depends on the earlier ones. We see how our following incarnations are prepared. And we see that the entire mode of a man's life depends on the way in which he went through his former life. The objection is raised by persons who have not yet fully considered the matter, that this contradicts a man's freedom. I will return to this later—it does not contradict freedom.

If we thus observe individual persons in life we find that they are very, very different; no matter how many men there are on the earth, they are all different. Yet one may distinguish categories. There are, for instance, men who so behave that from their earliest youth we can see that as individuals they are specially suited for this, or that. As you know, there are such people. Even in childhood we can predict that they will accomplish some definite purpose. They thrust themselves into it, as it were. They possess activity. They have a special task, because they develop force for this end. Others we find who are interested in many things but have no definite inclination to any one thing. They take up many things. Perhaps later in life they may come to a definite task which is not specially suited to them; they might perhaps have been able to do something else quite as well. In short, people are quite different one from another in reference to the way in which they act in life. And this really makes life possible. There are men, for example, who enter life, and who do not seem to have much to do, externally. But they need only speak a word or two to have an influence on people. Such men work more through their inner being. Others work more externally. That is intimately connected with the manner in which they have lived through their previous incarnation. There are persons who die in early youth—before the age of thirty-five—in order to have these very limitations. Such men with regard to their death in this incarnation are in a quite different position from those who die after the age of thirty-five. One who dies before the age of thirty-five still stands nearer to the world from which he descended at birth. This thirty-fifth year is an important boundary. One then crosses a bridge, as it were. The world out of which a man has descended then withdraws, and he produces a new spiritual world from his inner being. It is important that we should distinguish this. And now suppose a man dies before the age of thirty-five. On reincarnating, those forces develop in him which he did not use in the years which would have followed his thirty-fifth year. Such men, who before the thirty-fifth year go through death in this way in one incarnation, thereby economise for the next incarnation certain forces, which would have been exhausted if they had lived till fifty, sixty or seventy years of age. The forces which they thus saved are added to those with which they incarnate in the next life. Thereby such souls are born into bodies through which they are in a position, especially in their youth, to confront life with strong impressions. In other words: when such souls, who in their last incarnation died before the thirty-fifth year, reincarnate again, everything makes a strong impression on them. They are deeply stirred by things, they enjoy things deeply, they have living feelings and are easily urged to impulses of will. They are those who take a strong position in life, and who receive a mission. A man does not die without cause before his thirty-fifth year; he will thereby receive a quite definite mission in his next life. These things are complex, and death before the age of thirty-five may also bring about other things—it is not absolute law, for these are only examples. But when a man dies after thirty-five it happens that in his next life he does not receive such strong impressions from the things in his surroundings. He cannot easily be stirred or roused. He becomes acquainted more slowly but more intimately with things, and he thus prepares himself for a life in his next incarnation in which he will work more through his inner nature, without being so definitely guided to a special task in life. He will so stand in life, that he would perhaps have preferred some other task, and is diverted from it in order to accomplish something perhaps absolutely against his will. Because through the previous earth incarnation he had accustomed himself to work more delicately, he can now be used in a wider sphere. And if a man—I have already mentioned this case earlier—if a man is led in very early youth through the gate of death, let us say in his eleventh, twelfth, or thirteenth year of life, he then has but a short time in Kamaloka. But he remains very, very near the world which he forsook at physical birth. Everything appears different. After a life ending with the twelfth year, there follows the usual retrospect during the first days after death, but it takes place in such a manner that it appears more from outside. Whereas if a man dies at the age of fifty, sixty or seventy, he himself must do much more to bring about this retrospect. It must be brought about by his own activity. And because they have to experience this life after death in so many various ways, men are thereby differently prepared for their next life. It may be that in one life a man is especially active. Now, if an especially active man is summoned from life at an early age, it would then occur that in his next life his Karma would appoint him to a quite definite task in life, which he would certainly accomplish. He would be as if predestined. If, however, a man is especially active in one life and lives to a good old age, these forces are then intensified inwardly. He has then in his next life a more complicated task. Outer activity withdraws, and there appears in the soul the necessity to evolve inner activity.

Thus the life of man is complex as it develops from incarnation to incarnation. We shall continue these considerations in the next lecture. Now, I should like to conclude by saying one thing: When you face a whole epoch such as ours, in which in a relatively short time an exceptional number of men are led in abnormal fashion through the gates of death, then through this something quite exceptional is being prepared. And it was necessary that this should be prepared. You see each year how the time of blossoming comes to the world in intervals. If you look back in history you can also say that even there the blossoms appear at intervals. A great time of blossoming was the epoch of Lessing, Herder, Schiller, Fichte, Goethe. It is as if there was then a gathering of geniuses for a time, and it then ceased. And thus the world progresses in leaps. Such intervals of genius are recorded, and then these things change again. In the spiritual realms too, we have a blossoming, a special sprouting, at intervals. Now, in our days we have an interval of decay in the physical realm. Here you have again two things which you can place as pictures, side by side, and which as pictures are tremendously significant. Great physical decay—which is the seed for a later significant spiritual blossoming. Things have always two sides. From this standpoint, ever seeking again and again force and consolation—but also gaining confidence in our hopes—let us once more repeat in reference to our times, and from the consciousness of our spiritual science:

From the fighters' courage,
From the blood of battles,
From the mourners' suffering,
From the people's sacrifice,
There will ripen fruits of Spirit
If with consciousness the soul
Turns her thought to Spirit Realms.

Zweiter Vortrag

Als erstes obliegt mir die schwere, traurige Pflicht, Ihnen die Nachricht zu überbringen, daß zu denjenigen, die wir heute schon zu den Sphärenmenschen zu rechnen haben, auch unsere liebe Freundin, die Leiterin der Münchener Loge, Fräulein Stinde, gehört. Sie hat gestern abend diesen physischen Plan verlassen. Es ist keine Möglichkeit, in den ersten Augenblicken über diesen für unsere Gesellschaft so außerordentlich schweren, bedeutungsvollen Verlust zu sprechen, ich will nur ganz wenige Worte über dieses für uns so schmerzliche, bedeutsame Ereignis im Beginne der heutigen Betrachtungen zu Ihnen sprechen.

Fräulein Stinde gehört ja zu denjenigen, die wohl in den weitesten Kreisen unserer Freunde, ich möchte sagen, wie selbstverständlich bekannt sind. Sie gehört zu denen, welche unsere Sache im Allertiefsten ihres Herzens ergriffen haben, sich ganz mit unserer Sache identifiziert haben. In ihrem und ihrer Freundin, der Gräfin Kalckreuth, Haus konnte ich ja im Jahre 1903 die ersten intimen Vorträge über unsere Sache, die ich in München zu halten hatte, geben. Und man darf sagen: Von diesem ersten Mal an, da uns Fräulein Stinde nähertrat, verband sie nicht nur ihre ganze Persönlichkeit, sondern ihre ganze, auch so wertvolle, so ausgezeichnete, so tief in die Waagschale fallende Arbeitskraft mit unserer Sache. Sie verließ ja dasjenige, was ihr vorher als ein künstlerischer Beruf teuer war, um sich ganz und einzig, mit ihrer ganzen Kraft, in den Dienst unserer Sache zu stellen. Und sie hat in einer selten objektiven, in einer ganz unpersönlichen Weise seit jener Zeit intensiv für diese unsere Sache im engeren Kreise und im weiteren Kreise gewirkt. Für München war sie ja die Seele unseres ganzen Wirkens. Und sie war eine solche Scele, von der man sagen konnte, daß sie durch die inneren Qualitäten ihres Wesens die allerbeste Garantie dafür abgab, daß an diesem Orte unsere Sache in der allerbesten Weise sich entwickeln könne. Sie wissen ja, meine lieben Freunde, es hatten die Aufführungen der Mysterienspiele und all dasjenige, was damit verbunden war für München, den dort für uns tätigen Persönlichkeiten eine ganze Reihe von Jahren hindurch eine riesige Arbeitslast auferlegt. Dieser Arbeitslast unterwarf sich Fräulein Stinde mit ihrer Freundin in der allerintensivsten Weise, und vor allen Dingen darf gesagt werden, in der allerverständnisvollsten Weise, in einer Weise, die ganz herausgeboren war aus dem innersten Wesen unserer Sache, aus dem Wollen, das nun selber aus diesem inneren Wesen unserer Sache herausgeboren werden kann. Und man darf ja vielleicht auch andeuten, daß die intensive Arbeit, welche Fräulein Stinde geleistet hat, wirklich ihre Lebenskraft in den letzten Jahren sehr stark verzehrt hat. So daß man wirklich sich gestehen muß: Diese wertvolle, vielleicht etwas zu schnell in den letzten Jahren aufgezehrte Lebenskraft war in der schönsten, in der tief-befriedigendsten Weise unserer Sache gewidmet. Und es ist wohl unter denen, welche Fräulein Stinde näher kannten, niemand, der sich des Eindruckes je ganz erwehren konnte, daß gerade diese Persönlichkeit zu unseren allerbesten Arbeitern gehörte. Es ist gewiß, meine lieben Freunde, manches auch in der Tätigkeit von Fräulein Stinde da oder dort mißverstanden worden, und es steht zu hoffen, daß auch diejenigen unserer Freunde und Anhänger, welche das Wirken Fräulein Stindes durch Vorurteil verkannt haben, nachträglich das Sonnenhaft-Kraftvolle, das von dieser Persönlichkeit ausgegangen ist, voll anerkennen werden. Und jene, die aus unserem weiteren Kreise beobachten konnten, was Fräulein Stinde für unsere Sache tat, sie werden ihr ja mit allen denen, die ihr nähergestanden haben, das allertreueste Andenken bewahren. Wie wir ja gerade von ihr sicher sein können, daß wir das Wort ganz besonders betonen dürfen, welches in diesen Tagen ja öfters ausgesprochen werden mußte in Anknüpfung an den Abgang vom physischen Plane mancher unserer Freunde - es darf gerade im Hinblick auf Fräulein Stinde bei dem vielen Angefochtenwerden und bei der Gegnerschaft, die unsere Sache in der Welt hat, dieses Wort betont werden: Wir, die wir ja treu und ehrlich zu den geistigen Welten uns bekennen, zählen jene, die nur die Form ihres Daseins gewechselt haben, die aber als Seelen treu mit uns vereint sind, trotzdem sie durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen sind, zu unseren wichtigsten, bedeutungsvollsten Mitarbeitern. Jene Schleier, die noch vielfach diejenigen umgeben, die im physischen Leibe verkörpert sind, die fallen ja nach und nach ab, und die Seelen dieser unserer teuren Toten wirken - dessen sind wir gewiß — mitten unter uns. Und wir brauchen, meine lieben Freunde, gerade solche Hilfe. Wir brauchen solche Hilfe, die nicht mehr angefochten wird vom physischen Plane aus, solche Hilfe, die auch keine Rücksicht mehr zu nehmen hat in bezug auf die Hemmnisse des physischen Planes. Und wenn wir den tiefen, ernsthaftesten Glauben an das Fortkommen unserer Sache in der Weltkultur haben, so ist es mit darum, daß wir uns voll bewußt sind, daß diejenigen, die einmal zu uns gehört haben, auch dann, wenn sie mit geistigen Mitteln aus der geistigen Welt unter uns wirken, unsere besten Kräfte sind. Manchmal wird das Vertrauen, das wir in unsere Sache brauchen, sich erhärten müssen daran, daß wir wissen: Wir danken unseren toten Freunden, daß sie mitten unter uns sind und daß wir mit ihren Kräften vereint die Arbeit für die geistige Weltenkultur leisten können, die uns obliegt.

In diesem Sinne nur wollte ich mit ein paar Worten heute schon dieses schmerzliche Ereignis berühren und nur noch sagen, daß die Kremation am nächsten Montag um 1 Uhr in Ulm stattfinden wird.

Ich möchte nun fortfahren in den Betrachtungen, die wir vorgestern begonnen haben. Nicht wahr, solche Zeiten wie die unsrige, in denen so mannigfaltig das Rätsel des Todes an die Menschenseele herantritt — wir haben es schon vorgestern betont -, die mahnen ganz besonders daran, nachzufragen, welche Klarheit der Mensch gewinnen kann über die geistigen Welten. Zeiten, in denen die Menschheit so schweren Prüfungen ausgesetzt ist, wie die gegenwärtige ist, sie sind ja geradezu dazu geschaffen, die Menschenseele die Richtung dahin nehmen zu lassen, wo die Fragen ihr aufgehen nach den Wesenheiten der geistigen Welten. Denn wer, meine lieben Freunde, möchte nicht an jeder Stelle in dem, was heute innerhalb eines großen Teiles der Kulturwelt geschieht, das große Lebensrätsel aufgehen sehen? Und wer möchte nicht ahnen, daß große Zusammenhänge verborgen sind hinter solchen Ereignissen, wie sie heute in unserer weiteren Umgebung leben und die Menschenseelen, die Menschenherzen durchzucken mit Schmerz, mit Leid, aber auch mit Hoffnung und mit Zuversicht?

Gewiß, wer mit einem nur kurzreichenden Blicke die Weltenereignisse anschaut, der wird solche umfangreichen Ereignisse nach dem nächsten beurteilen, das ihnen vorangegangen ist und das ihnen folgen kann. Wer aber nur auch äußerlich, ohne in irgend etwas Esoterisches einzugehen, den Gang der Weltenereignisse anblickt und frühere Zeiten mit gegenwärtigen Zeiten vergleicht, der wird sich bewußt werden können, wie unendlich viel zusammenhängen kann, sagen wir, mit dem, was sich in einer ganz anderen Art als die Wirkungen nachher in der Welt nunmehr abspielt. Es sind jetzt viele Menschen, die sagen, die gegenwärtigen kriegerischen Ereignisse seien bloßes Ergebnis äußerer politischer Gegensätze, Gegensätze der einzelnen Nationen, der einzelnen Völker. Gewiß ist das wahr. Und nicht darum handelt es sich, im engeren Sinne irgend etwas einzuwenden gegen die Wahrheit einer solchen Auffassung. Aber wenn Sie zum Beispiel im Beginne des mittelalterlichen Lebens die Kämpfe nehmen, die sich abgespielt haben zwischen den in Mitteleuropa und den in Südeuropa lebenden, vor allen Dingen das Römische Reich einnehmenden Völkerschaften, so kann man auch sagen, diese Kämpfe, die sich da abgespielt haben in Form von politischen Kämpfen, gingen hervor aus politischen Gegensätzen, die da bestanden haben, hatten ihre Ursachen in diesen unmittelbar naheliegenden Gegensätzen. Aber nun sind diese Kämpfe abgelaufen. Sie haben gewisse Konfigurationen des ganzen europäischen Lebens hervorgerufen. Wenn Sie nur ein wenig die Geschichte aufschlagen und sich ansehen, was dazumal geschehen ist durch die Kämpfe der mitteleuropäischen Völkerschaften mit, sagen wir, den Völkerschaften des Römerreiches, so werden Sie sich sagen: Es ist aus einer älteren Konfiguration der europäischen Welt eine spätere Konfiguration dieser europäischen Welt entstanden. Aber wenn man ganz würdigen will, um was es sich dabei handelt, dann muß man die ganze nachfolgende Geschichte ins Auge fassen. Denn diese nachfolgende Geschichte, wie sie sich abgespielt hat in Europa, sie hätte sich nicht so abspielen können, wie sie sich abgespielt hat, hätten nicht die Kämpfe dazumal gerade den Ausgang genommen, den sie genommen haben.

Und was gehört alles zu dieser europäischen Geschichte? Die ganze Art und Weise, wie sich das Christentum in Europa ausgebreitet und eingelebt hat, gehört dazu! Und wenn Sie sich die tieferen Zusammenhänge anschauen, so können Sie sich sagen: Mit allem, was in den folgenden Jahrhunderten geschehen ist, liegt die Sache so, daß dieses durch Jahrhunderte Geschehene wie mit seiner Ursache zusammenhing mit den damaligen Kämpfen. Das heißt, mit den Ereignissen, auf die wir hingedeutet haben, hängt zusammen die ganze spätere Konfiguration der europäischen Welt, bis in die geistigen Verhältnisse hinein. Und betrachten Sie das nur in seinem ganzen Schwergewicht, so daß Sie sich sagen: dadurch, wie sich nun das Christentum in Europa ausbreitete, wie es seine Gestalt angenommen hat dadurch, daß die jungen germanischen Völker gegen die altgewordenen römischen Völker ihre Jugendkraft vereinigt haben mit dem, was als eine reifste Frucht, als die christliche Verkündigung in die Menschheit hineinfloß, dadurch ist eine gewisse europäische Atmosphäre geschaffen worden, in die die folgenden Seelen hineinversetzt worden sind.

Also wie die Seelen gelebt haben in folgenden Jahrhunderten, wie die Seelen in den folgenden Jahrhunderten geworden sind, das hängt zusammen mit diesen Ereignissen. Wenn daher ein Mensch damals gesagt hätte: Nun, was ist das weiter? Es ist ein politischer Gegensatz der Völker zwischen Süd- und Mitteleuropa —, so würde er recht gehabt haben. Aber derjenige, der gesagt hätte: Sieh hin, die Konfiguration der geistigen Kultur aller folgenden Jahrhunderte nimmt ihren Ausgang von dem, was hier geschieht -, so hätte der auch recht gehabt, und er hätte in weiterem Sinne recht gehabt. Damit, daß? man von irgend etwas die naheliegenden Ursachen auffindet, daf man sagt, was die nächstliegenden Gegensätze sind, hat man nicht die ganze Schwere des Ereignisses getroffen. Die Dinge dieser Welt hängen aufs innigste zusammen. Und wenn wir innerlich Stärkung brauchen, um sozusagen die rechte Kraft zu finden für das Vertreten unserer Sache, dann brauchen wir uns nur zu erinnern, daß in einem wahrhaft noch kleineren Zirkel, als der unsrige einer ist, zusammengesessen haben diejenigen, die im Beginne der christlichen Verkündigung die große Weltwahrheit des Christentums vertreten haben. Ich habe schon öfter diesen Vergleich gebraucht, aber wir wollen ihn auch heute noch einmal anwenden.

Es gab eine Zeit, die können wir geradezu so beschreiben: Wir sehen das alte Römische Reich. Wir sehen es leben ganz und gar in der Atmosphäre der alten heidnischen Weltanschauung. Wir sehen dieses Reich mit seinen Menschen, die gewissermaßen die obere Schichte bilden. Da unten, wahrhaftig noch mehr unten als unser «unten» heute ist, wirklich im gewöhnlichen Sinne «unten», in den Katakomben unter der Erde, sehen wir die ersten, an Zahl spärlichen Christen, mit dem, was ganz fremd ist der Weltkultur oben, aber was sie so in ihren Herzen tragen, daß die Kraft, mit der sie es tragen, eben weltumschaffend ist. Und, meine lieben Freunde, wenn wir uns diese Katakomben vergegenwärtigen: da unten in den Katakomben, mit ihren Gedanken nach dem Christus-Impuls hin gerichtet, sehen wir die ersten Christen, und oben über ihren Köpfen die Römer — Sie wissen ja, wie die mit den ersten Christen verfahren sind, ich brauche es Ihnen nicht zu erzählen. Und wenn Sie sich ein paar Jahrhunderte danach das Bild vor die Seele malen, wie anders sieht es aus! Hinweggefegt ist das, was oben war, und hinaufgedrungen von unten nach oben ist das, was verachtet unten im Verborgenen war. Gewiß, die Zeiten und die Formen, in denen so etwas geschieht, ändern sich, aber das Wesentliche bleibt. Von denjenigen, die heute die äußere Wissenschaftskultur, die äußere geistige Kultur vertreten, wenn es auch nicht örtlich und wörtlich zu nehmen st, kann auch gesagt werden, sie fühlen sich «oben», und sie nennen das, was getrieben wird in unseren Reihen, eine Weltanschauung von ein paar Sektierern, ein paar unnormalen Köpfen. Aber derjenige, der wirklich in das Wesen dieser unserer Weltanschauung eindringt und der sich vor allen Dingen damit durchdringt, er darf die Zuversicht haben, daß auch hier einmal das Unten das Oben sein wird. Und da können sich dann schon die Gedanken zusammenschließen, die Gedanken der umgestalteten Welt, die aus der so schweren Zeit unserer Tage hervorgehen wird, sich anschließend an das, was im Geistigen die Menschheit ergreifen muß. Denn es gibt kaum eine größere Ähnlichkeit im geschichtlichen Werden als die Ähnlichkeit zwischen unserer Zeit und derjenigen, die sich abgespielt hat, als die alte römische Kultur noch oben und das Christentum, von wenigen getreuen Seelen vertreten, noch unten war.

Aufmerksam machen möchte ich darauf, wenn ich auch nicht durch ein allzu genaues, pedantisches Hinweisen auf diese Dinge unsere Empfindungen, die in diesen Tagen weit sein sollen, zu stark verengen will, daß gerade dieses gut ist, wenn wir uns so unser Zeitalter und das Rom vom ersten Aufgange des Christentums wie als Bilder für unsere Imagination vor die Seele halten.

Nun, meine lieben Freunde, viele, die heute dem, was wir Geisteswissenschaft nennen, entgegentreten, müssen ja zweifellos das ganz Andersartige desjenigen empfinden, was Geisteswissenschaft vertreten muß, gegenüber dem, was sonst allgemein unter den heute «normal» benannten Menschen vertreten wird. Aber auch da brauchen wir nur darauf zu blicken, wenn wir dies in rechter Weise verstehen wollen, wie doch ganz andersartig die erste Verkündigung des Christentums war gegenüber demjenigen, was bei den damals normal Genannten, etwa den Römern, gang und gäbe war. Mit einem solchen Gedanken muß man sich vertraut machen, wenn immer wieder und wiederum uns entgegnet wird, daß man ja mit den Mitteln, die berechtigte Erkenntnismittel sind, solche Welten nicht erreichen könne wie die, von denen hier die Rede ist. Aber wir müssen auch wirklich die intimere Arbeit in unseren Zweigen so auffassen, daß wir uns sagen: Dieses Leben in unseren Zweigen ist als solches nicht nutzlos. Es ist nicht gleichgültig gegenüber unserer Sache selbst, daß wir in solchen Zweigen zusammenkommen und immer wieder nicht nur die Bekanntschaft mit den theoretischen Ergebnissen unserer Lehre erneuern — darauf kommt es nicht an -, sondern auch das warme Fühlen und Empfinden für die konkreten Dinge und Wesenheiten der geistigen Welt. Dadurch gewöhnen wir uns hinein in die Art und Weise des seelischen Empfindens und Fühlens, die es uns allerdings möglich machen, geistige Wahrheiten anders hinzunehmen als diejenigen, die unvorbereitet sind. Es muß schon in unseren Zweigabenden zuweilen etwas aus den höheren, späteren Partien der geistigen Erkenntnis gesagt werden, man kann nicht immer wieder vom Anfang anfangen. Aber es muß auch dieses Vertrautsein mit dem Zweigleben dem größten Teil der Seelen unserer Freunde die Möglichkeit gewähren, solche Dinge, wie ich sie vorgestern angedeutet habe, die besondere Art der Bewahrheitung unserer geistigen Erkenntnis, in sich aufzunehmen.

Man kann diese Dinge nicht in derselben Weise bewahrheiten, wie man die äußeren Dinge bewahrheitet: indem man die Leute mit den Augen darauf stößt. Aber derjenige, der eine Empfindung hat für so etwas, wie ich es das letztemal angedeutet habe, der wird, wenn er auch nicht selbst in die geistigen Welten hineinschaut, fühlen, wie durch das Sich-gegenseitig-Stützen der geistigen Wahrheiten der Wahrheitswert erhöht wird. Deshalb will ich noch einmal darauf aufmerksam machen, wie es so sehr bedeutsam ist, wie auf der einen Seite durch jahrelanges Beobachten ein gewisser Gesichtspunkt herausgekommen ist, daß ein Drittel der Zeit unseres Lebens zwischen Geburt und Tod wiederum nacherlebt wird nach dem Tode, und nunmehr ein ganz anderer Gesichtspunkt aufgefunden wird: der Gesichtspunkt, daß wir eigentlich das Schlafesleben in einer besonderen Form durchleben während dieser Zeit, die wir das Kamaloka nennen, und daß diese Zeit auch ein Drittel des Lebens auf dem physischen Plan ergibt. Diese beiden Gesichtspunkte sind ganz unabhängig voneinander, von verschiedenen Ausgangspunkten aus gefunden worden. Und so haben wir auch bei anderen Gelegenheiten schon gezeigt, wie man von drei oder vier Gesichtspunkten aus immer zu demselben kommt. Da stützen sich die Wahrheiten gegenseitig. Dafür, meine lieben Freunde, muß man sich auch ein Gefühl erwerben! Und davon kann das dann ausgehen, wovon ich sagen möchte, daß es etwas gibt wie ein natürliches elementares Wahrheitsgefühl für diese geistigen Erkenntnisse. An das muß ich ja oft appellieren, sonst könnte ich nicht spätere, höhere Wahrheiten an den einzelnen Zweigabenden aussprechen.

Wir haben vorgestern darauf aufmerksam gemacht, daß der rechte Zusammenhalt unseres Ich-Bewußtseins zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt gleichsam angefacht wird durch jene panoramamäßige Überschau, die wir über das letzte Erdenleben haben nach dem Tode. Wir überschauen da unser Leben gleichsam in einem Lebenstableau. Machen Sie sich nur ganz klar, was das eigentlich ist, was man da schaut. Wir sind gewohnt, hier auf dem physischen Plan als Menschen gewissermaßen in einer Art Mittelpunkt unseres Welthorizontes zu stehen und im Umkreis die Welt zu sehen, die auf unsere Sinne einen Eindruck macht. Wir überschauen den Horizont, der auf uns einen Eindruck machen kann. Wir schauen nicht in uns hinein in diesem normalen Leben auf dem physischen Plan, sondern wir schauen aus uns heraus. Nun ist es wichtig, daß wir, wenn wir uns einen Begriff aneignen wollen von dem unmittelbar auf den Tod folgenden Leben, gleich darauf aufmerksam werden, daß nun dieser Blick auf das Lebenspanorama sofort anders ist als dasjenige, was wir an Wahrnehmung gewohnt sind für den physischen Plan. Auf dem physischen Plan, da sehen wir aus uns heraus; wir sehen die Welt als unsere Umgebung. Da sind wir, wir schauen aus uns heraus, wir schauen nicht in uns herein. Da haben wir nun unmittelbar nach dem Tode ein paar Tage, wo unser Blickfeld ausgefüllt ist von dem, was wir zwischen Geburt und Tod erlebt haben. Da blicken wir hin von dem Umkreise aus auf das Zentrum. Wir blicken auf unser eigenes Leben, auf den zeitlichen Verlauf unseres eigenen Lebens. Während wir sonst sagen: Da sind wir, und da ist alles übrige, haben wir unmittelbar nach dem Tode gleich das Bewußtsein: Diesen Unterschied zwischen uns und der Welt gibt es nicht, sondern wir schauen vom Umkreis auf unser Leben hin, und das ist für diese paar Tage unsere Welt. So wie man im gewöhnlichen Wahrnehmen auf dem physischen Plane Berge, Häuser, Flüsse, Baume und so weiter sieht, so sieht man dasjenige, was man durchlebt hat im Leben von einem gewissen persönlichen Gesichtspunkte aus, als seine nun unmittelbare Welt. Und daß man das sieht, das gibt den Ausgangspunkt für die Erhaltung des Ich nun durch das ganze Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt. Das stärkt und kräftigt die Seele so, daß sie zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt immer weiß: Ich bin ein Ich!

Hier im physischen Leben fühlen wir unser Ich dadurch - ich habe das ja schon oft angedeutet —, daß wir in einer gewissen Beziehung zu unserer Körperlichkeit stehen. Sehen Sie, wenn Sie genau auf den Traum achten, so werden Sie sich sagen: im Traume haben Sie kein deutliches Gefühl des Ich, sondern oft ein Gefühl des Losgetrenntseins. Das kommt davon her, daß der Mensch hier auf dem physischen Plan sein Ich eigentlich nur fühlt durch die Berührung mit seinem Leibe. In grober Weise können Sie sich das etwa so vergegenwärtigen: Sie gehen so mit dem Finger durch die Luft — da ist nichts! Sie gehen weiter — da ist immer noch nichts. Indem Sie aber anstoßen, wissen Sie von sich. Sie werden sich gewahr, indem Sie anstoßen. Und so wird auch das Gewahrwerden unseres Ich herbeigeführt. Nicht das Ich selbst — das Ich ist eine Wesenheit -, aber das Ich-Bewußtsein, das Bewußtsein vom Ich. Der Gegenstoß macht uns aufmerksam auf unser Selbst. Also im physischen Leben sind wir ich-bewußt dadurch, daß wir in einem physischen Leibe leben. Dafür haben wir den physischen Leib bekommen. Im Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt haben wir ein Ich-Bewußtsein dadurch, daß wir die Kräfte bekommen haben, die ausgehen von der Anschauung des letzten Lebens. Wir stoßen gewissermaßen an dasjenige, was uns die Raumeswelt gibt, und gewinnen dadurch unser Ich-Bewußtsein für das Leben zwischen Geburt und Tod. Wir stoßen an das, was wir selbst erlebt haben zwischen Geburt und Tod im letzten Leben, und haben dadurch unser Ich-Bewußtsein für das Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt.

Nun folgt das ganz andere Leben, das ein Drittel an Zeit einnimmt von dem Leben zwischen Geburt und Tod, das man so oft das Kamaloka-Leben nennt. Da ist es so, daß eine Erweiterung unserer Anschauung eintritt. Während in den ersten Tagen unsere Anschauung eigentlich nur auf uns selbst, auf das verflossene Leben, nicht auf die Persönlichkeit hin gerichtet ist, ist das in der nächsten Zeit nun ganz anders. Gewiß, die Kraft, sich nun als Ich zu wissen, die bleibt. Aber nun tritt — Sie können das, was ich jetzt zusammenfasse, sich selbst zusammensuchen aus einzelnen Büchern und Zyklen — etwas ganz Eigenartiges ein: Das, woran der Mensch eben erst sich gewöhnen muß, weil die ganze Anschauungsweise der Welt eine ganz andere ist als die hier auf dem physischen Plan. Es besteht ein großer Teil dessen, was der Mensch nach dem Tode durchzumachen hat, in dem Sichhineingewöhnen in eine andere Anschauungsweise. Hier erblicken wir um uns herum die Natur. Das, was wir hier in der physischen Welt als Natur anblicken, das ist ja ganz und gar nicht vorhanden in der Welt, die unsere Welt ist zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt. Dafür, wie wir hier die Natur sehen, haben wir eben unsere physischen Augen, Ohren, unseren ganzen physischen Wahrnehmungsapparat. Und mit anderen Wahrnehmungsorganen kann diese Natur, so wie sie ist in ihrer Farbenfülle und sonstigen Eigenschaften, nicht wahrgenommen werden. Deshalb werden wir mit einem physischen Leibe ausgestattet, damit wir die Natur wahrnehmen können. Nach dem Tode ist an Stelle dessen, was hier als Natur um uns ist, die geistige Welt um uns, die wir beschreiben als die Welt der Hierarchien, eine Welt von lauter Wesenheiten, cine Welt von lauter Seelen. Nicht Materie oder Substanz oder Gegenstände, die Farbe haben, sondern lauter Wesen. Das ist das Wesentliche, worauf es ankommt. Daher ist selbstverständlich die Überraschung am größten für diejenigen Seelen, die hier im physischen Leben den Geist ableugnen. Denn diejenigen, die den Geist ableugnen und gar nichts davon glauben, die werden in eine Welt versetzt, die sie eben abgeleugnet haben, die ihnen gänzlich unbekannt ist. Sie müssen zwangsweise in einer Welt leben, von der sie eigentlich gewolit haben, daß sie nicht da sei.

Wir sind also umringt von Geistumgebung, von lauter Wesen, von lauter Seelen. Und nach und nach prägt sich heraus, gestaltet sich heraus aus dieser allgemeinen Seelenwelt - überall sind Seelen, die wir zunächst nicht kennen; wir wissen: da sind lauter Seelen, aber wir kennen sie nicht im einzelnen -, tritt heraus nach und nach die einzelne Seele bestimmter, konkreter, und es treten heraus namentlich in dieser Zeit die Seelen der Menschen, mit denen wir gelebt haben hier auf dem physischen Plane. Wir lernen erkennen, indem wir der Fülle von Seelen, unter denen wir da sind, gegenübertreten: diese Seele ist der, eine andere Seele ist ein anderer. Wir machen Bekanntschaft mit diesen Seelen. Zunächst müssen wir uns bekanntmachen damit, daß die ganze Art und Weise, wie man dann zur Welt steht zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, doch eine wesentlich andere ist, auch noch in anderer Beziehung als angedeutet, als die Art und Weise, in der man zur Welt steht hier auf dem physischen Plan. Hier nennen wir die Welt außer uns. Nach dem Tode haben wir wirklich das Bewußtsein, daß die Welt in uns ist. Es sieht aus wie ein paradoxer Vergleich, aber es ist doch so: Denken Sie sich einmal, Sie wurden für einen Moment hier auf der Erde sich ganz verflüchtigen, Sie würden in Dunst aufgehen. Diese Dunstwolke, die Sie selber sind, verbreitet sich mehr und mehr, und sie bleibt erst stehen — nehmen wir für einen Augenblick das Firmament wie eine Wesenheit — als Firmament, da, «wo die Welt mit Brettern verschlagen ist», wie man so sagt. Sie fühlen sich dann als dieses Firmament und schauen nun alles drinnen, so daß Sie mit dem Bewußtsein draußen stehen und die Welt im Innern sehen. Wir fühlen uns so, daß alles, was auftritt, innerlich auftritt. So wie ein Schmerz hier in uns auftritt, so treten nach dem Tode die Wesen in uns auf als Innenerlebnis. Das bewirkt ja das unendlich Intime der Erlebnisse zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, das Verbundensein mit ihnen, daß man sie als Innenerlebnis eigentlich zuerst hat. Aber da gibt es einen gewissen Unterschied. Sehen Sie, von solch einer Seele, die man anfängt zu erkennen, wie ich es beschrieben habe, von der kann man zunächst wissen: Sie ist da; aber sie hat nicht Gestalt, sie ist noch nicht wahrnehmbar. Um sie wahrnehmbar zu machen, muß man eine innere Tätigkeit verrichten, die etwa folgendes darstellt. Man denke sich ins Geistige übersetzt: Ich fühle etwas hinter mir, was ich nicht sehe, so daß ich mir also die Vorstellung mache, es ist da, aber ich muß? eine Tätigkeit verrichten, um diese Vorstellung zu bekommen. Ich möchte sagen, es ist zu vergleichen damit, daß ich mir nach dem Abtasten von einem Gegenstand eine Zeichnung mache. Also innere Tätigkeit ist notwendig, damit die Imagination auftritt. Ich weiß: das Wesen ist da, aber die Imagination muß ich erst schaffen, indem ich mit dem Wesen mich innerlich verbinde. Das ist die eine Art, wie man Seelen wahrnehmen kann. Die andere Art ist so, daß man diese innere Tätigkeit nicht so hervorragend stark verrichtet, sondern daß sie sich selber macht. Sie tritt auf, ohne daf man viel dazu zu tun hat. Es ist so, wie wenn man hier etwas anschaut, aber natürlich ins Geistige übersetzt. Und dieser Unterschied kann zwischen zwei Seelen vorhanden sein: Von der einen Seele bekommt man eine Anschauung dadurch, daß man viel mittut, von der anderen Seele dadurch, daß einem die Imagination sich von selbst gibt: man braucht nur aufmerksam zu sein. So muß man diesen Unterschied angeben. Denn wenn Sie mit einer Seele so bekannt werden, daß Sie mehr Tätigkeit brauchen, so ist das eine Seele, die verstorben ist. Und eine Seele, die sich mehr von selbst ergibt, ist eine solche, die hier auf der Erde verkörpert ist im physischen Leibe. Diese Unterschiede sind eben wirklich auch da. Der Mensch steht — mit Ausnahmen, die wir ja auch einmal erwähnen können — nach dem Tode sowohl in Verbindung mit solchen Seelen, die verstorben sind, wie mit den Seelen, die noch hier auf der Erde sind. Und der Unterschied liegt in der Art und Weise, wie man selbst tätig oder passiv sein muß, in welcher Weise die Imagination von der Seele, der man gegenübertritt, entsteht.

Nun gibt es einen Begriff, eine Eigenschaft, über die wir schon verschiedentlich gesprochen haben, die wir aber noch einmal zusammenfassen wollen für dieses ganze Leben, das ein Drittel der Zeit des verflossenen Erdenlebens einnimmt und das wir gewohnt sind, das Kamaloka-Leben zu nennen. Wenn Sie hier auf der Erde leben und Sie einer pufft, so wissen Sie es, Sie nehmen das wahr, Sie sagen, er hat mich gepufft. Und es ist in der Regel anders, das Erlebnis, wenn Sie einer pufft, als wenn Sie einen anderen puffen. Und wenn Sie von jemandem etwas gesagt bekommen, so ist das Erlebnis hier anders, als wenn Sie etwas sagen. Ganz umgekehrt ist es in dem Kamaloka-Leben, in dem man zurücklebt diese Zeit zwischen Geburt und Tod. Da ist es nun so - lassen Sie mich dieses grobe Beispiel anwenden -: wenn man jemandem einen Puff gegeben hat im Leben, so empfindet man das, was er an dem Puff empfunden hat. Wenn man jemanden verletzt hat durch ein Wort, so macht man durch die Empfindung, die er durchgemacht hat. Man erlebt also aus den Seelen der anderen heraus. Mit anderen Worten, man erlebt die Wirkungen, die man durch seine eigenen Taten erreicht hat, man erlebt bei diesem Zurückgehen alles dasjenige, was die anderen Menschen hier während unseres Lebens zwischen Geburt und Tod durch uns erlebt haben. Wenn Sie mit so und so viel hundert Menschen hier zwischen Geburt und Tod gelebt haben, so haben ja diese vielen hundert Menschen durch Sie etwas erlebt. Aber hier im physischen Leben können Sie nicht das fühlen, was die anderen fühlen und erleben durch Sie, sondern Sie erleben nur dasjenige, was Sie selbst durch die anderen erleben. Nach dem Tode ist es umgekehrt. Und das ist das Wesentliche, daß wir bei dem Rückgang alles erleben, was die anderen durch uns erlebt haben. Also die Wirkungen des letzten Erdendaseins, die machen wir durch. Und es liegt wirklich die Aufgabe dieser Jahre darin, daß wir diese Wirkungen durchmachen.

Nun, indem wir diese Wirkungen durchmachen, wird das Erlebnis dieser Wirkungen in uns zu Kräften. Das geschieht auf die folgende Weise. Nehmen Sie an, ich habe einem Menschen eine Beleidigung zugefügt. Er hat dadurch Bitterkeit empfunden. Diese Bitterkeit mache ich nun durch während der Kamaloka-Zeit, die erlebe ich als eigenes Erlebnis. Ja, indem ich sie nun erlebe, macht sich in mir die Kraft geltend, die als Gegenkraft gelten muß, das heißt indem ich diese Bitterkeit durchlebe, nehme ich in mich die Kraft auf, diese Bitterkeit wegzuschaffen aus der Welt. So nehme ich alle Wirkungen meiner Taten wahr und nehme dadurch auf die Kraft, sie wegzuschaffen. Und ich nehme während der Zeit, die ein Drittel des verflossenen Erdenlebens dauert, ir. mich alle die Kräfte auf, die man ausdrücken kann als die intensive Begierde in uns, in der jetzt entkörperten Seele alles wegzuschaffen, was die Vervollkommnung stört, weil es die Seele zurückwirft in der Entwickelung.

Wenn Sie sich das durchdenken, so werden Sie sehen, daß man sich selber das Karma macht, das heißt, daß man in sich diesen Wunsch hat, so zu werden, daß das ausgelöscht werden kann, was man für auslöschenswert hält. Es wird also das Karma vorbereitet gerade in dieser Zeit. Wir einverleiben unserer Seele die Kraft, die wir aufnehmen müssen zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, um in der nächsten Inkarnation die Konfiguration unseres Lebens herbeizuführen, die wir als die richtige ansehen können. Ich möchte sagen, das ist die Technik des Karma-Schaffens. Man muß sich, um diese Dinge recht zu verstehen - nicht theoretisch, sondern so, daß sie tief in unsere Gefühls- und Willenskraft hineingehen -, klar sein, daß die ganze Gefühlsrichtung des Toten eine ganz andere wird, als die des Lebenden ist. Der Lebende wird unendlich leicht sagen können: Ich bedaure diesen oder jenen Toten, daß er durchmachen muß das oder jenes, wofür er vielleicht nichts kann! Sie können annehmen, irgend jemand hat einem anderen schwere Verletzungen zugefügt, kann aber nichts dafür. Nun bedauern Sie vielleicht den Toten. Das ist unangemessen; denn der Tote will nichts sehnlicher, als dafß3 die Kraft sich in ihm entwickele, wodurch er das ausgleichen kann. Das ist gerade das, was er als sein Gutes ansieht. Sie würden ihm anwünschen, daß er dasjenige nicht erreicht, was er sehnlichst erreichen will. Dazu muß er aber das alles durchmachen. Denn das Positive entwickelt sich am Negativen. An dem Einsehen dessen, was man angerichtet hat, entwickelt man die Kräfte, es auszugleichen.

So kann man sagen: Am Ende dieses Kamaloka-Abschnittes hat man nach dem Wiedererleben des letzten Lebens schon bestimmt, wie man in der nächsten Inkarnation in dieses Dasein wieder eintreten will, wie man da und dort mit dem und jenem Menschen zusammensein will, damit man dieses oder jenes ausgleichen kann. Im wesentlichen bestimmt man da das Karmische für das Leben, in das man eintritt.

Für die nächste Zeit ist es so, daß wir uns aus der geistigen Welt heraus die Kräfte aneignen, durch die wir den Menschen im allgemeinen formen können, durch die wir einen für unsere Individualität geeigneten Leib uns schaffen können. Zuerst haben wir den Plan unseres Karma. Nun müssen wir erst den Menschen dazu gestalten. Das bedarf einer viel längeren Zeit noch, aber das folgt dann darauf. Daraus können Sie aber ersehen, daß das Wesentliche der Kamaloka-Zeit eben darin liegt, daß uns die Möglichkeit geboten wird, unsere nächste Inkarnation in moralischer Weise in der richtigen Art vorzubereiten. Nun müssen wir uns klar sein, daß immer jede folgende Inkarnation abhängt von der früheren Inkarnation. Wir sehen ja, wie sie vorbereitet wird, die folgende Inkarnation. Und wir sehen, daß die ganze Art des Lebens eines Menschen abhängt von der Art, wie er sein früheres Leben durchlebt hat. Daß das der Freiheit widerspreche - ich werde darauf noch zurückkommen -, das ist ein Einwand, der von Menschen, die die Sache nicht durchdrungen haben, gemacht wird; aber es widerspricht nicht der Freiheit.

Wenn wir so die einzelnen Menschen im Leben betrachten, so finden wir, daß sie tausendfältig verschieden sind; soviel überhaupt Menschen sind auf der Erde, so verschieden sind sie. Aber man kann Kategorien unterscheiden. Es gibt Menschen, welche so wirken, daß man von ihrer frühesten Jugend an sieht: Dieser Mensch ist zu diesem oder jenem ganz besonders geeignet. Nicht wahr, es gibt solche Menschen. In der Kindheit schon kann man sagen, sie werden das oder jenes vollbringen. Sie stoßen sich gleichsam in dieses Dasein herein, sie haben Aktivität. Sie haben eine bestimmte Aufgabe und entwickeln Kraft dazu. Andere Menschen finden wir, die haben für vieles Interesse, sie haben aber nicht solche ausgesprochene Richtung auf irgend etwas hin. Sie nehmen viel auf. Sie kommen vielleicht sogar später im Leben zu einer bestimmten Aufgabe, die ihnen nicht ganz entspricht; sie hätten vielleicht eine andere in ähnlicher Weise vollführen können.

Kurz, die Menschen sind in bezug auf die Art und Weise, wie sie im Leben wirken, voneinander recht verschieden, und das macht ja eigentlich das Leben möglich. Es gibt zum Beispiel Menschen, die treten im Leben auf, und es liegt ihnen nicht, ich möchte sagen, in äußeren Taten viel zu wirken; aber sie brauchen nur das oder jenes Wort zu sagen, so hat das eine Wirkung auf die Menschen. Sie wirken mehr durch ihr Innerliches. Andere Menschen wirken mehr durch ihr Äußeres. Das hängt innig zusammen mit der Art und Weise, wie man in der vorhergehenden Inkarnation durch das Leben gegangen ist. Es gibt Menschen, die sterben jung, sagen wir vor dem fünfunddreißigsten Jahr, um diese Grenze zu haben. SolcheMenschen sind durch diesen Tod in einer ganz anderen Lage als diejenigen Menschen, die nach dem fünfunddreißigsten Lebensjahre sterben. Stirbt man vor dem fünfunddreißigsten Lebensjahr, so ist es so, daß man noch nähersteht der Welt, aus der man bei der Geburt herausgekommen ist. Und das fünfunddreißigste Lebensjahr ist eine wichtige Grenze. Da überschreitet man gleichsam eine Brücke. Da zieht sich die Welt, aus der man herausgegangen ist, zurück, und man gebiert mehr aus dem Innern heraus eine neue geistige Welt. Das ist wichtig, daß wir das unterscheiden. Und nun stirbt ein Mensch vor dem fünfunddreißigsten Lebensjahr. Wird er dann wiederverkörpert, so wächst ihm in einer gewissen Weise die Kraft zu, die er nicht verwendet hat in der Lebenszeit, die auf das fünfunddreißigste Lebensjahr folgen würde. Solche Menschen, die in einer Inkarnation vor dem fünfunddreißigsten Jahr durch den Tod gehen und dadurch für diese Inkarnation die Kräfte sparen, die sonst aufgebraucht worden wären, wenn sie fünfzig, sechzig, siebzig Jahre alt geworden wären, bei denen summiert sich diese Kraft, die sie da erspart haben, mit den Kräften, mit denen sie sich in die nächste Inkarnation einverleiben, und dadurch werden solche Seelen in Leibern geboren, durch die sie imstande sind, zumeist in ihrer Jugend, mit starken Eindrücken dem Leben entgegenzutreten.

Mit anderen Worten, wenn solche Seelen, die in der vorhergehenden Inkarnation vor dem fünfunddreißigsten Jahr gestorben sind, sich wieder inkarnieren, so macht alles auf sie einen starken Eindruck. Es entrüstet sie etwas stark, sie freuen sich stark, sie haben lebhafte Empfindungen, und es drängt sie rasch zu Willensimpulsen. Das sind solche Menschen, die dann stark in das Leben hineingestellt werden, die ihre Mission bekommen. Man stirbt nicht umsonst vor dem fünfunddreißigsten Lebensjahr, sondern man wird dann hineingestellt in das Leben in einer ganz bestimmten Weise. Wenn man aber nach dem fünfunddreißigsten Jahr stirbt — die Dinge kreuzen sich miteinander, es kann das Sterben vor dem fünfunddreißligsten Jahr noch etwas anderes bringen, es sind nur Beispiele, es muß nicht so sein -, so kann das dazu führen, daß man im nächsten Leben von den Dingen der Weltumgebung nicht so starke Einflüsse bekommt. Man kann sich nicht rasch begeistern, man kann nicht rasch entrüstet sein. Man macht sich langsamer, aber intimer mit den Dingen bekannt und wächst dadurch in der nachsten Inkarnation in ein solches Leben hinein, durch das man mehr durch die Innerlichkeit wirkt, ohne so bestimmt hingeführt zu werden zu einer bestimmten Lebensaufgabe. Man wird im Leben stehen so, daß man eine andere Aufgabe vielleicht lieber hätte, aber dazu verwendet werden kann, etwas Besonderes auszuführen, vielleicht gar gegen seinen Willen. Weil man durch die vorhergehende Erdeninkarnation sich dazu geeignet gemacht hat, feiner zu wirken, ist man brauchbar in weiterem Umfange.

Wird zum Beispiel ein Mensch - ich habe diesen Fall schon früher erwähnt - in sehr früher Jugend durch die Pforte des Todes geführt, sagen wir im elften, zwölften, dreizehnten Lebensjahr, so hat er eine kurze Kamaloka-Zeit, aber er steht noch sehr nahe der Welt, die er verlassen hat bei der physischen Geburt. Da stellt sich alles anders heraus. Wenn man eben dies in seinem Karma hat, dann folgt auf ein solches Leben, das mit dem zwölften Jahre schon geschlossen hat, auch schon eine Rückschau in den ersten Tagen nach dem Tode, aber man hat sie in einer solchen Weise, daß sie mehr von außen an einen herantritt, während man, wenn man im fünfzigsten, sechzigsten, siebzigsten Jahr stirbt, selber viel mehr dazu tun muß, um die Rückschau zu bekommen. Man bekommt sie durch eigene Aktivität. Und dadurch, daß man dieses Leben nach dem Tode in verschiedener Weise zu durchleben hat, dadurch werden die Menschen in verschiedener Weise für ein nächstes Leben vorbereitet. Es kann sein, daß man in einem Leben besonders aktiv ist. Würde man als eine besonders aktive Natur früh hinweggerafft aus dem Leben, so würde das eintreten, daß man im nächsten Leben durch sein Karma bestimmt wäre, hineingestellt zu werden mit einer ganz bestimmten Lebensaufgabe, die man dann auch unbedingt durchführt. Man ist wie prädestiniert. Ist man aber in einem Leben ganz besonders aktiv und lebt man bis in ein späteres Alter hinein, dann verinnerlichen sich diese Kräfte. Dann hat man im nächsten Leben eine kompliziertere Aufgabe. Die äußere Aktivität tritt dann zurück, und es tritt gerade die Notwendigkeit an die Seele, innere Aktivität zu entwickeln.

So kompliziert ist das Leben des Menschen, wie es sich eben von Inkarnation zu Inkarnation entwickelt. Wir werden diese Betrachtungen dann übermorgen fortsetzen. Jetzt möchte ich nur eben schließen damit, daß ich Ihnen sage: Wenn Sie nun einer solchen Zeit gegenüberstehen, wie die unsrige ist, in der in verhältnismäßig kurzer Zeit ausnahmsweise viele Menschen in abnormer Weise durch den Tod geführt werden, dann bereitet sich dadurch etwas ganz Abnormes vor. Und das muß sich einmal vorbereiten. Sie sehen jedes Jahr, wie die Zeit der Blüten stoßweise in die Welt kommt. Wenn Sie zurückblicken in die Geschichte, so können Sie sagen: auch da treten stoßweise die Blüten auf. Eine große Blütezeit war die Zeit von Lessing, Herder, Schiller, Fichte, Goethe. Es ist, als seien alle genialen Menschen wie auf einem Haufen beisammen. Dann hört es wieder auf, und so geht die Welt stoßweise fort. Man spricht ja von solch stoßweisem Auftreten der Genies; dann geht es wieder anders. Da haben wir auf geistigem Gebiet stoßweise ein Aufblühen, ein besonderes Sprießen. Nun sehen wir in unseren Tagen stoßweise auf physischem Gebiet ein Sterben. Da haben Sie wiederum zwei Dinge, die Sie als Bilder nebeneinanderstellen können und die ungeheuer vielsagend als Bilder sind. Großes physisches Sterben, das ist der Same für späteres bedeutsames geistiges Aufblühen. Die Dinge haben alle zwei Seiten. Von diesem Gesichtspunkte aus sagen wir uns eben, immer wieder und wiederum Kraft und Trost suchend, aber auch in unseren Hoffnungen Zuversicht uns erringend, im Zusammenhang mit unserer Zeit und gerade aus dem Bewußtsein unserer Geisteswissenschaft heraus:

Aus dem Mut der Kämpfer,
Aus dem Blut der Schlachten,
Aus dem Leid Verlassener,
Aus des Volkes Opfertaten
Wird erwachsen Geistesfrucht—
Lenken Seelen geistbewußt
Ihren Sinn ins Geisterreich.

Second Lecture

First, it is my solemn and sad duty to inform you that our dear friend, the leader of the Munich Lodge, Miss Stinde, has joined those whom we now count among the beings of the higher spheres. She left this physical plane yesterday evening. It is impossible to speak in the first moments about this loss, which is so extraordinarily difficult and significant for our society. I will only say a few words about this painful and momentous event at the beginning of today's reflections.

Miss Stinde was one of those people who were known to the widest circle of our friends, I would say as a matter of course. She was one of those who took our cause to heart and identified completely with it. It was in her home and that of her friend, Countess Kalckreuth, that I was able to give the first intimate lectures on our cause that I had to give in Munich in 1903. And it can be said that from the very first time Miss Stinde approached us, she committed not only her entire personality but also her entire, valuable, distinguished, and influential energy to our cause. She left behind what had previously been dear to her as an artistic profession in order to devote herself entirely and solely, with all her strength, to the service of our cause. And since that time, she has worked intensively for our cause in a rare objective and completely impersonal manner, both within our close circle and beyond. For Munich, she was the soul of all our work. And she was such a soul that one could say that, through the inner qualities of her being, she provided the very best guarantee that our cause could develop in the very best way in this place. You know, my dear friends, that the performances of the Mystery Plays and everything connected with them had imposed an enormous workload on us who were working there for Munich for a whole series of years. Miss Stinde and her friend submitted themselves to this workload in the most intensive way, and above all, it must be said, in the most understanding way, in a way that was born entirely out of the innermost being of our cause, out of the will that can now itself be born out of this inner being of our cause. And one may perhaps also suggest that the intensive work that Miss Stinde has done has really consumed her vitality in recent years. So that one really must admit: this valuable vitality, perhaps somewhat too quickly exhausted in recent years, was devoted to our cause in the most beautiful and deeply satisfying way. And there is probably no one among those who knew Miss Stinde more closely who could ever completely shake the impression that this personality belonged to our very best workers. It is certain, my dear friends, that some aspects of Miss Stinde's work were misunderstood here and there, and it is to be hoped that even those of our friends and supporters who misjudged Miss Stinde's work out of prejudice will subsequently fully recognize the sunny, powerful energy that emanated from her personality. And those in our wider circle who were able to observe what Miss Stinde did for our cause will, together with all those who were closer to her, preserve her memory with the utmost loyalty. As we can be sure from her that we may emphasize the word that has had to be spoken so often in recent days in connection with the departure of some of our friends from the physical plane, this word must be emphasized with regard to Miss Stinde, in view of the many challenges and opposition that our cause faces in the world: We, who profess our loyalty and honesty to the spiritual worlds, count those who have only changed the form of their existence, but who remain faithfully united with us as souls, even though they have passed through the gate of death, among our most important and significant co-workers. The veils that still surround many of those who are embodied in the physical body are gradually falling away, and we are certain that the souls of our dear departed are working among us. And, my dear friends, it is precisely this kind of help that we need. We need help that is no longer challenged by the physical plane, help that no longer has to take into account the obstacles of the physical plane. And if we have a deep, sincere belief in the progress of our cause in world culture, then we must also be fully aware that those who once belonged to us, even when they work among us through spiritual means from the spiritual world, are our best forces. Sometimes the confidence we need in our cause will have to be strengthened by the knowledge that We thank our dead friends that they are among us and that, united with their forces, we can carry out the work for the spiritual world culture that is incumbent upon us.

It is in this spirit alone that I wanted to touch upon this painful event today with a few words and only add that the cremation will take place next Monday at 1 o'clock in Ulm.

I would now like to continue with the reflections we began the day before yesterday. Isn't it true that times such as ours, in which the mystery of death approaches the human soul in so many ways — as we emphasized the day before yesterday — urge us in a special way to ask what clarity human beings can gain about the spiritual worlds? Times in which humanity is exposed to such severe trials as the present are indeed made for allowing the human soul to turn in the direction where the questions about the beings of the spiritual worlds are answered. For who, my dear friends, would not want to see the great mystery of life unfold in everything that is happening today in a large part of the civilized world? And who would not want to sense that great connections are hidden behind events such as those we are experiencing today in our wider environment, events that pierce the souls and hearts of human beings with pain and suffering, but also with hope and confidence?

Certainly, anyone who looks at world events with only a superficial glance will judge such extensive events by what preceded them and what may follow them. But anyone who looks at the course of world events from the outside, without going into anything esoteric, and compares earlier times with the present, will become aware of how infinitely much can be connected, let us say, with what is now happening in a completely different way than the effects that will subsequently be felt in the world. There are many people today who say that the present warlike events are merely the result of external political antagonisms, antagonisms between individual nations, between individual peoples. That is certainly true. And it is not a question of objecting in any strict sense to the truth of such a view. But if you take, for example, the struggles that took place at the beginning of medieval life which took place between the peoples living in Central Europe and those living in Southern Europe, especially those occupying the Roman Empire, you can also say that these battles, which took place in the form of political struggles, arose from political conflicts that existed at the time and had their causes in these immediately apparent conflicts. But now these battles are over. They have given rise to certain configurations of European life as a whole. If you open a history book and look at what happened back then as a result of the struggles between the peoples of Central Europe and, let's say, the peoples of the Roman Empire, you will say to yourself: an older configuration of the European world gave rise to a later configuration of this European world. But if you want to fully appreciate what this is all about, you have to look at the whole of subsequent history. For this subsequent history, as it unfolded in Europe, could not have unfolded as it did if the struggles of that time had not taken the course they did.

And what belongs to this European history? The whole way in which Christianity spread and took root in Europe belongs to it! And if you look at the deeper connections, you can say to yourself: with everything that happened in the following centuries, the fact is that what happened over the centuries was connected, as if by a thread, with the struggles of that time. That means that the entire later configuration of the European world, right down to its spiritual conditions, is connected with the events we have pointed out. And if you consider this in all its weight, you will say to yourself: Through the way Christianity spread in Europe, through the way it took shape, through the way the young Germanic peoples united their youthful energy with what flowed into humanity as the ripest fruit, as the Christian proclamation, a certain European atmosphere was created into which the following souls were placed.

So how souls lived in the following centuries, how souls became in the following centuries, is connected with these events. If, therefore, someone had said at that time: Well, what is this? It is a political opposition between the peoples of southern and central Europe — he would have been right. But anyone who had said, “Look, the configuration of the spiritual culture of all the centuries that followed has its origin in what is happening here,” would also have been right, and in a broader sense. Why? Because finding the obvious causes of something, saying what the most obvious opposites are, does not capture the full weight of the event. The things of this world are intimately connected. And when we need inner strength, so to speak, to find the right power to defend our cause, we need only remember that in a circle even smaller than ours, those who represented the great world truth of Christianity at the beginning of the Christian proclamation sat together. I have often used this comparison, but let us use it again today.

There was a time that we can describe as follows: We see the old Roman Empire. We see it living entirely in the atmosphere of the old pagan worldview. We see this empire with its people, who form, so to speak, the upper class. Down below, truly even lower than our “below” today, really “below” in the ordinary sense, in the catacombs under the earth, we see the first Christians, few in number, with something that is completely foreign to the world culture above, but which they carry so deeply in their hearts that the power with which they carry it is world-transforming. And, my dear friends, when we picture these catacombs: down there in the catacombs, with their thoughts directed toward the Christ impulse, we see the first Christians, and above their heads the Romans—you know how they treated the first Christians, I don't need to tell you. And if you paint a picture in your mind a few centuries later, how different it looks! Swept away is what was above, and rising up from below is what was despised and hidden below. Certainly, the times and forms in which such things happen change, but the essence remains. It can also be said of those who today represent the external culture of science, the external intellectual culture, even if this is not to be taken literally or geographically, that they feel themselves to be “above,” and they call what is being pursued in our ranks a worldview of a few sectarians, a few abnormal minds. But those who truly penetrate the essence of our worldview and, above all, allow themselves to be imbued with it, can be confident that here, too, what is below will one day be above. And then the thoughts can come together, the thoughts of the transformed world that will emerge from the difficult times of our day, following what must seize humanity in the spiritual realm. For there is hardly a greater similarity in historical development than the similarity between our time and that which took place when the ancient Roman culture was still above and Christianity, represented by a few faithful souls, was still below.

I would like to draw attention to this, although I do not wish to restrict our feelings, which should be broad at this time, by pointing out these things too precisely and pedantically, that it is precisely this that is good when we hold our age and the Rome of the first dawn of Christianity before our souls as images for our imagination.

Now, my dear friends, many who today oppose what we call spiritual science must undoubtedly feel that what spiritual science represents is completely different from what is generally held by people who are today considered “normal.” But here too, if we want to understand this correctly, we need only consider how very different the first proclamation of Christianity was from what was common practice among those who were considered normal at the time, such as the Romans. We must familiarize ourselves with this idea whenever we are told again and again that it is impossible to reach worlds such as those we are talking about here using legitimate means of knowledge. But we must also truly understand the more intimate work in our branches in such a way that we say to ourselves: This life in our branches is not useless as such. It is not irrelevant to our cause that we come together in such branches and repeatedly renew not only our acquaintance with the theoretical results of our teaching—that is not what matters—but also our warm feelings and sense of the concrete things and beings of the spiritual world. In this way we accustom ourselves to the manner of soul feeling and perception which enables us to accept spiritual truths in a different way than those who are unprepared. Something from the higher, later parts of spiritual knowledge must sometimes be said in our branch evenings; one cannot always start from the beginning. But this familiarity with the branch life must also give the majority of our friends' souls the opportunity to take in things such as I indicated the day before yesterday, the special nature of the truth of our spiritual knowledge.

One cannot verify these things in the same way as one verifies external things: by pointing them out to people with one's eyes. But those who have a feeling for something like what I indicated last time will, even if they do not themselves look into the spiritual worlds, feel how the mutual support of spiritual truths increases their truth value. That is why I would like to draw attention once again to how significant it is that, on the one hand, years of observation have led to the conclusion that one third of our life between birth and death is relived after death, and that now a completely different point of view has been discovered: the viewpoint that we actually live through our sleep life in a special form during this time, which we call Kamaloka, and that this time also makes up one third of our life on the physical plane. These two viewpoints are completely independent of each other and have been found from different starting points. And so we have already shown on other occasions how one always arrives at the same conclusion from three or four different viewpoints. The truths support each other. My dear friends, you must acquire a feeling for this! And from this can arise what I would like to call a natural, elementary sense of truth for these spiritual insights. I must often appeal to this, otherwise I would not be able to express later, higher truths on the individual branch evenings.

The day before yesterday, we pointed out that the proper cohesion of our ego-consciousness between death and a new birth is, as it were, kindled by the panoramic overview we have of our last earthly life after death. We survey our life, as it were, in a tableau of life. Just make it clear to yourselves what it is that you see there. Here on the physical plane, we are accustomed to standing, as it were, in a kind of center of our world horizon and seeing the world around us that makes an impression on our senses. We survey the horizon that can make an impression on us. In this normal life on the physical plane, we do not look within ourselves, but rather we look out of ourselves. Now, if we want to gain an understanding of the life that immediately follows death, it is important to realize right away that this view of the panorama of life is immediately different from what we are accustomed to perceiving on the physical plane. On the physical plane, we look out of ourselves; we see the world as our environment. There we are, looking out of ourselves, not looking within ourselves. Immediately after death, we have a few days where our field of vision is filled with what we experienced between birth and death. We look from the periphery toward the center. We look at our own life, at the temporal course of our own life. Whereas we usually say, “There we are, and there is everything else,” immediately after death we immediately have the awareness that this difference between us and the world does not exist, but rather we look from the periphery at our life, and that is our world for those few days. Just as in ordinary perception on the physical plane we see mountains, houses, rivers, trees, and so on, so we see what we have experienced in life from a certain personal point of view as our immediate world. And the fact that we see this provides the starting point for the preservation of the I throughout the whole life between death and new birth. This strengthens and fortifies the soul so that between death and new birth it always knows: I am an I!

Here in physical life we feel our I — as I have often indicated — through the fact that we stand in a certain relationship to our physicality. You see, if you pay close attention to dreams, you will say to yourself: in dreams you have no clear sense of the I, but often a feeling of being separated. This comes from the fact that here on the physical plane, human beings actually only feel their I through contact with their bodies. You can imagine this in a rough way like this: you move your finger through the air — there is nothing there! You move on — there is still nothing. But when you bump into something, you know about yourself. You become aware by bumping into something. And this is how the awareness of our I is brought about. Not the I itself — the I is a being — but the I-consciousness, the consciousness of the I. The counter-impact makes us aware of ourselves. So in physical life we are self-conscious because we live in a physical body. That is why we have been given a physical body. In the life between death and rebirth, we have self-consciousness because we have been given the forces that emanate from the perception of our last life. We encounter, as it were, what the spatial world gives us, and thereby gain our ego-consciousness for life between birth and death. We encounter what we ourselves experienced between birth and death in our last life, and thereby gain our ego-consciousness for life between death and rebirth.

Now follows the completely different life, which takes up one third of the time between birth and death, which is so often called the Kamaloka life. Here, our perception expands. While in the first days our perception is actually directed only toward ourselves, toward our past life, and not toward the personality, this is completely different in the next period. Certainly, the power to know oneself as an I remains. But now something very peculiar occurs—you can gather what I am summarizing here from individual books and cycles: something that human beings must first become accustomed to, because the whole way of looking at the world is completely different from that on the physical plane. A large part of what human beings have to go through after death consists in becoming accustomed to a different way of looking at things. Here we see nature around us. What we see here in the physical world as nature does not exist at all in the world that is our world between death and a new birth. To see nature as we do here, we have our physical eyes, ears, and our entire physical apparatus of perception. With other organs of perception, nature cannot be perceived as it is in its full color and other properties. That is why we are equipped with a physical body so that we can perceive nature. After death, instead of what we perceive here as nature, we are surrounded by the spiritual world, which we describe as the world of hierarchies, a world of pure beings, a world of pure souls. Not matter or substance or objects that have color, but pure beings. That is the essential thing that matters. Therefore, it is only natural that the surprise is greatest for those souls who deny the spirit here in physical life. For those who deny the spirit and believe nothing about it are transported to a world they have denied, a world that is completely unknown to them. They are forced to live in a world they actually wanted not to exist.

So we are surrounded by a spiritual environment, by beings, by souls. And little by little, out of this general soul world—everywhere there are souls that we do not yet know; we know that there are many souls, but we do not know them individually—little by little, the individual soul emerges more clearly and concretely, and especially at this time, the souls of the people with whom we have lived here on the physical plane emerge. We learn to recognize, as we encounter the multitude of souls among whom we are, that this soul is one soul and another soul is another. We become acquainted with these souls. First of all, we must familiarize ourselves with the fact that the whole way of relating to the world between death and rebirth is essentially different, even in other respects than has been indicated, from the way of relating to the world here on the physical plane. Here we call the world outside ourselves. After death, we are truly conscious that the world is within us. It seems like a paradoxical comparison, but it is true: imagine that you were to vanish completely from the earth for a moment, that you were to dissolve into mist. This cloud of mist that is you spreads more and more, and it remains stationary — let us imagine for a moment that the firmament is a being — as the firmament, there, “where the world is boarded up,” as they say. You then feel yourself to be this firmament and now see everything inside, so that you stand outside with your consciousness and see the world inside. We feel that everything that occurs occurs inwardly. Just as pain occurs here within us, so after death beings appear within us as inner experiences. This is what causes the infinite intimacy of the experiences between death and new birth, the connection with them, that one actually has them first as inner experiences. But there is a certain difference. You see, of such a soul, which one begins to recognize as I have described, one can know at first: it is there; but it has no form, it is not yet perceptible. In order to make it perceptible, one must perform an inner activity, which is something like the following. Imagine yourself translated into the spiritual realm: I feel something behind me that I cannot see, so I form the idea that it is there, but I must perform an activity in order to arrive at this idea. I would say it is comparable to making a drawing after feeling an object. So inner activity is necessary for the imagination to arise. I know that the being is there, but I must first create the imagination by connecting myself inwardly with the being. That is one way in which souls can be perceived. The other way is that this inner activity is not performed so strongly, but rather that it happens by itself. It occurs without one having to do much. It is like looking at something here, but naturally translated into the spiritual realm. And this difference can exist between two souls: from one soul you gain insight by participating actively, from the other soul by allowing the imagination to come to you of its own accord: you only need to be attentive. This is how you must explain this difference. For if you become so familiar with a soul that you need more activity, it is a soul that has passed away. And a soul that reveals itself more of its own accord is one that is embodied here on earth in a physical body. These differences really do exist. After death, with exceptions that we can mention, humans are in contact both with souls that have passed away and with souls that are still here on earth. And the difference lies in the way in which one must be active or passive, in the way in which the imagination arises from the soul one encounters.

Now there is a concept, a characteristic, which we have already discussed on various occasions, but which we would like to summarize once again for this entire life, which takes up a third of the time of the past earthly life and which we are accustomed to calling the Kamaloka life. When you live here on earth and someone pushes you, you know it, you perceive it, you say, he pushed me. And the experience is usually different when you push someone than when someone pushes you. And when someone says something to you, the experience is different than when you say something. It is completely the opposite in Kamaloka life, where you relive the time between birth and death. There it is like this – let me use this rough example: if you have pushed someone in life, you feel what they felt when you pushed them. If you have hurt someone with a word, you experience the feeling that they went through. So you experience things from the souls of others. In other words, you experience the effects of your own actions; when you go back, you experience everything that other people experienced through you during your life between birth and death. If you have lived with so many hundreds of people here between birth and death, then these many hundreds of people have experienced something through you. But here in physical life, you cannot feel what others feel and experience through you; you only experience what you yourself experience through others. After death, it is the other way around. And that is the essential thing, that in our decline we experience everything that others have experienced through us. So we go through the effects of our last earthly existence. And it is really the task of these years to go through these effects.

Now, as we go through these effects, the experience of these effects becomes a force within us. This happens in the following way. Suppose I have insulted someone. This has caused them to feel bitterness. I now go through this bitterness during the Kamaloka period, and I experience it as my own experience. Yes, by experiencing it now, the force that must act as a counterforce asserts itself in me, that is, by living through this bitterness, I take into myself the force to remove this bitterness from the world. In this way, I perceive all the effects of my deeds and thereby take up the force to remove them. And during the time that lasts for one third of my past earthly life, I absorb all the forces that can be expressed as the intense desire within us, in the now disembodied soul, to remove everything that hinders perfection, because it throws the soul back in its development.

If you think this through, you will see that we create our own karma, that is, we have within ourselves the desire to become such that what we consider worthy of destruction can be destroyed. So karma is prepared precisely during this time. We incorporate into our soul the power that we must absorb between death and new birth in order to bring about the configuration of our life in the next incarnation that we can regard as right. I would say that this is the technique of creating karma. In order to understand these things correctly—not theoretically, but in such a way that they penetrate deeply into our feelings and willpower—we must be clear that the entire emotional orientation of the dead is completely different from that of the living. The living will be able to say with infinite ease: I regret that this or that dead person has to go through this or that, for which he or she may not be responsible! You can assume that someone has inflicted serious injuries on another person but is not to blame for it. Now you may feel sorry for the dead person. That is inappropriate, because the dead person wants nothing more than for the power to develop within him that will enable him to make amends. That is precisely what he considers to be his good. You would wish that he did not achieve what he so ardently desires. But to do so, he must go through all this. For the positive develops from the negative. By realizing what one has done, one develops the powers to compensate for it.

So we can say that at the end of this Kamaloka phase, after reliving the last life, one has already determined how one wants to reenter this existence in the next incarnation, how one wants to be with this or that person in order to compensate for this or that. Essentially, one determines the karma for the life one is entering.

For the next period of time, we will acquire the powers from the spiritual world through which we can shape human beings in general, through which we can create a body suitable for our individuality. First we have the plan of our karma. Now we must first shape the human being to fit it. This requires a much longer period of time, but it will follow. From this you can see that the essence of the Kamaloka period lies precisely in the fact that we are given the opportunity to prepare our next incarnation in a moral way and in the right manner. Now we must be clear that each subsequent incarnation always depends on the previous incarnation. We can see how the next incarnation is prepared. And we see that the whole nature of a person's life depends on the way they lived their previous life. That this contradicts freedom – I will come back to this – is an objection made by people who have not thoroughly understood the matter; but it does not contradict freedom.

When we look at individual human beings in life, we find that they are as diverse as there are people on earth. But we can distinguish between categories. There are people who, from their earliest youth, give the impression that they are particularly suited to this or that. Isn't that true? Even in childhood, one can say that they will accomplish this or that. They thrust themselves into this existence, as it were; they are active. They have a specific task and develop the strength to accomplish it. We find other people who are interested in many things, but they do not have such a distinct direction toward anything. They absorb a lot. Later in life, they may even come to a particular task that does not quite suit them; they might have been able to accomplish something else in a similar way.

In short, people are quite different from one another in the way they act in life, and that is what actually makes life possible. There are, for example, people who appear in life and are not inclined, I would say, to achieve much through external actions; but they only need to say this or that word, and it has an effect on people. They have more impact through their inner nature. Other people have more impact through their outer appearance. This is closely related to the way one has lived through life in previous incarnations. There are people who die young, say before the age of thirty-five, in order to have this boundary. Such people are in a completely different situation through this death than those who die after the age of thirty-five. If one dies before the age of thirty-five, one is still closer to the world from which one emerged at birth. And the age of thirty-five is an important boundary. It is as if one crosses a bridge. The world one has left behind recedes, and one gives birth to a new spiritual world from within. It is important that we distinguish this. And now a person dies before the age of thirty-five. If they are reincarnated, they grow in a certain way the strength that they did not use in the lifetime that would have followed the age of thirty-five. Such people who die in an incarnation before the age of thirty-five and thereby save the strength for this incarnation which would otherwise have been used up if they had lived to be fifty, sixty, or seventy years old, accumulate this power they have saved and combine it with the powers they bring with them into their next incarnation. As a result, such souls are born into bodies that enable them to face life with strong impressions, mostly in their youth.

In other words, when such souls, who died before the age of thirty-five in their previous incarnation, reincarnate, everything makes a strong impression on them. They are easily upset, they rejoice strongly, they have vivid feelings, and they are quickly driven to impulsive actions. These are the people who are then thrust strongly into life and given their mission. One does not die in vain before the age of thirty-five, but is then thrust into life in a very specific way. But if one dies after the age of thirty-five—things intersect with each other, dying before the age of thirty-five can bring something else, these are only examples, it does not have to be so—this can lead to one not being so strongly influenced by the things of the world environment in the next life. You cannot get excited quickly, you cannot be indignant quickly. You become more familiar with things more slowly but more intimately, and through this you grow in the next incarnation into a life in which you work more through your inner life without being led so decisively to a specific task in life. One stands in life in such a way that one might prefer a different task, but can be used to carry out something special, perhaps even against one's will. Because one has made oneself suitable for finer work through one's previous incarnation on earth, one is useful in a wider sense.

If, for example, a person—I have mentioned this case before—is led through the gate of death at a very early age, say at the age of eleven, twelve, or thirteen, they have a short Kamaloka period, but they are still very close to the world they left at physical birth. Everything turns out differently there. If you have this in your karma, then such a life, which ended at the age of twelve, is followed by a review in the first days after death, but you experience it in such a way that it comes to you more from outside, whereas if you die at the age of fifty, sixty, or seventy, you have to do much more yourself to get the review. One obtains it through one's own activity. And through having to live this life after death in various ways, human beings are prepared in various ways for a next life. It may be that one is particularly active in one life. If you were taken away from life early on as a particularly active person, then in your next life you would be determined by your karma to be placed in a situation with a very specific task in life, which you would then have to carry out. You are predestined, as it were. But if you are particularly active in one life and live to a ripe old age, then these forces become internalized. Then in the next life, one has a more complicated task. The external activity then recedes, and the soul feels the need to develop inner activity.

This is how complicated human life is, as it develops from incarnation to incarnation. We will continue these reflections the day after tomorrow. Now I would just like to conclude by saying that when you are faced with a time such as ours, in which, in a relatively short period of time, an exceptionally large number of people are being led to death in an abnormal way, then something quite abnormal is in preparation. And that must be prepared. Every year you see how the time of blossoming comes into the world in bursts. If you look back at history, you can say that blossoming also occurs in bursts. A great period of blossoming was the time of Lessing, Herder, Schiller, Fichte, and Goethe. It is as if all the geniuses were gathered together in one place. Then it stops again, and so the world continues in bursts. People speak of such sporadic appearances of geniuses; then things change again. In the spiritual realm, we have sporadic blossoming, a special sprouting. Now, in our day, we see sporadic dying in the physical realm. Here again, you have two things that you can juxtapose as images and that are immensely meaningful as images. Great physical dying is the seed for later significant spiritual blossoming. Things always have two sides. From this point of view, we say to ourselves again and again, seeking strength and comfort, but also gaining confidence in our hopes, in connection with our time and precisely out of the consciousness of our spiritual science:

From the courage of the fighters,
From the blood of the battles,
From the suffering of the forsaken,
From the sacrifices of the people
The fruits of the spirit will grow—
Souls guided by spiritual consciousness
Will direct their minds to the realm of spirits.