The Rudolf Steiner Archive

15. Questions of Reincarnation

[ 1 ] I must first preface this with something that is important for understanding evolution and reincarnation. Every personality, every individuality, must pass through the Devachan up to the Arupa Sphere in order to maintain the continuous, unified ‘thread’ [throughout multiple earthly lives].

[ 2 ] A figure as eminent as Nicholas of Cusa was already acting from within the Arupa sphere even in his ordinary life. Although every human being acts from within the Arupa sphere, only a few are aware of it. The higher a person has risen into the Arupa sphere during the interval between two earthly lives, the more the divine breaks through in them. Cusanus wrote a work on non-knowledge from the perspective of higher knowledge: “De docta ignorantia.” Ignorantia means non-knowledge, and non-knowledge here is synonymous with higher insight. In his books he stated the following: There is a core of truth in all religions; we need only look deeply enough into them. — He also stated that the Earth revolves around the Sun. He said this out of intuition. Copernicus did not arrive at this insight until the 16th century; Cusanus had already done so in the 15th century. An incarnation such as that of Cusanus must be viewed in connection with his later incarnation. Cusanus already points, on the one hand, to future theosophy and, on the other hand, to future modern science. This had an influence on his subsequent incarnation. It was Nicholas Cusanus who reappeared in Copernicus.

[ 3 ] It is possible that memories of past lives, which are lost during an incarnation, may later be reawakened, perhaps after one or even several incarnations. The faculties of the causal body can only be utilized once one awakens [in Devachan] on the plane above the causal sphere. Every human being must be drawn back down from Devachan into the physical sphere by a force in order to learn abilities there that they have not yet developed. In the highest Arupa stage, the human being becomes acquainted with these forces and thereby gains influence over their future incarnation. They then also take control of their life to a certain degree. They are an example of regular development.

[ 4 ] However, an incarnation does not depend solely on one’s own development, but also on its usefulness and significance for the entire process of evolution. The succession of personalities of higher individualities is no longer irregular. Among the less developed, incarnation is still irregular. In highly developed individualities, distinctive characteristics will emerge. These include

1. a reverent looking up to the Higher,
2. a peaceful love for God,
3. becoming one with God.

[ 5 ] As an example of the regular development of an individuality, we can consider a contemporary of Jesus, Philo of Alexandria. His individuality reappeared as Spinoza and then as Johann Gottlieb Fichte. We thus have a continuous individuality manifested in three personalities. If one reads Fichte without knowledge of these processes, one understands him only to a limited extent. With this knowledge, however, one finds that his words are written in fire. All these great minds have undergone a regular development.

[ 6 ] Editor's note:

[ 7 ] H. P. Blavatsky writes in Volume III of The Secret Doctrine, Section XLI:

[ 8 ] “As an example of an adept … some medieval Kabbalists cite a well-known figure of the 15th century—Cardinal de Cusa; as a result of his wondrous devotion to esoteric study and the Kabbalah, karma led the suffering adept to seek intellectual respite and peace from ecclesiastical tyranny in the body of Copernicus.”

[ 9 ] Rudolf Steiner explains this in more detail in his lectures of January 21, February 15, and March 7, 1909 (in The Principle of Spiritual Economy, GA 109/111, pp. 16, 52–53, and 290), in which he states that the astral body of Nicholas of Cusa was transferred to Nicolaus Copernicus, even though Copernicus’s ego was entirely different from that of Cusa.

[ 10 ] Rudolf Steiner also discusses Spinoza and Fichte in his lecture of June 5, 1913, in Helsinki (GA 158).