The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Lecture XX

[ 1 ] Yesterday, we first looked at the structures in the astral world that arise under the influence of human beings themselves. Today, we come to the beings of the astral realm who are more or less permanent inhabitants there.

[ 2 ] In order to understand the part that human beings play in astral events, we must bear in mind the nature of sleeping human beings. As we know, human beings consist of four members: the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body, and the ego. When human beings sleep, the astral body and the ego leave the human shell. Such a person wanders around in astral space, so to speak. As a rule, they do not stray very far from the physical and etheric bodies, which remain in bed. The other two members of the human being, the astral body and the ego, are now in astral space.

[ 3 ] Even though the physical body and the etheric body remain here on the physical plane, we must not believe that only physical forces influence the physical body and etheric body and that only physical beings have access to them. Everything that lives as thoughts and ideas has an influence on the etheric body. When a person sleeps, the etheric body remains here on the physical plane. If we think something in the vicinity of the sleeping person, we will exert an influence on their etheric body; only the sleeper would not be aware of it. When awake, the human being is so occupied with the outside world that he or she represses all thoughts that penetrate the etheric body. But at night, the etheric body is alone, without the ego, and is exposed to all the thoughts swirling around, without the sleeping person knowing anything about it. Even while awake, they are unaware of this because the astral body, which dwells in the etheric body, is occupied with the outside world. When a person is asleep, any being that has the power to send out thoughts can exert an influence on them. Higher individualities, such as those we call Masters, can exert an influence on them. They can send thoughts into the etheric body of the sleeping person. In this way, the human being can absorb the high, pure thoughts of the Masters into the etheric body if the Masters consciously choose to do so. However, at night, thoughts from the environment also enter the etheric body. The human being then finds these thoughts in the morning when they crawl back into the etheric body. There are two kinds of dreams. One arises directly from experiences in the astral world: from the echo of the day's experiences and some things from the astral world. At night, the ego usually experiences little else in the astral space than things that are connected to daily life. When it returns, it may or may not bring the experiences of the astral world into waking life. However, it also finds a state of affairs in the etheric body. What is found there is also absorbed by the astral body and then appears to us as dreams. But what happens to the etheric body at night is a different kind of experience. So in the morning, the etheric body finds, first, thoughts that have come to it from the environment, and second, thoughts that the Masters or other individualities have consciously imprinted on it. The latter can be brought about by the person meditating. By occupying themselves with pure, noble thoughts of eternity during the day, people bring inclinations for these thoughts into their astral body. If a person did not have inclinations for such thoughts, it would be useless for a Master to concern themselves with their etheric body. When one reads “Light on the Path” and meditates on it, one prepares the astral body so that when the master has filled the etheric body with sublime thoughts, the astral body can truly encounter these thoughts. This relationship is called the relationship of the human being to his higher self. The inner reality is as follows. The higher self of man is not something that lives within us, but around us. The higher self is the higher developed individualities. Man must be clear that the higher self is outside of him. If he sought it within himself, he would never find it. He must seek it in those who have already walked the path we want to walk. Within us there is nothing but our karma, that which we have already experienced in previous incarnations. Everything else is outside of us. The higher self is around us. If we want to approach it for the future, we must seek it above all in those individualities that can act on our etheric body at night. It is in the universe; therefore, the Vedantist says: “Tat tvam asi” = That is you! - If, through suitable writings such as “Light on the Path” or the Gospel of John, one inclines the astral body to absorb high ingredients and then to understand the masters, one thereby works in favor of the development of the higher self.

[ 4 ] So at night in the astral space we find the sleeping bodies or the disciples with their masters, insofar as those who have established a connecting bond with the master have, through appropriate meditation, the connection that draws them to the master. This is the process that can take place at night. Every human being can participate in such communication by immersing themselves in inspired writings and thereby develop their higher self. What will be our self in a few thousand years is now our higher self. But in order to really get to know the higher self, we must seek it where it already is today, among the higher individualities. This is the communication between the disciples and the masters.

[ 5 ] Something else we may encounter in the astral realm is the black magician with his disciples. In order to train as a black magician, the disciple undergoes special training. The teaching of black magic consists of accustoming the person, under specific guidance, to torturing, cutting, and killing animals. That is the ABC. When a person consciously tortures living beings, this has a certain consequence. The pain caused by this has a very special effect on the human astral body if the pain has been caused consciously. If one consciously cuts into a specific organ, the person gains a certain power.

[ 6 ] Now, it is the principle of all white magic that no power can be gained without devotion. When power is gained through devotion, it flows from the general source of life in the universe. But when we take life energy from a single, specific being, we steal its life energy. Because it belonged to a special being, it condenses and enhances the special existence in the person who appropriates it. And this condensation of the special existence makes him suitable to become a disciple of those who are engaged in a struggle with the good masters.

[ 7 ] For our Earth is a battlefield; it is the scene of two opposing powers: right and left. One, the white power, the right, strives to spiritualize the Earth again after it has reached a certain degree of material physical density. The other power, the left or black power, strives to make the earth denser and denser, like the moon. Thus, after some time, our earth could be the physical expression of the good powers or the physical expression of the evil powers. It becomes the physical expression of the good powers when human beings connect with the unifying spirits by seeking the I in community. The earth is called upon to become ever more differentiated physically. Now it is possible for the individual parts to go their own ways, for each part to form its own ego. That is the black path. The white path is to strive for something common, for a general ego to form.

[ 8 ] If we were to delve deeper and deeper into ourselves, immerse ourselves in our own ego organism, want more and more for ourselves, then we would eventually all drift apart. If, on the other hand, we join together so that a common spirit enlivens us, so that a center is formed between us, in our midst, then we gather ourselves together, then we unite. To be a black magician means to develop more and more the spirit of being special. Certain black adepts are also on the path to acquiring certain powers of the earth. If their discipleship became so strong that this became possible, then the earth would be headed for destruction.

[ 9 ] Human beings are called upon to gradually bring themselves more and more into the atmosphere of the good masters. In addition to the adept and his disciples, one also finds the black magician with his disciples on the astral plane. However, one also finds there people who died some time ago, and they are there for the purpose of gradually shedding the relationships they had with the earth. The desire for pleasure must be shed. Pleasure is a process in the astral body, but it cannot be satisfied by the astral body. As long as one lives on the physical plane, one can satisfy the greed of the astral body through the tools of the physical body. After death, the craving for pleasure is still there, but the tools for satisfaction are no longer available. Everything that can only be satisfied by the physical body must be renounced. This happens in Kamaloka. When the human being has renounced all such desires, the Kamaloka period comes to an end and the time of Devachan begins.

[ 10 ] When the Kamaloka period comes to an end, something may occur that is not entirely normal in human development. In normal human development, the following happens: the human being has weaned himself from desires, wishes, drives, passions, and so on. Now everything that is of a higher nature rises out of the astral body. What remains is a kind of shell, through which the human being has striven for sensual pleasure. And when the human being has left the Kamaloka plane, these astral human shells float around on the astral plane. They gradually dissolve, and when the human being returns, most of the shells have completely dissolved. It is very possible that strongly somnambulistic natures, mediumistic natures, can be tormented by these astral shells. This is also expressed in weakly mediumistic people in a way that makes a very unpleasant impression on them. It can happen that the person himself has such a strong inclination toward the astral body in his ego, even though he has already progressed so far on the other side that he is maturing relatively quickly for devachan, so that parts of his already developed manas remain connected to this shell. It is not so bad if a person develops lower desires while still a simple human being, but it is bad if they use their higher intellect to indulge in lower desires. Then a part of their manasic nature becomes connected with the lower desires. In the materialistic age, this is the case to an extraordinary degree. In such people, a part of the manas remains connected to the shell, and the shell then has an automatic mind. These shells are called shadows. The shadows endowed with an automatic mind are very often those that express themselves through mediums. This can lead to the deception of mistaking something that is merely the shell of a human being for their real individuality. Very often, what manifests itself after a person's death is such a shell, which no longer has anything to do with the evolving ego. But the karma is not yet extinguished with the dissolved shadow.

[ 11 ] We take with us the cause of every counter-image we have created in the astral realm. Our works follow us. Just as a signature is engraved in a seal, so is what we imprint in the astral realm. It remains in the astral realm like a seal impression and wreaks havoc there. We take with us what corresponds to the seal. But what remains in the astral realm does not need to be despised by us. Imagine that someone in this life were to develop beyond a sharply defined stage of development, a stage to which he belonged for a time. At the earlier stage of development, he would have had opinions that contradict his later opinions. When they then ascend to Devachan, the old opinions remain behind in the shell, with which the person has not dealt harmoniously. If a medium now connects with this shell, they may find contradictions with the later life in it. This was probably the case when attempts were made to connect with Helena Petrovna Blavatsky on the astral plane. She had previously taken the position that reincarnation was nonsense. The medium in question then took this view from the shell that Blavatsky had left behind, although she later called it an error in her teachings.

[ 12 ] Those who enter the astral space may be exposed to a vast number of errors. Among other things, the astral plane contains an imprint of the Akashic Records. If someone has the ability to read the Akashic Records on the astral plane, which are reflected there in their individual parts, they will be able to see their previous incarnations. The Akashic Records are not printed in letters, but rather one reads what has actually happened. Even after fifteen hundred years, an Akashic image still gives an impression of the former personality. So all Akashic images from earlier times can also be found on the astral plane. Thus, one may be under the misconception of talking to Dante, when in fact Dante could be there again today as a living personality. It is also possible that the Akashic image gives reasonable answers, that it goes beyond itself. Thus, one can really receive verses from Dante's Akashic image, but these do not originate from the advanced individuality, but are to be regarded as verses produced in continuation of the Dante personality of that time. The Akashic image is actually something animated, not a rigid automaton.

[ 13 ] In order to be able to navigate the astral plane, strong, intensive training is necessary, because deception is always possible there. And it is particularly necessary to learn to refrain from making any judgments for as long as possible.

[ 14 ] Let us now consider the process of dying in order to understand the technique of reincarnation. The moment of death consists of the etheric body and the physical body first being torn apart from each other. This is the difference between falling asleep and dying: when falling asleep, the etheric body remains connected to the physical body. All of a person's thoughts and experiences are imprinted in the etheric body. They are engraved in it. Human beings would be able to remember their experiences much better if the outside world did not constantly erase them. Human beings do not always have their ideas in front of them because they direct their attention outward. When they stop doing this, they perceive what is stored in their etheric body. Everything that human beings have absorbed from the outside world is engraved in their etheric body. They first direct their attention outward and absorb the impressions into their etheric body. However, they forget some of this again. When the physical body is discarded at death, they perceive everything that is stored in their etheric body at that moment. This happens after their ego, together with their astral body and etheric body, has separated from their physical body. Immediately after death, therefore, there is an opportunity to remember their past life completely.

[ 15 ] Now we must try to understand a similar moment, namely the moment of birth, when a person enters a new incarnation. Something else happens then. They bring with them everything they have worked out on the devachanic plane. Like bells, the astral bodies that want to incarnate buzz around the life ether and now form a new etheric body. When the human being connects with their future etheric body, a moment of vision occurs, just as they looked back on their past life at the moment of death. But this is now expressed quite differently, namely as a foresight into the future, a foreknowledge. In some psychically gifted children, one can sometimes hear such stories in their earliest years, as long as materialistic culture has not yet had an effect on them. This is a foresight into existence.

[ 16 ] These are two important, essential moments, because they show us what a person brings with them when they come down to incarnate. When they die, the essential thing is a memory. When they reincarnate, the essential thing is a vision of the future. These two relate to each other like cause and effect. Everything that a person experiences in the last moment of death is the summary of all previous lives. In the Devachan, these are reworked from a past matter into a future matter. These two moments can provide an important clue to very specific connections in two or more successive incarnations.