The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Theosophy and Rosicrucianism VII

[ 1 ] Today we are going to discuss what is known as the law of karma, the law of cause and effect in the spiritual world. We must first recall the previous lectures, which showed us how the entire course of life unfolds in a series of incarnations, so that you have all been here in the world many times before and will return many times yet. We will hear later that it is incorrect to assume that these incarnations repeat themselves endlessly back and forth; rather, we will see that they began at one time and that there will come a time when they will cease, when humanity will continue to evolve in a different way.

[ 2 ] We shall therefore first consider the period during which such reincarnations take place, and we must be clear that everything we call destiny—in terms of character and inner qualities, as well as our external destiny and life circumstances—is caused by our previous incarnations, and that what we do in this life has its effect on subsequent lives. Thus, the great law of cause and effect runs through all our incarnations.

[ 3 ] Let us consider how this law operates throughout the entire world—not only in the spiritual world, but also in the physical world.

[ 4 ] Suppose you have two jugs of water; then take an iron ball that you have heated until it is red-hot, and drop it into the first jug of water. What happens? The water sizzles, and the ball cools down. Then take the ball out and throw it into the second jug: the water no longer sizzles, and the ball does not cool down significantly. The ball therefore behaves quite differently in the two cases: it would not have done what it did in the second case if it had not been thrown into the first jug beforehand. Thus, the behavior in the second case is the effect of what happened to it in the first pitcher. Such a connection is called karma. It is therefore the ball’s karma that it no longer fizzes in the second pitcher and does not cool down. — And now an example from the animal kingdom, from which you can see that subsequent conditions depend on the previous life. Take the animals that have migrated into the caves of Kentucky: due to the complete absence of sunlight, their eyes gradually atrophy. The tissues that would otherwise be used for the eyes migrate to other organs, causing the eyes to wither; the animals thus gradually go blind. And now it is the fate of all their offspring to be born blind. Had the parents not migrated into the dark caves, the descendants would not be destined to be blind. This condition of blindness is thus the consequence of a previous activity, namely, the migration into the dark caves.

[ 5 ] Spiritual Science teaches that everything that happens in the world is determined by karma. Karma is the universal law of the world. — The Bible, too, speaks of this karma right at the beginning. It says, “In the beginning, God created the world.” If you read this as superficially as people generally do today, you will not notice that this is in the sense of the law of karma; but you will readily notice it if, for example, you take the original text of this ancient document in which this creation is described to us, or if you take one of the oldest translations of the document into Latin, such as that from the Septuagint, which is still regarded today by the entire Catholic Church as the authoritative translation of the Old Testament and especially of Genesis. And precisely in view of such an introductory cycle—which is, after all, intended to acquaint you step by step with the immense depths of the Spiritual Science worldview—it is not inappropriate for us to take a step away from our actual topic for a moment.

[ 6 ] People today actually have no connection whatsoever with the living word. On the one hand, language has become a conventional means of communication, and on the other, a language of business. Things were quite different when the word was first coined in ancient times: back then, people still had a living connection with the word. Indeed, in the very earliest times, the individual letter that formed part of the word had a profound meaning. People today have no idea what moved the soul of an ancient Hebrew sage when he uttered the word “bara,” which appears in the first sentence of Genesis and has been translated by later generations—first by the Latin world as “creare” and by us as “to create.” What is the deep meaning of the word “bara”? In our German language, we still have the same root “bar” in the word “gebären.”

[ 7 ] Now, the word “karma” is rooted in “kr,” which is also the root of the word “creare,” so that when one says “creare” in Latin—to create—this means nothing other than: something occurs as a result of earlier conditions; that is to say, something occurs that is karmically conditioned by something that happened earlier.

[ 8 ] One can only speak of karma in the modern sense since the Luciferic impact—that is, from the moment when humanity took on a debt—and for this reason, everything associated with the word “karma” always carries with it an element of the concept of guilt. Creare, then, means: to bring forth something that is karmically owed due to earlier states, whereas in the root “bar” there is nothing of this karmic condition. How is this so? This undoubtedly stems from the fact that the ancient Hebrews were still much more intimately connected with the spiritual world and were still perfectly aware that back when the Elohim creatively conceived the world, there could be no question of karma in the sense in which we usually speak of karma. In the Latin epoch of human development, however, as we shall see another time, humanity was already completely cut off from the spiritual world, and therefore could not even conceive of the creative conception of the Elohim as anything other than being embedded within a karmic context.

[ 9 ] But neither the word “bara” nor the word “creare” ever means that God created the world out of nothing; for the meaning underlying both words is that God caused earlier states to flow into new ones; just as a mother does not give birth to a child out of nothing, but rather giving birth means that the child steps visibly into the world from its earlier hidden state in the womb.

[ 10 ] You can see how the meaning of the Bible can be twisted here. At first, theology claimed: God created the world out of nothing—because this theology knew nothing of the cosmic periods of development that preceded earthly existence, and entire libraries have been written on this subject. But all these theologians fought like Don Quixote against windmills. One must, however, always know what one is fighting against; that is to say, one must always clarify the original meaning of the ancient texts.

[ 11 ] If we now consider this law of karma as it must in fact be understood—as the connection between cause and effect, not only here in physical life between birth and death, but also in the life after death in the spiritual world—then this very law of karma becomes the illuminator of our own lives. Insight into this law of karma provides not only deep satisfaction for our intellect, but also, in the deepest sense, for our soul, and it gives us the right understanding of our relationship to the world. You will come to see ever more clearly what profound significance it holds, and how only the right understanding of this law of karma enables us to live in harmony with our surroundings. It does not enlighten us about those world mysteries that one must first spin out of thin air, but rather about those that we actually encounter at every turn in life. Or are they not, in fact, life’s mysteries when we see how one person is born into poverty and misery seemingly through no fault of their own, and how another’s finest talents must wither away due to the social circumstances into which life has placed them? We often ask ourselves in life: How is it that this person is born into such poverty and misery through no fault of their own, while another, through no action of their own, is born into abundance and wealth, so that they are already surrounded at the cradle by tender, loving parents? — These are questions that only the frivolity of today’s people can overlook.

[ 12 ] The deeper our understanding of the law of karma becomes, the more we will see that all the harshness that seems to exist at first glance—when the law of karma is viewed only superficially—fades away. We will then become increasingly clear about why one person must find themselves in these circumstances and another in those. One can and must perceive hardship in one situation or another only if we consider just this one life. But when we know that this one life is the absolute effect of past deeds, then this hardship vanishes completely, and we realize that a person prepares his own life.

[ 13 ] Now someone might say: Yes, but isn’t it terrible to think that a person is responsible for all the misfortunes that befall them in this life! — We must realize that the law of karma is not for sentimental brooding, but that it is a law of action that makes us strong, that gives us courage and hope. For even if we have brought upon ourselves the life that befalls us with all its hardships, we also know that it is a law whose primary significance lies not in the past, but in the future. Even if we are still so weighed down in the present by the effects of past deeds, it is precisely the understanding of the law of karma that will bear fruit in later lives. Depending on how we behave, the fruits of these deeds will be in future lives, for no deed is done in vain. And how much more theosophical it is to understand the law of karma as a law of action! For whatever we do, we cannot escape the fruits of those deeds. The worse our circumstances are in this life, the better we endure them, the better our circumstances will be in future lives. Thus, the law of karma is a law that solves the mysteries of life that we encounter at every turn.

[ 14 ] How, then, is this life connected to future lives? We must be clear that everything we experience as the inner effects of external events—whether pleasure or suffering—has its consequences in future lives.

[ 15 ] Now you know that everything that lives within us as pleasure, suffering, joy, or pain consists of things carried by the astral body. Everything that the astral body experiences in this life—and especially when these experiences are repeated more and more often—manifests in the next life as a characteristic of the etheric body. The joy that you evoke in your soul time and again in one life regarding a particular object will cause you to have a deep inclination and preference for that object in the next life. But inclination and preference are character traits and have the etheric body as their vehicle, so that what the astral body brings about in the previous life becomes characteristics of the etheric body in the next life. What you repeatedly experience in this life emerges in your next life as a fundamental character trait. A melancholic temperament arises because the person had many sad impressions in their previous life that repeatedly put them in a sad mood; as a result, the next etheric body develops a tendency toward a sad mood. The opposite is true for those who find a positive side to everything in life, thereby generating delight, joy, and a sense of elation in their astral body; this results in a lasting character trait of the etheric body in the next life and produces a cheerful temperament. But if a person, despite life taking him through a hard school, powerfully overcomes all that is sad, then in the next life his etheric body is born with a choleric temperament. So, knowing all this, one can actually prepare one’s etheric body for the next life.

[ 16 ] The qualities that the etheric body possesses in one life appear in the physical body in the next life. So if someone has bad habits and character traits and does nothing to break them, this manifests in the next life as a predisposition of the physical body, and that is in fact a predisposition to illness. As strange as this may sound to you, this predisposition to certain illnesses, and especially to infectious diseases, actually stems from bad habits in the previous life. Thus, with this insight, we also have the power to prepare for health or illness in the next life. If we break a bad habit, we make ourselves physically healthy and resistant to infections in the next life. In this way, one can already ensure health for the coming life by striving to cultivate only noble qualities.

[ 17 ] And now a third point, which is of extraordinary importance for a correct understanding of the law of karma: this is the proper evaluation of our actions in this very life. So far, we have spoken only of what takes place within the human being; but what a person does in this life—that is, how they behave toward their environment through their actions—will have its effect in the next life, precisely within this environment.

[ 18 ] I have not yet done anything through a bad habit in and of itself; but when this bad habit drives me to act, then through that action I change the external world. And everything that has such an effect on the physical external world comes back to us as external fate in the next life in the external world. Thus, the actions of the physical body in this life become our destiny in the next life. We experience this through being placed in this or that life situation. Whether a person becomes happy or unhappy in this or that life situation depends on the deeds of their previous life. Here, once again, the example of the murder serves as a fitting and instructive illustration, showing us how the deed, as an external act of one life, returns to the person as fate in the next life.

[ 19 ] So, in brief, these are the karmic connections within the individual human being. However, we must not speak of karma solely in relation to the individual; human beings must not view themselves as isolated entities—that would be fundamentally wrong, just as wrong as if a single finger on our hand were to regard itself as a separate being. Just as far as a finger would go if it were to separate itself from the organism, so far would a human being go if they were to rise a few miles above the earth. Thus, when a human being delves into Spiritual Science, they are virtually compelled, by virtue of this insight, to realize that they must not succumb to the delusion of insisting on themselves as an isolated entity. This is true in the physical world and even more so in the spiritual world. Human beings belong to the whole world and their destiny is also found in the whole. Karma affects not only the individual human being, but also extends to the lives of entire peoples. An example of this: You all know that in the Middle Ages there was a plague known as leprosy; this is a form of leprosy. It did not disappear from Europe until the 16th century. There was a very specific reason why this plague occurred precisely in the Middle Ages, namely a spiritual one. The materialist is naturally inclined to attribute such a contagious disease to germs, but the physical cause is not the only factor to consider in such a disease. It is just as if someone were beaten up, and one should investigate why this person was beaten. The discerning person will readily find that the cause of the beating lies in the fact that there are some people in the village who are very brutal. But in this case, it would be a downright foolish conclusion—just as the materialistic one is in the above case—if someone were to come along and say that the man has the bruises on his back solely because the sticks came down on his back so many times. The purely materialistic cause of the bruises is undoubtedly the sticks that struck his back, but the deeper cause is the uncivilized people. And so this illness, in addition to the materialistic cause of the germs, also has a spiritual one.

[ 20 ] Crying provides a very similar example. The mental cause is sadness, while the physical cause is the secretion of the lacrimal glands. One would hardly believe it possible that even a quite eminent contemporary scholar could have managed to draw the same foolish conclusion as above, for he has put forward the downright outrageous statement: Man does not cry because he is sad, but man is sad because he cries!

[ 21 ] But back to the disease of melancholy. In this case, if you wish to explain the deeper cause of this illness from a spiritual perspective, you must look back to a significant historical event: the event when vast masses of people swept across Europe from the East and plunged Europe into fear and terror. These Asian hordes were peoples who had remained at the old Atlantean stage and were therefore in decline—that is, peoples who possessed the character of decline, so to speak, the character of decay, particularly strongly in their astral bodies. Had these peoples swept across Europe without the Europeans becoming agitated or frightened, then nothing would have happened. But as it was, these hordes caused fear, terror, and consternation; entire peoples in Europe experienced these states of fear and terror. And now the putrid astral substance of the Huns mingled with the astral bodies of the attacked peoples, which had been ravaged by fear, dread, and horror. The degenerated astral bodies of the Asian tribes transferred their harmful substances to these fear-ravaged astral bodies of the Europeans, and these putrid substances were precisely what caused the physical manifestation of the disease to occur later. This is, in truth, the deep spiritual cause of leprosy in the Middle Ages. Thus, something that is spiritually caused manifests itself in the physical body at a later time. Only those who know this law of karma and are able to penetrate it are called upon to actively intervene in the course of history.

[ 22 ] Now I would like to tell you something that has contributed to the foundation of the theosophical worldview, and that is the following: Karma has an effect, just as it does on individual human beings, so too on nations, indeed on all of humanity. Anyone who follows the course of European intellectual history knows that materialism has been on the rise for about four hundred years. In science, this materialism is the least harmful, for there all errors can be recognized and corrected at any time. It has a far more damaging effect in practical life, where everything is viewed from the perspective of material interests. But materialism would never have taken hold in practical life if people had not had a predilection for it. There would also have been no Büchner and so on if people had not previously loved the material so much. Materialism, however, has the most harmful effect in the realm of religious life, that is, in the Church; it is precisely the Church that has been heading toward materialism for centuries. Why? If you go back to the early days of Christianity, you would never have heard anyone assume that the Creation took place in exactly seven days, as is indeed widely assumed today, or that the “seventh day” could be imagined as someone sitting down on a chair to rest after hard physical labor. The materialistic age knows nothing more of the reality of this seven-day work. It is reserved for Theosophy once again to enlighten humanity regarding the true meaning of this ancient document, Genesis.

[ 23 ] And this materialistic view of religion has eaten its way into the very depths of people’s lives. And this materialism will increasingly prevail precisely in the religious sphere, and people will increasingly fail to recognize, particularly in this regard, that what matters is the spirit and not the physical-material. They will readily admit that materialistic thinking, feeling, and willing have become increasingly ingrained in humanity’s entire outlook on life, and this ultimately manifests itself in the health of subsequent generations.

[ 24 ] An age characterized by a healthy outlook on life creates a strong inner center for people, making them well-balanced individuals, so that their descendants grow up strong and vigorous. An age, however, that believes only in matter produces offspring in whom everything in the body goes its own way, with nothing at the center, which is precisely what gives rise to signs of neurasthenia and nervousness. This would become increasingly rampant if materialism were to remain the prevailing worldview in the future. The spiritual seer can tell you exactly what would happen if materialism did not find its counterbalance in a firm spiritual orientation. Mental illnesses would become epidemic; likewise, children would suffer from nervousness and tremors even at birth, and the further consequence of the materialistic mindset is a type of human being lacking inner concentration, as we already see today. Back then, some three decades ago, it was above all this thought and this foresight—regarding what would become of humanity if no spiritual remedy were applied against this effect of materialism—that led to the inauguration of the Theosophical Movement. One can certainly argue a great deal about a remedy, but all objections matter little; the main thing is that it helps. And so it is with the healing effect of Theosophy. It seeks to prevent what would inevitably occur if people were to continue down this path of materialism.

[ 25 ] So you see, when one thinks about the law of karma in a deeper sense, one cannot view human beings as isolated individuals, but rather as part of the entire community subject to the law of karma. The law of karma is not for those who wish to believe only in a completely blind fate. Anyone who were to understand the law of karma in this way would be completely misinterpreting it. And yet, time and again, one finds people who fall into this error. One person says: I know I can’t help it that this or that happens to me; that’s just my karma, and I have to live it out. — Another says: “I see someone in distress; I must not help them, for it is their own fault that this has befallen them; it is their karma, and they must live it out!” All of this is, of course, a completely nonsensical interpretation of the concept of karma!

[ 26 ] To get a very easy-to-understand mental image of the law of karma, you can compare it to the commercial principle of debits and credits. Just as the merchant is subject to this law in all his dealings, so it is with karma in life. Through everything you have done, good or evil, in your past life, your accounts are balanced on the debit and credit sides. All good qualities are recorded on the debit side, and all bad ones on the credit side of your karma.

[ 27 ] But one should not say: I must not intervene there. — That would be just as foolish as if a merchant, after closing his books, were to say: Now I must not do any more business, for otherwise I will alter my balance sheet. — Just as the merchant improves his balance sheet with every successful transaction, so too do I improve my karma with every good deed. Just as the merchant is free at any time to post an entry on one side—debit—or the other—credit—of his account, so too is the human being in the ledger of life. Human beings are always free in their actions, not in spite of the law of karma, but precisely because they take it into account. Precisely because we know that everything we do—and do so of our own free will—will have its effects in this ledger of life, we cannot agree with those who do not help the needy. It is exactly as if a merchant were facing bankruptcy and asked us for a loan of twenty thousand marks. Would you not give him the twenty thousand marks if you knew that he is a capable businessman who can work his way back up with this loan? So it is with the destitute: you help them improve their karma so that their fate may turn for the better, and at the same time you improve your own karma through this good deed. Thus, the law of karma is indeed a law for active intervention in daily life. And learning to understand the law of karma correctly from this very perspective is particularly important when we consider it in relation to Christianity. There are serious misunderstandings today, especially on the theological side. Today’s theologians say: We teach that sins are forgiven through death on the cross, and you teach the law of karma; but that is a contradiction to it. — But that is only an apparent contradiction, because the law of karma is simply not understood. And conversely, there are Theosophists who say that they, for their part, cannot accept the atoning death; but they understand the law of karma just as little.

[ 28 ] Suppose you help a person and intervene in their fate, turning it for the better. If you could help two people, that would be no less in accordance with the law of karma. Now suppose you were an individual called upon to eradicate an evil in the world through a certain act: would that contradict the law of karma? In the greatest sense, the Christ-being did nothing else—analogous to the above example—than a person who, through his act, helped not only hundreds or thousands, but all of humanity. Thus, the redemptive death, the vicarious atoning death of Christ, is entirely consistent with the law of karma; indeed, it can only be understood in light of this law of karma. Only those who do not understand it can find a contradiction there. It is no more a contradiction with the law of karma than it is a contradiction when I help a single wretch.

[ 29 ] You must think of the future in light of the law of karma, for with every action we record an entry in our ledger that will bear fruit. It was only while theosophy was still in its infancy that one could find a contradiction between Christianity and the law of karma.

[ 30 ] Understanding this law of karma clarifies many things for us. First, we can clearly demonstrate the connection between our current physical development and past lives. For example, a life filled with love prepares us for a development in the next life that keeps a person young for a long time; conversely, premature aging is caused by a great deal of antipathy in a previous life. Second, a particularly selfish drive for material gain creates a predisposition to infectious diseases in the next life. Third, it is particularly interesting that, for example, pain—and especially certain illnesses one endures—results in a beautiful body in the next life. Such insight makes it easier for us to bear many illnesses.

[ 31 ] In reflecting on and gaining insight into such connections of fate, one of the greatest Bible scholars, Fabre d’Olivet, used a beautiful image that helps us understand how things in life are linked. He says: Look at the pearl in the oyster: the creature inside had to suffer an illness, and from that illness the beautiful pearl emerges. — And so, in fact, illness in this life is often connected to what beautifies the next life.

[ 32 ] We'll discuss tomorrow how this can be further developed in other areas.

Question about the “sins against the Spirit”.

[ 33 ] There are sins that arise from the fact that human beings have a physical body, an etheric body, and an astral body. Within the astral body, the spirit awakens; the human being becomes conscious. Thus, they are capable of sinning. These sins can be taken away from the human being. But when we sin in such a way that we sin within our consciousness, outside help becomes ineffective. And because the world order is wise, it will not grant us help in this case at all. It is just as if, in the example just mentioned, the merchant who is on the verge of ruin and asks us for a loan is unworthy of this assistance; for then it would be unwise for us to help him. So it is in the course of the world; where it would be unwise to help us, we are not helped.

[ 34 ] “Sin against the Spirit” is a sin we commit in the astral body, where we are conscious of it.