The Rudolf Steiner Archive

16. Additional Facts About Life Between Death and Rebirth

[ 1 ] Lecture notes

[ 2 ] Since we are gathered here in our branch, it is certainly possible to discuss certain matters in greater detail than is possible in public lectures or writings. And so today I would like to explore a few points that may serve as a supplement to the insights we have gained from our writings and cycles.

[ 3 ] You can imagine, my dear friends, that life between death and rebirth is just as rich and diverse as life here between birth and death, so that whenever one describes what takes place between death and rebirth, one can, of course, only pick out parts, only details. Today I do not wish to dwell so much on what is already known, but rather to point out a few things that should shed more light on what is already known.

[ 4 ] When the one who is able to look into the spiritual worlds truly directs their gaze toward that world in which the human being dwells between death and new birth, then the necessity of what we seek to achieve here through our Spiritual Science work becomes particularly evident for our time; through what can be given to the heart and soul of the human being through Spiritual Science work.

[ 5 ] Let us consider a particular case. It happened, for example, that a man passed away from his family—a man who had loved his wife deeply in this life and who had always been devoted to his family. And when the clairvoyant sought him out, he was suffering particularly because, when he looked down toward the earth, he could not find the souls of his children or the soul of his wife. And in the way that the clairvoyant can connect with human souls—can, so to speak, converse with human souls between death and new birth—he then revealed how, though he could think back with his thoughts and all his feelings to the time when he dwelt with his loved ones on Earth, he said something like this: Yes, when I was on Earth, my wife was like a ray of sunshine to me; now I must do without that. I can only direct my thoughts back to what I had on Earth, but I cannot find my wife. — Why is that? For it is not so for everyone who has passed through the gate of death. If we were to go back many millennia, we would find that human souls could also look down from this spiritual realm and share in what the bereaved were doing on Earth. Why was this so for all souls in ancient times, in the times before the Mystery of Golgotha? Why is it not so for many today? Yes, in ancient times, as we know, people on Earth lived in such a way that they still possessed a certain primal clairvoyance. People did not merely see the sensory world through their eyes, but they saw, behind the sensory things, the spiritual foundations, the primordial beings. And this ability to coexist with the spiritual world within physical existence meant that when the soul had passed through the gate of death, it could once again perceive all that was spiritual which it had left behind here. Now human souls no longer have the ability to live directly with the spiritual world here, for the development of humanity consists precisely in the fact that human beings have descended from spiritual life to physical life. This has brought the ability to judge and so on, but it has taken away the ability to live with the spiritual worlds. For a time, in the period immediately following the Mystery of Golgotha, when human souls were gripped by the Christ impulse, at least a portion of humanity was able to regain this ability to some extent. But now we are once again living in an age where souls who pass through the gate of death and who have not concerned themselves with the spiritual worlds lose their connection to the spiritual world.

[ 6 ] We need the revelation that we call spiritual revelation, and of which we are justifiably convinced that it is meant to be imprinted upon human souls. Today, the old, merely religious creed is no longer sufficient; today, if souls wish to gaze spiritually from the world beyond into this one, they need what can be given to them through the understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha from the perspective of Spiritual Science. Thus we strive to bring spiritual light into souls.

[ 7 ] The man who had been found in the manner described had paid no heed to any thoughts or feelings from the spiritual world. He passed through the gate of death without having allowed thoughts from the spiritual world to enter his soul. And so it came to pass that the man was able to say: “I know from my memory that my wife is down there; I know she is there, but I cannot see her, cannot find her.”

[ 8 ] When could he have found her? From that world, one can see today only those souls in whom spiritual abilities live. From the other world, one can see those souls in whom thoughts of spiritual understanding live. When one looks down, a soul that has remained here becomes visible to the dead only if spiritual thoughts dwell within that soul. These thoughts are what one sees. Otherwise, the soul remains invisible. Otherwise, one suffers the torment of knowing she is there but being unable to find her. The moment one succeeds in conveying any thoughts about the spiritual world to such a soul, the earthly soul begins to glow for the one living in the other world; then it begins to be present for them.

[ 9 ] Do not say that it would be unjust if such souls—who, perhaps through no fault of their own, have no spiritual thoughts here on earth—remain invisible to the dead. If the world were not arranged in such a way, people would never be led to strive for perfection. People must learn through what they lack. Such a soul, which then suffers from pain and loneliness in the life between ‘death and new birth,’ receives through this the impulse to embrace spiritual thoughts.

[ 10 ] Thus we see that, from this perspective, Spiritual Science is like a language through which the living and the dead can understand one another, through which they are present for one another and can be perceived.

[ 11 ] And in yet another respect, it becomes clear what mission Spiritual Science has in bridging the gulf between life and death. When human souls pass through the gate of death, they enter a life that maintains its connection to earthly life through the memory of what has passed. — I am not describing what can be found in our books, but rather supplementing it. — For a long time after death, the human being is occupied with the need to feel a way back to the earth, with the need to wean themselves from the longing to have a physical body. During this period of weaning, the human being learns to live as a soul-spiritual being. Let us imagine quite vividly how this presents itself to clairvoyant research. At first, the soul has a connection only with what it itself was; one looks upon one’s own inner life, which unfolded in thoughts, mental images, and so on; one recalls relationships one had with other people. But when one wishes to look down upon the earth, a special sight presents itself. One has the impulse to look down. This impulse to remember the earth remains throughout the entire life between death and new birth. As long as the human being is destined to pass from life to life, so long does the consciousness remain: You are destined for the earth; you must return to the earth again and again if you wish to develop in the right way. — It becomes clear to the dead person that if they were to lose the thought of the Earth, they would then, as a dead person, completely lose the thought of their own self. Then they would no longer know that they are themselves, and that would mean an immense sense of suffering. Human beings must simply not lose their connection with the Earth; the Earth must not, so to speak, slip away from their mental image. In general, it cannot disappear entirely from them either. Only in our time of materialistic deluge, when this spiritual revelation must come so that the connection between the living and the dead may be preserved, is it difficult for souls who did not come together with other souls on Earth in whom spiritual thoughts and feelings are present to look back.

[ 12 ] It is important for the dead that those with whom they were connected on earth carry thoughts of the spiritual world with them into the world of sleep every evening. The more thoughts of the spiritual world we take with us into sleep, the more we benefit those who were personally known to us here in life or who had some kind of relationship with us and have passed away before us. It is, of course, difficult to speak of these circumstances, for our words are drawn from the physical plane. The spiritual thoughts we bring with us into sleep constitute the world in which the dead must, in a certain sense, live; and a deceased person who has no one here on Earth to convey spiritual thoughts into their sleep is, so to speak, starving—they are like someone cast onto a rocky island on Earth. Thus, when the deceased finds no souls in whom spiritual feelings live, they feel as if they were in a wasteland, as if there were nothing there that they need for life. Therefore, one cannot overemphasize how seriously the ideas of a worldview based on Spiritual Science must be taken, especially when we see the worldview that wants nothing to do with spiritual worlds gaining the upper hand in our time. In the past, when people went to rest with a devout evening prayer and carried with them the aftereffects of that prayer, things were different from today, when people perhaps, after a meal or other pleasures, sink thoughtlessly into sleep without thinking of anything supernatural. In this way, the dead are deprived of their spiritual nourishment. These insights must increasingly lead to what has already borne quite good fruit where it is practiced by our friends: this is what I would like to call “reading aloud to the dead.” This reading aloud to the dead has immense significance.

[ 13 ] Let us suppose that two people lived side by side here on earth; one felt, through inner impulses of the heart, a longing for Spiritual Science, while the other became increasingly averse to it precisely because of this. In such a case, one is often unable to do anything for the living person to help him develop a spiritual worldview; indeed, perhaps precisely by making such an effort, one only serves to turn him into a hater of it. Let us suppose that such a person dies before us; then we have the opportunity to help him all the better after his death.

[ 14 ] What lives within our souls is quite complex, and what our consciousness extends to is only a part of the soul’s content. People are unaware of much of what is in their souls; and sometimes there is something present that they believe to be the opposite. Thus it can happen, and indeed does happen, that someone becomes an opponent of Spiritual Science. This is what they perceive with their consciousness. In the depths of their soul, however, they may harbor an all the more profound longing for Spiritual Science. Once we have passed through the gate of death, we live the life we have lived in the depths of our soul. When one approaches the dead whom one knew here in life, they often reveal themselves to be of a completely different nature than here. A person who consciously hated Spiritual Science but, without knowing it, yearned for it in the depths of their soul—in such a person, this longing often emerges particularly strongly after death. We help them by taking a book on Spiritual Science, creating a mental image of the deceased within ourselves, and reading to them—as if to a living person, not aloud but softly. The dead understand this. Of course, those who were already close to the spiritual in life understand it all the more keenly. We should not neglect to read to the deceased or to converse with them in thought. In this regard, I would like to point out the practical fact that for many years after death—about three to five years—a person retains an understanding of the language they spoke. This gradually ceases, but they still retain an understanding of spiritual thoughts. One can then also read aloud in a language the deceased did not understand, provided one understands it oneself. In this way, great service is rendered to the dead. — And it is precisely in such areas that one particularly notices the full significance of the Spiritual Science worldview, as it bridges the gap between the living and the dead. And we can imagine that if we succeed in gaining ever wider and wider acceptance for Spiritual Science on earth, then the awareness will increasingly arise in souls that we are together with the dead.

[ 15 ] For a time after death, a person remains directly connected to the earth. But then they must grow into the spiritual world; they must become a citizen of the spiritual world. To do this, they must be prepared and must possess receptivity and understanding for the spiritual world. For example, a time comes in spiritual research, when observing the dead, when a great difference arises between those souls who cultivated moral sentiments and feelings here on Earth, and those who lived here without moral feelings. If a person has not cultivated moral feelings here, they will then be like a hermit. They will not find the way to other human beings in the afterlife, nor the way to higher hierarchies. Human consciousness never ceases; but what then awaits the human being is a feeling of loneliness. The possibility of living with other beings from a certain time onward after death—a time called the Mercury period—is earned by the human being through a moral life. So that one can say: How a person has lived here on Earth determines whether they will live in solitary, dreadful misery during the Mercury period, or whether they will find connection with human souls or beings of the higher world.

[ 16 ] Then there comes a time later on for which man must be prepared in a different way, and during which he would once again condemn himself to loneliness if he had not developed religious feelings here on Earth. This time is called the Venusian Age. Those who have not developed religious feelings within themselves feel blind and deaf to what is around them.

[ 17 ] Then there comes a time when, in order not to become impervious to certain beings of the higher world, humanity must, as a preparation, have a complete understanding of all religions. This is the Age of the Sun. It is prepared for here on Earth through an understanding of all that is human, of the various religious creeds. In ancient times, it was sufficient for the Sun Age if one person followed the religion of Brahma, another the religion of Laozi, and so on. But now, as times have changed, people stand opposed to one another because of their religious creeds, and thus the Sun Age cannot be lived through in the proper way. Spiritual sensitivity is required for this. This solar period, which a person must undergo between death and new birth, is such that one feels one has entered a world in which, depending on one’s preparation, a certain place appears empty or not. If we wish to understand why we do not see it as empty, we must understand the Mystery of Golgotha. In the Christ impulse lies the possibility of understanding every human feeling. Christianity is already a universal religion; Christianity is not a tribal, racial, or national religion, as Hinduism or other national religions are. If the Central European peoples had retained their old tribal religions, we would still have the worship of Wotan, the worship of Thor, and so on today. But the European peoples have embraced the Christian faith. However, one is not a Christian in the true sense by adhering to this or that Christian dogma, but by knowing that Christ died for all people. People will only gradually learn to behave as Christians. When a European comes to India today, what he professes is usually just a verbal confession. But the true feeling one must have is this: wherever one encounters a human soul on earth, one can find the Christ impulse. The Hindu will not believe that his God lives in all people. The Christian knows that Christ lives in all people. Spiritual Science will show that correctly understood Christianity contains the core of truth in all religions, and that every religion, when it becomes aware of its own core of truth, leads to the Mystery of Golgotha.

[ 18 ] When one considers another initiate or any other founder of a religion, it is clear that he wishes to proclaim something from the higher worlds, because he has undergone initiation. One does not truly understand Christ if one does not clearly see that Christ did not undergo any initiation on Earth; rather, by simply being there, he was initiated and united everything within himself.

[ 19 ] When one, as a seer, looks upon the life of the Buddha and follows it, it becomes much clearer—especially in the spiritual world—what the Buddha was. This is not the case with the life of Christ. The life of Christ is such that one must already establish a relationship with him here on Earth in order to understand it in the spiritual world. If one does not establish such a relationship here, then even if one is initiated, one may well see all sorts of things, but one cannot see the Christ unless one has established a relationship with him from Earth.

[ 20 ] That is why so few understand what the Mystery of Golgotha is. It makes Christ a being who is equally significant to the primitive human being and to the highest initiate. Even the most primitive human soul can have a relationship with Christ, and the initiate must also find it. When one enters the higher worlds, one learns many things; there is only one thing that does not exist, one thing that one does not learn: that is death. Death exists only in the physical world. In the spiritual world there is transformation, but not death. So that we can say: All spiritual beings who never come to our Earth, who remain only in the spiritual worlds, do not pass through death. Christ became a fellow citizen of humanity in the physical world, and what took place on Golgotha ensures that, if one understands the unique death of the God-man, one will not come away empty-handed in the Age of the Sun. The other initiates are human beings who have developed particularly through various earthly lives. Christ was not previously on Earth as Christ, but he was in worlds where there is no death. He is the only one among his peers who came to know death. Therefore, in order to know Christ, one must understand his death, and because death is the essential element, the Mystery of Golgotha can only be understood here on Earth, where death exists. If one does not establish a relationship with Christ here on Earth, then one will not experience him in the higher world; then we will find his place empty in the Sun Age. But if we take the Christ impulse with us, then the Sun throne will not appear empty; then we will consciously find Christ.

[ 21 ] It is important for the development of humanity today that we find Christ in the spiritual world by recognizing him. Why? Because as we pass through this Solar Age, we have gradually entered a world where we are dependent on spiritual light. Before, prior to the solar era, we still had the aftereffects of the Earth, the aftereffects of what we personally had been: moral and religious feelings. Now we need more. Now we need the ability to perceive what is in the spiritual world and what cannot yet be prepared within us here; for we must now pass through worlds of forces of which nothing can be known here.

[ 22 ] When a person enters life through birth, their brain is undeveloped. A person must first develop it based on what they have acquired in previous lives. For if one requires a certain kind of ability, it is not enough to have acquired it; one must also know how the necessary physical organ must be constructed.

[ 23 ] There is an important but very dangerous guide. Here on Earth, he remains unconscious. But from the Sun Age onward, he becomes necessary: Lucifer. We would walk in darkness if Lucifer did not approach us. However, we can only walk alongside Lucifer if we have the guidance of Christ. The two of them then lead humanity onward through the subsequent lives following the Solar Age: the Martian Age, the Jovian Age, and the Saturnian Age. In these ages following the Solar Age, humanity is reunited with the forces it needs for its new incarnation. For it is nonsense when materialistic science believes that the material body is inherited. It has no way today of recognizing its error; but people will come to recognize the spiritual truths, and then they will see the error. Nothing can be inherited by human beings except the predispositions for the brain and spinal cord, for everything that is enclosed within the outwardly tightly sealed bony capsule of the brain and the rings of the spine. Everything else is determined by forces from the macrocosm. Human beings would be, so to speak, a completely inhuman mass if they were given only what is inherited. What is inherited must be worked through by what the human being brings with them from the spiritual worlds.

[ 24 ] Why do I refer to the periods after death as the Mercury period, the Venus period, the Sun period, and the Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn periods?

[ 25 ] Once a person has passed through the gate of death, they grow larger and larger. In fact, life after death is such that one knows oneself to be spread out over a vast space. There one first grows to the point of, so to speak, filling the space bounded by the orbit of the Moon. Then one continues to grow to the orbit of Mercury, in occult terms, then to the orbits of Venus, the Sun, and Mars. One grows out into the vast space of the heavens. Every human being grows out into the celestial space after death. But this spatial coexistence of all these human souls has no significance. If you permeate the entire sphere of Venus, so do the others, but they need not know anything about one another because of it. Even if one knows that one is not a lonely being, one can still feel lonely. One eventually expands out into the universe to a sphere described by Saturn, and even further. And as one expands out in this way, one acquires the forces needed to build the next life. And then one goes back again, becoming smaller and smaller, until one reconnects with the Earth. Thus, between death and new birth, the human being expands across the entire macrocosm, and as strange as it may seem, it is true: when we re-enter an earthly life, we bring the forces of the entire solar system into existence and unite them with what is inherited from physical substances. With the forces from the cosmos, we build the physical body and our brain. Thus, we live here between birth and death within the narrow confines of our physical body; after death, we live spread out throughout the entire solar macrocosm.

[ 26 ] One person has a deep sense of morality, another less so. The person who now has a deep sense of morality travels through the spiritual world and, as a social being, is able to experience everything. The power to do so comes from the star life. Another person did not prepare themselves in this way; they were unable to establish relationships, they did not bring in spiritualizing forces, and thus they cannot initially possess any moral dispositions. They therefore wander through the spheres in solitude. Everything that is within the human being—their relationships to the world—all of it comes to meet us in a meaningful way through such spiritual insight.

[ 27 ] Kant once said: “Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.” He has thereby said something very significant. Spiritual Science shows that both are one and the same. What we experience between death and new birth, we bring with us as the moral law; what we live through between death and new birth—the starry heavens—we carry into our earthly life, where it must become our moral law.

[ 28 ] In this way, Spiritual Science gives us an understanding of the greatness of the human soul and an understanding of human responsibility.