The Destiny of Individuals and of Nations
GA 157
22 February 1915, Berlin
7. Personal and Supersensible Aspects (Relating to Certain Individuals)
Dear friends, let us first of all remember those who are at the front, in the great arena of present-day events:
Spirits of your souls, guardian guides,
On your wings let there be borne
The prayer of love from our souls
To those whom you guard here on earth.
Thus, united with your might,
A ray of help our prayer shall be
For the souls it seeks out there in love.
And for those who because of those events have already gone through the gate of death:
Spirits of your souls, guardian guides,
On your wings let there be borne
The prayer of love from our souls
To those whom you guard in the spheres.
Thus, united with your might,
A ray of help our prayer shall be
For the souls it seeks out there in love.
May the spirit we are seeking as we work towards spiritual knowledge, the spirit who has gone through the Mystery of Golgotha for the good of the earth, for the freedom and progress of man, be With you and the hard duties you have to perform!
This evening I intend to consider some of the things that are known about the way our physical world relates to the spiritual world, starting from certain events that concern us more closely within our own movement. This is such a closed and intimate circle that such a thing is possible. Above all, I know that I can justify what I am going to say also to those who were fellow-members during their physical life and will remain such during their further life. Some of the facts I intend to speak of today will relate to them.
Just in recent weeks, dear friends, karma brought it about that I was able to speak at the cremations of dear friends because I happened to be in the places where the cremations took place. No doubt something else also played a role, for at the time I was particularly concerned to obtain certain remarkable impressions arising from the presence of these individualities in the spiritual world by making contact with them when they had gone through the gate of death just a few days before.
As I have said a number of times, it depends on various circumstances whether one is able to gain impressions of one fact or another in the spiritual world. It depends above all on the degree to which it is possible to develop a strong inner bond with the souls concerned. One may sometimes believe one has a very special relationship with a particular soul only to find that it is not entirely so. On the other hand, there are souls where one does not realize that it is fairly easy to establish such a bond until actual contact is established after their death.
In the three cases I wish to speak of first of all, dear friends, an intense desire arose to receive impressions immediately after their death, impressions connected with the whole nature of those souls. I would say this came of itself in these particular cases. You know it is of course possible to pick up all kinds of threads when making a funeral oration, but in these cases something of an inner necessity arose to make really intense contact with the essence of those souls and put it into words at the cremation. I did not specifically intend to characterize the nature of the souls concerned at those ceremonies, but it arose like an illuminating necessity that this had to be. I am not saying that it would have to be the same in other cases. This illuminating necessity arose in the case of one of those souls because—and I am presenting this not as a law but as something I have gone through, an experience—after death the impulses arose for me from the spiritual world to define the essence of that soul. I did not have to find the words; the words arose of their own accord. They came. We shall see later on, dear friends, why that was so, for certain indications can already be given as to that soul's life after death.
First of all let me say a few things about the particular nature of such experiences so that the whole thing can be understood. If we Warn to gain an impression in the physical world we confront the object. We form ideas depending on the way we see or hear something or feel it by touch. We know that it is we ourselves who form the ideas. If one is dealing with a soul that has gone through the gate of death one will immediately notice that everything we produce Ourselves by way of thoughts, of words, really takes us away from the soul in question and that it is necessary to give ourselves up entirely to what is taking shape within us. If the impressions are then to be put into words it will indeed be necessary for us to have the potential within us for these words to form, being unable to do anything ourselves to make the words form in that particular way. We need to able to listen inwardly for those words. If we do listen for them Inwardly we also know with certainty: These words are not spoken by myself but by the soul which has gone through the gate of death.
That is what happened in recent weeks when an older member departed from us and from the physical plane.38Lina Grosheintz-Rohrer. See Rudolf Steiner: Unsere Toten (GA 261), address given in Basle on 10 January 1915. This was an older member who had really entered into our movement with all her heart over a considerable number of years, bringing to life in her feelings, In her heart and mind, the idea and concepts spiritual science is able to give. With tremendous devotion she had identified in her soul with all that is alive and astir in spiritual science. It was now a matter of giving oneself over, as it were, to the impression that arose from this soul. And, strangely enough, it was the case—it has been possible to show this—that just a few hours after physical death had occurred Impressions arose that took the form not merely of verbal impressions but of audible, real words; like a characterization of that soul. Nothing could be done in relation to these words but as far as possible attempt to receive in its pure form what that soul was speaking through my own soul. One certainly must call it speaking in such a case. And those then were the words I spoke at the cremation. They were not my words, as I said, but words—and please consider the Words I shall now use carefully—that came from the soul which had gone through death:
Far into cosmic space I'll carry
My feeling heart; warm it shall grow
In fires wrought by sacred powers;
In cosmic thoughts I'll weave
My own thinking; clear it shall grow
In light of life that ever is renewed;
To depths of soul I'll guide
Devoted contemplation; strong it shall grow
For mankind's true and real goals;
In God's tranquility I thus will strive
Through life's hard struggles and all cares
Prepare my self to be a higher self.
Seeking the peace of joyful labours,
And sensing cosmic truth within my own,
I work towards fulfillment of man's task;
Then may I live in hope,
Going towards my soul's own star
Who in the spirit realm appoints my place.
When I spoke these words again at the end of the funeral oration I had to change the last verse as follows, though I had not known of this beforehand:
Then may I live in hope,
Going towards my star of destiny
Who in the spirit realm appoints my place.
It was clear what this was about. The individual concerned was endeavouring to impress into her very being that now had gone through death—the thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences she had received through spiritual science over the years—impress them in such a way that these ideas and experiences became forces that would mould this individual after death, leaving their imprint. This individual had therefore used the ideas and concepts of spiritual science to put their mark, their imprint, on her own essential nature, shaping the way this essential nature would then continue on the soul's path in the spiritual world.
Soon after this we lost another friend, another member of our movement.39Sybil Colazza. See Unsere Toten (GA 261), address given in Basle on 10 January 1915. Again an intense need arose to define the essential nature of this member. This could not happen the way it had happened in the Previous case, however. In the previous case it really was true to say of the way the words were chosen that a soul that had gone through the gate of death was expressing itself, saying what it felt itself to be and what it wished to become; it expressed itself. In this second case the situation was that one had to put one's own soul in confrontation, as it were, and consider this soul in the spirit. Then this soul, too, expressed itself, but in words that this time took the material needed for self-characterization out of the soul of the observer. What the soul which had gone through the gate of death was doing therefore merely provided the stimulus to express what one had to feel about its essential nature now that it had gone through the gate of death. And so the following words arose and had to be sent out after the soul at the cremation:
You came among us,
And a living, innate sweetness
Spoke from the quiet power of your eyes—
Calmness full of life and soul Flowed in the waves
That from your eyes
Would let your inward weaving
Go out to things and human beings.
This inner nature was the soul
within your voice, with eloquence—
More by the nature of the word
Than in the word itself—
Revealing what lay hidden
within the beauty of your soul.
To the devoted love
Of hearts in sympathy
It would without words be revealed.
Sublimest beauty, silent, calm.
Of world-soul creation
This being could reveal to the perceptive heart.
These words were spoken at the beginning and the end of the funeral oration, after which the cremation began. And it was possible to observe, dear friends, that this moment—please note, not the moment when the words were spoken but the moment when the heat of the furnace took hold of the body—was the time when something of a first conscious moment after death occurred. I shall go into this in more detail later on. What I mean by ‘conscious moment’ is this immediately after death a review of life presents itself in the fain of a tableau in the ether body. This goes away after a few days. Now' at the time it proved necessary to have a fairly long interval between death and cremation. Death had occurred at 6 p.m. on the Wednesday; the cremation took place the following Monday at 11 am. At that point the time had already been reached when the life tableau was disappearing. The first moment when there was some degree of consciousness after the life tableau therefore came when the heat of the furnace took hold of the body. It then became clearly apparent that such a nature become spirit has a different way of seeing things' a different way of regarding the world, from a human soul that still remains in its physical body.
When we are in our physical bodies our perception of things in space is that they remain where they are when we move away from them. So if there is a chair standing here and I see it, and I then go a bit further away and look back, the chair is still there. I look back at it. As I continue on my way the chair is still there, it stays where it is. It is not the same for events taking place in time whilst we are within our physical bodies. The events we have let go past us in time do not remain stationary. An event that has passed has passed and we are only able to look back on it in memory. The only thing that links us to the event is our past. It is not like this for a spiritual entity, for this sees events as stationary, the way we see objects remain stationary in space here on earth. And the first impression received by the soul I spoke of was of the funeral and everything that was done and said at the ceremony. This had happened five or ten minutes earlier but for the dead person it was still there, still stood there the way objects stand in space for physical man. The first impression was one of looking back on the words that had been spoken, that is, above all, the words now sounding for her, the words I have just read to You. It really is the way Richard Wagner once put it out of a profound Intuition: ‘Time turns into space’40‘Time here turns into space.’—Gurnemanz in Parcifal, Act 1. What has passed has not in fact passed where spiritual experience is concerned. It stands there the way objects stand in space for physical man.
So that was the first impression gained after death—the funeral and the words spoken at it. In this case the situation was such that this look back in time and the vision, as it were, of what had happened at the funeral cannot be said to mean that consciousness lit up and then remained. The twilight state I shall discuss later returned and it was some time before consciousness lit up again. Once more, slowly and gradually, consciousness comes to shine forth again. It takes months until it is so complete that we can say the dead individual has the whole of the spiritual world all around him. But at a later time, exactly through consciousness lighting up at a later time, this particular individual showed a tremendous need to look to this moment again and again, to this particular moment, and to get a clear picture of this moment. This fully agrees with what we are able to know about the whole behaviour of the human being after death, as I intend to show presently.
There is a third case, one that will also deeply concern our Berlin members. It is the case of our dear friend and member Fritz Mitscher41See Rudolf Steiner: Unsere Toten (GA 261), address given in Basle on 5 February 1915. who died recently. Fritz Mitscher went through the gate of death just before be had completed his thirtieth year. He would have been thirty on 26 February which lies just ahead.
In the case of Fritz Mitscher, when my thoughts were directed towards him after his death, it was above all the impulses arising from his intense devotion to our spiritual movement that entered into my own soul, the soul of the observer. He had been a truly exemplary Personality in this respect. An exemplary personality in that he—being by nature inclined towards erudition—more and more felt the inner necessity, a deep inner need, to move in a direction where he placed the whole of his erudition, all the knowledge he might acquit!' at the service of the spiritual scientific movement. This made ill one of the people who are so essential to the progress of our philosophy based on spiritual science. What is needed in the present time is that external science, external scientific endeavour, is used in such a way by the soul that this external scientific endeavour joins into the stream of knowledge obtained out of the spiritual world towards which we wish to direct our efforts. And that was the inspiration in the young soul of Fritz Mitscher. One could not help feeling, even in looking upon him in physical life, that he was very much on the right path as far as our movement was concerned.
Our friends will recall something I said when another death had occurred many years ago: Individuals who have taken in, as it were, what physical science has to offer to the present time are the very individuals who make important contributions to our movement after an early death. Our movement depends not only on souls that are incarnated on earth. If we did not have the energies of souls that have gone through the gate of death with earthly knowledge and there remain connected with the will that must flow through our movement, we certainly would not be able in our materialistic age to maintain the hope which we must maintain so strongly to enable us to progress.
Something therefore came to me from Fritz Mitscher's soul that may be epitomized in words I found I could only bring to expression in the way I shall now read to you. These are also the words spoken at his cremation.
Happy prospect come before us,
You appeared upon the plane
Where the earth-grown flowers of spirit
May revealed be to the seeker
Through the power of soul reality.
At the root of all your striving
Lay the purest love of truth;
And to work in light of spirit
Was your life's profound intent,
Never would your efforts cease.
Splendid gifts you had and nurtured,
Faithful, to the truth adhering,
Undeterred by worldly opposition,
Firm of step the bright path you pursued
That to knowledge of the spirit leads.
And you used the organs of the spirit
With persistence and great courage;
They would push away all error
To the edges of your path,
For the truth a space creating.
Your own self you were transforming
To reveal the purest light;
Letting sun force of the soul
Shine with might within your heart—
Here your cares lay and your joy in life.
Other cares and other joys
Scarcely ever touched your soul;
Recognition of the truth
Seemed to you to give life meaning
And a value that was real.
Happy prospect come before us,
You appeared upon the plane
Where the earth-grown flowers of spirit
May revealed be to the seeker
Through the power of soul reality.
Painful loss, most deeply felt,
You now vanish from the plane
Where the earth seeds of the spirit
Ripened in the womb of soul reality
To become awareness for the spheres.
Feel our loving gaze directed
To the heights where you are facing
Now a new and different task;
From those lofty spirit regions
Lend your strength to those you left behind.
Hear the prayer of our souls;
In it speaks our truth and faith:
To fulfil our task on earth we need
Powers great from lands where spirits dwell,
Strength that comes from friends who have died.
Happy prospect come before us,
Painful loss, most deeply felt—
Let us hope that in far nearness
Never lost to us, our lives you'll guide
As a soul star in the spirit realm.
Words like these, dear friends, have been shaped in such a way that they must be considered to have arisen through identification with the soul that has passed through death. They arise from necessity though not spoken by that soul itself, for that soul only provided the stimulus. They arise from necessity, through the energies coming from that soul, to be spoken exactly the way they have been spoken down to every detail. There really was nothing else in my mind where these words are concerned but those words in the form I have just read them to you. It therefore was extremely moving for me when during the night following the funeral the soul of our Fritz Mitscher replied, in a way, to what had been spoken at his funeral—not out of conscious awareness as yet, but out of his essential nature. His soul replied the effect that the following words came from it, that is, now from the soul which had gone through death:
My own self I was transforming
To reveal the purest light;
Letting Sun-force of the soul
Shine with might within my heart
Here my cares lay and my joy in life.
Others cares and other joys
Scarcely ever touched my soul;
Recognition of the truth
Seemed to me to give life meaning
And a value that was real.
It had never occurred to me when I had to write down those verses that they could also be said in such a way that every ‘you’ would become a ‘me’, every ‘your’ a ‘my’. What had come to life for me had merely been:
Your own self you were transforming
To reveal the purest light;
Letting sun force of the soul
Shine with might within your heart—
Here your cares lay and your joy in life.
Other cares and other joys
Scarcely ever touched your soul;
Recognition of the truth
Seemed to you to give life meaning
And a value that was real.
Now those words had been transposed in that way, and they could be transposed without changing the grammatical structure, merely changing ‘your own self’ to ‘my own self’, ‘Shine with might within your heart’ to ‘Shine with might within my heart’, and so on.
So there you have a strange connection between the words spoken here and the soul that had gone through the gate of death, a connection showing that the words spoken here truly did not merely return as an echo out of that soul but had undergone a meaningful change on their return. Let me merely mention that a certain feeling really and truly went through my soul when those words were shaped, as of necessity, providing the following nuance: It appeared to me to be necessary to give a specific mission to this particular soul as it went through the gate of death. We know how much resistance there is to our spiritual movement in the present materialistic age; how far from ready the world is for our spiritual movement. And if we a clear picture of what man is capable of achieving when in his earthly body we can indeed say that he needs assistance. This feeling found expression in the words:
Hear the prayer of our souls:
In it speaks our truth and faith:
To fulfil our task here on this earth
We need powers great from lands where spirits dwell,
Strength that comes from friends who have died.
Asking this soul, as it were, to make further use of the seeds acquired here, using them specifically to further our spiritual movement. That seemed to me to be a feeling that had to arise of necessity especially in the case of this soul.
You will have noted that these three cases of people so close to us have something in common, however much they may differ. What they have in common is that thoughts as to its essential nature were prompted to come up before the soul contemplating these things, a soul specifically stimulated to such contemplation by karma, because a funeral oration had to be given. There was necessity to give expression to its essential nature.
In the case of the first individual I spoke of—you known the spirit in which I am saying these things; only to provide insight, not to show off in any way—the situation was that I had also got to know that individual on the physical plane when she had joined the Society. You get to know a few things that happen when people are within our Society; but our friends will know that it is not my way to make special inquiries into the circumstances and so on of anyone, nor ask about one thing or another these persons have lived through here in their physical life, and so on. So it was not personal satisfaction I gained but rather the satisfaction arising from insight when also characterized this individual according to the nature of her soul the way it had lived through this life on earth. The only thing I had before me was the soul after death. It was not that it spoke the words I read to you first, but I had the soul before me the way it was now after death, in its peculiar nature after death. I really knew practically nothing of what had happened to her before she had joined our Society, nor of her life in so far as it did not have to do with meetings and so on, or the kind of occasions where one meets our members now and then. Yet it was specifically in this case that I found myself Induced, as though of necessity, to speak of certain aspects of her life, aspects relating to her whole life. of the relationship of the individual who had died—and she .had reached a great age—to her children and the work she did in her life. And as I said, it was not a matter of personal satisfaction but rather of satisfaction in having gained insight when the family then told me the0y really were able to recognize the person in question on the basis of what was said there. with every word intensely characteristic of her. The right picture had therefore also been presented of her personal life during her time on earth and the only possibility of this had been in perceiving the fruits of this life now that it had concentrated in the soul. The specific insight we gain from this is that in the case of this particular soul we perceive an intense need after death to direct the eye of the spirit to her own life. It definitely was through no merit of my own that I was able to characterize the personal life of this individual. What happened was that this individuality, though not conscious at the time, directed her soul essence to her own life, preparing for the conscious life after death that was to come. She directed powers that later were to become conscious to her own life, to what she herself had experienced. The Wings I was made to say could then be seen in thought pictures that arose as her soul was directed towards her own experiences. What I had to describe, therefore, was what this individual was unconsciously thinking of herself after death. And the important thing, the thing to be emphasized, is the fact that after death this individual felt an intense need unconsciously to direct her gaze to her own essential nature.
In the case of the second person, who woke, as it were, when the flames took hold of her body, it later showed itself—in a further spontaneous awakening of this kind—from her attitude to the very characteristic of her essential nature, that she had need to reach back as it were, to go back to this essential nature, to the words that characterized her essential nature. And, indeed, in the language—if you can call language what finds expression in the relationship between souls, whether they are incarnated or else not incarnated and already spiritual entities, already dead—in the way one is able to speak of such intercourse it really had to be said: when at a later point I was able to perceive a further awakening in the case of this individual, I was conscious of a deep joy because I had been able to find those particular words. For it became apparent that there had really been good collaboration with the dead person. It could be concluded that the soul of this person—you know I am speaking in analogies—expressed itself more or less as follows: it is good that it is there ‘It is good that it is there in that place.’ Such a feeling was revealed on the second awakening, as though the dead woman were showing that something had been enhanced, as it were, in the spiritual world because it has also been put in human words here on the physical earth and that this was something she needed, and it was good that it had become more fixed through the physical words on earth than she herself had been able to fix it. There was a need there for her to fix this. And it was a help to her that it had been reinforced in this way.
In the case of our dear friend Fritz Mitscher you can of course see quite clearly that the night following the cremation he picked up the thread immediately and made use of the words spoken here, to get a clear picture of his own essential nature, to be clear about himself.
In all three cases, therefore, there has been a looking towards one's own essential nature. These, of course, are the things that first of all touch our souls, our hearts, because of their purely human quality, their purely human aspect. But spiritual insights can only be gained from the world that is at hand if they are ready to come to us as a boon. You cannot force it; such insights must be waited for. And it is particularly in this context that we can perceive the strange ways of karma.
The day after the second of the people I have mentioned had died in Zurich I was in Zurich myself. We were walking past a bookshop and in that bookshop I saw a book I had read years before. The way it is with the life I lead, I would not have found it easy to lay hands on that book in what is supposed to be my library, for that is in a peculiar state due to my living in many places. Years ago, as I said, I had read a book by the Viennese philosopher Dr Ernst Mach,42Mach, Ernst (1838 –1916): Analyse der Empfindtuigen und das Verhaltnis des Physischen vim Psychischen Jena 1900, p 3. and this bookshop was offering it secondhand. I felt I wanted to read it again, or at least look at it again. When I reached the third page something presented itself to my eyes that I had long since lost sight of, an interesting comment Ernst Mach had made about man acquiring self-knowledge, about the difficulty man had in getting to know himself. I am quoting almost word for word what it says on page 3 in the book written by Ernst Mach, a university professor, on Analyzing One's Feelings:
As a young man I was walking along a street one day and there encountered a person who aroused the feeling in me that he had a most unpleasant, disagreeable face. And it gave me quite a fright to discover that it was my own face I had encountered, my own face meeting me in a mirror.
So he was walking in the streets, and mirrors inclined towards each other reflected his own mirror image to him. And when he saw himself he said: That is someone with an unpleasant, disagreeable face I am coming up against there. Immediately afterwards the author adds another such comment concerning lack of self-knowledge. He says:
One day I returned home tired from a journey and got on a bus. I saw another man getting on from the opposite side and thought to myself: What kind of down-at-heel schoolmaster is that getting on there! And lo and behold, it was I myself. The mirror on the bus had shown me my own reflection.
Professor Mach adds: ‘I therefore knew the style and bearing of my profession better than I did my own.’
Here we have something of a pointer to show how difficult it is for man to recognise himself even when it comes to his purely external appearance. We do not even know what we look like in three dimensional space, not even if we are university professors. You can see that from this very candid confession.
It is interesting that such an example can be quoted in the context of the case I have referred to, for I think you'll agree that it shows how here, in the physical body, self-knowledge need not be all that much of an obstacle to whatever we need to achieve on earth. You can be a renowned professor and know as little about yourself as this man has told in his book. I have mentioned this example because it is strange that it presented itself to the mind's eye when the soul was, directed to take fresh note of how someone who has died feels a need to grasp his own essential nature, to perceive it. Here in the physical world it is perfectly possible to manage without self-knowledge, I'd say, with regard to anything concerning the purely material aspects of our lives. It is not, however, possible to gain knowledge of the spiritual worlds without self-knowledge. We shall discuss this in a week's time. For external, material concerns, however, we can manage without self-knowledge. Yet as soon as the soul has gone through the gate of death, self-knowledge will be the first thing it needs. This is particularly evident from the experience I have described. Self-knowledge has to be the starting point.
You see, a materialist tends to stick at the question as to whether consciousness persists after death. Spiritual science has shown that when the soul had gone though the gate of death it does not in fact suffer from lack of consciousness but rather has too much of it. A kind of awakening will come at a later stage, not because it is necessary to acquire a new consciousness after death but because there is dazzling consciousness, too much consciousness, and this needs to be gradually subdued in the early stages. You will find more about this in the Viennese cycle43Rudolf Steiner: Inneres Wesen des Menschen und Leben zwischen Tod und newer Geburt (GA 153), 1914. English translation of some of the lectures in The Inner Nature of Man and Life Between Death and a New Birth (tr. D.S. Osmond and C. Davy) (London) Anthroposophical Publishing Co., 1959. which has also appeared in print. After death, man has too much conscious awareness, an overpowering awareness, and he needs to get his bearings first in this world of over- powering awareness. Gradually he will achieve this and as he does so his awareness will be less in degree than before. Conscious awareness must first be subdued, just as over-powerful sunlight has to be subdued. A gradual subduing of consciousness has to be achieved. So we cannot speak of an 'awakening' in the terms that apply in the physical world, but of recovering from a superabundance of conscious awareness to the point where it becomes bearable, depending on what we have experienced in the physical world. This requires the following: to get our bearings in this flood of light that is our awareness after death, we need knowledge of our own essential nature as a starting point. We have to be able to look back upon our own essential nature to find the guidelines, as it were, for an orientation in the spiritual world. Lack of self-knowledge is what hinders conscious awareness after death. We have to find ourselves in the flood of light. And so you see why a need arises to characterize the person who has died, to assist them to find themselves.
This is something we gain as a kind of general insight from such Personal experiences that concern us closely. After death, when the etheric life-tableau has disappeared. there is a gradual development. It is based on our getting to know our life, our own life here on earth, as it gradually dawns out of the spiritual worlds. Once the tableau has passed this is our only aim after death. Everything that is part of the spiritual world will be around us. What we have to get to know above all else, however, is our own essential nature. The concepts and ideas familiar to us from spiritual science will then help us, providing the means of orientation. As you can see in the first case, the self-criticism which showed itself had been possible only through the spiritual science she had taken in, so that it was possible to look at her own essential nature and the words could come: ‘To depths of soul I'll guide devoted contemplation; strong it shall grow for mankind's true and real goals’.
The real intention with all this is to lift our spiritual scientific movement out of mere theory and gradually make it into something that the soul is able to take hold of in a living way, into a stream within which we are truly alive, active and present. We shall then know what goes on in the spiritual world around us, just as in the physical world We know that around us is the air we breathe, however much the ignorant may, and indeed will, deny this. That is the future destiny of man: to know something of the fact that just as the air is there for and around the physical body, so the spiritual world is present all around and can be experienced by the soul. This spiritual world relates more to the soul, as it were, the way the air does to the body: it shapes and fashions the soul, filling it with its essence.
We are also able to give certain details of the fate of the soul after death in individual cases. The reason why such things are discussed in more intimate detail at the present time is that in the momentous, but also painful, events of our time, death is letting its breath pass through the world and our age is demanding countless deaths in sacrifice. We are specially challenged therefore to concern ourselves with the occurrence of death in the present age.
We know, dear friends, that when the human being goes through the gate of death he has handed over his physical body to the earth, to the elements of the earth; the ego and astral body have then departed from the physical body. Now, in the second case today we saw that the ether body had already been cast off when cremation took place; the ether body goes away within a few days. There is one particular question that really comes to the fore in the present time. So many people are going through the gate of death in the very flower of their youth these days. Transferring a purely physical concept to the spiritual sphere—where it has even greater validity than in physical life—we may ask the question: ‘What happens with the ether bodies of these people who have gone through the gate of death; the ether bodies that separate off after a number of days? What happens with such a youthful ether body?’ Such a person who goes through the gate of death in his twentieth, twenty-fifth, thirtieth, thirty-fifth Year' or even earlier, puts his ether body aside. This, however, is an ether body that could still have done work here in physical life, would have had energies still for many years. It was karma that this ether body could not use it energies, yet those energies are still within it. They could have continued to be effective here in physical life for Many years to come. Physicists are right in saying that energies are never lost; here on earth they are transformed. This applies even more so in the spiritual world. These energies relating to someone fallen in battle when still young, energies that could still have supported physical life for many years, do not convert to anything else. They are just there. And we are already able to say, particularly in view of the events of our time, that these energies become part of the essential being of the folk soul of the people concerned. This receives those energies so that they are then active everywhere within the folk soul. Those are true spiritual energies, energies from the human being which are present in addition to his ego and his astral body, his individual personality which he carries through the period between death and rebirth. For the future it will be important to understand as far as possible that these energies are also present in the folk soul, that they are present within it in the general activity this folk soul is going to unfold; present as energies, not entities. There they will be the most fruitful, I should say the most sun-like. radiant energies.
There is another instance I would like to refer to. one that is very close to our hearts. It has no direct bearing on present events, but the way it happened and what has become of it can all the same cast some light for us on all the cases where an unspent ether body is put aside when death has occurred at an early age. In the autumn we experienced the death of a member's child, a child seven years of age.44The child in question was Theo Faiss. See Rudolf Steiner: Unsere Toten (GA 261), address given in Dornach on 10 October 1914. The death of this child occurred in a strange way. He was a good boy, mentally very much alive already within the limits set for a seven-year-old; a good, well-behaved and mentally very active child. He came to die because he happened to be on the very spot where a furniture van overturned, crushing the boy so that he died of suffocation. This was a spot where probably no van went past before nor will go past again, but one did pass just that moment. It is also Possible to show in an outer way that all kinds of circumstances caused the child to be in that place at the time the van overturned, circumstances considered chance if the materialistic view is taken. He was getting some food supplies for his mother and left a bit later that particular evening, having been held up. If he had gone five minutes earlier he would have been well past the place where the van overturned. He had also left by another door than usual; just on this one occasion by another door! Leaving by the other door he would have passed to the right of the van. The van overturned to the left. Studying the case in the light of spiritual science and of karma it will be seen to demonstrate very clearly that external logic, quite properly used in external life, proves flimsy in this case and does not apply.
One example I have quoted a number of times is that of a person who was walking by a river and fell into the water at a point where a stone was lying. Superficially it may indeed appear that the man stumbled over the stone, fell into the water and thus came to his death. The obvious conclusion will be that he drowned. A post mortem examination would however have shown that he suffered a stroke and therefore died and fell into the water. Thus he fell into the water because he was dead and did not die because he fell into the water. Cause and effect have been confused. Things that seem perfectly logical in external life may be completely wrong.
Superficially, the death of young Theodor Faiss could also be described as a most unfortunate accident. In reality, however, the karma of this child was such that the ego, to put it bluntly, had ordered the van and the van overturned to fulfil the child's karma. So there we have a particularly young ether body. The child could have grown up and reached the age of seventy. The energies in the ether body would have been enough for seventy years but they went through the gate of death after seven years. The whole event took place in Dornach as you know. The father had been drafted into the German army and was not there at the time: he died quite soon after, having been wounded at the front. The whole thing happened in the immediate neighbourhood of the building and from that time the aura of the building at Dornach contains the energies from the ether body of this child. A person working for this building and able to perceive the spiritual energies involved in the project will find within them the energies of this child. Quite apart, therefore, from the ego and astral body which have entered the spiritual world, to be active there between death and rebirth, the unspent ether body has now united with the whole of the spiritual aura of the building at Dornach. Deep and significant feelings attach to such insights for they do not represent knowledge of the dry numerical kind we take into our minds, but insights received into the soul with deep gratitude. Mindful of this, I shall never even for a moment fail to remember, in anything I have to do for that building at Dornach, that these energies are contributing to the project, helping me in the project. Here theoretical insight merges into life itself.
Being aware of this, dear friends, you will understand that it is possible to get some idea now, at a time when countless ether bodies pass through the gate of death without having achieved fulfillment on earth, as to what will happen when the sun of peace returns again, after the twilight of war. Then the energies, the ether forces of those who have passed through the gate of death, the gate of suffering, will want to unite with the souls that are active here on earth, unite with than for the good of the earth and for progress on earth. This means, however, that there will have to be people on earth who appreciate these things, who will be aware of the fact that the people who have made their sacrifice to the age are up there in the spiritual world in their residual ether bodies. They want to join in the work of this world. Their work will only be wholly fruitful if there are receptive souls here that are Prepare{ to unite their thoughts with what comes to them from the spiritual world. These are momentous times, but also difficult and painful times. For their fruits it is immensely important that thoughts are created out of a science that acknowledges the spirit, thoughts that are then able to unite with the thoughts coming down from the ether bodies of those who have died in sacrifice. Thus we have an indication that even in the midst of these difficult times, under the sign of suffering also and of death, we are under the sign of greatness, that the difficult things which are happening also remind us that they are intended to give rise to an age that is more open to the spirit than the past age has been. What must not happen is that those who have made the sacrifice will have to look down on an earth world for which they have given themselves, to contribute to its progress and salvation, and find themselves unable to take action because there are no souls sending receptive thoughts out towards them. We therefore must see spiritual science as something that is alive, a living element that will be needed in the time that is to come. particularly with regard to the events of the present day. It is this which I have been summing up again and again in the words I shall now speak, in the spirit of and in accord with what we have been considering:
Out of courage shown in battle,
Out of the blood shed in war,
Out of the grief of those who are left,
Out of the people's deeds of sacrifice
Spirit fruits will come to grow
If souls with knowledge of the spirit
Turn their mind to spirit realms.
Siebenter Vortrag
Meine lieben Freunde, wir gedenken zuerst derjenigen, die draußen auf den großen Feldern der Ereignisse der Gegenwart stehen:
Geister eurer Seelen, wirkende Wächter,
Eure Schwingen mögen bringen
Unserer Seelen bittende Liebe
Eurer Hut vertrauten Erdenmenschen,
Daß, mit eurer Macht geeint,
Unsre Bitte helfend strahle
Den Seelen, die sie liebend sucht.
Und für diejenigen, die infolge dieser Ereignisse schon durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen sind:
Geister eurer Seelen, wirkende Wächter,
Eure Schwingen mögen bringen
Unserer Seelen bittende Liebe
Eurer Hut vertrauten Sphärenmenschen,
Daß, mit eurer Macht geeint,
Unsre Bitte helfend strahle
Den Seelen, die sie liebend sucht.
Der Geist, den wir durch unsere erstrebte Geist-Erkenntnis suchen, der Geist, der zu der Erde Heil, zu der Menschheit Freiheit und Fortschritt durch das Mysterium von Golgatha gegangen ist, der sei mit euch und euren schweren Pflichten!
Am heutigen Abend möchte ich einiges von den Erkenntnissen über den Zusammenhang unserer physischen Welt mit der geistigen Welt zur Betrachtung bringen, indem ich anknüpfe an etwas intimere Ereignisse innerhalb unserer eigenen Bewegung. Innerhalb dieses intimen, geschlossenen Kreises ist ja solches möglich. Und vor allen Dingen weiß ich, daß ich die Mitteilungen verantworten kann vor denjenigen, welche während ihres physischen Lebens unsere Mitglieder geworden sind, die sie auch während ihres weiteren Lebens bleiben werden, und auf welche sich einige der Tatsachen beziehen sollen, von denen ich heute zu sprechen gedenke.
Es war gerade in den letzten Wochen, meine lieben Freunde, wo Karma das gebracht hat, daß ich, weil ich an dem betreffenden Orte, wo die Einäscherung lieber Freunde stattfand, gerade verweilen konnte, bei dieser Einäscherung zu sprechen hatte. Und es hing dies Ganze wohl auch zusammen mit einer anderen Tatsache, mit der Tatsache, daß es mir gerade nahelag, in Anknüpfung an diese Persönlichkeiten gewisse bemerkenswerte Eindrücke aus ihrem Sein in der geistigen Welt zu erhalten, nachdem sie kurz vorher, eben tagelang vorher nur, durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen waren.
Ich habe es ja öfter erwähnt: ob man von dieser oder jener Tatsache der geistigen Welt Eindrücke bekommt, das hängt von mancherlei Umständen ab. Es hängt vor allen Dingen davon ab, wie stark es möglich ist, einen wirklich inneren Zusammenhang, einen starken inneren Zusammenhang mit den betreffenden Seelen auszugestalten. Das kann sich so herausstellen, daß manchmal man in dem Glauben lebt, mit dieser oder jener Seele müsse man einen ganz besonderen Zusammenhang haben. Und dennoch ist dann das weniger der Fall. Bei manchen Seelen lernt man erst durch dasjenige, was man dann erfährt, kennen, daß eben ein solcher Zusammenhang leichter herzustellen war.
Nun stellte sich gerade in den drei Fällen, von denen ich zuerst sprechen möchte, meine lieben Freunde, das intensivste Bedürfnis ein, Eindrücke zu empfangen unmittelbar nach dem Tode, welche mit dem ganzen Wesen dieser Seelen zusammenhingen. Ich möchte sagen, das ergab sich eben in diesen Fällen wie von selbst. Nicht wahr, man kann ja, wenn man bei einer Grabesfeier zu sprechen hat, selbstverständlich in Anknüpfung an das Mannigfaltigste sprechen, aber in diesen drei Fällen ergab sich wie eine innere Notwendigkeit, wirklich intensiv anzuknüpfen an das Wesen der betreffenden Seelen, gleichsam bei der Einäscherungsfeier dieses Wesen der betreffenden Seelen in Worte zu kleiden. Das war aber nicht so, als ob ich mir vorgenommen hätte, gerade bei diesen Todesfeiern das Wesen dieser betreffenden Seelen zu charakterisieren, sondern es ergab sich wie eine erleuchtende Notwendigkeit, daß es so sein müsse, Ich will damit gar nicht sagen, daß es in anderen Fällen ebenso sein müsse. Diese erleuchtende Notwendigkeit, die ergab sich deshalb bei einer der Seelen, weil mir — das sage ich also nicht als Gesetz, sondern als Erfahrung, als Erlebnis —, weil mir eben nach dem Tode von der geistigen Welt her die Impulse kamen, dieses Wesen der Seele zu charakterisieren. Ich brauchte keine Worte zu machen; die Worte ergaben sich, die Worte kamen. Und wir werden nachher sehen, meine lieben Freunde, warum das gerade so war, aus einigen Andeutungen, die schon gemacht werden können über das weitere Leben der betreffenden Seele nach dem Tode.
Zunächst muß ich, damit das Ganze verstanden werden kann, einiges eben bemerken über die besondere Natur solcher Erlebnisse. Wenn man hier in der physischen Welt Eindrücke haben will, dann stellt man sich den Dingen gegenüber. Man macht sich Gedanken, }je nachdem man die Dinge sieht, hört oder betastet; man weiß, man ist es selbst, der sich diese Gedanken macht. Wenn man mit einer Seele, die durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen ist, zu tun hat, dann merkt man sogleich, daß alles, was man selbst macht vielleicht an Gedanken, an Worten, eigentlich einen entfernt von dem betreffenden Wesen; daß da notwendig ist, sich ganz dem hinzugeben, was sich in einem macht. Und wenn man die Eindrücke in Worte prägen will, so muf man in der Tat in sich selbst die Möglichkeit haben, daß sich diese Worte in einem bilden, daß man nichts dazu tun kann, damit sich diese Worte so gerade bilden. Man muß innerlich hinhören können auf die Worte. Und indem man innerlich hinhört, hat man zugleich die Gewißheit: diese Worte sind nicht von einem selbst ausgesprochen, sondern von der Wesenheit, die durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen ist.
So war es, als in den letzten Wochen ein an Jahren älteres Mitglied von uns von dem physischen Plan hier gegangen ist. Ein älteres Mitglied, das sich durch eine längere, größere Anzahl von Jahren wirklich tief herzlich in unsere Bewegung eingelebt hat, für ihr Gefühl, für ihr Gemütserlebnis in sich belebt hatte dasjenige, was an Ideen, an Vorstellungen unsere Geisteswissenschaft geben kann. Mit ungeheurer Hingebung hatte sich die betreffende Persönlichkeit identifiziert in ihrer Seele mit alldem, was durch unsere Geisteswissenschaft wellt und wallt. Nun kam es darauf an, gewissermaßen sich diesem Eindrucke zu überlassen, der von dieser Seele ausging. Und merkwürdigerweise war es so, das konnte konstatiert werden, dafS sogar wenige Stunden, nachdem der physische Tod eingetreten war, nicht bloß gewisse Worteindrücke, sondern schon in hörbare, wirkliche Worte sich prägende Eindrücke wie eine Charakteristik der betreffenden Seele sich ergaben. Zu diesen Worten konnte nichts anderes getan werden als nur, daß möglichst der Versuch gemacht werde, rein aufzufassen dasjenige, was durch das eigene Innere die betreffende Seele sprach, denn man muß es durchaus ein solches Sprechen nennen. Und da waren es dann eben die Worte, die ich dann auch bei der Einäscherung sprach. Es waren die Worte, die, wie gesagt, nicht meine Worte waren, sondern die die Worte waren — und ich bitte genau die Worte zu erwägen, die ich nun gebrauche -, die von der betreffenden, durch den Tod gegangenen Seele herkamen:
In Weltenweiten will ich tragen
Mein fühlend Herz, daß warm es werde
Im Feuer heil’gen Kräftewirkens;In Weltgedanken will ich weben
Das eigne Denken, daß klar es werde
Im Licht des ew’gen Werdelebens;In Seelengründe will ich tauchen
Ergebnes Sinnen, daß stark es werde
Für Menschenwirkens wahre Ziele;In Gottes Ruhe streb’ ich so
Mit Lebenskämpfen und mit Sorgen
Mein Selbst zum höhern Selbst bereitend.Nach arbeitsfreud’gem Frieden trachtend,
Erahnend Weltensein im Eigensein
Möcht’ ich die Menschenpflicht erfüllen;Erwartend leben darf ich dann
Entgegen meinem Seelensterne,
Der mir im Geistgebiet den Ort erteilt.
Und dann, als ich die Worte noch einmal sprach am Ende der Leichenrede, dann mußte ich sie, ohne daß ich das vorher gewußt hatte, am Schlusse umändern und so sprechen:
Erwartend leben darf ich dann
Entgegen meinem Schicksalssterne,
Der mir im Geistgebiet den Ort erteilt.
Nun war es klar, was das war. Es war der Versuch bei der betreffenden Persönlichkeit, dasjenige, was sie aufgenommen hatte durch Jahre in den geisteswissenschaftlichen Gedanken, Ideen, Gefühlen und Empfindungen in das eigene Wesen, das nun durch den Tod gegangen war, so einzuprägen, daß die Ideen, die Empfindungen Kräfte wurden, die diese Persönlichkeit, dieses Wesen nach dem Tode gestalteten und prägten. Also diese Persönlichkeit hatte die Ideen und Vorstellungen der Geisteswissenschaft verwendet, um das eigene Wesen gleichsam zu zeichnen, zu prägen; aber so zu prägen, wie dieses Wesen dann wirklich seelisch weitergeht in der geistigen Welt.
Kurz darauf verloren wir für den physischen Plan eine andere Freundin unserer Bewegung, ein anderes Mitglied. Und bei diesem Mitglied war wiederum die intensive Notwendigkeit da, das Wesen zu charakterisieren. Aber es konnte nicht so geschehen, wie es in dem eben erwähnten Falle geschehen war. In dem eben erwähnten Falle war wirklich in den Worten, wie sie geprägt waren, das ganz so, daß man sagen konnte: Eine Seele, die da durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen ist, sprach sich aus, als was sie sich fühlte und was sie werden wollte; sie sprach sich selbst aus. In diesem zweiten Falle, da war es so, daß man sich mit der eigenen Seele wie gegenüberzustellen hatte und zu betrachten hatte geistig das Wesen der betreffenden Seele. Dann sprach sich diese Seele auch aus, aber sie sprach sich in solchen Worten aus, die eben doch aus der betrachtenden Seele heraus das Material zur Selbstcharakteristik nahmen. So daß dasjenige, was da die Seele tat, die durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen war, nur eine Anregung war, um dasjenige, was man ihrem Wesen gegenüber jetzt, nachdem sie durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen war, fühlen mußte, auszusprechen. Und da entstanden dann die folgenden Worte, die nachgesandt werden mußten bei der Einäscherungsfeier:
Du tratest unter uns,
Deines Wesens bewegte Sanftmut
Sprach aus deiner Augen stiller Kraft
Ruhe, die seelenvoll belebt,
Floß in den Wellen,
Mit denen deine Blicke
Zu Dingen und zu Menschen
Deines Innern Weben trugen.
Und es durchseelte dieses Wesen
Deine Stimme, die beredt
Durch des Wortes Art mehr
Als in dem Worte selbst
Offenbarte, was verborgen
In deiner schönen Seele weset,
Doch das hingebender Liebe
Teilnahmvoller Menschen
Sich wortlos auch enthüllte:
Dies Wesen, das von edler, stiller Schönheit,
Der Welten-Seelen-Schöpfung
Empfänglichem Empfinden kündete.
Als nun diese Worte am Beginn und am Ende der Leichenrede gesprochen waren, begann die Einäscherung. Und es war nun möglich zu beobachten, meine lieben Freunde, daß dieser Moment also wohlgemerkt, nicht der Moment, während dem gesprochen worden ist, sondern der Moment, wo die Wärme des Ofens den Körper ergriff —, daß dieser Moment derjenige war, wo — ich werde darüber genauer nachher sprechen - eine Art ersten bewußten Augenblickes nach dem Tode eintrat. Ich sage «bewußten Augenblikkes» und meine das so: gleich nach dem Tode ist ja eine Rückschau vorhanden auf dasjenige, was im ätherischen Leibe als ein Lebenstableau erscheint. Das geht aber nach einigen Tagen hinweg. Nun war gerade damals die Notwendigkeit gegeben, daß die Zeit ziemlich lang dauerte zwischen dem Tod und der Einäscherung. Mittwoch abends um sechs Uhr trat der Tod ein; am nächsten Montag um elf Uhr fand die Einäscherung statt. Da war also bereits eingetreten das Hinweggehen dieses Bildes, dieses Lebenstableaus. Also der erste Moment von einiger Bewußtheit nach dem Lebenstableau trat dann ein, als die Hitze des Feuerofens den Leib ergriff. Und da zeigte sich denn klar, daß die Art des Anschauens, die Art der ganzen Weltbetrachtung für ein solches geistgewordenes Wesen eine andere ist, als sie ist für die Menschenseele, solange sie im physischen Leibe ist. Im physischen Leibe sehen wir die Dinge des Raumes so, daß sie stehenbleiben, wenn wir uns von ihnen entfernen. Wenn hier ein Stuhl steht und ich sehe ihn, und ich gehe dann ein Stückchen weiter weg und ich schaue mich um, dann ist der Stuhl noch da. Ich schaue auf ihn zurück. Wenn ich weitergehe, so ist der Stuhl immer noch da, er bleibt stehen. Während wir im physischen Leibe leben, ist das für die Ereignisse, die sich in der Zeit abspielen, nicht so. Die Ereignisse, die wir in der Zeit haben an uns vorüberziehen lassen, die bleiben nicht stehen. Ein Ereignis, das an uns vorübergezogen ist, das ist vergangen, und wenn wir zurückblicken, so können wir nur in der Erinnerung zurückblicken. Nur unsere Vergangenheit verbindet uns mit dem Ereignis. So ist es nicht für ein Geistwesen. Das sieht die Ereignisse als stehengeblieben, so wie wir hier die Dinge im Raume als stehengeblieben sehen. Und so war der erste Eindruck, den die Seele hatte, von der ich sprach, der von der Leichenfeier mit alledem, was da getan und gesprochen worden ist. Diese Leichenfeier war ja eben schon fünf bis zehn Minuten vorüber, aber für die Tote war sie noch da, stand sie da, wie sonst für den physischen Menschen nur die Dinge im Raum dastehen. Und der erste Eindruck war das Zurückblicken auf dasjenige, was da gesprochen worden war; also vor allen Dingen auf die Worte, die ihr jetzt ertönten, auf die Worte, die ich eben vorgelesen habe. Es ist da wirklich so, wie Wagner aus einer tiefen Intuition gesagt hat: «Die Zeit wird zum Raum.» Es ist dasjenige, was vergangen ist, nicht vergangen für das geistige Erleben, sondern es steht da, wie für die physischen Menschen die Dinge im Raum dastehen. Das war also der erste Eindruck nach dem Tode, diese Leichenfeier und was dabei gesprochen worden ist. In diesem Falle war das nun so, daß man dieses Zurückblicken und dieses gleichsam Anschauen dessen, was bei der Leichenfeier geschehen war, nicht nennen kann ein endgültiges Aufleuchten des Bewußstseins, denn nachher trat wiederum der Dämmerzustand ein, von dem ich sprechen werde, und erst nach einiger Zeit trat wiederum ein solches Aufleuchten des Bewußtseins ein. Wiederum, langsam und allmählich, tritt das Aufleuchten des Bewußtseins ein. Das dauert Monate, bis es so völlig da ist, daß wir davon sprechen können, daß der Tote die geistige Welt voll um sich hat. Aber später, eben durch ein späteres Aufleuchten des Bewußtseins, zeigte sich gerade bei dieser Persönlichkeit ein intensives Bedürfnis, immer wiederum zu diesem Momente, gerade zu diesem Momente hinzuschauen, diesen Moment klar ins Auge zu fassen. Dieses steht in vollem Einklange, wie ich gleich auseinandersetzen werde, mit dem, was man wissen kann über das ganze Verhalten des Menschen nach dem Tode.
Ein dritter Fall ist ja derjenige, welcher insbesondere unsere lieben Berliner Mitglieder auch intensiv berühren wird, es ist der Fall unseres kürzlich verstorbenen Freundes und Mitgliedes Fritz Mitscher. Fritz Mitscher ging ja durch die Pforte des Todes kurz vor seinem dreißigsten Jahr, vor der Vollendung seines dreißigsten Lebensjahres. Er wäre dreißig Jahre alt geworden am 26. Februar, der jetzt kommt.
Bei Fritz Mitscher traten ja mit der Hinlenkung der Gedanken auf sein Wesen nach dem Tode vor allen Dingen die Anregungen in die eigene Seele, die betrachtende Seele hinein, die ausgingen von seiner so intensiven Hingabe an unsere geistige Bewegung. Er war ja in dieser Beziehung geradezu eine musterhafte Persönlichkeit. Eine musterhafte Persönlichkeit in der Weise, daß er, der ja eine zur Ausbildung von Gelehrsamkeit neigende Natur war, wirklich aus einer inneren Notwendigkeit, einem tieferen inneren Bedürfnis heraus, die Anlage immer mehr und mehr entfaltete, seine ganze Gelehrsamkeit, die er sich aneignen mochte, in den Dienst der geisteswissenschaftlichen Bewegung zu stellen. Er war damit gerade eine von denjenigen Persönlichkeiten, welche so notwendig sind im Gang unserer geisteswissenschaftlichen Weltanschauung. Dessen bedarf die Gegenwart, daß die äußere Wissenschaft, das äußere wissenschaftliche Streben durch die Seele so verwendet werde, daß dieses äußere wissenschaftliche Streben gleichsam einläuft in die aus der geistigen Welt heraus gewonnenen Erkenntnisse, zu denen wir uns hinneigen wollen. Und das beseelte die jugendliche Seele Fritz Mitschers. So daß das Gefühl vorhanden sein mußte, schon indem man ihn hier im Leben betrachtete: Er ist auf einer sehr, sehr rechten Bahn gegenüber unserer Bewegung.
Nun werden sich die Freunde erinnern an etwas, was ich bei Gelegenheit eines anderen Todes vor Jahren gesagt habe: Gerade bei solchen Persönlichkeiten, die gewissermaßen dasjenige, was in der Gegenwart physische Wissenschaft geben kann, in sich aufgenommen haben, stellt sich heraus, wenn sie frühzeitig durch die Pforte des Todes gehen, daf sie bedeutsame Mitarbeiter werden nach dem Tode an unserer geistigen Bewegung, die ja nicht angewiesen ist bloß auf diejenigen Seelen, die hier im Leibe weilen. Hätten wir nicht die Kräfte der Seelen, die mit Erdenwissen durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen sind und dort verbleiben in Verbindung mit dem Willen, der durch unsere Bewegung strömen soll, so könnten wir ja gewiß in unserer jetzigen materalistischen Zeit die Hoffnung nicht hegen, die wir hegen müssen in so starkem Maße, wie sie eben berechtigt ist, daß wir vorwärtskommen.
So ging denn von Fritz Mitschers Seele aus etwas, was sich zusammenfassen läßt in Worte, die ich nicht anders als eben so zum Ausdruck bringen konnte, wie ich sie Ihnen jetzt vorlesen will, und die auch bei der Einäscherung gesprochen worden sind:
Eine Hoffnung, uns beglückend,
So betratest du das Feld,
Wo der Erde Geistesblüten
Durch die Kraft des Seelenseins
Sich dem Forschen zeigen möchten.Lautrer Wahrheitsliebe Wesen
War dein Sehnen urverwandt;
Aus dem Geisteslicht zu schaffen,
War das ernste Lebensziel,
Dem du rastlos nachgestrebt.Deine schönen Gaben pflegtest du
Um der Geist-Erkenntnis hellen Weg,
Unbeirrt vom Welten-Widerspruch,
Als der Wahrheit treuer Diener
Sichern Schrittes hinzuwandeln.Deine Geistorgane übtest du,
Und dir Raum für Wahrheit schufen.
Daß sie tapfer und beharrlich
An des Weges beide Ränder
Dir den Irrtum drängten,Dir dein Selbst zur Offenbarung
Reinen Lichtes zu gestalten,
Daß die Seelen-Sonnenkraft
Dir im Innern machtvoll strahle,
War dir Lebenssorg’ und -freude.Andre Sorgen, andre Freuden,
Sie berührten deine Seele kaum,
Weil Erkenntnis dir als Licht,
Das dem Dasein Sinn verleiht,
Als des Lebens wahrer Wert erschien.Eine Hoffnung, uns beglückend,
So betratest du das Feld,
Wo der Erde Geistesblüten,
Durch die Kraft des Seelenseins,
Sich dem Forschen zeigen möchten.Ein Verlust, der tief uns schmerzt,
So entschwindest du dem Feld,
Wo des Geistes Erdenkeime
In dem Schoß des Seelenseins,
Deinem Sphärensinne reiften.Fühle, wie wir liebend blicken
In die Höhen, die dich jetzt
Hin zu andrem Schaffen rufen,
Reiche den verlassnen Freunden
Deine Kraft aus Geistgebieten.Höre unsrer Seelen Bitte,
Im Vertrau’n dir nachgesandt:
Wir bedürfen zu dem Erdenwerk
Starker Kraft aus Geistes-Landen,
Die wir toten Freunden danken.Eine Hoffnung, uns beglückend,
Ein Verlust, der tief uns schmerzt:
Laß uns hoffen, daß du ferne-nah,
Unverloren unsrem Leben leuchtest,
Als ein Seelenstern im Geistbereich.
Auch solche Worte, meine lieben Freunde, sind ja so geprägt, daß sie betrachtet werden müssen als hervorgegangen aus der Identifizierung mit der durch den Tod gegangenen Seele. Sie ergeben sich als eine Notwendigkeit, wenn sie auch nicht von der Seele selber gesprochen sind, wenn auch von der Seele selber nur die Anregung ausgeht, sie ergeben sich als eine Notwendigkeit durch die Kräfte, die von der Seele ausgegangen sind, gerade so, bis ins einzelne hinein gerade so gesprochen zu werden, wie sie gesprochen worden sind. Ich hatte wirklich nichts, nichts anderes bei diesen Worten im Sinne als die Worte, so wie ich sie Ihnen jetzt gelesen habe. Daher hatte es für mich etwas im höchsten Grade Erschütterndes, als in der Nacht, die der Bestattung folgte, die Seele unseres Fritz Mitscher, noch nicht aus seiner Bewußtheit heraus, wohl aber aus seinem Wesen heraus, gewissermaßen antwortete auf dasjenige, was also bei der Bestattung gesprochen war; antwortete, indem von ihr, also jetzt von der durch den Tod gegangenen Seele, die folgenden Worte kamen:
Mir mein Selbst zur Offenbarung
Reinen Lichtes zu gestalten,
Daß die Seelen-Sonnenkraft
Mir im Innern machtvoll strahle,
War mir Lebenssorg’ und -freude.Andre Sorgen, andre Freuden,
Sie berührten meine Seele kaum,
Weil Erkenntnis mir als Licht,
Das dem Dasein Sinn verleiht,
Als des Lebens wahrer Wert erschien.
Daß man diese beiden Strophen auch so sagen kann, daß jedes «dir» in «mir» und «dein» in «mein» verwandelt werden kann, das dachte ich nicht im entferntesten, als ich diese Strophen niederzuschreiben hatte. Es war mir nur lebendig:
Dir dein Selbst zur Offenbarung
Reinen Lichtes zu gestalten,
Daß die Seelen-Sonnenkraft
Dir im Innern machtvoll strahle,
War dir Lebenssorg’ und -freude.Andre Sorgen, andre Freuden,
Sie berührten deine Seele kaum,
Weil Erkenntnis dir als Licht,
Das dem Dasein Sinn verleiht,
Als des Lebens wahrer Wert erschien.
Und jetzt waren die Worte eben so umgesetzt, und sie konnten so umgesetzt werden, daß, ohne irgend etwas grammatikalisch zu ändern, nur das «Dir dein Selbst» in «Mir mein Selbst» und «Dir im Innern machtvoll strahle» in «Mir im Innern machtvoll strahle» und so weiter geändert werden konnte.
Da haben Sie einen merkwürdigen Zusammenhang zwischen dem, was hier gesprochen worden ist, mit der Seele, die durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen war; ein Zusammenhang, der ergibt, daß eben wirklich das, was hier gesprochen worden war, aus der Seele nun nicht als ein bloßes Echo etwa zurückkam, sondern als sinngemäß umgestaltet zurückkam. Bemerken möchte ich nur, daß, als diese Worte geprägt wurden, wirklich durch meine Seele wie durch eine Notwendigkeit eine gewisse Empfindung ging, die die Grundnuance abgab für dies: Das war die Empfindung, wie wenn es mir eine Notwendigkeit wäre, gerade dieser Seele bei ihrem Gehen durch die Pforte des Todes einen gewissen Auftrag zu geben. Wir wissen ja, wie vieles in der heutigen materialistischen Zeit unserer geistigen Bewegung widerstrebt; wie wenig die Welt heute schon geeignet ist für diese geistige Bewegung. Und man kann wirklich, gerade wenn man durchschaut dasjenige, was möglich ist im Erdenleibe zu leisten, man kann wirklich sagen: Es bedarf der Unterstützung! Und diese Empfindung war es, die durch die Worte zum Ausdruck kam:
Höre unserer Seelen Bitte,
Im Vertrau’n dir nachgesandt:
Wir bedürfen hier zum Erdenwerk
Starker Kraft aus Geistes-Landen,
Die wir toten Freunden danken.
Gleichsam wie diese Seele auffordernd, die Keime, die sie sich hier angeeignet hat, nun weiter zu verwenden gerade zur Förderung unserer geisteswissenschaftlichen Bewegung, das erschien mir eine notwendige Empfindung eben bei dieser Seele.
Nun werden Sie gesehen haben, daß in diesen drei uns so naheliegenden Fällen trotz aller Verschiedenheit etwas Gleiches waltet. Das Gleiche waltet, daß vor der betrachtenden Seele, vor derjenigen Seele, die durch das Karma eben gerade zu einer Betrachtung besonders angeregt war, weil sie bei der Leichenfeier zu sprechen hatte, Gedanken angeregt wurden über das Wesen; daß gleichsam die Notwendigkeit vorlag, dieses Wesen auszusprechen.
Bei der ersten Persönlichkeit, von der ich gesprochen habe, war es wirklich so — Sie wissen ja, in welchem Sinne ich solche Dinge sage: nur um der Erkenntnis zu dienen, nicht um in irgendeiner Weise eine Renommisterei zu treiben —, daß ich die Persönlichkeit eben auch kennengelernt habe auf dem physischen Plan, nachdem sie in die Gesellschaft eingetreten war. Man erlebt ja einiges mit, was sich abspielt, während die Persönlichkeiten hier in unserer Gesellschaft sind; aber unsere Freunde werden wissen, daß es nicht meine Art ist, mich irgendwie über die Lebensverhältnisse oder dergleichen besonders zu erkundigen oder das oder jenes zu fragen, was die betreffenden Persönlichkeiten im physischen Leben hier gelebt haben und so weiter. Nicht eine persönliche, aber, ich möchte sagen, eine Erkenntnisbefriedigung war es mir, als ich nun die eine Persönlichkeit in einer kleinen Leichenrede weiterhin auch charakterisierte, wie sie ihrer Seele nach war, wie sie das Leben hier auf Erden durchlebt hatte. Ich hatte nichts dabei vor mir als die Seele nach dem Tode. Nicht nur, daß sie diese Worte aussprach, die ich zuerst gelesen habe, sondern die Seele hatte ich vor mir, wie sie nun war nach dem Tode, wie die Eigentümlichkeit war nach dem Tode. Ich hatte nichts anderes vor mir. Ich kannte eigentlich kaum irgend etwas, was mit ihr geschehen war, bevor sie in unsere Gesellschaft eingetreten war, und auch nicht besonders viel von dem Leben, was nicht in Versammlungen und so weiter verlaufen war oder den Gelegenheiten, wie man sonst ab und zu unsere Mitglieder trifft. Ich kannte nichts weiteres. Dennoch hatte ich gerade in diesem Falle, wie einer inneren Notwendigkeit gehorchend, bei der Bestattung mich veranlaßt sehen müssen, über bestimmte Lebensverhältnisse zu sprechen, Verhältnisse, die sich auf das ganze Leben bezogen; das Verhältnis der verstorbenen Persönlichkeit, die ein hohes Alter erreichte, zu ihren Kindern und zu ihrer Arbeit im Leben. Und wie gesagt, es war mir nicht eine persönliche, sondern eine Erkenntnisbefriedigung, als dann die Verwandten mir sagten: Wir haben eigentlich die betreffende Persönlichkeit so recht erkannt aus dem, was da gesprochen wurde, denn jedes Wort charakterisiert sie ganz intensiv. Es war also das Bild auch des individuellen Lebens während des physischen Lebensganges getroffen, zu dem nur die Möglichkeit vorhanden war — nun nachdem sich dieses Leben zusammengezogen hatte in der Seele -, die in der Seele zusammengezogenen Resultate zu sehen. Was uns aber für die Erkenntnis besonders interessiert ist dieses, daß wir gerade an dieser Seele die intensive Notwendigkeit wahrnehmen, nach dem Tode den Geistesblick hinzurichten auf das eigene Leben. Denn es war wirklich nicht mein Verdienst, dieses eigene Leben der betreffenden Persönlichkeit charakterisieren zu können, sondern der Vorgang war der, daß, obwohl die Persönlichkeit damals nicht bewußt war, sie dennoch ihr Seelenwesen hinlenkte — sich vorbereitend dadurch für ihr späteres, bewußtes Nach-dem-Tode-Leben -, hinlenkte die Kräfte, die später bewußt werden sollten, auf das eigene Leben, auf das eigene Erleben. Und dasjenige, was ich zu sagen hatte, das war dann in diesen Gedankenbildern, die im Hinlenken der Seele auf ihre eigenen Erlebnisse bestanden, zu sehen. Also ich hatte zu schildern dasjenige, was die Persönlichkeit unbewußt über sich dachte nach dem Tode. Und dasjenige, was uns wichtig dabei ist, was hervorzuheben ist, das ist, daß eben die Persönlichkeit nach dem Tode die intensive Notwendigkeit fühlte, unbewußt gerade den Blick hinzurichten auf die eigene Wesenheit.
Bei der zweiten Persönlichkeit, die gewissermaßen erwacht ist, als die Hitze den Leib ergriff, da zeigte es sich dann später - bei einem solchen sporadischen Wiedererwachen - an der Art, wie sie sich benahm zu dem, was gerade Charakteristik ihres Wesens war, daß sie das Bedürfnis hatte, zu diesem Wesen, wie ich schon sagte, zu diesen Worten, die ihr Wesen charakterisierten, wie zurückzulangen, wie zurückzugreifen. Und eben in der Sprache - wenn man Sprache nennen kann, was sich in den Beziehungen von Seelen, seien sie im Leibe oder seien sie nicht im Leibe und schon geistige Wesen, schon Tote, ausdrückt - in der Art, wie man von jenem Verkehr sprechen kann, muß man durchaus sagen: ich habe, als ich dann ein späteres Erwachen wahrnehmen konnte bei dieser Persönlichkeit, gewissermaßen empfinden müssen ein beseligendes Gefühl darüber, daß sich mir diese Worte, die ich da prägen konnte, ergeben haben. Denn es zeigte sich, daß das wirklich ein gutes Zusammenwirken mit der Toten war. Man konnte entnehmen, daß die Seele dieser Toten — Sie wissen, das ist vergleichsweise gesprochen — etwa so sich aussprach, daß sie sagte: «Es ist gut, daß das da ist. Es ist gut, daß das an diesem Orte ist.» Solch ein Gefühl zeigte sich bei diesem zweiten Erwachen, wie wenn die Tote zeigte, daß etwas da gleichsam zur Verstärkung gebracht ist in der geistigen Welt, dadurch daß es auch hier auf der physischen Erde im Menschenworte ausgesprochen ist, und daß das für sie etwas ist, was sie braucht, und bei dem es gut ist, daß es durch das physische Erdenwort noch mehr fixiert ist, als sie es selbst hat fixieren können. Also, es bestand bei ihr die Notwendigkeit, dies zu fixieren. Und es ist ihr eine Erleichterung, daß es auf diese Weise erstarkt worden ist in der Fixierung.
Und bei unserem lieben Freunde Fritz Mitscher sehen Sie es ja ganz deutlich, daß er in der Nacht, die der Feuerbestattung folgte, unmittelbar anknüpfte und das benützte, was hier gesprochen worden ist, um sich vor sich selbst sein eigenes Wesen klarzumachen, um über sich selbst ins klare zu kommen, über sein eigenes Wesen.
In allen drei Fällen also haben wir ein Hinblicken auf das eigene Wesen. Selbstverständlich sind solche Dinge zunächst diejenigen, die an unsere Seele, an unser Herz herandringen durch ihren rein menschlichen Wert, durch ihre rein menschliche Beziehung. Aber geistige Erkenntnisse gewinnt man überhaupt nur aus der unmittelbaren Welt heraus, wenn sie sich einem geben wollen durch Gnade. Man kann sie nicht erzwingen; man muß sie erwarten. Und gerade bei diesen Dingen sieht man, wie merkwürdig die karmischen Zusammenhänge wirken.
Als ich, einen Tag nachdem die zweite der genannten Persönlichkeiten in Zürich verstorben war, selbst in Zürich war, da gingen wir an einer Buchhandlung vorbei, und ich sah in der Buchhandlung ein Buch, das ich vor Jahren gelesen hatte. Wie es bei meiner Art des Lebens geht, würde ich das Buch in meiner angeblichen Bibliothek, die aber durch das Wohnen an vielen Orten in einem sonderbaren Zustande ist, nicht so leicht wieder konstatieren können. Vielleicht ist es überhaupt nicht mehr vorhanden. Vor Jahren hatte ich also ein Buch gelesen von dem Wiener Philosophen Dr. Ernst Mach, und das war gerade da in der Buchhandlung antiquarisch zu haben. Ich wollte es wiederum lesen, wenigstens wiederum anschauen. Und als ich auf die dritte Seite kam, da kam mir gleich etwas vor Augen, das mir längst aus den Augen verloren war, nämlich eine ganz interessante Bemerkung Ernst Machs über die Selbsterkenntnis des Menschen, über die Schwierigkeit der Selbsterkenntnis beim Menschen. Ich zitiere fast wörtlich das, was auf Seite 3 in der Anmerkung über die «Analyse der Empfindungen» des Universitätsprofessors Ernst Mach steht:
Als junger Mensch ging ich einmal auf der Straße, und es begegnete mir ein Mensch, dem gegenüber ich die Empfindung hatte: Was für ein unangenehmes, widerwärtiges Gesicht hat doch der Mensch, der mir da begegnet. Und da erschrak ich nicht wenig, als ich entdeckte, daß es mein eigenes Gesicht war, das mir da begegnete, das mir da aus einem Spiegel entgegensah. - Er ging also die Straße entlang, und durch gegeneinandergeneigte Spiegel wurde ihm sein eigenes Spiegelbild entgegengeworfen. Und er sagte, als er sich sah: Was für ein Mensch mit einem unangenehmen, widerwärtigen Gesicht begegnet mir da. — Und gleich daran fügt er eine andere solche Bemerkung über mangelnde Selbsterkenntnis. Er sagt: Ich kam eines Tages ermüdet von einer Reise zurück und bestieg einen Omnibus. Ich sah gegenüber einen anderen Mann einsteigen und dachte: Welch ein herabgekommener Schulmeister steigt denn da ein! Und siehe da, ich war es selbst. Der Spiegel im Omnibus hatte mir mein eigenes Bild gezeigt. — Und Professor Mach fügt noch hinzu: Also kannte ich meinen Standeshabitus besser als meinen eigenen.
Es ist das etwas, was wie ein Fingerzeig ist, wie schwer schon die menschliche Selbsterkenntnis mit Bezug auf die rein äußerliche Gestalt ist. Nicht einmal das, wie man räumlich aussieht, weiß man, selbst wenn man Universitätsprofessor ist. Sie sehen das an diesem sehr aufrichtig gegebenen Beispiel.
Es ist Ja interessant, daß gerade dieses Beispiel in Anknüpfung an diese Fälle gegeben werden kann, denn, nicht wahr, hier im physischen Leibe zeigt Ihnen ja das Beispiel selbst, daß einem die Selbsterkenntnis nicht gerade in dem, was man für die Erde zu erreichen hat, allzu hinderlich zu sein braucht. Man kann ein berühmter Professor sein und so wenig Selbsterkenntnis haben, wie der Mann das zum Ausdruck brachte. Aber ich erwähnte dieses Beispiel aus dem Grunde, weil es merkwürdig ist, daß dieses Beispiel aus dem physischen Leben mir vor Augen trat, als die Seele hingelenkt wurde, von neuem ins Auge zu fassen, wie der Tote die Notwendigkeit fühlt, sein eigenes Wesen zu erfassen, anzuschauen. Hier in der physischen Welt, da kann man nämlich wirklich, ich möchte sagen, auskommen ohne Selbsterkenntnis für all dasjenige, was im rein Materiellen unseres Lebens aufgeht. Erkenntnis der geistigen Welten kann man ja nicht gewinnen — wir werden davon heute über acht Tage noch sprechen — ohne Selbsterkenntnis. Aber für die rein äußerlichen materiellen Verhältnisse kann man auskommen ohne Selbsterkenntnis. Sobald aber die Seele durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen ist, ist Selbsterkenntnis das allererste, was sie braucht, und das zeigen uns besonders die Erlebnisse, die ich angeführt habe. Selbsterkenntnis ist dasjenige, wovon ausgegangen werden muß.
Sehen Sie, der materialistische Denker bleibt gewöhnlich haften an der Frage: Ja, bleibt das Bewußtsein über den Tod hinaus vorhanden? — Nun ist es ein Ergebnis der Geistesforschung, daß die Seele, wenn sie durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen ist, wirklich nicht an einem Mangel des Bewußstseins leidet, sondern daß sie gerade zuviel Bewußtsein hat. Daß später erst eine Art Erwachen auftritt, rührt nicht davon her, daß man sich nach dem Tode ein neues Bewußtsein aneignen muß, sondern davon, daß man zu blendendes Bewußtsein, daß man zuviel Bewußtsein hat und dieses erst nach und nach abgedämpft werden muß. Näheres darüber finden Sie in dem Wiener Zyklus, der ja auch gedruckt ist. Zuviel Bewußtsein, überwältigendes Bewußtsein hat der Mensch nach dem Tode, und er muß sich erst orientieren in dieser Welt des überwältigenden Bewußtseins. Und indem er nach und nach so weit kommt, wird er in einem geringeren Grade bewußt als vorher. Er muß das Bewußtsein erst abdämpfen, wie man das zu starke Sonnenlicht erst abdämpfen muß. Also ein Abdämpfen nach und nach des Bewußtseins ist es, was man zu tun hat. Man kann also nicht von einem Erwachen sprechen wie in der physischen Welt, sondern von einem Erholen von der Überfülle des Bewußtseins zu dem Grade, den man ertragen kann, je nachdem, was man hier in der physischen Welt erlebt hat. Dazu ist etwas notwendig: Um nun in diesem alles überflutenden Lichtesbewußtsein sich nach dem Tode zurechtzufinden, dazu gehört als Ausgangspunkt die Erkenntnis des eigenen Wesens; dazu gehört, daß wir zurückblicken können auf das eigene Wesen, um gleichsam die Richtlinien zu finden, um uns in der geistigen Welt zu orientieren. Der Mangel an Selbsterkenntnis ist eben das Hindernis für das Bewußtsein nach dem Tode. Wir müssen in dem überflutenden Licht uns selbst finden. Und jetzt sehen Sie, warum das Bedürfnis kommt, den Toten zu charakterisieren, um ihm entgegenzukommen in dem Sich-finden.
Dies ist etwas, was sich uns ergibt wie eine Art allgemeiner Erkenntnis aus solch intimen und uns nahegehenden Erlebnissen. Nach dem Tode, nachdem das ätherische Lebenstableau verschwunden ist, tritt eine Entwickelung, eine allmähliche EntwickeJung ein, die dadurch entsteht, daß wir mit unserem Leben, das wir aus den geistigen Welten nach und nach sich herausdäimmernd empfinden, daß wir mit unserem eigenen Leben hier auf der Erde bekannt werden. Denn das ist uns das einzige Streben nach dem Tode, nachdem das Tableau vorbei ist. Dasjenige, was in der geistigen Welt ist, das ist um uns. Womit wir aber vorzugsweise bekannt werden müssen, das ist unser eigenes Wesen. Und dabei kommen uns die Vorstellungen im wesentlichen zugute, die wir nur aus der Geisteswissenschaft kennen, denn die geben uns Orientierungsmittel für die geistige Erkenntnis. Daher können Sie es sehen an dem ersten Falle: Was als Selbstkritik auftrat, es war nur möglich mit dem aus der Geisteswissenschaft Aufgenommenen; so auf das eigene Wesen hinzuschauen, daß solche Worte sich erprägen konnten: «In Weltgedanken will ich weben das eigene Denken, daß klar es werde im Licht des ew’gen Werdelebens.» Das ist ja zusammengedrängt aus dem vielen, was in der Geisteswissenschaft ausgebreitet und was hier verwendet ist, um Selbstcharakteristik des eigenen Wesens zu geben. Oder «In Seelengründe will ich tauchen ergebnes Sinnen, daß stark es werde für Menschenwirkens wahre Ziele.»
Dasjenige aber, was man eigentlich mit diesen Dingen will, das ist: unsere geisteswissenschaftliche Bewegung aus dem bloßen Theoretischen herauszuheben und sie zu etwas von der Seele lebensvoll zu Erfassendem allmählich zu machen, gleichsam zu einem Strom, in dem wir wirklich darinnen leben, weben und sind; so daß wir wissen, was in der geistigen Welt um uns herum vorgeht, so wie wir in der physischen Welt wissen, daß um uns die Luft ist, in der wir atmen, die ja von dem Ungebildeten abgeleugnet werden kann und wird. Das ist die zukünftige Bestimmung der Menschheit: etwas zu wissen davon, daß ebenso, wie die Luft für und um den physischen Körper ist, für das seelische Erleben die geistige Welt ringsum da ist, die mehr mit der Seele — wie die Luft mit dem Körper - gleichsam korrespondiert, die Seele bildet, die Seele webt, die Seele durchwest.
Nun ist es uns ja auch möglich, im einzelnen gewissermaßen auf das Schicksal der Seele nach dem Tode hinzuweisen. Und eben aus diesem Grund werden gerade in unserer Zeit solche Dinge, ich möchte sagen, intimer auseinandergesetzt, weil ja durch unsere großen, aber auch schmerzlichen Zeitereignisse gewissermaßen der Tod seinen Hauch durch die Welt leitet, und unsere Zeit eben so zahllose Todesopfer fordert. Das ist eine besondere Aufforderung dazu, sich gerade mit dem Ereignis des Todes in unserer Zeit zu befassen.
Nun wissen wir, meine lieben Freunde, daß ja der Mensch, indem er durch die Pforte des Todes geht, so da durchgeht, daß er seinen physischen Leib der Erde übergeben hat, den Elementen der Erde; dann ist aus dem physischen Leib herausgetreten Ich und Astralleib. Wir haben ja im zweiten Falle gesehen, daß bei der Verbrennung schon der Ätherleib abgelegt war; schon nach Tagen geht der Ätherleib weg. Aber nun liegt es uns gerade in unserer Zeit ja unendlich nahe, eine Frage aufzuwerfen. So viele Menschen gehen in unseren Tagen im blühendsten Alter durch die Pforte des Todes. Wir können uns, indem wir übertragen eine rein physische Vorstellung in das Geistige, wo sie noch mehr gilt als im physischen Leben, die Frage aufwerfen: Wie ist es mit dem Ätherleib dieser durch die Pforte des Todes Gegangenen, der sich nach Tagen ablöst? Wie ist es mit einem solchen jugendlichen Ätherleib? Der betreffende Mensch, der im zwanzigsten, fünfundzwanzigsten, dreißigsten, fünfunddreißigsten Jahre, oder noch früher, durch die Pforte des Todes geht, der legt seinen Ätherleib ab, aber einen Ätherleib, der noch durch Jahrzehnte hätte seinem physischen Leben dienen können, der noch hätte arbeiten können hier im physischen Leben, der noch Kräfte gehabt hätte für Jahrzehnte. Nach dem Karma konnte er nicht die Kräfte verwenden, aber die Kräfte sind dennoch in ihm. Sie hätten hier im physischen Leben noch Jahrzehnte wirken können. Der Physiker denkt mit Recht: Keine Kräfte gehen verloren; sie verwandeln sich hier. Im Geistgen gilt das noch mehr. Die Kräfte hier bei einem jugendlichen auf dem Schlachtfeld Gefallenen, die noch jahrzehntelang das physische Leben hätten versorgen können, diese Kräfte gehen ja nicht in nichts über; sie sind da. Und schon jetzt können wir sagen, gerade durch die Ereignisse unserer Zeit veranlaßt: diese Kräfte gehen über in das Wesen der Volksseele des betreffenden Volkes. Sie nimmt diese Kräfte auf, und in der ganzen Volksseele wirken diese Kräfte des Ätherleibes. Das sind wirkliche geistige Kräfte, die außerdem vom Menschen noch da sind, außer dem, was er mit seinem Ich und seinem Astralleibe, seiner Individualität, durch die Zeit trägt zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt. Es wird sich nur darum handeln, daß möglichst verstanden werde in der Zukunft, daß in der Volksseele auch diese Kräfte darinnen sind, daß sie darinnen sind in dem allgemeinen Wirken, das diese Volksseele entfalten wird, als Kräfte, nicht als Wesenheiten. Sie werden da die fruchtbarsten, ich möchte sagen, die sonnenstrahlendsten Kräfte sein.
Ich möchte dazu ein nun wiederum uns naheliegendes Beispiel anführen, das ja zunächst natürlich nichts zu tun hat mit den Zeitereignissen, das aber durch die Art, wie es sich zugetragen hat und was aus ihm geworden ist, uns zugleich einen Ausblick geben kann auf alle die Fälle, wo ein unverbrauchter Ätherleib nach dem Tode, der nach einem jugendlichen Leben eingetreten ist, abgelegt wird. Wir haben ja im Herbst den Tod erlebt des Kindes eines Mitgliedes von uns, das siebenjährig war. Der Tod dieses Kindes ist gerade auf eigentümliche Weise eingetreten. Es war ein liebes Kind und ein, soweit das eben bei einem siebenjährigen Kinde möglich ist, mit sieben Jahren schon außerordentlich geistig regsames Kind; ein liebes, gutes und geistig sehr regsames Kind. Nun kam es dadurch zum Tode, daß es gerade in dem Augenblick an der Stelle war, wo ein Möbelwagen umfiel, der im Fallen das Kind erdrückte, so daß es den Erstickungstod erlitt; an einer Stelle, wo vielleicht überhaupt nicht vorher ein Wagen gefahren ist, nachher auch wieder nicht, sondern nur in diesem Augenblick. Außerdem kann man selbst äußerlich feststellen, daß dieses Kind durch allerlei Verhältnisse, die man in der äußeren materialistischen Weltanschauung Zufälle nennt, gerade in der Zeit, als der Wagen umfiel, an der Stelle war. Es holte etwas Speisevorräte für seine Mutter und ging gerade an jenem Abend etwas später weg, weil es aufgehalten worden ist. Wäre es fünf Minuten früher gegangen, so wäre es längst über die Stelle gewesen, wo der Wagen umfiel. Außerdem ging es zu einer anderen Türe hinaus, als es gewöhnt war; nur das eine Mal aus einer anderen Türe hinaus! An der anderen Türe wäre es rechts von dem Wagen gegangen. Der Wagen ist nach der anderen Seite gefallen. Es ist, wenn man den ganzen Fall wirklich geisteswissenschaftlich-karmisch verfolgt, einer jener Fälle, wo man so recht bestätigt finden kann, wie die äußere Logik, die man mit Recht im äußeren physischen Leben anwendet, fadenscheinig ist, nicht anwendbar ist. Ich habe ein Beispiel dafür schon öfter angewendet. Das Beispiel von dem Menschen, der an einem Fluß vorbeigeht und ins Wasser fallt gerade an der Stelle, wo ein Stein liegt. Die äußere Betrachtung wird selbstverständlich annehmen, daß der Mann über den Stein gestolpert und ins Wasser gefallen ist und dadurch den Tod gefunden hat; man wird auch bei der Meinung bleiben, er sei ertrunken. Aber wenn er seziert worden wäre, so würde sich herausgestellt haben, daß ihn der Schlag getroffen hat, und daß er dadurch tot ins Wasser fiel. Daß er also ins Wasser fiel, weil er tot war, und nicht tot wurde, weil er ins Wasser fiel. Ursache und Wirkung sind verwechselt. Solche Urteile finden Sie in der Wissenschaft auf Schritt und Tritt, wo Ursache und Wirkung verwechselt wird. Dasjenige, was ganz berechtigt logisch im äußeren Leben zu sein scheint, kann vollständig falsch sein. Nun wird man selbstverständlich im äußeren Anschauen den Fall des kleinen Theodor Faiß auch so beschreiben, dafß man sagt: Nun ja, das ist ein unglückseliger Zufall! In Wahrheit aber war das Karma des Kindes so, daß das Ich, klar ausgedrückt, den Wagen bestellt hat, daß der Wagen umgefallen ist, um das Karma des Kindes zu erfüllen. Da haben wir einen ganz besonders jugendlichen Ätherleib. Das Kind hätte ja auch ein Mann werden können und hätte siebzig Jahre alt werden können. Die Kräfte waren im Ätherleib, die auch für siebzig Jahre ausgereicht hätten, sie waren nach sieben Jahren durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen. Das Ganze hat sich ja abgespielt in Dornach. Der Vater, der damals in das deutsche Heer eingerückt war, war gar nicht anwesend, während dies geschehen ist; er ist ja auch ganz kurz darauf gestorben, nachdem er im Kriege verwundet worden war. Der ganze Fall hat sich unmittelbar in der Nähe des Baues abgespielt, und seit jener Zeit haben wir in der Aura des Dornacher Baues die Kräfte des Ätherleibes dieses Kindes. Und derjenige, der zu arbeiten hat für diesen Bau und wahrnehmen kann die geistigen Kräfte, die an diesem Bau walten, der findet darin die Kräfte dieses Kindes. So daß also, ganz abgesehen von dem, was nun als Ich und Astralleib in die geistige Welt übergegangen ist, um zu wirken in dem Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, der Ätherleib, der übriggeblieben ist, nun sich mit der ganzen geistigen Aura des Dornacher Baues vereinigt hat. Solche Dinge sind Erkenntnisse, die zugleich verbunden sind mit tiefen, bedeutungsvollen Gefühlen, mit wichtigen, bedeutungsvollen Gefühlen. Denn es sind nicht Erkenntnisse, die man trocken, wie zahlenmäßige Erkenntnisse empfängt, sondern die man empfängt mit innig dankbarer Seele. Denn selbstverständlich werde ich, solcher Erkenntnis eingedenk, niemals außer acht lassen auch nur einen Augenblick im Bewußtsein, wenn ich selbst nur irgend etwas zu leisten habe für den Dornacher Bau, daß diese Kräfte für den Bau mir mitwirkende, mir helfende Kräfte sind. Da vereinigt sich eben dasjenige, was theoretische Erkenntnis ist, mit dem unmittelbaren Leben. Eingedenk solcher Erkenntnis, meine lieben Freunde, wird es einleuchtend sein, daß jetzt, wo so unzählige hier auf der Erde unvollendete Ätherleiber durch die Pforte des Todes gehen, wir erahnen können, was geschehen wird, wenn die Friedenssonne wieder da sein wird, nach der Dämmerung des gegenwärtigen Krieges. Da werden wirklich auch die Kräfte, die Ätherkräfte derjenigen da sein und sich vereinigen wollen zum Erdenheil und Erdenfortschritt mit denjenigen Seelen, die hier auf Erden wirken - die Ätherkräfte derer, die die Todespforte, die die Leidenspforte durchgemacht haben. Aber notwendig dazu wird sein, daß auf Erden Menschen sind, die für diese Dinge Verständnis haben, die bewußt sein können der Tatsache: da oben in der geistigen Welt sind in den zurückgebliebenen Ätherleibern diejenigen, die der Zeit das Opfer gebracht haben. Die wollen hier auf diese Erde hereinwirken. Ganz fruchtbar werden sie nur wirken können, wenn hier empfängliche Seelen sind, die selbst sich verbinden wollen in Gedanken mit dem, was ihnen aus der geistigen Welt kommt. So daß es für die Früchte dieser unserer ja großen, aber schweren und schmerzlichen Zeit unendlich wichtig ist, daß eine geistbejahende Erkenntnis Gedanken schafft, die dann sich vereinigen können mit den Gedanken, die von den Ätherleibern der Todesopfer herunterkommen. Also ist es eben, was uns darauf hinweist, daß wir schon in diesen schweren Ereignissen, die im Zeichen auch von Leiden und Tod stehen, auch im Zeichen der Größe stehen, daß wir von diesen schweren Ereignissen die Mahnung empfangen, daß sie uns heraufführen sollen eine Zeit, welche dem Geist geneigter ist, als es die verflossene Zeit war, damit nicht das eintrete, daß gewissermaßen die gebrachten Opfer herabzuschauen haben auf eine Erdenwelt, der sie sich selbst hingegeben haben, um für ihren Fortschritt und für ihr Heil zu wirken, und auf der sie nicht die Möglichkeit finden, einzugreifen, weil die Seelen nicht da sind, die ihnen die empfänglichen Gedanken entgegensenden. So müssen wir schon auch Geisteswissenschaft als etwas Lebendiges erfassen, als etwas Lebendiges, das notwendig ist für die Zeit, die da kommen soll, gerade in Anbetracht der Ereignisse unserer Tage. Und das ist es, was ich immer wiederum und wiederum zusammenfaßte im Geiste und im Sinne unserer Betrachtungen in die Worte:
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.
Seventh Lecture
My dear friends, we first remember those who stand outside in the great fields of present events:
Spirits of your souls, active guardians,
May your wings bring
The pleading love of our souls
To those earthly beings entrusted to your care,
So that, united with your power,
Our plea may shine forth
To the souls that seek it lovingly.
And for those who have already passed through the gates of death as a result of these events:
Spirits of your souls, active guardians,
May your wings bring
The pleading love of our souls
To the people of the spheres whom you protect,
That, united with your power,
May our plea shine forth in help
To the souls that lovingly seek them.
The spirit that we seek through our striving for spiritual knowledge, the spirit that has come to the earth to bring salvation, freedom, and progress to humanity through the mystery of Golgotha, may it be with you and your difficult duties!
This evening I would like to share some insights into the connection between our physical world and the spiritual world, drawing on some more intimate events within our own movement. Within this intimate, closed circle, such things are possible. And above all, I know that I can vouch for the messages before those who became our members during their physical lives, who will remain so during their further lives, and to whom some of the facts to which I intend to refer today relate.
It was just in the last few weeks, my dear friends, that karma brought about that I was able to stay at the place where the cremation of dear friends took place and speak at this cremation. And this was probably also connected with another fact, namely that I was particularly close to these personalities and was able to receive certain remarkable impressions of their existence in the spiritual world shortly after they had passed through the gate of death, only a few days earlier.
I have mentioned this often: whether one receives impressions from this or that fact of the spiritual world depends on many circumstances. It depends above all on how strongly it is possible to develop a truly inner connection, a strong inner connection with the souls in question. This can turn out to be the case that one sometimes lives in the belief that one must have a very special connection with this or that soul. And yet this is less the case. With some souls, it is only through what one then experiences that one learns that such a connection was easier to establish.
Now, my dear friends, in the three cases I would like to mention first, I felt the most intense need to receive impressions immediately after death that were connected with the whole being of these souls. I would say that in these cases it happened quite naturally. Of course, when one has to speak at a funeral, one can speak about a wide variety of things, but in these three cases there was an inner necessity to connect intensively with the essence of the souls concerned, to put this essence into words, as it were, at the cremation ceremony. But it wasn't as if I had decided to characterize the nature of these particular souls at these particular funeral services; rather, it arose as an illuminating necessity that it had to be so. I don't mean to say that it must be the same in other cases. This illuminating necessity arose in the case of one of the souls because — and I am not saying this as a law, but as an experience, as something I have experienced — because after death, I received impulses from the spiritual world to characterize this essence of the soul. I did not need to form words; the words arose, the words came. And we will see later, my dear friends, why this was so, from a few hints that can already be given about the further life of the soul in question after death.
First of all, in order for the whole thing to be understood, I must say a few words about the special nature of such experiences. When one wants to have impressions here in the physical world, one confronts things. One thinks, depending on how one sees, hears, or touches things; one knows that it is oneself who is thinking these thoughts. When one has to do with a soul that has passed through the gate of death, one immediately notices that everything one does oneself, perhaps in thoughts or words, actually distances one from the being in question; that it is necessary to give oneself completely to what is happening within oneself. And if one wants to express these impressions in words, one must indeed have the ability within oneself to allow these words to form, without doing anything to make them form in this particular way. You have to be able to listen inwardly to the words. And by listening inwardly, you have the certainty that these words are not spoken by yourself, but by the being that has passed through the gate of death.
This was the case when, in recent weeks, an elderly member of our group passed away. An elderly member who, over a long period of time, had become deeply and sincerely involved in our movement, had enlivened her feelings and her emotional experience with the ideas and concepts that our spiritual science can offer. With tremendous devotion, this person had identified herself in her soul with everything that flows and surges through our spiritual science. Now it was important to surrender oneself, as it were, to the impression emanating from this soul. And strangely enough, it could be observed that even a few hours after physical death had occurred, not only certain impressions of words, but already audible, real words emerged as impressions that were characteristic of the soul in question. Nothing else could be done with these words except to try as far as possible to understand purely what the soul in question was saying through one's own inner being, for it must certainly be called such speech. And there were the words that I then spoke at the cremation. They were words which, as I said, were not my words, but were the words—and I ask you to consider carefully the words I am now using—which came from the soul in question who had passed away:
In worlds far and wide I will carry
My feeling heart, that it may become warm
In the fire of holy forces at work;In world thoughts I will weave
My own thoughts, that they may become clear
In the light of eternal life;In the depths of the soul I will dive
With devoted thoughts, that they may become strong
For the true goals of human activity;In God's peace I strive thus
With life's struggles and with cares
Preparing my self for the higher self.Striving for peace with joy in work,
Anticipating worldliness in my own being
I want to fulfill my duty as a human being;I may then live in expectation
Towards my soul's star,
Which grants me a place in the realm of the spirit.
And then, when I spoke the words again at the end of the funeral oration, I had to change them at the end, without having known it beforehand, and say:
I may then live in expectation
Contrary to my destiny,
Which grants me a place in the spiritual realm.
Now it was clear what that was. It was an attempt by the person in question to imprint what he had absorbed over the years in spiritual scientific thoughts, ideas, feelings, and sensations into his own being, which had now passed through death, in such a way that the ideas and feelings became forces that shaped and formed this personality, this being after death. So this person had used the ideas and concepts of spiritual science to draw, to shape their own being, as it were; but to shape it in such a way that this being would then truly continue in the spiritual world.
Shortly thereafter, we lost another friend of our movement, another member, to the physical plane. And with this member, there was again an intense need to characterize the being. But it could not be done in the same way as in the case just mentioned. In the case just mentioned, the words, as they were expressed, were really such that one could say: a soul that had passed through the gate of death expressed itself as what it felt and what it wanted to become; it expressed itself. In this second case, it was such that one had to confront one's own soul and contemplate spiritually the nature of the soul in question. Then this soul also expressed itself, but it expressed itself in words that took the material for self-characterization from the contemplating soul. So that what the soul that had passed through the gate of death did was only a stimulus to express what one now had to feel toward its essence after it had passed through the gate of death. And then the following words arose, which had to be sent on at the cremation ceremony:
You walked among us,
The gentleness of your nature
Spoke from the silent power of your eyes
A calm that enlivens the soul,
Flowed in waves,
With which your gaze
Carried things and people
To the inner workings of your mind.
And this essence permeated
Your voice, which eloquently
Through the nature of the words
More than in the words themselves
Revealed what was hidden
In your beautiful soul,
But that devoted love
Of sympathetic people
Also revealed itself wordlessly:
This being, which, with noble, quiet beauty,
Proclaimed the creation of the world and the soul
And receptive sensitivity.
When these words had been spoken at the beginning and end of the funeral oration, the cremation began. And it was now possible to observe, my dear friends, that this moment—not the moment during which the words were spoken, but the moment when the heat of the oven took hold of the body—was the moment when, as I will explain in more detail later, a kind of first conscious moment after death occurred. I say “moment of consciousness” and I mean it this way: immediately after death, there is a review of what appears in the etheric body as a tableau of life. But this disappears after a few days. Now, at that time, it was necessary that there be a fairly long period of time between death and cremation. Death occurred on Wednesday evening at six o'clock; the cremation took place the following Monday at eleven o'clock. So the passing of this image, this tableau of life, had already occurred. So the first moment of some consciousness after the life tableau occurred when the heat of the furnace took hold of the body. And then it became clear that the way of seeing, the way of viewing the whole world, is different for such a spiritual being than it is for the human soul as long as it is in the physical body. In the physical body, we see the things in space in such a way that they remain where they are when we move away from them. If there is a chair here and I see it, and then I walk a little further away and look back, the chair is still there. I look back at it. If I walk further away, the chair is still there, it remains where it is. While we live in the physical body, this is not the case for events that take place in time. The events that we allow to pass us by in time do not remain standing still. An event that has passed us by is gone, and when we look back, we can only look back in our memory. Only our past connects us to the event. This is not the case for a spirit being. It sees events as standing still, just as we see things in space as standing still. And so the first impression that the soul I spoke of had was that of the funeral ceremony with everything that was done and said there. This funeral ceremony had already been over for five to ten minutes, but for the dead woman it was still there, she was standing there, just as physical human beings see things standing in space. And the first impression was looking back on what had been said; above all on the words that now resounded to her, on the words I have just read aloud. It is really as Wagner said from a deep intuition: “Time becomes space.” It is that which has passed, not passed for spiritual experience, but standing there as things stand for physical human beings in space. So that was the first impression after death, this funeral ceremony and what was said at it. In this case, this looking back and, as it were, observing what had happened at the funeral ceremony cannot be called a final dawning of consciousness, because afterwards the twilight state of which I will speak returned, and only after some time did such a dawning of consciousness occur again. Again, slowly and gradually, the dawning of consciousness occurs. It takes months until it is so complete that we can say that the dead person is fully surrounded by the spiritual world. But later, precisely through a later glimmer of consciousness, this personality showed an intense need to always look back to this moment, precisely to this moment, to clearly grasp this moment. This is in complete harmony, as I will explain in a moment, with what we know about the entire behavior of human beings after death.
A third case is one that will particularly touch our dear Berlin members: it is the case of our recently deceased friend and member Fritz Mitscher. Fritz Mitscher passed through the gates of death shortly before his thirtieth birthday, before reaching the age of thirty. He would have turned thirty on February 26, which is coming up soon.
With Fritz Mitscher, as thoughts turned to his nature after death, it was above all the inspiration that emanated from his intense devotion to our spiritual movement that stirred our own souls, our contemplative souls. In this respect, he was truly an exemplary personality. An exemplary personality in the sense that he, who had a nature inclined toward the cultivation of scholarship, really developed more and more, out of an inner necessity, a deeper inner need, the disposition to place all the scholarship he had acquired at the service of the spiritual-scientific movement. He was thus one of those personalities who are so necessary in the course of our spiritual scientific worldview. What the present needs is for external science, external scientific striving, to be used by the soul in such a way that this external scientific striving flows, as it were, into the knowledge gained from the spiritual world, toward which we want to incline ourselves. And this inspired the youthful soul of Fritz Mitschers. So that the feeling had to be there, just by observing him here in life: he is on a very, very right path in relation to our movement.
Friends will remember something I said on the occasion of another death years ago: It is precisely in the case of such personalities, who have, so to speak, absorbed within themselves what physical science can offer in the present, that it becomes apparent, when they pass through the gate of death at an early age, that they become significant co-workers after death in our spiritual movement, which is not dependent solely on those souls who dwell here in the body. If we did not have the powers of souls who have passed through the gate of death with earthly knowledge and remain there in connection with the will that is to flow through our movement, we could certainly not cherish the hope in our present materialistic age that we must cherish to the extent that it is justified, namely that we will make progress.
So something emanated from Fritz Mitschers soul that can be summarized in words that I could not express any other way than as I am about to read to you now, and which were also spoken at the cremation:
A hope that made us happy,
You entered the field,
Where the fruits of the earth's spirit
Through the power of the soul
Seek to reveal themselves to the seeker.A pure love of truth
Was your deepest desire;
To create from the light of the spirit
Was the serious goal of your life,
Which you pursued tirelessly.You cultivated your beautiful gifts
To walk the bright path of spiritual knowledge,
Unperturbed by the contradictions of the world,
As a faithful servant of truth
With sure steps.You exercised your spiritual organs,
To reveal your true self in pure light,
So that they might bravely and persistently
Push error away from both sides of the path,
And create space for truth.
So that the power of the soul's sun
Might shine powerfully within you,
Was your life's care and joy.Other cares, other joys,
Barely touched your soul,
Because knowledge appeared to you as light,
Which gives meaning to existence,
As the true value of life.A hope, making us happy,
Thus you entered the field,
Where the fruits of the earth's spirit,
Through the power of the soul,
Wish to reveal themselves to the seeker.A loss that pains us deeply,
Thus you disappear from the field,
Where the seeds of the spirit
In the womb of the soul,
Matured in your sphere of perception.Feel how we look lovingly
To the heights that now call you
To other creative work,
Give your strength from the realms of the spirit
To your abandoned friends.Hear the plea of our souls,
Sent to you in trust:
We need for our earthly work
Strong power from the realm of the spirit,
Which we thank our dead friends for.A hope that makes us happy,
A loss that pains us deeply:
Let us hope that you are far away yet near,
Shining undiminished upon our lives,
Like a star of the soul in the realm of the spirit.
Such words, my dear friends, are so deeply imprinted that they must be regarded as having emerged from identification with the soul that has passed through death. They arise as a necessity, even if they are not spoken by the soul itself, even if the soul itself only provides the inspiration for them. They arise as a necessity through the forces that emanate from the soul, precisely so that they are spoken in exactly the way they have been spoken, down to the last detail. I really had nothing else in mind when I spoke these words other than the words as I have just read them to you. Therefore, it was extremely shocking for me when, on the night following the funeral, the soul of our Fritz Mitscher, not yet out of his consciousness, but certainly out of his being, responded in a manner of speaking to what had been said at the funeral; responded by uttering the following words from himself, that is, now from the soul that had passed away through death:
To reveal my true self
In pure light,
So that the power of the soul's sun
Might shine powerfully within me,
Was my life's concern and joy.Other concerns, other joys,
Barely touched my soul,
Because knowledge appeared to me as light,
Which gives meaning to existence,
As the true value of life.
When I wrote these verses, it never occurred to me that they could be rephrased so that every instance of “you” could be replaced with “me” and every instance of “your” with “my.” All that was alive for me was:
To reveal your true self
In pure light,
So that the power of the soul's sun
Might shine mightily within you,
Was your life's concern and joy.Other cares, other joys,
Barely touched your soul,
Because knowledge was to you like light,
Which gives meaning to existence,
As the true value of life.
And now the words had been translated in such a way that, without changing anything grammatically, only “Dir dein Selbst” could be changed to “Mir mein Selbst” and “Dir im Inneren machtvoll strahle” to “Mir im Inneren machtvoll strahle” and so on.
There you have a remarkable connection between what has been said here and the soul that had passed through the gate of death; a connection that shows that what had been said here did not return from the soul as a mere echo, but returned in a meaningfully transformed form. I would just like to note that when these words were coined, a certain feeling really passed through my soul as if out of necessity, which gave the basic nuance for this: it was the feeling as if it were a necessity for me to give this particular soul a certain task as it passed through the gate of death. We know how much in today's materialistic age is contrary to our spiritual movement; how little the world today is suited to this spiritual movement. And one can truly say, especially when one sees through what is possible to achieve in the earthly body, that support is needed! And it was this feeling that was expressed in the words:
Hear the plea of our souls,
Sent to you in trust:
We need here for our earthly work
Strong power from the spiritual realm,
Which we thank our dead friends for.
Just as this soul seemed to be asking that the seeds it had acquired here be used to further our spiritual scientific movement, this seemed to me to be a necessary feeling for this soul.
Now you will have seen that, despite all their differences, something similar is at work in these three cases that are so close to us. The same thing prevails, that before the contemplating soul, before the soul that was particularly inspired to contemplate because it had to speak at the funeral, thoughts were inspired about the nature of being; that there was, as it were, a necessity to express this nature.
In the case of the first personality I mentioned, it was really so — you know in what sense I say such things: only to serve knowledge, not to engage in any kind of name-dropping — that I also got to know the personality on the physical plane after they had entered society. One experiences a great deal of what happens while personalities are here in our society; but our friends will know that it is not my way to inquire particularly about living conditions or the like, or to ask this or that about what the personalities in question have experienced in their physical lives here, and so on. It was not a personal satisfaction, but rather, I would say, a satisfaction of knowledge when I continued to characterize one personality in a short eulogy, describing what she was like in her soul, how she had lived her life here on earth. I had nothing before me but the soul after death. Not only did she utter the words I had read first, but I had the soul before me as she was now after death, with all her peculiarities after death. I had nothing else before me. I knew hardly anything about what had happened to her before she joined our society, nor did I know much about her life outside of meetings and such, or the occasional opportunities to meet our members. I knew nothing else. Nevertheless, in this particular case, as if obeying an inner necessity, I felt compelled at the funeral to speak about certain circumstances in her life, circumstances that related to her entire life; the relationship of the deceased, who had reached a ripe old age, to her children and to her work in life. And as I said, it was not a personal satisfaction, but a satisfaction of knowledge, when the relatives then said to me: We actually recognized the person in question quite well from what was said, because every word characterizes him very intensely. So the picture of the individual life during the physical course of life was also captured, and now that this life had contracted in the soul, it was possible to see the results contracted in the soul. But what is particularly interesting to us for our understanding is that we perceive in this soul the intense necessity of directing the spiritual gaze toward one's own life after death. For it was really not my merit to be able to characterize the life of the personality in question, but the process was that, although the personality was not conscious at the time, it nevertheless directed its soul nature—thus preparing itself for its later, conscious life after death—directed the forces that were later to become conscious toward its own life, toward its own experience. And what I had to say could then be seen in these thought images that consisted in the soul's turning toward its own experiences. So I had to describe what the personality unconsciously thought about itself after death. And what is important for us here, what needs to be emphasized, is that after death the personality felt an intense need to unconsciously direct its gaze toward its own essence.
In the case of the second personality, which awakened, so to speak, when the heat seized the body, it later became apparent – during such sporadic reawakenings – in the way she behaved toward what was characteristic of her nature that she felt the need to return to this nature, as I have already said, to these words that characterized her nature, to fall back on them. And precisely in language—if one can call language what is expressed in the relationships between souls, whether they are in the body or not and already spiritual beings, already dead—in the way one can speak of that communication, one must definitely say: when I was able to perceive a later awakening in this personality, I had to feel, in a sense, a blissful feeling that these words, which I was able to formulate, had revealed themselves to me. For it became apparent that this was truly a good interaction with the dead. One could infer that the soul of this dead person—you know, comparatively speaking—expressed itself in such a way that it said: “It is good that this is there. It is good that this is in this place.” Such a feeling arose during this second awakening, as if the deceased were showing that something had been strengthened in the spiritual world by being expressed here on the physical earth in human words, and that this was something she needed, and that it was good that it had been fixed even more firmly by the physical words than she herself had been able to do. So, it was necessary for her to fix this. And it is a relief to her that it has been strengthened in this way through being fixed.
And with our dear friend Fritz Mitscher, you can see very clearly that on the night following the cremation, he immediately took up and used what had been said here to clarify his own nature to himself, to gain clarity about himself, about his own nature.
In all three cases, therefore, we have a glimpse of our own nature. Of course, such things are initially those that touch our soul, our heart, through their purely human value, through their purely human relationship. But spiritual insights can only be gained from the immediate world if they are given to us through grace. They cannot be forced; they must be awaited. And it is precisely in these things that one sees how strangely karmic connections work.
When I was in Zurich myself, one day after the second of the personalities mentioned above had died, we passed a bookstore and I saw a book in the bookstore that I had read years ago. Given my lifestyle, I would not be able to easily find the book in my supposed library, which is in a strange state due to my having lived in many places. Perhaps it no longer exists at all. Years ago, I had read a book by the Viennese philosopher Dr. Ernst Mach, and it was available there in the bookstore as a secondhand book. I wanted to read it again, or at least look at it again. And when I got to the third page, something immediately caught my eye that I had long since lost sight of, namely a very interesting remark by Ernst Mach about human self-knowledge, about the difficulty of self-knowledge in humans. I quote almost verbatim what is written on page 3 in the note on the “Analysis of Sensations” by university professor Ernst Mach:
As a young man, I was once walking down the street when I encountered a person who gave me the impression: What an unpleasant, repulsive face this person has. And I was quite startled when I discovered that it was my own face I was looking at, staring back at me from a mirror. So he was walking down the street, and his own reflection was reflected back at him by mirrors facing each other. And when he saw himself, he said: What an unpleasant, repulsive person I have encountered. — And immediately he adds another remark about a lack of self-awareness. He says: One day I came back tired from a journey and got on a bus. I saw another man get on opposite me and thought: What a down-and-out schoolmaster is getting on there! And lo and behold, it was me. The mirror in the bus had shown me my own image. — And Professor Mach adds: So I knew my social status better than my own character.
It is something that points to how difficult it is for humans to know themselves in relation to their purely external appearance. Not even university professors know what they look like spatially. You can see this in this very sincere example.
It is interesting that this example can be given in connection with these cases, because, here in the physical body, the example itself shows you that self-knowledge does not necessarily have to be too much of a hindrance in what one has to achieve on earth. One can be a famous professor and have as little self-knowledge as the man expressed. But I mentioned this example because it is remarkable that this example from physical life came to my mind when the soul was directed to consider anew how the dead feel the need to grasp and look at their own being. Here in the physical world, one can really, I would say, get by without self-knowledge for everything that is purely material in our lives. Knowledge of the spiritual worlds cannot be gained—we will talk about this again in eight days—without self-knowledge. But for purely external material circumstances, one can get by without self-knowledge. As soon as the soul has passed through the gate of death, however, self-knowledge is the very first thing it needs, and this is shown to us especially by the experiences I have mentioned. Self-knowledge is the starting point.
You see, the materialistic thinker usually gets stuck on the question: Yes, does consciousness remain after death? — Now, it is a result of spiritual research that when the soul has passed through the gate of death, it does not really suffer from a lack of consciousness, but rather that it has too much consciousness. The fact that a kind of awakening occurs later is not because one has to acquire a new consciousness after death, but because one has too much consciousness, a consciousness that is too dazzling, and this must first be gradually dampened. You can find more details about this in the Vienna Cycle, which is also in print. After death, human beings have too much consciousness, overwhelming consciousness, and they first have to find their bearings in this world of overwhelming consciousness. And as they gradually get there, they become less conscious than before. They first have to dampen their consciousness, just as one must dampen excessive sunlight. So what we have to do is gradually dampen our consciousness. We cannot therefore speak of an awakening as in the physical world, but rather of a recovery from the excess of consciousness to a degree that we can bear, depending on what we have experienced here in the physical world. Something is necessary for this: In order to find our way in this all-pervading light consciousness after death, we need to start with the knowledge of our own being; we need to be able to look back on our own being in order to find, as it were, the guidelines for orienting ourselves in the spiritual world. The lack of self-knowledge is precisely the obstacle to consciousness after death. We must find ourselves in the overwhelming light. And now you see why it is necessary to characterize the dead in order to meet them in their self-discovery.
This is something that emerges as a kind of general insight from such intimate and moving experiences. After death, after the etheric life tableau has disappeared, a development, a gradual unfolding begins, which arises from the fact that we become acquainted with our own life here on earth through the life that we gradually feel emerging from the spiritual worlds. For that is our only aspiration after death, after the tableau is over. What is in the spiritual world is around us. But what we must become familiar with above all is our own being. And here we benefit greatly from the ideas we have gained from spiritual science, for they give us the means of orientation for spiritual knowledge. You can see this in the first case: what appeared as self-criticism was only possible with what had been taken up from spiritual science; to look at one's own nature in such a way that words like these could be formed: “In world thoughts I will weave my own thinking, that it may become clear in the light of eternal becoming.” This is condensed from much of what is expounded in spiritual science and used here to characterize one's own being. Or: “I want to dive into the depths of my soul with devoted thinking, so that it may become strong for the true goals of human activity.”
But what we actually want to achieve with these things is to lift our spiritual scientific movement out of the realm of mere theory and gradually make it something that can be grasped by the soul in a living way, like a stream in which we truly live, weave, and are, so that we know what is going on in the spiritual world around us, just as we know in the physical world that the air in which we breathe is around us, which can and is denied by the uneducated. This is the future destiny of humanity: to know something of the fact that, just as air is for and around the physical body, so the spiritual world is all around us for our soul's experience, corresponding, as it were, more with the soul than air does with the body, forming the soul, weaving the soul, permeating the soul.
Now it is also possible for us to point out, in detail, the fate of the soul after death. And it is precisely for this reason that such things are being discussed more intimately in our time, because through our great but also painful events, death is, in a sense, breathing its breath through the world, and our time is claiming countless victims. This is a special invitation to deal with the event of death in our time.
Now, my dear friends, we know that when a person passes through the gate of death, he passes through in such a way that he has surrendered his physical body to the earth, to the elements of the earth; then the ego and the astral body have left the physical body. We have seen in the second case that the etheric body was already discarded during cremation; after a few days, the etheric body disappears. But now, in our time, it is infinitely close to us to raise a question. So many people in our days pass through the gate of death in the prime of life. By transferring a purely physical idea into the spiritual realm, where it is even more valid than in physical life, we can ask ourselves: What happens to the etheric body of those who have passed through the gate of death, which dissolves after a few days? What happens to such a youthful etheric body? The person in question, who passes through the gates of death at the age of twenty, twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five, or even earlier, lays down his etheric body, but an etheric body that could have served his physical life for decades, that could have continued to work here in physical life, that would have had strength for decades. According to karma, he could not use these forces, but they are still within him. They could have continued to work here in physical life for decades. The physicist is right in thinking that no forces are lost; they are transformed here. This is even more true in the spirit realm. The forces here in a young man who fell on the battlefield, forces that could have sustained physical life for decades, do not simply disappear; they are still there. And even now, prompted by the events of our time, we can say that these forces pass into the essence of the national soul of the people concerned. It absorbs these forces, and these forces of the etheric body work throughout the entire soul of the people. These are real spiritual forces that remain in human beings, apart from what they carry with their ego and their astral body, their individuality, through the time between death and a new birth. It will only be a matter of ensuring that, in the future, it is understood as far as possible that these forces are also present in the soul of the people, that they are present in the general activity that this soul of the people will develop, as forces, not as entities. They will be the most fruitful, I would say, the most sun-like forces.
I would like to give another example that is close to us, which of course has nothing to do with current events, but which, because of the way it happened and what came of it, can give us an insight into all cases where an unspent etheric body is discarded after death, which has occurred after a youthful life. In the fall, we experienced the death of the seven-year-old child of one of our members. The death of this child occurred in a very peculiar way. He was a dear child and, as far as is possible for a seven-year-old child, already extraordinarily spiritually active at the age of seven; a dear, good, and spiritually very active child. Now it came to die because it was at that very moment in the place where a furniture van overturned and crushed the child, so that it suffocated to death; in a place where perhaps no car had ever driven before, nor did any drive afterwards, but only at that moment. Furthermore, one can see for oneself that this child was in that place at that moment due to all kinds of circumstances which, in the external materialistic worldview, are called coincidences. He was fetching some food for his mother and left a little later than usual that evening because he had been delayed. If it had left five minutes earlier, it would have been long past the spot where the car overturned. Furthermore, it went out through a different door than it was accustomed to; just this one time it went out through a different door! At the other door, he would have walked to the right of the car. The car fell to the other side. If one really examines the whole case from a spiritual-scientific, karmic point of view, it is one of those cases where one can really confirm how the external logic that one rightly applies in external physical life is flimsy and inapplicable. I have often used an example to illustrate this. The example of a man walking past a river and falling into the water at the very spot where there is a stone. The external observer will naturally assume that the man stumbled over the stone and fell into the water, thereby meeting his death; one will also remain of the opinion that he drowned. But if he had been dissected, it would have been discovered that he had been struck by the blow and had fallen dead into the water. So he fell into the water because he was dead, and did not die because he fell into the water. Cause and effect are confused. Such judgments are found at every turn in science, where cause and effect are confused. What seems to be entirely logical in external life can be completely wrong. Now, of course, when looking at the case of little Theodor Faiß from an external point of view, one would describe it by saying: Well, that was an unfortunate accident! In truth, however, the child's karma was such that, to put it clearly, the ego ordered the car to be overturned in order to fulfill the child's karma. Here we have a particularly youthful etheric body. The child could have become a man and lived to be seventy years old. The forces in the etheric body would have been sufficient for seventy years, but they passed through the gate of death after seven years. The whole thing took place in Dornach. The father, who had been drafted into the German army at the time, was not present when this happened; he died shortly afterwards, having been wounded in the war. The whole incident took place in the immediate vicinity of the building, and since that time we have had the forces of this child's etheric body in the aura of the Dornach building. And those who have to work on this building and can perceive the spiritual forces at work there will find the forces of this child in it. So that, quite apart from what has now passed into the spiritual world as the ego and astral body in order to work in the life between death and new birth, the etheric body that has remained behind has now united with the entire spiritual aura of the Dornach building. Such things are insights that are at the same time connected with deep, meaningful feelings, with important, meaningful feelings. For these are not insights that one receives dryly, like numerical knowledge, but rather insights that one receives with a deeply grateful soul. For, mindful of such insights, I will of course never forget for a moment, whenever I have anything to do for the Dornach building, that these forces are forces that work with me and help me. This is where theoretical knowledge unites with immediate life. Mindful of this knowledge, my dear friends, it will be clear that now, when so many unfinished etheric bodies are passing through the gate of death here on earth, we can sense what will happen when the sun of peace returns after the twilight of the present war. Then the forces, the etheric forces of those who have passed through the gate of death, the gate of suffering, will indeed be there and will want to unite with the souls who are working here on earth for the salvation and progress of the earth. But it will be necessary for there to be people on earth who understand these things, who are conscious of the fact that up there in the spiritual world, in the etheric bodies that have remained behind, are those who have sacrificed themselves to time. They want to work here on earth. They will only be able to work fruitfully if there are receptive souls here who themselves want to connect in thought with what comes to them from the spiritual world. So it is infinitely important for the fruits of our great but difficult and painful time that a spirit-affirming knowledge creates thoughts that can then unite with the thoughts coming down from the etheric bodies of the victims of death. This is what points out to us that even in these difficult events, which are also marked by suffering and death, we are also marked by greatness, that we receive a warning from these difficult events that they are to lead us to a time that is more inclined toward the spirit than the past, so that what follows does not occur the sacrifices that have been made have to look down on an earthly world to which they have given themselves in order to work for its progress and salvation, and in which they find no opportunity to intervene because the souls are not there to send them receptive thoughts. Thus we must also understand spiritual science as something living, as something living that is necessary for the time to come, especially in view of the events of our day. And this is what I have always summarized again and again in the spirit and meaning of our reflections in the words:
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 will consciously guide
Their minds into the realm of spirits.