Cosmic Forces in Man
GA 209
27 November 1921, Oslo
2. The Soul Life of Man
We have heard how in accordance with anthroposophical knowledge, the being of man must be viewed in relation to the whole universe. We considered the human form and figure and its relation to the fixed stars, or rather to the representative of the fixed stars—the Zodiac. We heard how certain forces proceed from the constellations of these stars when combined with the Sun forces, and how the shape and structure of the human head and the organs connected with it, are related to the upper constellations of the Zodiac: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer. The structure of the human chest-organisation is connected with the middle constellations; Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio. Finally the metabolic-and-limb system is connected with the lower constellations: Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces—that is to say with their forces when they are, in a sense, covered by the Earth. So that we can say: The fixed stars—for the Zodiac is only the representative of the fixed stars—work upon the human form and structure.
The planetary spheres work upon man's stages or forms of life. It must indeed be quite clear to us that man has various kinds of life in him. We should not be able to think, the head would not be an organ of thought, if life were as rampant there as it is in the metabolic system, for example. When metabolism becomes too strong in the head, consciousness is extinguished; we lose our consciousness of self.
From this it may be concluded that for consciousness, for mental presentation, a damped-down, suppressed life, a declining life is necessary; while a thriving life, vehement and intense, is necessary for what works more from out of the unconscious, to become will.
We have therefore among the various stages of life some which tend towards self-extinction, and some in which strong, intense organic activity manifests, as in a child, in whom thought is not yet operating. We have this child-like life continually within us; but into this child-like life, the life that is involved in a gradual process of death, inserts itself.
These different stages of life are connected with the planetary spheres. Whereas the fixed stars work in man through his physical forces, the planetary spheres work through his etheric forces. The planetary spheres, therefore, work upon man in a more delicate way. But the human physical body has already received its form, its shape from the fixed stars, not from anything earthly; and its stages of life from the planetary spheres.
We have thus considered the form of man's physical body, the life-stages of his ether-body. We can now proceed to consider his life of soul-and-spirit. But here our mode of study must be different. What is it that our physical and our ether-body provide for us in waking life? They provide what we perceive through our senses and what we can work over in our thoughts. We are only really awake in our acts of sense-perception and when we work over them in thought.
On the other hand, consider the life of feeling. It is obvious, even to superficial study, that feeling does not indicate a state of awakeness as complete as that of thinking and sense-perception. When we wake in the morning and become aware of the colours and sounds of the outside world, when we are conscious of the conditions of warmth around us, we are fully awake and then, in our thoughts, we work over what is transmitted by the senses. But when feelings rise up from the soul, it cannot be said that we are conscious in them to the same extent. Feelings link themselves with sense-perceptions. One sense-impression pleases us, another displeases us. Feelings also intermingle with our thoughts. But if we compare the pictures we experience in dreams with what we experience in our feelings, then the connection between dream-life and the life of feeling is clearly noticeable.
Dreams have to be grasped by the waking life of thought if they are to be valued and understood aright. But feelings too must be observed, as it were, by our thought-life if we are to understand them. In our feelings we are, in reality, dreaming. When we dream, we dream in pictures. When we are awake, we dream in our feelings. And in our will we are asleep, even when fully awake. When we raise an arm, when we do this or that, we can perceive what movements the arm or hand is making, but we do not know how the power of the will operates in the organism. We know as little about that as about the conditions prevailing from the time we fall asleep until we wake up. In our willing, in our actions, we are asleep, while in our sense-perceptions and our thoughts, we are awake. So we are not only asleep during the night; we are asleep, in part of our being, during waking life too. In our will we are asleep and in our feelings we dream. What we experience during actual sleep is withdrawn from our consciousness. But in essence, the same is true of feeling and willing. It is therefore obviously important to realise what it is that the human being experiences in these realms of which ordinary life is quite unaware.
You know from many anthroposophical lectures that from the time of going to sleep until that of waking, the Ego and astral body are outside the physical body and the ether-body. Now it may be of very great importance to learn about just those experiences which the Ego and the astral body pass through from the time of falling asleep to that of waking up. When we are awake, we are confronted by sense-perceptions of the material world. To a certain extent we reach out and encounter them; but with our sense-perceptions, our waking thoughts, we reach no further than the surface of things.
Of course someone may object, saying that he can get further than the surface of things, that if he cuts a piece of wood which is there before him as a sense-perception, then he has penetrated inside it. That is a fallacy, however, for if you cut a piece of wood, you have again only a surface, and if you cut the two pieces again, still you have only surfaces; and if you were to get right to the molecules and atoms, again you would have only surfaces. You do not reach what may be called the inner essence of things, for that lies beyond the realm of sense-perception. Sense-perceptions can be conceived as a tapestry spread out around us. What lies this side of the tapestry we perceive with our senses; what lies on the other side of the tapestry we do not perceive with the senses. We are in this world of sense from the time we wake up until we fall asleep. Our soul is filled with the impressions made upon us by this world of sense. Now when we pass into sleep, we are not in the world this side of the senses, we are then in reality inside things, we are on the other side of the tapestry of sense-perceptions. But in his earthly consciousness, man knows nothing of this and he dreams of all sorts of things lying beyond the realm of sense-perception. He dreams of molecules, of atoms; but they are only dreams—dreams of his waking consciousness. He invents molecules, atoms and the like, and believes them to be realities. But study any description of atoms, even the most recent... you will find nothing but minute objects which are described according to the pattern of what is experienced from the surface of things. It is all a tissue woven from the experiences of waking consciousness on this side of the tapestry of sense.
But when we fall asleep, we emerge from the world of sense and penetrate to the other side. And whereas we experience Nature here with our waking thoughts, in yonder world, from the time of falling asleep until the time of waking, we live in the world of Spirit, that world of Spirit through which we also pass before birth and after death. In his earthly development, however, man is so constituted that his consciousness is extinguished when he passes beyond the world of sense; his consciousness is not forceful enough to penetrate to the spiritual world. But what Spiritual Science calls Imagination, Inspiration, Intuition—these three forms of super-sensible cognition—give us knowledge of what lies on the other side of the tapestry of sense. And what we discover first, is the lowest stage of the world of the Hierarchies.
When we wake from sleep we pass over into the world of animals, plants, minerals—the three kingdoms of Nature belonging to the world of sense. When we fall asleep, we pass beyond the world of sense, we are transported into the realm of the first rank of Beings above man—the Angels. And from the time of falling asleep until waking, we are connected with the Being who is allotted to man as his own Angel, just as through our eyes and ears we are connected with the three kingdoms of Nature here in the world of sense. Even if at first we have no consciousness of this connection with the world of the Angels, it is nevertheless there. This connection extends into our astral body.
If, living in our astral body during sleep, we were suddenly to wake up, we should contact the world of the Angels, in the first place the Angel who is connected with our own life, just as here in the earthly world we are in contact with animals, plants, and minerals.
Now even in the earthly world, in the world of sense, if a man is attentive and deliberately trains his thinking, he sees much more than when he is unobservant and hasty. His connection with the three kingdoms of Nature can be intimate or superficial. And it is the same with regard to the world of spiritual Beings. But in the world of spiritual Beings, different conditions prevail.
A man whose thoughts are entirely engrossed in the material world, who never desires to rise above it, or to acquaint himself with moral ideas extending beyond the merely utilitarian, who has no desire to experience true human love, who in his waking life has no devotion to the Divine-Spiritual world—on falling asleep, such a man has no forces which enable him to come into contact with his Angel. Whenever we fall asleep, this Angel is waiting as it were for the idealistic feelings and thoughts which come with us, and the more we bring, the more intimate becomes our relation to the Angel while we are asleep. And so throughout our life, by means of what we cultivate over and above material interests, we garner, in our waking life, forces whereby our relation to the Angel becomes more and more intimate.
When we die, all sense-perceptions fall away. The outer world can no longer make any impression upon us, for this must be done via the senses, and the senses pass away with the body. In like manner, the thinking that is connected with sense-perception is extinguished, for its realm is the ether-body. This ether-body only remains with us for a few days after death. We see it at first as a tableau—a tableau which under certain circumstances can be glimpsed during life but which will inevitably arise before us after death.
This ether-tissue dissolves away into the universe, just as the ordinary thoughts acquired from the world of sense pass away from us. They do not remain. All purely utilitarian thoughts, all thoughts connected with the material world, drift away from us when we pass through the Gate of Death. But the idealistic thoughts and feelings, the pure human love, the religious feelings which have arisen in our waking life and have united us with our Angel, these accompany us when we pass through death.
This has a very important consequence during the period lying between death and a new birth. Even during earthly life we are connected with the higher Hierarchies and it is correct to say that when we fall asleep and our idealistic experiences reach to the Angel, this Angel is in turn connected with the Archangels, the Archangels with the Archai, and so on. Our existence continues in a rich and abundant world of Spirit. But this spiritual world has no special significance for us between birth and death. This world of the higher Hierarchies acquires its real significance for us when it becomes our environment between death and a new birth. The more we have delivered over to our Angel, the more conscious life is this Angel able to infuse into us after death when we are beings of soul-and-spirit, the more gifts are bestowed by the Hierarchies upon the conscious life of soul. What our Angel unfolds, together with the higher Hierarchies (that is to say, what the Beings of the First Hierarchy unfold together with higher Hierarchies through our Angel) is for our consciousness in the spiritual world between death and rebirth what our eyes and ears are in the physical world. And the more idealistic thoughts and feelings, human love and piety we have brought to our Angel, the clearer does our consciousness become.
Now between death and a new birth there comes a time when the Angel has a definite task in connection with us. The Angel has now to achieve a more intimate relation with the hierarchy of the Archangels than was formerly the case. I have described the time through which man lives between death and a new birth from many different points of view, notably in the Lecture-Course given in Vienna in 1914, entitled The Inner Nature of Man and the Life between Death and a new Birth. I will now describe certain other aspects.
When a somewhat lengthy period has elapsed after death, the important moment comes when the Angel must as it were deliver up to the Archangels what he has received from us through the ‘idealistic’ experiences described. It is as though man were placed before the world of the Archangels, who can then receive these experiences he has unfolded in his soul and Spirit during his life between birth and death. There are great differences among human souls living between death and a new birth. In our epoch there are persons who have brought very little in the way of idealistic thoughts and feelings, of human love, of piety, when the time comes for the Angel to pass on to the Archangel for the purposes of cosmic evolution, what has been carried through death. This activity which unfolds between the Angel and the Archangel must, under all circumstances, take place. But there is a great difference, dependent upon whether we are able to follow consciously, by means of the experiences described, what takes place between the Angels and the Archangels or whether we only live through it in a dull, dim state, as must be the lot of human beings whose consciousness has been purely materialistic. It is not quite accurate to say that the experiences of such human beings are dull or dim. It is perhaps better to say: they experience these happenings in such a way that they feel continually rejected by a world into which they ought to be received, they feel continually chilled by a world which should receive them with warmth. For man should be received with loving sympathy into the world of the Archangels at this important moment of time; he should be received with warmth. And then he will be led in the right way towards what I have called in one of my Mystery Plays: “The Midnight Hour of Existence.”
Man is led by the Archangels to the realm of the Archai where his life is interwoven with that of all the higher Hierarchies, for through the Archai he is brought into relation with all the higher Hierarchies and receives from their realms the impulse to descend to the Earth once again. The power is given him to work as a being of soul-and-spirit, to work in what is provided, later on, in material form, by the stream of heredity.
Before the Midnight Hour of Existence man has become more and more estranged from earthly existence, he has been growing more and more into the spiritual world—either being received lovingly (in the sense described above) by the spiritual world, being drawn to it with warmth, or being repelled, chilled by it. But when the Midnight Hour of Existence has passed, man begins gradually to long for earthly life and once again, during the second part of his journey, he encounters the world of the Archangels. It is really so: Between death and a new birth, man ascends, first to the world of the Angels, Archangels, Archai, and then once again descends; and after the world of the Archai his most important contact is with the world of the Archangels.
And now comes another important point in the life between death and a new birth. In a man who has brought through death no idealistic thoughts or feelings, no human love or true piety, something of the soul-and-spirit has perished as a result of the antipathy and chilling reception meted out by the higher world. A man who now again approaches the realm of the Archangels in the right way has received into him the power to work effectively in his subsequent life on Earth, to make proper use of his body; a man who has not brought such experiences with him will be imbued by the Angels with a longing for earthly life which remains more unconscious. A very great deal depends upon this. Upon it depends to what people, to what language—mother-tongue—the man descends in his forthcoming earthly existence. This urge towards a particular people, a particular mother-tongue may have been implanted in him deeply and inwardly or more superficially. So that on his descent a man is either permeated with deep and inward love for what will become his mother-tongue, or he enters more automatically into what he will have to express later on through his organs of speech.
It makes a great difference in which of these two ways a man has been destined for the language that will be his in the coming earthly life. He who before his earthly life, during his second passage through the realm of the Angels, can be permeated with a really inward love for his mother-tongue, assimilates it as though it were part of his very being. He becomes one with it. This love is absolutely natural to him; it is a love born of the soul; he grows into his language and race as into a natural home. If however a man has grown into it the other way during the descent to his next earthly life, he will arrive on the Earth loving his language merely out of instinct and lower impulses. Lacking the true, inward love for his language and his people, he will be prone to an aggressive patriotism connected with his bodily existence. It makes a great difference whether we grow into race and language with the tranquil, pure love of one who unites himself inwardly with his folk and language, or whether we grow into them more automatically, and out of passions and instincts express love for our folk and our language. The former conditions never come to expression in chauvinism or a superficial and aggressive form of patriotism. A true and inward love for race and language expresses itself naturally, and is thoroughly consistent with real and universal human love. Feeling for internationalism or cosmopolitanism is never stultified by this inner love for a language and people. When, however, a man grows into his language more automatically, when through his instincts and impulses he develops an over-fervid, organic, animal-like love for language and people, false nationalism and chauvinism arise, with their external emphasis upon race and nationality.
At the present time especially, it is necessary to study from the standpoint of life between death and a new birth what we encounter in the outer world in our life between birth and death. For the way we come down into race and language through the stream of heredity, through birth, depends upon how we encounter, for the second time, the realm of the Archangels.
Those who try to understand life to-day from the spiritual vantage-point, know that the experience arising in the period between death and a new birth when man comes for the second time into the realm of the Angels, is very important. All over the Earth to-day the peoples are adopting a false attitude to nationality, race and language, and much of what has arisen in the catastrophe of the second decade of the twentieth century in the evolution of the Western people, is only explicable when studied from such points of view. He who studies life to-day in the light of anthroposophical Spiritual Science must assume that in former earthly lives many men became more and more deeply entangled in materialism. You all know that, normally, the period between death and a new birth is lengthy. But especially in the present phase of evolution, there are many men whose life between their last death and their present birth was only short, and in their former earthly life they had little human love or idealism. Already in the former earthly life their interests were merely utilitarian. And as a result, in their second contact with the realm of the Angels between death and a new birth, the seeds were laid for all that arises to-day in such an evil form in the life of the West.
We shall have realised that man can only be understood as a spatial being when it is known that his form and structure derive from the realm of the fixed stars and his life-stages from the planetary spheres. As a spatial being, man draws the forces that are active in him, not only from the Earth but from the whole Cosmos. Now just as it is necessary to go beyond what is earthly in order to understand man as a spatial being, so it is necessary to go beyond life between birth and death in order to understand social life, racial life on the Earth.
When we carefully observe the life of to-day we find that although men claim their right to freedom so vociferously, they are, in reality, inwardly unfree. There is no truly free life in the activities which nowadays manifest such obvious forces of decline; instincts and lower impulses are the cause of the misery in social life. And when this is perceived we are called upon to understand it.
Just as a second meeting with the Archangels takes place, so when man once again approaches earthly life, he enters into a more intimate union with his Angel. But at first he is somewhat withdrawn from the realm of the Angels. As long as he is in the realm of the Archangels, his Angel too is more strongly bound with this realm. Man lives as it were among the higher Hierarchies and as he draws near to a new birth he is entrusted more and more to the realm of the Angels who then lead him through the world of the Elements, through fire, air, water and earth, to the stream of heredity. His Angel, leads him to physical existence on Earth. His Angel can make him into a man who is in a position to act freely, out of the depths of his soul-and-spirit, if all the conditions described have been fulfilled by the achievements of a former earthly life.
But, the Angel is not able to lead a man to a truly free life, if he has had to be united automatically with his language and his race. In such a case the individual life also becomes unfree. This lack of freedom shows itself in the following way. Instead of forming free concepts, such a man merely thinks words. He becomes unfree because all his thinking is absorbed in words. This is a fundamental characteristic of modern men.
Earthly life in its historical development, especially in its present state, cannot be understood unless we also turn with the eyes of soul, to the life which runs its course between death and a new birth, to the world of soul-and-spirit.
To understand the human form, we must turn to the heaven of the fixed stars; to understand the stages of life in man we must turn to the planetary spheres. If we wish to understand man's life of soul-and-spirit, we must not confine our attention to the life between birth and death, for as we have seen, this life of soul-and-spirit is rooted in the world of the higher Hierarchies and belongs to the higher Hierarchies just as the physical body and ether-body of man belong to the physical and etheric worlds.
Again, if we wish to understand thinking, feeling and willing, then we must not merely confine our attention to man's relation to the world of sense. Thinking, feeling and willing are the forces through which the soul develops. We are carried as it were through the Gate of Death by our idealistic thoughts—by what love and religious devotion have implanted in these thoughts. Our first meeting with the Archangels depends upon how we have ennobled our thinking and permeated it with idealism. But when we have passed through the Midnight Hour of Existence, our thinking dies away. It is this thinking which now, after the Midnight Hour of Existence, is re-moulded and elaborated for the next earthly life. And the forces which permeate our physical organs of thinking in the coming earthly life are shaped by our former thinking. The forces working in the human head are not merely forces of the present life. They are the forces which have worked over into this life from thinking as it was in the last life, and give rise to the form of the brain.
On the other hand, it is the will which, at the second meeting with the Archangels, plays its special part in man's life of soul-and-spirit. And it is the will which then, in the next life on Earth, lays hold of the limb-and-metabolic organism. When we enter through birth into earthly life, it is the will which determines the fitness or inadequacy of the limbs and the metabolic processes.
Within the head we really have a physical mirror-image of the thoughts evolved in the previous life. In the forces of the metabolism and limbs we have the working of the newly acquired forces of will which, at the second meeting with the Archangels, are incorporated into us as I have described—either in such a way that they are inwardly active in the life of soul, or operate automatically.
Those who realise how this present life which generates such forces of decline in humanity of the West, has taken shape, will look with the greatest interest towards what was active in man between death and a new birth during the period of existence preceding this present earthly life. And what they can learn from this will fill them with the impulse—now that the dire consequences of materialism are becoming apparent in the life of the peoples—to give men who already in their last incarnation were too materialistic, that stimulus which can lead once again to a deepening of inner life, to free spiritual activity, to a really intimate, and natural relation to language and race which does not in any way run counter to internationalism or cosmopolitanism.
But first and foremost our thinking must be permeated with real spirituality. In the Spirit of modern man, there are, in reality, only thoughts. When man speaks to-day of his Spirit, he is actually speaking only of his thoughts, of his more or less abstract thinking. What we need is to be filled with Spirit, the living Spirit belonging to the world lying between death and a new birth. In respect of his form, his stages of life, his nature of soul-and-spirit, man must regard himself as belonging to a world which lies outside the earthly sphere; then he will be able to bring what is right and good into earthly life.
We know how the Spiritual in man is gradually absorbed by other domains of earthly existence, by political life, by economic life. What is needed is a free and independent spiritual life; only thereby can man be permeated with real spirituality, with spiritual substance, not merely with thoughts about this or that. Anthroposophy must therefore be prepared to work for the liberation of the spiritual life. If this spiritual life does not stand upon its own foundations, man will become more and more a dealer in abstractions, He will not be able to permeate his being with living Spirit, but only with abstract Spirit.
When a man here, in physical life, passes through the Gate of Death, his corpse is committed to the Earth, or to the Elements. His true being is no longer within this physical corpse. When a man passes through birth in such a way that through the processes described he has become an ‘automaton’ in his relation to his nation, language and conduct—then his living thinking, his living will, his living nature of soul-and-spirit die when he is born into the physical world and within physical existence become the corpse of the Divine Being of soul-and-spirit.
Our abstract, rationalistic thinking is verily a corpse of the soul-and-spirit. Just as the real human being is no longer within the physical corpse, so we have in abstract thinking, a life of soul that is devoid of Spirit—really only the corpse of the Divine-spiritual. Man stands to-day at a critical point where he must resolve to receive the spiritual world once again, in order that he may pour new life into the abstract thinking that is a corpse of the Divine-Spiritual, opening the way for instincts, impulses and automatism.
What I said at the end of my lecture to students here (On the Reality of Higher Worlds. 25th November, 1921.) is deeply true: If he is to pass from a decline to a real ascent, man must overcome the abstraction which, like a corpse of the soul is present in the intellectualistic and rationalistic thinking of to-day.
An awakening of the soul and spirit—that is what is needed! The social life of the present day points clearly to the necessity for such an awakening. Anthroposophy has indeed an eternal task in regard to that living principle in man which must continue beyond all epochs of time. But Anthroposophy has also a task to fulfil for the present age, namely to wean man from externalisation, from the tendency to paralyse and kill the Divine-Spiritual within him. Anthroposophy must bring back this Divine-Spiritual life. Man must learn to regard himself not merely as an earthly but as a heavenly being, realising that his earthly life can only be conducted aright if the forces of heavenly existence, of the existence between death and a new birth, are brought down into this earthly life.
Zweiter Vortrag
[ 1 ] Wir haben gesehen, wie wir den Menschen in Gemäßheit der anthroposophischen Erkenntnisse hineinstellen müssen seiner Wesenheit nach in das ganze Universum, und wir haben zunächst betrachtet des Menschen Form, des Menschen Gestaltung. Wir mußten diese Gestaltung des Menschen zurückführen auf den Fixsternhimmel beziehungsweise auf die Repräsentation dieses Fixsternhimmels, auf den Tierkreis. Wir haben gesehen, wie gewisse Kräfte von jenen Sternzusammenhängen ausgehen, wenn sie mit den Sonnenkräften in Verbindung treten, und wie dasjenige, was die Form des menschlichen Hauptes und der damit zusammenhängenden Organe bildet, zusammenhängt mit den oberen Tierkreisbildern, Widder, Stier, Zwillinge, Krebs; wie dann dasjenige, was des Menschen Brustorganisation ausmacht, zusammenhängt mit den mittleren Sternbildern, Löwe, Jungfrau, Waage, Skorpion, und wie endlich dasjenige, was zum menschlichen Stoffwechsel und den Gliedmaßen führt, zusammenhängt mit den unteren Sternbildern, mit deren Wirksamkeit, wenn sie gewissermaßen von der Erde bedeckt sind, mit den Sternbildern des Schützen, des Steinbockes, des Wassermannes und der Fische. So daß wir sagen können: Der Fixsternhimmel — denn die Sternbilder sollen nur die Repräsentanten der Fixsternwirkungen auf den Menschen sein —, der Fixsternhimmel wirkt auf die menschliche Gestaltung, auf die menschliche Form.
[ 2 ] Die Planetensphäre, sie wirkt auf die menschlichen Lebensstufen. Und zwar müssen wir uns klar darüber sein, daß der Mensch in sich verschiedenartiges Leben hat. Wir würden nicht denken können, unser Haupt würde kein Denkorgan sein, wenn wir in unserem Haupte ein so starkes Leben hätten, wie wir es zum Beispiel in unseren Stoffwechselorganen haben. Wenn der Stoffwechsel im Haupte, im Kopfe zu stark wird, dann erlischt unser Bewußtsein, unsere Besonnenheit. Daraus können Sie schon äußerlich schließen, daß zum Bewußtsein, zum Vorstellen ein abgedämpftes, ein abgelähmtes Leben, ein ersterbendes Leben nötig ist, während das aufwärtssteigende Leben, das wuchtige, das intensive Leben, notwendig ist zu demjenigen, was in uns mehr aus dem Unbewußten heraus wirkt, zum Wollen.
[ 3 ] Wir haben also unter unseren Lebensstufen solche, die mehr ersterbende, sich ertötende Lebensstufen sind, und solche, welche richtige Lebensstufen sind, so wie das starke, intensive organische Leben etwa beim Kinde auftritt, wo das Denken noch nicht da ist. Wir haben dieses kindliche Leben fortwährend in uns, ‚aber es setzt sich in dieses kindliche Leben das allmählich ersterbende Leben hinein.
[ 4 ] Diese verschiedenen Lebensstufen sind abhängig von der Planetensphäre. Während der Fixsternhimmel durch seine physischen Kräfte auf den Menschen wirkt, wirkt die Planetensphäre durch dasjenige, was sie an ätherischen Kräften in sich hat. Also in feinerer Weise wirkt die Planetensphäre auf den Menschen. Aber es ist schon so, daß der menschliche physische Leib seine Form, seine Gestalt von dem Fixsternhimmel hat, nicht von etwas Irdischem, und seine Lebensstufen von der Planetensphäre.
[ 5 ] Wir haben damit betrachtet von dem physischen Leib des Menschen die Gestalt, von dem ätherischen Leib des Menschen die Lebensstufen. Wir können nun vorschreiten zum seelischen und zum geistigen Leben des Menschen. Da müssen wir aber eine andere Betrachtungsweise anstellen. Dasjenige, was uns unser physischer Leib und unser ätherischer Leib im wachen Tagesleben vermitteln, was ist denn das? Das ist dasjenige, was wir durch die Sinne wahrnehmen und was wir durch unser Denken verarbeiten können. Nur in dem, was unsere Sinne wahrnehmen und was wir durch unser Denken verarbeiten können, sind wir wirklich wach.
[ 6 ] Betrachten Sie dagegen das Fühlen. Sie werden sich aus einer schon oberflächlichen Betrachtung sagen können, daß das Fühlen nicht in demselben Grade ein Wachsein bedeutet wie das Denken und das sinnliche Wahrnehmen. Wenn wir des Morgens aufwachen und die äußeren Farben, die Töne an uns herantreten, wenn wir bewußt in die Wärmeverhältnisse versetzt werden, so tritt unser voller, wacher Zustand auf und wir verarbeiten dann dasjenige, was uns unsere Sinne liefern, durch unser Denken. Wenn aber die Gefühle aus der Seele heraustauchen, so können wir nicht sagen, daß wir in demselben Grade in den Gefühlen besonnen, bewußt sind. Die Gefühle schließen sich an die Sinneswahrnehmungen an. Die eine Sinneswahrnehmung gefällt uns, die andere mißfällt uns. Die Gefühle schließen sich auch an unser Denken an. Aber wer das, was wir im Traum erleben an Bildern, vergleicht mit dem, was wir in den Gefühlen erleben, der wird die Verwandtschaft des Träumens mit dem Fühlen sehr wohl merken.
[ 7 ] Träume müssen erst vom wachen Gedankenleben erfaßt werden, damit wir sie in der richtigen Weise bewerten und in der richtigen Weise verstehen können. Aber Gefühle müssen auch erst von unserem Denkleben beobachtet werden gewissermaßen, wenn wir sie in der richtigen Weise mit uns verbinden wollen. In unserem Fühlen träumen wir eigentlich. Wenn wir träumen, träumen wir in Bildern. Wenn wir wach sind, träumen wir in unseren Gefühlen. Und im Wollen schlafen wir auch beim Wachsein vollständig. Sie brauchen sich nur zu überlegen: Wenn Sie einen Arm heben, wenn Sie dies oder jenes tun, so wissen Sie aus der Anschauung, welche Bewegung Ihr Arm, welche Bewegung die Hand ausführt; aber Sie wissen nicht, wie die Kraft des Willens da eigentlich in Ihrem Organismus waltet. Das ist Ihnen so unbekannt, wie die Zustände vom Einschlafen bis zum Aufwachen. Indem wir wollen, indem wir handeln, schlafen wir, während wir sonst mit Bezug auf unser Sinneswahrnehmen und mit Bezug auf unsere Gedanken wachen. Wir schlafen also nicht nur vom Einschlafen bis zum Aufwachen, wir schlafen mit einem Teil unseres Wesens auch während wir wachen. Wir schlafen mit unserem Wollen und träumen mit unserem Fühlen.
[ 8 ] Was wir während des Schlafens erleben, entzieht sich eigentlich unserem Bewußtsein. Aber auch dasjenige, was das wahre Wesen des Fühlens und des Wollens ist, entzieht sich unserem Bewußtsein. Es ist aber trotzdem wichtig, daß sich der Mensch auch ein Bewußtsein erwirbt von dem, was er in seinen unbewußten Welten, in diesen für das gewöhnliche Leben unbewußten Welten erlebt.
[ 9 ] Sie wissen ja aus den verschiedenen anthroposophischen Betrachtungen, daß wir vom Einschlafen bis zum Aufwachen mit unserem Ich und mit unserem astralischen Leib außerhalb des physischen und des Ätherleibes sind. Nun kann es von ganz besonderer Wichtigkeit werden, gerade diejenigen Erlebnisse kennenzulernen, welche das Ich und der astralische Leib haben vom Einschlafen bis zum Aufwachen. Wenn wir wach sind, sind wir den Sinneswahrnehmungen der Natur gegenüber; wir stoßen gewissermaßen bis zu den Sinneswahrnehmungen der Natur. Wir kommen aber mit unseren Sinneswahrnehmungen und mit unserem wachen Denken nicht weiter als bis zu der Oberfläche der Dinge.
[ 10 ] Gewiß, es kann jemand einwenden, er käme weiter als bis zu der Oberfläche der Dinge. Er könne ja ein Stück Holz, an dem er sich stößt mit seiner Wahrnehmung, zerschneiden, dann sei er im Inneren. Das ist aber nicht wahr, denn wenn Sie ein Stück Holz zerschneiden, dann haben Sie wiederum nur eine Oberfläche, und wenn Sie die zwei Stücke wieder zerschneiden, haben Sie wiederum Oberflächen. Und wenn Sie bis zu den Molekülen und Atomen gehen, haben Sie immer nur Oberflächen. Sie kommen nicht zu dem, was man das wirkliche Innere der Dinge nennen kann. Das wirkliche Innere der Dinge, das liegt jenseits der Sinneswahrnehmungen. Wir können uns die Sinneswahrnehmungen vorstellen wie einen Teppich, der um uns ausgebreitet ist. Was diesseits des Teppichs liegt, das nehmen wir durch die Sinne wahr; was jenseits des Teppichs liegt, nehmen wir nicht durch die Sinne wahr. Wir sind in dieser Sinneswelt vom Aufwachen bis zum Einschlafen. Unsere Seele ist erfüllt von dem Eindrucke, den diese Sinneswelt auf uns macht. Wenn wir nun in den Schlaf übergehen, dann sind wir nicht in dieser Welt diesseits der Sinne, dann sind wir nämlich in Wirklichkeit im Inneren der Dinge drinnen, dann sind wir jenseits des Sinnesteppichs. Aber der Mensch im Erdenbewußtsein weiß nichts davon, und er träumt von allerlei Dingen, die da jenseits der Sinneswahrnehmungen sein sollen. Er träumt von Molekülen, von Atomen; aber das sind eben nur Träume, Träume des wachen Bewußtseins. Man erfindet Moleküle, Atome, die Wirklichkeiten sein sollen. Aber nehmen Sie irgendeine Beschreibung, selbst die sorgfältigste neuere Beschreibung der Atome: nichts anderes ist das als kleine Dinger, die nach dem Muster dessen beschrieben werden, was an der Oberfläche der Dinge wach erlebt wird. Es ist eine Erdichtung, die herausgenommen wird aus dem, was im wachen Bewußtsein diesseits des Sinnesteppichs erlebt wird.
[ 11 ] Aber wenn wir einschlafen, dann dringen wir aus der ganzen Sinneswelt heraus, dann dringen wir hinüber nach der andern Seite. Und wenn wir hier mit unseren Sinnen und mit unserem wachen Denken die Natur erleben, dann erleben wir drüben, jenseits, vom Einschlafen bis zum Aufwachen die Geisteswelt, diejenige Geisteswelt, die wir auch durchmachen vor unserer Geburt, die wir durchmachen nach unserem Tode. Aber der Mensch ist in dieser Erdenentwickelung so eingerichtet, daß, wenn er jenseits der Sinneswelt ist, er sein Bewußtsein ausgelöscht erhält. Sein Bewußtsein ist nicht stark genug, um in diese geistige Welt einzudringen. Dasjenige aber, was uns in der Geisteswissenschaft entgegentritt als Imagination, Inspiration, Intuition, das liefert uns Kenntnisse von dem, was da jenseits des Sinnesteppichs liegt. Und das erste, was wir entdecken, das ist die unterste Stufe jener Welt, die wir die Welt der Hierarchien nennen.
[ 12 ] Wenn wir aufwachen, werden wir in die Welt versetzt, wo Tiere, Pflanzen, Mineralien, wo die Wesen der drei Naturreiche sind, die eben der Sinneswelt angehören. Wenn wir hinüberschlafen jenseits der Sinneswelt, werden wir zunächst versetzt in dasjenige Gebiet, in dem die erste über den Menschen gelagerte Wesensstufe der Angeloi, der Engel ist. Und wir stehen vom Einschlafen bis zum Aufwachen zunächst mit jenem Wesen, das dem Menschen zugeordnet ist als sein Engelwesen, so in Verbindung, wie wir durch unsere Augen und Ohren mit den drei Reichen der Natur hier in der Sinneswelt in Verbindung stehen. Wenn wir auch zunächst kein Bewußtsein haben von dieser Verbindung mit der Welt der Angeloi, sie ist doch da, diese Verbindung. In dasjenige, was unser astralischer Leib ist, reicht diese Verbindung hinein.
[ 13 ] Wenn wir in unserem astralischen Leibe im Schlafe leben und würden plötzlich aufwachen, würden wir ebenso in Berührung kommen mit der Welt der Angeloi, zunächst mit dem Engelwesen, das mit unserem eigenen Leben in Verbindung steht, wie wir hier in der irdischen Welt mit Tier und Pflanze und Mineralien verbunden sind.
[ 14 ] Nun aber sieht der Mensch auch in der irdischen Welt, in der Sinneswelt, wenn er aufmerksam ist, wenn er seine Gedanken schult, mehr, als wenn er unaufmerksam, flüchtig ist. Die Verbindung also mit den drei Reichen der Natur kann eine innigere oder eine oberflächlichere sein. So ist es auch mit der Welt der geistigen Wesenheiten. Nur gibt es da andere Bedingungen für diese Welt der geistigen Wesenheiten. Ein Mensch, der mit seinen Gedanken ganz in der materiellen Welt aufgeht, der sich niemals erheben will über die materielle Welt, der sich nicht bekanntmachen will mit sittlichen Idealen, die über das bloß Nützliche hinausgehen, der nicht erleben will wirkliche Menschenliebe, der nicht kennt das fromme Hingeben an die göttlich-geistige Welt im wachen Zustande, dem bleiben beim Einschlafen keine Kräfte, um in der richtigen Weise mit seinem Engelwesen in Berührung zu kommen. Dieses Engelwesen wartet gewissermaßen jedesmal unser Einschlafen ab, wieviel wir mitbringen von idealen Empfindungen, von idealen Gedanken mit diesem Einschlafen. Und je mehr wir von solcher Art mitbringen, desto inniger wird das Verhältnis zu diesem Engelwesen, wenn wir im Schlafe verweilen. Und so sammeln wir gewissermaßen im Wachen durch das ganze Leben hindurch dasjenige, was wir ausbilden in uns über die materiellen Interessen hinweg; wir sammeln dasjenige, was die Beziehung zu unserem Engelwesen immer inniger und inniger macht. Und wenn wir dann durch die Pforte des Todes gehen, dann fällt ja von uns alles dasjenige ab, was Sinne sind. Die äußere Welt kann keinen Eindruck mehr auf uns machen, denn den muß sie machen durch unsere Sinne. Die fallen aber mit unserem Leib ab. Ebenso erlischt dasjenige Denken, das sich nur an die Sinneswahrnehmung knüpft, denn das ist im ätherischen Leib vorhanden. Der ätherische Leib bleibt uns nur wenige Tage nach dem Tode erhalten. Wir sehen ihn, wie er zunächst da ist, in einem 'Tableau, das ich ja in anderer Beziehung in diesen Tagen auch in den öffentlichen Vorträgen schon besprochen habe, das man erkennen, schauen kann, das man aber nach dem Tode schauen muß.
[ 15 ] Aber man sieht zugleich, wie sich dieses ätherische Leibgewebe auflöst im All, wie die gewöhnlichen Gedanken, die wir an der äußeren Sinneswelt gewonnen haben, von uns fortgehen. Die bleiben nicht. Alles das, was der Mensch über das Nützliche gedacht hat im Leben, über die Zusammenhänge der Sinneswelt, was er gedacht hat in Anknüpfung an das Materielle, geht von uns weg, wenn wir durch die Pforte des Todes gehen. Allein das, was wir an idealen Gedanken und idealen Empfindungen, an reiner Menschenliebe, auch an religiösem Frommsein im echten wahren Sinne des Wortes, in unserem Wachzustande aufgebracht und mit unserem Engelwesen vereinigt haben, das nehmen wir auch mit, wenn wir durch die Pforte des Todes schreiten.
[ 16 ] Das bewirkt aber nun etwas ganz Wichtiges in der Zeit, in der wir uns zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt entwickeln. Wir stehen ja allerdings auch im Erdenleben in Verbindung mit den noch höheren Hierarchien, und es ist schon richtig, daß, wenn wir einschlafen und die idealen Erlebnisse an unser Engelwesen herandringen, dann das Engelwesen wiederum mit dem Erzengelwesen, mit dem Archai und so weiter hinauf in Verbindung steht. So daß wir gewissermaßen unser Dasein fortgesetzt finden in einer reichen geistigen Welt. Aber diese reiche geistige Welt hat für uns keine besondere Bedeutung, während wir die Zeit zubringen zwischen der Geburt und dem Tode. Erst dadurch bekommt diese Welt der höheren Hierarchien eine große Bedeutung für uns, daß sie die Welt unserer Umgebung wird zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt. Je mehr wir gewissermaßen unserem Engelwesen überliefert haben, desto mehr kann aber auch nach dem Tode, wenn wir ein geistig-seelisches Wesen sind, dieser Engel uns an bewußtem Leben, an bewußten Seeleninhalten von den höheren Hierarchien geben. Ich möchte sagen: Was unsere Augen hier in der physischen Welt sind, oder unser Ohr hier in der physischen Welt ist, das ist für unser Bewußtsein zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt in der geistigen Welt dasjenige, was das Engelwesen, was überhaupt durch dieses unser Engelwesen die andern Wesen aus dem Reich der dritten Hierarchie im Zusammenhange mit den höheren Hierarchien entwickeln. Und unser Bewußtsein wird um so heller, um so inniger leuchtender, je mehr wir an idealen Gedanken und idealen Empfindungen, an Menschenliebe und religiösem Frommsein unserem Engelwesen zugeführt haben.
[ 17 ] Nun kommt zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt eine gewisse Zeit, wo das Engelwesen mit uns eine bestimmte Aufgabe hat. Dieses Engelwesen muß eine noch innigere, wichtigere Verbindung herstellen mit dem Reiche der Archangeloi, der Erzengel, als es früher der Fall war. Ich habe die Zeit, die der Mensch durchlebt zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt, von den verschiedensten Gesichtspunkten dargestellt - das kann man auch -, zuletzt noch in meinem Wiener Zyklus vom Jahre 1914, der da heißt: «Inneres Wesen des Menschen und Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt.» Heute will ich von einigen anderen Gesichtspunkten aus die Sache darstellen.
[ 18 ] Eine gewisse längere Zeit nach dem Tode kommt eben einmal der wichtige Augenblick, wo gewissermaßen der Engel an den Erzengel überliefern muß dasjenige, was er von uns Menschen aufgenommen hat durch die geschilderten idealen Erlebnisse. Der Mensch wird gewissermaßen hingestellt vor die Welt der Archangeloi, die übernehmen können dasjenige,was er an solch geist-seelischen Erlebnissen schon zwischen der Geburt und dem Tode entwickelt hat. Und das ist der große Unterschied, der sich darstellt zwischen Mensch und Mensch in der Zeit zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt, daß es in unserer Zeit der Menschheitsentwickelung solche Persönlichkeiten gibt, welche wenig mitbringen von idealen Empfindungen und Gedanken und Menschenliebe, wenn der Engel dem Erzengel abgeben soll für die weitere Weltenentwickelung dasjenige, was wir da hindurchgetragen haben durch die Pforte des Todes.
[ 19 ] Die Tätigkeit, die sich da entwickelt zwischen Angeloi und Archangeloi, die muß unter allen Umständen stattfinden. Aber es ist ein großer Unterschied, ob wir durch die geschilderten Erlebnisse mehr mit Bewußtsein verfolgen können, was da mit uns sich abspielt zwischen Angeloi und Archangeloi, oder ob wir es nur in einem dumpfen, dämmerhaften Zustande erleben, wie es eben erleben müssen diejenigen Menschen, die nur von materialistischem Bewußtsein sich durchdrungen haben.
[ 20 ] Es ist nicht ein ganz zutreffender Ausdruck, wenn ich sage: dumpf, dämmerhaft erleben die Menschen. Ich müßte vielleicht, um genauer es zu charakterisieren, sagen: Sie erleben es so, daß sie fortwährend herausgestoßen werden aus einer Welt, von der sie eigentlich aufgenommen werden sollen, daß sie fortwährend sich erkälter fühlen von einer Welt, die sie eigentlich warm empfangen soll. Denn sympathisch soll der Mensch von der Welt der Archangeloi in dem wichtigen angeführten Zeitmomente empfangen werden, warm soll er von ihnen empfangen werden. Dann wird er auch in richtiger Weise hingeführt zu dem, was ich in einem meiner Mysteriendramen genannt habe «die Mitternachtsstunde» des Daseins.
[ 21 ] Dann wird der Mensch wiederum durch die Archangeloi an das Reich der Archai herangeführt. Und indem der Mensch gewissermaßen eingefügt wird dem Reiche der Archai, wird er allen höheren Hierarchien eingefügt, denn durch die Archai kommt er in Beziehung zu allen höheren Hierarchien, und er nimmt nun aus dem Reiche dieser höheren Hierarchien den Drang auf, wiederum herunterzusteigen auf die Erde. Denn er nimmt die Kraft auf, wiederum in dem, was ihm materiell später übergeben wird durch die Vererbungsströmung, geistig-seelisch zu arbeiten.
[ 22 ] Und die Mitternachtsstunde des Daseins ist der Punkt im Leben des Menschen zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt, der so überschritten wird, daß wir vorher immer fremder und fremder dem irdischen Dasein werden, immer mehr und mehr hineinwachsen in die geistige Welt, indem wir immer sympathischer und sympathischer im vorher charakterisierten Sinne von dieser geistigen Welt aufgenommen werden, mit immer größerer und größerer Wärme von ihr angezogen werden, oder eben abgestoßen werden, erkältet werden.
[ 23 ] Dann aber, wenn die Mitternachtsstunde des Daseins da ist, dann neigt sich der Mensch gewissermaßen langsam wiederum zu der Sehnsucht nach dem Erdendasein herunter. Und er begegnet auf dem zweiten Teile des Weges nun wiederum der Welt der Archangeloi. Es ist wirklich so, daß der Mensch zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt zuerst hinaufsteigt zu der Welt der Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai, dann wiederum steigt er herunter, und er trifft nach der Welt der Archai vorzugsweise auf die Welt der Archangeloi auf.
[ 24 ] Nun kommt wiederum ein wichtiger Punkt in dem Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt. Demjenigen Menschen, der nichts durch den Tod hindurchgeführt hat von idealen Gedanken, idealen Empfindungen, Menschenliebe und wahrem, echtem Frommsein, dem ist von dem Geistig-Seelischen unter den Antipathien der höheren Welt, unter den Erkältungen der höheren Welt gewissermaßen etwas erstorben. Während bei einem Menschen, der in der rechten Weise geistig-seelisch jetzt an das Reich der Angeloi herankommt, in das Geistig-Seelische innerlich die Kraft eingepflanzt wird, in dem späteren Leben wiederum auf der Erde, denLeib durchdringend zu wirken, müssen die Angeloi, wenn der Mensch solche seelisch-geistigen Erkenntnisse nicht mitgebracht hat, ihm so, daß es mehr unbewußt wirkt, dasjenige einpflanzen, was Sehnsucht nach dem irdischen Leben ist. Und bei diesem Einpflanzen entscheidet sich außerordentlich viel. Bei diesem Einpflanzen entscheidet sich nämlich jetzt, zu welchem Volke, zu welcher Sprache, zu welcher sogenannten Muttersprache der Mensch heruntersteigt zum nächsten irdischen Dasein. Und es entscheidet sich, ob dieser Drang zum Volkstum, zu der Muttersprache mehr innerlich oder ob er mehr äußerlich eingepflanzt wird. So daß der Mensch durchdrungen wird beim Heruntersteigen von innerlicher Liebe zu demjenigen, was dann seine Muttersprache wird, oder mehr automatisch hineinversetzt wird in dasjenige,was er alsSprache durch seine Sprachorgane später zu äußern hat.
[ 25 ] Das macht einen großen Unterschied, ob der Mensch auf die eine oder die andere Art zu der Sprache hin determiniert wird für das kommende Erdenleben. Derjenige Mensch, der schon vor diesem Erdenleben, beim zweiten Durchgang durch das Reich der Angeloi, innerlich seelisch liebevoll durchdrungen werden kann mit der Hinneigung zu seiner Muttersprache, der nimmt diese Muttersprache innerlich auf. Er nimmt sie auf wie einen Teil seines Wesens. Er wird eins damit. Die Liebe wird eine selbstverständliche, sie wird eine seelische Liebe. Der Mensch wächst mit Selbstverständlichkeit in die Sprache und in das Volkstum hinein, indem er so hineinwächst.
[ 26 ] Wenn der Mensch aber auf die andere Art hineinwächst — ich habe das genannt mehr automatisch —, dann kommt der Mensch später, indem er durch die Geburt zum nächsten Erdendasein heruntersteigt, so auf der Erde an, daß er gewissermaßen nur instinktiv, triebhaft seine Sprache lieben lernt. Was er innerlich nicht an Liebe, an selbstverständlicher Liebe für seine Sprache, für sein Volkstum aufbringt, das stößt er dann gleichsam aus seinem Leibesdasein hervor. Und das macht den großen Unterschied, ob wir in ein Volkstum, in einen Sprachzusammenhang hineinwachsen mit jener stillen, keuschen Liebe, die derjenige Mensch hat, der innerlich mit Volkstum und Sprache verwächst, oder ob wir hineinwachsen in Sprachtum und Volkstum mehr automatisch, so daß wir aus dem Triebe, aus den Instinkten gleichsam herausstoßen eine innerliche Liebe für dieses Volkstum, für diese Sprache. Das erstere äußert sich niemals als dasjenige, was man in der Welt Chauvinismus nennt, was man ein äußerliches Pochen auf das Volkstum nennt, sondern die wirklich aus einem vorherigen idealen, frommen Erleben errungene, innerlich geistig-seelische Liebe zu Volkstum und Sprache äuBert sich selbstverständlich und ist mit wahrer universeller Menschenliebe durchaus vereinbar. Niemals wird der kosmopolitische, der internationale Sinn durch eine solche geistig-seelische Liebe zu Sprache und Volkstum verkümmert. Wenn aber der Mensch mehr automatisch in seine Sprache hineinwächst, dann, wenn er dadurch mit seinen Instinkten, mit seinen Trieben eine überhitzte, organische, animalische Liebe zu Sprache und Volkstum entwickelt, dann entsteht dasjenige, was falscher Nationalismus, was chauvinistische Gesinnung ist, was in einer äußerlichen Weise auf das Volkstum pocht.
[ 27 ] Man hat insbesondere in der heutigen Zeit nötig, dasjenige, was uns in der Außenwelt entgegentritt in der Zeit, die wir zubringen als Menschen auf Erden zwischen der Geburt und dem Tode, zu betrachten vom Gesichtspunkte des Lebens zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt. Denn, wie wir das zweite Mal dem Reich der Archangeloi begegnen, davon hängt es ab, wie wir in Volkstum und Sprache hinein uns versenken durch die Verbindung mit der Vererbungsströmung durch die Geburt.
[ 28 ] Für denjenigen, der vom geistigen Gesichtspunkte gerade das heutige Leben verstehen will, tritt als etwas sehr Wichtiges dieses Erleben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt heran, wenn er zum zweiten Male in das Reich der Archangeloi kommt. Wir sehen heute über das Erdenrund, wie die Völker in einer falschen Weise auf ihre Nationalität, auf ihre Volkstümlichkeit, auf ihr Sprachtum hinschauen. Und vieles von dem, was in der katastrophalen Zeit im zweiten Jahrzehnt des 20. Jahrhunderts in der Menschheitsentwickelung des Abendlandes aufgetaucht ist, wird nur erklärlich, wenn man es unter solchen Gesichtspunkten betrachtet. Wer das Leben eben innerlich anthroposophisch, geisteswissenschaftlich anschaut, der muß hinschauen heute bei vielen Menschen auf deren voriges Erdenleben als ein solches, in dem die Menschen in den Materialismus nach und nach sich eingesponnen hatten. Sie kennen alle die Tatsache, daß in normaler Weise eine längere Zeit verfließt zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt. Allein gerade in der heutigen Erdenentwickelung sind viele Menschen, welche nur kurze Zeit gehabt haben zwischen ihrem letzten Tode und ihrer diesmaligen Geburt, und sie haben sich schon in ihrem vorigen Erdenleben wenig durchdrungen mit Menschenliebe, mit idealen Empfindungen. Sie waren schon in diesem vorigen Erdenleben auf die bloße Nützlichkeit bedacht. Und dadurch wurde ihnen bei der zweiten Berührung mit dem Reich der Angeloi zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt eigentlich alles dasjenige zubereitet, was jetzt in einer so üblen Weise herauftaucht im Leben des Abendlandes.
[ 29 ] Geradeso wie man den Menschen als Raumeswesen nur versteht, wenn man weiß, daß man seine Gestalt bis zum Fixsternhimmel zu verfolgen hat, daß man seine Lebensstufen zu verfolgen hat bis zur Planetensphäre, daß der Mensch als Raumeswesen eben ein Wesen ist, das nicht allein aus der Erde die Kräfte, die in ihm wirksam sind, zieht, sondern aus dem ganzen Kosmos, so notwendig zu dieser räumlichen Menschenerkenntnis das Hinausgehen über das Irdische ist, so notwendig ist es, um das soziale, um das volksmäßige Leben auf der Erde zu verstehen, über das Leben zwischen Geburt und Tod hinauszugehen.
[ 30 ] Wenn man vieles von dem heutigen Leben studiert, so findet man, wie die Menschen heute, trotzdem sie so viel nach Freiheit rufen, eigentlich innerlich unfrei sind; wie in den Bestrebungen, die heute solche Niedergangskräfte zeitigen, nicht ein freies Leben pulsiert, sondern die Instinkte und Triebe pulsieren und das soziale Leben unglücklich machen. Wenn man dieses sieht, so will man es auch verstehen.
[ 31 ] Ebenso nun, wie sich eine zweite Begegnung mit dem Reich der Archangeloi findet, so findet sich später, dann, wenn sich der Mensch schon wiederum sehr nähert seinem Erdenleben, eine innigere Verbindung wiederum mit seinem Angelos, mit seinem Engelwesen. Der Mensch wird gewissermaßen, wenn es wiederum gegen das Erdenleben hingeht, mehr entrückt, herausgezogen aus dem Reich der Archangeloi. Solange er im Reich der Archangeloi ist, ist sein Engel auch stärker verbunden mit diesem Reiche. Der Mensch lebt gewissermaßen in den höheren Hierarchien. Indem er weiter die Zeit verbringt zwischen dem "Tode und einer neuen Geburt, wird er immer mehr und mehr auf das bloße Reich der Angeloi angewiesen, und sie führen ihn dann durch die Elemente, durch Feuer, Erde, Luft, Wasser, führen ihn dann hin zu dem, was Vererbungsströmung ist. Es führt ihn namentlich sein Engelwesen hin zu dem physisch-irdischen Dasein. Es kann ihn zu einem Menschen machen, der aus dem Tiefsten seines Seelisch-Geistigen heraus frei zu handeln in der Lage ist, wenn alle die Bedingungen erfüllt sind durch ein voriges Leben, wie ich es charakterisiert habe.
[ 32 ] Aber der Angelos ist nicht imstande, den Menschen zu einem freien Leben zu führen, wenn der Mensch gewissermaßen automatisch mit seiner Sprache, mit seinem Volkstum hat verbunden werden müssen. Dann wird auch das individuelle Leben unfrei. Diese Unfreiheit drückt sich dadurch aus, daß der Mensch zwar innerlich auch ein Bewußtsein entwickelt, wenn er nicht freie Begriffe faßt, sondern wenn er innerlich Worte denkt, aber der Mensch wird veräußerlicht, wird unfrei gemacht dadurch, daß sein ganzes Denken in Worten aufgeht. Das ist aber sogar ein Grunderlebnis der Menschen der heutigen Zeit, daß ihr Denken eben in Worten aufgeht. Man begreift auch das Erdenleben in seiner geschichtlichen Entwickelung, besonders in seinem gegenwärtigen Zustande nicht, wenn man nicht aufsteigt zu dem Leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt, zu der geistig-seelischen Welt.
[ 33 ] Will man also die menschliche Gestalt verstehen, muß man zum Fixsternhimmel hindeuten. Will man die menschlichen Lebensstufen verstehen, muß man zur Planetensphäre hindeuten. Will man das menschlich-geistig-seelische Leben verstehen, dann kann man nicht stehenbleiben zwischen der Geburt und dem Tode, denn dieses geistig-seelische Leben wurzelt, wie wir gesehen haben, in der Welt der höheren Hierarchien, wie das physische und ätherische Wesen der Menschen zu der physischen und ätherischen Außenwelt gehört.
[ 34 ] Will man also Denken, Fühlen und Wollen richtig verstehen, dann muß man nicht bloß den Menschen in seiner Beziehung zur sinnlichen Außenwelt ins Auge fassen, dann muß man den Menschen ins Auge fassen in bezug auf sein Leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt. Denken, Fühlen, Wollen sind die Kräfte, durch die sich zunächst unser Seelenwesen entwickelt. Unsere idealen Gedanken, dasjenige, was sich in diese Gedanken, in das Seelenwesen hineinverpflanzt hat aus idealer Liebe, aus Frömmigkeit, das trägt uns gewissermaßen durch die Todespforte. Wie wir unser Denken beeinflußt haben, wie unser Denken von einer idealen Gesinnung durchdrungen war, das bringt uns in der richtigen Weise zu der ersten Begegnung mit den Archangeloi. Dann aber, indem wir die Mitternachtsstunde des Daseins überschreiten, dann verglimmt, möchte ich sagen, unser Denken. Denn dieses Denken ist es, das nun gerade bearbeitet wird nach der Mitternachtsstunde des Daseins hin für das nächste Erdendasein. Und aus demjenigen, was dieses unser Denken war, werden nun diejenigen Kräfte geformt, die die physischen Denkorgane durchziehen im nächsten Erdenleben.
[ 35 ] Wenn Sie auf den menschlichen Kopf hinschauen und sehen, wie die Kräfte darinnen wirken, so sind es nicht etwa bloß die Kräfte, die in diesem Leben wirken. Es sind diejenigen Kräfte, die vom Denken des vorigen Lebens herrühren und die die Form unseres Gehirns zustande bringen. Dagegen bei der zweiten Begegnung mit dem Archangeloi ist es namentlich der Wille, der da seine besondere Rolle spielt im seelischgeistigen Leben des Menschen. Und der Wille, der ist es, der dann im nächsten Erdenleben mehr unseren Gliedmaßen-Stoffwechselorganismus ergreift. Dieser Wille tritt dann, wenn wir durch die Geburt ins Erdendasein eintreten, als dasjenige auf, was uns von seiten des Gliedmaßen-Stoffwechselmenschen geschickter oder ungeschickter zu dem oder jenem macht. Ich möchte sagen, in unserem Kopfinneren sehen wir mehr das physische Abbild dessen, was wir im vorigen Leben an Gedanken entwickelt haben. In den Fähigkeiten unseres StoffwechselGliedmaßenmenschen sehen wir das Wirken der neuerworbenen Willenskräfte, die uns nun entweder innerlich-seelisch, wie ich geschildert habe, oder mehr automatisch eingegliedert werden bei der zweiten Begegnung mit dem Archangeloi.
[ 36 ] Wer sieht, wie sich gewissermaßen herausgestaltet hat das gegenwärtige Leben, das gerade für die abendländische Menschheit zu solchen Niedergangskräften führt, der wird mit dem allergrößten, idealsten Interesse zu demjenigen hinschauen, was tätig war in dem Menschen zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt, in dem Leben, das vorangegangen ist diesem Erdenleben. Und er wird gerade aus dem, was er in dieser Beziehung erkennen kann, den starken Impuls bekommen, der Menschheit, die schon in ihrer vorigen Inkarnation zu materialistisch war, jetzt, wo die Folgen dieses Materialismus im Völkerleben aufgetreten sind, dasjenige zu bringen, dasjenige als Anregung zu geben, was wiederum hinführen kann zu einer Verinnerlichung, zur Freiheit, zu einem wirklich innerlichen, das heißt selbstverständlichen Leben in Sprache und Volkstum, das nicht in Disharmonie steht mit dem Internationalismus, mit dem Kosmopolitismus.
[ 37 ] Das aber kann nur errungen werden, wenn unser Denken durchglüht werden kann von wirklicher Geistigkeit. Was enthält denn eigentlich der heutige Geist des Menschen? Gedanken — Gedanken über etwas. Wenn heute der Mensch von seinem Geiste spricht, spricht er eigentlich nur von seinen Gedanken, von dem mehr oder weniger abstrakten Denken. Was wir brauchen, das ist wirklicher Geist, der innerlich in uns eindringt, lebendiger Geist. Von solchem lebendigem Geist handelt aber wirklich Anthroposophie in der Anschauung der Welt, die zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt liegt. Der Mensch hat also heute nötig, von seiner Gestalt, von seiner Form, von seinen Lebensstufen, von seinem Seelisch-Geistigen aus sich selbst zu betrachten als angehörig einer Welt, die außerhalb des Irdischen liegt. Dann wird er in das Irdische das Richtige hereintragen können.
[ 38 ] Wir haben es erlebt, wie das Geistige des Menschen allmählich aufgesogen worden ist von den andern Elementen des Erdendaseins, von dem politischen Leben, von dem wirtschaftlichen Leben. Wir brauchen die Hinneigung zu einem selbständigen Geistesleben. Das allein nur kann die Grundlage geben für die Durchdringung des Menschen mit wirklicher Geistigkeit, mit geistiger Substanz, nicht bloß mit den Gedanken über irgend etwas. Deshalb muß Anthroposophie sich geneigt finden, für eine Befreiung des Geisteslebens zu wirken. Wenn dieses Geistesleben sich nicht auf seine eigenen Grundlagen stellt, so wird der Mensch immer mehr und mehr ein Abstraktling werden. Er wird sich nicht durchdringen können mit lebendigem Geiste, sondern nur mit abstraktem Geiste.
[ 39 ] Wenn der Mensch hier im physischen Leben durch des Todes Pforte geht, so wird sein physischer Leichnam in die Erde versenkt oder den Elementen übergeben. In diesem physischen Leichnam ist nicht mehr der Mensch in seiner wahren Wesenheit. Wenn der Mensch durch die Geburt geht so, daß er in bezug auf Volkstum, auf Sprache, in bezug auf sein eigenes Handeln automatisch geworden ist durch die geschilderten Vorgänge, dann erstirbt das lebendige Denken, das lebendige Wollen, das lebendige Geistig-Seelische, indem der Mensch in die physische Welt hereingeboren wird. Und dann entsteht der Leichnam des göttlich-geistig-seelischen Menschen innerhalb des physischen Erdendaseins.
[ 40 ] In unserem abstrakten, rationalistischen Denken haben wir den Leichnam des Geistig-Seelischen. Wie wir in dem übriggelassenen physischen Leichnam nicht mehr die wahre Menschenwesenheit haben, so haben wir in einem abstrakten Denken, in einem nicht durchgeistigten Seelenwesen eigentlich nur das Leichnamhafte der göttlich-geistigen Welt. Und die Menschheit steht eben heute an dem starken Entscheidungspunkte, wo sie sich entschließen muß, die geistige Welt wiederum aufzunehmen, damit dasjenige, was mehr oder weniger als göttlich-geistiger Leichnam im abstrakten Denken der Menschheit Platz gegriffen hat, was nun wieder den Instinkten und Trieben, dem automatischen Wesen Platz gemacht hat, damit das der Mensch wiederum durchdringen kann.
[ 41 ] Sie sehen schon, tief wahr ist es, was ich auch gestern am Schlusse meines Vortrages vor der hiesigen Studentenschaft gesagt habe, tief, tief innerlich wahr ist es: Der Mensch braucht in der Gegenwart, wenn er vom Niedergang zu einem wirklichen Aufstieg wiederum kommen will, die Überwindung des Abstrakten, man möchte sagen, des SeelischLeichenhaften, das im gegenwärtigen Intellektualismus und Rationalismus vorhanden ist. Der Mensch braucht eine Art Auferweckung des Seelisch-Geistigen. Und diese Auferweckung des Seelisch-Geistigen, die erkennt man eben in seiner Notwendigkeit aus den Erscheinungen des sozialen und geschichtlichen Gegenwartslebens heraus. Wenn man sie richtig und unbefangen erkennt, dann sagt man sich: Anthroposophie hat gewiß eine ewige Aufgabe, eine Aufgabe gegenüber dem im Menschen, was über alle Zeitepochen in ihm leben muß. Aber in der heutigen Gegenwart hat sie auch eine zeitliche Aufgabe. Sie muß den Menschen zurückbringen von der Veräußerlichung, von der Lähmung, von der Ertötung des göttlich-geistigen Lebens in ihm. Sie muß dieses göttlich-geistige Leben zurückbringen, indem der Mensch lernt, sich nicht bloß als ein Erdenwesen, sondern als ein Himmelswesen anzusehen, indem er lernt, daß er sein Erdendasein in der richtigen Weise nur dadurch führen kann, daß er die Kräfte des himmlischen Daseins, des Daseins zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt in dieses Erdenleben hineinträgt.
[ 42 ] An diese Dinge wollen wir dann das nächste Mal noch anknüpfen, um sie zu einem gewissen Abschlusse zu bringen in der Zeit, in der ich noch in mich befriedigender Weise unter Ihnen weilen kann.
Second Lecture
[ 1 ] We have seen how, in accordance with anthroposophical insights, we must place human beings in the universe in accordance with their nature, and we have first considered the form of human beings, the structure of human beings. We had to trace this human form back to the fixed stars, or rather to the representation of these fixed stars, the zodiac. We have seen how certain forces emanate from these constellations when they come into contact with the forces of the sun, and how that which forms the shape of the human head and the organs associated with it is connected with the upper signs of the zodiac, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer; how that which constitutes the human chest is connected with the middle constellations, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, and finally, how that which leads to human metabolism and the limbs is connected with the lower constellations, with their effectiveness when they are, so to speak, covered by the earth, with the constellations of Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. So we can say that the fixed starry sky — for the constellations are only representatives of the effects of the fixed stars on human beings — the fixed starry sky has an effect on human form, on the human shape.
[ 2 ] The planetary sphere has an effect on the stages of human life. We must be clear that human beings have different kinds of life within themselves. We would not be able to think that our head is not an organ of thought if we had as much life in our head as we have, for example, in our metabolic organs. If the metabolism in the head becomes too strong, our consciousness, our prudence, disappears. From this you can already conclude externally that a subdued, paralyzed life, a dying life, is necessary for consciousness, for imagination, while the upward-rising life, the powerful, intense life, is necessary for that which works more from the unconscious within us, for the will.
[ 3 ] So among our stages of life we have those that are more dying, self-destructive stages, and those that are proper stages of life, such as the strong, intense organic life that occurs in children, where thinking does not yet exist. We have this childlike life within us all the time, but gradually the life that is dying is entering into this childlike life.
[ 4 ] These different stages of life depend on the planetary sphere. While the fixed starry sky acts on humans through its physical forces, the planetary sphere acts through the etheric forces it contains. Thus, the planetary sphere acts on humans in a more subtle way. But it is already the case that the human physical body has its form, its shape, from the fixed starry sky, not from anything earthly, and its stages of life from the planetary sphere.
[ 5 ] We have thus considered the physical body of the human being in terms of its form, and the etheric body of the human being in terms of its stages of life. We can now proceed to the soul and spirit life of man. But here we must take a different approach. What is it that our physical body and our etheric body convey to us in our waking daily life? It is what we perceive through the senses and what we can process through our thinking. Only in what our senses perceive and what we can process through our thinking are we truly awake.
[ 6 ] Consider feeling, on the other hand. Even from a superficial observation, you will be able to say that feeling does not mean being awake to the same degree as thinking and sensory perception. When we wake up in the morning and the external colors and sounds come to us, when we are consciously placed in warm surroundings, our full, awake state emerges and we then process what our senses provide us with through our thinking. But when feelings emerge from the soul, we cannot say that we are equally conscious and aware in our feelings. Feelings follow sensory perceptions. We like some sensory perceptions and dislike others. Feelings also follow our thinking. But anyone who compares what we experience in dreams in images with what we experience in feelings will clearly notice the relationship between dreaming and feeling.
[ 7 ] Dreams must first be grasped by our waking thought life so that we can evaluate and understand them correctly. But feelings must also first be observed by our thinking life, so to speak, if we want to connect them correctly with ourselves. In our feelings, we are actually dreaming. When we dream, we dream in images. When we are awake, we dream in our feelings. And in our will, we also sleep completely while awake. Just think about it: when you raise your arm, when you do this or that, you know from observation what movement your arm is making, what movement your hand is making; but you do not know how the power of the will actually works in your organism. This is as unknown to you as the states between falling asleep and waking up. By wanting, by acting, we sleep, while we are otherwise awake in relation to our sensory perceptions and in relation to our thoughts. So we do not only sleep from the moment we fall asleep until we wake up, we also sleep with part of our being while we are awake. We sleep with our will and dream with our feelings.
[ 8 ] What we experience during sleep is actually beyond our consciousness. But the true nature of feeling and willing is also beyond our consciousness. Nevertheless, it is important that human beings also acquire an awareness of what they experience in their unconscious worlds, in these worlds that are unconscious to ordinary life.
[ 9 ] You know from various anthroposophical considerations that from the moment we fall asleep until we wake up, our ego and our astral body are outside the physical and etheric bodies. Now it can be of particular importance to become acquainted with the experiences that the ego and the astral body have from the moment we fall asleep until we wake up. When we are awake, we are confronted with the sensory perceptions of nature; we come up against the sensory perceptions of nature, so to speak. However, with our sensory perceptions and our waking thinking, we cannot go beyond the surface of things.
[ 10 ] Certainly, someone may object that they can go beyond the surface of things. They could cut a piece of wood that they bump into with their perception, and then they would be inside. But that is not true, because when you cut a piece of wood, you again have only a surface, and when you cut the two pieces again, you again have surfaces. And if you go down to the molecules and atoms, you still only have surfaces. You do not reach what can be called the real interior of things. The real interior of things lies beyond sensory perception. We can imagine sensory perceptions as a carpet spread out around us. What lies on this side of the carpet is what we perceive through our senses; what lies beyond the carpet is not perceived by the senses. We are in this sensory world from the moment we wake up until we fall asleep. Our soul is filled with the impressions that this sensory world makes on us. When we fall asleep, we are no longer in this world on this side of the senses; we are actually inside things, beyond the sensory carpet. But human beings in their earthly consciousness know nothing of this, and they dream of all kinds of things that are supposed to exist beyond sensory perception. They dream of molecules, of atoms; but these are only dreams, dreams of the waking consciousness. Molecules and atoms are invented to be realities. But take any description, even the most careful recent description of atoms: it is nothing more than little things described according to the pattern of what is experienced on the surface of things in waking life. It is a fiction taken from what is experienced in waking consciousness on this side of the sensory tapestry
[ 11 ] But when we fall asleep, we emerge from the entire sensory world and pass over to the other side. And when we experience nature here with our senses and our waking thinking, then we experience the spiritual world over there, beyond, from the moment we fall asleep until we wake up, the spiritual world that we also pass through before our birth, that we pass through after our death. But human beings are so constituted in this earthly evolution that when they are beyond the sensory world, their consciousness is extinguished. Their consciousness is not strong enough to penetrate into this spiritual world. But what we encounter in spiritual science as imagination, inspiration, and intuition provides us with knowledge of what lies beyond the sensory world. And the first thing we discover is the lowest level of that world, which we call the world of hierarchies.
[ 12 ] When we wake up, we are transported to the world where animals, plants, minerals, and the beings of the three natural kingdoms belong to the sensory world. When we fall asleep beyond the sensory world, we are first transported to the realm where the first level of beings above humans, the angeloi, the angels, are located. And from the moment we fall asleep until we wake up, we are initially connected to the being assigned to us as our angelic being in the same way that we are connected to the three realms of nature here in the sensory world through our eyes and ears. Even though we are not initially aware of this connection with the world of the angeloi, it is nevertheless there.
This connection extends into what is our astral body.[ 13 ] If we were living in our astral body during sleep and suddenly woke up, we would come into contact with the world of the angeloi, first with the angelic being connected to our own life, just as we are connected here in the earthly world with animals, plants, and minerals.
[ 14 ] But now, when a person is attentive and trains their thoughts, they see more in the earthly world, in the world of the senses, than when they are inattentive and fleeting. The connection with the three realms of nature can therefore be more intimate or more superficial. The same is true of the world of spiritual beings. Only there are different conditions for this world of spiritual beings. A person who is completely absorbed in the material world with their thoughts, who never wants to rise above the material world, who does not want to become acquainted with moral ideals that go beyond the merely useful, who does not want to experience real human love, who does not know devout devotion to the divine-spiritual world in the waking state, has no strength left when falling asleep to come into contact with his angelic being in the right way. This angelic being waits, as it were, each time we fall asleep to see how much we bring with us in the form of ideal feelings and ideal thoughts. And the more we bring with us of this kind, the more intimate the relationship with this angelic being becomes when we remain in sleep. And so, throughout our waking life, we gather, as it were, what we develop within ourselves beyond material interests; we gather what makes our relationship with our angelic being ever more intimate. And when we then pass through the gate of death, everything that is sense falls away from us. The outer world can no longer make an impression on us, for it must do so through our senses. But these fall away with our body. Likewise, thinking that is connected only to sensory perception ceases, for it is present in the etheric body. The etheric body remains with us only a few days after death. We see it as it is at first, in a tableau, which I have already discussed in a different context in recent public lectures, which one can recognize and see, but which one must look at after death.
[ 15 ] But at the same time, we see how this etheric body tissue dissolves into the universe, how the ordinary thoughts we have gained from the outer sensory world depart from us. They do not remain. Everything that human beings have thought about what is useful in life, about the connections of the sensory world, what they have thought in connection with the material world, leaves us when we pass through the gate of death. Only what we have brought forth in our waking state in the way of ideal thoughts and ideal feelings, in pure love for humanity, and also in religious piety in the true sense of the word, and united with our angelic nature, do we take with us when we pass through the gate of death.
[ 16 ] But this has a very important effect during the time we spend between death and a new birth. During our earthly life, we are also connected to the higher hierarchies, and it is true that when we fall asleep and the ideal experiences approach our angelic being, the angelic being is in turn connected to the archangelic being, the archai, and so on up the hierarchy. In this way, we find our existence continued, as it were, in a rich spiritual world. But this rich spiritual world has no special meaning for us while we spend the time between birth and death. It is only because it becomes the world around us between death and a new birth that this world of higher hierarchies takes on great significance for us. The more we have entrusted to our angelic being, so to speak, the more this angel can give us conscious life and conscious soul content from the higher hierarchies after death, when we are spiritual-soul beings. I would like to say: What our eyes are here in the physical world, or what our ears are here in the physical world, is for our consciousness between death and a new birth in the spiritual world what the angelic being, what our angelic being in connection with the higher hierarchies, develops in the other beings from the realm of the third hierarchy. And our consciousness becomes all the brighter, all the more intensely luminous, the more we have fed our angelic being with ideal thoughts and ideal feelings, with love for humanity and religious piety.
[ 17 ] Now, between death and a new birth, there comes a certain time when the angelic being has a specific task to perform with us. This angelic being must establish an even more intimate and important connection with the realm of the archangels than was previously the case. I have described the time that human beings experience between death and a new birth from various points of view—which is possible—most recently in my Vienna cycle from 1914, entitled “The Inner Being of Man and Life Between Death and a New Birth.” Today I would like to present the matter from a few other points of view.
[ 18 ] Some time after death, there comes an important moment when the angel must hand over to the archangel what he has received from us humans through the ideal experiences described above. The human being is, as it were, placed before the world of the archangels, who can take over what he has already developed in such spiritual-soul experiences between birth and death. And that is the great difference that arises between human beings in the time between death and a new birth, that in our time of human evolution there are personalities who bring little with them in the way of ideal feelings and thoughts and love for humanity when the angel has to hand over to the archangel for the further development of the world what we have carried through the gate of death.
[ 19 ] The activity that develops between Angeloi and Archangeloi must take place under all circumstances. But there is a great difference between whether we can follow more consciously what is happening to us between Angeloi and Archangeloi through the experiences described, or whether we experience it only in a dull, dim state, as must those people who are imbued only with materialistic consciousness.
[ 20 ] It is not entirely accurate to say that people experience this in a dull, dim state. To characterize it more accurately, I should perhaps say that they experience it as being continually pushed out of a world that should actually be receiving them, that they feel continually being chilled by a world that should actually be welcoming them warmly. For at the important moment mentioned above, human beings should be welcomed sympathetically by the world of the archangeloi; they should be welcomed warmly by them. Then they will also be led in the right way to what I have called in one of my mystery dramas “the midnight hour” of existence.
[ 21 ] Then human beings are again led by the Archangeloi to the realm of the Archai. And in being incorporated, as it were, into the realm of the Archai, the human being is incorporated into all the higher hierarchies, for through the Archai he comes into relationship with all the higher hierarchies, and he now takes up from the realm of these higher hierarchies the urge to descend again to earth. For they take up the power to work spiritually and soulfully in what is later handed over to them materially through the stream of heredity.
[ 22 ] And the midnight hour of existence is the point in human life between death and a new birth, which is crossed in such a way that we become increasingly alien to earthly existence, grow more and more into the spiritual world, in that we are accepted more and more sympathetically by this spiritual world in the sense characterized above, and are attracted to it with ever greater warmth, or repelled, or become cold.
[ 23 ] But then, when the midnight hour of existence arrives, the human being slowly inclines again toward the longing for earthly existence. And on the second part of the path, he encounters the world of the Archangeloi again. It is really so that between death and a new birth, the human being first ascends to the world of the Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai, then descends again, and after the world of the Archai, he encounters primarily the world of the Archangeloi.
[ 24 ] Now comes another important point in the life between death and new birth. For those human beings who have not passed through death with ideal thoughts, ideal feelings, love for humanity, and true, genuine piety, something has died within the spiritual-soul realm, so to speak, amid the antipathies of the higher world, amid the coldness of the higher world. Whereas in a person who now approaches the realm of the angeloi in the right spiritual-soul manner, the power is implanted in the spiritual-soul realm to work in the later life on earth, penetrate the body, but if the person has not brought such spiritual-soul insights with them, the angeloi must implant in them, in a way that is more unconscious, what is the longing for earthly life. And an extraordinary amount is decided during this implantation. For it is during this implantation that it is decided to which people, to which language, to which so-called mother tongue the human being will descend for his next earthly existence. And it is decided whether this urge toward ethnicity, toward the mother tongue, is implanted more inwardly or more outwardly. So that when a person descends, they are permeated with inner love for what will then become their mother tongue, or they are more automatically placed into what they will later have to express as language through their speech organs.
[ 25 ] It makes a great difference whether a person is determined in one way or the other toward language for their coming earthly life. Those who, before this earthly life, during their second passage through the realm of the angeloi, can be imbued with inner soulful love and an inclination toward their mother tongue, absorb this mother tongue inwardly. They absorb it as part of their being. They become one with it. Love becomes natural; it becomes a spiritual love. The person grows naturally into the language and into the culture by growing into it in this way.
[ 26 ] But if a person grows into it in the other way — I have called this more automatic — then later, when they descend through birth into their next earthly existence, they arrive on earth in such a way that they learn to love their language only instinctively, impulsively, so to speak. What they cannot muster inwardly in terms of love, of natural love for their language and their culture, they then expel, as it were, from their physical existence. And that makes the great difference between whether we grow into a culture, into a linguistic context, with that quiet, chaste love that a person has who grows inwardly with culture and language, or whether we grow into language and culture more automatically, so that we push out of ourselves, as it were, out of our instincts, an inner love for this culture, for this language. The former never manifests itself as what is called chauvinism in the world, what is called an outward insistence on folk culture, but rather the inner spiritual and emotional love for folk culture and language that has been truly attained through a previous ideal, pious experience expresses itself naturally and is entirely compatible with true universal love for humanity. Such spiritual and emotional love for language and culture never stunts cosmopolitanism or internationalism. But when people grow more automatically into their language, when they develop an overheated, organic, animalistic love for language and folk culture through their instincts and drives, then what arises is false nationalism, chauvinistic sentiment, which outwardly emphasizes folk culture.
[ 27 ] Especially in the present time, it is necessary to view what we encounter in the outer world during the time we spend as human beings on earth between birth and death from the perspective of life between death and a new birth. For how we encounter the realm of the archangels the second time depends on how we immerse ourselves in folklore and language through our connection with the stream of inheritance through birth.
[ 28 ] For those who want to understand today's life from a spiritual point of view, this experience between death and a new birth becomes very important when they enter the realm of the archangels for the second time. Today we see across the globe how peoples view their nationality, their folklore, and their language in a false way. And much of what emerged in the catastrophic period of the second decade of the 20th century in the development of Western civilization can only be explained when viewed from this perspective. Anyone who views life inwardly from an anthroposophical, spiritual scientific perspective must look at many people today and see their previous earthly life as one in which they gradually became entangled in materialism. You are all aware of the fact that normally a long period of time elapses between death and a new birth. But especially in the present stage of Earth's evolution, many people have had only a short time between their last death and their present birth, and in their previous earthly life they were already little imbued with love for humanity and ideal feelings. In their previous earthly life they were already concerned with mere usefulness. And as a result, during their second contact with the realm of the angeloi between death and new birth, everything was prepared for them that now emerges in such an evil way in the life of the Western world.
[ 29 ] Just as one can only understand human beings as spatial beings if one knows that one must trace their form up to the fixed stars, that one must trace their stages of life up to the planetary sphere, that human beings as spatial beings are beings that draw the forces that are active in them not only from the earth but from the entire cosmos, just as it is necessary to go beyond the earthly realm in order to gain this spatial understanding of human beings, so it is necessary to go beyond life between birth and death in order to understand social life and the life of a people on earth.
[ 30 ] If one studies much of today's life, one finds that, despite their cries for freedom, people today are actually inwardly unfree; that in the aspirations that today bring about such forces of decline, it is not a free life that pulsates, but instincts and drives that pulsate and make social life unhappy. When one sees this, one also wants to understand it.
[ 31 ] Just as there is a second encounter with the realm of the Archangeloi, so later, when the human being is once again very close to his earthly life, there is a more intimate connection with his Angelos, with his angelic being. In a sense, when the human being approaches earthly life again, he becomes more detached, drawn out of the realm of the Archangeloi. As long as he is in the realm of the archangels, his angel is also more strongly connected with this realm. Human beings live, so to speak, in the higher hierarchies. As they spend more time between death and a new birth, they become more and more dependent on the realm of the angeloi, who then guide them through the elements—fire, earth, air, water—and lead them to what is hereditary. His angelic being leads him to physical, earthly existence. It can make him a human being who is able to act freely from the depths of his soul and spirit when all the conditions have been fulfilled in a previous life, as I have characterized it.
[ 32 ] But the angelos is not able to lead the human being to a free life if the human being has had to become connected, as it were automatically, with his language and his nationality. Then individual life also becomes unfree. This lack of freedom is expressed in the fact that although man does develop an inner consciousness when he does not form free concepts but thinks words inwardly, he becomes externalized, made unfree, by the fact that his entire thinking is absorbed in words. But this is actually a fundamental experience of people today, that their thinking is absorbed in words. One cannot understand earthly life in its historical development, especially in its present state, unless one rises to the life between death and a new birth, to the spiritual-soul world.
[ 33 ] If we want to understand the human form, we must look to the fixed stars. If we want to understand the stages of human life, we must look to the planetary sphere. If one wants to understand human spiritual life, one cannot remain between birth and death, for this spiritual life is rooted, as we have seen, in the world of higher hierarchies, just as the physical and etheric beings of human beings belong to the physical and etheric outer world.
[ 34 ] If we want to understand thinking, feeling, and willing correctly, we must not merely consider the human being in relation to the sensory external world; we must consider the human being in relation to his life between death and a new birth. Thinking, feeling, and willing are the forces through which our soul being first develops. Our ideal thoughts, that which has been implanted in these thoughts, in our soul being, out of ideal love, out of piety, carries us, so to speak, through the gates of death. How we have influenced our thinking, how our thinking was permeated by an ideal attitude, brings us in the right way to the first encounter with the Archangels. But then, as we pass the midnight hour of existence, our thinking, I would say, fades away. For it is this thinking that is now being processed after the midnight hour of existence for the next earthly existence. And from what our thinking was, those forces are now formed that will permeate the physical organs of thought in the next earthly life.
[ 35 ] If you look at the human head and see how the forces work within it, it is not merely the forces that work in this life. They are the forces that originate from the thinking of the previous life and that bring about the form of our brain. In contrast, during the second encounter with the Archangeloi, it is specifically the will that plays a special role in the soul-spiritual life of the human being. And it is the will that then takes hold of our limb-metabolism organism in the next earthly life. When we enter earthly existence through birth, this will then appears as that which makes us more or less skilled in this or that on the part of the limb-metabolic human being. I would say that in our inner mind we see more the physical image of what we developed in our previous life in terms of thoughts. In the abilities of our metabolic limb human, we see the workings of the newly acquired will forces, which are now either integrated internally, spiritually, as I have described, or more automatically during the second encounter with the Archangeloi.
[ 36 ] Anyone who sees how the present life has developed, leading to such forces of decline, especially for Western humanity, will look with the greatest and most idealistic interest at what was active in human beings between death and a new birth, in the life that preceded this earthly life. And it is precisely from what they can recognize in this connection that they will receive the strong impulse to bring to humanity, which was already too materialistic in its previous incarnation, now that the consequences of this materialism have appeared in the life of nations, to bring them what they need, to give them the stimulus that can lead them back to an inner life, to freedom, to a truly inner, that is, natural life in language and culture, which is not in disharmony with internationalism and cosmopolitanism.
[ 37 ] But this can only be achieved if our thinking can be permeated by real spirituality. What does the spirit of modern man actually contain? Thoughts — thoughts about something. When people today speak of their spirit, they are really only speaking of their thoughts, of more or less abstract thinking. What we need is real spirit that penetrates us inwardly, living spirit. But it is precisely this living spirit that anthroposophy deals with in its view of the world that lies between death and a new birth. So today, human beings need to look at their form, their shape, their stages of life, their soul and spirit from within themselves as belonging to a world that lies outside the earthly realm. Then they will be able to bring the right things into the earthly realm.
[ 38 ] We have seen how the spiritual in human beings has gradually been absorbed by the other elements of earthly existence, by political life and economic life. We need to turn toward an independent spiritual life. That alone can provide the foundation for the permeation of human beings with real spirituality, with spiritual substance, not just with thoughts about something or other. That is why anthroposophy must find itself inclined to work for the liberation of spiritual life. If this spiritual life does not stand on its own foundations, human beings will become more and more abstract. They will not be able to permeate themselves with living spirit, but only with abstract spirit.
[ 39 ] When a person passes through the gate of death here in physical life, their physical body is buried in the earth or given over to the elements. The person is no longer present in their true essence in this physical body. When a human being passes through birth in such a way that he has become automatic in relation to his culture, his language, and his own actions through the processes described above, then living thinking, living will, and the living spiritual-soul life die when the human being is born into the physical world. And then the corpse of the divine-spiritual-soul human being arises within physical earthly existence.
[ 40 ] In our abstract, rationalistic thinking, we have the corpse of the spiritual-soul. Just as we no longer have true human nature in the physical corpse that is left behind, so in abstract thinking, in a soul nature that is not spiritualized, we actually have only the corpse-like nature of the divine-spiritual world. And humanity today stands at a crucial crossroads where it must decide to take up the spiritual world again, so that what has more or less taken hold in the abstract thinking of humanity as a divine-spiritual corpse, which has now given way to instincts and drives, to the automatic nature, can once again be permeated by the human being.
[ 41 ] You can already see that what I said yesterday at the end of my lecture to the local student body is deeply true, deeply, deeply true: In the present, if human beings want to rise again from decline to true ascent, they need to overcome the abstract, one might say the soul-dead, which is present in contemporary intellectualism and rationalism. Human beings need a kind of revival of the soul-spiritual. And the necessity of this revival of the soul-spiritual can be recognized precisely in the phenomena of social and historical life today. If one recognizes this correctly and impartially, then one says to oneself: Anthroposophy certainly has an eternal task, a task toward that which must live in human beings throughout all epochs. But in the present day it also has a temporal task. It must bring human beings back from their alienation, from their paralysis, from the killing of the divine-spiritual life within them. It must bring back this divine-spiritual life by teaching human beings to see themselves not merely as earthly beings but as heavenly beings, by teaching them that they can only lead their earthly existence in the right way by carrying into this earthly life the forces of heavenly existence, of existence between death and new birth.
[ 42 ] We will take up these things again next time, in order to bring them to a certain conclusion during the time that I can still remain among you in a satisfactory manner.