Karmic Relationships II
GA 236
4 May 1924, Dornach
Lecture VI
We have considered a series of karmic relationships in the historical development of mankind, and have observed how one or other relationship flows over from one earthly life into another. We will now pass on to the consideration of karmic relationships from a fresh point of view, and you will find that it is one which leads still more directly into life. For the study of karma has real value only when it flows into the moral character of our life, into the whole mood and tenor of our life and soul; so that in taking our place in the world as human beings we can experience through the study of karma an invigoration as well as a deepening of our life. Life has many riddles, and it is wrong to regard them all as insoluble. If that were so, man would gradually be torn right out of his true being. Were the riddles of the nature of man to remain quite unknown to him, he would have to pass through existence like an unconscious being. But it is the task of man to grow ever more and more conscious. And this he can do only when he learns to penetrate with some degree of insight into all that is connected with him, all that is connected with his soul and his spirit.
As karma is a component part of our whole life and existence, it goes without saying that the study of karma is a study that has directly to do with the very foundations of human life. Nevertheless, it is very difficult for us in our present-day consciousness to undertake a study of karma in its direct application to life. For any at all adequate study of the working of karma in actual life, the life in which we ourselves are immersed, calls for a far more objective outlook than is possible for the kind of consciousness which arises from present-day conditions of living and education. In these conditions there is much that hides karmic connections, makes them invisible; for this reason, the very things that would make life comprehensible from the point of view of karma and destiny are extraordinarily difficult to observe.
Present-day man is very little inclined to detach himself from his own being and to give himself wholly to some other being or object. Modern man lives very strongly within himself. And the strange thing is that when he strives towards the spirit, when he receives into himself the spiritual, he runs great danger of living all the more within himself! For what do we find when someone begins to enter more deeply into anthroposophical life? Many a person who in the course of his life has come into the Anthroposophical Movement will be able to say to himself: As long as I lived in the outside world I had these or those relations with life: they absorbed me and I accepted them as belonging intimately to me. I prized this or that; I believed that this or that was necessary for living. Moreover, I had friends with whom I was on terms of intimacy by virtue of the habits and circumstances of daily life. Then came the time when I found Anthroposophy. Since that moment, much in my life has come to a stop. I have moved right away from many of the old connections; or at least they no longer have the same value for me. Many things that I enjoyed doing have become repulsive to me; I can no longer regard them as things with which I want to remain connected.
And if, having embarked on these reflections, he carries his thought a little farther, and tries to find what it is that has taken the place of these things, he will very quickly discover that his egoism has not decreased. I do not say this reproachfully, no, not even with the faintest shadow of reproach; I merely wish to state it as a fact which anyone is quite well able to observe in himself. His egoism has, in fact, increased; he pays far more heed now to the special way in which he himself is constituted. He asks more than he ever did before: “What sort of impression does my neighbour make on me?” Previously he had been accustomed to take the actions of another person more or less for granted. Now he enquires about the impression they have made on himself. Or, again, he may have been placed within some connection of life which used to seem quite satisfactory. He fulfilled his duties, and so forth. Now his duties become repulsive to him; he would like to quit them because he feels they are not sufficiently spiritual, and so forth.
Thus it is that spiritual endeavour within Anthroposophy may very easily lead into a kind of egoism; a man tends to attach far greater importance to himself than he did before.
But it all rests on the fact that, in such a case, there has been no expansion of interest towards the outside world; on the contrary, interest has been thrust back within. I have often pointed out that one who grows in a true and right way into anthroposophical life, does not take less interest in external life; rather does he, by reason of his Anthroposophy, take far more interest. Everything outside himself begins to be far more interesting to him than before; it has far more value for him. For this, however, it is necessary that he should not withdraw from external life, but perceive, rather, the spirituality in it.
This of course means that certain things begin to show themselves in other human beings which had not been noticed before. But then we must also have the courage to notice these things, and not to overlook them. For consideration of life from the point of view of karma, it is absolutely necessary that we acquire in some measure the power to go out of ourselves and into the other man.
Naturally, this is peculiarly difficult when the other person becomes a means for karmic adjustments in life which are unpleasant, and possibly even painful to us! But unless we are able to go out of ourselves, even in matters which are disagreeable and painful to us, no true and valid study of karma is possible. For let us remind ourselves:—what are the conditions that have to exist in the world for karma to be brought into being?
We are each placed within a certain human life. In the course of it we act, think, and feel in one way or another. We enter into certain relationships with other human beings and within these relationships things happen. We think, feel, will and do things that call for a karmic adjustment. We enter into relationships with other men, and again things happen which demand a karmic adjustment. Try to survey from this point of view one human earthly life and then observe how at the end of it a man passes through the portal of death into the spiritual world. He now lives within the spiritual world. In the spiritual world it is not as in the physical world. In the physical world you stand outside the other man. You stand outside even those people with whom you come in close contact. Between you and the other man there is at least air, and each one has his own skin! So that when you approach another ever so closely, you can always in a certain measure keep yourself to yourself. This, however, is no longer possible when you have gone through the portal of death and dwell in the spiritual world. Let us take a typical case. You have done something to another man which calls for a karmic compensation. You go on living with him, after you have both passed through the portal of death. You live then within the other man; and this not by virtue of your good will or your inner perfection, but compulsorily, if I may put it so.

Suppose A and B go through the portal of death. Afterwards they are in the spiritual world. They confront one another in the spiritual world. Yet, whereas here B lived within himself and A lived within himself, after death A lives in B as well as in himself, and B lives in A as well as in himself. In the spiritual world, men live entirely within one another; and in so doing they are maintained by the forces which they have stored up in their lives on earth. After death we do not enter into relation with just any kind of men; we enter into relation with those with whom we have already established a connection for good or for ill. And it is these connections which bring it about that we live not merely within ourselves but within the other. Now imagine, you have done something to another man,—or, let us say, B has acted towards A in a way which demands karmic compensation. When B passes through the portal of death, then after death, in the passage through the world between death and a new birth, he lives in A. He experiences, within A, what he did to A. And while he is thus living outside himself, he provides for the karmic compensation to be brought about. Thus all that is to be brought to pass as karmic compensation during the next earthly life, you yourself cause by living in the other man. It is only on descending again to the physical world that A makes what you have put into him into his own deed. In the next earthly life he comes to meet you with what you really have willed to inflict upon yourself through him.
When, therefore, in the next earthly life, something is inflicted on me by another man as a karmic compensation, this happens because I laid it into him during the time I lived within him between death and a new birth. At that time it was not his deed at all; it becomes his deed only as he descends again into earth-life. Thus the conditions for the working of karma in the course of evolution arise from the fact that karmically-connected human beings dwell within one another in the time between death and rebirth.
Now when we consider ordinary life on earth, we do not really penetrate very deeply into it. As far as the other man is concerned, we are extraordinarily little aware of him, consciously. For instance, how little we notice any slight difference in the behaviour of another man in relation to ourselves! Suppose we meet a man in life, and he behaves towards us in a certain way. We are aware of it, but we use very little discrimination. We do not observe what entirely different motives and impulses may account for his behaviour. A man, let us say, is antagonistically disposed towards me. This antagonism may be caused by the mere fact that my existence irritates him, because he is attuned to something quite different in life. Therefore he treats me in a certain way. This treatment can be of such a nature that only in the next life is it karmically balanced. In such a case the antagonism can be quite original, not in the least conditioned by preceding earthly lives.
But I may also receive a similar, perhaps even identical, treatment from another man, into whom I myself implanted bit by bit all that comes to me with this treatment, in the time between death and rebirth.
The feeling which can differentiate between two such kinds of treatment, externally similar, is very little developed to-day; it must show itself again, in order that the moral tenor of life may become purer, and man's moral perception stronger. In earlier epochs—in epochs not even very remote from us—such a distinction lay within human comprehension. One felt, e.g. towards one man: He hates me and does this or that out of hate for me; while with another man one had the feeling; he must do something against me, he simply cannot help it, he is inwardly predestined to act in this way.
This feeling, which can be subtly discerned in the facts of life, must again become more general. It will give to life many fine nuances which are of great importance.
There is another difference we must learn to observe. You will readily admit that when a man comes into relation with other men, all manner of things are connected with this relationship, things which do not interest him as much as the relationship itself. Again, I will take a characteristic instance. Suppose you enter a society—I am not thinking now of the Anthroposophical Society; I exclude it for reasons that will emerge in the course of these lectures. The reason why you enter this society may be that you have a karmic link with one or two persons, perhaps with only one person in the society; but you have to participate in everything connected with the society in order to approach this one person as closely as your karmic relations with him demand. While from the point of view of karma the relation to this one man only is important, you share in everything that you come up against in this society, through the people you meet there, etc. So we have to recognise that life confronts us in such a way that the relations into which it brings us are of the most varied shades; quite indifferent relationships may stand side by side with the most significant, in the deepest sense of the word.
But note in this connection, how true it is that external life is frequently only Maya, is in many respects the Great Illusion. Thus it can happen—I will again construct a hypothetical case—that you enter a society, and the relation to the one person, which is well determined karmically, has difficulty in establishing itself. You have to link on to all sorts of people in order to approach that one man. With these other men you make connections which—let us say—appear extremely important to a more rough-and-ready consideration of life; yes, it may be, they make themselves very strongly felt, whereas perhaps the connection which you approach last of all, and which is of real karmic importance, takes its course gently, softly, unobtrusively.
Thus it can really be that the karmically important element in some connection of life appears like a little mount beside giant mountains, which are in reality of lesser importance. To a spiritualised consideration, however, the little hillock reveals itself in its right significance. The events which occur in life cause us many illusions. As a rule we do not know how to judge them if we take only one earthly life into consideration. It is only when we perceive other earthly lives in the background that we can estimate correctly the one earthly life in all its events.
I should like to illustrate this by an example. Strange personalities have appeared in our time. Apart from those of whom I have spoken to you in our studies on karma, a number of quite remarkable personalities have appeared here and there. External study often does not lead at all into karmic connections; we need a study which is able to take note of incisive moments in life. Then we come to see, in all clarity, just those facts which make us realise how illusory external life is unless it is considered on the basis of the spiritual. Recently I mentioned here an example which may have appeared to you very strange, the example of an alchemist of the school of Basil Valentine, who reappeared again as Frank Wedekind.
My starting-point for the observation of this strange karma—the starting-point is not always significant in itself; if afterwards the starting-point has led on to inner clarity, then naturally the whole thing changes—the starting-point in this case was the circumstance that I had hardly ever before seen such hands as Frank Wedekind's, and I saw Frank Wedekind gesticulate with those hands of his when he acted in his own “Hidalla”. The whole apparent chaos of this play (which, as I recently mentioned, is a perfect horror from the ordinary, conventional point of view) connected itself with the impression of his hands that I had had before, and conjured up before my vision the chemical manipulations on which, in a former life, he had been engaged. On the basis of his “Hidalla”, in connection with these strange hands, appeared the earlier incarnation which one could then follow further.
You will see from this how one must develop an eye for what is of real significance in a human being. There are men in whom the countenance is the most characteristic element. But there are also men in whom the most important characteristic is not the face at all, but, for instance, the hands; from the face of such a man one can infer nothing, only from the hands. When you pass on from the individual to the general, precisely in the example which I have just brought forward, you can realise quite clearly how it stands. For these medieval alchemists were of course obliged to acquire extraordinary dexterity with their hands.
In earlier lectures I have spoken of how nothing is suffered to remain of all that man has developed in his head. But that which he bears in the rest of his organism is subsequently brought to expression in the (next) head. Now in childhood the whole forming of the body takes its start from the head. Above all, such expressive organs as the hands are shaped in accordance with the most intimate impulses of the head. We may therefore expect that something very characteristic will appear in the hands or feet of one who has worked in the manner of alchemists.
I say all this to show you how important it is to take one particular thing in its full significance, and to regard as insignificant what frequently presents itself in the sense-world as the most evident, the most essential, the greatest, etc. In our time, as I said, there have appeared many strange and remarkable personalities who stand before us without our being able to arrive at any complete survey of the karmic connections. Just in the case of such personalities it is a question of observing in them what is striking and significant. The fact that somebody was a great artist, for example, is something which may possibly be determined only in the very smallest measure by his karma. But what exactly he does in his art, how he conducts himself in it, these are things that are specially determined in karma. Thus, the very things which, one may say, make life really poetic, reveal themselves to a study of karma.
Let us suppose we can look back on a man's previous incarnations. In respect of the present incarnation they are remarkably illuminating in certain points. But we can never understand how to find our way intelligently in these investigations as long as we make use of the ordinary criteria for understanding and interpreting life. Life becomes a reality in quite a different sense when one resolves to pursue a study of karma in all earnestness.
Let me give you an example. I will in the first place relate quite simply what happened. I was walking one day along a street and I had a picture before me. I see a ship-wrecked man. His ship is far away, and sinking. The man is in a lifeboat, hurrying towards a fairly large island. His gaze is directed strangely, considering that he is still in doubt whether his boat will reach land and his life be safe! He is looking at the bubbling, foaming billows. I am impressed by the fact that he can still gaze at the waves, even though he is liable at any moment to be drowned. A disturbed and shaken soul, but in the shock—and so in a body-free manner—deeply united with Nature.
While still on the same walk—the picture had of course no connection whatever with my surroundings—my way led me to an Art Exhibition where I saw for the first time Boecklin's “Toteninsel” (Island of the Dead). I mention this only that you may see how in approaching these things we must take a wider outlook. It is not simply a matter of meditating upon all one can think and feel about Boecklin from the starting point of his picture, “Island of the Dead”. It need not be so at all; it is quite possible that under certain circumstances one has to revert to something one has seen prophetically, and link that on to one's experience of the picture.
And so, too, when we meet a man in real life. Then, in order to find karmic connections, it is not only important to consider what we experience just in the moment of meeting him; it is often most illuminating to recall some intimate previous experience, for we may find that we understand it only when we see how it connects with what we afterwards perceive in him or through him.
The very things that prove so illuminating for karma are often things that throw their shadows in advance—or, we may also say, their light. We need a fine sense for the intimacies of life, which sometimes means that we not only connect the future with the past, but regard the past as something that elucidates the future. Unless we can learn to look at life in this intimate way, we shall not easily develop that inner mobility of soul which is necessary for a deeper penetration into karmic connections.
It is indeed a fact that when specially significant karmic events enter a man's life, they are connected with inner events in his life which may date from several years previously. We have to acquire in this way an expanded view of life.
For think of the following:—When you look at the thinking element in man, as it exists in ordinary consciousness, you find it related only to the past. When, however, you look at human feeling, with the many shades and nuances it receives from emotional and temperamental depths, then you come upon very strange secrets of life. The course of a man's life can be very little gauged by the way he thinks; but very much by the way he feels. And when you observe such a life, let us say, as Goethe's, and ask yourself: How did Goethe feel in the year 1790?—then, through the peculiar stamp and character of Goethe's feeling in the year 1790 you get the entire later colouring of his life; it is all present as a nucleus in the feeling of 1790. As soon as we descend into the depths of the human soul we really perceive the peculiar colouring—not of course the details—of the subsequent life. A man might gain a great deal of illumination on his own life if he paid more attention to the inexplicable shades of feeling which are not caused from without but from the depths within.
Men will accustom themselves to taking this kind of thing specially into account if they pay attention to the points I have mentioned to-day. I shall have more to say about them: they are important for a consideration of life that intends to take note of karmic connections. And this holds good, whether one is dealing with karmic connections in one's own life, or with karmic connections of those who are dear to one. For you must understand that if one desires to consider karma, it is a question really of looking through a human being in a certain way. When no more than the ordinary physical human being stands in your field of vision, he stands there before you non-transparent. You look at his face, at the way he moves about and behaves, at the way he speaks, or perhaps even also at the way he thinks,—the latter being, on the whole, generally only a conventional reflection of his upbringing and experience. But so long as you look no further than this, the karma of this human being does not stand objectively before you.
When, however, a man becomes transparent for you, then at first you really have the feeling that he is hovering in the air. Gradually it comes about that you no longer think of him as walking or moving his arms and hands. You lose all sense of this. Understand me aright, my dear friends. In ordinary life what a man does with his arms and legs is extremely important. But this loses its importance when one wishes to observe the deeper elements in man. You must take what I am saying in its fullest meaning. Can you look right away from what a man achieves by means of his arms and hands, and see him hovering, as it were, not so much in respect of space as in respect of life? I mean, take no account of journeys he has made, of all his goings and comings, in short, of all he does with his legs; and attach equally little importance to the work he does with his hands. Watch rather his mood, his temperament; watch everything in him in which arms and legs take no part. Then you have, so to speak, the first transparency to which you can attain. And what will this first transparency show? Picture to yourselves, you have here an object. At first you see nothing but the object. Well and good. But then something is drawn upon the object. And now it is again erased. This is how it is with man when you arrive at the first transparency, when you look away from the man of ordinary life and completely disregard his arms and legs. You have to tear him right out of the connections into which he has come through the activity of his arms and legs. If you now observe him, something in him becomes transparent, and you look through to what was previously covered up by the activity of arms and legs.
And what is it you see? You begin to understand that behind the man the Moon appears. I will draw here diagrammatically the threefold man. Now suppose, this (i.e. the lower part) first becomes transparent; we disregard the arms and legs. Then the man no longer appears to us detached from the universe as he otherwise does; he begins to reveal behind him the Moon, with all the impulses which work in man from the Moon. We begin to say: “Yes, man has a certain power of phantasy,—whether it be developed or no, he has this power in him. He cannot help it. Moon forces are behind this. They are hidden from us only by the activity of arms and legs. But now all that has vanished, and in the background appears before us the creative Moon.”

We go on. We try to make man still more transparent. By a kind of suggestion, we think away all that makes man emotional, all that endows him with a certain temperament—in short, those features—of his every-day life in which his soul-nature is chiefly expressed. Still more disappears; he becomes still more transparent. And we can go farther. We can disregard all that exists in man, because he has senses. First, you disregard everything that is in man by virtue of his having arms and legs. Now you ask yourself: what remains over from man, when I ignore the fact that he has ever perceived anything by means of his senses? There remains a certain direction of thought, a certain impulsive force of his thought, a tendency of life. At this point, however, the whole rhythmic system, the breast of man, becomes transparent. It vanishes, and in the background appears before you all that exists there as Sun-impulse (see diagram). You look through man and behold in reality the Sun, when you ignore all that man has perceived by means of his senses. You can try this on yourself. You can ask yourself: what do I owe to my senses? And then, when you look away from all this, you see through yourself and behold yourself as a Sun-being.
And when further you disregard man's thoughts, the direction of his thinking, then the head too disappears. Now the whole man is gone. You look through, and finally behold Saturn in the background. But in this moment, the man's karma, or your own karma, lies open before you. For in the moment when you observe the working of Saturn in a man, when a man has become entirely transparent to you, and you observe him so extensively that you behold him on the background of the whole planetary system—on the background of Moon, Sun and Saturn—in that moment the karma of the man lies open before you. And if one is going to speak of practical karma-exercises—I told you already that I wanted to do it at the beginning of the foundation of the Anthroposophical Society, but did not succeed at that time—then one must really begin in this way. One must say: It is a matter first of all of disregarding—in ourselves or in others—all that we are in life, inasmuch as we are beings endowed with arms and legs. Cut this right out of your thought. All you have ever attained through the fact that you are a being endowed with arms and legs—this you must ignore.
Then you will say: “Yes, but we fulfil our karma just because we have arms and legs!” So you do. So long, however, as you look at your arms and legs, you are not aware of what it is you fulfil through having arms and legs. This you see only when you no longer look at your arms and legs any more, but find in the activity of arms and legs the impulses of the Moon. Then it is a matter of going a step further, and disregarding all that man absorbs by means of his senses, what he has in his soul by means of his senses—whether you are practising the exercise with yourself or with others. You behold man then as Sun-being, you see the Sun-impulse in him. And again, you must disregard the fact that he has a certain tendency of thought, a certain tendency of soul—then you realise him to be a Saturn-being.
Should you arrive thus far, then you have man once more before you, but now—as a spirit. Now the legs move and the arms work, but spiritually, and they show us what they do. But they show us this according to the forces which work and rule in them. This is what we have to learn and experience.
When I do the most trifling thing, when I pick up the chalk here—as long as I merely see this fact, the picking-up of the chalk, then I know nothing of karma. I must do away with all this. I must bring it about that all this can reproduce itself in a picture, can appear again in a picture. Not in the strength that is contained in my muscles—this can explain nothing at all—but in the picture that takes the place of the act, appears the force that induces the hand to move, in order to pick up the chalk. And it appears as something coming from previous incarnations.
This is how it is, when I gradually do away with visible man in the above manner and see behind him his Moon-impulses, his Sun-impulses, and his Saturn-impulses. Then the image or picture of the man comes to meet me again from the cosmos. But it is not the man in his present incarnation; it is the man in one of his preceding incarnations or in several previous incarnations. I must first bring it about that the man who is walking here at my side, becomes transparent for me, ever more and more transparent, in that I put away from my vision his whole life. Then there comes to the same spot, but now proceeding from cosmic distances, the man as he was in his previous earthly lives.
Perhaps what has been placed before you to-day about these connections is not at once altogether clear and comprehensible. But I wanted to point the way prospectively, as it were, and in the coming lectures we shall enter into more and more detailed considerations of the nature of karma as it flows in human life from one incarnation to another.


Sechster Vortrag
Nachdem wir eine Reihe von karmischen Zusammenhängen betrachtet haben, die sich abspielten im geschichtlichen Werden der Menschheit, und nachdem wir durch diese Betrachtungen gesehen haben, wie das eine oder das andere aus einem Erdenleben in die nächsten Erdenleben hinüberfließt, werden wir nunmehr dazu übergehen, die karmischen Zusammenhänge noch von einem anderen Gesichtspunkte aus zu betrachten, von dem Gesichtspunkte, der, ich möchte sagen, noch mehr in das unmittelbare menschliche Leben hineinführt. Denn Karmabetrachtung hat ja eigentlich nur dadurch einen wirklichen Wert, daß diese Betrachtung in unser lebendiges Ethos, in unsere ganze Lebensund Seelenverfassung hineinfließen kann, so daß wir, indem wir uns als Mensch in die Welt hineinstellen, durch die karmische Betrachtung eine Durchkraftung und zugleich Vertiefung des Lebens erfahren können. Das Leben hat ja viele Rätsel, und nicht alle Rätsel des Lebens können so betrachtet werden, daß sie ungelöst bleiben. Denn dadurch würde der Mensch allmählich aus seiner eigenen Wesenheit herausgerissen werden. Er würde ohne Bekanntschaft mit den Rätseln des Menschenwesens selbst wie ein unbewußtes Wesen sein Dasein verbringen. Aber es ist die Aufgabe des Menschen, immer bewußter und bewußter zu werden. Das kann er nur, wenn er alles dasjenige, was eigentlich an ihm, seiner Seele und seinem Geiste hängt, wirklich bis zu einem gewissen Grade durchschauen kann. Und da nun ein Bestandteil unseres ganzen Lebens und Daseins das Karma ist, so ist es selbstverständlich, daß karmische Betrachtungen unmittelbare Betrachtungen für die Grundlage unseres Menschenlebens sind.
Nun sind aber karmische Betrachtungen in unmittelbarer Anwendung auf das Leben gerade für das gegenwärtige Menschheitsbewußtsein eigentlich außerordentlich schwer anzustellen. Denn es erfordert jede auch nur einigermaßen taugliche Betrachtung des Karma in dem Leben, das uns umgibt, in dem Leben, in dem wir selber drinnenstehen, daß wir viel, viel objektiver dem Leben gegenüberstehen können, als das für ein Bewußtsein möglich ist, das aus den gegenwärtigen Bedingungen des Lebens, aus den gegenwärtigen Bedingungen der Erziehung herauswächst.
Es ist eben so vieles in den gegenwärtigen Lebensbedingungen, in die der Mensch hineinkommt, was die karmischen Zusammenhänge verdeckt, sie unsichtbar macht, so daß es außerordentlich schwierig ist, auch nur einigermaßen auf das hinzuschauen, was das Leben karmisch, schicksalsgemäß begreiflich macht.
Der Mensch der Gegenwart ist ja so wenig eigentlich dazu geeignet, sich von sich selber loszulösen und an anderes hinzugeben. Der Mensch der Gegenwart lebt außerordentlich stark in sich selbst. Und das Eigentümliche ist ja, daß der Mensch heute, gerade wenn er nach dem Geiste hinstrebt, wenn er Geistiges aufnimmt, sehr stark in die Gefahr hineinkommt, dadurch noch mehr in sich selber zu leben. Bedenken wir nur einmal, meine lieben Freunde, wie es gerade mit dem Sich-Vertiefen in das anthroposophische Leben oftmals steht. Da wird mancher sich sagen können, der im Verlaufe seines Lebens in die anthroposophische Bewegung hereingekommen ist: Als ich noch draußen stand, da hatte ich diese oder jene Beziehungen zum Leben, in denen ich aufging, die ich als etwas hinnahm, was mit mir innig zusammenhing. Ich schätzte dies oder jenes, ich glaubte, daß dies oder jenes für das Leben notwendig ist. Ich hatte auch Freunde, denen ich nahestehen konnte aus den Lebensgewohnheiten heraus, aus dem, was das alltägliche Leben gebracht hat. Nun bin ich in die Anthroposophie hineingekommen. Da hat vieles von dem eigentlich gänzlich aufgehört. Da bin ich herausgekommen aus den alten Zusammenhängen, da sind mir wenigstens diese alten Zusammenhänge nicht mehr so wertvoll geblieben, wie sie früher waren. Da wurde mir manches auch von dem, was ich früher gern getan habe, zuwider. Da betrachtete ich es nicht mehr als etwas, mit dem ich eigentlich zusammenhängen möchte.
Aber wenn dann der Mensch, nachdem er eine solche Betrachtung angestellt hat, weiter darüber nachdenkt, was denn nun für ihn an die Stelle davon getreten ist, dann findet er sehr leicht: Eigentlich hat sein Egoismus nicht abgenommen. Ich will jetzt das gar nicht in einem tadelnden, irgendwie auch nur mit einer Nuance von tadelndem Sinne aussprechen, sondern eben einfach als eine Tatsache hinstellen, die ja der Mensch sehr gut an sich selber beobachten kann: Eigentlich hat sein Egoismus zugenommen! Eigentlich gibt er jetzt viel mehr acht auf die Art und Weise, wie sein Inneres, sein Gemüt beschaffen ist. Eigentlich frägt er jetzt viel mehr, als er früher darnach gefragt hat: Was macht der andere Mensch auf mich für einen Eindruck?
Früher hat er das, was der andere Mensch neben ihm getan hat, mit einer gewissen Selbstverständlichkeit hingenommen. Jetzt tut er es nicht mehr. Jetzt frägt er nach dem Eindruck, den es auf ihn macht. Oder aber, er stand früher in irgendeinem Lebenszusammenhang drinnen, der ihm ganz plausibel war. Er hat seine Pflichten getan und so weiter. Jetzt werden ihm diese Pflichten zuwider, jetzt möchte er heraus aus diesen Pflichten, weil er meint, sie seien nicht geistig genug und so fort. So führt gerade das geistige Streben innerhalb der Anthroposophie sehr leicht in eine Art von Egoismus hinein, in ein sich viel, viel ernster nehmen, als man sich vorher genommen hat.
Die ganze Sache beruht aber darauf, daß eben in einem solchen Falle nicht die Erweiterung der Lebensinteressen nach außen eingetreten ist, sondern daß sich die Lebensinteressen in das Innere zurückgeschlagen haben. Ich habe es ja oftmals erwähnt, daß derjenige, der nun wirklich hineinwächst, ganz wahrhaftig hineinwächst in das anthroposophische Leben, nicht weniger Interesse an dem äußeren Leben nimmt, sondern gerade durch die Anthroposophie viel mehr Interesse an diesem äußeren Leben nimmt, daß alle anderen Wesen anfangen, ihm unendlich viel interessanter zu werden, viel mehr wert zu werden. Aber dazu ist notwendig, daß man sich nicht von dem äußeren Leben zurückzieht, sondern daß man in dem äußeren Leben drinnen die Geistigkeit sieht.
Gewiß, da treten dann Dinge auf, die man früher nicht bemerkt hat. Aber man muß dann auch den Mut haben, sie zu bemerken und nicht über sie hinwegzuschauen. Zur karmischen Lebensbetrachtung ist eben durchaus nötig, sich ein gewisses Maß von der Gabe anzueignen, aus sich herauszugehen, in den anderen hineinzugehen. Das ist natürlich ganz besonders schwierig, wenn der andere ein Werkzeug wird zu karmischen Ausgleichen im Leben, die einem unangenehm oder vielleicht sogar schmerzlich sind. Aber ohne daß man auch bei den Dingen, die einem unangenehm und schmerzlich sind, aus sich herausgehen kann, ist eigentlich eine karmische, eine wahrhaft geltende karmische Lebensbetrachtung nicht möglich. Denn bedenken Sie nur, welche Bedingungen da sind in der Welt, damit Karma entsteht.
Wir stehen in einem gewissen Menschenleben drinnen. In diesem Menschenleben tun wir, denken wir und fühlen wir das eine oder das andere. Wir treten in Beziehungen zu Menschen, und innerhalb dieser Beziehungen spielt sich das eine oder das andere ab. Wir denken, fühlen, wollen, tun solche Dinge, die einen karmischen Ausgleich fordern. Wir gehen Beziehungen zu Menschen ein, in deren Folgen Dinge geschehen, die wiederum einen karmischen Ausgleich fordern. Überblicken Sie nur einmal von diesem Gesichtspunkte aus ein menschliches Erdenleben, und sehen Sie dann darauf hin, daß am Ende dieses Erdenlebens der Mensch durch die Pforte des Todes eingeht in die geistige Welt.
Er lebt jetzt in der geistigen Welt drinnen. In der geistigen Welt ist es nicht so wie in der physischen Welt. In der physischen Welt, da stehen Sie außerhalb der anderen Menschen. Auch denen gegenüber stehen Sie außerhalb, denen Sie schon menschlich nahetraten. Es ist ja immerhin zwischen zwei Menschen in der physischen Welt mindestens Luft und bei jedem seine Haut. Also Menschen in der physischen Welt, wenn sie sich noch so nahetreten, können in einem gewissen Sinn sich in sich selber zurückhalten.
Das ist aber nicht möglich, wenn man durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen ist und in der geistigen Welt lebt. Nehmen Sie einen eklatanten Fall. Sie haben irgendeinem Menschen etwas zugefügt, was einen karmischen Ausgleich fordert. Sie leben mit ihm weiter, nachdem Sie beide durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen sind. Sie leben ja dann nicht durch Ihren guten Willen oder durch Ihre innere Vollkommenheit in dem anderen Menschen - also nicht bloß in sich, sondern wirklich in dem anderen Menschen -, sondern Sie leben zwangsweise, wenn ich mich so ausdrücken darf, in dem anderen Menschen.
Nehmen Sie an, der Mensch A und der Mensch B gehen durch die Pforte des Todes. Sie sind nachher in der geistigen Welt. B und A stehen einander gegenüber in der geistigen Welt. Ja, dann lebt, während hier B in sich und A in sich gelebt hat, A ebensogut wie in sich inB und B ebensogut wie in sich in A. Die Menschen leben ja in der geistigen Welt ganz ineinander, und zwar getragen gerade durch diejenigen Kräfte, die sich in den Erdenleben aufgespeichert haben. Wir kommen nach dem Tode nicht zu beliebigen Menschen in Beziehung, sondern eben zu denjenigen Menschen, zu denen sich in Gutem und Bösem Beziehungen ergeben haben. Aber diese Beziehungen machen es, daß wir nicht nur in uns, sondern auch in dem anderen leben.

Nun denken Sie sich, Sie haben irgendeinem Menschen etwas zugefügt, oder sagen wir, der B hat dem A etwas zugefügt, was einen karmischen Ausgleich fordert. Indem nun der B durch die Pforte des Todes schreitet, lebt er nach dem Tode, beim Durchgang durch die Welt zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt, in dem A. Er erlebt dasjenige, was er dem A zugefügt hat, in dem A darinnen. Und er verursacht in diesem Außer-sich-Leben, daß der karmische Ausgleich geschieht. Also dasjenige, was im karmischen Ausgleich in einem nächsten Erdenleben durch den Menschen A geschehen soll, das verursachen Sie selber durch Ihr Hinüberleben in den Menschen A. Nur dadurch, daß dann der Mensch A wiederum heruntersteigt in die physische Erdenwelt, macht er das, was Sie eigentlich in ihn gelegt haben, zu seiner eigenen Tat. Und er kommt Ihnen dann im nächsten Erdenleben mit dem entgegen, was Sie eigentlich durch ihn sich selber zufügen wollen.
Wenn ich also in einem nächsten Erdenleben von einem anderen Menschen etwas zugefügt erhalte als karmischen Ausgleich, so ist es so, daß, während ich in ihm in der Zeit zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt steckte, ich das Stück für Stück selber in ihn gelegt habe. Da war es gar nicht seine Tat, sondern zu seiner Tat wird es erst wiederum, indem er heruntersteigt ins irdische Leben. So daß also die Bedingungen des Karma im Weltenlaufe diejenigen sind, welche durch das Ineinanderleben der karmisch verbundenen Menschen in der Zeit zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt da sind.
Nun, wenn wir das gewöhnliche Erdenleben betrachten, dann sehen wir eigentlich in diesem gewöhnlichen Erdenleben nicht außerordentlich tief. Wir nehmen von dem anderen Menschen im Grunde genommen außerordentlich wenig bewußt wahr. Wir merken zum Beispiel einen gewissen Unterschied im Verhalten des anderen Menschen zu uns außerordentlich wenig. Uns tritt irgendein Mensch im Leben entgegen; sagen wir, er verhält sich in einer gewissen Weise. Nun werden wir es ja kaum bemerken, daß ein Mensch wirklich sich in einer gewissen Weise zu uns verhalten kann und daß ganz verschiedene Motive und Impulse zu diesem Verhalten in ihm stecken können. Es kann sich ein Mensch feindlich zu mir verhalten. Dieses feindliche Verhalten kann so liegen, daß ich einfach durch mein Dasein aufreizend auf ihn wirke, daß er auf etwas ganz anderes im Menschen gestimmt ist als auf das, was ich ihm entgegenbringe. Dadurch werde ich von ihm in einer gewissen Weise behandelt. Aber diese Behandlung, die kann so liegen, daß sie sich karmisch erst im nächsten Leben irgendwie ausgleicht. Die kann etwas ganz Ursprüngliches sein, etwas, was gar nicht durch vorige Erdenleben bedingt ist.
Dagegen kann mir eine ganz ähnliche, vielleicht die gleiche Behandlung werden von einem Menschen, in den ich Stück für Stück das, was aus dieser Behandlung folgt, in dem Leben zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt hineingepflanzt habe.
Das Gefühl, das unterscheiden kann zwischen zwei solchen Behandlungsweisen, die äußerlich gleich sind, dieses Gefühl ist bei den Menschen der Gegenwart außerordentlich wenig entwickelt. Sonst würde viel mehr etwas auftauchen im Leben, was heute im Grunde genommen kaum auftaucht, was aber wiederum auftauchen muß, damit das Ethos des Lebens viel reiner werden kann, damit das moralische Empfinden viel kräftiger werden kann. Es muß einfach wiederum auftauchen im Leben etwas, was in früheren Zeitläuften, in gar nicht so weit zurückliegenden Zeitläuften in der menschlichen Empfindung lag, daß man nämlich dem einen Menschen gegenüber das Gefühl hat: der haßt dich und vollbringt aus Haß gegen dich diese oder jene Dinge; daß man bei dem anderen Menschen aber das Gefühl hat: der muß etwas gegen dich tun, weil er einfach nicht anders kann. Der erste, der könnte auch anders; der zweite kann einfach nicht anders, der ist innerlich prädestiniert, sich so zu verhalten.
Dieses Gefühl, das in feiner Weise in den Tatsachen des Lebens unterschieden werden kann, muß wiederum allgemeiner werden. Dieses Gefühl wird dem Leben viele Nuancen geben, die außerordentlich wichtig sind im Leben.
Und dazu kommt ein anderes. Sie werden ja leicht zugeben können, daß der Mensch mit anderen Menschen in Beziehungen kommt und daß an diesen Beziehungen mancherlei hängt, was ihn nicht in der gleichen Weise interessiert wie diese Beziehungen selber. Ich will einen ganz eklatanten Fall konstruieren. Nehmen Sie an, Sie treten in eine Gesellschaft ein — ich meine jetzt nicht die Anthroposophische, die schließe ich aus davon, aus Gründen, die schon noch in dem Verlauf dieser Karmavorträge herauskommen werden -, aber in eine Gesellschaft treten Sie ein. Es kann der Grund, warum Sie in diese Gesellschaft eintreten, darinnen liegen, daß Sie eine karmische Verbindung mit einem oder zwei Menschen, vielleicht nur mit einem einzigen Menschen in dieser Gesellschaft haben. Aber Sie müssen, indem Sie in diese Gesellschaft eintreten, um dem Menschen, um den es sich handelt, so nahezukommen, als es Ihre karmischen Beziehungen notwendig machen, alles übrige der Gesellschaft mitnehmen. Während karmisch wichtig nur die Beziehung zu diesem einen Menschen ist, nehmen Sie alles mit, was sonst in dieser Gesellschaft durch Menschen, die Sie da treffen und so weiter, an Sie herankommt.
Da handelt es sich darum, daß wir auch wissen müssen: Das Leben steht uns so gegenüber, daß es in der verschiedensten Weise nuancierte Beziehungen zu uns hat, von den gleichgültigsten Beziehungen zu den im tiefsten Sinne bedeutendsten Beziehungen, die unmittelbar nebeneinanderstehen.
Aber dazu kommt nun wiederum etwas anderes. Dazu kommt, daß das äußere Leben eben vielfach Maja, die große Illusion ist. So daß es sein kann - ich konstruiere wiederum einen Fall -, daß Sie in eine Gesellschaft eintreten, aber die Beziehung zu dem einen Menschen, die karmisch gut vorbedingt ist, die stellt sich sehr schwer heraus. Sie müssen erst mit den verschiedensten anderen Menschen Beziehungen anknüpfen, um an den einen heranzukommen. Sie gehen also durch die verschiedensten anderen Menschen, um an den einen heranzukommen. Sie gehen dadurch Beziehungen ein mit den anderen Menschen, die, ich möchte sagen, vor der robusten Lebensbetrachtung sich außerordentlich wirksam erweisen, ja, die sich stark geltend machen, die stark da sind, während vielleicht diejenige Beziehung, an die Sie dann zuletzt herankommen, die karmisch bedeutsam sein kann, sanft, leise, unvermerkt oder fast unvermerkt sich abspielt.

So daß es wirklich so sein kann, daß das karmisch Bedeutende in irgendeinem Lebenszusammenhang wie ein kleiner Hügel neben Riesenbergen erscheint, die aber eine geringe Bedeutung haben. Allerdings erscheint dann erst vor einer durchgeistigten Betrachtung der kleine Hügel in seiner wahren Bedeutung. Es ist ja wirklich so, daß die Ereignisse, die in unser Leben eintreten, uns viel, viel Täuschungen verursachen. Wir wissen sie in der Regel, wenn wir nur das eine Erdenleben in Betracht ziehen, nicht zu werten. Schaut man andere Erdenleben auf dem Hintergrunde, dann kann man das eine Erdenleben erst in seinen Ereignissen richtig werten.
Beispielsweise möchte ich nur etwas anführen. Nicht wahr, in unserer Zeit sind ja merkwürdige Persönlichkeiten aufgetreten. Abgesehen von denen, die ich schon karmisch vor Sie, hingestellt habe, sind mancherlei höchst merkwürdige Persönlichkeiten da oder dort gewesen. Und eine äußerliche Betrachtung führt oftmals durchaus nicht in die karmischen Zusammenhänge hinein, sondern erst eine Betrachtung, die auf markante Punkte des Lebens eingehen kann. Und da ergeben sich eben dann, ich möchte sagen, mit vollster Klarheit jene Tatsachen, die uns darauf aufmerksam machen, wie eigentlich das äußere Leben illusionär ist in vieler Beziehung, wenn wir es nicht auf der Grundlage des Geistigen betrachten. Ich habe vor kurzem hier ein Beispiel angeführt, das Ihnen vielleicht sehr merkwürdig vorgekommen ist, das Beispiel eines Alchimisten, eines alten Alchimisten aus der Schule des Basilius Valentinus, der wieder aufgetreten ist als Frank Wedekind.
Mich hat zu der Beobachtung dieses merkwürdigen Karma - der Ausgangspunkt ist nicht immer bedeutsam, wenn dann der Ausgangspunkt zu der inneren Klarheit geführt hat, dann natürlich wird die Sache anders - der Umstand geführt, daß ich kaum jemals solche Hände gesehen habe, wie sie Frank Wedekind hatte, und daß ich dann mit diesen Händen Frank Wedekind einmal in München habe agieren gesehen, selber schauspielerisch agieren gesehen in seinem «Hidalla». Das ganze scheinbare Chaos dieses Stückes, das natürlich ein Horror für ein philiströses Gemüt ist, wie ich schon neulich sagte, im Zusammenhange mit dem Eindruck, den ich von früher von seinen Händen hatte, das ließ eben die alchimistischen Verrichtungen, die er getan hat, erscheinen. Und auf der Grundlage gerade des «Hidalla» im Zusammenhange mit diesen merkwürdigen Händen erschien diese frühere Inkarnation, die man dann weiterverfolgen konnte.
Da sehen Sie, daß man ein Auge für dasjenige entwickeln muß, was außerordentlich bedeutsam an einem Wesen, an einem Menschen namentlich, sein kann. Es gibt Menschen, bei denen ist das Gesicht das Charakteristische. Es gibt aber auch Menschen, bei denen ist es ganz und gar nicht das Gesicht, sondern da sind es zum Beispiel die Hände; und aus dem Gesicht kann man gar nichts entnehmen, lediglich etwas aus den Händen. Wenn man von dem Individuellen ins Allgemeine geht, gerade an dem Beispiele, das ich eben angeführt habe, dann wird man, ich möchte sagen, mit Händen greifen können, wie die Sache ist. Gerade bei so gearteten Alchimisten des Mittelalters war es ja so, daß sie sich eine außerordentliche Geschicklichkeit der Hände aneignen mußten.
Ich habe in früheren Vorträgen hier ausgeführt, wie von dem, was der Mensch als Haupt hat, nichts übrigbleibt. Aber das, was er in seinem übrigen Organismus hat, das prägt sich dann im Haupte aus. Wenn aber der Mensch Kind ist, geht ja die ganze Bildung des Menschen vom Haupte aus. Namentlich so ausdrucksvolle Organe wie die Hände bilden sich nach den intimsten Impulsen des Hauptes. So kann man geradezu erwarten, daß bei jemandem, der gearbeitet hat, wie eben Alchimisten arbeiten, etwas besonders Charakteristisches entweder in den Händen oder in den Füßen auftritt. Aber das alles soll ja nur darstellen, wie wichtig es ist, gerade dies oder jenes als bedeutsam zu nehmen, und als unbedeutsam etwas zu nehmen, was oftmals in der Sinneswelt als das Anschaulichste, als das Wesenslichste, als das Größte und so weiter auftritt.
In unserer Zeit, sagte ich, sind ja mancherlei merkwürdige Persönlichkeiten aufgetreten, die dastehen, ohne daß man den Zusammenhang voll überblicken kann. Da handelt es sich dann darum, gerade bei solchen Persönlichkeiten auf dasjenige hinschauen zu können, was bei ihnen eklatant, bedeutsam ist. Daß einer ein großer Künstler wird zum Beispiel, das ist etwas, was zum kleinsten Teile bedingt zu sein braucht in seinem Karma. Aber was er gerade in dieser Kunst treibt, wie er in dieser Kunst sich benimmt, das ist etwas, was im Karma besonders bedingt ist. So zum Beispiel Dinge, die, ich möchte sagen, das Leben eigentlich poetisch machen, die enthüllen sich gerade vor einer karmischen Betrachtung.
Sehen Sie, man kann da auf eines Menschen frühere Erdenleben zurückschauen. Dem jetzigen gegenüber stehen sie in gewissen Momenten ganz merkwürdig illustrierend da. Aber man versteht es nicht, sich in diese Dinge hereinzufinden, wenn man die gewöhnlichen Bedingungen des Verstehens, des Auffassens des Lebens nimmt. Denn in einem ganz anderen Sinne wird das Leben eine Realität, wenn man sich auf karmische Betrachtungen im Ernste einläßt.
Ein Beispiel. Ich will es zunächst ganz einfach erzählen. Ich ging auf der Straße, hatte ein Bild vor mir,.das Bild eines Schiffbrüchigen. Das Schiff, von dem er gekommen war, war weit weg, aber im Untergehen. Er war in einem Rettungsboote, zueilend auf ein mäßig großes Eiland. Während er doch noch im Zweifel schwebte, ob er mit seinem Boote anlangt, um sich retten zu können, hielt er den Blick merkwürdig gerichtet - ich beschreibe ein Bild - auf die sprudelnden, schäumenden Wellen, so daß ein Gefühl da war: der hat noch Sinn, die Wellen anzuschauen, trotzdem er eigentlich davor steht, jeden Augenblick untergehen zu können, Eine durchrüttelte, aber in der Durchrüttelung, also in der leibfreien Art, mit der Natur tief verbundene Seele.
Derselbe Weg, auf dem ich dieses Bild vor mir hatte, das mit der Umgebung gar keinen Zusammenhang hatte, der führte mich dann in jene Kunstausstellung hinein, in der ich zum allerersten Mal Böcklins «Toteninsel» sah.
Ich möchte das nur aus dem Grunde erwähnen, damit Sie sehen, das Dem-Leben-Gegenüberstehen muß sich erweitern, wenn man an diese Dinge herankommt. Es handelt sich nicht etwa darum, bloß auf das hinzuschauen, was man nun empfinden oder vorstellen könnte in bezug auf Böcklin, wenn man die Möglichkeit hat, in der Beobachtung seines Karma von seiner «Toteninsel» auszugehen, während man schon davorsteht. Das muß gar nicht so sein, sondern man muß unter Umständen, wenn man wissen will, wovon man da auszugehen hat, zurückgehen auf das, was man vorher wie prophetisch gesehen hat, und muß das damit verbinden.
Und so ist es auch wiederum wichtig, wenn man einem Menschen im Leben begegnet, um karmische Zusammenhänge zu finden, nicht allein dasjenige zu betrachten, was man just erlebt, wenn man ihm nun begegnet ist, sondern es kann aufklärend sein, wie das, was man im intimsten Seeleninneren vorher erlebt hat und wovon einem nachher erst das Licht aufgeht, mit dem zusammenhängt, was man nachher sieht an ihm, oder wahrnimmt von ihm oder durch ihn.
Gerade das, was für das Karma aufhellend ist, das wirft seine Schatten voraus oder auch seine Lichter. Wenn man nicht einen Sinn für diese Intimitäten des Lebens hat, die zuweilen notwendig machen, daß man nicht nur das Zukünftige mit dem Vergangenen verbindet, sondern umgekehrt das Vergangene als etwas ansieht, was Aufschluß gibt über das Zukünftige, wenn man nicht in dieser Intimität das Leben betrachtet, wird man nicht leicht jene innere Regsamkeit der Seele entwickeln, die notwendig ist, um sich in karmische Zusammenhänge hineinzuleben.
Man kann sogar sagen: Wenn besonders bedeutsame karmische Ereignisse in das Leben eines Menschen eintreten, so sind diese so, wenn sie äußerliche Ereignisse sind, daß sie mit irgendwelchen innerlichen Ereignissen zusammenhängen, die vielleicht jahrelang vorangegangen sind. Man muß sich schon eine solche erweiterte Lebensbetrachtung aneignen. Denn bedenken Sie doch das Folgende: Wenn Sie auf den menschlichen Verstand sehen, so wie er im gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein ist, so hat er ja nur seine Beziehung zur Vergangenheit. Er ist wirklich ein Epimetheus, der Verstand, er hat nur Beziehung zur Vergangenheit. Wenn Sie aber auf das menschliche Fühlen hinsehen, wie es aus den Tiefen des Gemütes herauf seine Nuancierungen erhält, so kommen Sie zu merkwürdigen Lebensgeheimnissen. Man kann sagen, an dem, was der Mensch denkt, kann man sehr wenig ermessen, wie sein Leben verläuft; an dem, was er fühlt, sehr stark. Und wenn Sie solch ein Leben betrachten, sagen wir dasjenige Goethes, und Sie stellen sich einmal die Frage: Wie kann Goethe, sagen wir 1790, gefühlt haben —, dann bekommen Sie durch die besondere Physiognomie des Goethe-Fühlens im Jahr 1790 die ganze spätere Nuancierung seines Lebens, denn die liegt im Keime da drinnen in dem Fühlen vom Jahre 1790. Sobald wir in die Tiefe der Menschenseele hinuntergehen, nehmen wir im Grunde genommen — nicht in den Einzelheiten natürlich, aber in der Nuancierung — das spätere Leben des Menschen durchaus wahr. Und der Mensch selber würde viel Aufschluß über sein Leben gewinnen können, wenn er auf die unerklärlichen Gefühlsnuancen, die nicht von außen bewirkt sind, sondern die aufsteigen, mehr achten würde.
Solch ein Achten wird sich aber der Mensch ganz besonders angewöhnen, wenn er auf alle die Dinge eingeht, die ich heute erwähnt habe und die ich weiter erwähnen werde als wichtig für die Lebensbetrachtung, die auf karmische Zusammenhänge aufmerksam werden will, sei es auf karmische Zusammenhänge im eigenen Leben, sei es auf karmische Zusammenhänge, die ja ebenso wichtig sind, bei Menschen, die einem nahestehen. Sehen Sie, da handelt es sich dann darum, nun wirklich, wenn man das Karma betrachten will, durch den Menschen in einer gewissen Weise durchzuschauen. Solange im Gesichtsfelde, möchte ich sagen, der gewöhnliche physische Mensch steht, undurchsichtig dasteht, solange man zunächst nur auf seine Physiognomie sieht, auf die Art und Weise, wie er sich gebärdet, auf die Art und Weise, wie er spricht, oder gar auf die Art und Weise, wie er denkt — was ja zumeist überhaupt nur ein schablonenmäßiger Abglanz dessen ist, wie er erzogen ist und was er erlebt hat —, solange man nur auf das alles sieht, so lange erscheint eben im Hinschauen durchaus nicht die karmische Motivierung. Diese karmische Motivierung erscheint erst, wenn der Mensch in einem gewissen Sinne durchsichtig wird.
Aber wenn der Mensch durchsichtig wird, so wird er es zunächst so, daß man eigentlich das Gefühl hat, er schwebt in der Luft. Man gewöhnt sich zunächst ab, zu glauben, der Mensch gehe oder bewege die Arme und Hände: die verliert man sozusagen zuerst. Verstehen Sie mich richtig, meine lieben Freunde: Im gewöhnlichen Leben ist einem das außerordentlich wichtig, was der Mensch mit den Armen und Beinen tut. Aber das verliert seine Bedeutung, wenn man das Tiefere im Menschen betrachten will. Nehmen Sie das im alleräußersten Umfange. Können Sie absehen von dem, was ein Mensch mit seinen Armen und Händen vollbringt, sehen Sie ihn gewissermaßen schwebend - ich bitte Sie, sich das nicht zu räumlich-bildlich vorzustellen, sondern mehr lebensgemäß -, sehen Sie ihn also gewissermaßen schwebend, das heißt, legen Sie keinen Wert auf die Reisen, die er gemacht hat, auf die Gänge, die er gemacht hat, auf das, was er durch seine Beine tut, legen Sie keinen Wert auf die äußere Arbeit, die er mit seinen Armen verrichtet, sondern sehen Sie darauf, wie er gestimmt ist, wie sein Temperament ist, wie alles das ist, woran Arme und Beine keinen Anteil haben: dann ist das die erste Durchsichtigkeit, die Sie für den Menschen gewinnen können. Stellen Sie sich vor, Sie haben hier irgendeinen Gegenstand, Sie sehen zunächst nichts als diesen Gegenstand. (Es wird gezeichnet.) Schön. Dann aber wird hier etwas darauf gezeichnet. Nun löschen wir das wieder aus. So ist es beim Menschen auch, wenn Sie zur ersten Durchsichtigkeit kommen, wenn Sie absehen vom Menschen im Leben, wenn Sie absehen von seinen Armen und Beinen. Also Sie müssen ihn herausreißen aus den Zusammenhängen, in die er durch die Verrichtung seiner Arme und Beine gekommen ist. Wenn Sie ihn dann betrachten, dann wird etwas von ihm durchsichtig. Das, was früher durch die Tätigkeit der Arme und Beine verdeckt worden ist, das sehen Sie dann durch ihn durch.

Aber was sehen Sie dann? Dann fangen Sie nämlich an zu begreifen, daß hinter dem Menschen der Mond erscheint. Ich werde den dreigeteilten Menschen schematisch zeichnen; nehmen wir an, das hier (siehe Zeichnung, elliptischer Umriß, dreigeteilt) wird zunächst durchsichtig; Arme und Beine übersehen wir. Dann erscheint uns der Mensch nicht mehr so abgegrenzt von dem Weltenall, wie er uns sonst erscheint, sondern da beginnt er hinter sich den Mond zu zeigen mit all den Impulsen, die vom Monde aus auf den Menschen wirken. Wir fangen an zu sagen: Ja, der Mensch hat eine gewisse Phantasie, entwickelte oder unentwickelte Phantasie, Dafür kann er nichts. Da stehen die Mondenkräfte dahinter. Die werden uns nur durch das verdeckt, was aus der Tätigkeit seiner Arme und Beine hervorgeht. (Die untere Partie wird durchgekreuzt.) Jetzt ist das weg, und auf dem Hintergrunde erscheint uns der schöpferische Mond. (Der Mond wird gezeichnet.)
Wir gehen weiter. Wir versuchen den Menschen weiter durchsichtig zu machen, und denken uns auch das weg. Sagen wir, wir suggerieren uns das weg, was den Menschen emotionell macht, was ihn mit einem gewissen Temperament begabt macht, was eben die mehr seelischen Äußerungen des alltäglichen Lebens sind. Da verschwindet vom Menschen noch mehr, der Mensch wird mehr durchsichtig. Und wir können weitergehen, wir können absehen von alledem, was im Menschen dadurch ist, daß er Sinne hat. Also früher haben Sie abgesehen von alledem, was im Menschen ist dadurch, daß er Arme und Beine hat. Jetzt fragen Sie sich, was bieibt von dem Menschen noch übrig, wenn ich absehe davon, daß er durch seine Sinne etwas wahrgenommen hat? Da bleibt noch eine gewisse Denkrichtung übrig, eine gewisse Impulsivität seines Denkens, eine gewisse Richtung seines Lebens. Aber dafür wird Ihnen das ganze rhythmische System, die Brust des Menschen durchsichtig. Jetzt ist auch dieses weg, und im Hintergrunde erscheint Ihnen alles das, was an Sonnenimpulsen da ist (siehe Zeichnung, Mitte). Sie schauen durch den Menschen durch und schauen eigentlich auf die Sonne, wenn Sie von alledem absehen, was der Mensch durch seine Sinne wahrgenommen hat. Das können Sie bei sich selber machen. Sie können sich fragen: Was habe ich durch meine Sinne? — Wenn Sie davon absehen, sehen Sie durch sich selber durch und sehen sich als ein Sonnengeschöpf. Und wenn Sie jetzt auch noch absehen von seinen Gedanken, seiner Denkrichtung, dann verschwindet der Kopf auch noch. Der ganze Mensch ist fort. Sie sehen durch und sehen zuletzt Saturn im Hintergrunde. Aber in diesem Augenblicke liegt Ihnen das Karma des Menschen, oder Ihr eigenes Karma, bloß da. Denn in dem Augenblicke, wo Sie die Saturnwirkungen im Menschen beobachten, wo Ihnen der Mensch ganz durchsichtig geworden ist und Sie ihn soweit betrachten, daß Sie ihn auf dem Hintergrunde des ganzen Planetensystems schauen, auf dem Hintergrunde von Mond, Sonne, Saturn, in diesem Augenblicke liegt Ihnen das Karma des Menschen da. Und wenn man von praktischen Karmaübungen spricht - ich habe ja erzählt, daß ich es schon im Beginne der Errichtung der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft tun wollte, daß es dazumal nur noch nicht geglückt ist —, so muß man eigentlich so anfangen, man muß sagen: Es handelt sich darum, daß wir bei uns oder bei anderen zunächst absehen von allem, was wir im Leben dadurch sind, daß wir arm- und beinbegabte Wesen sind. Das müssen wir fortdenken.
Also, was Sie jemals dadurch erlangt haben, daß Sie arm- und beinbegabte Wesen sind, das müssen Sie sich wegdenken. Nun werden Sie sagen: Ja, aber unser Karma erfüllen wir gerade dadurch, daß wir Arme und Beine haben! Das ist es eben! Solange Sie auf die Arme und Beine hinsehen, sehen Sie das nicht, was Sie dadurch erfüllen, daß Sie Arme und Beine haben. Sie sehen erst das, was Sie dadurch erfüllen, daß Sie Arme und Beine haben, wenn Sie auf die Arme und Beine nicht mehr hinsehen. Wenn Sie aber in der Arm- und Beintätigkeit dasjenige wirksam finden, was von Mondenimpulsen ausgeht, dann handelt es sich darum, daß wir weitergehen und absehen von dem, was der Mensch in sich aufnimmt durch seine Sinne, was er in seiner Seele hat durch seine Sinne, sei es bei uns oder bei anderen. Wir sehen ihn als Sonnenwesen, wir sehen den Sonnenimpuls in ihm. Und dann handelt es sich darum, daß wir absehen davon, daß er eine gewisse Denkrichtung hat, eine gewisse Seelenrichtung hat und so weiter. Dann sehen wir, wie er ein Saturnwesen ist.
Kommen wir so weit, dann haben wir den Menschen noch einmal vor uns, aber jetzt als Geist. Jetzt gehen auch die Beine, jetzt arbeiten auch die Arme, aber geistig, und zeigen uns wieder das, was sie tun; aber sie zeigen es uns nach den Kräften, die in ihnen walten. Und das muß man ja erfahren.
Wenn ich das geringste tue, wenn ich hier die Kreide aufhebe — solange ich bloß dieses Faktum sehe: «die Kreide-Aufnehmen», so lange weiß ich nichts von Karma. Ich muß das alles wegschaffen. Ich muß es dahin bringen, daß es sich mir noch einmal im Bilde nachschaffen kann, daß es im Bilde drinnen erscheint. Nicht durch die Kraft, die jetzt in meinen Muskeln liegt — aus der wird nichts erklärlich -, aber in dem Bilde, das dann an die Stelle tritt, erscheint dasjenige, was aus vorigen Inkarnationen heraus die Hand bewegen läßt, um die Kreide aufzunehmen.
Und so ist es, wenn ich auf die geschilderte Weise nach und nach den sichtbaren Menschen wegschaffe und hinter ihm seine Mondenimpulse, seine Sonnenimpulse, seine Saturnimpulse sehe. Dann kommt mir aus dem Weltenall das Bild des Menschen wieder entgegen. Aber das ist jetzt nicht der Mensch in seiner gegenwärtigen Inkarnation, das ist der Mensch in irgendeiner seiner vorigen Inkarnationen oder in ein paar vorigen Inkarnationen. Ich muß erst dazu kommen, daß der Mensch, den ich hier neben mir herumwandeln sehe, durchsichtig für mich wird, immer durchsichtiger und durchsichtiger, indem ich von seinem ganzen Leben absehe. Dann tritt an denselben Ort, aber hervorkommend aus Weltenfernen, der Mensch, wie er einmal war in früheren Erdenleben.
Es wird Ihnen heute vielleicht noch nicht ganz durchsichtig und verständlich sein, was über diese Zusammenhänge gesagt worden ist. Ich wollte heute auch erst fadenschlagend hinweisen auf das, was nun in der nächsten Zeit von uns berührt werden soll, wo wir eben eintreten wollen in immer genauere und genauere Betrachtungen des Wesens von Karma, wie es im Menschenleben von Erdendasein zu Erdendasein fließt.


Sixth Lecture
After we have considered a series of karmic connections that have taken place in the historical development of mankind, and after we have seen through these considerations how one or the other flows from one earth life into the next earth lives, we will now proceed to consider the karmic connections from yet another point of view, from the point of view that, I would like to say, leads even more into the immediate human life. For karmic contemplation actually only has real value in that this contemplation can flow into our living ethos, into our whole constitution of life and soul, so that by placing ourselves as human beings in the world, we can experience a strengthening and at the same time a deepening of life through karmic contemplation. After all, life has many riddles, and not all of life's riddles can be viewed in such a way that they remain unsolved. For this would gradually tear man away from his own essence. He would spend his existence like an unconscious being without acquaintance with the riddles of the human being itself. But it is man's task to become more and more conscious and aware. He can only do this if he can really see through to a certain degree everything that is actually attached to him, his soul and his spirit. And since karma is a component of our whole life and existence, it is self-evident that karmic considerations are direct considerations for the foundation of our human life.
Now, however, karmic considerations in direct application to life are actually extraordinarily difficult for the present human consciousness. For any even somewhat suitable consideration of karma in the life that surrounds us, in the life in which we ourselves stand, requires that we can face life much, much more objectively than is possible for a consciousness that grows out of the present conditions of life, out of the present conditions of education.
There is just so much in the present conditions of life into which man comes that conceals the karmic connections, makes them invisible, so that it is extraordinarily difficult to look even to some extent at what makes life understandable in terms of karma and destiny.
The human being of the present is not really suited to detach himself from himself and give himself to others. The man of the present lives extraordinarily strongly within himself. And the peculiar thing is that man today, precisely when he strives towards the spirit, when he absorbs spiritual things, is very much in danger of living even more in himself. Let us just consider, my dear friends, how things often stand with the deepening of the anthroposophical life. Many a person who has come into the anthroposophical movement in the course of his life will be able to say to himself: "When I was still on the outside, I had this or that relationship to life in which I was absorbed, which I accepted as something that was intimately connected with me. I valued this or that, I believed that this or that was necessary for life. I also had friends whom I could be close to because of the habits of life, because of what everyday life brought. Now I have come into anthroposophy. A lot of that actually stopped completely. I came out of the old contexts, at least these old contexts were no longer as valuable to me as they used to be. Some of the things I used to enjoy doing became repugnant to me. I no longer saw it as something I actually wanted to be connected to.
But if a person, having made such an observation, then goes on to think about what has taken its place for him, then he very easily finds that his selfishness has not actually diminished. I don't want to express this in a reproachful way, even with a hint of reproach, but simply as a fact that people can observe very well in themselves: His selfishness has actually increased! In fact, he now pays much more attention to the way his inner self, his mind, is constituted. In fact, he now asks much more questions than he used to: What kind of impression does the other person make on me?
In the past, he took what the other person next to him did for granted. Now he no longer does. Now he asks about the impression it makes on him. Or he used to be in some kind of life context that was quite plausible to him. He did his duties and so on. Now these duties become repugnant to him, now he wants to get out of these duties because he thinks they are not spiritual enough and so on. So it is precisely the spiritual striving within anthroposophy that leads very easily into a kind of egoism, into taking oneself much, much more seriously than one has taken oneself before.
The whole thing, however, is based on the fact that in such a case it is not the expansion of life's interests outwards that has occurred, but that life's interests have retreated inwards. I have often mentioned that those who really grow into the anthroposophical life do not take less interest in the outer life, but through anthroposophy take much more interest in this outer life, that all other beings begin to become infinitely more interesting to them, much more valuable. But for this it is necessary that one does not withdraw from the outer life, but that one sees the spirituality within the outer life.
Of course, things will appear that you didn't notice before. But then you have to have the courage to notice them and not look past them. For a karmic view of life, it is absolutely necessary to acquire a certain degree of the gift of going out of oneself and into the other person. This is of course particularly difficult when the other person becomes a tool for karmic balancing in life, which is unpleasant or perhaps even painful. But without being able to go out of oneself in the things that are unpleasant and painful, a karmic, a truly valid karmic view of life is actually not possible. For just consider what conditions exist in the world for karma to arise.
We are in a certain human life. In this human life we do, think and feel one thing or another. We enter into relationships with people, and within these relationships one thing or another takes place. We think, feel, want and do things that require a karmic balance. We enter into relationships with people as a result of which things happen that in turn require a karmic balance. Just take a look at a human life on earth from this point of view and then see that at the end of this earthly life the human being enters the spiritual world through the gate of death.
He now lives inside in the spiritual world. In the spiritual world it is not the same as in the physical world. In the physical world, you stand outside of other people. You are also outside those with whom you have already had human contact. After all, there is at least air between two people in the physical world and everyone has their own skin. So people in the physical world, no matter how close they are to each other, can in a certain sense hold themselves back within themselves.
But this is not possible when one has passed through the gate of death and lives in the spiritual world. Take a blatant case. You have done something to someone that requires karmic compensation. You continue to live with him after you have both passed through the gate of death. You do not then live in the other person through your good will or through your inner perfection - not just in yourself, but really in the other person - but you live in the other person by necessity, if I may put it that way.
Assume that person A and person B pass through the gate of death. Afterwards they are in the spiritual world. B and A stand opposite each other in the spiritual world. Yes, then, while here B has lived in himself and A in himself, A lives just as well as in himself inB and B just as well as in himself in A. In the spiritual world, people live completely in each other, carried by the very forces that have accumulated in their lives on earth. After death we do not come into relationship with just any people, but precisely with those people with whom relationships have arisen in good and evil. But these relationships mean that we not only live in ourselves, but also in the other person.

Now imagine that you have done something to some person, or let us say that B has done something to A which demands a karmic compensation. Now, as the B passes through the gate of death, he lives in the A after death, as he passes through the world between death and a new birth. And in this out-of-self-life he causes the karmic balance to happen. So that which is to happen in the karmic balance in the next life on earth through man A, you yourself cause through your living over into man A. Only through the fact that man A then descends again into the physical earth world, does he make what you have actually placed in him his own deed. And he then meets you in the next life on earth with that which you actually want to inflict on yourself through him.
So if I receive something from another person in the next earthly life as karmic compensation, it is the case that while I was in him in the time between death and a new birth, I have put it into him bit by bit myself. There it was not his deed at all, but it only becomes his deed again when he descends into earthly life. So that the conditions of karma in the course of the world are those which exist through the living together of karmically connected people in the time between death and a new birth.
Now, if we look at ordinary life on earth, then we do not actually see extraordinarily deeply in this ordinary life on earth. Basically, we perceive extraordinarily little of the other person consciously. For example, we notice a certain difference in the other person's behavior towards us very little. We encounter some person in life; let's say he behaves in a certain way. Now we will hardly notice that a person can really behave in a certain way towards us and that there can be quite different motives and impulses for this behavior in him. A person can behave in a hostile way towards me. This hostile behavior can be such that I simply have a provocative effect on him through my existence, that he is attuned to something quite different in man than what I bring to him. As a result, I am treated by him in a certain way. But this treatment can be such that it only balances itself out karmically in the next life. It can be something quite original, something that is not at all conditioned by previous lives on earth.
On the other hand, I can receive a very similar, perhaps the same treatment from a person into whom I have gradually implanted what follows from this treatment in the life between death and a new birth.
The feeling that can distinguish between two such treatments that are outwardly the same, this feeling is extraordinarily underdeveloped in people today. Otherwise something would emerge much more in life which, in fact, hardly emerges at all today, but which must emerge again so that the ethos of life can become much purer, so that moral feeling can become much stronger. Something must simply reappear in life which was in human feeling in earlier times, in times not so far back, namely that one has the feeling towards one person that he hates you and does these or those things out of hatred towards you; but that one has the feeling towards the other person that he must do something against you because he simply cannot do otherwise. The first could do otherwise; the second simply cannot do otherwise, he is inwardly predestined to behave in this way.
This feeling, which can be distinguished in a subtle way in the facts of life, must in turn become more general. This feeling will give life many nuances that are extremely important in life.
And then there is another. You will easily admit that man comes into relationships with other people and that many things are attached to these relationships which do not interest him in the same way as these relationships themselves. Let me construct a very striking case. Suppose you enter a society - I do not mean the Anthroposophical Society, I exclude it from this, for reasons that will come out in the course of these karma lectures - but you enter a society. The reason why you enter this society may lie in the fact that you have a karmic connection with one or two people, perhaps only with one person in this society. But you must, by entering this society, in order to come as close to the person in question as your karmic relations make necessary, take everything else in the society with you. While only the relationship with this one person is karmically important, you take with you everything else that comes to you in this society through people you meet there and so on.
The point is that we also need to know: Life confronts us in such a way that it has nuanced relationships with us in the most diverse ways, from the most indifferent relationships to the most significant relationships in the deepest sense, which stand right next to each other.
But then again there is something else. In addition, the outer life is often Maja, the great illusion. So that it can happen - I am constructing another case - that you enter into a society, but the relationship with one person, which is well preconditioned karmically, turns out to be very difficult. You first have to establish relationships with all kinds of other people in order to get to the one person. So you go through all kinds of other people to get to the one. In this way you enter into relationships with other people which, I would like to say, prove to be extraordinarily effective before the robust observation of life, yes, which assert themselves strongly, which are strongly there, while perhaps the relationship which you then finally come to, which can be karmically significant, takes place gently, quietly, unnoticed or almost unnoticed.

So that it can really be the case that what is karmically significant in some context of life appears like a small hill next to giant mountains, which, however, have little significance. However, the small hill only appears in its true meaning before a spiritualized observation. It really is the case that the events that enter our lives cause us many, many deceptions. As a rule, we do not know how to evaluate them if we only consider one life on earth. If we look at other earthly lives in the background, then we can only properly evaluate the events of the one earthly life.
I would just like to cite one example. It is true that strange personalities have appeared in our time. Apart from those whom I have already placed before you karmically, there have been many extremely strange personalities here and there. And an external observation often does not lead into the karmic connections, but only an observation that can go into the distinctive points of life. And then, I would like to say, those facts emerge with complete clarity which draw our attention to the fact that outer life is actually illusory in many respects if we do not consider it on the basis of the spiritual. I recently cited an example here that may have seemed very strange to you, the example of an alchemist, an old alchemist from the school of Basilius Valentinus, who reappeared as Frank Wedekind.
I was led to the observation of this strange karma - the starting point is not always significant, once the starting point has led to inner clarity, then of course things become different - by the fact that I have hardly ever seen hands like Frank Wedekind's, and that I once saw Frank Wedekind acting with these hands in Munich, acting himself in his “Hidalla”. The whole apparent chaos of this play, which is of course a horror for a philistine mind, as I said the other day, in connection with the impression I had of his hands in the past, that made the alchemical operations he did appear. And on the basis of the “Hidalla” in connection with these strange hands, this earlier incarnation appeared, which could then be followed up.
There you see that one must develop an eye for that which can be extraordinarily significant in a being, in a human being in particular. There are people for whom the face is the characteristic feature. But there are also people for whom it is not the face at all, but the hands, for example; and you can't take anything from the face, only something from the hands. If you go from the individual to the general, using the example I have just given, then you will, I would say, be able to grasp with your hands how things are. It was precisely with such alchemists of the Middle Ages that they had to acquire an extraordinary dexterity of hands.
I have explained here in earlier lectures how nothing remains of what man has as his head. But what he has in the rest of his organism is then formed in the head. But when the human being is a child, the entire formation of the human being starts from the head. Especially such expressive organs as the hands are formed according to the most intimate impulses of the head. Thus one can almost expect that in someone who has worked, as alchemists work, something particularly characteristic will appear either in the hands or in the feet. But all this is only to show how important it is to take this or that as significant, and to take as insignificant something that often appears in the sensory world as the most vivid, the most essential, the greatest and so on.
In our time, I said, many strange personalities have appeared who stand there without one being able to fully comprehend the context. The point is to be able to look at what is striking and significant about such personalities. That someone becomes a great artist, for example, is something that needs to be conditioned in the smallest part by his karma. But what he does in this art, how he behaves in this art, that is something that is particularly conditioned in his karma. For example, things that, I would like to say, actually make life poetic, reveal themselves in the face of karmic observation.
You see, you can look back at a person's previous lives on earth. In certain moments, they are quite strangely illustrative of the present. But one does not understand how to enter into these things if one takes the usual conditions of understanding, of grasping life. For life becomes a reality in a completely different sense when one seriously engages in karmic contemplation.
An example. Let me start by telling it quite simply. I was walking along the street and had a picture in front of me, the picture of a shipwrecked man. The ship he had come from was far away, but sinking. He was in a lifeboat, hurrying towards a moderately large island. While he was still in doubt as to whether he would arrive with his boat to be able to save himself, he kept his gaze strangely directed - I am describing a picture - at the bubbling, foaming waves, so that there was a feeling: he still has sense to look at the waves, although he is actually about to sink at any moment, a soul that is shaken, but in the shaking, i.e. in the bodiless way, deeply connected with nature.
The same path that led me to this picture, which had no connection at all with its surroundings, then led me to the art exhibition where I saw Böcklin's “Isle of the Dead” for the very first time.
I only want to mention this so that you can see that the confrontation with life has to expand when you get to these things. It is not a question of merely looking at what one might now feel or imagine in relation to Böcklin, if one has the possibility of starting from his “Isle of the Dead” in the observation of his karma, while one is already standing in front of it. It doesn't have to be that way, but if you want to know what you have to start from, you may have to go back to what you have seen before, as if prophetically, and you have to connect that with it.
And so it is also important when you meet a person in life, in order to find karmic connections, not only to look at what you have just experienced when you have now met him, but it can be enlightening how what you have previously experienced in the most intimate inner soul and of which the light only dawns on you afterwards, is connected with what you see in him afterwards, or perceive from him or through him.
It is precisely that which is illuminating for karma that casts its shadow or its light. If one does not have a sense for these intimacies of life, which sometimes make it necessary not only to connect the future with the past, but conversely to see the past as something that gives information about the future, if one does not look at life in this intimacy, one will not easily develop that inner responsiveness of the soul that is necessary to live into karmic connections.
It can even be said that when particularly significant karmic events occur in a person's life, if they are external events, they are related to some inner events that may have preceded them for years. One must acquire such an extended view of life. For consider the following: If you look at the human mind as it is in ordinary consciousness, it has only its relationship to the past. It is really an epimetheus, the mind, it only has a relationship to the past. But if you look at human feeling, how it receives its nuances from the depths of the mind, you come to strange secrets of life. You can say that you can judge very little of how a person's life is going by what he thinks, but very much by what he feels. And if you look at such a life, let us say that of Goethe, and you ask yourself the question: How could Goethe have felt, let us say, in 1790 - then you will get the whole later nuance of his life through the particular physiognomy of Goethe's feeling in 1790, for it lies in germ in the feeling of 1790. As soon as we go down into the depths of the human soul, we basically perceive - not in the details of course, but in the nuances - the later life of the human being. And man himself would be able to gain much insight into his life if he were to pay more attention to the inexplicable nuances of feeling that are not caused from the outside, but which arise.
However, a person will become particularly accustomed to such attentiveness if he pays attention to all the things that I have mentioned today and that I will continue to mention as important for the observation of life that wants to become aware of karmic connections, be it karmic connections in his own life, be it karmic connections that are just as important with people who are close to him. You see, if you want to look at karma, you really have to look through the person in a certain way. As long as the ordinary physical human being stands in the field of vision, I would like to say, as long as one only looks at his physiognomy, at the way he behaves, at the way he speaks, or even at the way he thinks - which is usually only a template-like reflection of how he has been brought up and what he has experienced - as long as one only looks at all this, the karmic motivation does not appear at all. This karmic motivation only appears when the person becomes transparent in a certain sense.
But when the human being becomes transparent, he first becomes so that one actually has the feeling that he is floating in the air. At first you get out of the habit of believing that the person is walking or moving his arms and hands: you lose them first, so to speak. Understand me correctly, my dear friends: In ordinary life, what a person does with his arms and legs is extremely important to him. But this loses its significance if you want to look at the deeper things in people. Take this to the extreme. If you can disregard what a person accomplishes with his arms and hands, see him as floating, so to speak - I ask you not to imagine this too spatially and figuratively, but more in line with life -, see him as floating, so to speak, that is, do not attach any importance to the journeys he has made, to the movements he has made, that he has made, on the walks that he has taken, on what he does with his legs, do not attach any importance to the external work that he does with his arms, but look at how he is in tune, how his temperament is, how everything is that in which arms and legs have no part: then that is the first transparency you can gain for the human being. Imagine you have some object here, and at first you see nothing but this object. (It is drawn.) Fine. But then something is drawn on it. Now we erase it again. It's the same with people when you come to the first transparency, when you disregard people in life, when you disregard their arms and legs. So you have to tear him out of the contexts into which he has come through the use of his arms and legs. If you then look at him, something about him becomes transparent. What was previously concealed by the activity of his arms and legs can then be seen through him.

But what do you see then? Then you begin to realize that the moon appears behind the human being. I will draw the three-part human being schematically; let us assume that this (see drawing, elliptical outline, three-part) first becomes transparent; we overlook the arms and legs. Then man no longer appears to us as separate from the universe as he usually does, but begins to show the moon behind him with all the impulses that act on man from the moon. We begin to say: Yes, man has a certain imagination, developed or undeveloped imagination, but he can't help it. The moon forces are behind it. They are only concealed from us by what emerges from the activity of his arms and legs. (The lower part is crossed out.) Now that is gone, and the creative moon appears in the background. (The moon is drawn.)
We go further. We try to make the human being even more transparent and think that away too. Let us say, we suggest away that which makes man emotional, which endows him with a certain temperament, which are the more spiritual expressions of everyday life. More of the human being disappears, the human being becomes more transparent. And we can go further, we can disregard everything that is in man because he has senses. In the past, you used to disregard everything that is in man because he has arms and legs. Now ask yourself, what remains of man if I disregard the fact that he has perceived something through his senses? There still remains a certain direction of thought, a certain impulsiveness of his thinking, a certain direction of his life. But in return the whole rhythmic system, the human breast, becomes transparent to you. Now this is also gone, and in the background all the solar impulses appear to you (see drawing, center). You look through the human being and actually look at the sun, if you disregard everything that the human being has perceived through his senses. You can do this with yourself. You can ask yourself: What do I have through my senses? - If you disregard this, you will see through yourself and see yourself as a creature of the sun. And if you now also disregard his thoughts, his direction of thought, then the head also disappears. The whole person is gone. You look through and finally see Saturn in the background. But at this moment the person's karma, or your own karma, is just there. For at the moment when you observe the effects of Saturn in the human being, when the human being has become completely transparent to you and you look at him to such an extent that you see him in the background of the whole planetary system, in the background of the moon, sun and Saturn, at this moment the karma of the human being is there for you. And when one speaks of practical karma exercises - I have already told you that I wanted to do this at the beginning of the establishment of the Anthroposophical Society, but that it was not yet possible at that time - one must actually begin in this way, one must say: It is a question of our first refraining in ourselves or in others from all that we are in life by virtue of the fact that we are beings gifted with arms and legs. We have to think that through.
So, whatever you have ever gained by being beings gifted with arms and legs, you have to think it away. Now you will say: Yes, but we fulfill our karma precisely by having arms and legs! That's just it! As long as you look at the arms and legs, you don't see what you fulfill by having arms and legs. You only see what you fulfill by having arms and legs when you no longer look at the arms and legs. But if you find in the activity of arms and legs that which emanates from lunar impulses, then it is a matter of going further and looking away from what man takes into himself through his senses, what he has in his soul through his senses, be it with us or with others. We see him as a solar being, we see the solar impulse in him. And then it is a question of our leaving aside the fact that he has a certain direction of thought, a certain direction of soul and so on. Then we see how he is a Saturnian being.
When we get this far, we have the human being before us once again, but now as a spirit. Now the legs also walk, now the arms also work, but spiritually, and show us again what they do; but they show it to us according to the forces that rule in them. And you have to experience that.
If I do the least, if I pick up the chalk here - as long as I only see this fact: “picking up the chalk”, I know nothing of karma. I have to get rid of it all. I have to bring it to the point where it can recreate itself for me once again in the image, so that it appears within the image. Not through the power that now lies in my muscles - nothing can be explained by that - but in the image that then takes its place, that which from previous incarnations makes the hand move to pick up the chalk appears.
And so it is when I gradually remove the visible human being in the way described and see behind him his moon impulses, his sun impulses, his Saturn impulses. Then the image of the human being comes back to me from the universe. But this is not the human being in his present incarnation, this is the human being in one of his previous incarnations or in a few previous incarnations. I must first come to the point where the human being I see walking around next to me becomes transparent to me, more and more transparent as I look away from his whole life. Then the human being as he once was in earlier earthly lives steps into the same place, but emerging from worlds far away.
It may not yet be completely clear and understandable to you today what has been said about these connections. Today I also wanted to first point out what we will be touching on in the near future, where we want to enter into ever more precise and accurate observations of the nature of karma as it flows in human life from earthly existence to earthly existence.

