Karmic Relationships II
GA 236
29 May 1924, Dornach
Lecture XII
In my last lecture here I spoke of how man is related to the Spiritual Hierarchies during the different periods of his life.—I should like to repeat that the aim of all these lectures is to lead us to a better and better understanding of how karma works in human life and in human evolution. Everything is really a preparation for this.
I told you that from a man's birth until about his 21st year, the Third Hierarchy is related to him in a special way; at the age of puberty the Second Hierarchy—Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes—begins to work. These Hierarchical Orders continue to work from puberty until the 21st year in the first period of their influence; in the second period they work until the 28th year, and in the third period until the 35th year. But from the 28th year onwards, an inner relationship begins with the First Hierarchy—Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones. These Beings of the First Hierarchy continue working, in the first phase of their influence until the 35th year (during which period they co-operate with the Second Hierarchy), in the second phase until the 42nd year, and in the third phase until the 49th year.
Now the influences exercised directly by the Hierarchies during the various periods of man's life interweave, as it were, with the influences which play, as reflections, into these periods of life from the Spiritual Beings of the planetary spheres. As we look at the outer, physical radiance of the planets, we know that each of these heavenly bodies is but the sign that in the direction where we behold it there is a colony of spiritual Beings in the cosmos.
Our constitution as human beings is such that within the physical body we have an etheric body. The moment a man acquires the faculty of super-sensible, Imaginative Knowledge, he is able to perceive everything that can be revealed to him through the etheric body. And then, as he looks back over the tableau of his earthly life since birth, all the events he has lived through and the forces that have influenced his development and determined his organisation of body, soul and spirit, lie manifest before the eye of soul in a mighty panorama, as if time had become space.
At this stage of Imaginative Consciousness on the path of Initiation, life can be surveyed in this way.
When, however, the stage of Inspiration, Knowledge through Inspiration, is reached, a higher revelation is added to the memory-tableau of the earthly life. This higher revelation is possible because in Inspired Consciousness the Imaginations are suppressed and the pictures of the events of earthly life, even when they have been perceived through the etheric body, are no longer there.
If by means of a diagram I were to represent this backward survey as a stream (drawing it as if presented to physical sight, not to the eye of soul) you must picture that the several phases are blotted out in Inspired Consciousness and manifestation of a different character revealed.
First of all, something is made manifest as a kind of revelation within this first phase and if we can find our bearings in the sphere of Inspiration, we become aware of what it is that is actually appearing.
Please understand me.—We gaze at a tableau of the whole of earthly life. Part of this tableau is obliterated, blotted out as it were, when Inspired Consciousness has been attained on the path of Initiation—in this case the phase in the memory-tableau from birth until the 7th year. This is blotted out and in its place the deeds resulting from the connection between the Moon Beings and man after death lie manifest before the eye of soul.
I told you, for example, how the life after death undergone by the personality who was the model for Strader in the Mystery Plays, was experienced. What happens in such a case is that one looks, first of all, at the memory-tableau; then, in Inspired Consciousness, this memory-tableau is obliterated. When the part of the tableau corresponding to the period from birth until the 7th year is obliterated, the deeds of which I have told you are made manifest—the deeds wrought by the Moon Beings in connection with the human being after death. Such experiences are possible when the course of life from birth until the 7th year becomes transparent and the Moon Beings and their deeds are revealed. Vision of the revelations connected with this phase of life is possible for every Initiate and is indeed the easiest to attain.
As you will readily understand, Initiation is possible at any age in life, with the exception of early childhood. Children up to the age of seven are not, as a rule, initiated. And if what I am now describing is to be seen and understood, one must, in the present earthly life, have passed beyond this age. Everyone who is initiated has passed the age of seven. That is why vision of what is disclosed by this first phase of life is comparatively easy to attain. What is here revealed are, as we have heard, the experiences undergone by a human being after death during the backward journey which lasts for a third of the time of his earthly life.
A second revelation is possible when that part of the backward survey which corresponds to the years between 7 and 14—that is to say, to the time of puberty—becomes visible to Inspired Consciousness. The experiences lived through by the human being after death as he ascends from the sphere of the Moon to that of Mercury are then revealed.
Having traversed the sphere of the Moon, man ascends to the sphere of Mercury. But in order to establish relationship with human beings in the Mercury-sphere, the phase of life between the 7th and 14th years, between the time of the change of teeth and that of puberty, must be obliterated from the memory-tableau.
If in Inspired Consciousness, the next phase of life is obliterated, enabling what can become visible here to shine through, the experiences undergone by man in the sphere of Venus after death are revealed.
Thus in looking back with the Inspired Consciousness of Initiation over these first periods of life, one beholds what is happening in the macrocosm, the spiritual macrocosm, to the Dead, the so-called Dead.
You will realise from what I am saying that infinite wisdom is contained in the terminology used by ancient science. For the element of love is associated with the name of Venus. Vision of the Venus-sphere corresponds to the period of human life following the onset of puberty.
Then there is a period lasting from the 21st until the 42nd year of life. When this period is revealed in Inspired Consciousness, one experiences—or can at any rate experience—what a dead man undergoes in the period that is by far the longest—in his life between death and a new birth, when he is living together with the Sun Beings. The Sun-existence between death and rebirth is now revealed.
The Sun is a heavenly body of such might, embracing such a multitude of spiritual forces and spiritual Beings, that in order to perceive all the influences of the spiritual Sun-sphere upon the human being between death and rebirth, a period three times as long as the others must be obliterated from the memory-tableau, namely the whole period between the 21st and 42nd years. You will realise from this that Initiates themselves must have passed the age of 42 before they are able to look back upon man's connection with the Sun Beings between death and a new birth. This connection cannot be perceived in its fullness before then. To grow older, you see, has an important bearing upon spiritual vision itself. There are realities for the perception of which a certain maturity of years, not only a certain degree of Initiation, must have been reached.
We come now to the period between the 42nd and 49th years. This is the point to which I tried to lead in the last lecture, for when man reaches his 49th year the possibility of direct relationship with the Hierarchies ceases. You will have gathered this from what I have said. We shall consider presently how it is with men who have passed the age of 49.
If our attention is focussed upon influences which interweave with this phase of the tableau—we ourselves must of course have reached the age of 50 or more—and we look back at the span of time between the 42nd and the 49th years, we can behold the experiences a man undergoes after death in connection with the Beings of the Mars-sphere.
But in this sphere the spiritual world begins to impart a strongly individualised character to the karma of the human being when he is on earth. You have heard that a man's karma is prepared during the period which immediately follows death and lasts for a third of the time of the earthly life. Karma is then gradually elaborated, and I have already indicated how this takes place. Karma is elaborated, wrought out, in union with higher Beings.
Now there are men whose karma is elaborated mainly in the Mercury-sphere, or in the Venus-sphere, or in the Sun-sphere; and again there are others whose karma is elaborated mainly in the sphere of Mars. Human beings who by virtue of their earlier earthly lives bring into the spiritual world something that must be elaborated chiefly in the sphere of Mars, give evidence of this during their next life on earth. Let me give you an example.—
At the time when the influence of Mohammedanism upon civilisation had already spread across Asia, Northern Africa and into Spain, there lived a personality whose spiritual development proceeded, to begin with, in Northern Africa, in a School which in spite of having become decadent, was similar to the School in which, very much earlier, St. Augustine had spent the same phase of his life. The study in which this personality engaged in Northern Africa was entirely similar in character and trend.
We must picture to ourselves that in those days the pursuit of knowledge was something very different from what it is to-day. Little is to be heard at the present time about the kind of study that was pursued so many centuries ago in Northern Africa by St. Augustine, or, later on, by the personality of whom I am now speaking. But at that time, particularly in Northern Africa, studies connected with the Mysteries were still possible although the Mysteries were in the throes of decline. The personality to whom I am referring had pursued such studies, had imbibed all that could be learned from them concerning the independence of the human soul, the realms experienced by the soul when liberated from the body, and so forth. Then this personality joined in the Mohammedan campaigns and went over to Spain. There he absorbed much Mohammedan-Asiatic learning in the form into which it had already been re-cast in Spain; also much of the lore that had been spread far and wide by the Jews—it was not, however, the Cabbalism that was so universally cultivated later on, in the Middle Ages, but an older form of Cabbalism. And so in the early years after the Mohammedan campaigns we find this personality steeped in Mohammedanism but working along particular lines: reckoning, calculating, according to Cabbalistic principles.
All this was lived through again in a later incarnation as a woman, when it was inwardly deepened, received by the heart rather than by the head.
Then, later on, in the 18th century, this same individuality passed over into a man who has become a world-famous figure in French culture, namely Voltaire. This individuality appeared again in Voltaire.
When our gaze is directed to the experiences lived through by this individuality between death and a new birth, before he became Voltaire—experiences that were the outcome of his previous earthly lives—we find that the fruits of his studies in Northern Africa, with their subsequent Cabbalistic trend, were wrought out in the sphere of Mars during the second half of his life between death and rebirth. And with the results of the metamorphosis that can be wrought in the Mars-sphere, Voltaire came again in the 18th century as Voltaire. I am therefore able to bring him forward as an example of the elaboration of karma in the sphere of Mars between death and a new birth.
Now the Mars Beings imbue everything with an element of aggressiveness—be it in the domain of physical, psychical or spiritual qualities. Nay more, they make a man combative, warlike by nature. This warlike element is compatible not only with attack but also with retreat—otherwise wars could not be waged! I think this was obvious enough during the World War.
Look at the whole life of Voltaire.—It was a life in which splendid qualities of soul were developed, but it was a life of attack, of aggression, and also of withdrawal and retreat—at times engaging in attacks with almost foolhardy daring, at others evincing actual cowardice in retreat.
It is much better to study these things from examples where the whole character and tenor of the life can be discerned than to study them in theory. That is why I am taking examples of this kind.
And now when a man penetrates with the Inspired consciousness of Initiation into the phase of life between the 49th and 56th years—he must be considerably older than was necessary for the vision connected with the earlier periods—he attains knowledge of what the Beings of the Jupiter region can bring about in human beings during their life between death and a new birth.
Acquaintance with the Beings of the Jupiter-sphere makes a very remarkable impression.—One must of course have passed the age of 56 before this experience is possible.—The first impression is one of astonishment that Beings like those belonging to the Jupiter-sphere can exist at all.—I mean that as a man on earth one is astonished, not as a man between death and rebirth; for then, of course, one is actually connected with these Jupiter Beings. They are Beings who need not ‘learn’ anything, because the moment they take form—I cannot say ‘the moment they are born’ as you will presently see—they are already wise, supremely wise. They are never stupid, never unwise. They are as men on earth would often like to be—men who do not appreciate the blessings of being taught and would prefer to be wise directly they are born. These Beings on Jupiter are not ‘born’; they simply arise out of the whole organism of Jupiter. Rather in the way that we see clouds forming out of the atmosphere, so do these Beings arise out of Jupiter, and once they are there they can be regarded as embodied wisdom. Neither do they die; they are merely transformed, they undergo metamorphosis. Jupiter is in essence weaving wisdom. Picture yourselves standing, let us say, on the Rigi, and looking down at the clouds. And now imagine that you are looking, not upon weaving clouds of water-vapour but upon weaving wisdom itself, weaving thought-images which are actually Beings.—Then you will have an impression of Jupiter.
Again let me give an example of the way in which karma can be elaborated in this Jupiter-sphere.
There was a personality who lived in the later period of Mexican civilisation and was connected with the utterly decadent, pseudo-magical Mystery cults of Mexico; with an intense thirst for knowledge he studied everything with close and meticulous exactitude. My attention was attracted to him through having made the acquaintance some years ago of a curious man who is still engaged in a primitive form of study of the decadent superstitions of the Mexican Mysteries. Such lore is of negligible importance, because anyone who studies these things at the present time is studying pure superstition; it has all become decadent to-day. But the other personality to whom I am referring imbibed with fervent enthusiasm all that could be learnt from the still flourishing Mexican civilisation before the discovery, the so-called ‘discovery’ of America. In those days Mexican civilisation was still influenced by the Mysteries but was already in the throes of decline. When mention is made to-day of Taotl, Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoka—the Beings of the Mexican Mysteries—little more is known than the names and a few scattered images. But this personality still knew that Taotl is a Being who as a cosmic, universal Spirit weaves in the clouds, lives in the lightning and the thunder. He knew too that under certain given conditions this Spirit could be invoked into consecrated water by enactments of sacred ritual. And he knew that Quetzalcoatl was a Divine Being who could take hold of man in his circulating blood, in the working of his breath. Living reality of Being was experienced in the Mexican Mysteries by the personality of whom I am speaking. He was reborn in a later age without any intermediate life as a woman. He had been a man in Mexico and was born again as a man. But in his life between death and rebirth this individuality passed through the super-sensible world in such a way that in the development of his karma—this in turn was the outcome of still earlier incarnations not in Mexico but elsewhere—he bore through the Jupiter region all that he had experienced in Mexico: knowledge that had degenerated into superstition but was nevertheless replete with vitality, saturated with the fruits of older civilisations. In the Jupiter-sphere all this assumed the form of wisdom, but a wisdom that is in truth automatic, unconscious, when compared with the wisdom man should make his own by individual effort.
When in the elaboration of karma between death and a new birth, the living, weaving wisdom of the Jupiter-sphere pours over what has been experienced by a man in a previous earthly life, wisdom and its light can still shine forth in the subsequent life. But the wisdom, then, is founded on the experiences of earthly life.
The individuality of whom I am speaking was born again in modern civilisation as Eliphas Levi. Eliphas Levi, therefore, had spent his previous incarnation in the Mexican civilisation, had then passed through the sphere of Jupiter with its wisdom, and in this sphere of Jupiter everything was worked through once again. But Mexican culture is a decadent culture and if you read the books of Eliphas Levi to-day you will find evidence of great wisdom spread out as it were over something extremely primitive. And one who has insight into these things will say: all this is Jupiter, but inferior Jupiter!
When it is possible to survey the period of life from the 56th to the 63rd year—and I myself am now in this position—one gazes at the influences exercised upon man between death and rebirth by Saturn, by the Beings of Saturn. This is an even more startling vista, a vista that causes bewilderment, nay indeed actual pain.
The Beings associated with Saturn are Beings who by their very nature take no heed at all of what they do in the immediate present; they act as it were unconsciously, under the sway of much loftier Beings into whose world they enter on reaching maturity. But as soon as they have done something, it stands there in powerful, living remembrance.
Try for a moment to imagine yourselves in this position ... I am not referring to any particular vocation or profession ... but just picture yourselves doing something, no matter what, and not noticing anything at all while you are actually doing it; but once you have done it, it stands there in living remembrance as an intensely vivid picture. Take a singer: he sings but is unconscious that he is doing so; he is simply being used by the Gods to sing. Imagine a large audience listening to him; as long as he is actually singing he is aware of nothing at all; he knows nothing, either about himself or about what he is experiencing. But the moment it is all over and the concert ended, the whole event is there and does not fade away; it remains and forms part of the content of his very life. On Saturn, man is the past, only the past.
Think of yourselves walking over the earth. As you walk you see nothing of yourself. But when you have gone a little further and look back, you see a little snowman—he is a figure of yourself as you were before you took the last step. Again you observe nothing, but walk on, and another little snowman stands behind you. And so it continues, with more and more little snowmen standing behind you. To all of them you say “I”.—Now transpose this imagery into the spiritual and you have the key to the nature of the Saturn Beings. Between death and a new birth man has to encounter these Beings—Beings who live wholly in the past. And there are men who in the elaboration of their karma have a particularly strong connection with these Saturn Beings.
The destiny of such men can be intelligible only when one looks back upon the period of life between the 56th and 63rd years. Again I will give an example in order to show you how karmic events in life point back to happenings in the super-sensible world between death and a new birth.
When I was speaking to you not long ago about the Hibernian Mysteries, I told you how difficult it is to approach these Mysteries, how they seem to thrust one back; and I spoke of the wonder and the sublimity of what was experienced in these Hibernian Mysteries in Ireland. I described how the pupil, having first learned to know the utmost depths of doubt and uncertainty in life, was led before two statues. The first consisted of a substance that was elastic throughout and the pupil was exhorted to touch or to press this statue again and again. The indents made in the statue gave rise to a feeling of overwhelming dread: it was as if one had constantly to cut, I cannot say into a corpse, but into living flesh—a horrifying experience for any sensitive person.
The second statue retained every indent made upon it by pressure and its form was only restored, made intact, after an interval of time, when the candidate for Initiation was led before the statue again.
I told you how those who were initiated in these Hibernian Mysteries experienced the glory and majesty of the microcosm, that is to say of man himself, and of the great world, the macrocosm. The impressions were tremendously powerful, of indescribable sublimity.
One of those who had participated with intense fervour in the Hibernian Mysteries and had reached a high degree of Initiation, was destined after death to penetrate deeply into the Saturn-sphere.—His earthly life within these Mysteries was the outcome of still earlier incarnations.—He had been profoundly moved by the grandeur and majesty of what he had experienced in the Mysteries of Hibernia.—When I was describing them to you I told you that in spiritual vision, without any kind of connection in physical space, the Initiates beheld the actual Event of Golgotha.
The individuality of whom I am speaking lived through all these experiences again with great intensity of feeling and was subsequently born again in our own period of civilisation.
Picture to yourselves what this personality acquired by virtue of the fact that the karma of his last life had been elaborated, wrought out in the Saturn-sphere. Everything presented itself to him in the light of the past. He beheld his experiences in the Hibernian Mysteries in the light cast by the Saturn Beings over the far, far distant past, and majestic pictures of pre-earthly times, of Moon periods and Sun-periods came alive in him.
When he was born again, all that before this earthly incarnation had been bathed in the past, coloured by the past, transformed itself into mighty pictures—idealistic, albeit visionary pictures which cast their light into the future and came to expression in a transcendental romanticism.
In short, this individuality who had once been initiated in the Hibernian Mysteries, was born in our epoch—our epoch in the wider sense—as Victor Hugo. In its romanticism, in its whole configuration, Victor Hugo's life bears the stamp of karma wrought out in the Saturn-sphere.
These are small contributions towards an understanding of how karma originates and takes shape. As I said, the best way of getting to understand karma is to study concrete examples. For the study of how karma is elaborated in the case of men like Voltaire, Eliphas Levi, Victor Hugo, is full of the deepest interest and leads to a knowledge of the connection of the human being on earth with the macrocosmic, spiritual being engaged in the elaboration of karma between death and a new birth.
Zwolfter Vortrag
Ich habe ja das letzte Mal Ihnen angeführt, wie der Mensch im Verlaufe seines Lebens zu den verschiedenen Hierarchien der höheren Welt steht, und ich möchte bemerken, daß alles, was da vorgebracht wird, doch zuletzt darauf führen wird, die Wirkung des Karma im menschlichen Leben und in der menschlichen Entwickelung immer besser und besser zu begreifen. Es sind also alles Vorbereitungen eigentlich zum Begreifen des Karma.
Ich habe angeführt, wie von der Geburt des Menschen bis ungefähr zum einundzwanzigsten Jahre die dritte Hierarchie ein besonderes Verhältnis zum Menschen hat, wie dann bei der Geschlechtsreife die zweite Hierarchie eintritt, Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes, wie diese hierarchischen Ordnungen dann weiterwirken von der Geschlechtsreife an bis zunächst zum einundzwanzigsten Lebensjahre im ersten Abschnitt, im zweiten Abschnitt bis zum achtundzwanzigsten Jahre, im dritten Abschnitt bis zum fünfunddreißigsten Jahre; wie aber schon im achtundzwanzigsten Jahre dann eine innere Beziehung zu der ersten Hierarchie der Seraphim, Cherubim und Throne eintritt, die dann fortwirken in ihrer ersten Phase bis zum fünfunddreißigsten Jahre, wo sie zusammenwirken mit der zweiten Hierarchie, dann in der zweiten Phase bis zum zweiundvierzigsten Jahre, und in der dritten Phase bis zum neunundvierzigsten Lebensjahre.
Nun kreuzt sich, möchte ich sagen, das, was so in den menschlichen Lebenslauf unmittelbar von der Hierarchienordnung eingreift, mit demjenigen, was im menschlichen Lebenslauf als Spiegelungen der geistigen Wesen des Planetensystems auftritt.
Wir wissen ja, daß jeder der Planeten, wenn wir auf sein äußeres physisches Scheinen hinschauen, eigentlich nur das Zeichen dafür ist, daß in der Richtung, aus der uns der Planet, der Stern überhaupt erscheint, eine Kolonie von geistigen Wesen vorhanden ist. Wir schauen zu einem Stern; aber dies, was wir im Stern glänzen, leuchten sehen, ist das äußere Zeichen, daß in dieser Richtung unser Seelenblick auf eine kosmische Kolonie geistiger Wesenheiten aufstößt. Wir stehen nun ja zu unserem Leben so, daß wir in unserem physischen Leib einen ätherischen Leib tragen. In dem Augenblicke, wo der Mensch zur imaginativen, übersinnlichen Erkenntnis aufsteigt, nimmt er ja alles das wahr, was er durch seinen Ätherleib wahrnehmen kann. Und ich habe Ihnen des öfteren angedeutet, wie dann der Mensch zurückschaut auf das Tableau seines Erdenlebens seit seiner Geburt, und wie gleichzeitig alle die Ereignisse und Kräfte, die er erlebt hat und die eingegriffen haben in sein Wachstum, in seine ganze physische, seelische und geistige Organisation, in einem mächtigen Panorama, in einem mächtigen Tableau, als wenn die Zeit zum Raume geworden wäre, vor der Menschenseele stehen. So das Leben zu überblicken lernt man, wenn man eben zur imaginativen Erkenntnis hinauf initiiert wird.
Nun aber, wenn die inspirierte Erkenntnis eintritt, dann kann man hinschauen auf diese reale Erinnerung an das Erdenleben, die ein Erinnerungstableau ist, und man erblickt dann, weil man ja in der inspirierten Erkenntnis das Imaginative unterdrückt hat, weil sozusagen die Ereignisse des Erdenlebens, auch insofern sie durch den Ätherleib wahrnehmbar sind, nicht mehr da sind, man überblickt dann ein Scheinen eines Höheren.
Also wenn ich schematisch dieses Zurückschauen des Menschen — statt des Seelenblickes zeichne ich den physischen Blick - bis zur Geburt hin in dieser Strömung andeute, so löscht sich diese Strömung in der inspirierten Erkenntnis aus, und es treten dann allerlei andere Gebilde auf.
Zunächst tritt auf etwas wie eine Offenbarung innerhalb dieser Strömung (siehe Zeichnung Seite 210, violett), und man merkt, wenn man sich orientieren lernt in der Inspiration, was da eigentlich erscheint.
Also verstehen Sie mich recht: Man blickt hin auf ein Tableau, das den menschlichen Erdenlauf enthält. In diesem Tableau ist gewissermaßen ein Teil; wenn man auf den hinblickt, so zeigt er sich nach der inspirierten Initiation so, daß das Erinnerungstableau zwischen der Geburt, also zwischen dem Nulljahre und dem siebenten Jahre, ausgelöscht ist, und an der Stelle, wo das Erinnerungstableau ausgelöscht ist, erscheinen dann alle die Taten, die dadurch entstehen, daß die Mondenwesen, von welchen ich Ihnen gesprochen habe, mit dem Menschen nach seinem Tode zu tun haben.
Was ich Ihnen zum Beispiel erzählt habe vom Erleben des Lebens nach dem Tode bei jener Persönlichkeit, die das Modell für den Strader in meinen Mysteriendramen ist, so wird das dadurch erlebt, daß man zuerst auf das Erinnerungstableau hinschaut, dann in der inspirierten Erkenntnis das Erinnerungstableau auslöscht. Wenn der Teil ausgelöscht wird, welcher der Zeit von der Geburt bis zum siebenten Jahre entspricht, dann treten diese Wirkungen auf, von denen ich Ihnen erzählt habe und die da darstellen das Zusammenwirken der Mondenwesenheiten (violett) mit der menschlichen Wesenheit nach dem Tode.
Diese Erfahrungen, die man machen kann dadurch, daß durchsichtig wird der Lebenslauf des Menschen von der Geburt bis zum siebenten Jahre und dadurch die Mondenwesenheiten, die Taten der Mondenwesenheiten durchscheinend werden, das, was da anschaulich wird, was da erfahren werden kann, das kann von jedem Initiierten am leichtesten geschaut werden.
Denn man kann ja, wie Ihnen begreiflich sein wird, in jedem Menschenalter die Initiation erfahren, nur nicht gerade wenn man ein ganz kleines Kind ist; Kinder bis zum siebenten Jahre werden ja gewöhnlich nicht initiiert. Und man muß, wenn man das, was ich jetzt beschreibe, durchschauen will, im Erdenleben über dieses Lebensalter hinausgewachsen sein. Nun ist jeder, der initiiert wird, natürlich über das siebente Lebensjahr hinausgewachsen. Daher ist dasjenige, was geschaut werden kann durch den Lebenslauf bis zum siebenten Jahre hindurch — also das, was der Mensch bei der Rückwärtswanderung, die der Zeit nach ein Drittel der Lebensdauer ausmacht, in dem Leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt durchmachen kann -, verhältnismäßig leicht zu erfassen.
Ein zweites zeigt sich, wenn wir dann denjenigen Teil der Rückschau sichtbar machen in der inspirierten Initiation, der den Lebensjahren von sieben bis vierzehn entspricht, dem Zeitalter der Geschlechtsreife. Da wird sichtbar alles das, was der Mensch nach dem Tode dadurch durchlebt, daß er aus der Mondenregion aufsteigt in die Merkurregion (weiß).
Der Mensch steigt in die Merkurregion auf, nachdem er die Mondenregion durchgemacht hat. Aber will man eine Beziehung erkennen, herstellen zu Menschen, die in dieser Merkurregion sich befinden, dann muß man in dem Erinnerungstableau zum Auslöschen bringen den Zeitraum zwischen dem siebenten Lebensjahre, dem Zahnwechsel, und der Geschlechtsreife.
Wenn man dann den nächsten menschlichen Zeitraum zum Auslöschen bringt durch die inspirierte Erkenntnis und scheinen läßt dasjenige, was dann beim Auslöschen dieses Teiles scheinen kann, dann sind es die Erlebnisse und Tatsachen, die der Mensch durchmacht in der Region des Venusdaseins nach dem Tode (orange).
Und so schaut man gewissermaßen, wenn man zurückblickt auf diese erste menschliche Lebensepoche mit inspirierter Initiation, dasjenige, was im Makrokosmos, und dazu noch im geistigen Makrokosmos mit den Toten, mit den sogenannten Toten vorgeht.
Sie sehen zugleich aus dem, was ich hier sage, wie unendlich tief eine alte Wissenschaft in ihren Benennungen ist. Denn bei der Venus empfindet man gewöhnlich das Liebeselement schon in der Namengebung. Aber das Hinschauen auf die Venus entspricht dem Zeitalter des menschlichen Lebens, in dem die Geschlechtsreife eingetreten ist.
Dann ist ein Zeitraum, der dauert vom einundzwanzigsten Jahre bis zum zweiundvierzigsten Lebensjahre (gelb). Wenn man mit inspirierter Initiation in diesen Zeitraum hineinschaut, dann erlebt man dasjenige - man kann es wenigstens erleben —, was ein Toter in der weitaus größten Zeit seines Lebens zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt durchmacht, was er durchmacht dadurch, daß er mit den Sonnenwesen in einem Verhältnisse ist. Das Sonnendasein zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt wird anschaulich durch diese Zeit.
Die Sonne ist ein so mächtiger Himmelskörper, enthält so viele geistige Kräfte und geistige Wesenhaftigkeiten, daß, um den Menschen alles überblicken zu lassen, was von der Sonnenwesenheit, von der geistigen Sonnenwesenheit ausgehend auf ihn Einfluß hat zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt, dieses die Auslöschung eines dreimal so großen Zeitraumes wie die anderen sind, umfassen muß: also des Zeitraumes vom einundzwanzigsten bis zum zweiundvierzigsten Lebensjahre. Sie werden aber zugleich einsehen, daß Initiierte erst dann, wenn sie über das zweiundvierzigste Lebensjahr hinausgekommen sind, auf den ganzen Zusammenhang des Menschen mit den Sonnenwesen zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt zurückblicken können. Dieser Zusammenhang ist früher eigentlich nicht durchschaubar. Und es bedeutet schon auch für die geistige Anschauung viel, älter zu werden. Gewisse Dinge sind eben erst nicht nur bei einer gewissen Initiation, sondern einfach bei einer gewissen Lebensreife schaubar.
So ist wiederum ein Zeitraum im menschlichen Leben der vom zweiundvierzigsten bis zum neunundvierzigsten Lebensjahre (rot). Wir nähern uns durch die Sache selbst, meine lieben Freunde, dem, worauf ich im letzten Vortrage hier zielte, denn mit dem neunundvierzigsten Jahre hört ja die Möglichkeit auf, in direkten Beziehungen zu den Hierarchien zu stehen. Das haben Sie aus meinen Ausführungen entnommen.
Wir werden nun in der nächsten Zeit hinschauen auf das, was diejenigen machen, die über neunundvierzig Jahre sind. Wenn wir noch das, was sich mit der Gliederung von dazumal kreuzt, heute auf unsere Seelen wirken lassen —- da muß man natürlich schon fünfzig oder mehr Jahre alt geworden sein —, wenn wir also zurückblicken auf den Lebenszeitraum vom zweiundvierzigsten bis neunundvierzigsten Lebensjahre, dann erblicken wir alles das, was durchgemacht werden kann vom Menschen nach dem Tode, von den Wesenheiten her, die den Mars bewohnen.
Da aber beginnt schon diejenige Region, wo gesorgt wird von der geistigen Welt aus für eine bedeutsame Individualisierung des Menschenwesens auf Erden im Karma. Sie haben ja gesehen, wie in jenem Leben, welches der Mensch nach dem Tode unmittelbar anschließend an das Erdenleben in einem Drittel der Zeit zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt durchmacht, sich das Karma vorbereitet. Aber das Karma wird nach und nach ausgearbeitet. Und auch darüber habe ich schon Andeutungen gemacht, wie das Karma ausgearbeitet wird: es wird ausgearbeitet im Verein mit höheren Wesenheiten.
Nun gibt es Menschen, die ihr Karma besonders ausarbeiten in der Merkurregion, in der Venusregion, in der Sonnenregion, aber auch solche Wesenheiten, die es in der Marsregion ausarbeiten.
Solche Wesenheiten, solche Menschen, die sich durch ihre früheren Erdenleben etwas in die geistige Welt bringen, was besonders in der Marsregion ausgearbeitet werden muß, solche Menschen zeigen dann die Ergebnisse dessen, was in der Marsregion ausgearbeitet wird, in ihrem nächsten Erdenwandel. Und dafür lassen Sie mich ein Beispiel anführen, meine lieben Freunde.
Sehen Sie, da war eine Persönlichkeit, in der Zeit allerdings, in der schon der Mohammedanismus gewirkt hatte, wo der Mohammedanismus schon seine Zivilisationsausstrahlungen über Asien, Nordafrika bis nach Spanien herein gesandt hatte, eine Persönlichkeit, welche dazumal ihre geistige Entwickelung zunächst an einer ähnlichen Schule Nordafrikas durchmachte - die aber schon in der Dekadenz war -, wie diejenige war, die einmal viel früher der heilige Augustinus durchgemacht hat, eine Persönlichkeit, die ganz in jenem Sinne und Stile in Nordafrika studierte.
Nun muß man sich vorstellen, daß das Studieren in jener Zeit doch etwas anderes war, als es heute ist. Heute würde man von dem, was so viele Jahrhunderte zurückliegt wie das Studium des heiligen Augustinus hinter dem Studium jener Persönlichkeit in Nordafrika, von der ich hier spreche, nicht mehr viel hören. Aber dazumal waren ja eigentlich noch, namentlich in Nordafrika, Mysterienstudien möglich, wenn auch von schon verfallenden Mysterien. Und die Persönlichkeit, die ich meine, hat solche Mysterienstudien durchgemacht, durchgemacht also all das, was man erfahren konnte durch ein solches Studium über die Selbständigkeit der Menschenseele, über die Regionen, welche die Menschenseele erlebt, wenn sie wahrnimmt frei vom Leibe und so weiter. Aber diese Persönlichkeit zog dann mit den mohammedanischen Zügen nach Spanien herüber, nahm da viel auf von der damals schon in Spanien transformierten mohammedanisch-asiatischen Gelehrsamkeit, nahm namentlich auch viel auf von dem, was durch die Juden überallhin verbreitet wurde, nahm auf nicht jene Kabbalistik, welche dann später im Mittelalter so viel gepflegt worden ist, aber eine ältere Form der Kabbalistik. Und so wurde sie in der ersten Zeit nach den mohammedanischen Zügen eine Persönlichkeit, die stark im Geistesleben dieser mohammedanischen Richtung drinnen war, aber auf eine besondere Art: rechnend, berechnend, auf kabbalistische Art.
Dann wurde dasselbe durchlebt in einer späteren, weiblichen Inkarnation, wo es innerlich vertieft wurde, wo es weniger durch den Kopf als in das Herz aufgenommen wurde.
Dann aber ging dieselbe Individualität im 18. Jahrhundert über in diejenige Persönlichkeit, die nun weltberühmt geworden ist für das Franzosentum, in Voltaire. Wir sehen also diese Individualität in Voltaire wieder erscheinen.
Wenn man nun hinblickt auf das, was Voltaire, bevor er Voltaire geworden war, auf der Grundlage seiner früheren Inkarnationen auf der Erde durchgemacht hat in dem Leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt, dann findet man, daß diese Individualität ganz besonders alles das, was sie da erobert hatte durch die nordafrikanischen Studien, durch die kabbalistische Durchtränkung dieser Studien, weiter ausgebildet hat in der Marsregion in der zweiten Hälfte des Lebens zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt. Und mit der Umarbeitung, mit der Metamorphose, die aus der Marsregion kommen kann, kam dann Voltaire eben als Voltaire in das 18. Jahrhundert herein.
Und so konnte ich Ihnen als ein Beispiel für eine karmische Entwickelung, die zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt insbesondere in der Marsregion ausgearbeitet wird, ihn anführen.
Mars macht alles das, was er ausbildet, sei es auf dem Gebiete der physischen, der seelischen oder geistigen Tugenden, Mars macht alles aggressiv. Aber nicht nur aggressiv, sondern auch kriegerisch. Das Kriegerische besteht ja, sonst könnten Kriege nicht geführt werden, nicht nur darinnen, daß man vorgeht, sondern auch darinnen, daß man zurückweicht. Ich glaube, das ist ja anschaulich genug geworden während des Weltkrieges.
Schauen Sie sich das ganze Leben des Voltaire an: es ist ein Leben, das seelische Tüchtigkeiten ausbildete, aber auf Schritt und Tritt ein Leben des Vorstoßes, der Aggressivität, und ein Leben des Zurückweichens. Manchmal fast waghalsig vorstoßend, manchmal bis zur Feigheit im Zurückweichen gehend.
Es ist viel besser, an Beispielen, die man dann an der Lebensprägung studieren kann, solche Dinge zu studieren als in der "Theorie, deshalb führe ich solche Beispiele an.
Wenn der Mensch dann - man muß dafür schon ein gut Stück älter geworden sein als für das Vorhergehende — sein Leben durch seinen Lebensabschnitt vom neunundvierzigsten bis zum sechsundfünfzigsten Lebensjahre mit inspirierter Initiation durchschaut, so gelangt er zur Erkenntnis alles dessen, was von den Wesen der Jupiterregion (grün) in Menschen bewirkt werden kann, die das Leben durchmachen zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt.
Wenn man mit diesen Wesenheiten der Jupiterregion bekannt wird, so bekommt man eigentlich einen merkwürdigen Eindruck. Zunächst ist man als Mensch — man muß natürlich älter geworden sein als sechsundfünfzig Jahre, wenn man diesen Eindruck haben will - frappiert darüber, daß es solche Wesenheiten gibt wie diejenigen, die mit der Jupiterregion zusammenhängen - ich meine als Mensch auf der Erde, nicht als Mensch zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, denn da hat man es ja mit diesen Wesenheiten zu tun. Es sind Wesenheiten, die nichts zu lernen brauchen, weil in dem Augenblicke, wo sie sich bilden - ich kann nicht sagen «geboren» werden, Sie werden gleich sehen, warum -, sie schon als höchst weise Wesen gebildet werden. Sie sind nie dumm, sie sind nie unweise, sie werden so gebildet, wie die Menschen auf Erden oftmals auch gebildet sein möchten: wenn sie die Wohltat des Unterrichtes nicht zu schätzen wissen, möchten sie vielleicht auch gleich weise geboren sein. Aber diese Wesenheiten auf dem Jupiter werden überhaupt nicht geboren, sondern sie entstehen aus dem ganzen Jupiterorganismus heraus. Etwa so, wie bei uns die Wolken sich bilden aus der Atmosphäre, so entstehen diese Wesenheiten aus dem Ganzen des Jupiter heraus und entstehen so, daß man sie eigentlich als die verkörperte Weisheit ansehen kann, wenn sie einmal entstanden sind. In der Jupiterregion selbst sterben sie auch nicht, sondern sie verwandeln sich. Der Jupiter ist nämlich eigentlich webende Weisheit. Stellen Sie sich meinetwillen vor, daß sie vom Rigi herunterschauen und da die webenden Wolken sehen, und denken Sie sich, Sie hätten den Eindruck, daß das nicht webende, wässerige Wolken sind, sondern webende Weisheit selber, webende Gedankenbilder, die aber Wesenheiten sind, dann haben Sie den Eindruck vom Jupiter.
Nun möchte ich Ihnen wiederum an einem Beispiel zeigen, wie das Karma besonders ausgebildet werden kann in dieser Region des Jupiter.
Da war eine wißbegierige Persönlichkeit, die in den letzten Zeiten der mexikanischen Kultur in dem ganz dekadent gewordenen, zauberisch-abergläubisch gewordenen mexikanischen Mysterienkulte gelebt hat, eine wißbegierige Persönlichkeit, die alles, alles genau studierte.
Ich bin dadurch darauf gekommen, daß ich vor einer Reihe von Jahren einen merkwürdigen Menschen kennenlernte, der jetzt noch so ist, daß er in primitiver Weise das, was in abergläubischen, in dekadenten Vorstellungen der mexikanischen Mysterien vorhanden ist, studiert. Das hat keine Bedeutung, denn wer das in der Gegenwart studiert, studiert eben einfach abergläubisches Zeug: das ist ja alles dekadent heute. Aber jene frühere Persönlichkeit, die ich meine, hat schon vor der Entdeckung, der sogenannten Entdeckung Amerikas, als die mexikanische Zivilisation noch blühte, aber doch schon als Mysterienzivilisation im Ableben begriffen war, dort alles mit rasendem Eifer kennengelernt. Heute weiß man ja nicht viel mehr als die Namen und ein paar Bilder, wenn von Taotl, Quetsalkoatl, Tetzkatlipoka, also von diesen Wesenheiten der mexikanischen Mysterien gesprochen wird. Aber diese Persönlichkeit, die durchaus noch wußte, wie Toatl eine Wesenheit ist, die als eine Art kosmischer Allgeist in allen Wolken webt, in allen Wassern brandet, im Regenbogen scheint, im Blitz und Donner lebt, die aber auch unter gewissen Voraussetzungen durch Kulthandlungen in geweihtes Wasser hereingebracht werden kann, diese Persönlichkeit wußte auch, wie Quetsalkoatl eine Art Gottheit war, die den Menschen lebendig erfassen konnte in seiner Blutzirkulation und in seinem Atemwirken. Also dieses Lebendige der mexikanischen Zivilisation nahm diese Persönlichkeit auf.
Nun wurde sie später wiedergeboren ohne weibliche Zwischenstufe. Sie war Mann in Mexiko, war Mann dann wiederum, als sie geboren wurde, ohne weibliche Zwischenstufe. Aber in dem Leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt ging sie so durch die übersinnliche Region, daß sie in ihrer karmischen Entwickelung — was wiederum durch frühere Erdenleben, wo diese Persönlichkeit woanders war als in Mexiko, bedingt war — namentlich dasjenige, was sie in Mexiko erlebt hatte an Abergläubischem, aber doch noch vollsaftig aus früheren Zivilisationen Erfülltem, durch die Jupiterregion trug. Das, was sie da erlebt hat, das ging durch die Jupiterregion, nahm Weisheitsgestalt an, aber eine Weisheitsgestalt, die eigentlich automatisch ist im Verhältnisse zu dem, was der Mensch an Weisheit durch seine eigene Individualität erwerben soll. Weisheit, wenn sie sich so, wie sie auf dem Jupiter lebt und webt, im karmischen Ausarbeiten zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt über irgend etwas ergießt, das der Mensch früher im Erdenleben durchgemacht hat, läßt aus alledem eben auch auf der Erde noch Weisheit erglänzen. Aber diese Weisheit hängt dann von dem ab, was man im Erdenleben durchgemacht hat.
Und die Individualität, die ich meine, sie ist dieselbe, die dann später als Eliphas Lévi in der neueren Zivilisaton geboren wurde. Eliphas Lévi hat also sein früheres Erdenleben durchgemacht innerhalb der mexikanischen Kultur, ist durch die Weisheitsregion des Jupiter hinübergegangen. Da wurde gewissermaßen noch einmal durchgearbeitet diese mexikanische dekadente Kultur, und wenn Sie heute die Bücher von Eliphas Lévi lesen, so werden Sie über etwas außerordentlich Primitives etwas stark Weises ausgegossen finden. Derjenige, der in solche Dinge eindringen kann, sagt dann: Ganz Jupiter, aber minderwertiger Jupiter.
Und wenn man nun - ich darf ja von diesen Dingen auch reden den Lebenslauf überblicken kann vom sechsundfünfzigsten bis dreiundsechzigsten Lebensjahre, Sie sehen, da reicht man schon mit der Nasenspitze an die Sache heran (blau), dann schaut man in diejenigen Wirkungen hinein, welche ausgehen auf den Menschen zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt vom Saturn, von den Saturnwesenheiten. Das ist ein noch überraschenderer Anblick, ein bestürzender Anblick, und eigentlich schon ein Anblick, der Schmerz macht.
Diejenigen Wesenheiten, die mit dem Saturn in Beziehung stehen, das sind solche, welche sich durch ihre eigene Natur nicht um das kümmern, was sie gegenwärtig tun; das tun sie gewissermaßen ganz unbewußt, unter der Gewalt viel höherer Götterwesen, in deren Schoß sie sich in ihrem reifen Alter begeben haben. Aber sobald sie etwas getan haben, dann steht es mit einer furchtbar stark wirkenden Erinnerung da.
Versetzen Sie sich nur einmal in die Lage: Was Sie auch immer tun, ich will nicht die einzelnen Berufe aufzählen, aber stellen Sie sich vor: Was Sie auch immer tun, Sie merken es gar nicht, solange Sie es tun, aber sobald sie es getan haben, steht es da vor Ihrer ganz lebendigen Erinnerung wie ein ungemein lebendiges Bild. Also denken Sie sich meinetwillen einen Sänger: Er singt, aber er weiß nichts davon, er wird nur von den Göttern so verwendet, daß er singt. Denken Sie sich ein großes Auditorium, das hört zu: Er merkt gar nichts davon, solange er singt; die wissen alle gar nichts, weder von sich, noch von dem, was sie erleben. In dem Augenblick, wo das Konzert aus ist, da steht das Ganze da und geht auch nicht mehr weg, bleibt, bildet den Inhalt des Lebens. Das ist man dann. Man ist überhaupt nur Vergangenheit auf dem Saturn.
Es ist schon so, wie wenn Sie als Mensch auf der Erde gehen würden denken Sie sich, Sie gehen, Sie merken nichts von sich, wenn Sie sich anschauen, aber wenn Sie weitergegangen sind einen Schritt, so steht ein Schneemännchen da von dem, was Sie da waren. Jetzt merken Sie wieder nichts, gehen weiter: dahinter steht wieder ein Schneemännchen. Das geht immer weiter, Ihnen nach, und dazu sagen Sie Ich, zu all diesen Schneemännchen. Wenn Sie das ins Geistige nun umgesetzt denken, so haben Sie das Wesen der Saturnmenschen. Und mit diesen Wesenheiten, die also ganz in der Vergangenheit mit ihrem Sein leben, mit denen hat es der Mensch auch zwischen seinem Tode und einer neuen Geburt zu tun. Und es kann Menschen geben, die es insbesondere in der Ausarbeitung ihres Karma mit diesen Saturnwesen zu tun haben.
Das Schicksal solcher Wesenheiten kann man nur auseinandersetzen, wenn man eben auf den Zeitraum in seinem Sein zurückblickt, der zwischen dem sechsundfünfzigsten und dreiundsechzigsten Lebensjahre liegt. Ich möchte Ihnen auch da ein Beispiel geben, damit Sie sehen, wie die Dinge, die karmisch in einem Menschenleben auftreten, zurückweisen auf das, was im Übersinnlichen zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt auftritt.
Ich habe Sie einmal vor nicht allzulanger Zeit auf dasjenige verwiesen, was in den bewundernswerten, aber auch schwer zugänglichen — weil sie einen zurückstoßen, wie ich dazumal gesagt habe - hybernischen Mysterien vorgegangen ist, wie großartig das war, was die hybernischen Mysterien Irlands geboten haben. Ich setzte da auseinander, wie der Mensch hingeführt wurde, nachdem er alle Zweifel und Unsicherheit im Leben kennengelernt hatte, vor zwei Statuen. Die eine Statue bestand aus einem Stoff, der ganz elastisch war, und man mußte diese Statue immerfort betupfen und berühren. Das machte einen ungeheuer schauderhaften, schaudererregenden Eindruck, wenn man so Löcher hineingebohrt hatte in die Statue: es war so, wie wenn man immerfort was ja auch etwas Furchtbares ist für einen zarten Menschen - in Lebendes, ich kann nicht sagen in einen Leichnam, aber in lebendes Fleisch hineinschneiden müßte. Das war das eine.
Das andere war die Statue, die alles behielt, was man in sie eindrückte, und die erst dann in der Zwischenzeit zwischen zwei Vorführungen des zu Initiierenden wiederum ergänzt, ausgebessert wurde.
Nun schildere ich Ihnen all das Großartige, was die Menschen, die initiiert wurden in Hyberniäs Mysterien, erlebten in bezug auf den Mikrokosmos, den Menschen selber, sowie in bezug auf die große Welt, den Makrokosmos. Das waren große, gewaltige Eindrücke, Eindrücke von unbeschreiblicher Größe.
Einer derjenigen, die mit einem besonderen inneren Eifer daran teilgenommen haben und der es bis zu einem hohen Grade der Initiation in diesen hybernischen Mysterien gebracht hat, hatte dann nach seinen früheren Erdenleben, die wiederum die Bedingungen dazu abgegeben haben, daß dieses Erdenleben, das er in den hybernischen Mysterien durchmachte, eben so verlief —, der hatte insbesondere durch die Saturnregion durchzugehen. Es waren ja Empfindungen von unbeschreiblicher Größe, ich habe Ihnen damals, als ich Ihnen diese Dinge schilderte, gezeigt, wie die hybernischen Mysterien einen Anteil hatten an dem geistigen Erschauen des Mysteriums von Golgatha, ohne daß sie irgendwie in einer physisch-räumlichen Beziehung zu diesem Mysterium von Golgatha standen. Einer derjenigen, die alles das ganz besonders stark empfindungsgemäß durchgemacht haben, wurde dann wiedergeboren in unsere Zivilisation herein.
Nun denken Sie sich, was dieser Mensch da gemacht hat, indem sein letztes Karma verarbeitet wurde in der Saturnregion. Alles hat sich ihm in das Licht der Vergangenheit gestellt. Er erblickte dasjenige, was er in den hybernischen Mysterien durchgemacht hatte, in dem Lichte, das ihm aufglänzen konnte, indem die Saturnwesen ein Licht über all das warfen, was weit zurückgeht, was grandiose Bilder der vorirdischen Zeiten, schon der Monden-, der Sonnenregionen in ihm erweckte.
Als er dann wiedergeboren wurde, verwandelte sich für ihn das, was so die Nuance, das Kolorit des Vergangenen vor der Erdeninkarnation hatte, in mächtige, in die Zukunft hineinleuchtende, idealistische, aber visionär-idealistische Bilder, die dann in höchster Romantik zum Vorschein kamen.
Kurz, diese in die hybernischen Mysterien einmal eingeweihte Individualität ist als Victor Hugo in unsere Zeit — das heißt im weiteren Sinne in unsere Zeit — wieder hereingeboren worden. Das Victor HugoLeben zeigt in seiner Romantik, in der ganzen Art und Weise, wie es konfiguriert ist, die Ausarbeitung des Karma in der Saturnregion.
Das sind kleine Beiträge zu der Entstehungsweise, zu der Bildungsweise des Karma. Wie gesagt, man lernt sie am besten kennen, wenn man sie eben an Beispielen kennenlernt. Denn wie solches Karma wie das von Voltaire, Eliphas Levi, Victor Hugo ausgearbeitet wurde, das ist schon etwas, was am interessantesten und intensivsten hineinführt in die Erkenntnis des Zusammenhanges der eigenen Wesenheit des Menschen und der makrokosmischen geistigen Wesenheit bei der Ausarbeitung des Karma zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt.
Twelfth Lecture
The last time I told you how man relates to the various hierarchies of the higher world in the course of his life, and I would like to point out that everything that is presented there will ultimately lead to a better and better understanding of the effect of karma in human life and in human development. So they are all actually preparations for understanding karma.
I have shown how from the birth of man up to about the twenty-first year the third Hierarchy has a special relationship to man, how then at sexual maturity the second Hierarchy enters, Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes, how these hierarchical orders then continue to work from sexual maturity up to the twenty-first year of life in the first stage, in the second stage up to the twenty-eighth year, in the third stage up to the thirty-fifth year; but as early as the twenty-eighth year an inner relationship with the first Hierarchy of Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones occurs, which then continue to work in their first phase until the thirty-fifth year, where they work together with the second Hierarchy, then in the second phase until the forty-second year, and in the third phase until the forty-ninth year of life.
Now, I would like to say, that which thus intervenes in the human course of life directly from the hierarchical order intersects with that which appears in the human course of life as reflections of the spiritual beings of the planetary system.
We know that each planet, when we look at its outer physical appearance, is actually only the sign that a colony of spiritual beings is present in the direction from which the planet, the star in general, appears to us. We look at a star; but that which we see shining in the star is the outer sign that in this direction our soul's gaze encounters a cosmic colony of spiritual beings. We relate to our life in such a way that we carry an etheric body in our physical body. At the moment when man rises to imaginative, supersensible knowledge, he perceives everything that he can perceive through his etheric body. And I have often indicated to you how man then looks back on the tableau of his life on earth since his birth, and how at the same time all the events and forces which he has experienced and which have intervened in his growth, in his whole physical, mental and spiritual organization, stand before the human soul in a mighty panorama, in a mighty tableau, as if time had become space. One learns to survey life in this way when one is initiated into imaginative cognition.
But now, when inspired cognition occurs, one can look at this real memory of earthly life, which is a tableau of memory, and one then sees, because one has suppressed the imaginative in inspired cognition, because the events of earthly life, even insofar as they are perceptible through the etheric body, are no longer there, so to speak, one then overlooks a semblance of a higher one.
So if I schematically indicate this looking back of the human being - instead of the soul gaze I draw the physical gaze - up to birth in this current, then this current is extinguished in the inspired cognition, and all kinds of other formations then appear.
First something like a revelation appears within this current (see drawing on page 210, violet), and you realize, when you learn to orient yourself in inspiration, what actually appears there.
So understand me correctly: you look at a tableau that contains the human course on earth. In this tableau there is, so to speak, a part; if you look at it, it shows itself after the inspired initiation in such a way that the memory tableau between birth, that is, between the zero year and the seventh year, is extinguished, and at the point where the memory tableau is extinguished, all the deeds then appear that arise from the fact that the moon beings, of whom I have spoken to you, have to do with the human being after his death.
What I have told you, for example, about the experience of life after death with the personality who is the model for the Strader in my mystery dramas, is experienced by first looking at the memory tableau, then erasing the memory tableau in inspired cognition. When that part is erased which corresponds to the time from birth to the seventh year, then these effects occur which I have told you about and which represent the interaction of the lunar entities (violet) with the human entity after death.
These experiences, which one can make through the fact that the course of life of the human being from birth to the seventh year becomes transparent and through this the moon entities, the deeds of the moon entities become translucent, that which becomes vivid, that which can be experienced there, that can be seen most easily by every initiate.
For, as you will understand, initiation can be experienced at any age, but not when one is a very small child; children up to the age of seven are not usually initiated. And if you want to see through what I am describing now, you must have grown beyond this age in your life on earth. Of course, everyone who is initiated has grown beyond the age of seven. Therefore, what can be seen through the course of life up to the seventh year - that is, what a person can go through in the life between death and a new birth during the backward migration, which in time makes up a third of the life span - is relatively easy to grasp.
A second part is revealed when we then visualize that part of the retrospective in the inspired initiation which corresponds to the years of life from seven to fourteen, the age of sexual maturity. There everything becomes visible that the human being experiences after death in that he ascends from the lunar region into the Mercury region (white).
The human being ascends into the Mercury region after having passed through the Moon region. But if you want to recognize and establish a relationship with people who are in this Mercury region, then you have to erase the period between the seventh year of life, the change of teeth, and sexual maturity in the memory tableau.
If one then erases the next human period through inspired cognition and allows that to shine which can then shine when this part is erased, then it is the experiences and facts which the human being goes through in the region of Venus' existence after death (orange).
And so, to a certain extent, when one looks back at this first human epoch of life with inspired initiation, one sees that which takes place in the macrocosm, and also in the spiritual macrocosm with the dead, with the so-called dead.
You can also see from what I am saying here how infinitely deep an ancient science is in its names. For with Venus one usually senses the element of love already in the naming. But looking at Venus corresponds to the age of human life in which sexual maturity has occurred.
Then there is a period that lasts from the age of twenty-one to the age of forty-two (yellow). If one looks into this period with inspired initiation, then one experiences - one can at least experience - that which a dead person goes through in by far the greatest period of his life between death and a new birth, that which he goes through through being in a relationship with the solar beings. The existence of the sun between death and a new birth is illustrated by this time.
The sun is such a mighty heavenly body, contains so many spiritual powers and spiritual beings, that in order to let man survey everything that has influence on him from the sun being, from the spiritual sun being, between death and a new birth, this must include the erasure of a period of time three times as large as the others are: thus the period of time from the twenty-first to the forty-second year of life. At the same time, however, you will realize that initiates can only look back on the whole connection of the human being with the solar beings between death and a new birth when they have passed the forty-second year of life. This connection is not really comprehensible at an earlier age. And it also means a lot for the spiritual view to grow older. Certain things are only visible not only at a certain initiation, but simply at a certain maturity of life.
So again, a period in human life is from the forty-second to the forty-ninth year of life (red). Through the matter itself, my dear friends, we are approaching what I was aiming at in the last lecture here, for at the age of forty-nine the possibility of being in direct relationship with the hierarchies ceases. You have gathered this from my explanations.
We will now look at what those who are over forty-nine do in the near future. If we allow that which intersects with the structure of that time to have an effect on our souls today - of course we must already be fifty or more years old - if we look back on the period of life from the forty-second to the forty-ninth year of life, then we will see everything that can be experienced by man after death, by the beings who inhabit Mars.
But there already begins the region where the spiritual world takes care of a significant individualization of the human being on earth in karma. You have already seen how karma is prepared in the life that the human being undergoes immediately after death, one third of the time between death and a new birth. But karma is worked out little by little. And I have already hinted at how karma is worked out: it is worked out in association with higher beings.
Now there are people who work out their karma especially in the Mercury region, in the Venus region, in the Sun region, but also such beings who work it out in the Mars region.
Such beings, such people, who bring something into the spiritual world through their previous earth lives, which has to be worked out especially in the Mars region, such people then show the results of what is worked out in the Mars region in their next earth change. And let me give you an example of this, my dear friends.
You see, there was a personality, at a time when Mohammedanism was already at work, when Mohammedanism had already sent its civilizing radiations across Asia and North Africa as far as Spain, a personality who at that time first underwent his spiritual development at a similar school in North Africa - but which was already in decadence - to the one that St. Augustine had once undergone much earlier, a personality who studied entirely in that sense and style in North Africa.
Now you have to imagine that studying in those days was something different from what it is today. Today one would not hear much about what lies so many centuries back as the study of St. Augustine behind the study of that personality in North Africa of whom I speak here. But at that time, mystery studies were actually still possible, especially in North Africa, even if they were already decaying mysteries. And the personality I am referring to went through such mystery studies, that is, through all that one could experience through such studies about the independence of the human soul, about the regions which the human soul experiences when it perceives free from the body and so on. But this personality then moved over to Spain with the Mohammedan traits, absorbed much of the Mohammedan-Asian scholarship that had already been transformed in Spain at that time, and in particular also absorbed much of what was spread everywhere by the Jews, but did not absorb the Kabbalism that was later cultivated so much in the Middle Ages, but an older form of Kabbalism. And so, in the first period after the Mohammedan traits, she became a personality who was strongly involved in the spiritual life of this Mohammedan direction, but in a special way: calculating, calculating, in a Kabbalistic way.
Then the same thing was lived through in a later, female incarnation, where it was deepened inwardly, where it was absorbed less through the head than in the heart.
But then, in the 18th century, this same individuality passed over into the personality that has now become world-famous for the French, in Voltaire. So we see this individuality reappearing in Voltaire.
If we now look at what Voltaire, before he had become Voltaire, had gone through on the basis of his earlier incarnations on earth in the life between death and a new birth, then we find that this individuality has further developed in the Mars region in the second half of the life between death and a new birth all that it had conquered there through the North African studies, through the cabbalistic imbuing of these studies. And with the reworking, with the metamorphosis that can come from the Martian region, Voltaire then entered the 18th century as Voltaire.
And so I was able to cite him as an example of a karmic development that is worked out between death and a new birth, especially in the Mars region.
Mars makes everything that it develops, be it in the field of physical, mental or spiritual virtues, Mars makes everything aggressive. But not only aggressive, but also warlike. The warlike aspect, otherwise wars could not be waged, consists not only in the fact that one advances, but also in the fact that one retreats. I think that became clear enough during the world war.
Look at Voltaire's whole life: it is a life that developed mental prowess, but at every turn a life of advance, of aggressiveness, and a life of retreat. Sometimes pushing forward almost recklessly, sometimes retreating to the point of cowardice.
It is much better to study such things using examples that can then be studied in terms of life imprinting than in "theory, which is why I give such examples.
When the human being then - one must have already become a good bit older for this than for the preceding - sees through his life through his stage of life from the forty-ninth to the fifty-sixth year of life with inspired initiation, he comes to the realization of everything that can be brought about by the beings of the Jupiter region (green) in people who go through life between death and a new birth.
When one becomes acquainted with these beings of the Jupiter region, one actually gets a strange impression. First of all, as a human being - of course you have to be older than fifty-six if you want to have this impression - you are astonished that there are such beings as those who are connected with the Jupiter region - I mean as a human being on earth, not as a human being between death and a new birth, because there you have to deal with these beings. They are beings who do not need to learn anything, because the moment they are formed - I cannot say “born”, you will see why in a moment - they are already formed as highly wise beings. They are never stupid, they are never unwise, they are educated in the same way that people on earth would often like to be educated: if they do not appreciate the benefit of instruction, they would perhaps also like to be born wise. But these beings on Jupiter are not born at all, but arise out of the whole Jupiter organism. Just as our clouds are formed from the atmosphere, so these entities are formed from the whole of Jupiter and arise in such a way that they can actually be regarded as embodied wisdom once they have come into being. Nor do they die in the Jupiter region itself, but they transform themselves. Jupiter is actually weaving wisdom. Imagine, for my sake, that you look down from Mount Rigi and see the weaving clouds, and imagine that you have the impression that these are not weaving, watery clouds, but weaving wisdom itself, weaving thought images, but which are entities, then you have the impression of Jupiter.
Now I would like to show you another example of how karma can be particularly developed in this region of Jupiter.
There was an inquisitive personality who lived in the last times of Mexican culture in the Mexican mystery cults, which had become quite decadent, magical and superstitious, an inquisitive personality who studied everything, everything carefully.
I came to this conclusion because a number of years ago I met a strange person who is still studying in a primitive way the superstitious, decadent ideas of the Mexican mysteries. That has no meaning, because whoever studies that in the present simply studies superstitious stuff: it's all decadent today. But the earlier personality I am referring to had already become acquainted with everything there with frenzied zeal before the discovery, the so-called discovery of America, when Mexican civilization was still flourishing but was already dying as a mystery civilization. Today we don't know much more than the names and a few pictures when people talk about Taotl, Quetsalkoatl, Tetzkatlipoka, i.e. these entities of the Mexican Mysteries. But this personality, who still knew how Toatl is an entity which, as a kind of cosmic all-spirit, weaves in all clouds, surges in all waters, shines in the rainbow, lives in lightning and thunder, but which can also, under certain conditions, be brought into consecrated water through ritual acts, this personality also knew how Quetsalkoatl was a kind of deity who could grasp man alive in his blood circulation and in his breathing. So this living thing of the Mexican civilization absorbed this personality.
Now she was later reborn without a female intermediate stage. She was man in Mexico, was man again when she was born, without an intermediate female stage. But in the life between death and a new birth she passed through the supersensible region in such a way that in her karmic development - which again was conditioned by earlier earth lives, where this personality was somewhere else than in Mexico - she carried through the Jupiter region in particular that which she had experienced in Mexico in superstition, but which was still fully fulfilled from earlier civilizations. What she experienced there passed through the Jupiter region and took on the form of wisdom, but a form of wisdom that is actually automatic in relation to the wisdom that man is supposed to acquire through his own individuality. Wisdom, when it lives and weaves itself on Jupiter in the karmic working out between death and a new birth over something that the human being has gone through earlier in earthly life, allows wisdom to shine out of all of this on earth as well. But this wisdom then depends on what one has gone through in earthly life.
And the individuality I mean is the same one that was later born as Eliphas Lévi in the newer civilization. So Eliphas Lévi went through his earlier life on earth within the Mexican culture, passed through the wisdom region of Jupiter. In a way, this Mexican decadent culture was worked through once again, and if you read Eliphas Lévi's books today, you will find something very wise poured out over something extraordinarily primitive. The one who can penetrate such things then says: All Jupiter, but inferior Jupiter.
And if one can now - I may also speak of these things - look over the course of one's life from the fifty-sixth to the sixty-third year of life, you see, one can already approach the matter with the tip of one's nose (blue), then one looks into those effects which emanate from Saturn, from the Saturnian beings, on the human being between death and a new birth. This is an even more surprising sight, a startling sight, and actually already a sight that causes pain.
Those beings who are related to Saturn are those who, by their own nature, do not care about what they are doing at present; they do it, so to speak, quite unconsciously, under the power of much higher divine beings, into whose bosom they have gone in their mature age. But as soon as they have done something, it is there with a terribly powerful memory.
Just put yourself in this position: whatever you do, I don't want to list the individual professions, but just imagine: Whatever you do, you don't even notice it as long as you are doing it, but as soon as you have done it, it stands there before your very vivid memory like a tremendously vivid image. So, for my sake, think of a singer: he sings, but he knows nothing about it, he is only used by the gods so that he sings. Imagine a large auditorium listening: he doesn't notice anything as long as he sings; they all know nothing, neither of themselves nor of what they are experiencing. The moment the concert is over, the whole thing is there and doesn't go away, remains, forms the content of life. That is who you are. You are only the past on Saturn.
It's as if you were walking on earth as a human being, you think to yourself that you are walking, you don't notice anything about yourself when you look at yourself, but when you have walked one step further, there is a little snowman of what you were there. Now you don't notice anything again, you walk on: behind you is another snowman. It goes on and on, following you, and you say I to all these snowmen. If you now think of this in spiritual terms, you have the nature of Saturnians. And it is with these beings, who live entirely in the past with their being, that man also has to deal with between his death and a new birth. And there may be people who have to deal with these Saturnian beings, especially when working out their karma.
The destiny of such beings can only be dealt with if you look back at the period of your life that lies between the fifty-sixth and sixty-third year of life. I would like to give you an example so that you can see how the things that occur karmically in a human life point back to what occurs in the supersensible between death and a new birth.
Not so long ago I once referred you to what happened in the admirable, but also difficult to access - because they repulse you, as I said then - Hybernian Mysteries, how great what the Hybernian Mysteries of Ireland offered was. I explained how man was led there, after he had become acquainted with all the doubts and uncertainties of life, before two statues. One statue was made of a material that was completely elastic, and you had to keep touching it. It made a tremendously gruesome, terrifying impression when you had holes drilled into the statue like that: it was as if you had to keep cutting into living things, I can't say into a corpse, but into living flesh. That was one thing.
The other was the statue, which retained everything that was pressed into it, and which was only then supplemented and repaired in the interim between two presentations of what was to be initiated.
Now I will describe to you all the great things that the people who were initiated into Hybernia's Mysteries experienced in relation to the microcosm, the human being himself, as well as in relation to the great world, the macrocosm. These were great, tremendous impressions, impressions of indescribable greatness.
One of those who took part in them with a special inner zeal and who made it to a high degree of initiation in these Hybernian Mysteries then had to pass through the Saturn region in particular after his earlier earth lives, which in turn provided the conditions for this earth life that he went through in the Hybernian Mysteries. They were sensations of indescribable greatness, I showed you at that time, when I described these things to you, how the Hybernian Mysteries had a share in the spiritual vision of the Mystery of Golgotha, without somehow standing in a physical-spatial relationship to this Mystery of Golgotha. One of those who had gone through all this in a particularly sensitive way was then reborn into our civilization.
Now imagine what this person did there by processing his last karma in the Saturn region. Everything was presented to him in the light of the past. He saw that which he had gone through in the Hybernian Mysteries in the light that could shine upon him, in that the Saturnian beings cast a light over all that which goes far back, which awakened in him grandiose images of the pre-earthly times, even of the lunar and solar regions.
When he was then reborn, what had the nuance, the coloring of the past before the earthly incarnation was transformed for him into powerful, idealistic, but visionary-idealistic images that shone into the future, which then came to light in the highest romanticism.
In short, this individuality, once initiated into the Hybernian mysteries, was reborn into our time as Victor Hugo - that is, in a broader sense, into our time. The Victor Hugo life shows in its romanticism, in the whole way it is configured, the working out of karma in the Saturn region.
These are small contributions to the way in which karma is formed. As I said, the best way to get to know them is through examples. For how such karma as that of Voltaire, Eliphas Levi, Victor Hugo was worked out is something that leads most interestingly and intensively into the realization of the connection between man's own being and the macrocosmic spiritual being in the working out of karma between death and a new birth.