Karmic Relationships II
GA 236
30 May 1924, Dornach
Lecture XVI
The day before yesterday I tried to picture for you the cosmic drama, as it were, wherein human beings are shown in their relation to Beings of the spiritual world, so that one can see how there stems from this relationship not only the working out of karma, but also the living out of karma during physical life on earth. To-day I should like to turn to a thought touched upon in that lecture. I said that the present period in human evolution confronts anyone who has the knowledge of Initiation-Science with problems of world-karma in the deepest sense of the words. And before proceeding to consider how knowledge of karma is acquired, we will study its world-historic aspects, which in the nature of things must closely concern the whole of civilised humanity at the present time.
Things are happening in the world to-day which stir even the everyday consciousness of man and the heart that is bound up with this everyday consciousness. A heavy cloud looms over the civilisation of Europe and from one point of view it is amazing to find what little willingness there is on the part of mankind in general to feel and realise what this cloud portends.
Think only of what is emerging as the result of views of life and of the world widely prevalent in humanity to-day. Look at what is being made of Christianity in the East of Europe! Information—not entirely to be discredited—has reached us that the works of Tolstoy are to be banned by the present Government of Soviet Russia with the object of keeping them out of the reach of future generations. Although such things do not always work out exactly as they are announced, we must not blind ourselves to the gravity of the present moment in world-history; we do well to listen to the warning which Initiation-Science would like to repeat day in and day out—that now is the time when the many petty concerns occupying men's minds ought to be silenced and the attention of numbers of souls directed to the great concerns of life. But in point of fact, interest in these great concerns is dwindling rather than increasing.
We see views of life and of the world arising to-day with a certain ‘creative’ force, although this actually takes effect in destruction; these views are the offspring of human passions and emotions, of an element in human nature working entirely in a Luciferic direction. It may truly be said that reality is denied and rejected by a large portion of humanity to-day. The essential nature of matter is not understood by materialistic thinkers. Matter can be understood only when the creative spirit within it is apprehended. Therefore anyone who denies the reality of the creative spirit within matter knows only a false image of matter and the consequent idolatry is a far greater menace than that of the primitive peoples who are said to represent civilisation in the stage of infancy. Fantastic ideas and conceptions of what is, after all, unreality, hold sway in mankind.—This is one side of the picture.
Such things have of course occurred in various forms throughout human history. But spiritual science teaches us to recognise their connections in the whole World-Order, and to realise with what earnestness they must be studied.
And so we must be mindful of what is brought into existence when certain social orders are created under the influence of materialistic, fantastic ideas—ideas which have sprung entirely from human aberrations, have nothing to do with reality and could never have originated elsewhere than in man himself.
Having turned our minds to a phenomenon of history which has, however, immediate bearing upon our present age, let us consider occurrences in elemental nature like those mentioned in the last lecture, when groups of human beings are suddenly snatched away from earthly existence as the result of an earthquake, a volcanic eruption, or the like. The news reaches us of a catastrophe of this kind and we hear that a large number of people have met their death or suffered grave disablement.—Again, there are events for which the devices of civilisation are responsible. We hear, for example, of a railway accident, where again the karmic threads of life are abruptly severed, but in this case as the result of man-made institutions.
If we are earnest in our study of karma, we must ask, on the one hand: What form does karma take in the case of adherents of a social order originating from sheer emotionalism, sheer fantasy in man himself and devoid of objective reality? And on the other, we must ask: What form does karma take when the thread of life is suddenly severed by a catastrophe of nature or one that is the outcome of civilisation?
Here is one of the points where Initiation-Science enters deeply into man's life of feeling and perception. Ordinary, everyday consciousness does not ask about the consequences of such happenings in the successive earthly lives of men. In the case of catastrophes of civilisation particularly, the question of human destiny in the wider sense is never asked. The destiny of a man who has been the victim of such a catastrophe is regarded by ordinary consciousness as finished and done with.
Initiation-Science observes on the one side what takes place in the foreground of earth life and, in the background, the deeds of gods in connection with the souls of men. And it is what proceeds in the background that provides Initiation-Science with a criterion for assessing earthly life. For as we shall see in our further studies of karma, a great deal has to be moulded, recast in one way or another in earthly existence in order that the divine things behind it may take effect in the lives of men—in accordance with the will of the gods.
For on looking into the background we perceive the karma that is woven between one human soul and another during the life between death and rebirth; we perceive how human souls work together with the Beings of the higher Hierarchies. We see, too, the activities of the Luciferic and Ahrimanic powers. Within the living organism of gods behind the organism of the earth we perceive the justification for this intervention by the Luciferic and Ahrimanic powers; we realise that Lucifer and Ahriman play an essential part in the deeper, spiritual ordering of the world. But although this necessity becomes evident to us, we must nevertheless often stand aghast at the way in which Luciferic and Ahrimanic influences penetrate into the earthly world.
When our vision extends beyond the earthly into the spiritual world, many things must be viewed in the light of their inter-connections, which need not necessarily be the case in ordinary consciousness. If in times when Initiation Science was regarded with the reverence that must prevail once again—if in those ancient times the question arose whether a person was in truth an Initiate, men knew the right attitude with which such a question must be approached. And when a man who took life earnestly met another like him and their opinions differed as to whether a third person was an Initiate, the question was wont to be put to the one who felt uncertain: “Have you looked into his eyes?” For in those olden times, when clairvoyance was a natural gift in civilisation all over the earth, Initiates were recognised by the deep, earnest look in their eyes.—And something similar will come again. Without losing sight of the humour of life, men must again be mindful of its gravity.
Many of these lessons can be learned from what is happening in our present time and has indeed happened in some form through all ages, but they stand before humanity now as a great and mighty riddle ... And now let us think of the facts connected with a certain kind of event.
Numbers of human beings have perished in some region where a terrible earthquake has taken place. Contemplating the event in the light of spiritual science, it cannot be said that the thread of karma belonging to the present earthly lives of these men has in every case come to an end. Think of the thread of karma in those who have met their death: in the case of the aged, whose earthly karma in this incarnation would soon have been completed, the thread of life will be shortened possibly only by months or at most by a few years. Younger people in the prime of life who have thought a great deal about what they wanted to achieve in the time ahead of them for themselves, for their family, or for a wider circle of humanity, are robbed of many years of activity. Children in process of education as a prelude to manhood are torn away from earthly existence together with the elderly and aged. Babies just weaned or still unweaned are snatched away, together with the old and the young.
The great riddle is this: How does karma work in an event of this kind?
And now think of the difference between such an event in elemental nature and an event that is due, fundamentally, to civilisation, for example, a terrible railway accident. There is obviously a difference, a difference that becomes significant and fundamental when studied from the point of view of karma.
As a rule it will be found that when human beings perish together, let us say in an earthquake, there is some kind of karmic connection between them all—just as men who live in a particular district are, broadly speaking, karmically connected or at any rate have some link with one another. These people have a certain common destiny into which they have been impelled through having descended from prenatal existence to a particular locality on the earth, and with this common destiny they are led along their path to the point where the threads of their lives are severed.
On the other hand, in the case of a railway accident it will generally be found that only a few of the victims are karmically connected with one another. What, then, is their situation? As a rule they are human beings between whom there is no definite link, who are brought together without any such connection as invariably exists between victims of a particular earthquake. The victims of a railway accident may be said to have been brought together at a certain spot by destiny. Do we not see karma working quite differently in these two cases?
With the help of Initiation-Science, let us think of a catastrophe like that of a devastating earthquake. We are concerned there with human beings whose karma at birth did not entail the severance of the thread of earthly life by the time the catastrophe occurred. As the result of this event they were torn as it were out of their karma.
How could this be? It is the decree of the gods that karma shall come to fulfilment, shall be lived out to the full. Now upheavals in nature—earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, great floods and the like—are not an integral part of the onflowing evolution of the earth; something extraneous—although still under the sway of natural laws—intervenes here in the evolutionary process, something that in times when man was not subject to birth and death as we know them to-day was both necessary and propitious for evolution. To form a clear conception of what this means, we must turn our minds to the epoch of the Old Moon.
In the epoch of the Old Moon which preceded that of the Earth, man was not led into physical existence by a transition as abrupt as birth or conception, nor led out of physical existence by a transition as abrupt as death. The transition in each case was much gentler; it was a transformation, a metamorphosis, rather than a sudden change. The Moon-man was not as densely material as the man of to-day; nor in the spiritual world was he as bereft of spirit as he is to-day.
The beings inhabitating the Old Moon were subject to quite different natural laws, laws under which this Moon-life was involved in constant movement; it was inwardly mobile, in ceaseless, surging flow. This surging, flowing life has become rigid—but only partially so—in the present Moon, our companion in the universe. The rigidification in the Moon—it has really a kind of hornlike quality—points to the past inner mobility of the Moon which takes effect in the earth when elemental catastrophes of nature occur of the kind of which I have been speaking. The ordinary natural laws of the earth are not operating, but the Old Moon is beginning to stir, to rumble in the earth. The Moon revolving out yonder in the universe has the constitution that is proper for it to-day, but after its separation from the earth, forces were left behind; and it is these Moon-forces that rumble and stir in the earth when nature-catastrophes occur.
As you will remember, I told you that the Beings who were once the great primeval Teachers of humanity are connected with man's karma; it was they who brought the ancient wisdom to mankind. They did not live on the earth in physical bodies but in etheric bodies, and at a certain point of time they departed from the earth to establish their abode in the Moon; and there we encounter them during the first phase of our life between death and a new birth. These are the Beings who engrave a record of men's karma into the cosmic ether, in an unerring script of soul-and-spirit.
But in the cosmos a pledge has been taken—if I may put it so—a pledge that use shall be made not only of the relations between the present Moon and the earth but also of the Moon-forces that were left behind and are still astir within the earth. And it is here that the Ahrimanic powers can step in and take hold of the threads of human life. It can actually be seen how from the depths of the earth the Ahrimanic powers present a countenance of gloating satisfaction when such catastrophes of nature befall.
With the help of Initiation-Science we can perceive how up to the moment when the thread of life is abruptly severed, part of the karma of one who perishes in a catastrophe of this kind has been absolved. According to whether death occurred in old age, adult life or babyhood, a longer or shorter portion of life would have remained to him; life might have continued until the completion of its course, but as things are, the events that would otherwise have been spread across this whole span lay their grip in a single, sudden moment upon the physical organisation.
Think of this situation, my dear friends.—Suppose such a catastrophe befalls a man at the age of thirty. If he had not been a victim of the catastrophe he might, in accordance with his karma, have reached the age of sixty-five, living through countless experiences which now are no more than possibilities. But everything is contained in his karma, in the make-up of his etheric and astral bodies and of his ego-organisation. And what would have been happening up to the sixty-fifth year of life? After the culmination of the upbuilding process, the organism would have been involved in a process of slow and steady decline; a subtle, gradual decline would have been taking place until the sixty-fifth year of life. This steady decline which, in the slow tempo corresponding to such a lengthy period, would have lasted for at least thirty-five years, is fulfilled in a single moment, concentrated as it were into a single moment. Such a thing can happen to the physical body but not to the etheric body, the astral body or the ego-organisation.
When the circumstances are as described here, a man enters the spiritual world in quite another way than would have been the case had his karma been lived out to the full. Something is brought into the spiritual world that would otherwise not have been there: an etheric body, an astral body and an ego-organisation which might still have been living on earth. Instead of remaining in earthly existence they are taken into the spiritual world. What was destined for earthly existence is carried into the spiritual world.
And so we see an earthly element streaming into the spiritual world from all such nature-catastrophes.
Such is the situation of human beings who have been turned aside in this way from the karmic course of their life by the working of the Ahrimanic powers; such is their situation when they arrive in the spiritual world.
And now we must ask ourselves a question—for if we take spiritual science earnestly we must learn to put questions from the standpoint of the spiritual world and of the spiritual Beings in that world, just as with our ordinary consciousness we put questions relating to the physical world and its beings. We must ask the question: How do the Beings of the three Hierarchies respond when human beings ascend to their realm bearing with them an earthly element, bearing this earthly element into the spiritual world?
It then becomes the task of these spiritual Beings to re-integrate into the World-Order what seems to have been turned to evil, to run counter to the World-Order. The gods have now to reckon with what confronts them in these circumstances, in order that they may transmute the Ahrimanic evil into a higher good.
This leads to the question: What is the situation within the World-Order of those human beings who are destined after their death to pass into the spiritual world in this way? The Beings of the higher Hierarchies are confronted with a particular state of affairs and have to say to themselves: In the previous incarnation of this human being and through the whole sequence of preceding lives, a world of facts was prepared, a world of experiences belonging, properly speaking, to the incarnation that has just ended. But only the first part of what was thus prepared has been able to come to expression; the second part has remained without fulfilment. Hence there is part of a life which ought, in reality, to correspond in respect of karma, to all that went before. There ought to be complete correspondence, but there is not ... there is only a part which corresponds to some extent with the previous incarnation, but not with the whole of it.
As they survey this previous earthly life the gods must say: There is something that has not taken effect as it should have done. Causes are there which have not been utilised or turned to account.—And now the gods can take hold of these unutilised causes, guide them to the human being and so strengthen him inwardly for his next earthly life. The power of what existed as a cause in a previous incarnation can manifest all the more forcefully in the incarnation following the present one. If such a catastrophe had not befallen the man in question he might have appeared again in the world in his next incarnation with inferior faculties or very possibly with faculties of quite a different kind. A change has been wrought in him to the end that karma may be adjusted. But he also comes into the world endowed with special qualities; his astral body is reinforced, as it were, because unutilised causative forces are membered into it.
Will you then still be astonished by the legend of a philosopher who threw himself deliberately into the crater of a volcano? What can have been the motive of such a resolve on the part of one who was initiated into the secrets of world-existence? The motive could only have been a conscious intention to achieve through the agency of human will something that could otherwise have been achieved only through the agency of elemental nature: the sudden sweeping away of a process that would otherwise have worked itself to an end by slow degrees.
What is thus told of a philosopher may be due to a resolve to appear in the world in the next incarnation endowed with special powers. The world takes on a very different aspect when we enter into the deep problems of karma!
In principle, therefore, this is how things are in the case of nature-catastrophes. Let us think now of a catastrophe due to the institutions of civilisation, where human beings between whom there are no strong karmic links are as it were massed together by the Ahrimanic powers to suffer common destruction.
The situation here is altogether different. Again the Ahrimanic powers are in action; now, however, the human beings concerned are not, to begin with, grouped together by karmic ties, but for all that are led together. The consequences here are essentially different from those of nature-catastrophes.
A nature-catastrophe evokes in a man whom it befalls a vivid, intensified remembrance of what lies in his karma as causation. For when the human being passes through the gate of death he is made mindful of everything that is contained in his karma. And remembrance of karma is intensified, made more vivid in the soul as the result of a fatal nature-catastrophe.
On the other hand a railway accident, any catastrophe due to the institution of civilisation, brings about oblivion of karma. But because of this oblivion a man becomes highly sensitive to the new impressions coming to him in the spiritual world after death. And the result is that such a man is impelled to ask himself: What is to become of the unexhausted karma I bear within me?
Whereas in the case of a nature-catastrophe the intellectual qualities especially are intensified in the astral body of the victim, a catastrophe of civilisation leads to a strengthening, an enhancement of the will.
But now we will turn from these catastrophes and think of a state of affairs arising from fanatical emotionalism in a group of human beings, where the sole source of the impulses is man himself, where he lives in sheer unreality and works, moreover, as a destructive force. Let us think of a structure of civilisation as fantastically distorted as that presented to us to-day in the East of Europe, and ask ourselves what happens when the men who help to produce such conditions pass through the gate of death.
Here too—as in the case of the other catastrophes something is carried into the spiritual world, namely a Luciferic element which begets darkness and devastation.
From catastrophes of nature and of civilisation it is, in the last resort, light that is carried from the physical into the spiritual world. But from aberrations and misguided impulses in cultural life, darkness is brought into the spiritual world. When men pass into that world through the gate of death they must make their way as it were through a dark, dense cloud. For the light which Lucifer kindled in human emotions on earth becomes dense darkness in the spiritual world when man enters it after death. And in this case, forces and passions engendered entirely by man himself and are concerns of his subjective life, are carried into the spiritual world.
These are forces which through Ahriman's power can be changed in the spiritual world in a way that enables use to be made of the Moon-elements still present in the earth. Lucifer is here stretching out a helping hand to Ahriman.
What is carried up into the spiritual world through impulses in civilisation arising from sheer emotionalism, from blind, misguided earthly consciousness—this, in different guise, is what bursts from the earth's interior in the form of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and the like.
With this knowledge as a background we are led to the question of the karma of the earth and its peoples, the karma of individuals too, inasmuch as the karma of individuals is bound up with that of the peoples and of the earth itself. In putting the question we shall seek for the seeds in Luciferic activities at work in some region where ancient culture is cast on the rubbish-heap by the working of human emotions, where wild, misguided instincts set out to create something new but succeed in spreading only destruction. And we must ask ourselves: Where shall we see the forces seething in the wild passions of men burst forth one day on the earth, in flames or convulsive upheavals of the ground beneath us?
In respect of many an event of elemental nature, Initiation-Science may, nay must, put the question: When and where was this event set in train? And the answer is that it derives from the horrors and atrocities of enmity and warfare through the course of the development of civilisation. There you have the connection.—These happenings lie in the background of existence. In the light of such knowledge, events do not appear in isolation but are seen in their great cosmic setting. How do they find their place in the destinies of men? As I said already, of a truth the gods are there, gods who are linked with the evolution of mankind, and it is their unceasing task to transform these happenings into what is propitious and beneficial for human destiny.
In the interworking between the earthly and spiritual worlds the destinies of men are continually being wrenched from the pinions of Lucifer and the claws of Ahriman, for verily the gods are good! The unrighteousness originating from the activities of Lucifer and Ahriman behind the scenes of existence is led by the good gods into the path of righteousness again and the karmic connection is finally lawful and good.
Our gaze, which must of course be full of understanding for human karma, is now deflected from the destiny of men to the destiny of gods. For when we contemplate the horrors of war, the guilt and ugliness of war in their connection with death-dealing elemental catastrophes, we are watching the battle waged by the good gods against the evil gods—in two directions evil. We gaze beyond the life of men into the life of gods, beholding the life of gods as the background of human life. We watch this life of gods—not with dry, theoretical thoughts, but with our hearts, with deep, inner participation; we watch it in its connection with the individual karma of men on earth because we see human destiny inwoven with the destiny of gods.
When we contemplate these things, the world lying behind human life has for the first time drawn really near to us. For something is then revealed which cannot but stir the very fibres of our hearts. It becomes clear to us that the destiny of men lies embedded in the destiny of the gods, and that in a certain sense the gods yearn for what they have to take in hand for men while their own battle is being waged. And in making such conceptions our own we are led again to what is brought into the world through the Mysteries—as it was brought, too, in the days of the old clairvoyance.
One who had attained Initiation in the ancient Mysteries told how he was led, to begin with, into the world of the Elements; there he beheld his inmost being, with its moral attributes, turn outwards. But then—and he spoke of this experience in words of power and solemnity—he came to know the nether gods and the upper gods, the Ahrimanic and the Luciferic gods. The good gods, the Ahrimanic and the Luciferic gods. The good gods move in the field of equilibrium. And as the pupil of the ancient Mysteries came to know what must be known again by the pupil in our modern age, he was initiated, stage by stage, into the very depths of existence. When this is understood and its implications realised, the strange, yet all-illuminating conception is reached: To what end does calamity exist in the world? To the end that the gods may transmute it into well-being. Ordinary well-being does not lead into the life of worlds. Well-being that springs from calamities befalling man along his path through the physical world of sense—this alone can lead into the depths of existence.
In the study of karma we must never call theoretical concepts alone to our aid; we must call upon the whole man. For knowledge of karma can be acquired only when the heart, the feelings and the will participate. If, however, knowledge of karma is acquired in this, the right way, human life will be deepened and due importance attached to the relationships and circumstances by which human beings are led together.
There will, of course, be moments when karma weighs heavily upon a man who does not lead a superficial life. But all such moments are balanced out by others when karma lends him wings on which his soul can soar out of the earthly realm into the realm of the gods. In our inmost being we must feel the reality of the connection between the divine world and the human world if we are to speak of karma in the right and true way.
What we are of ourselves, what is in us in a single earthly life passes away along the path from death to a new birth. What remains is that wherein the gods, that is to say the Beings of the Hierarchies, hold us by the hand. And no one will be able to cultivate the right attitude to the knowledge of karma who does not perceive in karma the helping hand of the gods.
Thus you must try, my dear friends, to grasp the knowledge of karma in such a way that it calls up the feeling: If I am to approach the holy ground of the spirit where something concerning karma can reveal itself to me, I must take the hand of the gods.
Thus real, thus immediate our experiences must become, if we are to win our way to true knowledge of the spiritual world—which is at the same time knowledge of karma.
Siebzehnter Vortrag
Nachdem ich vorgestern versucht habe, gewissermaßen das kosmisch-kultische Bild vor Ihre Seele hinzustellen, das uns darstellt den Menschen in Verbindung mit den Wesenheiten der geistigen Welt, so daß aus dieser Verbindung nicht nur die Ausarbeitung des Karma stammt, sondern auch das Einleben des Karma während des physischen Erdendaseins, möchte ich heute einen Gedanken aufnehmen, der schon angeklungen hat eben in dem vorgestrigen Vortrage. Ich sagte, daß gerade der gegenwärtige Zeitpunkt der Menschheitsentwickelung im tiefsten Sinne des Wortes dem Kenner der Initiationswissenschaft weltgeschichtlich-karmische Fragen auf die Seele legt. Und ehe wir zu den Betrachtungen der Karmaerkenntnis kommen, wollen wir auch noch von diesem eigentlich die ganze zivilisierte Menschheit der Gegenwart angehenden weltgeschichtlichen Standpunkte das Karma betrachten.
Es ist ja wirklich so, daß heute Dinge in der Welt vor sich gehen, die schon das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein, ich möchte sagen das Herz, das mit dem gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein verbunden ist, nahe berühren. Über der Zivilisation Europas schwebt eine schwere Wolke, und in gewissem Sinne ist es eigentlich sogar staunenswert, wie wenig die Menschheit im allgemeinen sich darauf einlassen will, diese schwere Wolke, die über der Zivilisation Europas schwebt, zu fühlen, zu empfinden.
Wir brauchen zunächst nur an alles das zu denken, was heute aus einer gewissen Lebensanschauungsart großer Teile der Menschheit hervorgeht. Sehen wir nur hin nach dem, was im Osten Europas aus dem Christentum gemacht worden ist, sehen wir hin, wie ja in nicht ganz unglaubhafter Weise zu uns nun die Kunde dringt, daß von dem gegenwärtigen Regime Sowjetrußlands 7ölstois Schriften eingestampft werden sollen, unsichtbar gemacht werden sollen für alle Zukunft. Wenn auch natürlich solche Dinge nicht gleich in der Art zutage treten, wie es angekündigt wird, so dürfen wir uns doch nicht dem Ernste des Augenblicks verschließen, des weltgeschichtlichen Augenblicks, in dem wir leben, und wir sollten die Mahnung der Initiationswissenschaft hören, die sie eigentlich täglich geben möchte: daß heute schon die Zeit wäre, wo die mannigfaltigsten kleinen Angelegenheiten, die die Menschen beschäftigen, ein wenig schweigen sollten und möglichst viele Seelen sich den großen Angelegenheiten zuwenden sollten. Das Interesse für die großen Angelegenheiten ist aber eher im Schwinden als im Zunehmen begriffen.
Und so sehen wir, wie heute Weltanschauungen, die schaffend auftreten — wenn das auch Schaffen im Vernichten ist —, rein herausgeboren sind aus einem leidenschaftlichen, emotionellen Menschheitselemente, aus einem Menschheitselemente, das durchaus auf luziferischen Bahnen wandelt. Und wir haben bei einem großen Teile der Menschheit heute zu verzeichnen, daß abgewiesen wird alles, was Realität ist: denn es ist ja nicht wahr, daß von den materialistischen Weltgestalten die Materie anerkannt wird. Die Materie erkennt man ja nur dann an, wenn man den schaffenden Geist innerhalb der Materie gewahr wird. Wer also den schaffenden Geist in der Materie ableugnet, erkennt ja auch die Materie nicht an, sondern ein Götzenbild von der Materie.
Der Götzendienst, der auf diese Weise entsteht, ist ein viel greulicherer als der Götzendienst einer primitiven Menschheit, von dem als einem Kindheitsstadium der Zivilisation so oft gesprochen wird. Phantastische Vorstellungen von einem Nichtwirklichen beherrschen ja auf der einen Seite die Menschheit.
Gewiß, solche Dinge waren mannigfaltig da in der weltgeschichtlichen Entwickelung der Menschheit. Aber gerade die geisteswissenschaftliche Betrachtung, wie solche Dinge mit dem Ganzen der Weltordnung zusammenhängen, macht darauf aufmerksam, wie ernst eine Betrachtung über diese Dinge eigentlich sein müßte.
Und so müssen wir schon einmal den Blick auf dasjenige hinwenden, was dadurch entsteht, daß gewissermaßen soziale Weltenordnungen unter dem Einfluß materialistisch-phantastischer Vorstellungen geschaffen werden, die ganz und gar aus der verirrten Menschennatur herausgeboren sind, die nichts mit irgendeiner Realität zu tun haben, die nirgends urständen als im Menschen selber.
Nachdem wir in dieser Weise ein Historisches, das aber ein Gegenwärtiges ist, hingestellt haben, stellen wir ein Natürlich-Elementarisches hin, auf das wir auch schon das letzte Mal hingewiesen haben, ein Natürlich-Elementarisches, wie es dann zutage tritt, wenn Menschengruppen durch elementarische Naturereignisse, Erdbeben, Vulkanausbrüche oder ähnliches, plötzlich aus dem irdischen Dasein herausgerissen werden.
Da erfahren wir, eine solche elementarische Katastrophe habe in der Welt stattgefunden. Eine große Anzahl von Menschen habe dabei den Tod gefunden oder sei in dem Leben sonst beeinträchtigt worden.
Dann sehen wir von solchen elementarischen Naturereignissen auf dasjenige hin, was mehr zusammenhängt mit unserer ganzen Kultur. Wir sehen zum Beispiel, wie durch dieses oder jenes Eisenbahnunglück sich karmische Wirkungen ausgestalten, wo wiederum, jetzt durch Kultureinrichtungen, gewissermaßen jäh abgeschnitten wird der Lebensfaden in der karmischen Auswirkung. Und nehmen wir die Betrachtung des Karma ernst, so müssen wir auf der einen Seite fragen: Wie stellt sich das Karma dann, wenn rein Emotionelles, Phantastisches, das nur im Inneren des Menschen Dasein hat, nicht äußerlich lebt, wenn sich bei den Teilnehmern an einer solchen sozialen Erdenordnung Karma da nun auslebt? Und wie gestaltet sich das Karma, wenn der Lebensfaden jäh durch natürliche oder zivilisatorische Elementarereignisse abgeschnitten wird?
Hier liegt einer der Punkte, meine lieben Freunde, an dem in der Tat die Initiationswissenschaft tief einschlägt in das menschliche Gefühls- und Gemütsleben. Für das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein entstehen ja die Fragen nicht: Wie lebt sich so etwas in den aufeinanderfolgenden Erdenleben der Menschen aus? — Und für das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein entsteht nicht, namentlich nicht bei elementaren Zivilisationskatastrophen, die Frage nach dem menschlichen Schicksal im weiteren Sinne. Denn man hält ja im gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein sozusagen das Schicksal bei einem Menschen für abgeschlossen, den eine solche Katastrophe befallen hat.
Initiationswissenschaft hat ja auf der einen Seite das, was sich gewissermaßen im Vordergrunde des Lebens auf der Erde bei den Menschen abspielt, und sie hat im Hintergrunde schaubar dasjenige, was sich als die Taten der Götter mit den Menschenseelen abspielt. Und gerade aus dem, was sich im Hintergrunde abspielt, erhält Initiationswissenschaft ihre Vorbedingungen für ihre Schätzung des Erdenlebens. Denn wir werden in der weiteren Karmabetrachtung sehen, wie gerade im Erdenleben sich manches in der einen und der anderen Weise gestalten muß, damit die Dinge, die hinter den Erdenleben göttlich sind, menschlich gestaltet werden können, allerdings auch nach dem Willen der Götter.
Denn sieht man nach dem Hintergrunde, so sieht man allerdings alles das, was Menschenseele mit Menschenseele karmisch gestaltet zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt. Man sieht auch das zusammenfassende Wirken der Menschenseelen mit den Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien, wie wir das angeführt haben; aber man sieht auf der anderen Seite überall das Hineinspielen luziferischer und ahrimanischer Mächte. Man sieht innerhalb jenes Götterorganismus, der hinter dem Erdenorganismus steht, die Berechtigung des Hineinspielens luziferischer und ahrimanischer Wesenheiten. Man weiß, für die tiefere Geistordnung der Welt müssen Luzifer und Ahriman da sein. Und trotzdem man dieser Notwendigkeit gegenübersteht, sieht man manchmal mit tiefster Bestürzung das Luziferische und Ahrimanische hereinragen in die irdische Welt. Daß mancherlei zusammengeschaut werden muß, wenn man den Blick ausdehnt über die irdische Welt hinein ins Geistige, was für das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein nicht zusammengeschaut zu werden braucht, das ist dasjenige, auf das man aufmerksam sein soll.
Und daher war es auch, daß, wenn in alten Zeiten, wo die Initiationswissenschaft schon so heilig war in ihrer Art, wie sie es wiederum werden soll, daß in jenen alten Zeiten, wenn irgendwo die Frage entstanden ist, ob einer ein Initiierter ist, die Menschen wußten, wie sie sich einer solchen Sache entsprechend zu verhalten hatten. Und wenn auf dem Lebenswege ein Mensch, der das Leben ernst nahm, einen anderen traf, der das Leben auch ernst nahm, sie aber verschiedener Meinung waren über einen Initiierten, dann konnte man in jenen alten Zeiten oftmals - wenn Unwissenheit herrschte bei dem einen, ob irgendeine dritte Persönlichkeit ein Initiierter ist — das Wort hören: Hast du ihm denn auch in die Augen geschaut? — Denn an dem, was durch die Vertiefung des Lebensernstes der Blick erhält, an dem wurden in alten Zeiten, in denen hellseherische Zivilisationen über die Erde hin waren, die Initiierten erkannt. Und etwas Ähnliches wird schon wieder werden. Man wird wiederum, ohne daß deshalb der Humor des Lebens verlorenzugehen braucht, zu dem Ernste des Lebens zurückkehren müssen.
Es kann ja aber wirklich mancherlei von dem heraufgeholt werden, was jetzt geschieht, in Verbindung mit dem, was allerdings zu allen Zeiten geschehen ist, was aber jetzt wie ein großes Rätsel vor die Menschheit hintreten muß. Denn sehen wir uns einmal den Tatbestand an. Malen wir uns irgendeinen Tatbestand hin.
Wir haben irgendeine Gegend von einem mächtigen Erdbeben betroffen. Zahlreiche Menschen gehen gemeinsam zugrunde. Wenn man die Sache vom Standpunkte der Geisteswissenschaft betrachtet, so kann man nicht etwa immer sagen, bei diesen Menschen sei der karmische Faden für dieses Erdenleben völlig abgelaufen. Schauen wir hin nach dem karmischen Faden dessen, was da zugrunde geht. Für alte Leute, die allerdings ihr irdisches Karma für dieses Leben bald ausgelebt haben würden, wird der Lebensfaden vielleicht nur um Monate oder um wenige Jahre gekürzt. Jüngere Leute, in der Vollkraft des irdischen Lebens, die viel daran gedacht haben, was sie in den nächsten Jahren vollbringen wollten für sich, ihre Familie, für eine weitere Menschheit, werden verkürzt in ihrem Lebensfaden um viele Jahre. Kinder, die eben in der Erziehung begriffen sind, für die man an der Seele tun will, was sie eben in das Menschenleben einführen soll, sie werden neben alten Leuten weggerissen vom irdischen Dasein. Säuglinge, die kaum der Mutterbrust entwachsen sind, und solche, die es noch nicht sind, werden mit alten und jungen Leuten hinweggerissen. Da entsteht das große Rätsel: Wie wirkt da Karma in einem solchen Ereignisse?
Und schauen wir auf den Unterschied hin, der da besteht zwischen einem solchen elementarischen Ereignisse und einem durch die Zivilisation hervorgerufenen Elementarereignisse, etwa einer großen Eisenbahnkatastrophe: es ist schon ein Unterschied, ein Unterschied, der gerade dann wichtig und wesentlich wird, wenn man die Betrachtung auf den Boden des Karma bringt.
In der Regel wird es so sein, daß, wenn durch irgendein Erdbeben Menschen gemeinschaftlich zugrunde gehen in der Art, wie ich es eben geschildert habe, sie in irgendeiner Weise karmisch verknüpft sind — so wie eben die Menschen, die gemeinsam eine Gegend bewohnen, mehr oder weniger doch in der Regel karmisch verknüpft sind, jedenfalls etwas miteinander zu tun haben -, so daß sie in einem gewissen gemeinsamen Lebensschicksale, in das sie hineingetragen worden sind dadurch, daß sie alle herabgestiegen sind an einem gewissen Erdenort von dem vorirdischen Dasein zum irdischen Dasein, in diesem gemeinsamen Lebensschicksale der Zerreißung ihres Lebensfadens entgegengehen.
Sehen wir dagegen eine Eisenbahnkatastrophe, so werden wir in der Regel finden, daß nur wenige von den Menschen, die diese Eisenbahnkatastrophe trifft, eigentlich zusammengehören. Wer findet sich denn in einem Eisenbahnzuge zusammen? In der Regel nicht Menschen, die irgend etwas miteinander zu tun haben, sondern die nur zusammengetragen, zusammengeführt werden, ohne gerade irgendwie auch nur ein solches Band zu haben, das ganz gewiß immer da ist, wenn eine Erdbebenkatastrophe irgendeine Gegend trifft. Man möchte sagen, von dem Schicksal werden an einen Fleck zusammengetragen diejenigen, die gemeinschaftlich bei einer Eisenbahnkatastrophe zugrunde gehen. Sehen wir da nicht ein ganz verschiedenes Walten des Karma in dem einen und in dem anderen Falle?
Und blicken wir hin mit dem Auge der Initiationswissenschaft auf eine solche verheerende Erdbebenkatastrophe. Wir erblicken durchaus da nicht Menschen, welche bei ihrer Geburt ihr Karma so zugeschnitten hatten, daß der irdische Lebensfaden in derjenigen Zeit ablaufen mußte, wo die gemeinsame Katastrophe eintrat. Die Menschen wurden gewissermaßen durch ein solches Ereignis aus ihrem Karma herausgerissen.
Wie konnten sie herausgerissen werden? Nach der Götter Ratschluß ist das Ausleben des Karma dasjenige, worauf es ankommt. Sehen Sie, alles, was in solchen Naturereignissen wie Erdbeben, Vulkanausbrüchen, Überschwemmungen und dergleichen, eintritt, das liegt nicht im fortdauernden Gang der naturgesetzlichen Erdenentwickelung, sondern da greift, allerdings nach Naturgesetzen, in die Erdenentwickelung etwas ein.
Dasjenige, was da eingreift in die Erdenentwickelung, das war einmal der Entwickelung günstig, notwendig, förderlich in der Zeit, als die Menschheit nicht in der heutigen Form der Geburt und dem Tode unterlag. Und wollen wir uns etwas Bestimmtes unter dem eben Gesagten vorstellen, dann blicken wir in die alte Mondenzeit zurück. In der alten Mondenzeit, die der Erdenzeit vorangegangen ist, unterlag der Mensch nicht so der Geburt und dem Tode, daß er wie durch einen jähen Übergang durch eine Geburt respektive durch eine Empfängnis hereingeführt wurde ins physische Dasein und durch den Tod hinausgeführt wurde aus dem physischen Dasein. Der Übergang war ein viel sanfterer. Es war mehr eine Transformation, eine Metamorphose, als ein Sprung. Der irdische Mensch, eigentlich der mondliche Mensch, war nicht so materiell wie der heutige. Der Mensch in der geistigen Welt war nicht so vergeistigt wie der heutige.
Das, was so als Menschheit auf dem Monde lebte, das brauchte auch ganz andere Naturgesetze — Naturgesetze, welche das Mondenleben in einer unabänderlichen Bewegung zeigten, innerlich bewegt und sprudelnd, wellend, wogend. Was dazumal innerlich sprudelnd, wellend, wogend war, es ist heute zum Teil, aber auch nur zum Teil in dem Mond, der unser Begleiter im Weltenall ist, Erstarrtes. Aber das Erstarrte des Mondes, das eigentlich eine Verhornung ist, weist zurück auf alte innerliche Beweglichkeit des Mondes. Die macht sich im irdischen Wirken geltend, wenn solche Elementarereignisse auftreten, wie ich sie angeführt habe. Da sind nicht die gewöhnlichen Erdennaturgesetze tätig, da beginnt der alte Mond, der allerdings in der für ihn heute berechtigten Gestalt draußen im Weltenall kreist, der aber Kräfte zurückgelassen hat in der Erde, nachdem er von ihr ausgetreten ist, zu rumoren.
Und nun erinnern Sie sich, wie ich auseinandergesetzt habe, daß mit dem Karma des Menschen diejenigen Wesenheiten zusammenhängen, die einstmals die großen Urlehrer der Menschheit waren, die der Menschheit die ursprüngliche große Weisheit gebracht haben, die nicht in einem physischen Körper auf Erden lebten, sondern in einem ätherischen, und die in einem bestimmten Zeitpunkte von der Erde ausgezogen sind und heute den Mond bewohnen, so daß wir sie in derjenigen Zeit treffen, in der Anfangszeit, die wir durchmachen zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt. Das sind die Wesenheiten, die mit einer richtigen inneren seelisch-geistigen Schrift tief in den Weltenäther einschreiben, was Menschenkarma ist.
Aber es gibt, ich möchte sagen, eine Verschwörung im Weltenall, die darinnen gipfelt, daß nicht nur das benützt wird, was mit dem heute berechtigten Monde unsere Erde begleitet, sondern auch dasjenige, was als Mondenhaftes rumorend in der Erde zurückbleiben kann, zurückgeblieben ist. Das aber wird von den ahrimanischen Mächten benützt. Und da können ahrimanische Mächte in den Lebensfaden der Menschheit eingreifen. Und so kann man auch sehen, wie ahrimanische Mächte es sind, die ihr in einem solchen Falle wollüstig befriedigtes Antlitz hervorstrecken aus den Tiefen der Erde, wenn solche Naturkatastrophen eintreten.
Daher sieht man mit Hilfe der Initiationswissenschaft in einem solchen Falle, wie der Mensch, der dabei zugrunde geht, einen Teil seines Karma abgewickelt hat, bis zu dem Momente, wo der Lebensfaden jäh abgeschnitten wird. Dann wäre noch vorhanden ein Stück des Lebens, ein größeres oder geringeres Stück, je nachdem Greise, Erwachsene oder Säuglinge hinweggerissen werden aus dem Leben; dann wäre die Möglichkeit vorhanden, daß der Lebensfaden, das ganze Leben in seinen Ereignissen weiter fortginge — und jäh greift ein, gerade in die physische Organisation des Menschen, wie in einen Augenblick zusammengedrängt dasjenige, was hätte geschehen sollen diese ganze Zeit hindurch.
Denken Sie einmal, meine lieben Freunde, was da eigentlich vorliegt. Nehmen wir an, ein Mensch mit dreißig Jahren wird von einer solchen Katastrophe erfaßt. Er hätte, wenn er von der Katastrophe nicht erfaßt worden wäre, nach seinem Karma meinetwillen das fünfundsechzigste Jahr erreicht. Es liegt eine Fülle von Ereignissen, die er durchgemacht hätte im Leben, vor. Die sind alle nur der Möglichkeit nach da. Aber in seinem Karma, in der Konstitution seines ätherischen, seines astralischen Leibes, in der Konstitution seiner Ich-Organisation liegt das alles darinnen. Und was wäre gewesen bis zum fünfundsechzigsten Jahre? Neben dem Aufbauen wäre fortwährend der Organismus abgebaut worden; ein langsamer Abbau hätte stattgefunden, bis der Abbau vollendet gewesen wäre im fünfundsechzigsten Lebensjahre, ein Abbau, subtil und langsam.
Dieser langsame Abbau, der noch fünfunddreißig Jahre umfaßt hätte, der in dem langsamen Tempo vor sich gegangen wäre, das einem solch längeren Verlaufe entspricht, wird gewissermaßen in einem Augenblicke vollzogen, zusammengedrängt in einen Augenblick. Das kann man dem physischen Leibe beifügen. Das kann man nicht dem ätherischen, nicht dem astralischen Leib, nicht der Ich-Organisation beifügen.
Und anders als mit ausgelebtem Karma betritt ein Mensch, wenn das vorliegt, was hier geschildert worden ist, die geistige Welt. Es wird dadurch etwas hineingetragen in die geistige Welt, was sonst nicht darinnen wäre: ein ätherischer Leib, der noch auf Erden hätte sein können, ein Astralleib, eine Ich-Organisation, die noch auf Erden hätten sein können. Statt daß sie auf Erden verbleiben, werden sie in die geistige Welt hineingetragen. Für Irdisches Bestimmtes wird in die geistige Welt hineingetragen. Und so sehen wir von jeder solchen elementarischen Katastrophe in die geistige Welt irdisches Element einfließen. Menschen, die in dieser Weise in ihrem Karma durch die ahrimanischen Mächte abgebogen worden sind, sie kommen also in diesem Zustande in der geistigen Welt an.
Nun müssen wir uns eine Frage vorlegen, die aus dem hervorgeht, meine lieben Freunde, daß wir ja lernen müssen, wenn wir Geisteswissenschaft ernsthaftig nehmen, vom Gesichtspunkte der geistigen Welt und der geistigen Wesenheiten in der geistigen Welt gerade so zu fragen, wie man mit dem gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein frägt für die physischirdische Welt und die Wesenheiten der physisch-irdischen Welt. Daher darf die Frage aufgeworfen werden: Wie nehmen es die Wesenheiten der drei Hierarchien auf, daß zu ihnen Menschen hinaufkommen, die in dieser Weise Irdisches in die geistige Welt hinauftragen?
Und es entsteht für diese Wesenheiten die Aufgabe, dasjenige, was da scheinbar zum Üblen gewendet ist, was scheinbar gegen die Weltenordnung gewendet ist, wiederum in die Weltenordnung hineinzubringen. Zu rechnen haben die Götter nun mit dem, was da vorliegt, um das Ahrimanisch-Böse in ein höheres Gutes zu verwandeln. Wir kommen dann zu der Vorstellung, in welcher Art für die Weltenordnung in bezug auf irgendeine Sache diejenigen Menschen besonders ausersehen sind, die in einer solchen Art in der geistigen Welt ankommen, wenn sie durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen sind. Da liegt für die geistigen Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien das Folgende vor.
Da haben sich solche Wesenheiten zu sagen: Da war ein Mensch in seiner vorigen Inkarnation. Durch diese vorige Inkarnation und das, was ihr vorangegangen ist im Gesamtleben des Menschen, hat sich eine gewisse Tatsachenwelt vorbereitet, eine Welt von Erlebnissen in der gegenwärtigen Inkarnation. Von dem, was sich da vorbereitet hat, ist aber nur der erste Teil zum Ausdruck gekommen, der zweite Teil kommt nicht zum Ausdruck. Daher haben wir hier einen Teil eines menschlichen Lebenslaufes, der eigentlich karmisch entsprechen sollte diesem Lebenslauf hier (es wird gezeichnet), der ihm aber nicht entspricht, sondern wir haben nur ein Stück hier. Das eine Stück hier entspricht also irgendwie dem früheren Erdenleben, aber nicht dem vollen früheren Erdenleben.
Da haben denn die Götter hinzuschauen auf dieses frühere Erdenleben und zu sagen: Da ist etwas, was nicht Wirkungen erfahren hat, die es erfahren sollte. Da sind unverbrauchte Ursachen. Und dasjenige, was da als unverbrauchte Ursachen vorhanden ist, das können jetzt die Götter nehmen, herantragen an den Menschen und ihn damit gerade in bezug auf seine Innerlichkeit für das nächste Erdenleben verstärken. So daß gewissermaßen die Gewalt dessen, was da als Ursache gewaltet hat in einer früheren Inkarnation, jetzt um so wuchtiger in ihm hervorbricht in der nächsten Inkarnation. Da tritt dann der Mensch, während er sonst, wenn ihn nicht eine solche Katastrophe befallen hätte, vielleicht mit geringwertigen Fähigkeiten hätte in der Welt auftreten können, oder auch wohl mit Fähigkeiten, die auf einem ganz anderen Gebiete gelegen wären, als sie dann liegen, wenn er eben in der nächsten Inkarnation auftritt, da tritt der Mensch als ein anderer auf zum Ausgleiche des Karma. Aber er tritt auch auf mit besonderen Eigentümlichkeiten. Denn gewissermaßen ist sein astralischer Leib verdichtet, weil unverbrauchte Ursachen in ihn eingegliedert sind.
Können Sie sich da verwundern, meine lieben Freunde, daß die Legende existiert von einem Philosophen, der sich selber in den Krater eines Vulkans gestürzt hat? Was kann die Ursache sein für einen solchen Entschluß bei jemandem, der in die Geheimnisse der Welt eingeweiht ist? Da kann nur die Ursache vorliegen, daß da durch menschlichen Willen selber etwas herbeigeführt wird, was sonst nur herbeigeführt werden kann durch elementare Naturereignisse: das plötzliche Hinweggerafftwerden dessen, was langsam noch erst hinweggerafft werden sollte. Und so kann wohl dasjenige, was von einem solchen Philosophen erzählt wird, der Absicht entspringen, mit besonderen Fähigkeiten in einer nächsten Inkarnation in der Welt zu erscheinen. Die Welt bekommt eben eine andere Gestalt, wenn wir in solcher Weise auf die tiefen Fragen des Karma eingehen.
So sehen wir zunächst, ich möchte sagen, prinzipiell, wie es sich mit solchen elementarischen Katastrophen verhält. Aber sehen wir nach einem anderen hin. Sehen wir darauf hin, wie in einer Zivilisationskatastrophe durch das ahrimanische Wesen Menschen, die nicht sehr stark karmisch verbunden sind, gewissermaßen auf einen Haufen zusammengetrieben werden, um einen gemeinschaftlichen Untergang zu finden.
Der Fall liegt dann ganz anders. Auch da haben wir die ahrimanischen Mächte im Spiele, aber mit Menschen, die zunächst mit den karmischen Fäden nicht als Gruppen zusammenhängen, die aber allerdings gerade dadurch wieder zusammengeführt werden. Und jetzt tritt etwas ein, was sich von dem anderen bei Naturkatastrophen wesentlich unterscheidet.
Eine Naturkatastrophe ruft in dem Menschen, der von ihr befallen wird, eine verschärfte Erinnerung an alles dasjenige hervor, was in seinem Karma als Ursache enthalten ist. Denn wenn der Mensch durch die Pforte des Todes tritt, wird er eben erinnert an alles, was in seinem Karma enthalten ist. Eine Verstärkung davon, eine deutliche Erinnerung tritt in der Menschenseele durch eine Naturkatastrophe ein, bei der der Mensch zugrunde geht.
Eine Eisenbahnkatastrophe, überhaupt eine zivilisatiorische Katastrophe ruft im Gegenteil Vergessen des Karma hervor. Dadurch aber, daß Vergessen des Karma auftritt, tritt eine starke Empfänglichkeit auf für die Eindrücke, die der Mensch nach dem Tode neu hat aus der geistigen Welt. Und die Folge davon ist, daß ein solcher Mensch jetzt sich selber fragen muß: Wie steht es mit dem, was unverbrauchtes Karma in mir ist?
Und während insbesondere die intellektuellen Eigenschaften eines Menschen bei einer Naturkatastrophe in seinem Astralleibe verdichtet werden, werden die Willenseigenschaften des Menschen bei Zivilisationskatastrophen verdichtet und verstärkt. So wirkt das Karma.
Nun aber schauen wir hinweg von diesen Katastrophen. Schauen wir auf das hin, was durch eine Gruppe von Menschen in fanatischer Weise an Emotionellem entwickelt wird, wie ich es charakterisiert habe, wo nur dasjenige sich auswirkt, was aus dem Menschen kommt, wo der Mensch ganz im Irrealen lebt und noch dazu zerstörend wirkt. Sehen wir uns solch ein phantastisch verzerrtes Zivilisationsgebilde an, als das der heutige europäische Osten nach dem Westen hinblickt, und sehen wir darauf hin, was da geschieht, wenn Menschen, die solchen Zusammenhängen angehören, durch die Pforte des Todes ziehen.
Da wird auch in die geistige Welt, geradeso wie bei den anderen Katastrophen, etwas hineingetragen. Aber Luziferisches wird hineingetragen. Dasjenige wird hineingetragen, was in der geistigen Welt verfinsternd und verheerend wirkt. Denn bei Naturkatastrophen und Zivilisationskatastrophen ist es immerhin Helligkeit, die von der irdischen Welt in die geistige hineingetragen wird. Aus Zivilisationsverirrungen wird Finsternis in die geistige Welt hineingetragen. Die Menschen treten ein durch die Pforte des Todes in die geistige Welt wie in einer schweren, finsteren Wolke, in der sie ihren Weg durchzumachen haben. Denn das Licht, das Luzifer in den Emotionen der Menschen auf Erden anstiftete, das wirkt als die dichteste Finsternis in der geistigen Welt, wenn der Mensch durch die Pforte des Todes in diese geistige Welt eingetreten ist. Und hinein kommen in die geistige Welt diejenigen Kräfte, die aus dem Inneren des Menschen gewissermaßen in diese geistige Welt hineinkommen; Leidenschaften, die nur im Menschen selber wirken sollten, werden hineingetragen in die geistige Welt, strahlen in der geistigen Welt.
Das wiederum sind solche Kräfte, die sich durch Ahrimans Macht in der geistigen Welt umgestalten lassen dazu, eben die Mondenentwickelung, die in der Erde noch vorhanden ist, zu benützen. Hier reicht wirklich Luzifer dem Ahriman die Hand.
Was durch bloße emotionelle Kulturimpulse hinaufgetragen wird in die geistige Welt, aber eigentlich nur aus dem verirrten irdischen Bewußtsein entsteht, das ist dasjenige, was umgestaltet in Vulkanausbrüchen, in Erdbeben aus dem Inneren der Erde nach oben lodert. Und wir lernen aus solchen Voraussetzungen heraus die Frage stellen nach dem Erdenkarma, nach dem Völkerkarma, und damit auch nach dem individuellen Menschenkarma, insofern dieses individuelle Menschenkarma verknüpft ist mit Völkerkarma, mit Erdenkarma. Wir lernen die Frage so stellen, daß wir Saaten suchen in luziferischen Auswirkungen in irgendeinem Erdengebiete, wo alte Kultur zerstört wird aus Menschenemotionen heraus, wo wilde Instinkte phantastisch Neues schaffen wollen, aber nur zerstörend wirken können. Und wir müssen uns fragen: Wo auf der Erde wird einstmals feuerlodernd oder bodenwellend dasjenige hervorbrechen, was jetzt in den wilden Leidenschaften der Menschen lodert?
Initiationswissenschaft darf und muß, wenn sie auf manches Elementarereignis hinschaut, ihre Frage stellen: Wann ist dieses Elementarereignis vorbereitet worden? In Kriegsschauern und Kriegsgreueln, in anderen Greueln, welche innerhalb der zivilisatorischen Entwickelung der Menschen aufgetreten sind! Denn so hängen die Dinge zusammen. Das sind die Dinge, die sich im Hintergrunde des Daseins vollziehen. Vor einer solchen Betrachtung bleiben nicht vereinzelt die Ereignisse stehen, die da hervortreten. Sie erscheinen im großen Weltenzusammenhange. Aber wie stellen sie sich in die einzelnen Menschenschicksale hinein? Nun, meine lieben Freunde, die Götter sind ja da, die mit der Menschheitsentwickelung in Verbindung sind. Ihre Aufgabe ist es, wie ich schon erwähnt habe, immerdar dasjenige, was auf diese Weise geschieht, wiederum ins Günstige, ins Menschenschicksal-Fördernde umzuwandeln.
So etwas geschieht unaufhörlich im Zusammenhange der irdischgeistigen Welt, daß Menschenschicksale entrissen werden den Luziferschwingen und den Ahrimankrallen, denn die Götter sind gut. Und was durch Ahriman oder Luzifer an Ungerechtigkeit in der Welt hinter den Kulissen des Daseins begründet wird, das, meine lieben Freunde, wird durch die guten Götter wiederum in die Bahn der Gerechtigkeit geleitet, und zuletzt ist der karmische Zusammenhang ein guter und ein gerechter.
Und abgelenkt wird unser Blick, der ja allerdings verständnisvoll beim Menschenkarma sein muß, voll Verständnis sein muß, aber abgelenkt wird unser Blick vom Menschenschicksal nach dem Götterschicksal. Denn indem wir Kriegsgreuel, Kriegsschuld, Kriegsunholde im Zusammenhang mit natürlichen und elementarischen menschenmordenden Katastrophen verfolgen, sehen wir sich ausleben den Kampf der guten Götter mit den nach zwei Seiten hin bösen Göttern. Wir sehen hinaus über das Menschenleben in das Götterleben hinein, und sehen das Götterleben auf dem Hintergrunde des Menschenlebens. Und wir sehen es vor allen Dingen nicht mit den ausgedörrten theoretischen Anschauungen, sondern wir sehen es mit Herz und Anteil, wir sehen es so, dieses Götterleben, daß wir es im Zusammenhang betrachten können wiederum mit dem, was im individuellen Karma der Menschen auf Erden vor sich geht, weil wir menschliches Schicksal mit Götterschicksal verflochten schauen.
Dann aber, wenn wir auf solches hinschauen, dann wird uns die Welt, die hinter dem Menschen liegt, erst ganz nahegerückt. Denn dann zeigt sich uns ja etwas, was man nur mit dem allerallertiefsten Anteil betrachten kann. Dann zeigt sich, wie das Menschenschicksal eingebettet liegt in dem Götterschicksal, wie in gewissem Sinne Götter lechzen nach dem, was sie mit den Menschen vorzunehmen haben aus dem Verlaufe ihres eigenen Kampfes heraus. Und indem wir uns solchen Vorstellungen nahen, kommen wir mit ihnen wiederum zurück zu dem, was nun auch in den alten Hellseherzeiten durch die Mysterien in die Welt getreten ist.
Derjenige, der in die alten Mysterien eingeweiht wurde, er ist zunächst eingeführt worden in die Welt der Elemente; da hat er gesehen, wie allmählich sein Inneres, aber in seiner moralischen Qualität, nach außen rückt. Dann aber lernte er, und das war ein gewichtiges, ein gewaltiges Wort, das der Schüler der alten Mysterien gesprochen hat, die «unteren und die oberen Götter», die ahrimanischen und die luziferischen Götter kennen. In der Gleichgewichtslage gehen die guten Götter. Und indem der alte Mysterienschüler kennenlernte, was der neue wiederum kennenlernen muß, wurde eben ein Mensch nach und nach in die Tiefen des Daseins eingeweiht. Denn dann, wenn man diesen Zusammenhang durchschaut, dann kommt man zu der merkwürdigen, die Welt aber belebend aufklärenden Anschauung: Wozu ist die Summe des Unglücks in der Welt? Damit die Götter Glück daraus machen können! Denn bloßes Glück führte nicht hinein in das Weltendasein. Glück, das aus Unglück sprießt beim Durchgange der Menschen durch die Sinnenwelt, führt erst hinein in die Tiefen der Welt.
Überall müssen wir, wo es sich um die Betrachtung des Karma handelt, nicht bloß an theoretische Begriffe appellieren, überall müssen wir, wo es sich um Karma handelt, an den ganzen Menschen appellieren. Denn Karma kann man nicht erkennen lernen, ohne daß bei der Erkenntnis das Herz, das ganze Gemüt, der Wille des Menschen beteiligt ist. Lernt man aber auf diese Weise Karma kennen, wie es richtig ist, dann vertieft sich auch dieses Menschenleben. Und dann erst werden gewichtig genug die Verhältnisse des Lebens genommen, die die Menschen karmisch zusammenführen.
Dann allerdings gibt es Augenblicke, die bei dem nicht oberflächlichen Menschen auch da sein müssen, in denen das Karma einen schwer drücken kann. Aber alle diese Augenblicke werden wieder ausgeglichen durch diejenigen, in denen das Karma ihm Flügel gibt, so daß er sich mit seiner Seele aus dem irdischen Reiche in das göttliche Reich erhebt. Und wir müssen die Verbindung der Götterwelt mit der Menschenwelt tief im Inneren fühlen, wenn wir vom Karma in wahrem Sinne des Wortes reden wollen.
Denn dasjenige, was hier auf Erden an uns, um uns ist in einem Erdenleben, das ist zunächst das, was da zugrunde geht auf dem Wege zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt. Das aber, was bleibt, das ist dasjenige, bei dem uns die Götter, das heißt die Wesen der höheren Hierarchien, an der Hand haben. Und niemand wird gegenüber der Erkenntnis des Karma die rechte Seelenstimmung entwickeln, der nicht Karmaerkenntnis als eine Handreichung von seiten der Götter ansieht.
Versuchen Sie es daher, meine lieben Freunde, Karmaerkenntnis so aufzufassen, daß diese Karmaerkenntnis bei Ihnen das Gefühl hervorruft: Indem ich mich dabei heiligem Geistesboden nähere, auf dem mir über das Karma etwas klarwerden kann, muß ich die Hand der Götter ergreifen.
So real müssen die Empfindungen werden, wenn wir an wirkliche Erkenntnisse der geistigen Welt — und solche sind die Karmaerkenntnisse — herandringen wollen.
Seventeenth Lecture
After I tried the day before yesterday to place before your soul, so to speak, the cosmic-cultic picture which represents man in connection with the beings of the spiritual world, so that from this connection comes not only the working out of karma, but also the living in of karma during the physical existence on earth, I would like today to take up a thought which was already alluded to in yesterday's lecture. I said that the present time of human development in the deepest sense of the word places world-historical and karmic questions on the mind of the expert in initiation science. And before we come to the considerations of karmic knowledge, let us also look at karma from this world-historical point of view which actually concerns the whole civilized humanity of the present.
It is indeed the case that things are happening in the world today which already touch the ordinary consciousness, I would like to say the heart, which is connected with the ordinary consciousness. A heavy cloud hovers over the civilization of Europe, and in a certain sense it is actually astonishing how little humanity in general wants to get involved in feeling, sensing this heavy cloud that hovers over the civilization of Europe.
First of all, we need only think of everything that emerges today from a certain way of looking at life in large parts of humanity. Let us only look at what has been made of Christianity in Eastern Europe, let us see how the news is now reaching us in a not entirely unbelievable way that the present regime of Soviet Russia is to stamp out 7ölstoi's writings, to make them invisible for all the future. Even if, of course, such things do not immediately come to light in the way they are announced, we must not close our minds to the seriousness of the moment, the world-historical moment in which we live, and we should listen to the admonition of initiatory science, which it actually wants to give every day: that today would already be the time when the most diverse small matters that occupy people should be a little silent and as many souls as possible should turn to the great matters. But interest in the big issues is on the wane rather than on the increase.
And so we see how today world views that appear creative - even if this is creation in destruction - are purely born out of a passionate, emotional human element, out of a human element that definitely walks on Luciferian paths. And we have to note that a large part of humanity today rejects everything that is reality: for it is not true that matter is recognized by the materialistic world figures. Matter is only recognized when one becomes aware of the creating spirit within matter. Whoever therefore denies the creating spirit in matter does not recognize matter either, but an idol of matter.
The idolatry that arises in this way is much more abominable than the idolatry of primitive humanity, which is so often spoken of as a childhood stage of civilization. Fantastic ideas of the unreal dominate humanity on the one hand.
To be sure, there were many such things in the world-historical development of mankind. But it is precisely the spiritual-scientific consideration of how such things are connected with the whole of the world order that draws attention to how serious a consideration of these things should actually be.
And so we must turn our attention to what arises from the fact that social world orders are created, so to speak, under the influence of materialistic-fantastic ideas, which are born entirely out of the lost human nature, which have nothing to do with any reality, which originate nowhere but in man himself.
After we have presented in this way a historical, but a present one, we present a natural-elemental one, to which we also referred last time, a natural-elemental one, as it appears when groups of people are suddenly torn out of earthly existence by elemental natural events, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or the like.
Then we learn that such an elemental catastrophe has taken place in the world. A large number of people have died as a result or their lives have otherwise been affected.
Then we look from such elementary natural events to that which is more connected with our whole culture. We see, for example, how this or that railroad accident can have karmic effects, where again, now through cultural institutions, the thread of life in the karmic effect is abruptly cut off, so to speak. And if we take the consideration of karma seriously, we must ask on the one hand: How does karma present itself when the purely emotional, the fantastic, which only has an existence within the human being, does not live externally, when karma lives itself out among the participants in such a social earthly order? And how does karma take shape when the thread of life is abruptly cut off by natural or civilizational elementary events?
Here, my dear friends, lies one of the points at which the science of initiation actually strikes deep into the human emotional and emotional life. For the ordinary consciousness the questions do not arise: How does such a thing live itself out in the successive earth lives of men? - And for the ordinary consciousness the question of human destiny in the broader sense does not arise, especially not in the case of elementary disasters of civilization. After all, in ordinary consciousness, the fate of a person who has been affected by such a catastrophe is considered to be complete, so to speak.
The science of initiation has, on the one hand, that which takes place in the foreground of human life on earth, so to speak, and it has in the background that which takes place as the deeds of the gods with human souls. And it is precisely from what takes place in the background that initiation science receives its preconditions for its estimation of life on earth. For we shall see in the further study of karma how many things in earthly life must take shape in one way or another so that the things that are divine behind earthly life can be shaped humanly, albeit also according to the will of the gods.
For if one looks at the background, one sees everything that is karmically shaped by the human soul with the human soul between death and a new birth. One also sees the combined work of the human souls with the beings of the higher hierarchies, as we have mentioned; but on the other hand one sees everywhere the interplay of Luciferic and Ahrimanic powers. Within the organism of the gods, which stands behind the earth organism, one sees the justification for the interplay of Luciferic and Ahrimanic entities. One knows that Lucifer and Ahriman must be there for the deeper spiritual order of the world. And in spite of this necessity, one sometimes sees the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings protruding into the earthly world with deepest dismay. That many things must be seen together when one expands one's view beyond the earthly world into the spiritual, which need not be seen together for the ordinary consciousness, that is what one should be attentive to.
And therefore it was also the case that in ancient times, when the science of initiation was already so sacred in its way, as it should become again, that in those ancient times, when the question arose somewhere as to whether someone was an initiate, people knew how they had to behave according to such a matter. And if, on the path of life, a person who took life seriously met another who also took life seriously, but they had different opinions about an initiate, then in those ancient times one could often hear the word - if there was ignorance in one person as to whether some third personality was an initiate: Have you looked him in the eye? - For in ancient times, when there were clairvoyant civilizations over the earth, the Initiates were recognized by what the gaze receives through the deepening of the seriousness of life. And something similar will happen again. One will have to return to the seriousness of life, without losing the humor of life.
But many things can really be brought up from what is happening now, in connection with what has indeed happened at all times, but which must now stand before mankind like a great mystery. For let us take a look at the facts. Let us paint ourselves some facts.
We have some region affected by a mighty earthquake. Numerous people perish together. If we look at the matter from the standpoint of spiritual science, we cannot always say that the karmic thread for this earthly life has completely run out in these people. Let us look at the karmic thread of what is perishing. For old people who will soon have lived out their earthly karma for this life, the thread of life may only be shortened by months or a few years. Younger people, in the full power of earthly life, who have thought a lot about what they want to accomplish in the next few years for themselves, their family, for another humanity, will have their thread of life shortened by many years. Children who are in the process of being educated, for whom one wants to do something for the soul that will introduce it to human life, are torn away from earthly existence alongside old people. Infants who have barely outgrown their mother's breast and those who have not yet done so are torn away with old and young people. This is where the great mystery arises: how does karma work in such events?
And let's look at the difference that exists between such an elementary event and an elementary event caused by civilization, such as a major railroad disaster: there is a difference, a difference that becomes important and essential precisely when you bring the consideration down to the level of karma.
As a rule it will be the case that when people perish together as a result of an earthquake in the way I have just described, they are karmically linked in some way - just as people who inhabit an area together are more or less karmically linked as a rule, at any rate have something to do with each other - so that in a certain common destiny of life, into which they have been carried by the fact that they have all descended at a certain place on earth from the pre-earthly existence to the earthly existence, in this common destiny of life they are approaching the breaking of their thread of life.
If, on the other hand, we see a railroad disaster, we will usually find that only a few of the people affected by this railroad disaster actually belong together. Who comes together on a train? As a rule, not people who have anything to do with each other, but who are merely brought together, brought together without having any of the bonds that are certainly always present when an earthquake disaster strikes a region. One might say that fate brings together in one place those who perish together in a railroad disaster. Do we not see a quite different working of karma in the one case and in the other?
And let us look with the eye of initiation science at such a devastating earthquake catastrophe. We certainly do not see people there who had their karma so arranged at birth that the earthly thread of life had to run out at the time when the common catastrophe occurred. People were, so to speak, torn out of their karma by such an event.
How could they be torn out? According to the counsel of the gods, the living out of karma is what matters. You see, everything that occurs in such natural events as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods and the like does not lie in the continuing course of the earth's development according to natural law, but something intervenes in the earth's development, albeit according to natural laws.
That which intervenes in earthly development was once favorable, necessary, beneficial to development in the time when humanity was not subject to birth and death in the present form. And if we want to imagine something specific under what has just been said, then let us look back to the old lunar time. In the old lunar time, which preceded the time on earth, man was not subject to birth and death in such a way that he was led into physical existence through a birth or conception as through a sudden transition and was led out of physical existence through death. The transition was much gentler. It was more of a transformation, a metamorphosis, than a leap. The earthly man, actually the lunar man, was not as material as the man of today. Man in the spiritual world was not as spiritualized as man today.
That which lived as mankind on the moon also needed completely different laws of nature - laws of nature which showed the moon life in an unchangeable movement, inwardly moving and bubbling, undulating, surging. What was then inwardly bubbling, undulating, waving, is today partly, but only partly, solidified in the moon, which is our companion in the universe. But the solidification of the moon, which is actually a cornification, points back to the old inner mobility of the moon. This makes itself felt in earthly activity when such elemental events occur as I have mentioned. It is not the ordinary natural laws of the earth that are at work here, but the old moon, which is circling outside in the universe in its present form, but which has left forces behind in the earth after it has left it, begins to rumble.
And now you remember, as I have explained, that connected with the karma of man are those beings who were once the great original teachers of mankind, who brought the original great wisdom to mankind, who did not live in a physical body on earth but in an etheric one, and who left the earth at a certain time and today inhabit the moon, so that we meet them in that time, in the beginning time, which we go through between death and a new birth. These are the beings who, with a proper inner soul-spiritual writing, inscribe deep into the world ether what is human karma.
But there is, I would like to say, a conspiracy in the universe which culminates in the fact that not only that is used which accompanies our earth with today's moon, but also that which can remain behind as moonlike rumbling in the earth. But this is used by the ahrimanic powers. And this is where ahrimanic powers can intervene in the life thread of humanity. And so one can also see how it is ahrimanic powers who, in such a case, stretch out their voluptuously satisfied faces from the depths of the earth when such natural disasters occur.
Therefore, with the help of initiation science, one can see in such a case how the person who perishes has unwound part of his karma up to the moment when the thread of life is abruptly cut off. Then there would still be a piece of life, a larger or smaller piece, depending on whether old people, adults or infants are torn away from life; then there would be the possibility that the thread of life, the whole life in its events would continue - and suddenly, precisely in the physical organization of man, that which should have happened all this time would intervene, as if compressed into one moment.
Think for a moment, my dear friends, what is actually happening. Let us assume that a man of thirty is seized by such a catastrophe. If he had not been seized by the catastrophe, he would have reached the age of sixty-five according to his karma for my sake. There is a wealth of events that he would have gone through in his life. They are all only there as a possibility. But in his karma, in the constitution of his etheric, his astral body, in the constitution of his ego-organization, all this lies within. And what would have happened up to the age of sixty-five? Alongside the building up, the organism would have been continually degraded; a slow degradation would have taken place until the degradation would have been completed in the sixty-fifth year of life, a degradation, subtle and slow.
This slow degradation, which would have spanned another thirty-five years, which would have proceeded at the slow pace that corresponds to such a longer course, is, as it were, accomplished in a moment, compressed into an instant. This can be added to the physical body. This cannot be added to the etheric, not to the astral body, not to the ego organization.
And other than with lived-out karma, a person enters the spiritual world when what has been described here is present. Something is thereby carried into the spiritual world that would otherwise not be there: an etheric body that could still have been on earth, an astral body, an ego organization that could still have been on earth. Instead of remaining on earth, they are carried into the spiritual world. Things destined for earthly life are carried into the spiritual world. And so we see earthly elements flowing into the spiritual world from every such elemental catastrophe. People who have been bent in this way in their karma by the ahrimanic powers therefore arrive in this state in the spiritual world.
Now we must ask ourselves a question that arises from the fact, my dear friends, that we must learn, if we take spiritual science seriously, to ask from the point of view of the spiritual world and the spiritual beings in the spiritual world just as one asks with the ordinary consciousness for the physical-earthly world and the beings of the physical-earthly world. Therefore the question may be raised: How do the beings of the three hierarchies take it that people come up to them who carry earthly things up into the spiritual world in this way?
And the task arises for these beings to bring back into the world order that which is apparently turned to evil, which is apparently turned against the world order. The gods now have to reckon with what is present in order to transform the Ahrimanic evil into a higher good. We then come to the idea in what way those people are especially chosen for the world order with regard to some matter, who arrive in such a way in the spiritual world when they have passed through the gate of death. The following applies to the spiritual beings of the higher hierarchies.
There such beings have to say to themselves: There was a human being in his previous incarnation. Through this previous incarnation and what preceded it in the overall life of the human being, a certain world of facts has been prepared, a world of experiences in the present incarnation. But only the first part of what has been prepared has been expressed, the second part is not expressed. Therefore we have here a part of a human life course that should actually correspond karmically to this life course here (it is drawn), but which does not correspond to it, but we only have one part here. So the one piece here somehow corresponds to the earlier earth life, but not to the full earlier earth life.
Then the gods have to look at this earlier earth life and say: There is something that has not experienced the effects that it should have experienced. There are unused causes. And the gods can now take that which is there as unused causes, bring it to the human being and thereby strengthen him for the next life on earth precisely with regard to his inwardness. So that, as it were, the power of that which prevailed as a cause in a previous incarnation now bursts forth all the more powerfully in him in the next incarnation. Then the human being, whereas otherwise, if he had not been afflicted by such a catastrophe, he might have appeared in the world with inferior abilities, or even with abilities that would have been in a completely different field than they are when he appears in the next incarnation, then the human being appears as another for the balancing of karma. But he also appears with special peculiarities. For in a sense his astral body is condensed because unused causes are incorporated into it.
Can you be surprised, my dear friends, that the legend exists of a philosopher who threw himself into the crater of a volcano? What can be the cause of such a decision in someone who is initiated into the mysteries of the world? There can only be the cause that something is brought about by human will itself, which otherwise can only be brought about by elementary natural events: the sudden snatching away of that which was slowly still to be snatched away. And so what is told by such a philosopher may well arise from the intention to appear in the world with special abilities in a next incarnation. The world takes on a different shape when we address the deep questions of karma in this way.
So we see first of all, I would say in principle, how it is with such elementary catastrophes. But let us look at something else. Let us look at how, in a catastrophe of civilization, people who are not very strongly karmically connected are, as it were, herded together in a heap by the ahrimanic being in order to find a common downfall.
The case is then quite different. Here, too, we have the ahrimanic powers at play, but with people who are not initially connected to the karmic threads as groups, but who are brought together again precisely because of this. And now something occurs that differs significantly from the other natural disasters.
A natural disaster evokes in the person who is affected by it an intensified memory of everything that is contained in his karma as a cause. For when a person passes through the gate of death, he is reminded of everything that is contained in his karma. An intensification of this, a clear reminder, occurs in the human soul through a natural disaster in which the human being perishes.
On the contrary, a railroad catastrophe, a civil catastrophe in general, causes forgetting of karma. But the forgetting of karma causes a strong receptivity to the impressions that man receives anew from the spiritual world after death. And the consequence of this is that such a person must now ask himself: How is it with that which is unspent karma in me?
And while especially the intellectual qualities of a person are condensed in his astral body during a natural catastrophe, the will qualities of a person are condensed and strengthened during civilization catastrophes. This is how karma works.
But now let us look beyond these catastrophes. Let us look at the fanatical development of emotions by a group of people, as I have characterized it, where only that which comes from the human being has an effect, where the human being lives entirely in the unreal and, in addition, has a destructive effect. Let us look at such a fantastically distorted civilization, as which today's European East looks towards the West, and see what happens when people who belong to such contexts pass through the gate of death.
Something is also carried into the spiritual world, just as with the other catastrophes. But Luciferic things are brought in. That which has a darkening and devastating effect in the spiritual world is brought in. After all, in the case of natural disasters and disasters of civilization, it is brightness that is carried from the earthly world into the spiritual world. From the aberrations of civilization, darkness is carried into the spiritual world. People enter the spiritual world through the gate of death as if in a heavy, dark cloud in which they have to make their way. For the light that Lucifer instigated in the emotions of people on earth acts as the densest darkness in the spiritual world when a person has entered this spiritual world through the gate of death. And into the spiritual world come those forces which to a certain extent come from within the human being into this spiritual world; passions which should only work in the human being himself are carried into the spiritual world, radiate in the spiritual world.
These in turn are such forces that can be reshaped by Ahriman's power in the spiritual world to use the very lunar development that is still present in the earth. Here Lucifer really reaches out his hand to Ahriman.
What is carried up into the spiritual world through mere emotional cultural impulses, but actually only arises from the lost earthly consciousness, is that which blazes upwards in volcanic eruptions, in earthquakes from the interior of the earth. And from such premises we learn to ask the question about earth karma, about the karma of the peoples, and thus also about individual human karma, insofar as this individual human karma is linked with the karma of the peoples, with earth karma. We learn to ask the question in such a way that we look for seeds in Luciferic effects in some area of the earth, where old culture is being destroyed out of human emotions, where wild instincts want to create something fantastically new, but can only have a destructive effect. And we must ask ourselves: Where on earth will that which now blazes in the wild passions of mankind once burst forth, blazing with fire or swelling to the ground?
The science of initiation may and must ask its question when it looks at some elemental events: When was this elemental event prepared? In showers of war and atrocities of war, in other atrocities which have occurred within the development of human civilization! For this is how things are connected. These are the things that take place in the background of existence. The events that emerge do not remain isolated before such an observation. They appear in the great world context. But how do they relate to individual human destinies? Well, my dear friends, the gods are there who are connected with the development of humanity. Their task, as I have already mentioned, is always to transform what happens in this way into something favorable, into something that promotes human destiny.
Something like this happens incessantly in the context of the earthly-spiritual world, that human destinies are snatched from the wings of Lucifer and the claws of Ahriman, for the gods are good. And whatever injustice is caused by Ahriman or Lucifer in the world behind the scenes of existence, that, my dear friends, is again guided into the path of justice by the good gods, and ultimately the karmic connection is a good and a just one.
And our gaze is diverted, which must indeed be understanding of human karma, must be full of understanding, but our gaze is diverted from the destiny of man to the destiny of the gods. For by following the atrocities of war, the guilt of war, the unhappiness of war in connection with natural and elemental man-killing catastrophes, we see the battle of the good gods with the evil gods on both sides being played out. We see beyond human life into the life of the gods, and see the life of the gods in the background of human life. And above all, we do not see it with the parched theoretical views, but we see it with heart and soul, we see it in such a way, this life of the gods, that we can look at it in connection again with what is going on in the individual karma of men on earth, because we see human fate interwoven with the fate of the gods.
But then, when we look at such things, the world that lies behind the human being comes very close to us. For then something is revealed to us that can only be seen with the most profound interest. Then we see how the destiny of man is embedded in the destiny of the gods, how in a certain sense the gods long for what they have to do with man in the course of their own struggle. And by approaching such ideas, we come back with them to what has now also entered the world through the mysteries in the old times of clairvoyance.
He who was initiated into the ancient mysteries was first introduced to the world of the elements; there he saw how his inner being, but in its moral quality, gradually moved outwards. Then, however, he became acquainted with the “lower and upper gods”, the Ahrimanic and Luciferic gods, and this was a weighty, a powerful word spoken by the disciple of the ancient Mysteries. The good gods walk in the state of equilibrium. And by the old student of the Mysteries getting to know what the new one must in turn get to know, a person is gradually initiated into the depths of existence. For then, when one sees through this connection, one comes to the strange, but enlightening view of the world: What is the sum of unhappiness in the world for? So that the gods can make happiness out of it! For mere happiness does not lead into the existence of the world. Happiness, which sprouts from misfortune as people pass through the world of the senses, only leads into the depths of the world.
Wherever we are dealing with the contemplation of karma, we must not merely appeal to theoretical concepts; wherever we are dealing with karma, we must appeal to the whole human being. For one cannot learn to recognize karma without the heart, the whole mind, the will of man being involved in the recognition. But if one gets to know karma in this way, as it is right, then this human life also deepens. And only then are the circumstances of life that bring people together karmically taken seriously enough.
Then, however, there are moments that must also be there with the non-superficial person, in which karma can weigh heavily on you. But all these moments are balanced out again by those in which karma gives him wings, so that he rises with his soul from the earthly realm into the divine realm. And we must feel the connection of the world of the gods with the world of men deep within if we want to speak of karma in the true sense of the word.
For that which is here on earth in us, around us in an earthly life, that is first of all that which perishes there on the way between death and new birth. But that which remains is that in which the gods, that is, the beings of the higher hierarchies, have us by the hand. And no one will develop the right mood of soul towards the knowledge of karma who does not regard the knowledge of karma as a hand from the gods.
Try therefore, my dear friends, to conceive of karma knowledge in such a way that this karma knowledge evokes in you the feeling: By approaching holy spiritual ground, on which something can become clear to me about karma, I must grasp the hand of the gods.
This is how real the sensations must become if we want to approach real knowledge of the spiritual world - and this is what karmic knowledge is.