Theosophy of the Rosicrucian
GA 99
28 May 1907, Munich
Translated by Mabel Cotterell and Dorothy S. Osmond
IV. The Descent to a New Birth
In the last lecture we described the worlds through which the human being has to pass after death, when everything that binds him to his physical instrument has been laid aside in Kamaloca or—as we say in Rosicrucian Theosophy—in the Elemental world. We also spoke of “Rupa-Devachan,” or the region known as the Heaven world, the world of Inspiration. We heard that this region-the Spirit-Land proper-has a fourfold constitution, like the physical world. There is the Continental region, permeated by a flowing oceanic region which is more aptly to be compared with the blood circulation in the human organism. In the surrounding “air” of Devachan which is analogous to the atmosphere of our earth, is to be found all that pervades the souls of beings in the physical world in the way of joys, sufferings, sorrows, afflictions, only this air must be conceived in a much wider sense because this world is the dwelling-place of other, quite different Beings who are not incarnate in physical bodies. Finally we heard how in the fourth region of Devachan everything that is truly original, from the most trivial to the most lofty inspiration of the inventor or artist, exists as an archetype. In this world Lies the motive force of the progress of our earth. But in addition to these constituent realms of the spiritual world proper, we find that which links our earth with still higher worlds.
Up to now we have been considering things that have reference only to earth-evolution, not those that transcend this evolution. A man who attains Initiation acquires knowledge of what our earth was in the past and will be in the future, of what links the earth with worlds beyond our system.
Important above all in Devachan, in this “world of Reason”, is the Akasha Chronicle as we are accustomed to call it. The Akasha Chronicle is not actually brought into being in Devachan but in an even higher region; when, however, the seer has risen to the world of Devachan, he can begin to perceive what is known as the Akasha Chronicle.
What is the Akasha Chronicle? We can form the truest conception of it by realising that what comes to pass on our earth makes a lasting impression upon certain delicate essences, an impression which can be discovered by a seer who has attained Initiation. It is not an ordinary but a living Chronicle. Suppose a human being lived in the first century after Christ; what he thought, felt and willed in those days, what passed into deeds—this is not obliterated but preserved in this delicate essence. The seer can behold it-not as if it were recorded in a history book, but as it actually happened. How a man moved, what he did, a journey he took—it can all be seen in these spiritual pictures; the impulses of will, the feelings, the thoughts, can also be seen. But we must not imagine that these pictures are images of the physical personalities. That is not the case. To take a simple example.—When a man moves his hand, his will pervades the moving hand and it is this force of will that can be seen in the Akasha Chronicle. What is spiritually active in us and has flowed into the Physical, is there seen in the Spiritual. Suppose, for example, we look for Caesar. We can follow all his undertakings, but let us be quite clear that it is rather his thoughts that we see in the Akasha Chronicle; when he set out to do something we see the whole sequence of decisions of the will to the point where the deed was actually performed. To observe a specific event in the Akasha Chronicle is not easy. We must help ourselves by linking on to external knowledge. If the seer is trying to observe some action of Caesar and takes an historical date as a point of focus, the result will come more easily. Historical dates are, it is true, often unreliable, but they are sometimes of assistance. When the seer directs his gaze to Caesar, he actually sees the person of Caesar in action, phantom-like, as though he were standing before him, speaking with him. But when a man is looking into the past, various things may happen to him if, in spite of possessing some degree of seership, he has not entirely found his bearings in the higher worlds.
The Akasha Chronicle is to be found in Devachan, but it extends downwards into the astral world, with the result that in this lower world the pictures of the Akasha Chronicle may often be a mirage; they are often disconnected and unreliable and it is important to remember this when we set about investigating the past. Let me indicate the danger of these possible mistakes by an example.—If through the indications of the Akasha Chronicle we are led back to the epoch in the earth's evolution when Atlantis was still in existence, before the great Flood, we can follow the happenings and conditions of life in old Atlantis. These were repeated later on, but in a different form. In north Germany, in central Europe, eastwards of Atlantis, long before the Christian era and long before Christianity made its way thither from the south, happenings took place which were a repetition of conditions in Atlantis. Only afterwards, through the influences coming from the south, did the peoples begin to lead a life that was really their own. Here is an example of how easy it is to be exposed to error.—If someone is observing the astral pictures of the Akasha Chronicle, not the devachanic pictures, he may be confused in regard to these repetitions of Atlantean conditions. This was actually the case in the indications about Atlantis given by Scott-Elliot; they tally with the astral pictures but not with the devachanic pictures of the true Akasha Chronicle. The truth of this matter had sometime to be made known. The moment we know where the source of the errors lies, it is easy to assess the indications correctly.
Another source of error may arise when reliance is placed upon indications given by mediums. When mediums are possessed of the necessary faculties, they can see the Akasha Chronicle, although in most cases only its astral reflections. Now there is something singular about the Akasha Chronicle. If we discover some person there, he behaves like a living being. If we find Goethe, for example, he may not only answer in the words which he actually spoke in his life but he gives answer in the Goethean sense; it may even happen that he utters in his own style and trend, verses he never actually wrote. The Akasha picture is so alive that it is like a force working on in the mind of the human being. Hence the picture may be confused with the individuality himself. Mediums believe that they are in contact with the dead man whose life is continuing in the spirit, whereas in reality it is only his astral Akasha-picture. The spirit of Caesar may already have reincarnated on earth and it is his Akasha picture that gives the answers in seances. It is not the individuality of Caesar but only the enduring impression which the picture of Caesar has left behind in the Akasha Chronicle. This is the basis of errors in very many spiritualist seances. We must distinguish between what remains of the human being in his Akasha-picture and what continues to evolve as the true individuality. These are matters of extreme importance.
When the human being has passed out of Kamaloca, he has weaned himself from all the habits for which a physical instrument is necessary. He enters into the region described above. The period that now begins for him is exceedingly important and we must understand what it is that happens.
All the man's earlier experiences in his life of thought and feeling, all his passions, confront him in Devachan as his environment. Firstly, he sees his own physical body in its archetypal form. Just as on the earth we move among rocks, mountains and stones, in yonder world we move among the archetypes of all the structures that exist in the physical world. A man, therefore, moves over his own physical body. The fact that his own physical body is an object outside him is a pointer to him after death, for he recognises by this that he has left Kamaloca and has entered into Devachan. On the earth he says to his body: “I am that!” In Devachan he sees his body and says: “Thou art that!”
The Vedanta Philosophy teaches its pupils to meditate upon the “Thou art That!” in order that through such exercises they may understand what it means to say to the body: “Thou art That!”
In Devachan the human being sees around him what he experienced inwardly here on earth. If he has harboured revenge, antipathy and other evil feelings towards his fellow men on earth they confront him externally like a cloud and this teaches him what significance and effect all these things have in the world.
Let us be clear about what happens to the human being in Devachan. How have the organs, the eyes, for instance, of physical man on the earth been formed? There was a time when no eye was yet in existence. The eye has been formed out of the physical Organisation by light. Light is the progenitor of the eye. What is around us on the earth creates organs in physical bodies and substances; in Devachan, what is around us works upon our being of soul. So that everything a human being has developed here on earth in the way of good and reprehensible feelings is to be found, in yonder world, in his environment; it works upon his soul and so creates organs of the soul. If a man has lived a righteous life on earth, his good qualities live around him in the “air” of Devachan; they work in the Spiritual, creating organs. These organs serve as architects and moulders for the building of the physical body in a new incarnation. What was within the human being on earth is transferred to the outer world in Devachan, and prepares the forces which build up the human body for the next birth.
But let it not be imagined that the human being has nothing to do except to care for himself; as well as this he has very important work to do in Devachan. We can form an idea of this if we consider for a moment the evolution of the earth. How greatly certain regions have changed since a couple of thousand years ago! There were then quite different plants, different animal forms, even the climate was different. In respect of the products of nature the earth's surface is continually changing. In Greece, for example, there could never again arise what sprang forth from the soil in the days of ancient Greece. Evolution proceeds precisely through the fact that the face of the earth undergoes constant change.
When a human being dies, a very long period elapses before he is born again. When he appears again on the earth he does not find the same conditions as of yore; he has to have new experiences; he is not born a second time into the same configuration of the earth; he remains in the spiritual worlds until the earth has entirely new conditions to offer him. There is good purpose in this for thereby he learns something entirely new and his development goes forward quite differently. Think, for example, of a boy in ancient Rome. His life did not in the least resemble that of a modern schoolboy; and when we ourselves are born again we, in turn, shall find quite different conditions. Thus does evolution proceed from incarnation to incarnation. While the human being sojourns in the spiritual regions described, the face of the earth is perpetually changing.
What beings are active here? By what beings are the changes in the earth's physiognomy brought about? This leads at once to the answer to the question: What is the human being doing in the period between death and a new birth? He himself is working from out the spiritual worlds, under the guidance of higher Beings, at the transformation of the earth. It is human beings themselves, between death and rebirth, who carry out this work. When they are born again they find the face of the earth changed, changed into a form which they themselves have helped to fashion. All of us have been engaged in this work.
To the question: Where is Devachan, where is the spiritual world?—I answer: It is around us all the time. In very truth it is so. Around us too are all the souls of discarnate human beings; they are at work around us. While we are building cities and machines, human beings who are living between death and a new birth are around us, working out of the spiritual realms.
When, as seers, we seek for the Dead, we can find them within the light-if we perceive the light not merely in a material way. The light that surrounds us forms the “bodies” of the Dead; they have bodies woven out of light. The light that enfolds the earth is “substance” for the beings who are living in Devachan. A plant nourished by the sunlight receives into itself not the physical light alone but in very truth the activity of spiritual beings, among whom there are also these human souls. These souls themselves ray down upon the plants as light, weaving as spiritual beings around the plants. Looking at the plants with the eye of spirit, we can say: the plant rejoices at the influences coming from the Dead who are working and weaving around it in the light. When we observe how the vegetation on the face of the earth changes and ask how this comes about, the answer is: The souls of the Dead are working in the light which enfolds the earth; here is Devachan, in very truth. After the period of Kamaloca we pass into this realm of light. Only those who are able to point to where, in truth, the Dead are to be found have any knowledge of Devachan in the sense of Rosicrucian Theosophy.
When the faculties of the seer develop, he often makes a striking discovery. When he stands in the sunlight, his body holds up the light and casts a shadow; very often he will discover the spirit for the first time when he looks into this shadow. The body holds up the light but not the spirit; and in the shadow that is cast by the body the spirit can be discovered. That is why more primitive peoples who have always possessed some measure of clairvoyance, have also called the Soul, the shadow they say “shadow-less”—“soul-less.” A novel by Adalbert Chamisso is unconsciously based on this idea: the man who has lost his shadow has also lost his soul—hence his despair.
Such, then, is the work that is performed by human beings in Devachan between death and a new birth. They are by no means in a state of inactive repose; they work creatively from Devachan at the evolution of the earth. They are not, as is often said, in a state of blissful rest or dream. Life in Devachan is just as full of activity as life on the earth.
When the human being has reached the point where he has transformed into spiritual forces his activities in the last earthly life, when these experiences have come to him from the outer world of Devachan and have worked upon him, then he is ready to come down from Devachan to a new birth. The earth draws him once again to her sphere.
When the human being descends from Devachan, he passes, first, into the astral region, the “Elemental World.” Here he receives a new astral body... If iron filings are scattered on a piece of paper and a magnet is moved about underneath, the filings arrange themselves into forms and lines, following the forces of the magnet. In exactly the same way, the irregularly distributed astral substance is attracted and arranged according to the forces which are in the soul and correspond with what this soul has achieved in the previous life. Thus the human being himself gathers together his astral body. These human beings in the making, who to begin with have only an astral body, appear to the eye of the seer like bell forms opening downwards. They shoot and whirl through the astral world with tremendous speed-with a speed that can hardly be conceived.
These incipient human beings must now receive an etheric body and a physical body. What happened hitherto, up to the stage of the formation of the astral body, depended upon themselves, upon the forces they themselves had developed. But the forming of the etheric body does not, in the present phase of evolution, depend upon the human being alone; in respect of the forming of an etheric body, man is dependent upon beings external to himself. Consequently the human being always has a fitting astral body but there is not in every case perfect accordance between the astral body and the etheric and physical bodies; this is often the cause of maladjustment and lack of satisfaction in life. These incipient human beings whirl around space as they do because they are seeking for suitable parents, parents who will afford the best possible opportunity of receiving an etheric and a physical nature befitting the astral being.
The parents who can provide this can only be relatively the best and the most suitable. Co-operating in this search are Beings who member the etheric body to the astral body and whose rank is similar to that of the Folk-Spirits. The Folk-Spirit is not the intangible abstraction it is usually considered to be. A Folk-Spirit is as real to the eye of the seer as our soul that is incarnate in our body. A whole people, although it has not a common physical body, has a common astral body and the rudiments of a common etheric body. This lives within a kind of astral cloud and is the “body” of the Folk-Spirit. Of this nature are the Beings who guide the ether-formations around the human being who is thus no longer entirely under his own control.
Now comes a moment of extreme importance, equally as important as the moment after death when the whole of the past life is seen as a memory-picture. When the human being passes into his etheric body but has not yet acquired his physical body—it is a brief moment but of supreme importance—he has a pre-vision of his coming life, not in all its details but only as a survey over what his future life has in store for him. He can say to himself (but he forgets it when he actually incarnates) that he has a happy or an unhappy life in front of him. It may happen, if a human being has had many unfortunate experiences in a previous life, that he now gets a shock and is hesitant to enter into the physical body. The result of this may be that he does not come right down into the physical body and so the connection between the several bodies is not fully established. This produces idiocy in the coming life; it is not always the cause of idiocy, but frequently so. The soul rebels, as it were, against physical embodiment. Such a human being cannot make right use of his brain because he is not properly incarnate in it. He can only use his physical instrument aright when he allows himself to be born into it in the full and proper sense. Whereas in other circumstances the etheric body extends only slightly beyond the physical body, in the case of idiots portions of the etheric body are often to be seen as an etheric sheen extending far beyond the head. Here is a case where something that is left unexplained by physical observation of life, is explained through Spiritual Science.
Vierter Vortrag
[ 1 ] Vorgestern haben wir beschrieben das Gebiet und die Welten, die der Mensch zu durchschreiten hat nach dem Tode, nachdem alles dasjenige im Kamaloka oder, wie man in der Rosenkreuzer-Theosophie sagt, in der elementaren Welt abgestreift ist, was noch bindet an das physische Instrument dieser Welt. Wir haben ferner beschrieben das sogenannte Rupa-Devachan oder das Gebiet, das man genannt hat die himmlische oder inspirierende Welt. Wir haben gesehen, daß dieses Gebiet, das eigentliche Geisterland, gleich dem Gebiet unserer physischen Welt eine Viergliedrigkeit aufweist. Wir haben das kontinentale Gebiet, welches durchsetzt ist von einer Art Ozean- und Flußgebiet, das wir aber besser noch mit der Form des Blutkreislaufs im Organismus des Menschen vergleichen. Wir haben gesehen, daß auch im Devachan, als Analogie zur Atmosphäre unserer Erde, im sogenannten Luftkreis sich alles das findet, was an Freuden und Leiden, an Schmerzen und Plagen die Seelen der in der physischen Welt befindlichen Wesen durchzieht, allerdings weit ausgedehnter, weil noch ganz andere Wesen dort leben, die nicht in physischen Leibern inkarniert sind. Wir haben endlich gesehen, daß im vierten Gebiet alles das, was originell ist, vom kleinsten Einfall bis zu dem Höchsten, was der Erfinder und Künstler leistet, als Vorbild zu finden ist. Dort ist das eigentlich Treibende, das unsere Erde vorwärtsbringt. Außer diesen Bestandstücken der eigentlichen geistigen Welt finden wir aber auch noch das, was unsere Erde verbindet mit noch höheren Welten.
[ 2 ] Wir haben bis jetzt nur das entdeckt, was bloß Bezug hat auf unsere Erdenentwickelung; was darüber hinausgeht, haben wir noch nicht entdeckt. Derjenige, der eine Einweihung erhält, lernt kennen, was unsere Erde je war und sein wird und was sie verbindet mit andern Welten außerhalb unseres Systems.
[ 3 ] Vor allen Dingen ist eins wichtig, was uns im Devachan, in dieser sogenannten Vernunftwelt, begegnet. Es ist das, was wir gewohnt sind, die Akasha-Chronik zu nennen. Nicht als ob dieselbe erzeugt würde im Devachan, sie wird in einem noch höheren Gebiet hervorgebracht, aber man kann, wenn man bis zum Devachan hinaufgelangt ist, anfangen das zu sehen, was man die Akasha-Chronik nennt.
[ 4 ] Was ist Akasha-Chronik? Wir machen uns den besten Begriff davon, wenn wir uns klar sind, daß alles, was auf unserer Erde oder sonst auf der Welt geschieht, einen bleibenden Eindruck auf gewisse feine Essenzen macht, der für den Erkennenden, der eine Einweihung durchgemacht hat, aufzufinden ist. Es ist keine gewöhnliche Chronik, sondern eine Chronik, die man als eine lebendige bezeichnen könnte. Nehmen wir an, ein Mensch lebte im ersten Jahrhundert nach Christo. Das, was er damals gedacht, gefühlt, gewollt hat, das, was in seine Taten übergegangen ist, ist nicht ausgelöscht, sondern es ist aufbewahrt in dieser feinen Essenz. Der Seher kann es «sehen». Nicht etwa so, wie wenn es aufgeschrieben wäre in einem Geschichtsbuche, sondern so, wie es sich zugetragen hat. Wie man sich bewegt, was man getan, wie man zum Beispiel eine Reise gemacht hat, kann man sehen in diesen geistigen Bildern. Man kann auch die Willensimpulse, die Gefühle, die Gedanken sehen. Doch wir dürfen uns nicht vorstellen, daß diese Bilder sich so ausnehmen, als wenn sie Abdrücke der physischen Persönlichkeiten hier wären; das ist nicht der Fall. Um ein einfaches Bild zu gebrauchen: Wenn man seine Hand bewegt, so ist der Wille des Menschen überall in den kleinsten Teilen der sich bewegenden Hand, und diese Willenskraft, die sich hier versteckt, die kann man sehen. Das, was jetzt geistig wirkt in uns und im Physischen ausgeflossen ist, das sieht man dort im Geistigen.
[ 5 ] Suchen wir zum Beispiel Cäsar auf. Wir können alles, was er unternommen hat, verfolgen. Doch machen wir uns klar, daß wir mehr die Gedanken des Cäsar sehen können in der Akasha-Chronik. Wenn er sich vorgenommen hat, etwas zu tun, sieht man die ganze Folge von Willensentschlüssen bis zu dem Punkte, wo die Tat ausgeflossen ist ins Leben. Es ist nicht leicht, ein konkretes Ereignis in der Akasha-Chronik zu verfolgen; man muß sich zu Hilfe kommen durch Anknüpfung an Dinge, die man äußerlich erfahren hat. Will der Seher etwas von Cäsar verfolgen und vergegenwärtigt er sich ein Geschichtsdatum als Punkt, an den er anknüpft, dann ergibt sich das andere mit Leichtigkeit. Die geschichtlichen Daten sind zwar oft unzuverlässig, doch mitunter eine Hilfe. Wenn der Seher den Blick zurückwendet bis zu Cäsar, sieht er wirklich die handelnde Person des Cäsar wie geisthaftig, als ob er vor ihm stände, mit ihm spräche. Doch wenn der Mensch, der irgendwelche Gesichte haben kann, nicht genau Bescheid weiß in diesen höheren Welten, kann ihm verschiedenes passieren, wenn er den Blick in die Vergangenheit wendet.
[ 6 ] Die Akasha-Chronik ist zwar zu finden im Devachan, doch sie erstreckt sich herunter bis in die astrale Welt, so daß man in dieser oft Bilder der Akasha-Chronik wie eine Fata Morgana finden kann. Sie sind aber oft unzusammenhängend und unzuverlässig, und das ist wichtig zu beachten, wenn man Forschungen über die Vergangenheit anstellt. Ein Beispiel soll die Gefährlichkeit dieser Verwechslungen andeuten. Wenn wir bei der Erdenentwickelung durch die Angaben der Akasha-Chronik zurückgeführt werden bis zu jenen Zeiten, wo die Atlantis bestand, ehe die große Flut kam und sie wegspülte, können wir die Vorgänge in dieser alten Atlantis verfolgen. Dieselben haben sich später in anderer Form noch einmal wiederholt. Lange vor der christlichen Zeit haben sich Ereignisse abgespielt in Norddeutschland, in Mitteleuropa, ostwärts von der Atlantis, bevor das Christentum von Süden heraufgezogen ist, die eine Wiederholung der atlantischen Ereignisse sind. Erst nachher, durch die Einflüsse, die von Süden kamen, ist die Bevölkerung selbständig geworden. — Hier ein Beispiel, wie leicht man Irrtümern ausgesetzt ist. Wenn jemand verfolgt die astralen Bilder der Akasha-Chronik, nicht die devachanischen Bilder, dann kann ihm eine Verwechslung mit diesen Wiederholungen der alten atlantischen Vorgänge passieren. Das ist wirklich der Fall gewesen in den Angaben von Scott-Elliot über Atlantis, die zwar durchaus stimmen, wenn man sie prüft in bezug auf die astralen Bilder, doch nicht mehr, wenn man sie anwendet auf die devachanischen der wirklichen Akasha-Chronik. Das mußte einmal gesagt werden. In dem Augenblick, wo man erkennt, wo die Quelle der Irrtümer ist, kann man leicht zur wahren Schätzung der Angaben kommen.
[ 7 ] Noch eine andere Quelle des Irrtums kann kommen, wenn man sich auf die Angaben von Medien stützt. Medien, wenn sie entsprechende Mediumität haben, können die Akasha-Chronik sehen, obgleich meist nur deren astrale Spiegelungen. Nun ist etwas Eigentümliches in der Akasha-Chronik. Wenn wir einen Menschen aufsuchen, benimmt er sich wie ein lebendes Wesen. Wenn wir Goethe aufsuchen, antwortet er nicht nur mit Worten, die er damals gesprochen hat, sondern er gibt Antwort im Goetheschen Sinn. Es kann sogar passieren, daß Goethe Verse sagt in seinem Stil und Sinn, die er gar nicht selbst geschrieben hat. Das Akasha-Bild ist so lebendig, daß es wie ursprünglich im Sinn des Menschen fortwirkt. Daher kann es geschehen, daß man es verwechselt mit dem Menschen selbst. Die Medien glauben, daß sie es zu tun haben mit dem im Geist fortlebenden Toten, während es doch nur dessen astrales Akasha-Bild ist. Cäsars Geist kann schon wieder verkörpert sein auf der Erde, sein Akasha-Bild antwortet in den Sitzungen. Es ist nicht die Individualität des Cäsar, sondern nur der bleibende Eindruck, den Cäsars Bild in der Akasha-Chronik hinterlassen hat. Hierauf beruht der Irrtum in zahlreichen Medien-Sitzungen. Wir müssen unterscheiden zwischen dem, was bleibt vom Menschen in seinem Akasha-Bilde, und dem, was sich fortentwickelt als die Individualität. Das sind sehr, sehr wichtige Dinge.
[ 8 ] Wenn der Mensch Kamaloka verlassen hat, hat er sich entwöhnt aller der Verrichtungen, zu denen er das physische Instrument braucht. Er tritt ein in das Gebiet, das soeben beschrieben worden ist. Das ist eine sehr wichtige Zeit, die jetzt für ihn beginnt. Wir müssen uns klarmachen, was da geschieht mit dem Menschen.
[ 9 ] Alles, was der Mensch früher nur gedacht hat, seine Gefühle und Leidenschaften, alles,was er hiererlebt hat, das tritt ihm da im Devachan entgegen in der Gestalt der Dinge um ihn herum. Zuerst sieht man den eigenen physischen Leib in seinem Urbilde. So wie wir hier auf der Erde über Felsen, Berge und Steine gehen, so geht man dort über alle die Gestalten, die hier in der physischen Welt vorhanden sind; also man geht dort auch über seinen eigenen physischen Leib. Das ist geradezu ein Kennzeichen für den Menschen nach dem Tode, daß er seinen eigenen physischen Leib als Sache außer sich selbst hat. Daran erkennt er, daß er vom Kamaloka ins Devachan hinaufgekommen ist. Hier spricht er zu seinem Leibe: «Das bin ich!» Dort sieht er ihn und sagt: «Das bist du!» Die Vedanta-Philosophie läßt ihre Schüler meditativ einüben dieses «Das bist du!», damit sie durch Übungen dieser Art ein Verständnis dafür haben, zu ihrem Leib zu sagen: «Das bist du!» Außerdem sieht man um sich herum alles das, was man hier auf der Erde erlebt hat. Wenn ein Mensch hier Rache, Unliebe, allerlei schlimme Gefühle hegt gegen seine Mitmenschen, dann treten ihm diese schlimmen Gefühle entgegen wie eine Wolke außerhalb seiner selbst, und das ist eine Lehre für den Menschen. Er kann lernen, was das alles für eine Bedeutung und Wirkung hier in der Welt hat.
[ 10 ] Wir müssen uns recht klarmachen, was da mit dem Menschen geschieht. Betrachten wir den physischen Menschen hier auf der Erde. Wodurch haben sich seine Organe, zum Beispiel seine Augen, gebildet? Es gab eine Zeit, wo es noch kein Auge gab. Es ist gebildet vom Licht. Das Licht hat das Auge aus der physischen Organisation herausgebildet. Das Licht ist die Ursache des Auges. So schaffen die Dinge, die uns umgeben, die Organe der physischen Welt. Auf der Erde schaffen sie Organe in physischen Körpern und Stoffen; im Devachan arbeiten die Dinge, die uns umgeben, an unserer seelischen Wesenheit, so daß alles das, was der Mensch sich hier angeeignet hat an guten und schlechten Gefühlen, sich dort in seiner Umgebung befindet, an seiner Seele arbeitet und so die seelischen Organe schafft. Ist man hier ein guter Mensch gewesen, dann leben dort die guten Eigenschaften in der devachanischen Luft. Sie arbeiten im Geistigen, sie schaffen Organe. Diese Organe dienen als Architekten, als Bildner für den neuen Aufbau des physischen Leibes bei einer neuen Geburt. So arbeitet das, was der Mensch im Innern hatte, weil es im Devachan in die Außenwelt versetzt ist, für die nächste Geburt vor. Es bereitet vor die Kräfte, die den Menschenleib neu aufbauen.
[ 11 ] Doch glaube man nicht, daß der Mensch nichts zu tun hätte, als nur für sich selbst zu sorgen; er hat auch außerdem noch sehr wichtige Dinge im Devachan zu arbeiten. Wir können uns ein Verständnis dafür bilden, wenn wir die Entwickelung unserer Erde für kurze Zeit betrachten. Sehen wir zurück auf ein paar Jahrtausende! Wenn wir dieselben Gegenden betrachten, wie anders haben sie damals ausgesehen! Andere Pflanzen, andere Tierformen, selbst ein anderes Klima gab es. Die Erdoberfläche verändert sich fortwährend in ihren Naturprodukten. In Griechenland zum Beispiel könnte nicht wieder das entstehen, was damals auf dem Boden des alten Griechenlands hervorsproß. Dadurch eben geschieht die Entwickelung der Erde, daß sich das Antlitz der Erde fortwährend verändert.
[ 12 ] Es dauert sehr lange, wenn der Mensch gestorben ist, bis er wieder geboren wird. Wenn der Mensch neu erscheint auf der Erde, findet er nicht dasselbe wieder vor. Er soll etwas Neues erleben, er wird nicht zweimal hineingeboren in dieselbe Gestalt der Erde. Es bleibt der Mensch so lange in den geistigen Gebieten, bis die Erde ihm ganz neue Gebiete darbietet. Das hat einen guten Sinn. Er lernt etwas ganz Neues, und dadurch entwickelt er sich ganz anders. Sehen wir zum Beispiel einen römischen Knaben an. Er lebte nicht wie bei uns ein Schulknabe. Und wenn wir wieder geboren werden, werden wir wieder ganz andere Verhältnisse vorfinden. So geht es von Inkarnation zu Inkarnation. Während der Mensch sich in den eben beschriebenen Gebieten aufhält, ändert sich das Antlitz der Erde fortwährend.
[ 13 ] Wer ist da tätig, wer ändert die Physiognomie der Erde? — fragen wir uns. Da kommen wir zugleich auf die Antwort der Frage: Was tut der Mensch in der Zwischenzeit? — Von den geistigen Welten aus arbeitet der Mensch selbst, unter der Anleitung höherer Wesenheiten, an der Umgestaltung der Erde. Es sind die Menschen selbst zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, die diese Arbeit verrichten. Wenn sie dann wieder geboren werden, treffen sie das Antlitz der Erde anders, und zwar in einer Gestaltung, an der sie selbst mitgearbeitet haben. Wir alle haben so gearbeitet.
[ 14 ] Wenn wir fragen: Wo ist Devachan, wo ist die geistige Welt? — so antworte ich: Immerfort um uns herum. — Es ist wirklich so. Also sind auch all die Seelen der Menschen, die entkörpert sind, um uns herum. Sie arbeiten um uns herum. Während wir Städte bauen, Maschinen konstruieren, arbeiten aus dem geistigen Gebiet heraus, um uns herum, die Menschen, die zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt stehen.
[ 15 ] Wenn wir als Seher sie aufsuchen, können wir finden, wenn wir das Licht nicht bloß sinnlich wahrnehmen, innerhalb des Lichtes die toten Menschen. Das Licht, das uns umgibt, bildet den Körper der Toten. Sie haben einen Körper aus Licht gewoben. Das Licht, das die Erde umspült, ist Stoff für die Wesen, die im Devachan leben. Sehen wir draußen eine Pflanze, die vom Sonnenlicht sich nährt: sie empfängt nicht nur das physische Licht, sondern in Wahrheit die Tätigkeit geistiger Wesen, und unter ihnen sind auch diese Menschenseelen. Sie selbst strahlen als Licht auf die Pflanzen nieder, sie umschweben die Pflanzen als geistige Wesenheiten. Wenn wir die Pflanzen mit geistigem Auge betrachten, so sagen wir: Es erfreut sich die Pflanze der Einwirkung der toten Menschen, die sie umschweben und die im Lichte um sie wirken und weben. — Und wenn wir jetzt verfolgen, wie die Pflanzendecke auf der Erde sich ändert, und fragen: Wer hat das gewirkt? — so sagen wir: In dem Lichte, das unsere Erde umspült, wirken die toten Menschen; da ist wirklich Devachan. — In dieses Lichtreich gehen wir ein nach der Kamaloka-Zeit. Das ist konkrete Wahrheit. Der erst weiß vom Devachan im Sinne der Rosenkreuzer-Theosophie, der darauf hindeuten kann, wo die toten Menschen wirklich zu finden sind.
[ 16 ] Wenn das Auge des Sehers sich entwickelt, macht er oft eine eigentümliche Wahrnehmung. Wenn er sich in die Sonne stellt, hält sein Körper das Licht auf. Er wirft einen Schatten. Wenn er nun hineinschaut in diesen Schatten, ist das oftmals der erste Moment, wo er den Geist entdeckt. Der Körper hält auf das Licht, doch nicht den Geist, und im Schatten, den der Körper wirft, kann man den Geist entdecken. Deshalb nennen primitive Völker, die immer ein Hellsehen gehabt haben, den Schatten auch die Seele. Sie sagen: schattenlos — seelenlos. Bei einer Novelle von Adalbert von Chamisso liegt unbewußt diese Idee zugrunde: Der Mann, der seinen Schatten verloren hat, hat auch seine Seele verloren, darum ist er so traurig.
[ 17 ] So also ist die Arbeit der Menschen zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt im Devachan. Es ist wahrhaftig kein untätiges Ruhen; Schaffende sind sie am Werdegang der Erde vom Devachan heraus, und so verstehen wir, wie das Weltenwerden geschieht. Es ist nicht, wie oftmals gesagt wird, als ob die Menschen in seliger Ruhe, im Traume dahinlebten; das Leben dort ist vielmehr ein ebenso tätiges wie hier auf der Erde.
[ 18 ] Wenn der Mensch so weit ist, daß er diejenigen Tätigkeiten, die er im letzten Leben vollzogen hat, in geistige Kräfte umgesetzt hat, wenn er alle die Erlebnisse in der devachanischen Außenwelt erlebt hat, so daß sie auf ihn gewirkt haben, dann ist er reif, vom Devachan herunterzusteigen zu einer neuen physischen Geburt. Dann zieht der Erdkreis ihn wieder an.
[ 19 ] Das erste, was der Mensch antrifft, wenn er aus dem Devachan herabkommt, ist das astralische Gebiet, in der Rosenkreuzer-Theosophie die elementare Welt genannt. Die gibt ihm einen neuen Astralleib. Wenn man auf ein Papier Eisenfeilspäne streut und unterhalb desselben einen Magneten bewegt, dann bilden sich Formen und Linien nach den Kräften des Magneten; und genau so wird die astrale Substanz, die unregelmäßig verteilt ist, herangezogen und geordnet nach den Kräften, die in der Seele sind und dem entsprechen, was diese Seele im früheren Leben erarbeitet hat. So gruppiert sich der Mensch selbst seinen Astralleib. Diese werdenden Menschen, die nur erst einen Astralleib haben, sieht der Seher als Wesen, die ausschauen wie eine nach unten sich öffnende Glockenform. Sie schießen mit riesiger Geschwindigkeit durch den Astralplan. Kaum vorstellen kann man sich die Geschwindigkeit, mit der sie den Raum durchschwirren.
[ 20 ] Jetzt müssen diese werdenden Menschen einen Ätherleib und einen physischen Leib erhalten. Was bisher geschehen ist bis zum Aufbau des Astralleibes, hing von ihnen selbst ab, je nach den Kräften, die sie selbst entwickelt haben. Wie aber der Ätherleib sich bildet, das hängt nicht allein vom Menschen ab in dem gegenwärtigen Entwickelungslauf, sondern in bezug auf diese Bildung ist der Mensch von äußeren Wesen abhängig. Darum hat der Mensch zwar immer einen passenden Astralleib; es ist aber nicht immer der Fall, daß dieser Astralleib ganz in den Ätherund physischen Leib hineinpaßt. Daher oft die Disharmonie und Unzufriedenheit im Leben. Daß die werdenden Menschen so herumschwirren, geschieht namentlich deshalb, weil sie ein passendes Elternpaar suchen, das ihnen die beste Gelegenheit gibt, eine zur Astralwesenheit stimmende ÄÄther- und physische Körperlichkeit zu bekommen. Eskann immer nur das relativ beste und passende Elternpaar sein, das ihnen diese gibt. Bei diesem Suchen wirken Wesenheiten, die den Ätherleib an den astralischen Leib angliedern und die ähnlich dem sind, was man oft Volksgeister nennt. Das ist nicht dieses unfaßbare Abstraktum, als was der Volksgeist gewöhnlich angesehen wird; es ist für den geistigen Beobachter der Welt etwas so Wirkliches wie unsere Seele, die in unserem Leibe verkörpert ist. So hat ein ganzes Volk gemeinschaftlich zwar nicht einen physischen Leib, wohl aber einen Astralleib und die Ansätze zu einem Ätherleibe. Es lebt wie in einer astralischen Wolke, und das ist der Leib für den Volksgeist. Das sind die Lenker der Ätherbildungen um den Menschen herum, und so hat der Mensch sich nicht mehr selbst in der Gewalt.
[ 21 ] Nun kommt ein außerordentlich wichtiger Moment, ebenso wichtig wie der Moment nach dem Tode, wo man sein ganzes vergangenes Leben als Erinnerungsbild sieht. Wenn der Mensch in seinen Ätherleib hineinschlüpft und noch nicht den physischen Leib hat — es ist dies nur ein kurzer Moment, aber von höchster Wichtigkeit —, da hat er eine Vorschau auf das nächste Leben; nicht auf alle Einzelheiten, es ist nur ein Überblick über all das, was ihm bevorsteht im künftigen Leben. Da kann er sich sagen — er vergißt es wieder bei der Einkörperung —, er hat vor sich ein glückliches oder ein unglückliches Leben. Nun kommt es vor, wenn ein Mensch viele schlimme Erfahrungen im früheren Leben gemacht hat, daß er einen Schock bekommt und nicht hinein will in den physischen Leib. Das kann bewirken, daß er wirklich nicht ganz hineinrückt in denselben und so die Verbindung nicht ganz hergestellt ist zwischen den verschiedenen Leibern. Das ergibt dann Idioten in diesem Leben. Es ist das nicht immer der Grund zur Idiotie, doch häufig. Die Seele sträubt sich gleichsam, physisch verkörpert zu werden. Ein solcher Mensch kann sein Gehirn nicht richtig gebrauchen, weil er nicht richtig hineingeschaltet ist. Nur wenn der Mensch sich richtig hineingebären läßt in sein physisches Werkzeug, kann er es richtig gebrauchen. Während der Ätherleib sonst nur ganz schwach hinausragt, kann man bei den Idioten oft Teile des Ätherleibes wie einen weit über den Kopf hinausragenden ätherischen Lichtschein sehen. Wir haben da einen Fall, wo etwas, was das Leben seiner physischen Betrachtung nach unerklärlich läßt, erklärt wird durch die Geisteswissenschaft.
Fourth Lecture
[ 1 ] The day before yesterday we described the region and the worlds which man has to pass through after death, after everything that still binds him to the physical instrument of this world has been discarded in Kamaloka or, as we say in Rosicrucian theosophy, in the elemental world. We have also described the so-called Rupa-Devachan or the realm that has been called the heavenly or inspiring world. We have seen that this region, the actual spirit world, shows a four-part structure similar to that of our physical world. We have the continental area, which is interspersed with a kind of ocean and river area, but which we can better compare to the form of the blood circulation in the human organism. We have seen that in Devachan, as an analogy to the atmosphere of our earth, in the so-called air circle, everything that is found in the joys and sufferings, in the pains and plagues that pervade the souls of the beings in the physical world is found, although far more extensively, because there are many other beings living there that are not incarnated in physical bodies. We have finally seen that in the fourth realm, everything that is original, from the smallest idea to the highest achievements of the inventor and the artist, can be found as a model. There is the real driving force that moves our earth forward. But in addition to these components of the actual spiritual world, we also find what connects our earth to even higher worlds.
[ 2 ] So far, we have only discovered what relates to our earthly development; we have not yet discovered what goes beyond that. Those who receive an initiation get to know what our earth has always been and will become and what connects it to other worlds outside our system.
[ 3 ] What we encounter in Devachan, in this so-called rational world, is particularly important. It is what we are accustomed to calling the Akashic Records. Not that it is produced in devachan, it is produced in a still higher realm, but when one has reached devachan, one can begin to see what is called the Akashic Records.
[ 4 ] What is the Akashic Records? We get the best idea of this if we realize that everything that happens on our earth or anywhere else in the world makes a lasting impression on certain subtle essences, which can be found by the cognizant person who has undergone an initiation. It is not an ordinary chronicle, but one that could be described as a living one. Let us suppose that a person lived in the first century AD. What he thought, felt and willed at that time, and what found expression in his deeds, has not been erased, but is preserved in this subtle essence. The seer can “see” it. Not as if it were written in a history book, but as it actually happened. How one moves, what one has done, how one has traveled, for example, can be seen in these spiritual images. One can also see the impulses of the will, the feelings, the thoughts. But we must not imagine that these images look like imprints of the physical personalities here; that is not the case. To use a simple image: when you move your hand, the human will is everywhere in the smallest parts of the moving hand, and this willpower, which is hidden here, can be seen. What is now spiritually active in us and has flowed out in the physical, that can be seen there in the spiritual.
[ 5 ] For example, let us visit Caesar. We can follow everything he has done. But let us realize that we can see more of Caesar's thoughts in the Akasha Chronicle. If he has set out to do something, you can see the whole sequence from the moment of decision until the point where the deed is carried out in life. It is not easy to follow a specific event in the Akasha Chronicle; you have to help yourself by connecting with things that you have experienced externally. If the seer wants to follow something from Caesar and he remembers a historical date as a point to which he can tie in, then the other thing arises with ease. The historical dates are often unreliable, but sometimes they are a help. When the seer turns his gaze back to Caesar, he really sees the acting person of Caesar as if he were a ghost, as if he were standing before him, speaking to him. But if the person who has any kind of story does not know exactly in these higher worlds, various things can happen to him when he turns his gaze into the past.
[ 6 ] The Akashic Records can be found in Devachan, but they extend down into the astral world, so that images of the Akashic Records can often be found in it like a mirage. However, they are often incoherent and unreliable, and this is important to bear in mind when conducting research into the past. One example should suffice to indicate the danger of these confusions. If, in the course of the evolution of the Earth, we go back through the information in the Akashic Records to the times when Atlantis existed before the great flood came and washed it away, we can follow the events in this ancient Atlantis. The same events were repeated again later in a different form. Long before the Christian era, events took place in northern Germany, in central Europe, east of Atlantis, before Christianity spread from the south, which are a repetition of the Atlantic events. It was only afterwards, through the influences that came from the south, that the population became independent. Here is an example of how easily one is exposed to error. If someone follows the astral images of the Akasha Chronicle, not the devachanic images, then he may mistake these repetitions of the old Atlantean events. This has actually occurred in Scott-Elliot's data about Atlantis, which is perfectly correct when tested in relation to the astral images, but no longer when applied to the devachanic images of the real Akasha Chronicle. This had to be said sometime. The moment one recognizes the source of the errors, one can easily come to a true appreciation of the data.
[ 7 ] Yet another source of error can arise when relying on information from mediums. Mediums, if they have the appropriate mediumship, can see the Akashic Records, although usually only their astral reflections. Now there is something peculiar about the Akashic Records. When we visit a person, he behaves like a living being. When we visit Goethe, he answers not only with words that he spoke at the time, but he answers in the Goethean sense. It may even happen that Goethe says verses in his style and sense that he did not write himself. The Akasha image is so alive that it continues to work as originally in the mind of the person. Therefore it may happen that it is confused with the human being himself. The mediums believe that they are dealing with the dead person who lives on in spirit, while it is only his astral Akashic image. Caesar's spirit may already be embodied again on earth, his Akashic image answers in the sessions. It is not Caesar's individuality, but only the lasting impression that Caesar's image has left in the Akasha Chronicle. This is the source of the error in numerous mediumistic sessions. We must distinguish between what remains of the human being in his Akasha image and what continues to develop as the individuality. These are very, very important things.
[ 8 ] After the human being has left Kamaloka, he has weaned himself from all the activities that require the physical instrument. He enters the area that has just been described. This is a very important time that is now beginning for him. We must realize what is happening to the person.
[ 9 ] Everything that the person has ever thought, felt and experienced here, he encounters in devachan in the form of the things around him. First, one sees one's own physical body in its archetype. Just as we walk over rocks, mountains and stones here on earth, so one walks there over all the forms that are present here in the physical world; so one also walks there over one's own physical body. This is virtually a characteristic of man after death, that he has his own physical body as a thing outside himself. From this he recognizes that he has come up from Kamaloka into Devachan. Here he speaks to his body: “That's me!” There he sees it and says, “That's you!” The Vedanta philosophy has its students meditatively practice this “That's you!” So that through exercises of this kind they have an understanding of saying to their body, “That's you!” Furthermore, you see all around you what you have experienced here on earth. If a person harbors revenge, unkindness, all kinds of bad feelings against his fellow human beings, then these bad feelings come to him like a cloud outside of himself, and that is a lesson for that person. He can learn what all of this means and what its effect is here in the world.
[ 10 ] We must realize clearly what is happening to man. Consider the physical human being here on earth. How did his organs, for example his eyes, come into being? There was a time when there was no eye. It is formed from light. The light has formed the eye out of the physical organization. The light is the cause of the eye. This is how the things that surround us create the organs of the physical world. On earth, they create organs in physical bodies and substances; in Devachan, the things that surround us work on our soul-being, so that everything that a person has acquired here, good and bad feelings, is found there in his environment, working on his soul and thus creating the soul organs. If one has been a good person here, then the good qualities live in the devachanic air there. They work in the spiritual, they create organs. These organs serve as architects, as formers for the new construction of the physical body at a new birth. Thus, what the person had inside, because it is transferred to the outside world in Devachan, works for the next birth. It prepares the forces that rebuild the human body.
[ 11 ] But do not think that man has nothing to do but just take care of himself; he also has other very important things to work on in Devachan. We can get an understanding of this if we look at the development of our earth for a short time. Let's look back a few millennia! If we look at the same areas, how different they looked then! Different plants, different animal forms, there was even a different climate. The earth's surface is constantly changing in its natural products. In Greece, for example, what once sprouted on the soil of ancient Greece could not arise again. This is precisely how the earth develops, that the face of the earth is constantly changing.
[ 12 ] It takes a very long time after a person has died before they are born again. When a person appears on Earth for the first time, they do not find the same thing. They are supposed to experience something new; they are not born twice into the same form of Earth. A person remains in the spiritual realms until the earth offers him completely new realms. This makes sense. He learns something completely new, and as a result, he develops quite differently. Let us look at a Roman boy, for example. He did not live as a schoolboy does with us. And when we are born again, we will again find completely different conditions. This is how it goes from incarnation to incarnation. While man is in the areas just described, the face of the earth is constantly changing.
[ 13 ] Who is active there, who changes the physiognomy of the earth? — we ask ourselves. At the same time, we come to the answer to the question: What does man do in the meantime? From the spiritual worlds, man himself, under the guidance of higher beings, is working on the transformation of the earth. It is the people themselves between death and new birth who do this work. When they are born again, they meet the face of the earth differently, in a form in which they themselves have worked. We have all worked in this way.
[ 14 ] If we ask: Where is Devachan, where is the spiritual world? — I answer: It is all around us. — It is really so. So all the souls of the people who have been dismembered are around us. They are working around us. While we are building cities, constructing machines, people who are between death and a new birth are working around us from the spiritual realm.
[ 15 ] When we, as seers, visit them, we can find, if we do not perceive the light merely with our senses, the dead people within the light. The light that surrounds us forms the body of the dead. They have woven a body out of light. The light that washes around the earth is material for the beings that live in Devachan. When we see a plant outside that feeds on sunlight, it receives not only physical light, but in truth the activity of spiritual beings, and among them are also these human souls. They themselves shine as light upon the plants, they hover around the plants as spiritual beings. When we look at the plants with our mind's eye, we say: The plant enjoys the influence of the dead human beings who hover around it and who work and weave in the light around it. — And if we now observe how the plant cover on the earth changes, and ask: Who has brought about this change? — we say: The dead human beings work in the light that surrounds our earth; there is really a devachan. In this realm of light we enter after the Kamaloka time. That is concrete truth. Only he knows about Devachan in the sense of Rosicrucian theosophy who can point out where dead people can really be found.
[ 16 ] As the eye of the seer develops, he often has a peculiar perception. When he stands in the sun, his body stops the light. He casts a shadow. When he looks into this shadow, it is often the first moment when he discovers the spirit. The body stops the light, but not the spirit, and in the shadow cast by the body, one can discover the spirit. That is why primitive peoples, who have always had clairvoyance, also call the shadow the soul. They say: shadowless – soulless. In a novella by Adalbert von Chamisso, this idea unconsciously underlies the plot: the man who has lost his shadow has also lost his soul, that is why he is so sad.
[ 17 ] Such is the work of human beings between death and a new birth in Devachan. It is truly no idle resting; they are working on the development of the earth from Devachan, and so we understand how the world is becoming. It is not, as is often said, as if people were living in blissful rest, in a dream; life there is much more active than here on earth.
[ 18 ] When a person has transformed the activities he performed in his last life into spiritual powers, when he has experienced all the experiences in the devachanic external world so that they have taken effect on him, then he is ready to descend from devachan to a new physical birth. Then the world attracts him again.
[ 19 ] The first thing a person encounters when they descend from devachan is the astral realm, which in Rosicrucian theosophy is called the elemental world. This gives them a new astral body. If iron filings are sprinkled on a piece of paper and a magnet is moved underneath it, then forms and lines are formed according to the forces of the magnet; and in exactly the same way, the astral substance, which is distributed irregularly, is drawn in and ordered according to the forces that are in the soul and that correspond to what this soul has worked for in previous lives. In this way, the human being groups together his astral body himself. These nascent human beings, who only have an astral body, are seen by the seer as beings that look like a bell shape opening downwards. They shoot through the astral plan at tremendous speed. It is hard to imagine the speed with which they flit through space.
[ 20 ] Now these nascent human beings must receive an etheric body and a physical body. What has happened so far, up to the building of the astral body, depended on themselves, on the forces they themselves have developed. But how the etheric body is formed does not depend on the person alone in the present course of development, but in relation to this formation the person depends on external beings. Therefore, the person always has a suitable astral body; but it is not always the case that this astral body fits completely into the etheric and physical body. Hence the disharmony and dissatisfaction in life. The reason that nascent human beings are always wandering around is that they are looking for suitable parents who can give them the best opportunity to acquire an etheric and physical body that is in harmony with their astral nature. It can only ever be the relatively best and most suitable parents who can give them this. During this search, entities are at work that attach the etheric body to the astral body and that are similar to what are often called folk spirits. This is not the incomprehensible abstraction that the folk spirit is usually seen as; for the spiritual observer of the world, it is something as real as our soul, which is embodied in our body. A whole nation does not have a physical body, but it does have an astral body and the beginnings of an etheric body. It lives as if in an astral cloud, and that is the body for the national spirit. These are the guides of the etheric formations around the human being, and so the human being is no longer in control of himself.
[ 21 ] Now comes an extraordinarily important moment, just as important as the moment after death, when one sees one's entire past life as a memory. When the human being slips into his etheric body and does not yet have his physical body – this is only a brief moment, but of the utmost importance – he has a preview of the next life; not of all the details, it is only an overview of all that lies ahead in the future life. He can tell himself — he will forget it again at the time of re-incarnation — that he has a happy or an unhappy life ahead of him. Now it happens that when a person has had many bad experiences in a previous life, he is shocked and does not want to enter the physical body. This can have the effect that he really does not completely enter it and so the connection between the different bodies is not completely established. This then results in idiots in this life. This is not always the reason for idiocy, but it is common. The soul, as it were, resists being physically embodied. Such a person cannot use his brain properly because he is not properly connected to it. Only when a person allows himself to be properly born into his physical tool can he use it properly. While the etheric body otherwise only protrudes very weakly, one can often see parts of the etheric body of idiots as an aetheric glow that extends far beyond the head. We have a case here where something that, according to its physical observation, leaves life inexplicable is explained by spiritual science.