Theosophy of the Rosicrucian
GA 99
31 May 1907, Munich
Translated by Mabel Cotterell and Dorothy S. Osmond
VII. The Technique of Karma
In order that you may better understand the Law of Karma as it works in human life, I shall speak of what happens immediately after the death of a human being. We heard of the memory-tableau which appears when he is freed from the physical body and is living for a short time in the etheric and astral bodies before passing through the Elemental World.
To help you to understand the inner working of karma, let me describe a strange feeling that arises during the experience of this great tableau. It is the feeling of expansion, growing out of oneself. This feeling becomes stronger and stronger as long as the human being is living in his etheric body. He has a strange experience in connection with this tableau. To begin with, he sees pictures of his past life as in a panorama. Then a moment comes, not very long after death and lasting for hours, even days, according to the nature of the individuality, where he feels: I am myself all these pictures. He feels his etheric body growing and expanding as if it embraced the whole sphere of the Earth, as far as the Sun.
Then, when the etheric body has been abandoned, another very remarkable feeling arises. It is really difficult to describe this feeling in words drawn from the physical world. It is a feeling of expansion into wide cosmic space but as though one were not actually within every place. The experience can only be approximately described. The individual feels as though with one part of his being he were in Munich, with another part of his being in Mainz, with a third in Basle, and with another far outside the Earth sphere, perhaps in the Moon. He feels as though he were dismembered, as though he were not connected with the spaces in between. That is the peculiar way of experiencing oneself as an astral being, spread out in space, transferred to different centres, but not filling the regions between them.
This experience lasts throughout Kamaloca during which period man is living through his life backwards to his birth. He lives through all that belongs to his life and these experiences then become part of the rest of his life in Kamaloca. It is important to know this in order to picture how the law of Karma works. The individual feels, at the beginning, as though he were within that human being with whom he was last connected and then, retrogressively, within all the persons and other beings with whom he was associated during his life.
Suppose, for example, you once thrashed a man in Mainz. After your death, when the time comes, you experience the thrashing you gave him, with its accompanying pain. If this man is still in Mainz, a part of your astral body after your death feels as if it were in Mainz, experiencing the event there. If the person you thrashed has died in the meantime, you feel yourself at the place in Kamaloca where he now is. You have, of course, been related not only with one but with many human beings who are scattered over the Earth in Kamaloca. You are everywhere and this gives rise to the feeling of dismemberment of the bodily nature in Kamaloca. It is thereby possible for you to experience, within all these others, the associations you had with them, and you thus form a lasting connection with everyone with whom you have come into contact. You have a tie with this man whom you thrashed because you have lived with him in Kamaloca. Later on you pass into Devachan and then, in turn, back through Kamaloca. Now, during the process of up-building, your astral body once again finds the ties which bind it to the man with whom you were united. And since there are many such connections you see you are linked by a kind of bond with everything with which you were associated.
The event observed by occult sight of which I told you in the last lecture, offers a clear explanation here. Five Vehmic judges in the Middle Ages condemned a man to death and executed the sentence themselves. In his previous life, this man had been a kind of Chief and had ordered the death of the five. Then the Chief died and passed into Kamaloca. During this period he was transported into the others at the place where they now were and he was obliged himself to experience what they had felt when they had been put to death. This is the starting-point of forces of attraction which bring human beings together when they return to the Earth, in order that the law of Karma may be fulfilled.
Such is the technique of karma, the way in which karma works. You see from this that there are forms of existence, kindred ties, which begin already on the astral plane. On the physical plane there is continuity of substance; on the astral plane, however, related yet separated parts of the bodily nature may be experienced. It is as if you were to feel your head, then nothing at all between head and heart, then the heart, then the feet, with nothing between heart and feet. One part of you may be in America, quite separated from but yet belonging to your astral being; another part may be on the Moon and a third on yet another planet; there need be no visible astral connection between these parts of your being.
This view of the law of Karma makes it clear that what arises in one human life-cycle is the outcome of many causes which lie in past lives. How is the law of Karma to be reconciled with heredity? It is said that there are many contradictions between heredity and this law.
People are apt to say of a gifted man that he must be the offspring of a gifted family, that he must have inherited his talents from his forefathers. When we observe the physical processes from the occult standpoint we know that it is not like this. We can, however, in a certain sense speak of processes of physical heredity, and we will take an example.
Within a period of 250 years, twenty-nine musicians were born in the Bach family, among them the great Bach. A good musician needs not only the inner musical faculty but also a well-formed physical ear, a special form of ear. Laymen cannot perceive the differences here; it is necessary to look very deeply, with occult powers. Although the differences are very slight, a particular inner form of the organ of hearing is necessary if a man is to become a musician, and these forms are transmitted by heredity they resemble those which have been present in the father, grandfather and so on.
Suppose that on the astral plane there is an individual who acquired great musical faculties hundreds or thousands of years ago; he is ready for reincarnation and is seeking a physical body. If he cannot find a physical body possessing suitable ears, he cannot be a musician. He must look around for a family which will provide the musical ear; without it his musical talents could not manifest, for the greatest virtuoso can do nothing unless he has an instrument.
Mathematical talent also needs something quite specific. A particular construction of the brain is not, as many people think, necessary for mathematicians. Thinking, logic, is the same in the mathematician as in others. What is needed here is a special development of the three semi-circular canals in the ear which lie in the three directions of space. Special development of these canals determines mathematical talent—herein lies the gift for mathematics. This is a physical organ and its form must be transmitted by heredity. It will be remembered that eight first-class mathematicians were born in the Bernoulli family.
A man of high moral principles also needs parents who transmit a physical body suitable for the functioning of his moral gifts. And he has these parents and no others because he is this particular kind of individuality.
The individuality himself seeks his parents, although under the guidance of higher Beings. From the point of view of mother-love many people take exception to this fact. They are fearful that they might lose something if the child were not to inherit certain qualities from the mother. True knowledge, however deepens mother-love, for it reveals that this love is present before birth, even before conception, as a force which guided the child to the mother. The child loves the mother even before birth and mother-love is the reciprocal force. Spiritually regarded, therefore, mother-love extends to the time before birth; it is rooted in mutual feelings of love.
It is often imagined that the human being is subject to the irrevocable law of karma in which nothing can be changed. Let us take a simile from everyday life to explain the working of this law.
A merchant makes entries of debits and credits in his account books; taken together, these entries tell him the state of his business. The financial state of his business is subject to the inexorable law governing the calculation of debit and credit. If he carries through new transactions he can make additional entries and he would be a fool if he were unwilling to embark on other business because a balance was once drawn up. In respect of karma, everything good, intelligent and true that has been done by a man stands on the credit side; evil or foolish deeds stand on the debit side. At every moment he is free to make new entries in the karmic book of life. It must never be imagined that life is under the sway of an immutable law of destiny; freedom is not impaired by the law of karma. In studying the law of karma, therefore, the future must be borne in mind as strongly as the past. Bearing within us the effects of past deeds, we are the slaves of the past, but the masters of the future. If we are to have a favourable future, we must make as many good entries as possible in the book of life.
It is a great and potent thought to know that nothing we do is in vain, that everything has its effect in the future. The law of karma is the reverse of depressing; it fills us with splendid hope and knowledge of it is the most precious gift of Spiritual Science. It brings happiness inasmuch as it opens out a vista into the future. It charges us to be active for its sake; there is nothing in it whatever to make us sad, nothing which could give the world a pessimistic colouring; it lends wings to our will to co-operate in the evolution of the earth. Such are the feelings into which knowledge of the law of karma must be translated.
When a human being is suffering, people sometimes say: “He deserves his suffering and must bear his karma; if I help him, I am interfering with his karma.” This is nonsense. His poverty, his misery is caused through his earlier life, but if I help him, new entries will be made in his book of life; my help brings him forward. It would be foolish to say to a merchant who could be saved from disaster by 1,000 or 10,000 Marks: “No, for that would alter your balance.” It is precisely this possibility of altering the balance that should induce us to help a man. I help him because I know that nothing is without its karmic effect. This knowledge should spur us on to purposeful action.
Many people dispute the law of karma from the standpoint of Christianity. Theologians maintain that Christianity cannot acknowledge this law because it is irreconcilable with the principle of the vicarious Death. And there are even certain Theosophists who say that the law of karma contradicts the principle of the Redemption, that they cannot acknowledge the help given to the many by an individual. Both are wrong for neither has understood the law of karma.
Suppose some human being is in distress. You yourselves are in a more fortunate position and can help him. By your help you make a new entry in his book of life. A more influential person can help two, and affect the karma of both of them. A man who is still more powerful can help ten or a hundred people and the most powerful can help unnumbered human beings.
This does not by any means run counter to the principle of karmic connections. Precisely because of the absolute reliability of the law of karma we know that this help does indeed influence the destiny of the human being.
Mankind was verily in need of help when the Christ was sent to this plane. The death on the Cross of the Redeemer, of the one central Being, was the help that intervened in the karma of untold numbers of men. There is no variance between Christian Esotericism and Spiritual Science when both are rightly understood. There is profound agreement between the laws of both and we are by no means obliged to abandon the principle of the Redemption.
We penetrate still more deeply into the law of karma when we study the evolution of humanity as well as the evolution of the Earth. We have considered certain facts which help us to understand this law of karma, and we shall understand it still better when we pass on to the evolution of humanity itself, not only during the Earth period but also during the other planetary incarnations of the Earth. We shall discover certain supplementary details of this law when we go back to ages in the remote past and receive indications, too, about the far future. By way of introduction we will consider a fact of great significance.
We have realised from what has been said that the external, physical body of man—the part of him that we see with physical eyes—is built up by the higher members of his being; Ego, astral body, etheric body and all the members up to Atma, the highest of them, work at the physical body. The various parts of the body, as they exist in the human being today, are not of equal but of different value in his nature. Even superficial thought will make us realise that the physical body is the most perfect part of our nature. Take, for example, a part of the thigh-bone. This is not simply a compact, solid bone, but full of artistry, constructed as it were of intersecting beams. Anyone who studies this bone not only with the intellect but also with feeling will marvel at the wisdom which, in its creation, has used no more material than is essential to support the upper body with the smallest possible amount of power. No engineering art applied to the building of a bridge is equal to the wisdom that has brought such a bone into existence!
If we investigate the human heart, but not merely with the eye of the anatomist or physiologist, we shall find here an expression of sublime wisdom. Do not imagine that the astral body of man today is as far advanced in development as the physical heart. The heart has been built up with art and with wisdom; the astral body, with its desires, induces the human being to pour definite heart-poison into himself for many decades, but the heart withstands it for many decades. Only at a future stage of evolution will the astral body have reached the stage of development of the physical body today, and then it will be at a far, far higher level than the physical body. Today the physical body is the most perfect; the etheric body is less perfect, the astral body still less perfect, and the Ego is the “baby” among the bodies.
The physical body as it is today, is the oldest member of man's being; work has been performed on it for the longest period of time and not until it had reached a certain stage in the course of evolution was it permeated by the etheric body. When these two bodies had worked together for a time, the astral body was added, and then, finally, the “I”, which in the future will attain undreamed of heights of development. Just as the human being has repeated incarnations, so, too, the Earth, has passed through incarnations and will pass through still others in the future. Reincarnation is enacted throughout the Cosmos. Our Earth in its present form is the reincarnation of earlier planetary bodies of which there have been three. Before our Earth became Earth, it was what is called by occultism—not by Astronomy—the Moon. The present Moon is as it were a body of dross which was discarded as useless.
If we could mingle Earth and Moon, together with all their substances and all their beings, we should have the “occult Moon”—the forerunner of the Earth; the Earth of today is the remnant of the Old Moon that remained after the dross had been thrown off just as the Moon of today is a discarded remnant of the Old Moon incarnation of the Earth, so is the Sun in the heavens a body that proceeded from a still earlier condition of the Earth. Before the Earth was Moon, it was, as we say in Occultism, Sun, and this Sun was composed of all the substances and beings which today form Sun, Moon and Earth. This Sun released itself from the substances and beings which form the Earth and the Moon of today, which it could not, as a higher celestial body, retain and it thereby became a fixed star. Occultists know that a fixed star need not always have been a fixed star. The Sun only became a fixed star after having been a planet.
The Sun we see today was once united with the Earth and took with it many beings who were at a higher stage of development than the beings of the Earth; just as with the Moon that we see went the interior portions and the Moon is therefore a body of discarded dross. The Moon is a planet that has degenerated; the Sun is a body that has ascended.
The Sun existence was preceded by the Saturn existence. Thus there are our consecutive incarnations of the Earth: Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth. When the forerunner of the human being was developing on Saturn, his only principle was that of the physical body; the etheric body was added on the Sun, the astral body on the Moon, and the “I” on the Earth.
The lecture entitled “Blood is a very special fluid” will have shown you how intimately the “I” is connected with the blood. This blood was not within the human body before the embodiment of an Ego, so that this red human blood is connected with the evolution of the Earth as such. It could not have been formed at all if the Earth, in its evolutionary course, had not come together with another planet, namely, with Mars. Before this contact of the Earth with Mars, the Earth had no iron; there was no iron in the blood; the blood upon which the human being is dependent today, did not exist. In the first half of Earth existence, the influence of the planet Mars is the ruling factor, and the influence of the planet Mercury in the second half.
Mars has given iron to the Earth and the Mercury influence manifests on the Earth in such a way that it makes the human soul more and more free, more and more independent. In occultism therefore, we speak of the Mars half of Earth evolution and of the Mercury half. Whereas the other names describe a whole planet, Earth evolution is spoken of as “Mars-Mercury.” Used in this connection the names do not designate the planets we know today but the influences at work during the first and second halves of Earth evolution.
In the future the Earth will incarnate as a new planetary body, known as Jupiter. The human astral body then will have developed to a stage where it no longer confronts the physical body as an enemy, as is the case today, but it will still not have reached its highest stage. The etheric body on Jupiter will have reached the stage at which the physical body is now, for it will then have three planetary evolutions behind it as the physical body has today.
On the planetary body following Jupiter, the astral body will have developed as far as the physical body of today; it will have behind it the Moon, Earth and Jupiter evolutions and will have reached the Venus evolution. The final planetary incarnation will be that of Vulcan, when the “I”, the Ego, will have attained the highest stage of its development. The future incarnations of the Earth will thus be: Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan. These designations are also found in the names of the days of the week.
There was a time when the names of the things and facts around us in our lives were given by the Initiates. Men have no inner feeling today of the way in which names really belong to things. The names given to the days of the week were meant to be reminders to human beings of their development through the evolutionary stages of the Earth.
Saturday (Sonnabend) is Saturn-day; Sunday (Sonntag) = Sun-day; Monday (Montag) = Moon-day. Then Mars and Mercury, the two conditions of our Earth. Mars-day (Dienstag) = Tuesday, in old German Ziu—Dinstag; in French, Mardi, in Italian Martedi. Wednesday (Mittwoch) is Mercury-day, in Italian Mercoledi, in French Mercredi; Mercury is the same as Wotan; Tacitus speaks of Wotan's day, in English Wednesday. Then comes the Jupiter day; Jupiter is the Germanic Donar, hence Donnerstag, in French Jeudi, in Italian Giovedi. Then Venus-day; Venus is the Germanic Freia; Freitag, in French Vendredi and in Italian Venerdi.
Thus in the names of the consecutive days of the week we have reminders of the development of the Earth through its different incarnations.
Siebenter Vortrag
[ 1 ] Um das Karmagesetz, sofern es im Menschenleben auftritt, noch besser verstehen zu können, will ich eine Erscheinung erzählen, die unmittelbar nach dem Tode des Menschen auftritt. Denken Sie an das Erinnerungs-Tableau, das auftritt, wenn der Mensch befreit ist von dem physischen Leibe und für kurze Zeit nur in der Hülle des ätherischen und astralischen Leibes lebt, ehe er seinen weiteren Fortgang durch die elementare Welt nimmt. Zum intimen Verständnis des Wirkens von Karma lassen Sie mich ein eigentümliches Gefühl schildern, das auch schon während dieses großen Tableaus auftritt. Es ist das eines Größerwerdens, eines Aus-sich-heraus-Wachsens. Dies tritt stärker und stärker auf, auch solange der Mensch noch in seinem Ätherleibe ist. Er kommt in eine eigentümliche Lage gegenüber diesem Tableau. Zuerst sind es Bilder des verflossenen Lebens, die er wie in einem Panorama anschaut. Dann kommt ein Moment — er liegt nicht lange nach dem Tode und dauert Stunden, auch Tage, je nach der Individualität des Menschen —, wo der Mensch die Empfindung hat: Ich bin selbst alle diese Bilder. — Er fühlt seinen Ätherleib wachsen, als ob er umgreife den ganzen Umkreis der Erde bis zur Sonne hinauf.
[ 2 ] Dann, wenn der Mensch seinen Ätherleib verläßt, tritt ein anderes, höchst merkwürdiges Gefühl auf, das geradezu schwer mit Worten aus der physischen Welt zu beschreiben ist. Es ist zwar ein Gefühl der Ausdehnung weit hinaus bis in den Weltenraum, aber so, als ob man alle die Orte des Weltenraumes nicht mehr ausfülle. Man kann es nur grob beschreiben. Man fühlt sich so, daß man sich zum Beispiel mit einem Teil seines Wesens in München, einem andern in Mainz, einem dritten in Basel und noch mit einem andern Teile weit außerhalb’ des Erdkreises, vielleicht auf dem Monde fühlt. Man fühlt sich sozusagen zerstückelt und die dazwischenliegenden Räume als nicht zu sich gehörig. Das ist die eigentümliche Art, sich astral zu fühlen: wie ausgebreitet im Raum, an verschiedene Orte hinversetzt, aber den dazwischenliegenden Raum nicht ausfüllend. Und diese Empfindung dauert die ganze KamalokaZeit hindurch, die der Mensch rückläufig bis zur Geburt durchlebt. Es ist immer ein Durchleben solcher Stücke, die zu einem gehören. Das gliedert sich dann zusammen mit dem ganzen übrigen KamalokaLeben. Es ist wichtig, das zu wissen, um eine Vorstellung davon zu erhalten, wie eigentlich das Karmagesetz wirkt. Man fühlt sich zunächst in dem Menschen drinnen, mit dem man zuletzt verbunden war, und dann zurück in allen Menschen und andern Wesen, mit denen man zu tun hatte während des Lebens.
[ 3 ] Wenn Sie zum Beispiel in Mainz einmal einen Menschen geprügelt haben, so erleben Sie nach Ihrem Tode zur gegebenen Zeit die Prügel selbst, die Schmerzen, die Sie ihm zugefügt haben. Wenn der Mensch also dann noch in Mainz ist, so fühlt sich ein Teil Ihres astralischen Leibes nach Ihrem Tode in Mainz und erlebt dort die Sache. Ist der Geprügelte dagegen inzwischen gestorben, so fühlen Sie sich dort, wo er selbst jetzt in Kamaloka ist. Wir haben es natürlich nicht nur mit diesem einen Menschen zu tun, sondern auch mit vielen andern, die auf der Erde und in Kamaloka zerstreut sind. Überall sind Sie; das gestattet Ihnen dies unterbrochene Wesen, das die Körperlichkeit in Kamaloka ausmacht. Sie macht es möglich, in allen anderen drinnen das zu erleben, was Sie mit ihnen zu tun gehabt haben, und Sie bilden sich so eine bleibende Verbindung mit all denen, mit denen Sie in Berührung gekommen sind. Sie sind nun mit diesem Menschen, den Sie geprügelt haben, verbunden dadurch, daß Sie in Kamaloka mit ihm gelebt haben. Sie gehen später hinauf nach Devachan und dann wieder zurück nach Kamaloka. Nun findet Ihr Astralleib beim Aufbau das, was ihn zusammenbringt mit dem Menschen, mit dem Sie zusammengewachsen waren. Und da es viele solcher Verbindungen gibt, so sehen Sie, daß alles, was mit Ihnen zu tun hat, durch eine Art Band mit Ihnen verknüpft ist.
[ 4 ] Eine deutliche Erklärung wird Ihnen das vom Okkultisten beobachtete Geschehnis geben, von dem ich Ihnen bereits sprach, wo fünf Femrichter einen Menschen zum Tode verurteilten und denselben auch hinrichteten. Diese letztere Persönlichkeit war in ihrem vorhergehenden Leben eine Art Häuptling und hatte die fünf hinrichten lassen; dann starb sie und kam nach Kamaloka. Während dieser Zeit wurde sie an den Ort versetzt, an dem die andern waren, und in die andern hinein, und mußte die Empfindungen erleben, die die andern gehabt hatten, als sie getötet wurden. Das ist der Ausgangspunkt von Anziehungskräften, die beim Wiedererscheinen auf der Erde die Personen zusammenbringen, so daß das Karmagesetz sich vollziehen kann.
[ 5 ] So haben wir die Technik, wie Karma wirkt. Sie sehen daraus, daß es Arten des Seins, Zusammengehörigkeiten in der Welt gibt, die schon auf dem astralen Plane beginnen. Auf dem physischen Plan besteht Kontinuierlichkeit der Substanz, auf dem astralen Plan dagegen können zusammengehörende, aber doch voneinander getrennte Teile der Körperlichkeit empfunden werden. Das ist so, wie wenn Sie in sich fühlten den Kopf, zwischen Kopf und Herz nichts, und dann das Herz, und dann die Füße und dazwischen nichts. Ein Stück von Ihnen kann in Amerika sein und ganz abgegrenzt zu Ihrer astralischen Körperlichkeit gehören, ein anderes auf dem Monde und ein drittes auf noch einem andern Planeten, und es braucht kein astral sichtbarer Zusammenhang zwischen diesen Gliedern zu sein.
[ 6 ] Wenn wir in dieser Art das Karmagesetz betrachten, dann wird uns klar, daß, was im menschlichen Leben in einem Lebenszyklus auftritt, Ergebnis vieler Ursachen ist, die in verflossenen Leben liegen. Wie bringen wir nun das Karmagesetz in Einklang mit der äußeren Vererbung? Man sagt, es gebe viele Widersprüche zwischen Vererbung und diesem Gesetz. Viele sagen von einem moralisch tüchtigen Menschen, er müsse der Sprößling einer ebensolchen Familie sein, er müsse es von seinen Vätern ererbt haben. Wenn wir vom okkulten Standpunkte die physischen Vorgänge betrachten, wissen wir, daß dem nicht so ist. Allerdings können wir sie in gewisser Beziehung als Vererbungsvorgänge bezeichnen. Machen wir uns das durch Beispiele klar.
[ 7 ] Wenn wir zum Beispiel die Familie Bach betrachten, so sehen wir, daß dort neunundzwanzig Musiker innerhalb zweihundertfünfzig Jahren geboren wurden, unter ihnen der große Bach. Zu einem guten Musiker gehört nämlich nicht nur die innere musikalische Fähigkeit, sondern ein physisch gut gebildetes Ohr, eine bestimmte Form desselben. Laien können das, worauf es ankommt, nicht unterscheiden; man muß tief mit okkulten Kräften hineinschauen. Wenn auch die Unterschiede klein und unbedeutend sind, eine bestimmte Form der inneren Gehörorgane ist notwendig, damit jemand Musiker werden kann, und diese Formen vererben sich. Sie sind ähnlich bei einem Menschen mit denen seines Vaters, Großvaters und so weiter, wie sich die Form der Nase vererbt.
[ 8 ] Nehmen wir an, es sei oben auf dem astralen Plan eine Individualität bereit, sich zu verkörpern, und suche nach einem physischen Leibe. Sie hat sich vor Jahrhunderten oder Jahrtausenden besondere musikalische Fähigkeiten erworben. Findet sie nicht einen physischen Leib mit den passenden Ohren, kann sie nicht Musiker werden. Sie drängt darum hin zu einer solchen Familie, die ihr das musikalische Ohr gibt. Ohne ein solches könnte ihre musikalische Veranlagung sich nicht ausleben, denn der größte Virtuose kann nichts leisten, wenn man ihm kein Instrument gibt.
[ 9 ] Auch das mathematische Talent braucht etwas ganz Bestimmtes. Zum Mathematiker ist nicht eine besondere Gehirnkonstruktion nötig, wie viele Menschen glauben. Das Denken, die Logik ist bei ihm wie bei andern. Worauf es ankommt, sind die im Ohre befindlichen drei sogenannten halbzirkelförmigen Kanäle, die so zueinander stehen, daß sie die drei Richtungen des Raumes einnehmen. Die besondere Ausbildung derselben bedingt das mathematische Talent. Darin liegt die Anlage zur Mathematik. Es ist ein physisches Organ und das muß vererbt werden. So sehen wir, daß sich in der Familie Bernoulli acht bedeutende Mathematiker verkörpert haben.
[ 10 ] Auch der moralische Mensch braucht, um seine moralische Anlage zu betätigen, ein Elternpaar, das ihm den geeigneten physischen Leib vererbt. Und er hat diese Eltern, weil er eine solche Individualität ist und keine andere. Die Individualität sucht sich selbst ihre Eltern aus, wenn auch unter der Leitung von höheren Wesenheiten. Es gibt manche Menschen, die gegen diese Tatsache vom Standpunkte der Mutterliebe etwas einzuwenden haben. Sie haben Angst, sie könnten etwas verlieren, wenn das Kind nicht von der Mutter diese oder jene Eigenschaft ererbt. Die richtige Erkenntnis aber vertieft sogar das Gefühl der Mutterliebe. Sie zeigt, daß es ein vorgeburtliches Liebesgefühl ist, das schon vor der Empfängnis da war, was das Kind zur Mutter hinführte. Das Kind bringt schon vor der Geburt der Mutter Liebe entgegen; die Mutterliebe ist die Gegenliebe. So finden wir die Mutterliebe, spirituell angesehen, verlängert bis vor die Geburt hinaus. Sie beruht auf Gegenseitigkeitsgefühlen.
[ 11 ] Man glaubt oft, der Mensch stünde unter dem unabänderlichen Gesetz des Karma, es wäre nichts daran zu ändern. Führen wir ein Gleichnis aus dem gewöhnlichen Leben für das Wirken dieses Karmagesetzes an. Ein Kaufmann hat in seinem Buche Posten für Soll und Haben. Wenn er diese zusammenzählt und vergleicht, drückt sich in ihnen der Stand seines Geschäftes aus. Der Geschäftsstand des Kaufmanns steht unter dem unerbittlichen Rechnungsgesetze des Soll und Haben. Macht er jedoch neue Geschäfte, so kann er neue Posten eintragen, und er wäre ein Tor, wenn er keine neuen Geschäfte machen wollte, weil er einmal die Bilanz gezogen hat. In bezug auf das Karma steht auf der Habenseite alles, was der Mensch Gutes, Kluges, Wahres, Richtiges getan hat, auf der Sollseite alles, was er Böses, Törichtes getan hat. Es steht ihm in jedem Momente frei, neue Posten ins karmische Lebensbuch einzutragen. Daher glaube man niemals, daß im Leben ein unabänderliches Schicksalsgesetz herrschend sei. Die Freiheit wird nicht beeinträchtigt durch das Karmagesetz. Und deshalb müssen Sie bei dem Karmagesetz ebensosehr an die Zukunft denken wie an die Vergangenheit. Wir tragen in uns die Wirkungen vergangener Taten, und wir sind die Sklaven der Vergangenheit, aber die Herren der Zukunft. Wollen wir dieselbe gut gestalten, müssen wir möglichst günstige Posten ins Lebensbuch eintragen.
[ 12 ] Es ist ein großer, gewaltiger Gedanke, zu wissen, daß, was man auch tut, nichts vergeblich ist, daß alles seine Wirkung in die Zukunft hinein hat. So wirkt das Gesetz nicht bedrückend, sondern es erfüllt uns mit schönster Hoffnung. Es ist die schönste Gabe der Geisteswissenschaft. Wir werden froh durch das Karmagesetz, dadurch, daß wir hineinschauen in die Zukunft. Es gibt uns die Aufgabe, tätig zu sein im Sinne eines solchen Gesetzes, es hat nichts, was den Menschen traurig machen kann, nichts, was der Welt eine pessimistische Färbung geben könnte. Es beflügelt unsere Tätigkeit, mitzuwirken an dem Erden-Werdegang. In solche Gefühle muß sich das Wissen vom Karmagesetz umsetzen.
[ 13 ] Wenn ein Mensch leidet, sagt man oft: Er verdient sein Leiden, er muß sein Karma austragen; helfe ich, so greife ich ein in sein Karma. — Das ist eine Torheit. Seine Armut, sein Elend ist bewirkt durch sein voriges Leben, aber wenn ich ihm helfe, wird meine Hilfe einen neuen Posten in sein Leben eintragen. Ich bringe ihn dadurch vorwärts. Es ist ja auch töricht, einem Kaufmann, den man mit 1000 Mark oder 10 000 Mark vor dem Untergang retten könnte, zu sagen: Nein, dann würde ja deine Bilanz verändert werden. — Gerade das muß uns drängen, dem Menschen zu helfen. Ich helfe ihm, weil ich weiß, daß im karmischen Zusammenhange nichts ohne Wirkung ist. Das sollte uns ein Ansporn sein für ein wirkliches Handeln.
[ 14 ] Von vielen Leuten wird vom Gesichtspunkte des Christentums aus das Gesetz des Karma bestritten. Die Theologen sagen: Das Christentum kann das Karmagesetz nicht anerkennen, denn wenn dieses richtig wäre, könnte es niemals das Prinzip des stellvertretenden Todes zulassen. — Aber esgibt auch Theosophen, die sagen, das Karmagesetz stände in Widerspruch mit dem Erlösungsprinzip. Sie sagen, sie könnten diese Hilfe, die ein einzelnes Wesen vielen Menschen gibt, nicht anerkennen. Sie haben beide unrecht, sie haben das Karmagesetz beide nicht verstanden.
[ 15 ] Nehmen Sie einen elenden Menschen. Sie selbst sind in einer glücklicheren Lage, Sie können ihm helfen. Durch diese Hilfe schreiben Sie einen neuen Posten in sein Leben ein. Eine noch mächtigere Person kann zweien Menschen helfen und auf das Karma von zweien einwirken. Ein noch Mächtigerer kann zehn oder hundert Menschen helfen, und der Mächtigste kann Ungezählten helfen. Das widerstrebt durchaus nicht dem Prinzip der karmischen Zusammenhänge. Gerade durch die Zuverlässigkeit des Karmagesetzes wissen wir, daß diese Hilfe auch wirklich eingreift in das Schicksal des Menschen.
[ 16 ] Man weiß, daß in der Tat die Menschheit jene Hilfe brauchte, als die Christus-Individualität auf diesen Plan herunterversetzt wurde. Der Kreuzes-Tod des Erlösers, des einen Mittelpunktwesens, das war die Hilfe, die eingriff in das Karma von Unzähligen. Es gibt keinen Zwiespalt zwischen der richtig verstandenen christlichen Esoterik und der richtig verstandenen Geisteswissenschaft. Wir finden einen tiefen Einklang zwischen den Gesetzen beider und sind durchaus nicht gezwungen, das Prinzip der Erlösung aufzugeben.
[ 17 ] Wir werden noch tiefer hineingeführt in das Karmagesetz, wenn wir zur Menschheitsentwickelung sowohl als zur Entwickelung der Erde übergehen. Wir haben einige Tatsachen angeführt, die uns zum Verständnis des Karmagesetzes führen sollen. Einiges andere werden wir noch besser verstehen, wenn wir zur Menschheitsevolution selber übergehen, und zwar nicht nur während der Erde, sondern auch durch die anderen Planeten hindurch, die andere Verkörperungen unserer Erde sind. Wir werden darin einige Ergänzungen für das Karmagesetz finden können, indem wir zurückgeführt werden in uralte Zeiten und zugleich hingewiesen werden auf urferne Zukunft.
[ 18 ] Einleitend wollen wir uns noch mit einer wichtigen Tatsache bekannt machen. Wir sind uns heute klar geworden, daß das, was wir mit physischen Augen sehen können am Menschen, sein äußerer physischer Leib, ausgebaut wird von den höheren Gliedern der Menschennatur, daß sein Ich, Astral- und Ätherleib und so weiter bis zum höchsten Glied, Atma, arbeiten an unserem Körper. Die Teile desselben, wie sie heute im Menschen sind, sind nicht gleichwertig, sondern sie haben einen verschiedenen Wert in der menschlichen Natur. Man braucht nur eine ziemlich triviale Betrachtung zu machen, um einzusehen, daß unser physischer Leib im Grunde der vollkommenste Teil unserer Natur ist. Man nehme zum Beispiel einen Teil des Oberschenkelknochens. Das ist kein kompakter fester Knochen, sondern ein kunstvoll wie aus hin- und hergehenden Balken konstruierter Teil. Wer nicht nur mit dem Verstande, sondern mit Empfindung diesen Teil betrachtet, der wird in Bewunderung geraten über die Weisheit, die da geschaffen hat, die nicht mehr Material verwendet hat, als notwendig ist, um nach dem Prinzip des kleinsten Kraftmaßes den Oberkörper zu tragen. Keine Ingenieurkunst, die eine Brücke bauen will, ist so weit wie jene Weisheit, die in der Natur so etwas zustande gebracht hat.
[ 19 ] Wenn man nicht nur mit dem Blick des Anatomen und Physiologen das menschliche Herz erforscht, wird man in demselben einen Ausdruck hoher Weisheit finden. Glauben Sie nicht, daß der Astralleib des Menschen in seiner Art heute schon so weit ist wie das physische Menschenherz. Das Herz ist kunstvoll und weisheitsvoll gebaut; der Astralleib in seiner Begierde veranlaßt den Menschen, jahrzehntelang lauter Herzgift in sich hineinzugießen, und das Herz hält dem jahrzehntelang stand. Erst auf einer zukünftigen Entwickelungsstufe wird auch der Astralleib so weit sein wie heute der physische Leib, und zwar wird er dann viel, viel höher stehen als der physische Leib. Heute ist dieser der vollkommenste, weniger vollkommen ist der Äther-, und noch weniger der Astralleib, und das Baby unter den Leibern ist das Ich.
[ 20 ] Der physische Leib, so wie er heute vor uns steht, ist das älteste Glied der Menschennatur. An ihm ist am längsten gearbeitet worden. Erst als er eine bestimmte Stufe im Laufe der Entwickelung erreicht hatte, wurde er durchzogen vom Ätherleib. Nachdem diese beiden eine Zeitlang zusammengewirkt hatten, trat der Astralleib hinzu und erst zuletzt das Ich, das aber in der Zukunft ungeahnte Höhen in der Entwickelung erlangen wird.
[ 21 ] Ebenso wie der Mensch sich wiederholentlich verkörpert, so hat auch unsere Erde Verkörperungen durchgemacht und wird noch weitere durchmachen. Der Gang der Reinkarnation vollzieht sich durch den ganzen Kosmos hindurch. Unsere Erde ist in ihrer heutigen Gestalt die Wiederverkörperung früherer Planeten, und wir können auf drei derselben blicken.
[ 22 ] Unsere Erde war, ehe sie Erde wurde, das, was man im Okkultismus — nicht in der Astronomie — Mond nennt. Der heutige Mond ist gleichsam eine Schlacke, die als nicht brauchbar hinausgeworfen worden ist. Wenn wir Erde und Mond mit allen Substanzen und Wesenheiten zusammenrühren könnten, dann bekämen wir das, was wir den Vorgänger der Erde nennen, den okkulten Mond, und was heute als Erde zurückgeblieben ist, ist der nach dem Abwerfen der Schlacke stehengebliebene Rest des Mondes.
[ 23 ] So wie der jetzige Mond ein hinausgeworfener Rest der alten Mondesverkörperung ist, so ist die Sonne, die am Himmel steht, etwas, was hervorgegangen ist aus einem noch früheren Zustand der Erde. Bevor die Erde Mond wurde, war sie, wie wir im Okkultismus sagen, selbst Sonne, und diese Sonne bestand aus allen Substanzen und Wesenheiten, die heute Sonne, Mond und Erde bilden. Diese Sonne entledigte sich der Glieder, die sie als höherer Körper nicht behalten konnte, der Substanzen und Wesenheiten, die heute Erde und Mond bilden, und dadurch wurde sie Fixstern. Ein solcher ist für den Okkultisten nicht etwas, was immer schon ein Fixstern war. Die Sonne ist erst zum Fixstern geworden, nachdem sie Planet gewesen war.
[ 24 ] Die Sonne, die man heute erblickt, die einst mit der Erde vereint war, hat in sich viele Wesenheiten aufgenommen, die höherstanden als die Erdenwesenheiten, ebenso wie der Mond, den man sieht, die schlechtesten Teile bekommen hat und daher eine ausgeworfene Schlacke ist. Der Mond ist ein herabgekommener, die Sonne ein heraufgestiegener Planet.
[ 25 ] Dem Sonnendasein ging noch ein anderes Dasein voran, das Saturndasein. So haben wir vier aufeinanderfolgende Verkörperungen der Erde: Saturn, Sonne, Mond, und als vierte die Erde. Als der Menschenvorfahr auf dem Saturn sich entwickelte, war in ihm nur das Prinzip des physischen Leibes. Auf der Sonne gesellte sich dazu der Ätherleib, auf dem Monde der Astralleib und hier auf der Erde das Ich.
[ 26 ] Aus dem Vortrage «Blut ist ein ganz besonderer Saft» werden Sie wissen, wie das Ich in intimster Weise zum Blut steht. Dieses Blut war nicht in einem Menschenleibe, bevor sich ein Ich verkörperte, so daß dieses rote Menschenblut mit der Entwickelung der Erde selbst zusammenhängt. Es hätte sich gar nicht bilden können, wenn nicht die Erde im Gang ihrer Entwickelung mit einem anderen Planeten zusammengetroffen wäre: mit dem Mars. Vorher hatte die Erde kein Eisen, gab es kein Eisen im Blut; es gab überhaupt nicht solches Blut, von dem der Mensch heute abhängig ist. In der ersten Hälfte des Erdendaseins ist das Maßgebende für die Erdenentwickelung der Einfluß des Planeten Mars, ebenso wie es für die zweite Hälfte der Einfluß des Planeten Merkur ist. Der Mars hat der Erde das Eisen gegeben, und der MerkurEinfluß zeigt sich auf der Erde dadurch, daß er die Menschenseele immer freier macht, so daß sie immer unabhängiger werden kann. Man faßt daher im Okkultismus die Erdenentwickelung so auf, daß man von zwei Hälften derselben spricht, von der Marshälfte und der Merkurhälfte. Während die übrigen Namen einen ganzen Planeten bezeichnen, wird die Erdenentwickelung ausgesprochen als «Mars-Merkur». Man bezeichnet mit diesem Mars und Merkur nicht die heutigen Sterne, sondern eben das, was in der ersten und zweiten Hälfte diese bezeichnenden Einflüsse ausübt.
[ 27 ] In der Zukunft wird die Erde sich verkörpern in einem neuen Planeten, den man Jupiter nennt. Dann wird der Astralleib so weit sein, daß er sich nicht mehr wie ein Feind dem physischen Leib entgegenstellt, wie es heute der Fall ist, doch wird er noch nicht auf der höchsten Stufe angelangt sein. So weit wie der physische wird dann der Ätherleib sein. Der wird dann drei Planetenentwickelungen hinter sich haben wie heute der physische Leib.
[ 28 ] Der Astralleib wird auf der darnach folgenden Verkörperung so weit sein wie heute der physische Leib; er wird dann hinter sich haben die Mond-, Erden- und Jupiterentwickelung und wird angelangt sein in der Venusentwickelung. Auf der letzten Verkörperung, dem Vulkan, wird das Ich seine höchste Entwickelung erlangt haben. So werden die künftigen Verkörperungen der Erde sein: Jupiter, Venus, Vulkan.
[ 29 ] Diese Bezeichnungen finden sich wieder in den Wochentagen. Es gab eine Zeit, wo die Namengebung für die Tatsachen, die uns umgeben, ausging von den Eingeweihten. Heute hat man kein inneres Gefühl mehr für die Zusammengehörigkeit der Namen mit den Dingen. Die Namen der Wochentage sollten den Menschen eine Erinnerung sein an ihren Werdegang durch die Entwickelungszustände der Erde.
[ 30 ] Fangen wir an beim Sonnabend: Saturntag, englisch Saturday. Dann Sonntag: Sonnentag. Montag: Mondtag. Dann Mars und Merkur, die zwei Zustände unserer Erde: Mars-Tag — Dienstag, auf altgermanisch Ziu- oder Dinstag, und französisch Mardi, italienisch Martedi. Mittwoch: der Merkurs-Tag, italienisch Mercoledi, französisch Mercredi. Merkur ist dasselbe wie Wotan. Tacitus spricht vom Wotanstag; im Englischen noch jetzt Wednesday. Dann der Jupitertag: Jupiter ist der deutsche Donar, daher der deutsche Donnerstag, französisch Jeudi, italienisch Giovedi. Dann der Venus-Tag; Venus, die deutsche Freia: Freitag, französisch Vendredi und italienisch Venerdi.
[ 31 ] So haben wir in der Aufeinanderfolge der Wochentage ein Erinnerungszeichen an den Werdegang der Erde durch ihre verschiedenen Verkörperungen hindurch.
Seventh Lecture
[ 1 ] In order to understand the law of karma even better, as it appears in human life, I will tell you about an occurrence that takes place immediately after a person's death. Think of the memory tableau that occurs when a person is freed from the physical body and lives for a short time only in the cover of the etheric and astral body before he continues his progress through the elemental world. For an intimate understanding of the workings of karma, let me describe a peculiar feeling that also occurs during this great tableau. It is a feeling of expansion, of growing out of oneself. This occurs more and more strongly, even while the person is still in their etheric body. The person comes to occupy a unique position in relation to this tableau. At first, they see images of their past life as if in a panorama. Then there comes a moment – it occurs not long after death and lasts for hours, even days, depending on the individuality of the person – when the person has the sensation: I am all these images myself. – He feels his etheric body growing, as if he is embracing the whole circumference of the earth up to the sun.
[ 2 ] Then, when the human being leaves his etheric body, another, most remarkable feeling arises, which is almost difficult to describe with words from the physical world. It is a feeling of expansion far out into space, but as if one no longer fills all the places in space. It can only be roughly described. One feels, for example, with one part of one's being in Munich, another in Mainz, a third in Basel and yet another far outside the world, perhaps on the moon. One feels, so to speak, dismembered and the intervening spaces as not belonging to oneself. That is the peculiar way of feeling astral: as if spread out in space, transported to different places, but not filling the intervening space. And this sensation lasts throughout the entire Kamaloka period, which a person experiences in reverse order up to the time of birth. It is always a reliving of such pieces that belong to one. This then integrates itself with the whole of the remaining Kamaloka life. It is important to know this in order to get an idea of how the law of karma actually works. One first feels inside the person with whom one was last connected, and then back into all people and other beings with whom one had contact during one's life.
[ 3 ] For example, if you ever beat a person in Mainz, you will experience the beating yourself after your death at the appropriate time, along with the pain you inflicted on him. If that person is still in Mainz, then a part of your astral body will feel itself in Mainz after your death and experience the matter there. If the person you beat to death has died in the meantime, you feel where he is now in Kamaloka. Of course, we are not only dealing with this one person, but also with many others who are scattered on earth and in Kamaloka. You are everywhere; this is made possible by the interrupted nature of physicality in Kamaloka. It makes it possible for you to experience in all the others what you have had to do with them, and in this way you form a lasting connection with all those with whom you have come into contact. You are now connected with this person whom you have beaten, because you have lived with him in Kamaloka. You later go up to Devachan and then back to Kamaloka. Now your astral body finds what brings it together with the person with whom you grew together. And since there are many such connections, you see that everything that has to do with you is linked to you by a kind of bond.
[ 4 ] A clear explanation will be given to you by the occultist-observed event I mentioned earlier, where five Fem judges sentenced a person to death and executed him. This latter personality was a kind of chief in his previous life and had the five executed; then he died and came to Kamaloka. During this time she was transferred to the place where the others were, and into the others, and had to experience the sensations the others had had when they were killed. This is the starting point of the forces of attraction that bring people together when they reappear on earth, so that the law of karma can be fulfilled.
[ 5 ] So we have the technique of how karma works. You can see from this that there are ways of being, connections in the world that begin on the astral plane. On the physical plane there is continuity of substance, but on the astral plane, parts of the physical body that belong together but are still separate can be felt. It is as if you felt inside you the head, between the head and heart nothing, and then the heart, and then the feet and nothing in between. A part of you can be in America and belong completely to your astral body, another on the moon and a third on yet another planet, and there need be no astral visible connection between these limbs.
[ 6 ] When we look at the law of karma in this way, it becomes clear to us that what occurs in a human life in one life cycle is the result of many causes that lie in past lives. How do we reconcile the law of karma with external inheritance? It is said that there are many contradictions between inheritance and this law. Many say that a morally upright person must be the offspring of a similarly upright family, that they must have inherited it from their fathers. If we look at physical processes from an occult point of view, we know that this is not the case. However, we can describe them as inheritance processes to a certain extent. Let us illustrate this with examples.
[ 7 ] If we look at the Bach family, for example, we see that twenty-nine musicians were born there within two hundred and fifty years, including the great Bach. To be a good musician, you need not only inner musical ability, but also a physically well-trained ear, a certain form of it. Laymen cannot distinguish what is important; one has to look deeply with occult powers. Even if the differences are small and insignificant, a certain shape of the inner hearing organs is necessary for someone to become a musician, and these shapes are inherited. They are similar in a person to those of his father, grandfather and so on, just as the shape of the nose is inherited.
[ 8 ] Let us assume that an individuality is ready to incarnate on the astral plane and is looking for a physical body. It has acquired special musical abilities centuries or millennia ago. If it does not find a physical body with the right ears, it cannot become a musician. She therefore pushes towards a family that gives her the musical ear. Without one, her musical talent would not be able to develop, because even the greatest virtuoso cannot perform if no instrument is given to him.
[ 9 ] A mathematical talent also needs something very specific. A mathematician does not need a special brain structure, as many people believe. His thinking and logic are the same as those of others. What is important are the three so-called semi-circular canals in the ear, which are positioned in such a way that they take up the three directions of space. The mathematical talent is determined by the special formation of these canals. Therein lies the aptitude for mathematics. It is a physical organ and must be inherited. Thus we see that eight important mathematicians have been embodied in the Bernoulli family.
[ 10 ] The moral man also needs a pair of parents to inherit the appropriate physical body in order to exercise his moral nature. And he has these parents because he is such an individuality and no other. The individuality chooses its own parents, albeit under the guidance of higher beings. There are some people who have objections to this fact from the point of view of motherly love. They are afraid that they might lose something if the child does not inherit this or that quality from the mother. But correct knowledge deepens even the feeling of motherly love. It shows that it is a prenatal feeling of love that was already there before conception, which led the child to the mother. Even before birth, the child has love for the mother; the mother's love is the love in return. Thus, spiritually speaking, we find that motherly love extends even before birth. It is based on feelings of reciprocity.
[ 11 ] It is often believed that man is subject to the immutable law of karma, and that nothing can be done to change it. Let us cite a parable from ordinary life to illustrate the workings of this law of karma. A merchant has a book in which he records his debits and credits. When he adds them up and compares them, they express the state of his business. The merchant's business is subject to the inexorable law of the debit and credit. However, if he does new business, he can enter new items, and he would be a fool not to want to do new business once he has drawn up the balance sheet. In terms of karma, everything that a person has done that is good, clever, true, and right is on the credit side, and everything that he has done that is evil, foolish, is on the debit side. He is free to enter new items in the karmic book of life at any moment. Therefore, never believe that an unalterable law of fate reigns in life. Freedom is not restricted by the law of karma. And that is why you should think as much of the future as of the past when considering the law of karma. We carry within us the effects of past deeds, and we are the slaves of the past, but the masters of the future. If we want to shape the future well, we must enter the most favorable items into the book of life.
[ 12 ] It is a great and powerful thought to know that whatever one does, nothing is in vain, that everything has its effect in the future. Thus the law does not seem oppressive, but fills us with the most beautiful hope. It is the most beautiful gift of spiritual science. We become joyful through the law of karma, through the fact that we can see into the future. It gives us the task of being active in the sense of such a law; there is nothing that can make man sad, nothing that could give the world a pessimistic color. It inspires our activity to participate in the development of the earth. The knowledge of the law of karma must be transformed into such feelings.
[ 13 ] When a person suffers, it is often said that he deserves his suffering, that he must work off his karma; if I help him, I will interfere with his karma. This is foolishness. His poverty, his misery is caused by his past life, but if I help him, my help will bring a new item into his life. I am advancing him by doing so. It is also foolish to say to a merchant whom one could save from ruin with 1000 marks or 10,000 marks: No, then your balance sheet would be changed. — It is precisely that which must urge us to help the person. I help him because I know that in the karmic context nothing is without effect. That should be an incentive for us to take real action.
[ 14 ] From the point of view of Christianity, the law of karma is disputed by many people. Theologians say: Christianity cannot recognize the law of karma, because if it were right, it could never admit the principle of vicarious death. But there are also Theosophists who say that the law of karma is in contradiction to the principle of redemption. They say they cannot recognize the help that a single being gives to many people. They are both wrong, they have both failed to understand the law of karma.
[ 15 ] Take a miserable person. You are in a happier position and can help him. By helping him, you inscribe a new item in his life. A more powerful person can help two people and influence the karma of two people. An even more powerful person can help ten or a hundred people, and the most powerful can help countless people. This is not at all contrary to the principle of karmic relationships. It is precisely because of the reliability of the law of karma that we know that this help really does intervene in a person's destiny.
[ 16 ] It is known that humanity was indeed in need of help when the Christ Individuality was sent down to this planet. The crucifixion of the Savior, the one Being at the center, was the help that intervened in the karma of countless individuals. There is no conflict between correctly understood Christian esotericism and correctly understood spiritual science. We find a deep harmony between the laws of both and are by no means forced to give up the principle of redemption.
[ 17 ] We are led still more deeply into the law of karma when we pass over to the evolution of humanity as well as to the evolution of the earth. We have adduced several facts which should lead us to an understanding of the law of karma. We will understand some other things even better when we move on to the evolution of humanity itself, and not only during the Earth's evolution, but also through the other planets, which are other embodiments of our Earth. In doing so, we will be able to find some additions to the law of karma by being led back to ancient times and at the same time being pointed to the distant future.
[ 18 ] To begin with, we still want to familiarize ourselves with one important fact. Today we have realized that what we can see with our physical eyes in a person, their outer physical body, is built up by the higher members of human nature, that their ego, astral and etheric bodies and so on up to the highest member, Atma, work on our body. The parts of it, as they are in man today, are not of equal value, but have different values in human nature. One only needs to make a fairly trivial observation to realize that our physical body is basically the most perfect part of our nature. Take, for example, a part of the thigh bone. This is not a compact, solid bone, but an artfully constructed part, as if made of alternating beams. If you look at this part not only with your mind but also with feeling, you will be filled with admiration at the wisdom that created it, that did not use more material than necessary to support the upper body according to the principle of the smallest possible force. No engineering skill that wants to build a bridge is as advanced as the wisdom that has achieved something like this in nature.
[ 19 ] If we examine the human heart not only with the eyes of the anatomist and physiologist, we shall find in it an expression of great wisdom. Do not imagine that the astral body of man in its kind is today as far advanced as the physical human heart. The heart is artfully and wisely constructed; the astral body in its greed causes people to pour nothing but heart poison into themselves for decades, and the heart withstands this for decades. Only at a future stage of development will the astral body be as far as the physical body is today, and indeed it will then be much, much higher than the physical body. Today, the physical body is the most perfect, the etheric body is less perfect, and the astral body even less so. The baby among the bodies is the I.
[ 20 ] The physical body, as it stands before us today, is the oldest link in human nature. It is the product of the longest labour. Only after it had reached a certain stage in the course of evolution was it permeated by the etheric body. After these two had interacted for some time, the astral body was added, and only at the last stage the I, which, however, will attain undreamt-of heights in evolution in the future.
[ 21 ] Just as the human being repeatedly embodies himself, so has our earth undergone embodiments and will undergo further ones. The process of reincarnation takes place throughout the cosmos. Our earth in its present form is the re-embodiment of earlier planets, and we can look at three of them.
[ 22 ] Before it became Earth, our Earth was what is called in occultism – not in astronomy – the Moon. Today's moon is, as it were, a slag that has been thrown out as useless. If we could stir together the earth and the moon with all their substances and entities, we would get what we call the predecessor of the earth, the occult moon, and what is left today as the earth is what remained of the moon after the slag was thrown off.
[ 23 ] Just as the present moon is an ejected remnant of the old moon embodiment, so the sun that stands in the sky is something that emerged from an even earlier state of the earth. Before the Earth became a moon, it was, as we say in occultism, itself the Sun, and this Sun consisted of all the substances and entities that today form the Sun, Moon and Earth. This Sun got rid of the limbs that it could not retain as a higher body, of the substances and entities that today form the Earth and the Moon, and thus it became a fixed star. For the occultist, a fixed star is not something that has always been a fixed star. The Sun only became a fixed star after it had been a planet.
[ 24 ] The Sun that is seen today, which was once united with the Earth, has taken in many beings that were higher than the Earth beings, just as the Moon that is seen has taken in the worst parts and is therefore a cast-out slag. The moon is a degenerated planet, the sun an ascended one.
[ 25 ] Before its existence as the sun, there was another existence, that of Saturn. Thus we have four successive embodiments of the earth: Saturn, Sun, Moon, and the Earth as the fourth. When the human ancestor developed on Saturn, only the principle of the physical body was within him. On the Sun, the etheric body was added, on the Moon the astral body, and here on Earth the I.
[ 26 ] From the lecture “Blood is a very special Juice” you will know how the I is intimately connected to the blood. This blood was not in a human body before an I embodied itself, so that this red human blood is connected with the evolution of the earth itself. It could not have been formed at all if the earth had not collided with another planet in the course of its development: with Mars. Before that, the earth had no iron, there was no iron in the blood; there was no such blood at all, on which man depends today. In the first half of the earth's existence, the determining factor for the earth's development is the influence of the planet Mars, just as it is the influence of the planet Mercury for the second half. Mars gave the earth iron, and the influence of Mercury is manifested on earth in that it makes the human soul ever freer, so that it can become ever more independent. In occultism, the evolution of the earth is therefore understood in such a way that one speaks of two halves, the Martian half and the Mercury half. While the other names denote a whole planet, the evolution of the earth is pronounced as “Mars-Mercury”. These Mars and Mercury do not refer to the present stars, but to that which exercises the influences they denote in the first and second halves.
[ 27 ] In the future, the earth will embody itself in a new planet called Jupiter. Then the astral body will have developed to the point where it no longer opposes the physical body as an enemy, as is the case today, but it will not yet have reached the highest level. The etheric body will then be as developed as the physical body is now. It will then have three planetary evolutions behind it, as the physical body has today.
[ 28 ] On the following embodiment, the astral body will have reached the same stage as the physical body has today; it will then have passed through the moon, earth and Jupiter development and will have arrived at the Venus development. On the last embodiment, Vulcan, the I will have reached its highest development. The future embodiments of the Earth will be as follows: Jupiter, Venus, Vulcan.
[ 29 ] These designations are reflected in the days of the week. There was a time when the naming of the facts that surround us came from the initiates. Today, we no longer have an inner sense of the connection between names and things. The names of the days of the week should remind people of their development through the stages of the earth's evolution.
[ 30 ] Let us begin with Saturday: Saturntag, English Saturday. Then Sunday: Sonnentag. Monday: Mondtag. Then Mars and Mercury, the two states of our earth: Mars-Tag – Tuesday, in old Germanic Ziu- or Dinstag, and French Mardi, Italian Martedi. Wednesday: Mercury's day, Italian Mercoledi, French Mercredi. Mercury is the same as Wotan. Tacitus speaks of Wotan's day; in English still Wednesday. Then Jupiter's day: Jupiter is the German Donar, hence Donnerstag in German, French Jeudi, Italian Giovedi. Then Venus Day; Venus, the German Freia: Freitag, French Vendredi and Italian Venerdi.
[ 31 ] Thus, in the succession of the days of the week, we have a reminder of the development of the earth through its various embodiments.