Theosophy and Rosicrucianism
GA 100
20 June 1907, Kassel
Translator Unknown
V. Metamorphoses of Our Earthly Experiences in the Spiritual World into New Capacities for Our Next Life
It will be our task to-day to describe to a certain extent the human being during his sojourn in Devachan between death and new birth. In this connection we must first of all form an idea of that which man gains through the fact that during his passage through the spiritual world he is, to begin with, active for his own sake. We can picture this more easily if we bear in mind the relationship of two things: of that which we experience, and of that which our experience becomes during the time between birth and death.
Consider, for instance, everything which you experience when you learn to write. You would find it difficult, to remember all the things which you had to take in at that time in order to learn the or writing. Think of all admonishments of your teacher. Perhaps even of his anger! All this passed through your soul, and what has remained? The capacity to write. Everything else has become blurred and the art of writing has remained.
This is the course of things in life generally—not only during the life between birth and death, but in the whole life of the universe, both in the physical and in the super-sensible world.
It is possible to form a conception of how the things explained above are active in the super-sensible world. Let us, for example, take Mozart. When he was quite a young boy he heard a long piece of music at St. peters in Rome; according to an old tradition it was not allowed to write down this music, but Mozart wrote it down afterwards, from memory. What memories you must have had! And he could do this as a young boy! How do materialists explained this? They would protest energetically if they were asked to believe that an ox grows out of a piece of earth, that in animals such as the ox arises in a way which does not correspond to Nature. They say: Miracles do not exist ... and they are perfectly right in this. But in the face of spiritual things they become tremendously superstitious and believed in miracles at which point materialists simply accept back such as the one just now described from Mozart's life, and without further ado they place it to the account of heredity. Yet at Mozart's case, an explanation not arising out of a spiritual science describes just as great a miracle as that of an ox growing out of a piece of earth. For it is possible for a human being gradually to acquire an excellent memory if he turns his spirit again and again towards the same object. Memory develops in exactly the same way in which something perfect develops out of something imperfect, and it would be a miracle if Mozart's memory had grown out of nothing!
The answer of spiritual science to such a problem is that even in such a case upgrade developed gradually and naturally. If a materialists seeks an explanation for it, he cannot extricate himself otherwise that by admitting that he must either believe in miracles or that capacity is which does manifest themselves prove that they already existed in a former life and that they followed an entirely natural course of development.
Reincarnation is consequently the logical deduction of such a train of thought. And those who explain, through a materialistic way of looking at things, that such a perfect memory as that of the young boy Mozart can arise out of nothing, should follow their belief to a logical conclusion and admit, for instance, that frogs develop without further ado from mud—A fact which was accepted by a natural scientists before the time of Francesco Redi. Consequently, those who wish to be logical in spiritual science state: Even as an oak-tree grows out of the acorn and develops gradually, so our soul-capacities develop little by little, and when a human being enters life with capacities so highly developed as those of Mozart, this undeniably proves that the human being gained these capacities during former lives on earth. This gives us a clue to the comprehension of man's destiny in the spiritual world.
The essential point is therefore that the experiences of one life transform themselves into capacities for the succeeding life. All the dispositions of character which we bring with us in this life are the fruit of experiences gained during earlier lives on earth. For this reason it is necessary to study man's passage through Devachan in order to understand fully how the experiences of one life become capacities in the next life.
When we pass through our life on earth, we daily experience many things, and all these experiences appear in the panorama-picture already described to you, which rises up before the soul's eye immediately after death. But the capacities which we have gained through all these experiences remain as an essence, and we take along with us into the spiritual world this essence,which endures for all times to come.
When the human being enters Devachan, he perceives the regions described to you yesterday; the continental region, consisting of the archetypes of all earthly forms; the oceanic region, consisting of everything which is life; the air-region, consisting of everything pertaining to the soul, pleasure and pain, joy and suffering, etc. In the continental region the human being first perceives the archetype of his own physical body, and in the air-region he of course perceives, to begin with, also that which took place within his own soul during his past life on earth in the form of joy, suffering, pleasure, pain and passions. In other words, he once more perceives all the experiences of his past life, but in an entirely different way than during his passage through the Kamaloka period, which I have already described to you. In Kamaloka he lived through them once more in order to lose the habit of being dependent on them. In the watery region of Devachan man experiences all the peculiarities of his bodily life, and in the air-region of the celestial world he passes through all his psychic experiences.
It is important and of great interest to realise that everything which we have experienced in the course of one life—our feelings concerning the world, pleasure, pain, etc.—that in the spiritual world all this surrounds us as an external world. We need not feel sad that there our sufferings lie spread out before us. This is not sad at all, for there, all our sufferings exist in the same way in which storms exist in the physical world and in the spiritual world all our joyful experiences appear to us like wonderful cloud-phenomena. In Devachan our own inner experiences do not exist within us, as here on earth, but they live in our environment in an external form, in the same way in which a picture of Nature lies spread out before us. Our inner experiences live round about us, as if they were images, sounds or atmospheric phenomena; they have become objectified, as heavenly forms.
I have told you that it is not sad if our sufferings come raying towards us; just as little sad as lightning or thunder in physical life. Those who perceive these connections know what they owe to their sufferings in particular. Just those who have passed through pain and suffering will always say that they gratefully accept joy and pleasure, but that they would never wish to do without suffering and pain. We owe all Our wisdom to our suffering and pain during past lives on earth. A man whose physiognomy bears upon it the mark of wisdom in this life, owes this to the fact that in former lives he experienced the world's connection as suffering.
I have already explained to you that everything which we have experienced during our earthly-life lies spread out before us in pictures, etc, , when we enter Devachan. What does this signify? It will be easier to understand this if we realise what influence the environment exercises upon us. You all know Goethe's words: “The eye has been formed through the light and for the light.” What does this mean? The eye must exist in order to perceive the light. If we did not possess our eyesight the world would be dark and gloomy. But what is the origin of the human eye? It has been formed by the light itself, and similarly the eye would degenerate if there were no light. It has, for instance, been possible to observe this fact directly, in the case of animals who immigrated into the caves of Kentucky.
Light is the origin of the power of sight. Once upon a time man was not endowed with sight, because he still lived under quite different conditions; in earlier times of the earth's development the sun was not visible to an external sensory eye. Let us remember in this connection what the legends relate in regard to “Niflheim”.
The:more man lived exposed to the sun, the further the eye developed by the light of the sun. All the other sense organs developed in the same way: sound formed the ear, heat the sense of heat. We would have no sense of touch if there were no hard objects. The external world moulds and forms our body.
This is most important in practical life; in fact, theosophy is always meant to be applied to practical life. It is also most important in education, for only an educator who can look deeply into man's nature educate in the right way.
The physical body develops until the child changes its teeth, the etheric body develops up to the 14th/15th year, and the astral body up to the 21st year. We must know all this if education is to be approached practically and not fantastically. Since the disposition of the physical body is what we must bear in mind up to the seventh year, physical impressions, that is to say, everything which the child perceives through his sense organs, must be considered deeply and thoroughly. Sins of omission in education in connection with the form and disposition of the physical organs in the child's body, are a loss for the whole of life.
An insight into this last sentence gives medicine in particular many guiding lines for a right treatment of illnesses, among others, for instance, rickets, How is it that rickets arise just in this period of life? Just because; the child is moulding its body, and that is why these symptoms manifest themselves in the form (deformed bones, bad teeth, wrong form of the skull, etc.) But for this very reason the child is still able, until dentition, to correct the wrong forms and lead them back to a normal condition. We can see that even the most crooked legs grow straight again if the child receives the right treatment, and that perfectly sound second teeth can develop even if the milk-teeth were quite defective, whereas crooked legs which were not healed up to the seventh year remain crooked for the whole of life.
Up to the seventh year the brain is also engaged in the work of moulding its plastic forms, and the fine developments and forms of the brain's shape which could not be moulded up to that time are lost forever. Since the physical brain is the instrument through which the spirit manifests itself, it is of tremendous importance that this instrument should be moulded as finely as possible, that is to say, that it should be prepared during, the first seven years of life. For even the greatest individuality can do nothing with a defective brain, just as the greatest pianist cannot play well on a piano which is out of tune. Spiritual science, can give most important guidance to pedagogy, as well as to medicine, particularly in regard to the development of the brain.
In modern medicine one comes across a complete misunderstanding of facts particularly in this field. Rickets manifest themselves in a deformation of the bones, but very frequently they also appear in the shape of a defective glandular system and diseased mucous membranes; that is to say, children affected with rickets frequently have symptoms of swollen glands, adenoid growths, etc. A third pathological symptom in such children is that at school they frequently remain behind spiritually and that they become apathetic, indeed even slightly idiotic. In reality this is based on the defective development of the physical brain, particularly of its so-called corticose substance, which must above all be developed in its finest structure during these years. And in the same way the other symptoms are based on defective development.
Through the modern natural-scientific training and attitude, modern medicine is in such cases more than inclined to follow the example of modern natural science, namely to look upon the external symptoms as cause and effect, linking them up together like pearls on a chain and completely ignoring the deeper spiritual causes. What is the result? The facts are: rickety bones, adenoid growths, diminished attention and comprehension on the child's part. The conclusion to which modern doctors arrive is: Children with adenoid growths become mentally defective Owing to those growths; consequently it is necessary to remove them. The growths are consequently removed by operation. If this conclusion were right, every child who underwent such a treatment would respond to it by the disappearance of the impediments in the brain. But what is observed after such a treatment in the great majority of cases? The operation results in a sham success of brief duration, for the growths appear again after a very short time. But if the illness is to be attacked at its root—and this is quite possible, only now this would lead us too far away from our subject—the deformed bones, the swollen mucous membranes and glands disappear, as well as the impediments in the working of the brain.
After this digression, let us new return to our subject. The external world thus calls into being and moulds the right physical forms. Up to the seventh year, the child is in reality nothing but sense-organ. Everything which it takes in with its senses is elaborated ; above all, what it sees and hears in its immediate environment. Until dentition, the child is therefore an imitative being, and,this goes as far as its physical organisation. This is quite natural. Through its sense-organs, the child takes in its whole environment. And it is always practicing how to use it to limbs. It watches how its father or mother, etc. do this or that thing, and it simply imitates them. This goes as far as the movements of hands and legs. If the father or the mother are, for instance, fidgety people, then the child will also become fidgety in countless cases; if the mother is calm, then the child will of course, also become calm. We must try to produce the right counter-condition by placing the child in a right environment.
It is absolutely necessary to stimulate the child's fantasy, besides giving it sensory impressions, if it is to receive the influences needed for the development of the physical brain. It is consequently necessary to give a small child toys which are as simple as possible. A natural child will again and again turned to the “old doll”, made of a rag, no matter how beautiful the “new doll” which it receives. Only the spoiled children of our age are brought up on “beautiful”dolls. What is the reason for this? The child must exert its fantasy in order to transform the red-doll in its fancy into something resembling human shape, and this is a sound activity for the brain. Even as the arm grow stronger through gymnastic exercises, so the brain develops through this exercise.
Also the colours in, the child's surroundings are important. They exercise quite a different influence upon a small child than upon an adult. Many people think that green has a calming effect upon children. But this is quite wrong. A fidgety child should be surrounded with red and a calm child with green or blue-green. The effect of red upon the child is as follows: If you look upon a bright red and then turn your gaze away quickly to a piece of white paper you will see its complementary colour, which is green. ... By this I mean to, illustrate the tendency which the eye has to produce the opposite colour. The child also attempts to do this; inwardly he seeks to unfold the activity which calls forth the counter-colour. This is an example showing how the environment can influence a child.
In a similar way the child is influenced by everything which surrounds it, in addition to many, many things which I shall explain later, in another connection. All this contributes to a very great extent to the development of the child's physical body, from its birth to dentition; to the development of the etheric body, from the seventh to the fourteenth year; or to the development of the astral body, from the fourteenth to the twenty-first year, etc. Indeed, during the whole life the surrounding world exercises its influence upon the human being. The proverb, “Tell me with whom you go, and I will tell you who you are”, is based on this insight, for “with whom you go” means “what takes place in my environment”. This environment therefore has a strong influence upon us. This applies particularly to the time when the astral body develops, from the fourteenth to the twenty-first year, and it is an almost daily experience that a young person can easily be astrally corrupted by his environment during these years.
It is exactly the same in Devachan, as here in physical life. Even as here on earth the human being is constantly exposed to the influences of the atmosphere, so he is also exposed to them in Devachan—and there the atmosphere consists of all psychic life, our own and that of our fellow men. All this soul life continually influences the, human being, and gifts and talents develop through the fact that they attract the psychically kindred astral forces from the environment, allowing them to exercise their influence. Mozart was born with such a great musical memory because in a former life he had gathered experiences having this goal in view, and then allowed these experiences to exercise their influence for a long time, during his life in Devachan. Through our environment in Devachan we pass through an enhanced development of our innermost being—indirectly, through all our experiences during our preceding life on earth.
All our capacities are therefore the fruit of former lives, and in Devachan they have been further developed. This is the bliss-giving feeling in Devachan. In Devachan we hatch out what we are able to do in our present life, And in accordance with this is the feeling which we have during the whole intermediary time of our Devachan existence: This feeling, connected with everything productive, is bliss.
Here on earth we often feel pain, but in Devachan even pain is bliss, for there we realise, that we acquire wisdom through pain. Even a materialistic scientist has discovered this fact his book “Mimic of Thought” he writes: “Every wise countenance reveals the expression of crystallised suffering”. From the pains of his preceding life the human being in fact produces through his experiences in Devachan talents and wisdom for his next life on Earth. And the feeling of producing this is one of untold bliss.
You may see a pale reflection of this here on earth in a hatching hen. If you transfer this to the spiritual plane and enhance it immensely you obtain the feeling of incessant infinite bliss between the time of Kamaloka and a new birth,—for then the human being works out all his dispositions and capacities for the next life. Everything there becomes a source of blissful life.
We have therefore seen that one source of bliss in Devachan is all the ties formed here on earth are formed once more in Devachan, indeed we experience the spiritual part of those relationships in an immensely enhanced form. The other source of bliss is the productive, creative activity for our next life, as described above.
If the spiritual investigator now turns his gaze upon this activity of man in Devachan he perceives that this productive work has a meaning not only for the individual human being and for his future organisation, but that the human being must contribute and cooperate in a significant way in the progress of the whole evolution of the earth. It is an error to think that in Devachan we are only concerned with our own affairs. How must we work, as blissful spirits in the realm of spirits?
The activity of the dead is a cooperation in the development of our earth . . . We might easily ask: Why are we always born again, after having passed through the experiences of one earthly life? Is not reincarnation useless?
But this is not the case. It is never useless for a man to be born again. The single lives on earth are so far apart , that we always learn something new and pass through new experiences. Centuries elapse between two incarnations, and when we return, the earth has completely changed. Let us suppose that we lived on earth in the second century after Christ. What aspect did the earth present at that time? Even the descriptions of this region, of the Elbe and the Weser etc. of a much later period would be quite different from present descriptions, for here, in Nassau-Hessen, there were still virgin forests.
When the human being is born again, he experiences something quite different from his former life. During our various lives on earth we participate in the development of the earth itself, through the very fact that we incarnate again and again. In addition there is the change brought about by every civilisation. Think of what a Roman boy was able to do! Of the great difference in the education of a boy of the present time! As we have seen, all these experiences are immensely important. It therefore has a deep significance that the human being must always come back again.
Let us now ask: Who changes the face of the earth? The dead themselves, who live in the spirit-realm, do this, through the power which they there acquire, enabling them to work upon this transformation of the earth. Even as human beings are here active externally upon the earth, so the dead are active upon the spiritual prototype of the physical earth. It is they who send their forces into this physical earth, cooperating in its transformation. Of course, there are leaders in this work and higher beings who take over the guidance. In this spiritual realm—which is in our very midst—the dead work upon the transformation of the countenance of the earth.
Why am I in this very place to-day? Why have I been born here? Because I myself have, so to speak, prepared my bed in the very place where I was born. The forces which have a transforming influence both upon the oceans and, upon the surface of the earth, are the forces of our dead. We know that the Atlantic Ocean of to-day was once upon a time a wide expanse of land; this transformation too has been brought about by our dead, and these forces are quite natural and in no way miraculous.
An insight into such things proves with absolute logic the importance and necessity of this work in the spirit realm. If we only know how to interpret the phenomena in the right way, we may even describe this work. Here on earth we breathe the air; we could not live without air. It is similar with the dead, except that there the light plays the same part which the air plays here on earth. The initiate perceives the dead in the midst of light, which is spread out everywhere. A clairvoyant seer, for instance, sees the plants surrounded by the spirits of the dead and these spirits of the dead make the plant grow through the light and change the plant. In the spiritual world we shall all soar above the earth and work upon the plants.
If we thus contemplate the world in connection with the spiritual beings, it becomes larger and more significant to us.
In conclusion, let me mention a few things which can help us to understand certain fine details in our civilisation.
At times, the seer finds that his own observations are confirmed by phenomena in the history of ancient peoples, which before were enigmas to him. It is, for instance, a well known fact that at first primitive nations possess a kind of clairvoyance enabling them to see things of which we have no idea. These primitive races often saw in the shadow, for example, something which is connected with the soul. The clairvoyant now returns to this through his own observations. For if you look in to the shadow which you yourself throw, you first learn to perceive your own spiritual emanations. If we retain the physical light, we perceive the spiritual in the shadow-space. This knowledge has been preserved in occult science, and many who had no inkling of this truth have used it, for example, Chamisso in his “Peter Schlemihl”. This is a man who lost his shadow and is very unhappy over this. But it is a spiritual fact that the soul is visible in the shadow, and the man without a shadow is therefore a man without a soul.
There are hundreds of examples of this kind. We really learn to know the world fully if we learn to know its spiritual foundations. Spiritual science therefore is not for brooding people, but for those who wish to be active in practical life. We do not wish to withdraw from the visible world, but rather to understand it better.
The higher facts are related to the visible world as magnetism is related to iron. We learn to know iron fully if we also learn to know magnetism. A few examples will show us that especially that which we learn to know in the spiritual world bears fruit in practical life.
Fünfter Vortrag
[ 1 ] Es wird uns heute obliegen, den Menschen während seines Aufenthaltes im Devachan zwischen Tod und Wiederverkörperung etwas zu charakterisieren. Da müssen wir uns zunächst einmal einen Begriff davon machen, was eigentlich der Mensch erreicht durch das, was er zunächst für sich selbst tut in der Zeit, in welcher er durch diese geistige Welt hindurchgeht. Wir bekommen am leichtesten eine Vorstellung davon, wenn wir einmal das Verhältnis zweier Dinge uns vergegenwärtigen: nämlich das Verhältnis von dem, was wir erleben, zu dem, was aus dem Erlebten wird, und zwar zunächst erst einmal in der Zeit zwischen Geburt und Tod. Bedenken Sie einmal, was Sie alles durchzumachen haben, wenn Sie zum Beispiel schreiben lernen. Sie würden Schwierigkeiten haben, das im Auge zu behalten, was Sie alles in sich aufnehmen mußten an Fertigkeiten, bis Sie damals diese edle Kunst des Schreibens erlernt hatten. Denken Sie an alle Ermahnungen und vielleicht auch an den Zorn der Lehrer. Das alles ist an Ihrer Seele vorübergegangen, und was ist Ihnen von alledem geblieben? Die Fähigkeit des Schreibens. Alles andere hat sich verwischt, und geblieben ist diese Kunst des Schreibens. — So geht es überhaupt im Leben, und nicht nur in dem Leben zwischen Geburt und Tod, sondern im ganzen universellen Leben durch die physische und übersinnliche Welt.
[ 2 ] Wir können uns eine Vorstellung davon machen, wie das eben Gesagte auch in den übersinnlichen Welten wirkt. Nehmen wir zum Beispiel Mozart: Er ist noch ein ganz junger Knabe, da hört er in der Peterskirche in Rom ein langes Musikstück, das vorher nach einer alten Tradition nie aufgeschrieben werden durfte, und er hat es hinterher ganz aus dem Gedächtnis niedergeschrieben. Was für ein Gedächtnis gehörte dazu! Und das konnte er als junger Knabe machen! Was sagt der Materialist dazu? Er wird sich sehr dagegen sträuben, wenn man von ihm verlangt, zu glauben, daß ein Ochse aus einem Stück Erdreich hervorwächst, wenn man ihn glauben machen wollte, daß ohne naturgemäße Entwickelungsweise sich ein solches Ding wie ein Ochse entwickeln könne. Er sagt: Wunder gibt es nicht — und damit hat er vollkommen recht. Aber er wird furchtbar abergläubisch und wundergläubig geistigen Dingen gegenüber! Solch eine Tatsache, wie die eben aus dem Leben Mozarts geschilderte, nimmt der Materialist einfach hin und setzt sie ohne tiefere Überlegung auf das Konto der Vererbung. Und trotzdem wäre es in diesem Falle genauso ein Wunder wie das Entstehen eines Ochsen aus einem Stück Erde, wenn sich ihr wahrer Zusammenhang nicht durch die Geisteswissenschaft erklären ließe. Es ist nämlich möglich, indem ein Mensch seinen Geist immer wieder an eine Sache wendet, daß er sich nach und nach ein vorzügliches Gedächtnis anerzieht. Genauso wie nach und nach Vollkommenes aus Unvollkommenem sich entwickelt hat, so entwickelt sich auch ein Gedächtnis, aber es wäre ein Wunder, wenn sich ein solches Gedächtnis wie bei Mozart aus dem Nichts heraus entwickelt haben sollte! — Die Geisteswissenschaft antwortet darauf, daß auch hier nach und nach sich das Gedächtnis naturgemäß entwickelt hat. Es gibt kein Entschlüpfen für den Materialisten, wenn er so etwas erklären will: entweder muß er wundergläubig sein, oder er muß zugeben, daß die Fähigkeiten, die so auftreten, beweisen, daß dieselben in einem früheren Leben schon da waren und den ganz naturgemäßen Werdegang genommen haben. Wiederverkörperung ist also nichts anderes als eine logische Folgerung aus solchen Gedankengängen. Und diejenigen, die nach materialistischer Anschauungsweise annehmen, daß ein so vollkommenes Gedächtnis wie das des jungen Mozart aus dem Nichts entstehen kann, die sollen auch die Konsequenz aus ihrer Anschauungsweise ziehen und annehmen, daß zum Beispiel Frösche sich ohne weiteres aus dem Schlamm entwickeln, wie es ja die Naturwissenschaft bekanntlich vor Francesco Redi angenommen hat.
[ 3 ] Wer also in der Geisteswissenschaft auf Logik sieht, der sagt: Wie eine Eiche aus dem Samen entsteht und sich nach und nach entwickelt, so entwickeln sich auch unsere seelischen Fähigkeiten nach und nach, und wenn der Mensch in das eine Leben schon mit solch hochentwickelten Fähigkeiten, wie zum Beispiel Mozart, eintritt, gibt uns das den unumstößlich logischen Beweis dafür, daß sich der Mensch diese Fähigkeiten in früheren Erdenleben nach und nach erworben hat. Das gibt uns eine Handhabe, das Schicksal des Menschen in der geistigen Welt zu begreifen.
[ 4 ] Es handelt sich also darum, daß die Erlebnisse des einen Lebens sich in Fähigkeiten für das nächste Leben verwandeln. Alles, was in diesem Leben Anlagen sind, das brachten wir mit als Früchte von Erlebnissen früherer Erdenleben. Deshalb muß man den Gang durch das Devachan betrachten, um ganz zu verstehen, wie aus den Erlebnissen eines Lebens Fähigkeiten für das nächste Leben uns erwachsen.
Wenn wir also durch das Leben hier auf Erden gehen, erleben wir tagtäglich sehr viel, und alle diese Erlebnisse treten in dem früher geschilderten Tableau, direkt nach dem Tode, vor das Seelenauge; die Fähigkeiten aber, die wir uns aus allen diesen Erlebnissen errungen haben, die verbleiben uns als Essenz, und diese Essenz, die ihm für alle Folgezeiten verbleibt, nimmt der Mensch dann mit in die geistige Welt.
[ 5 ] Wenn der Mensch nun das Devachan betritt, nimmt er also die Gebiete wahr, wie wir sie gestern geschildert haben: das Kontinentale, das besteht aus den Urbildern aller irdischen Formen; das Meeresgebiet, das besteht aus allem Leben; das Luftgebiet, das besteht aus allem Seelischen, Lust, Leid, Freude, Schmerz und so weiter. Von dem Kontinentalen nimmt der Mensch zuerst wahr das Urbild seines eigenen physischen Leibes, und vom Luftgebiet nimmt er natürlich zunächst auch das wahr, was in seiner eigenen Seele im verflossenen Leben an Freude, Leid, Lust, Schmerz und Leidenschaften sich abgespielt hat. Das heißt also, er nimmt wiederum wahr alle Erlebnisse des vorigen Lebens, aber nun ganz anders als beim früher geschilderten Durchgang durch die Kamalokazeit. Da war es für den Menschen ein inneres Erleben zum Zweck des Abgewöhnens. Jetzt aber sind alle diese Erlebnisse als Außenwelt lange, lange Zeit vor seiner Seele ausgebreitet. Da erlebt er die Eigentümlichkeit seines Leibeslebens in dem Flußgebiet des Devachan, und alle seelischen Erlebnisse erlebt er wie im Luftgebiet der himmlischen Welt.
[ 6 ] Es ist wichtig und von großem Interesse, sich klarzumachen, wie man alles das, was man im Laufe eines Lebens erlebt hat - Empfindungen über die Welt, Lust, Schmerz und so weiter -, in der geistigen Welt um sich hat als Außenwelt. Es ist nicht traurig, daß sich die Schmerzen dort um uns ausbreiten. Das ist gar nicht traurig, denn alle Leiden sind dort um uns vorhanden wie Gewitter hier in der physischen Welt, und alle freudigen Erfahrungen sind dort wie wunderbare Wolkenerscheinungen. Und gerade, was wir selbst im Inneren erlebt haben, das ist dort nicht, wie hier, innerlich in uns, sondern in dieser äußeren Form in unserer Umwelt, so wie ein Naturbild sich ausbreitet. Es ist so um uns herum, als ob es in Bildern, Tönen oder atmosphärischen Erscheinungen um uns wäre; es ist objektiviert als himmlisches Gebilde. Daß zum Beispiel die Schmerzen uns entgegenstrahlen, sagte ich, ist nicht traurig, so wenig es hier im Leben traurig ist, wenn Blitz und Donner uns umgeben; denn der, welcher den Zusammenhang einsieht, der weiß, was wir gerade den Schmerzen verdanken. Gerade wer Leid und Schmerz erfahren hat, wird immer sagen, daß zwar Freuden und Lust dankbar hingenommen werden, daß man aber die Schmerzen und Leiden nie missen möchte. Alle unsere Weisheit verdanken wir den Leiden und Schmerzen der verflossenen Erdenleben. Fin Antlitz, das in diesem Leben mit dem Ausdruck der Weisheit erscheint, ist deshalb so, weil es den Weltenzusammenhang als Schmerz in früheren Leben empfunden hat.
[ 7 ] Ich sagte ja schon, alles, was wir hier erleben während des Erdenlebens, das ist im Devachan in Bildern und so weiter um uns ausgebreitet. Was hat das für eine Bedeutung? Das ist leichter zu verstehen, wenn Sie sich klarmachen, wie die Umgebung hier auf den Menschen wirkt. Sie kennen ja alle den Ausspruch von Goethe: «Das Auge ist an dem Lichte für das Licht gebildet.» Was heißt das? Unser Auge muß zwar da sein, um das Licht zu erblicken. Dunkel und finster wäre die Welt, wenn nicht das Auge in uns wäre. Aber woher kommt das Organ? Das Licht selbst hat es ausgebildet, genau wie das Fehlen des Lichtes das Auge wieder degenerieren läßt. Diese Beobachtung hat man zum Beispiel an den in die Höhlen von Kentucky eingewanderten Tieren direkt machen können. Das Licht ist die Ursache des Sehvermögens. Früher war der Mensch nicht mit Augen begabt, weil er noch unter ganz andern Verhältnissen lebte; die Sonne war ja in den früheren Zeiten der Erdenentwickelung noch gar nicht für ein äußeres sinnliches Auge sichtbar. Denken wir an das, was uns in der Sage über Niflheim berichtet wird. Je mehr der Mensch am Sonnenlicht lebte, um so mehr bildete dies Sonnenlicht nach und nach das Auge aus. Und ebenso haben sich auch alle andern Sinnesorgane entwickelt; so haben die Töne das Ohr gebildet, die Wärme den Wärmesinn. Gäbe es keine harten Gegenstände, so gäbe es auch keinen Tastsinn. Die Außenwelt ist der Bildner und Gestalter unseres ganzen Leibes. Das ist sehr wichtig für das praktische Leben, wie ja Theosophie immer für das praktische Leben ist. Das ist auch ungeheuer wichtig für die Erziehung, denn ganz richtig kann nur erzogen werden, wenn der Erzieher tief in die Natur des Menschen hineinzuschauen vermag. Bis zum Zahnwechsel entwickelt sich der physische Leib, bis zum vierzehnten, fünfzehnten Jahr etwa der Ätherleib, bis zum einundzwanzigsten Jahr der Astralleib. Alles das muß man wissen, wenn man praktisch und nicht phantastisch in die Erziehung eingreifen will. Wenn also bis zum siebenten Jahre ganz besonders die Veranlagung des physischen Leibes in Betracht kommt, dann müssen bei der Erziehung diese physischen Eindrücke, das heißt also alles, was das Kind mit seinen Sinnesorganen wahrnimmt, tief und gründlich berücksichtigt werden. Was bis zum siebenten Jahre in diesem Kindesleib an Formen und Veranlagung der physischen Organe versäumt wird, das ist für alle Zeiten des Lebens verloren.
[ 8 ] Die Einsicht in diesen letzten Satz gibt gerade der Medizin ungeheuer viel Richtlinien für eine sachgemäße Behandlungsweise, unter anderem zum Beispiel der Rachitis. Wie kommt es, daß diese Erkrankung gerade in dieser Lebensperiode auftritt? Eben weil da das Kind seinen Körper formt, und deshalb äußern sich diese Symptome gerade in der Form: krummer Knochenbau, schlechte Zähne, falsche Schädelform und so weiter. Deshalb ist aber auch das Kind gerade in der Zeit bis zum Zahnwechsel noch fähig, diese falschen Formen auf die Norm zurückzuführen. Wir sehen, daß bei sachgemäßer Behandlung selbst die krummsten Beine vollkommen gerade werden können, und daß selbst bei schlechtesten Milchzähnen ein vollkommen gesundes zweites Gebiß sich entwickeln kann, während krumme Beine, die bis zum siebenten Jahre nicht korrigiert sind, für das ganze Leben bleiben.
[ 9 ] Auch das Gehirn ist bis zum siebenten Lebensjahr in der Ausbildung seiner plastischen Formen begriffen, und was bis dahin an diesen feinen Ausbildungen, Ausgestaltungen der Form nicht ausgebildet ist, das ist für immer verloren. Und da ja das physische Gehirn das Instrument ist, durch welches sich der Geist äußert, ist es von ungeheurer Wichtigkeit, daß dieses Instrument so fein als möglich ausgearbeitet, respektive in den ersten sieben Jahren veranlagt wird. Denn mit einem mangelhaft ausgebildeten Gehirn kann selbst der größte Geist nichts anfangen, sowenig wie der größte Pianist auf einem verstimmten Klavier gut spielen kann. Gerade auch in bezug auf die Ausbildung des Gehirns werden von der Geisteswissenschaft sowohl der Erziehung als auch der Medizin sehr wichtige Richtlinien gegeben. Gerade hier stößt man sehr häufig in der modernen Medizin auf eine vollkommene Verkennung der Tatsachen. Geradeso wie sich die Rachitis in einer Mißbildung und Mißgestaltung der Knochen äußert, so äußert sie sich sehr häufig auch zugleich in einer Mißbildung im Drüsensystem und in den Schleimhäuten; das heißt, die von Rachitis befallenen Kinder zeigen sehr häufig die Erscheinungen von Drüsenschwellungen, adenoide Wucherungen und so weiter. Und als dritte Krankheitserscheinung bemerkt man bei diesen Kindern sehr häufig, daß sie auch geistig zurückbleiben, daß sie in der Schule zurückbleiben, unaufmerksam, ja direkt etwas blöde werden. Das ist aber in Wirklichkeit dieselbe mangelhafte Ausbildung des physischen Gehirns, namentlich der sogenannten Rindensubstanz, die ja gerade in diesen Jahren in ihrer feinsten Organisation ausgebildet werden muß und die wie die andern Erscheinungen auf einem Entwickelungsmangel beruht. Nun ist in einem solchen Falle der heutige moderne Mediziner infolge seiner ganzen modern-naturwissenschaftlichen Erziehung und Einstellung nur zu geneigt, es genauso zu machen wie die heutige Naturwissenschaft, und mit völliger Außerachtlassung der tieferen geistigen Ursachen einfach die zutage tretenden äußeren Erscheinungen als Ursache und Wirkung direkt aneinanderzureihen, wie die Perlen an einer Kette. Was ist die Folge? Die Tatsachen sind: rachitische Knochen, adenoide Wucherungen, Nachlassen der Aufmerksamkeit und der Aufnahmefähigkeit,. Sofort ist die Schlußfolgerung: Kinder, die adenoide Wucherungen haben, werden durch diese geistig schwach — also müssen diese Wucherungen entfernt werden. Die Wucherungen werden also operativ entfernt. Wenn nun diese Schlußfolgerung richtig wäre, müßte ein jedes Kind, das so behandelt wäre, mit einem Nachlassen und Verschwinden der Hemmungen von seiten des Gehirns antworten. Was ist aber nach einer solchen Behandlungsweise in den allermeisten Fällen zu beobachten? Daß der Eingriff nur einen ganz vorübergehenden Scheinerfolg hat, und daß in ganz kurzer Zeit die Wucherungen wieder nachgewachsen sind. Wird aber die Krankheit sachgemäß an der Wurzel angefaßt - und das ist sehr wohl möglich, nur würde es uns hier zu weit vom Thema abführen -, dann schwinden sowohl die krummen Knochen, als auch die Wucherungen der Schleimhäute und Drüsen, als auch die Trägheit des Gehirns.
[ 10 ] Nach dieser Abschweifung kehren wir wieder zum Thema zurück. Also an der Außenwelt entzünden und gestalten sich die richtigen physischen Formen. Das Kind ist in Wirklichkeit bis zum siebenten Jahre eigentlich nur Sinnesorgan. Alles, was es mit seinen Sinnen aufnimmt, verarbeitet es, und so auch vor allen Dingen alles, was es in seiner allernächsten Umgebung sieht und hört. Das Kind ist daher bis zum Zahnwechsel ein nachahmendes Wesen, und das geht bis in seine physische Organisation hinein. Das ist ja etwas ganz Natürliches. Das Kind nimmt durch die Sinnesorgane seine ganze Umgebung in sich auf. Es übt sich auch in dem Gebrauch seiner Glieder. Es sieht, wie der Vater, die Mutter und so weiter dieses oder jenes machen und macht dies ohne weiteres nach. Das geht bis in jede Bewegung der Hände und Beine hinein. Sind Mutter oder Vater zum Beispiel zappelig, so wird wohl in unzähligen Fällen auch das Kind zappelig; ist die Mutter ruhig, wird ganz selbstverständlich auch das Kind ruhig. Da muß man also versuchen, durch die richtige Umgebung die richtige Gegenwirkung hervorzurufen.
[ 11 ] Damit das Kind nun zur Ausbildung seines physischen Gehirns gerade die richtigen Richtlinien bekommt, ist es unbedingt nötig, daß, neben den sinnlichen Eindrücken, der Phantasie Anregungen gegeben werden. Deshalb ist es unbedingt erforderlich, dem kleinen Kinde möglichst einfache Spielsachen in die Hand zu geben. So wird ein natürliches Kind immer wieder, wenn es auch eine noch so «schöne» Puppe hat, zu der alten Puppe greifen, die aus einem Lappen besteht. Nur die verbildeten Kinder unseres Zeitalters werden mit «schönen» Puppen aufgezogen. Worauf beruht das? Das Kind muß seine Phantasie anstrengen, um das Gebilde in seiner Phantasie so umzugestalten, daß es ähnlich einer menschlichen Figur wird, und das ist gerade eine gesunde Übung für das Gehirn. Genau wie der Arm durch Turnen gestärkt wird, so wird das Gehirn durch diese Übung ausgebildet.
[ 12 ] Wichtig sind auch die Farben in der Umgebung, die beim kleinen Kind ganz anders wirken als beim Erwachsenen. Man glaubt heute vielfach, grün wirke auf ein Kind beruhigend. Das ist durchaus falsch. Einem zappeligen Kind soll man eine rote Umgebung geben, und einem ruhigen Kinde eine grüne oder blaugrüne. Die Wirkung des Rot auf das Kind ist so: Wenn Sie auf ein helles Rot sehen und dann schnell weg auf ein weißes Papier, dann sehen Sie die komplementäre Farbe: grün. Das ist die Tendenz, die Gegenfarbe hervorzubringen. Das versucht auch das Kind, es versucht innerlich die Tätigkeit zu entfalten, die die Gegenfarbe hervorruft. — Das war ein Beispiel dafür, wie die Umgebung wirkt. Und so wirkt die ganze Umgebung — neben vielen, vielen andern Dingen, die wir später und an anderer Stelle erörtern werden — in außerordentlich hohem Maße mit an der Bildung des kindlichen physischen Körpers von der Geburt bis zum Zahnwechsel, an der Bildung des Ätherleibes vom siebenten bis vierzehnten Jahre, des Astralleibes vom vierzehnten bis einundzwanzigsten Jahre und so weiter. Ja, während des ganzen Lebens macht sich der Einfluß der Umwelt auf den einzelnen Menschen geltend. Das Sprichwort: Sage mir, womit du umgehst, und ich sage dir, wer du bist — beruht ja auf dieser Einsicht, denn «womit ich umgehe», heißt doch «was in meiner Umgebung vor sich geht». Diese Umgebung hat also einen starken Einfluß auf mich. Das gilt ja ganz besonders für die Zeit der Ausbildung des Astralleibes vom vierzehnten bis einundzwanzigsten Jahre, und es ist eine fast alltägliche Erfahrung, daß ein junger Mensch in diesen Jahren leicht durch seine Umgebung astral verdorben wird.
[ 13 ] Und wie hier im physischen Leben, genauso ist es auch im Leben im Devachan. Wie zum Beispiel der Mensch hier fortwährend unter den Einflüssen der Elemente steht, so natürlich auch im Devachan. Und das bringt uns nun zurück zu dem Beispiel am Ausgangspunkte dieser Betrachtung über Mozart. Wie nämlich hier auf Erden der Mensch dauernd unter den Einflüssen der äußeren Atmosphäre steht, so auch im Devachan, und dort ist die Atmosphäre ja gebildet aus allem Seelenleben, dem unseren und dem unserer Mitmenschen. All dies Seelenleben wirkt dauernd auf den Menschen ein und dadurch bilden sich gerade dort die Talente aus, daß sie die ihnen seelenverwandten astralen Kräfte ihrer Umgebung an sich ziehen und auf sich wirken lassen. So wurde Mozart deshalb mit dem ungeheuren Musikgedächtnis geboren, weil er einmal in seinem früheren Leben dahinzielende Erlebnisse gesammelt hatte und dann diese im Devachan lange hatte auf sich wirken lassen. Wir durchleben die Höherbildung gerade unseres innersten Wesens durch unsere Umgebung im Devachan, also indirekt durch alle Erlebnisse unseres früheren Lebens. So sind alle Fähigkeiten die Früchte früherer Leben, und sie sind im Devachan weiter ausgebildet worden. Und das ist gerade das Gefühl, welches den Menschen beseligt im Devachan. Das, was wir jetzt imstande sind zu tun, das haben wir ausgebrütet im Devachan. Und dementsprechend ist das Gefühl in dieser ganzen Zwischenzeit des Devachanlebens. Das Gefühl, das an jeder Hervorbringung haftet, ist Seligkeit.
[ 14 ] Hier empfinden wir oft Schmerzen, aber im Devachan sind selbst Schmerzen Seligkeit, weil wir uns dort bewußt werden, daß wir durch Schmerzen uns Weisheit aneignen. Selbst ein materialistischer Gelehrter hat das herausgefunden. In einer Abhandlung: «Mimik des Denkens» sagt er: « Jedes weise Gesicht zeigt den Ausdruck kristallisierten Schmerzes.» Aus den Schmerzen des vorigen Lebens produziert der Mensch in der Tat durch seine Erfahrungen im Devachan Talente und Weisheit für das nächste Erdenleben. Und das Gefühl des Hervorbringens ist das Gefühl unendlicher Seligkeit.
[ 15 ] Einen blassen Abdruck davon sehen Sie schon hier bei der Henne, wenn sie brütet. Dies ins Geistige umgesetzt und unendlich gesteigert, dann haben Sie das Gefühl der fortdauernden, unendlichen Seligkeit zwischen Kamalokazeit und Wiedergeburt, weil da der Mensch alle seine Anlagen und Fähigkeiten für das nächste Leben ausarbeitet. Alles wird da zu einem Quell beseligenden Daseins.
[ 16 ] So haben wir gesehen, daß der eine Quell der Seligkeit im Devachan der ist, daß alle Bande, die hier im Leben geschlossen werden, dort im Devachan wieder erlebt werden, und daß sogar alle diese Verhältnisse in ihrem geistigen Teil mit ungeheurer Steigerung erlebt werden. Und der andere Quell der Seligkeit ist das eben geschilderte Produzieren, dies Schaffen für das nächste Leben.
[ 17 ] Wenn nun der Geistesforscher seinen Blick auf diese eigentliche Tätigkeit des Menschen im Devachan richtet, ergibt sich ihm die Einsicht, daß diese Tätigkeit des Produzierens nicht nur für den einzelnen Menschen selbst, für seine eigene künftige Organisation, von Bedeutung ist, sondern daß der Mensch Wichtiges mitzuschaffen und mitzuarbeiten hat an dem Fortgang der ganzen weiteren Erdenentwickelung. Es ist ein Irrtum, wenn wir glauben, daß wir es dort im Devachan nur mit uns zu tun haben. Als seliger Geist im Reiche der Geister, wie haben wir da zu schaffen?
[ 18 ] Die Tätigkeit der Toten wirkt mit an der Entwickelung dieser Erde. Man könnte leicht fragen: Wozu immer wieder geboren werden, wenn wir die Erfahrungen eines Erdenlebens einmal durchgemacht haben? Ist das nicht nutzlos?
[ 19 ] So ist es aber nicht. Nie wird der Mensch nutzlos wiedergeboren. Die einzelnen Erdenleben liegen so weit auseinander, daß wir immer wieder Neues erfahren und durchzumachen haben. Es verfließen ja Jahrhunderte zwischen zwei Verkörperungen, und wenn wir wiederkommen, hat sich die Erde gründlich geändert. Nehmen wir an, wir wären im zweiten Jahrhundert nach Christo auf der Erde gewesen und jetzt wiederverkörpert. Wie sah damals die Erde aus? Selbst Schilderungen einer Gegend von viel später, von der Elbe, der Weser zum Beispiel, wären noch ganz anders; hier in dieser Gegend, in HessenNassau, gab es noch Urwälder.
[ 20 ] Wenn der Mensch wiedergeboren wird, dann ist es so, daß er etwas ganz anderes erlebt als im vorigen Leben. In den verschiedenen Erdenleben machen wir die Entwickelung der Erde selbst mit, eben dadurch, daß wir immer und immer wieder verkörpert werden. Und dazu kommt dann noch die Veränderung, die durch die jeweilige Kultur bewirkt wird. Was konnte ein römischer Knabe, und wie ganz anders ist die Bildung der Knaben heute! Alle diese Erlebnisse sind ja, wie wir gesehen haben, so ungeheuer wichtig. Einen tiefen Sinn hat es also durchaus, daß der Mensch immer wieder zurückkommen muß.
[ 21 ] Nun fragen wir uns: Wer verändert denn das Antlitz der Erde? Tatsächlich sind es die Toten selbst, die im Geisterlande leben, die durch die Kraft, die sie dort haben, selbst an dieser Umgestaltung der Erde arbeiten. So wie die Menschen hier an der äußeren Erde arbeiten, so die Toten an dem geistigen Urbild dieser physischen Erde. Sie sind es, die ihre Kräfte hereinsenden in diese physische Welt und die an der Umbildung mitwirken. Allerdings gibt es da Anführer und höhere Wesenheiten, welche die Führung übernehmen. Und in diesem Reiche, das da mitten unter uns ist, arbeiten die Toten an der Umgestaltung des Antlitzes unserer Erde.
[ 22 ] Warum bin ich nun gerade heute und hierher geboren worden? Weil ich mir selbst sozusagen hier das Bett zubereitet habe, in das ich geboren bin. Die Kräfte, die umgestaltend wirken sowohl auf dieMeere als auch auf die Oberfläche der Erde, das sind die unserer Toten. Wir wissen, daß der heutige Atlantische Ozean früher eine weite Länderstrecke war, und auch zu dieser Umgestaltung haben die Toten beigetragen; und diese Kräfte wirken auf natürliche Weise und keineswegs wunderbar.
[ 23 ] Die Einsicht in diese Dinge bringt uns mit absoluter Logik nahe, wie wichtig und notwendig unsere Arbeit in dem Geisterlande ist. Wenn man nur die Erscheinungen richtig zu deuten weiß, dann kann man sogar sagen, wie diese Arbeit geschieht. Die Menschen atmen hier in der Luft; ohne Luft könnten sie nicht atmen. Ähnlich bei den Toten, nur daß, wie hier die Luft, dort das Licht wirkt. In dem ausgebreiteten Licht sieht der Eingeweihte die Wesen der Toten. So sind zum Beispiel für den Seher diePflanzen umgeben von den Geistern der Verstorbenen, und indem das Licht die Pflanze wandelt und wachsen läßt, sind es die Geister der Toten, die das vollbringen. Wir alle werden in der geistigen Welt über der Erde schweben und an den Pflanzen bauen.
[ 24 ] Es wird die Welt für unseren Blick größer und bedeutsamer, wenn wir sie so im Zusammenhang mit den geistigen Wesenheiten betrachten. Wir selbst sind so buchstäblich die Umgestalter dieser Erde.
[ 25 ] Zum Schluß noch einiges, das uns helfen kann, gewisse Feinheiten der Kultur zu verstehen. Der Seher kommt zuweilen in die Lage, durch seine eigenen Beobachtungen Erscheinungen in der Geschichte alter Völker bestätigt zu finden, die ihm bisher rätselhaft waren. So ist es eine bekannte Tatsache, daß primitive Völker anfänglich ein Hellsehen haben und manches sehen, wovon wir nichts wissen. Diese primitiven Völker sehen zum Beispiel oft im Schatten etwas, was mit der Seele zu tun hat. Nun kommt der Hellseher bei seinen Beobachtungen wieder darauf zurück. Sie lernen nämlich, wenn Sie in den Schatten sehen, den zum Beispiel Sie selbst werfen, Ihre geistigen Ausströmungen zuerst schauen. Wenn man das physische Licht zurückhält, dann sieht man das Geistige im Schattenraum. Das hat sich in der Geheimwissenschaft erhalten, und das hat mancher verwertet, ohne zu wissen was er macht, zum Beispiel Chamisso in seinem «Peter Schlemihl». Das ist ein Mann, der den Schatten verloren hat und sehr unglücklich darüber ist. Aber es ist eine geistige Tatsache, daß im Schatten die Seele sichtbar wird, und deshalb ist der Mann ohne Schatten der Mann ohne Seele. So gibt es Hunderte von Beispielen. Wir lernen wirklich die Welt erst voll begreifen, wenn wir sie in ihren geistigen Grundlagen kennenlernen. Deshalb ist die Geisteswissenschaft nicht etwas für Grübler, sondern gerade für solche, die wirklich praktisch wirken wollen. Nicht weil wir uns vom Sichtbaren zurückziehen wollen, sondern weil wir gerade das Sichtbare um so besser verstehen wollen.
[ 26 ] Die höheren Tatsachen verhalten sich zur sichtbaren Welt wie der Magnetismus zum Eisen. Wir lernen erst das Eisen richtig kennen, wenn wir auch den Magnetismus kennenlernen. Wir werden an einigen Beispielen sehen, daß gerade für das praktische Leben das fruchtbar wird, was wir in der geistigen Welt kennenlernen.
Fifth Lecture
[ 1 ] Today we will be dealing with the question of what characterizes the human being during his stay in devachan between death and re-embodiment. To answer this, we first need to form an idea of what the human being actually achieves by what he initially does for himself during the time he passes through this spiritual world. We can most easily get an idea of this if we visualize the relationship between two things: namely, the relationship between what we experience and what becomes of what we experience, and this initially in the time between birth and death. Consider all that you have to go through when you learn to write, for example. You would have difficulty keeping in mind all the skills you had to absorb before you learned this noble art of writing. Think of all the admonitions and perhaps also the anger of the teachers. All this has passed before your soul, and what has remained of it all? The ability to write. Everything else has faded away, and what remains is the art of writing. This is how it is in life in general, and not only in the life between birth and death, but in the whole universal life through the physical and supersensible worlds.
[ 2 ] We can get an idea of how what has just been said also works in the supersensible worlds. Take Mozart, for example: he was still a very young boy when he heard a long piece of music in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome that, according to an old tradition, had never been allowed to be written down before, and he wrote it down afterwards entirely from memory. What a memory that took! And he was able to do it as a young boy! What does the materialist say to that? He will be very reluctant to believe that an ox grows out of a piece of soil if he is led to believe that something like an ox can develop without a natural mode of development. He says: There are no miracles – and he is absolutely right about that. But he becomes terribly superstitious and believes in miracles when it comes to spiritual things! The materialist simply accepts a fact such as the one just described from Mozart's life and, without deeper reflection, puts it down to heredity. And yet, in this case, it would be just as much of a miracle as the emergence of an ox from a piece of earth if its true connection could not be explained by spiritual science. It is possible for a person to train an excellent memory by repeatedly turning his mind to a subject. Just as perfection develops gradually from imperfection, so too can a memory be developed, but it would be a miracle if a memory like Mozart's had developed out of nothing! Spiritual science answers that here too memory has developed gradually in accordance with nature. There is no escape for the materialist when he wants to explain something like this: either he must believe in miracles or he must admit that the abilities that arise in this way prove that they were already there in a previous life and have taken the completely natural course. Reincarnation is therefore nothing more than a logical consequence of such trains of thought. And those who, according to the materialistic point of view, assume that such a perfect memory as that of young Mozart can arise out of nothing, should also draw the consequences from their point of view and assume that, for example, frogs develop out of mud without further ado, as science assumed before Francesco Redi.
[ 3 ] So anyone who looks at logic in spiritual science says: just as an oak tree arises from a seed and develops little by little, so too do our soul abilities develop little by little , and when a person enters one life with such highly developed abilities as Mozart, for example, this gives us irrefutable logical proof that the person has acquired these abilities little by little in previous lives on earth. This gives us a handle to understand the destiny of man in the spiritual world.
[ 4 ] The point is that the experiences of one life transform into abilities for the next life. Everything that is a predisposition in this life, we brought with us as the fruits of experiences from previous earthly lives. Therefore, one must consider the process of devachan in order to fully understand how abilities for the next life arise from the experiences of this one.
Thus, when we live our lives here on earth, we experience a great deal every day, and all these experiences appear in the tableau described earlier, directly after death, the soul's eye; but the abilities that we have acquired from all these experiences remain with us as essence, and this essence, which remains with him for all subsequent times, the person then takes with him into the spiritual world.
[ 5 ] When the person enters the devachan, he perceives the areas as we described them yesterday: the continental area, which consists of the archetypes of all earthly forms; the marine area, which consists of all life; the aerial area, which consists of all soul-related aspects, such as desire, suffering, joy, pain, and so on. From the continent, man first perceives the image of his own physical body, and from the air, he naturally perceives first of all what has happened in his own soul in the past life in terms of joy, sorrow, pleasure, pain and passions. This means that he perceives again all the experiences of the previous life, but now quite differently than in the previously described passage through the Kamaloka period. There it was an inner experience for the person for the purpose of getting rid of the habit. But now all these experiences are spread out before his soul as the outer world for a long, long time. There he experiences the peculiarity of his physical life in the river region of Devachan, and he experiences all mental experiences as in the aerial region of the heavenly world.
[ 6 ] It is important and of great interest to realize how everything you have experienced in the course of a lifetime - perceptions of the world, pleasure, pain and so on - is around you in the spiritual world as an external world. It is not sad that the pains are spread around us there. That is not sad at all, because all suffering is there around us like thunderstorms here in the physical world, and all joyful experiences are there like wonderful cloud phenomena. And precisely what we ourselves have experienced inwardly is not there, as it is here, inwardly in us, but in this external form in our environment, just as a picture of nature spreads. It is around us as if it were around us in pictures, sounds or atmospheric phenomena; it is objectified as a heavenly being. That, for example, the pains radiate towards us, I said, is not sad, just as it is not sad here in life when lightning and thunder surround us; for he who sees the connection knows what we owe to the pains. Those who have experienced suffering and pain will always say that although joys and pleasures are gratefully accepted, they would never want to do without pain and suffering. We owe all our wisdom to the suffering and pain of past lives on earth. The face that appears in this life with the expression of wisdom is so because it has felt the cosmic connection as pain in previous lives.
[ 7 ] I already said that everything we experience here during our life on earth is spread out around us in Devachan in images and so on. What is the significance of this? It is easier to understand if you realize how the environment here affects people. You all know Goethe's saying: “The eye is formed by light for light.” What does that mean? Our eye must be there to see the light. The world would be dark and gloomy if it were not for the eye within us. But where does the organ come from? Light itself has formed it, just as the absence of light causes the eye to degenerate again. This observation could be made directly, for example, in the animals that had migrated to the caves of Kentucky. Light is the cause of vision. In the early days, man was not endowed with eyes because he still lived under very different conditions; in the early days of the earth's development, the sun was not yet visible to an external sensory eye. Let us think of what is told us in the saga about Niflheim. The more man lived in the sunlight, the more this sunlight gradually formed the eye. And in the same way, all the other sense organs have developed; sounds have formed the ear, warmth the sense of warmth. If there were no hard objects, there would be no sense of touch. The external world is the creator and designer of our entire body. This is very important for practical life, as is the case with all theosophy, which is always relevant to practical life. It is also extremely important for education, because education can only be truly successful if the educator is able to look deeply into the nature of the human being. The physical body develops until the permanent teeth have come through, the etheric body until the age of fourteen or fifteen, and the astral body until the age of twenty-one. All this must be known if one is to intervene practically and not fancifully in education. If, then, the predisposition of the physical body is particularly important up to the age of seven, then these physical impressions, that is, everything that the child perceives with his sense organs, must be taken into account deeply and thoroughly in the education. Whatever is neglected in this child's body in terms of forms and predispositions of the physical organs up to the age of seven is lost for all times of life.
[8] This last sentence provides medicine in particular with an enormous amount of guidelines for appropriate treatment, including, for example, rickets. How is it that this disease occurs precisely during this period of life? Precisely because that is when the child is forming its body, and that is why these symptoms manifest themselves in the form of crooked bones, bad teeth, incorrect skull shape and so on. However, that is also why the child is still able to correct these incorrect forms to match the norm, especially in the period up to the change of teeth. We see that with proper treatment, even the most crooked legs can become perfectly straight, and that even with the worst milk teeth, a perfectly healthy second set of teeth can develop. However, crooked legs that are not corrected by the age of seven will remain for life.
[ 9 ] The brain, too, is in the process of developing its plastic forms until the age of seven, and whatever is not developed in these fine formations, in the development of form, is lost forever. And since the physical brain is the instrument through which the mind expresses itself, it is of the utmost importance that this instrument be developed as finely as possible, or rather, that it be assessed in the first seven years. For even the greatest mind cannot work with an imperfectly developed brain, just as the greatest pianist cannot play well on a piano that is out of tune. Especially with regard to brain development, spiritual science provides very important guidelines for both education and medicine. It is precisely here that one very often encounters a complete misunderstanding of the facts in modern medicine. Just as rickets manifest themselves in the malformation and misshapen nature of the bones, they also very often manifest themselves at the same time in a malformation of the glandular system and in the mucous membranes; that is to say, children affected by rickets very often show the symptoms of swollen glands, adenoid growths and so on. And as a third manifestation of the disease, it is very often observed in these children that they also suffer from mental retardation, that they fall behind at school, become inattentive, and even downright stupid. But in reality this is the same deficient development of the physical brain, namely of the so-called cortex substance, which must be developed in its finest organization precisely in these years and which, like the other phenomena, is based on a lack of development. Now, in such a case, the modern physician, as a result of his entire modern scientific education and attitude, is only too inclined to do exactly the same as today's natural science, and, with complete disregard for the deeper spiritual causes, simply to string the emerging external phenomena together as cause and effect, like pearls on a chain. What is the consequence? The facts are: rachitic bones, adenoid growths, a decline in attention and receptivity. The immediate conclusion is: children who have adenoid growths become mentally weak as a result of these – so these growths must be removed. The growths are therefore surgically removed. If this conclusion were correct, then every child treated in this way should respond by a lessening and disappearance of inhibitions on the part of the brain. But what is observed in the vast majority of cases after such treatment? That the intervention has only a very temporary, illusory effect, and that the growths have grown back again in a very short time. If, however, the disease is properly treated at the root – and this is very well possible, but it would take us too far from the topic here – then both the crooked bones and the growths of the mucous membranes and glands, as well as the sluggishness of the brain, will disappear.
[ 10 ] After this digression, let us return to the subject. Thus, the correct physical forms are ignited and shaped by the external world. In reality, the child is only a sensory organ until the age of seven. Everything it perceives with its senses, it processes, and so too, above all, everything it sees and hears in its immediate surroundings. Until it changes teeth, the child is therefore an imitative being, and this extends to its physical organization. This is, of course, something quite natural. The child takes in its entire environment through the sense organs. It also practises using its limbs. It sees how the father, the mother and so on do this or that and simply imitates it. This goes into every movement of the hands and legs. If, for example, the mother or father is fidgety, the child is likely to be fidgety in countless cases; if the mother is calm, the child will naturally be calm too. So you have to try to create the right counteraction through the right environment.
[ 11 ] In order for the child to receive the right guidelines for the development of his physical brain, it is absolutely necessary that, in addition to sensory impressions, the imagination is stimulated. Therefore, it is imperative to give the young child the simplest possible toys. Thus a natural child will always reach for the old doll that is made out of a rag, no matter how “beautiful” a doll it has. Only the brainwashed children of our age are raised with “beautiful” dolls. What is the reason for this? The child must use its imagination to reshape the object in its imagination so that it resembles a human figure, and this is precisely a healthy exercise for the brain. Just as the arm is strengthened by gymnastics, so the brain is trained by this exercise.
[ 12 ] The colors in the environment are also important, and they have a completely different effect on young children than on adults. Today, it is widely believed that green has a calming effect on a child. This is absolutely wrong. A fidgety child should be given a red environment, and a calm child a green or blue-green one. The effect of red on a child is as follows: If you look at a bright red and then quickly look away at a white paper, you see the complementary color: green. This is the tendency to produce the complementary color. The child also tries to do this; it tries to unfold the activity that causes the complementary color internally. — That was an example of how the environment works. And so the whole environment – in addition to many, many other things that we will discuss later and in other places – plays an extraordinarily important role in the formation of the child's physical body from birth to the change of teeth, in the formation of the etheric body from the seventh to the fourteenth year, of the astral body from the fourteenth to the twenty-first year, and so on. Indeed, the influence of the environment on the individual is felt throughout life. The saying, “Tell me what you deal with and I'll tell you who you are,” is based on this insight, because “what I deal with” means “what is going on in my environment.” This environment therefore has a strong influence on me. This applies especially to the period of the formation of the astral body from the fourteenth to the twenty-first year, and it is an almost everyday experience that a young person in these years is easily corrupted astral by his environment.
[ 13 ] And as here in physical life, so it is also in life in Devachan. Just as, for example, a person here is constantly under the influence of the elements, so too, of course, in Devachan. And this brings us back to the example at the starting point of this reflection on Mozart. Just as here on earth man is constantly under the influence of the external atmosphere, so also in Devachan, and there the atmosphere is formed from all the soul life, our own and that of our fellow human beings. All this soul life has a constant effect on man and thus the talents develop precisely there, that they attract the astral forces of their environment that are akin to their soul and allow them to have an effect on them. Thus Mozart was born with his tremendous memory for music because he had gathered experiences tending in that direction once in his previous life and then had them work on him for a long time in the Devachan. We live through the higher education of our innermost being through our surroundings in the Devachan, thus indirectly through all the experiences of our previous life. So all abilities are the fruits of previous lives, and they have been further developed in devachan. And that is precisely the feeling that makes man blissful in devachan. What we are now able to do, we have hatched in devachan. And that is the feeling in this whole interim period of devachan life. The feeling that clings to every creation is bliss.
[ 14 ] Here we often feel pain, but in devachan even pain is bliss because there we become aware that we acquire wisdom through pain. Even a materialistic scholar has found this out. In a treatise, 'Mimic of Thought', he says, 'Every wise face shows the expression of crystallized pain.' From the pains of the previous life, man indeed produces talents and wisdom for the next life through his experiences in Devachan. And the feeling of producing is the feeling of infinite bliss.
[ 15 ] You can see a pale reflection of this here with the hen brooding. Translated into the spiritual and infinitely increased, you have the feeling of continuous, infinite bliss between Kamaloka and rebirth, because that is when man works out all his talents and abilities for the next life. Everything becomes a source of blissful existence.
[ 16 ] Thus we have seen that the one source of bliss in devachan is that all the bonds that are formed here in life are experienced again there in devachan, and that even all these relationships are experienced in their spiritual part with tremendous intensity. And the other source of bliss is the aforementioned production, this creating for the next life.
[ 17 ] When the spiritual researcher now turns his attention to this actual activity of the human being in Devachan, he realizes that this activity of producing is not only important for the individual person himself, for his own future organization, but that the person has important work to do in helping to create and work on the progress of all further earthly development. It is a mistake to believe that we are only dealing with ourselves there in Devachan. As a blissful spirit in the realm of the spirits, how are we involved?
[ 18 ] The activity of the dead contributes to the development of this earth. One could easily ask: Why be born again and again once we have gone through the experiences of an earthly life? Isn't that useless?
[ 19 ] But it is not like that. No human being is ever born again in vain. The individual lives on earth are so far apart that we always have new experiences and things to go through. After all, centuries pass between two embodiments, and when we return, the earth has changed radically. Let us assume that we have been on earth in the second century after Christ and are now re-embodied. What did the earth look like then? Even descriptions of an area from much later, from the Elbe, the Weser for example, would still be quite different; here in this area, in Hessen-Nassau, there were still primeval forests.
[ 20 ] When a person is reborn, he experiences something completely different than in his previous life. In the various lives on earth, we experience the development of the earth itself, precisely because we are embodied over and over again. And then there are the changes brought about by the respective cultures. What a Roman boy could learn, and how very different is the education of boys today! All these experiences are, as we have seen, so tremendously important. So there is a deep meaning to the fact that man must come back again and again.
[ 21 ] Now we ask ourselves: Who changes the face of the earth? In fact, it is the dead themselves who live in the spirit realm and who, through the power they have there, work on this transformation of the earth themselves. Just as people work on the outer earth here, so the dead work on the spiritual archetype of this physical earth. It is they who send their powers into this physical world and who work on the transformation. Admittedly, there are leaders and higher beings who take the lead. And in this realm, which is right among us, the dead are working on the transformation of the face of our earth.
[ 22 ] Why was I born here today? Because I prepared the bed for myself here, so to speak, into which I was born. The forces that are reshaping both the seas and the Earth's surface are those of our dead. We know that what is now the Atlantic Ocean used to be a vast stretch of land, and the dead have also contributed to this transformation; and these forces work in a natural way and are by no means miraculous.
[ 23 ] Insight into these things brings us, with absolute logic, to understand the importance and necessity of our work in the spiritual realm. If one only knows how to interpret the phenomena correctly, then one can even say how this work is done. People here breathe in the air; without air they could not breathe. It is similar with the dead, except that, just as air works here, light works there. In the spread out light, the initiate sees the beings of the dead. For example, for the seer, plants are surrounded by the spirits of the deceased, and it is the spirits of the dead that accomplish this by transforming and growing the plant with the light. We shall all in the spiritual world hover over the earth and build upon the plants.
[ 24 ] The world becomes larger and more significant for our gaze when we consider it in connection with spiritual beings. We ourselves are literally the transformers of this earth.
[ 25 ] Finally, a few words that may help us to understand certain subtleties of culture. Occasionally, the seer finds confirmation in his own observations of phenomena in the history of ancient peoples that had previously been a mystery to him. It is a well-known fact, for example, that primitive peoples initially have clairvoyance and see many things that we are unaware of. These primitive peoples often see something in the shadows that has to do with the soul. Now the clairvoyant comes back to this in his observations. They learn, for example, when they look at the shadows that you cast yourself, to see your spiritual emanations first. If you hold back the physical light, you see the spiritual in the shadow space. This has been preserved in esoteric science, and many have utilized it without knowing what they were doing, for example Chamisso in his “Peter Schlemihl”. This is a man who has lost the shadow and is very unhappy about it. But it is a spiritual fact that in the shadow the soul becomes visible, and therefore the man without a shadow is the man without a soul. There are hundreds of examples like this. We will only truly learn to understand the world when we get to know its spiritual foundations. That is why spiritual science is not for those who brood, but for those who really want to work practically. Not because we want to withdraw from the visible, but because we want to understand the visible all the better.
[ 26 ] The higher facts relate to the visible world as magnetism does to iron. We only really get to know iron when we also get to know magnetism. We shall see from a few examples that it is precisely for practical life that what we get to know in the spiritual world becomes fruitful.