Rosicrucian Esotericism
GA 109
7 June 1909, Budapest
5. The Physical World as an Expression of Spiritual Forces and Beings.
Some explanation must now be given of how the conditions prevailing in our physical world are related to the spiritual world through which man passes between death and a new birth. For anyone who concerns himself with the truths of spiritual science it is self-evident that every happening in the physical world is an expression of spiritual influences, facts and beings. The foundations of all physical happenings are therefore to be sought in the spiritual world, in Devachan. You may now ask if, inversely, our physical world produces effects in the spiritual world. Yes, that is the case, and the best way to understand these relationships will be to study the life of a human being. Threads from soul to soul are woven here in the physical world as the result of the manifold circumstances of existence. Bonds of friendship, of love, and so on, are firmly knit, and every contact made between one human being and another has significance and reality not only for this physical world but also for the spiritual world. Indeed, it may be said that the more spiritual the relationships here have been, the more significant they are for the world of Devachan. When the individual dies, everything that is physical in these relationships of love and friendship falls away from them and only what was of the nature of soul and spirit remains. The relationship between mother and child is an example. To begin with, this relationship is founded upon nature; it becomes more spiritual as time goes on, until finally the original, natural circumstances simply provide an opportunity for a bond to be woven between soul and soul. When the human being dies, the factors provided by nature are eliminated but the bond that has been woven remains. If you try to picture the whole human race on the earth and all the bonds of friendship and of love that have been woven, you must picture these relationships as a great network or web, which is, moreover, actually present in Devachan. When a clairvoyant gazes at the earth from the standpoint of Devachan, he perceives this web of spiritual relationships that a human being finds again when he passes into Devachan after death. He is involved in all the spiritual relationships he himself has woven.
This is also the answer to the question: In Devachan do we see again those who were dear to us? Yes, we see them again, freed moreover from all the obstacles of space and time that here on earth lie like veils over these relationships of the soul. In Devachan, souls confront each other directly. The relationship of soul to soul is far more intimate and inward than it is in the physical world. There can never be any doubt in Devachan about one soul recognizing the other again, even when one of them passes into Devachan before the other. Recognition of loved ones is not particularly difficult there, for each soul bears his inner, spiritual reality inscribed as it were upon his spiritual countenence. He himself proclaims his name, indeed, in a much truer form than is possible here, as the basic tone, which, as it is said in occultism, he represents in the spiritual world. An absolutely undisturbed communion is actually possible only when both souls are in Devachan. Nevertheless, the disembodied soul does not lose all consciousness of the one who is still on earth; he can actually follow the latter's actions. The soul who is first in Devachan is naturally unable to see physical colors and forms belonging to the earth because in that spiritual realm he has no physical organs. But everything in the physical world has its spiritual counterpart in Devachan and that is what is perceived by the soul already there. Every movement of the hand in the physical world, because it is preceded by an impulse of will that is either conscious or unconscious, every change in the physical human being, has a spiritual counterpart that can be perceived in Devachan by the soul whose death preceded that of the other human being concerned. Existence in Devachan is not a kind of dreaming or sleeping but in all respects a conscious life. It is in Devachan that a human being develops the predispositions and impulses that enable the bond with those whom he loved to remain closer, in order that in a later incarnation he will find them again on earth. In many respects the purpose of incarnation on earth is to forge bonds of ever greater intimacy. Companionship in Devachan is, to say the least, as intimate as any life here on earth. Fellow feeling in Devachan is much more alert, much more intimate than it is on earth; one experiences another's pain there as one's own. On earth, greater or less personal prosperity is possible at the cost of others but in Devachan that is out of the question. There, the misfortune caused by someone to another human being in order to better himself, would reverberate upon him; nobody could prosper at the expense of another. Adjustment starts from Devachan. It is from there that the impulse is brought to make brotherliness a reality on the earth. A law that is a matter of course in Devachan is a task that has to be fulfilled on earth.
A great deal more could be said about the connection between the spiritual world and the earth. You can now think exhaustively about this and be able to answer many questions yourselves about meeting and being together in Devachan with those we love.
It was said yesterday that when the human being in Devachan has developed his spiritual archetype, the impulse comes to him to descend again to the physical plane. To express it more or less abstractly, it is rather as if a thought matures and you feel an urge to turn it into deed. What is it that actually induces the soul to descend again into the physical world, that gives it the definite impulse to do this? During the kamaloka period, when the soul gradually rids itself of the urge to cling to physical life, it is continually receiving, in the experience it undergoes, impulses that kindle the will to sweep away hindrances to evolution. The soul itself experiences the pain and harm it has caused to others. In thus experiencing the pain of the other being, there arises in the soul the temporarily ineradicable impulse that reparation must he made for this. Thus, step by step the soul takes with it from kamaloka into Devachan the impulse to rectify its faults. In the higher worlds there is even more possibility of everything remaining preserved in the suitable way. When, after the period of kamaloka, the human being lays aside his astral body as a third corpse, everything upon which the ego has not yet worked separates from him. But in the astral world there remains behind something like a web, consisting of whatever hindrances to evolution he has himself brought into the world. The human being himself paves his path through the world with all the forms that are evidence that he has caused injury of some kind to others. If the human being concerned has completed the development of his archetype in Devachan and has woven into it everything that came with him from the last incarnation as the extract of his etheric body, a kind of fecundation now takes place. The archetype is permeated by the web of its own unrequited deeds. Thus, the first thing that happens to the soul after it has reached maturity in Devachan is that it is permeated with what we call karma, and this gives it the impulse to descend again to the earth in order to make compensation for as much as possible of the harm previously caused. At the end of the period in Devachan the soul is permeated with the consequences of its own deeds. Not until then is there complete readiness for the descent into a new existence on earth.
Everywhere in the astral world a clairvoyant sees souls who want to incarnate. Conditions of space and time in the astral world are of course different from those in the physical world. Such a soul can move with tremendous rapidity in the astral world and is impelled by certain forces to the locality where a physical and an etheric body befitting this soul are produced. Distance such as that between Budapest and New York plays no part whatever. Time factors come into consideration only insofar as the earthly possibilities of the most favorable conditions for incarnation can be achieved. From the earth there comes to this soul, which has the form of a bell, widening from above downwards as it flies through astral space, the physical element produced by the line of heredity.
We must now speak briefly of what draws the soul down to the earth and what it is that will incarnate. You know that procreation is connected with certain impulses of feeling, impulses of love, sympathy born of love. The process of procreation is preceded by “sympathy born of love,” which is perceived by a clairvoyant as a play, a surging hither and thither of astral forces, of astral streams, between the man and the woman. Something is alive there that is not present if the human being is alone; the companionship between the souls themselves is expressed in the play of the astral streams. But of course every process of love is individual and issues from a specific individuality. Now, before earthly fertilization, before the physical act of love, there is reflected in this play of astral forces, the individuality, the being who is coming down again to the earth. That is the essential reality in the procreative act. So one can say that before physical fertilization, what is descending from the spiritual world is already beginning to be active. The spiritual world is also instrumental in bringing about the meeting of the man and woman. A wonderfully intimate play of forces from the spiritual world is taking place here. The being who is descending is, generally speaking, connected from the beginning with the product of fertilization. It is emphatically not the case that an individuality connects with it only after a certain time. From the moment of conception this individuality is in touch with the outcome of physical procreation. There are exceptions, of course, there, too. During the first days after conception, this spiritual individuality who is descending does not yet actually affect the development of the physical human being, but it is close by, as it were, is already in contact with the developing embryo. The actual attachment takes place from about the eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first days after conception; what is descending from a higher world is then already working together with the being who is in process of coming into existence. Thus the delicate, organic texture that is necessary if the human individuality is to use the physical body as an instrument, is prepared from the beginning in accordance with the earlier faculties. That the human being is an integrated unity originates from the fact that the smallest organ is in keeping with the organism as a whole, that is to say, even the smallest unit must be such that the whole structure is able to ensure that from the eighteenth to the twenty-first day after conception, the ego can participate in the development of the physical and etheric bodies.
Now to what extent have the female and male elements influence upon the development of the being who is coming into existence? If you study what occultly and spiritually underlies the physical creation, a great deal will become intelligible to you; naturally only the essentials can be touched upon here. We shall hear presently that in earlier times, before the separation of the sexes, procreation took place without participation by the male. If it were still the same today, what would happen? If the female element alone were to participate in the process of human procreation, to what extent would it be involved? If the female element alone were to operate, the further evolution would result in the child resembling the forefathers to the highest possible extent. Beings coming into existence would all be completely homogeneous. The principle of generality, homogeneity, originates from the female element. Only through the separation of the sexes has it become possible for human individuality to develop, for it is due to the influence of the male that there are differences between the successor and his forefathers. The male element provides individuality.
Hence, not until bi-sexuality had been established on the earth were successive embodiments or reincarnations possible. Not until then was man able to embody on the earth the product of earlier existence. That there is harmony between what is executed below on the earth and the individual entity who must evolve and be enriched from incarnation to incarnation, is due to the fact that the male element and the female element work together. The human ego would no longer find a suitable body today if the principle of the “universal human” were not modified by the activity of the male element, that is to say, if the universal type were not individualized. It is essentially the etheric body that is worked upon by the female element. In the etheric body, where the permanent tendencies are rooted, the driving force of the female element is at work. The principle of generality, of the generic., is anchored in the etheric body. In the etheric body of the woman there is still present today the counterpart of what exists outwardly as the folk soul, the race spirit. Folk soul and race spirit are identical.
If we now bear in mind the spiritual reality underlying conception, we must say that conception in itself is nothing else than a kind of deadening of the living forces of the etheric body. Death, at conception, is already woven into the human body. It is a happening that hardens, as it were, and deadens the etheric body, which otherwise would multiply ad infinitum. The etheric body, which originates from the female principle and would otherwise produce copies only, is densified as a result of the male influence and thereby becomes the producer of the new human individuality. Propagation consists in the production of a copy of the etheric body of the woman; through being hardened, in a certain respect killed, it is at the same time individualized. In the deadened etheric body there lies hidden the formative force that brings forth the new human being. Thus do conception and propagation amalgamate. Thus we see that two conceptions take place: below, the physical, human conception, and above, the conception of the archetype as the result of its own karma. We said that from the eighteenth to the twenty-first day after conception onwards the ego is already working on the embryo; but not until much later, after six months, do other forces also work on the embryo, forces that determine the karma of the human being. This can be expressed by saying that the web woven out of karma there takes hold; gradually these forces come into play. Now exceptions occur here, too, so that later on an exchange of the ego may take place. We will speak of that later. The ego is the first factor to intervene for the purpose of development.
If we want to have an approximate picture of what exists in the spiritual world and is about to descend, we must say that it is the individual who is in the process of incarnating who brings together those who love one another. The archetype wishing to incarnate has drawn to itself the astral substance that now has an effect upon the passion, the feeling of love. The astral passion surging hither and thither on the earth below, mirrors the astral substances of the descending entity. So the astral substance coming from above is encountered by the astral feeling of those who love each other, which is itself influenced by the substance of the entity descending to incarnation. When we think through this thought to its conclusion, we must say that the reincarnating individual definitely participates in the choice of his parents. According to who and what he is, he is impelled to the parental pair concerned. It is often glibly stated that if the choosing of parents were accepted as a fact, the feeling of finding a new life in one's children would be lost and that the love based upon having transmitted one's own nature to them would thereby be lessened. This is a groundless fear, for maternal and paternal love assume a higher and more beautiful meaning when we realize that in a certain sense the child loves the parents even before conception and is thereby impelled to them. The parents' love is therefore the answer to the child's love, it is the responsive love. We have thus an explanation of parental love as the reproduction of the child's love that precedes the physical birth.
It has already been said that higher beings participate in the embodiment of the new human being. You will grasp what this means if you realize that there is never a perfect correspondence between what is coming down from above to embodiment and the sheaths that this entity acquires down below. A perfect correspondence between the higher and the lower cannot take place until man has reached the goal of his evolution, when he has attained spirit man. When he has transformed the physical body into spirit man, the etheric body into life spirit, and the astral body into spirit self, man stands at the point in evolution where, with a will that is completely free, he himself chooses his final incarnation. Before this point, full accordance is not possible. As he is today, man has transformed only part of his astral, etheric and physical bodies, and of this part alone is he master. But what he has not yet transformed must be integrated into him from outside by other beings. Two different categories of beings participate in this process, those who integrate the etheric body into him and those who lead him to the parents. At the present stage of his evolution, man could not himself make the etheric body an integral member of his constitution. It is through the forces contained in the etheric body that the human being has the pre-vision spoken of in the lecture yesterday.
When the human being already has the etheric body and the astral body, and the physical body is added, the moment comes when the pre-vision must disappear; the etheric body must blend with the physical body. The etheric body is, of course, not only the bearer of memory but of everything to do with time, that is, remembrance and foresight. But when the etheric body passes into the physical body it becomes subject to the laws of physical existence and these laws extinguish its power in a certain respect. Just as through the influence of the physical body a man can unfold his memory only to a certain degree, whereas after death, when the etheric body is again free, it presents the whole tableau of memories, so it is with the pre-vision; in the physical world, vision of the future is limited by the physical body. That is the normal course of incarnation. The shock mentioned previously is experienced by the soul as the result of an abnormal pre-vision of difficult circumstances in the future life.
We have now come to the point when the ego itself, the real man, begins to work upon what has been given him and with which he has been connected in the physical world. The forces of the various spiritual members of man that are at work in the period before birth, are first active through the corresponding members of the maternal organism. During the period just before birth, the human being is able to live only because he is enveloped on all sides by the maternal sheath. At birth the human being thrusts away this physical maternal sheath. At first, it is only the physical body that becomes free; the etheric body—the clairvoyant sees this—is still enveloped by a maternal etheric sheath and remains protected and guarded by this sheath until the time of the second dentition. It is an important point in the evolution of humanity when the maternal etheric sheath is cast off and a second birth takes place. Then, when the etheric body has cast off its maternal sheath, the etheric body as such is born, it becomes free. This is an event of great significance for the evolution of a human being. Until the change of teeth there is still the possibility of the bodily structures remaining elastic in one direction or another, of changing in certain respects. From this time onwards they will only be subject to growth. When the change of teeth takes place, the development of the bodily forms has, in essentials, been completed. It is important that this should be known. Hence, everything that from outside is to become a formative influence on the physical body, to be a permanent quality of it, must be thoroughly taken into consideration and carefully formulated until the time of the change of teeth. But now, every external factor—light and color, for example—that has an effect upon the human being, has a formative effect upon his finer members and organs. All external factors have an essentially formative effect until the seventh year of life. Hence, it is not a matter of indifference what color, what environment the child has around it, and what he is allowed to do. If you were never to use your hands, they would atrophy. The same applies to all organs; the more delicate ones also develop through activity. The effect of red, for example, upon the finer organs in the hurnan being, is different from the effect of blue. Thus the effect differs according to the color that is around the child. While there is activity, the organs develop. The eye sees by habit, certainly, but what it sees has an effect upon the whole of man's nature. For the child's development it is not a matter of indifference whether the eye is looking at red or blue. It is here that spiritual science, in a time by no means far distant, will prove to be eminently practical. Why do we put spiritual science into practice? We do this out of love for man, because it equips us even in this sphere of activity to play a useful part in such subtle matters.
At the seventh year of life, then, the etheric body becomes free. It is the bearer of memories. In regard to a child's memory, the most important thing of all is that before the seventh year of life it shall not be developed by current pedagogical methods. Only from the seventh year onwards has the time come when a true art of education should influence the training of the memory. It is often argued that nature sees to it that the child uses memory long before the age of seven. That is true, but it is the preliminary work that is accompanied by nature. The eyes of a child have been made ready by nature before birth in the mother's body, but what would happen if you were to allow the sunlight to work upon the eye of the embryo? Precisely in order that later on the sunlight can have the right effect upon the eye, the preliminary work upon it must be done by nature, before birth. The same applies to the other organs before physical birth. Nature produces them in advance but they are protected by the outer covering of the maternal sheath. So up to the seventh year of life, the child's memory should be worked upon by nature in order that then, from the seventh year onwards, it can be further developed in the right way. How, from then onwards, ought one to work on the child's memory? Just in the way that nature works until the child's physical birth.
The human being bears a maternal astral sheath around him until puberty in his fourteenth or fifteenth year. Then this sheath is cast aside and the astral body becomes free; a third birth, so to speak, takes place. The astral body is the bearer of the faculty of human judgment, of discrimination. The opinion that the child ought to develop the faculty of independent judgment at as early an age as possible, should be abandoned. From the seventh to the fourteenth year it is essential to amass a rich store of memories for the purposes of life, in order that when the astral body is born, as ripe and rich a content of soul as possible shall be produced. Only then should the power of judgment begin to be exercised. The earlier method used in schools which let the “one times one” be learned by heart, that is, 1 x 1 = 1, and so on, being a matter of actual memorizing, is decidedly preferable to the abstract method at present in vogue of demonstrating the “one times one” with red and white beads on the abacus. This method is decidedly harmful. The same principle applies here as in the case of the young child; he understands speech a long time before he is able to speak himself. He should therefore not be encouraged to excercise judgment until he has gathered a good store of memories for the etheric body, until he has developed certain lasting inclinations and habits.
It is important to develop the life of feeling. Gratitude, reverence and holy awe are feelings that in later life come to expression as the power of blessing, as outstreaming human love. The strongest impulses are given to the etheric body through religious experiences, through the feeling of being attached to the divine-spiritual, to the cosmic All. The faculty of abstract judgment should first be developed about the time when what flows from the etheric body has been made by the human being so pliable and flexible that the danger of forming the habit of abstract thinking lacking in piety is averted. The more the knowledge conveyed to the child is illustrated with imagery and symbols, the better. The world of feeling develops through being made acquainted with allegories and symbols, especially through the narration of the history of representative men and through intense absorption in the mysteries and beauties of nature.
How a child's questions are answered is of great importance; for example, as explanation of the birth of a human being, of death and birth, the butterfly coming into existence out of the chrysalis. This is a picture of man's soul nature emerging from the physical body. But naturally, when we tell this to the child, we must believe it ourselves, for otherwise the child will not believe it either. Facts that confirm the truth of this imagery are to be found in nature everywhere. The occultist knows that the imagery of the butterfly and the chrysalis can serve as a symbol of a process at a much higher level. We must learn to believe again in what only an abstract philosophy will stigmatize as saga and fairy tale. The fairy tale of the stork, also songs such as, “Fly, beetle, fly,” can be ingeniously interpreted. The fairy tale of the stork was not invented in days of yore in order to tell children an untruth, but it was devised by one who knew that at birth something comes down from the spiritual world. In future time it may well be declared that it is a lie that in the past there were people who were expected to believe that at the birth of a new human being the only process that takes place is the physical connection of man and woman. This is a fairy tale, the fairy tale of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. “We ourselves know better,” that is what will be said in the future. It is to be hoped that those who come after us will understand and be more lenient with our weaknesses than we are with those of our predecessors!
The symbol is the best means for working on the astral body. Ideation, mental pictures, should he cultivated until the time comes for the training of the liberated astral body, and only then should the power of judgment be developed. Why is it that so many human beings of the present age are, sad to say, crippled in their life of soul? Why is this? Because they have to say “Yes” and “No” to things at much too early an age. In the period until puberty they should learn to revere the great prototypes, the great processes in nature; only between the fourteenth and twenty-first years should the power of judgment come to maturity. Fewer voluble authors would then be let loose upon humanity. The outcome of premature forming of judgment in immature, though literary-minded men, is the shallow materialism of our present age. This veiled materialism is far more sinister than the scientific kind. An opinion has weight only when it is supported by what the soul has genuinely experienced. Human beings must learn how to form judgments; opinions are so deeply at variance because they have been formed at far too early an age. It is not until the twenty-first year that the ego is born and only from then onwards can there be any question of the individual being able to judge the world correctly, because it is only now that he confronts the world as a truly independent being.
Further, from about the twenty-first to the twenty-eighth year the development of what is called sentient soul takes place, then the mind soul and the consciousness (or spiritual) soul in periods each of seven years duration. Hence it is an occult law that no individual before his thirty-fifth year is in the position of being capable of imparting or attaining anything in the field of occultism. The thirty-fifth year is particularly important. Let me remind you of Dante, of his vision of the spiritual world; if you can calculate it you will find that he had the vision in his thirty-fifth year.
Where occult tradition survived it was known that such cycles also occur in the lives of individuals. It was known how the spiritual forces of the human being who is descending, work, where they take hold and how long they need for their proper development. It was known that all life is one great whole and that community in human society must be formed on the basis of this insight. Theosophy should teach us that wisdom must pass into deed, into social deed and into the daily round of life. The value of theosophy is that the greater it is, the less it remains abstract wisdom and the more forcibly it streams through the soul into the dexterity of the hands. Manual skill is then a kind of physical expression of the spirit of the world, a material expression of the spiritual.
Die physische Welt als Ausdruck geistiger Wirkungen und Wesen
Nun müssen wir etwas die Verhältnisse unserer physischen Welt beleuchten in ihren Beziehungen zu der gestern beschriebenen geistigen Welt, durch die der Mensch hindurchgeht zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt. Wer sich einläßt auf geisteswissenschaftliche Wahrheiten, für den ist es selbstredend, daß alles, was in der physischen Welt geschieht, der Ausdruck geistiger Wirkungen, Tatsachen und Wesenheiten ist, so daß in der geistigen Welt, im Devachan, die Untergründe aller unserer physischen Geschehnisse zu suchen sind. Nun können Sie mich fragen: Gibt es auch umgekehrt ein Hineinwirken von unserer physischen Welt in die geistige Welt? - Ja, und wir werden diese Beziehungen bei der Betrachtung des Menschenlebens am besten verstehen. Fäden werden hier in der physischen Welt von Seele zu Seele gesponnen, wie sie sich aus den mannigfaltigen Lebensverhältnissen ergeben, Bande der Freundschaft, der Liebe und so weiter werden geknüpft. Und alles das, was so angeknüpft wird von Mensch zu Mensch, das hat nicht nur für diese physische Welt Bedeutung und Wesenhaftigkeit, sondern ist auch wichtig für die geistige Welt. Und zwar kann man sagen, je geistiger hier die Beziehungen gewesen sind, desto bedeutungsvoller sind sie für die devachanische Welt. Stirbt der Mensch, so fällt auch von diesen Verhältnissen der Liebe und der Freundschaft alles das ab, was physisch ist an ihnen, und nur das Seelisch-Geistige bleibt. So zum Beispiel im Verhältnis zwischen Mutter und Kind. Zunächst spinnt sich zwischen diesen beiden aus der Naturgrundlage heraus ein Verhältnis an, dieses vergeistigt sich allmählich, ja, im Laufe der Zeiten ist diese ursprüngliche Naturgrundlage etwas, was eigentlich nur Gelegenheit gegeben hat, ein Band zwischen Seele und Seele zu spinnen. Stirbt der Mensch, so fällt diese Naturgrundlage ab, aber das, was sich als Band zwischen Seele und Seele geschlungen hat, das bleibt erhalten. Und wenn Sie sich vor die Seele rücken das ganze Menschengeschlecht der Erde, alle die bestehenden Bande der Freundschaft und der Liebe, so müssen Sie sich diese Zusammenhänge denken wie ein großes Netz, wie ein gewaltiges Gewebe, und dieses Gewebe ist auch wirklich vorhanden im Devachan. Und wenn der Hellseher vom Standpunkte des Devachan auf die Erde blickt, dann sieht er dieses Gewebe geistiger Zusammenhänge. Das Gewebe dieser geistigen Zusammenhänge findet der Mensch wieder, wenn er nach dem Tode das Devachan betritt. Er ist hineingestellt in all die geistigen Zusammenhänge, die er selbst gewoben hat. Daraus beantwortet sich auch die Frage: Sieht man im Devachan seine Lieben wieder? — Ja, wir sehen sie wieder, und zwar befreit von allen Hindernissen des Raumes und der Zeit, die sich wie ein Schleier hienieden über alle diese Seelenverhältnisse legen. Im Devachan stehen die Seelen einander selbst gegenüber. Das Verhältnis von Seele zu Seele ist viel innerlicher als in der physischen Welt und viel inniger. Niemals kann im Devachan ein Zweifel sein, ob der eine den andern wiedererkennt, wenn der eine früher, der andere viel später nach langer Zwischenzeit das Devachan betritt. Das Wiedererkennen seiner Lieben dort ist gar nicht besonders schwierig, denn dort trägt sozusagen jeder seine geistige innere Wesenheit auf seinem geistigen Antlitz geschrieben. Er spricht seinen Namen selbst aus, und zwar in einer viel passenderen Weise als es hier möglich ist, als seinen eigenen Grundton — wie man im Okkultismus sagt -, der er auch selber ist in der geistigen Welt. Ein solches ungestörtes Zusammensein der sich Liebenden ist erst möglich, wenn beide im Devachan sind. Doch herrscht für den Entkörperten in bezug auf den, der noch auf der Erde sich befindet, nicht Bewußtlosigkeit; er kann dessen Tun sogar verfolgen. Irdisch-physische Farben und Formen sieht der im Devachan sich Befindende natürlich nicht, da er keine physischen Organe mehr hat im Devachan. Alles aber in der physischen Welt hat sein geistiges Gegenbild im Geistgebiet, und das nimmt der Vorangegangene wahr. Jede Handbewegung in der physischen Welt, denn ihr geht ein Wille voraus, bewußt oder unbewußt, jede Veränderung am physischen Menschen hat ein geistiges Gegenbild, das er im Devachan wahrnehmen kann. Das Sein im Geistgebiet ist nicht etwa eine Art von Traum oder Schlaf, sondern es ist durchaus ein bewußtes Leben. Denken Sie sich, daß der Mensch Anlagen und Impulse empfängt im Devachan, um mit den Lieben in einem näheren Verbande zu bleiben, um sie in einer späteren Verkörperung wieder auf Erden zu finden. Das ist vielfach der Sinn der Erdenverkörperung, immer intimere Bande zu schlingen. Das Zusammenleben im Devachan ist ein mindestens ebenso intimes, wie jedes Leben hier. Das Mitfühlen im Devachan ist ein viel energischeres, intimeres als auf der Erde; den Schmerz erleben Sie dort mit als Ihren eigenen Schmerz. Auf Erden ist mehr oder weniger persönliches Glück möglich auf Kosten der andern, im Devachan ist das ausgeschlossen. Dort würde das Unglück, das einer etwa einem andern bereitet, um selbst glücklich zu sein, auf ihn zurückstrahlen, und man könnte wirklich nicht auf Kosten der andern glücklich sein. Das ist der Ausgleich, der vom Devachan ausgeht. Die Impulse, um die Brüderlichkeit auf der Erde zu verwirklichen, bringen Sie von dort mit. Das, was im Devachan selbstverständliches Gesetz ist, das soll auf der Erde als eine Aufgabe verwirklicht werden.
Noch vieles wäre über den Zusammenhang der geistigen Welt und der Erde zu sagen. Sie können es nun durchdenken und sich dann selbst viele Fragen beantworten über das Wiedersehen und das Zusammensein mit den Lieben im Devachan.
Gestern wurde gesagt, daß wenn der Mensch im Devachan sein geistiges Urbild ausgebildet hat, er den Impuls erhält, wieder herunterzugehen auf den physischen Plan, etwa so, wie wenn ein Gedanke reif ist und Sie den Drang fühlen, ihn in die Tat umzuarbeiten. Doch das ist noch halb abstrakt gesagt. Was ist es, das die Seele eigentlich veranlaßt, wieder in die physische Welt herunterzugehen, das ihr den Impuls dazu besonders eingibt? Während der Kamalokazeit, wo sich die Seele das Hängen am physischen Leben allmählich abgewöhnt, nimmt sie fortwährend in den Erlebnissen Impulse auf, die ihr den Willen entzünden, Entwickelungshindernisse aus dem Weg zu räumen. Sie erlebt selbst an sich den Schmerz und den Schaden nach, den sie andern gegenüber angerichtet hat. In diesem Erleben des Schmerzes der andern entsteht bei ihr der Impuls: Das mußt du gut machen! - ein vorläufig unauslöschlicher Impuls. So nimmt die Seele Schritt für Schritt vom Kamaloka ins Devachan die Impulse der Ausbesserung ihrer Fehler mit. In den höheren Welten besteht noch viel mehr die Möglichkeit, daß dasjenige, was entsteht, in der entsprechenden Weise erhalten bleibt. Legt der Mensch nun nach der Kamalokazeit den Astralleib als dritten Leichnam ab, so löst sich von ihm alles das auf, woran das Ich noch nicht gearbeitet hat. Aber es bleibt in der Astralwelt zurück von dem, was er selbst als Entwickelungshindernisse in die Welt gesetzt hat, etwas wie ein Gewebe. Der Mensch pflastert sich wirklich selbst den Weg durch die Welt mit all den Formen, die ausdrücken, daß er diese oder jene Schädigung den andern verursacht hat. Hat der Mensch nun sein Urbild im Devachan vollendet und da hinein all das verwoben, was er als Extrakt seines Ätherleibes von der letzten Verkörperung mitgenommen hat, so geschieht jetzt eine Art von Befruchtung. Das Urbild wird befruchtet von dem Gewebe der eigenen unausgeglichenen Taten. Das erste also, was mit der Seele geschieht, nachdem sie ausgereift ist im Devachan, ist, daß sie eine Befruchtung erfährt mit dem, was wir ihr Karma nennen. Und dadurch erhält sie den Impuls, wieder auf die Erde herunterzusteigen, um möglichst viel von dem früher verursachten Schaden auszugleichen. Mit den Folgen der eigenen Taten wird die Seele befruchtet am Ende des Devachan. Dann erst ist sie vollständig reif zum Heruntersteigen zu einem neuen irdischen Dasein.
Der Hellseher sieht überall in der astralen Welt solche Seelen, die sich verkörpern wollen. Raum- und Zeitverhältnisse der astralen Welt sind allerdings anders als die der physischen Welt. Eine solche Seele kann sich mit riesiger Geschwindigkeit bewegen im astralen Raum, und sie wird von besonderen Kräften hingetrieben an den Ort, wo ein für diese Seele richtig konstruierter physischer und Ätherleib erzeugt wird. Eine Entfernung wie die zwischen Budapest und New York spielt da gar keine Rolle. Zeitverhältnisse kommen überhaupt nur soweit in Betracht, als durch sie die irdischen Möglichkeiten der besten Verkörperungsbedingungen erreicht werden können. Von der Erde kommt dieser Seele, die wie eine von oben nach unten sich verbreiternde Glockenform aussieht, wenn sie den Astralraum durchfliegt, das Physische entgegen, das von der Vererbungslinie her geschaffen ist.
Nun müssen wir noch ein wenig das besprechen, was die Seele da unten anzieht, und das, was sich verkörpern will. Sie wissen, der Fortpflanzung entspricht eine gewisse Summe von Gefühlsimpulsen, mehr oder weniger geistiger Liebesimpulse, Liebessympathie. Dem Fortpflanzungsvorgang geht voraus eine Liebessympathie, die der Hellseher wahrnimmt als ein Hinundherwogen von astralen Kräften, ein Hinundwiderspielen von astralischen Strömungen zwischen Mann und Frau. Es lebt da etwas, was sonst nicht vorhanden ist, wenn der Mensch allein ist; das Zusammenleben der Seelen selber drückt sich aus in dem Hinundherwogen der astralischen Strömungen. Nun ist aber jeder Liebesvorgang individuell. Jedes Lieben geht im Hinundwiderspiel von einer besonderen Individualität aus. Und nun spiegelt sich darinnen, vor aller irdischen Befruchtung, vor dem physischen Akt in dem Liebesbegehren, in diesem astralischen Hinundherspielen die Individualität, die Natur des Wesens, das wieder auf die Erde heruntersteigt. Das ist das Besondere der einzelnen Liebesakte. So daß man sagen kann: Vor der physischen Befruchtung, da beginnt schon das zu wirken, was aus der geistigen Welt heruntersteigt; das Zusammengeführtwerden von Mann und Frau wird von der geistigen Welt mitbestimmt. Hier spielen in einer intimen wunderbaren Weise Kräfte aus der geistigen Welt mit. Und dasjenige, was heruntersteigt, sich heruntersenkt, ist im allgemeinen von Anfang an gebunden an das Ergebnis der Befruchtung. Durchaus ist es nicht so, daß erst nach einer gewissen Zeit irgendeine Individualität sich damit verbindet. Vom Moment der Befruchtung an ist diese heruntersteigende Individualität mit dem Resultat der physischen Fortpflanzung zusammengehörig. Ausnahmen gibt es allerdings auch da. In den ersten Tagen nach der Befruchtung wirkt freilich diese geistige Individualität, die herunterkommt, noch nicht auf die Entwickelung des physischen Menschen ein, aber sie ist sozusagen dabei, sie ist schon mit dem sich entwickelnden Embryo verbunden. Das Eingreifen geschieht etwa vom achtzehnten, neunzehnten, zwanzigsten und einundzwanzigsten Tage an nach der Befruchtung; da arbeitet dann schon mit dem werdenden Menschen das, was heruntergestiegen ist aus einer höheren Welt. So daß von Anfang an vorbereitet wird, nach den früheren Fähigkeiten, jenes feine, intime organische Gewebe, das notwendig ist, wenn die menschliche Individualität den physischen Leib als Instrument gebrauchen soll. Daß der Mensch eine Einheit ist, rührt davon her, daß das kleinste Organ dem ganzen Organismus entspricht, das heißt, auch das Kleinste muß von einer gewissen Art sein, damit das Ganze so sein kann, damit es geschehen kann, daß schon vom achtzehnten bis einundzwanzigsten Tage an das Ich an der Ausgestaltung des physischen und des Ätherleibes mitwirkt.
Inwieweit hat nun da von dem, was physisch sich fortpflanzt, also was die Eltern geben - das weibliche und das männliche Element -, Einfluß auf die Ausgestaltung des werdenden Menschen? Nun, wenn Sie sich einlassen auf das, was okkult-geistig dem Physischen zugrunde liegt, dann wird Ihnen vieles dabei verständlich werden. Hier kann natürlich nur das Wesentliche skizziert werden. Wenn an der menschlichen Fortpflanzung nur das Weibliche beteiligt wäre - wir werden hören, daß früher, vor der Geschlechtertrennung die Fortpflanzung ohne Zutun des Männlichen geschah -, wenn das heute noch so wäre, was würde dann geschehen? Wie weit also ist das Weibliche als Weibliches beteiligt? Das wollen wir jetzt sehen. - Würde nur das Weibliche einwirken, dann wäre die Fortentwickelung so geschehen, daß das Kind im allerhöchsten Maße den Vorfahren ähnlich wäre. Immer nur ganz gleichgestaltete Wesen würden entstehen. Das Generelle, das Gleichartige rührt vom weiblichen Element her. Erst durch die Geschlechtertrennung ist es möglich geworden, daß sich die menschliche Individualität entfalten kann. Denn das, was bewirkt, daß der Nachkomme Verschiedenheiten von seinen Vorfahren aufweist, das ist der Einfluß des Mannes. Das männliche Element spezialisiert; im weiblichen wird die Gattung erhalten, es reproduziert das Gleichartige; das Männliche, das gibt die Individualität.
Daher auch war es erst, als die Zweigeschlechtlichkeit auf Erden entstanden war, möglich, daß die Verkörperungen oder Reinkarnationen nacheinander erfolgen konnten. Da erst hatte der Mensch die Möglichkeit, irgendwie auf der Erde das verkörpern zu können, was das Ergebnis vom Früheren war. Daß das, was da unten auf der Erde sich vollzieht, und das, was von Inkarnation zu Inkarnation sich entwickeln und bereichern muß, was individuell ist, zusammenpaßt, das rührt davon her, daß männliches und weibliches Element zusammenwirken. Das menschliche Ich würde heute keinen passenden Körper mehr finden, wenn nicht das allgemeine Menschheitsprinzip abgeändert würde durch das männliche Element, das heißt, wenn nicht der allgemeine Typus zum Individuellen sich gestalten würde. Vom weiblichen Element her wirkt im wesentlichen der Ätherleib. Im Ätherleib, in dem die dauernden Neigungen liegen, ist die treibende Kraft des weiblichen Elements. In ihm ist verankert das, was das Generelle ist, das Gattungsmäßige. Im Ätherleib der Frau ist heute noch das Gegenbild dessen vorhanden, was man da außen findet als die Volksseele, als den Rassengeist. Volksseele und Rassengeist sind einander ähnlich. Fassen wir nun ins Auge, was als Geistiges der Befruchtung zugrunde liegt, so müssen wir sagen: Die Befruchtung an sich ist nichts anderes als eine Art Ertötung der lebendigen Kräfte des Ätherleibes. Schon bei der Befruchtung wird der Tod hineingewoben in den menschlichen Leib. Es ist etwas, was den Ätherleib, der sich sonst ins Unendliche vervielfältigen würde, verhärtet, ihn sozusagen abtötet. Das, was von der weiblichen Natur herrührt, der Ätherleib, der sonst nur Kopien gestalten würde, wird durch den männlichen Einfluß verdichtet und dadurch wird er der Bildner der neuen menschlichen Individualität. Die Fortpflanzung besteht in der Erzeugung einer Kopie des weiblichen Ätherleibes; dadurch, daß er durch die Befruchtung in einer gewissen Beziehung verhärtet wird, abgetötet, wird er zugleich individualisiert. Und in dem abgetöteten Ätherleib liegt die Formkraft verborgen, die den neuen physischen Menschen hervorbringt. So rücken zusammen Befruchtung und Fortpflanzung. Wir sehen also, daß zweierlei Befruchtungen stattfinden: unten die physische, menschliche Befruchtung, und oben die Befruchtung des Urbildes durch das eigene Karma. Schon vom achtzehnten bis einundzwanzigsten Tage an, sagten wir, arbeitet das Ich an dem Embryo; aber erst viel später, nach sechs Monaten, arbeiten an dem Embryo andere Kräfte mit, die wir die Kräfte nennen können, die das Karmische des Menschen bedingen. Wir können es so ausdrücken, daß wir sagen: da greift jenes Gewebe ein, das aus Karma gewoben ist. Nach und nach greifen diese Kräfte ein. - Nun gibt es aber auch hier Ausnahmen, so daß in späterer Zeit eine Auswechslung des Ich eintreten kann. Darüber wollen wir später noch sprechen. Das allererste, was da eingreift zur Ausgestaltung, ist das Ich.
Wenn wir uns ein ungefähres Bild machen wollen von dem, was in den geistigen Welten sich vorfindet und da heruntersteigt, so müssen wir sagen: Das sich verkörpernde Individuum führt die sich Liebenden zusammen. - Das Urbild, das sich verkörpern will, hat sich ja die Astralsubstanz angegliedert, und diese Astralsubstanz wirkt nun hinein in die Liebesleidenschaft, in das Liebesgefühl. Das, was unten auf der Erde hin und wider wogt als astralische Leidenschaft, das spiegelt in sich wieder das Astralische des heruntersteigenden Wesens. Also der astralischen Substanz von oben kommt das astralische Gefühl der Liebenden entgegen; es wird beeinflußt von der Substanz dessen, was zur Verkörperung niedersteigt. Wenn wir diesen Gedanken ganz durchdenken, so müssen wir sagen: Der sich wiederverkörpernde Mensch ist durchaus beteiligt an der Wahl seiner Eltern. Je nachdem er ist, wird er hingetrieben zu dem betreffenden Elternpaar. Der Einwand ist billig, daß man behauptet: mit solcher Begründung der Auswahl der Eltern verliere man das Gefühl, in seinen Kindern wieder zu erstehen, und daß die Liebe, die sich darauf gründet, den Kindern das Ureigene verliehen zu haben, sich dadurch verringere. Das ist eine grundlose Furcht; denn diese Mutter- und Vaterliebe wird in einem viel höheren und schöneren Sinne aufgefaßt, wenn wir sehen, daß das Kind in einem gewissen Sinne die Eltern vorher liebt, schon vor der Befruchtung, und dadurch zu ihnen hingetrieben wird. Die Elternliebe ist also die Antwort auf die Liebe des Kindes, sie ist die Gegenliebe. So haben wir eine Erklärung der Elternliebe als Wiedergabe dessen, was als kindliche Liebe vor der physischen Menschheitsentstehung gegeben ist.
Es wurde schon erwähnt, daß höhere Wesenheiten mitwirken bei der Verkörperung des neuen Menschen. Sie werden das begreifen, wenn Sie bedenken, daß niemals eine völlige Entsprechung stattfindet zwischen dem, was sich von oben zur Verkörperung herabsenkt, und dem, was dieses sich an Hüllen da unten anlegen läßt. Sie kann erst stattfinden, diese völlige Entsprechung des Oberen und des Unteren, wenn der Mensch am Ziele seiner Entwickelung angelangt sein wird, wenn er Atma erreicht hat. Wenn er den physischen Leib in Atma, den Ätherleib in Buddhi, den Astralleib in Manas umgewandelt haben wird, dann steht der Mensch an dem Evolutionspunkte, wo er mit vollständig freiem Willen seine letzte Inkarnation sich selbst wählt. Vorher ist ein wirkliches Zusammenpassen unmöglich. Bedenken Sie: so wie der Mensch heute ist, hat er nur einen Teil seines Astralleibes, einen Teil seines Ätherleibes und seines physischen Leibes umgearbeitet. Und darüber nur ist er Herr. Aber das, was er noch nicht umgearbeitet hat, das muß ihm von außen her ankristallisiert werden. Andere Wesenheiten müssen ihm das angliedern. Das sind zwei verschiedene Arten von Wesenheiten, die sich daran beteiligen, solche, die ihm den Ätherleib angliedern, und solche, die ihn dem Elternpaar zuführen. Den Ätherleib sich selbst angliedern könnte der Mensch auf der heutigen Stufe seiner Entwickelung noch nicht. Durch die im Ätherleib liegenden Kräfte entsteht für den Menschen der Moment des Vorgesichts, von dem wir gestern gesprochen haben. Wenn nun der Mensch den Ätherleib und den Astralleib hat, und der physische Leib dann angegliedert wird, dann kommt der Augenblick, wo das Vorgesicht verschwinden muß; da muß der Ätherleib sich in den physischen Leib hineinpassen. Der Ätherleib, er ist ja nicht nur der Träger des Gedächtnisses, sondern alles Zeitlichen: der Erinnerung und der Voraussicht. Wenn er aber in den physischen Leib eintritt, ist er gebunden an die physischen Gesetze, und diese löschen seine Macht in gewisser Beziehung aus. Geradeso wie der Mensch durch den Einfluß des physischen Leibes sein Gedächtnis nur bis zu einem gewissen Grade entfalten kann, während nach dem Tode, wenn der Ätherleib wieder frei ist, er das ganze Erinnerungsbild herstellt, genau so ist es mit der Vorschau: das Schauen in die künftige Zeit wird beschränkt in der physischen Welt durch den physischen Leib. Das ist der normale Verlauf der Einkörperung. Den neulich angedeuteten Schock erhält die Seele durch eine abnorme Vorschau schwerer Verhältnisse seines späteren Lebens.
Nun haben wir den Moment erreicht, wo der eigentliche Mensch, das Ich selbst, zu arbeiten beginnt an dem, was ihm gegeben worden ist und womit er zusammengebracht wird in der physischen Welt. Die Kräfte der verschiedenen geistigen Glieder des Menschen, die in der Zeit vor der Geburt zu wirken haben, die wirken nun zunächst durch die entsprechenden Wesensglieder der Mutter hinein. In der ersten Zeit vor der Geburt kann der Mensch ja nur dadurch leben, daß er allseitig von der Mutterhülle umschlossen ist. Diese physische Mutterhülle, die stößt der Mensch bei der Geburt von sich. Zunächst wird da nur der physische Leib frei, der Ätherleib - das sieht der Hellseher bleibt noch umgeben von einer Äther-Mutterhülle; er bleibt geschützt und behütet davon bis zum Zahnwechsel des physischen Leibes. Das ist ein wichtiger Punkt in der Menschheitsentwickelung, wo die mütterliche Ätherhülle abgestreift wird und eine zweite Geburt stattfindet. Dann, wenn der Ätherleib seine Mutterhülle abgestreift hat, ist der eigene Ätherleib geboren, er wird frei. Damit ist etwas sehr Wichtiges gegeben für die menschliche Entwickelung. Bis zum Zahnwechsel ist noch die Möglichkeit vorhanden, daß die Menschenformen nach dieser oder jener Richtung elastisch bleiben, sich verändern; von dieser Zeit ab vergrößern sie sich nur noch. Im wesentlichen sind mit dem Zahnwechsel die Formen ausgebildet. Das ist wichtig zu wissen. Daher muß alles, was von außen her bildend ist für den physischen Leib, was bleibend an ihm sein soll, sorgfältig berücksichtigt und gebildet werden bis zu dieser Zeit des Zahnwechsels. Nun formt aber auch alles Äußere, was auf den Menschen einwirkt, die feineren Glieder und Organe an ihm, so zum Beispiel das Licht und die Farbe. All das formt den Menschen im wesentlichen bis zum siebenten Jahr. Es ist daher nicht gleichgültig, welche Farbe, welche Umgebung das Kind um sich hat, und was Sie es verrichten lassen. Wenn Sie die Hand nie gebrauchen würden, so würde sie verkümmern. So ist es mit allen Organen. Auch die feineren bilden sich durch Tätigkeit aus. Rot zum Beispiel hat eine andere Wirkung auf die feineren Organe im Menschen, die sich eben ausgestalten, als Blau; und so ist, je nach der Farbe, die das Kind umgibt, die Wirkung verschieden. In der Arbeit bilden sich die Organe aus. Das Auge sieht gewohnheitsmäßig, gewiß, aber was es sieht, wirkt ein auf die ganze menschliche Natur. Es ist nicht einerlei für die Entwickelung des Kindes, ob das Auge Rot oder Blau sieht. Hier wird es sein, wo die Theosophie im eminentesten Sinne sich in nicht gar zu ferner Zeit praktisch erweisen wird. Warum treiben wir Theosophie? Aus Menschenliebe treiben wir sie, weil sie es gestattet, auch hier in solche subtilen Zusammenhänge nützlich einzugreifen.
Mit dem siebenten Jahre also wird der Ätherleib frei. Er ist der Träger des Gedächtnisses. Das Wichtigste ist nun in bezug auf das Gedächtnis des Kindes, daß man es vor dem siebenten Jahre nicht durch pädagogische Mittel ausbildet. Erst vom siebenten Jahre an ist die Zeit da, wo wahre Erziehung auf die Bildung des Gedächtnisses einwirken soll. Man wendet manchmal dagegen ein: die Natur sorgt ja selbst dafür, daß längst vor dem siebenten Jahre das Kind das Gedächtnis übt. Das ist richtig; aber das ist eben die Vorarbeit, welche die Natur vollzieht. Das Auge des Kindes ist auch schon im Mutterleibe vor der Geburt von der Natur aus fertig, aber was würde geschehen, wenn Sie auf das Auge des Embryo das Sonnenlicht wirken lassen wollten? Eben damit das Sonnenlicht später richtig auf das Auge wirken kann, deshalb muß an dem Auge von der Natur vor der Geburt vorgearbeitet werden. So ist es auch mit den andern Organen vor der physischen Geburt. Die Natur fertigt sie vorher, aber sie sind geschützt von der äußeren Einkleidung der Mutterhülle. Und so soll auch bis zum siebenten Jahr an dem Gedächtnis des Kindes von der Natur gearbeitet werden, damit es dann vom siebenten Jahre ab in richtiger Weise weiter ausgebildet werden kann. Und wie soll man von da ab auf das Gedächtnis des Kindes wirken? So wie die Natur einwirkt, bis das Kind physisch geboren wird.
Eine astralische Mutterhülle trägt der Mensch mit sich herum bis zum vierzehnten, fünfzehnten Jahre, bis zur Geschlechtsreife. Da wirft er sie ab, und der Astralleib wird frei: sozusagen eine dritte Geburt findet statt. Der Astralleib ist der Träger des menschlichen Urteils, der menschlichen Kritik. Man sollte abkommen von der Ansicht, daß das Kind möglichst früh zu einem selbständigen Urteil kommen soll. Vom siebenten bis vierzehnten Jahr ist es notwendig, einen weisen Gedächtnisschatz zu sammeln für das Leben, um so sich in der Zeit, wo der Astralleib geboren wird, einen möglichst reifen und reichen Seeleninhalt zu erschaffen. Erst dann soll das Urteilen beginnen. Die frühere Methode, in den Schulen das Einmaleins einfach auswendig lernen zu lassen: 1-1—1 und so weiter, ist, da sie eine rein gedächtnismäßige ist, bedeutend vorzuziehen der jetzigen abstrakten Methode, an der sogenannten Rechenmaschine das Einmaleins mit roten und weißen Kugeln zu «beweisen». Diese ist entschieden schädlich. Auch hier gilt dasselbe wie beim kleinen Kinde; dieses versteht die Sprache lange Zeit, ehe es selbst sprechen kann. So soll man es auch erst urteilen lassen wollen, wenn es einen guten Gedächtnisschatz für den Ätherleib sich angeeignet, gewisse bleibende Neigungen und Gewohnheiten entwickelt hat. Das Gefühlsleben beim Kinde zu entwickeln, das ist sehr wichtig: Dankbarkeit, Ehrfurcht und heilige Scheu sind Gefühle, die im späteren Leben sich äußern als Kraft des Segnens, der ausströmenden Menschenliebe. Die allerstärksten Impulse werden dem Ätherleib gegeben durch religiöse Erlebnisse, durch das Sich-angegliedert-Fühlen an ein Göttlich-Geistiges, an ein Weltenganzes. Das abstrakte Urteil, das soll erst gegen die Zeit hin ausgebildet werden, in der man so weich und biegsam das gemacht hat, was aus dem Ätherleib fließt, daß die Gefahr einer Angewöhnung des abstrakten und pietätlosen Denkens abgewendet ist. Je bildhafter und symbolischer die Erkenntnis dem Kinde gebracht wird, desto besser. Die Gefühlswelt entwickelt sich durch Gleichnisse und Sinnbilder, besonders durch alles, was aus der Geschichte charakteristischer Menschen vorgeführt wird, und durch Vertiefung in die Geheimnisse und Schönheiten der Natur. Von großer Bedeutung ist dabei, wie Fragen dem Kinde beantwortet werden. Zum Beispiel, als Erklärung für das Werden des Menschen, für Tod und Geburt, das Werden des Schmetterlings aus der Puppe. Es ist dies ein Bild für die Seelenhaftigkeit des Menschen, der aus dem physischen Leib herausstrebt. Aber natürlich, wenn man das dem Kinde sagt, muß man selbst daran glauben, sonst wird das Kind es auch nicht glauben. Für die Wahrheit der Bilder finden sich überall entsprechende Tatsachen in der Natur. Der Okkultist weiß, daß gerade das Bild vom Schmetterling und der Puppe zum Symbol eines viel höheren Vorgangs dienen kann. Wir müssen wieder glauben lernen an das, was heute nur eine abstrakte Philosophie zu Sagen und Märchen stempelt. Auch das Storchenmärchen, auch Lieder wie «Flieg, Käferchen, flieg» können sinnvoll erschlossen werden. Nicht wurde dieses Märchen in alten Zeiten ausgedacht, um dem Kinde eine Lüge zu sagen, sondern es ist von einem solchen erdacht, der da wußte, daß bei der Geburt etwas heruntersteigt aus der geistigen Welt. Später wird man ja ebensogut sagen können: Es ist eine Lüge, daß es in der Vergangenheit Menschen gegeben hat, welche geglaubt haben sollen, daß bei dem Werden, bei der Geburt eines neuen Menschen, kein anderer Vorgang sich abspielt als die physische Verbindung zweier Menschen. Das ist ein Märchen, das Märchen des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts, wir wissen es wieder besser! - wird man in Zukunft sagen. Und unsere Nachkommen werden dann hoffentlich verständiger und nachsichtiger sein mit unseren Schwächen als wir mit denen unserer Vorfahren.
Das Sinnbild ist die beste Art, um auf den Astralleib zu wirken. Die Vorstellung soll gepflegt werden bis zur Bildung des freigewordenen astralischen Leibes, erst dann das Urteil. Weshalb sind so viele Gegenwartsmenschen in ihrer Seele leider verkrüppelte Menschen? Warum? Weil sie viel zu früh «Ja» und «Nein» zu den Dingen sagen gelernt haben. Verehren lernen sollen sie in der Zeit bis zur Geschlechtsreife die großen Vorbilder, die großen Vorgänge in der Natur; erst zwischen dem vierzehnten und einundzwanzigsten Jahre sollte das Urteil reifen. Es würde dann auch eine geringere Anzahl jener Sorte von Schriftstellern auf die Menschheit losgelassen werden, die unter und über dem Strich zu schreiben pflegen. Das Ergebnis der zu frühen Urteilsbildung unreifer, aber schriftstellernder Menschen ist der seichte Materialismus unserer Gegenwart. Dieser verborgene Materialismus ist viel schlimmer als der streitbare, wissenschaftlich. Eine Meinung hat erst Gewicht, wenn sie sich auf Seelenerfahrung stützt. Lernen muß der Mensch zu urteilen; die Meinungen sind daher auch so verschieden, weil viel zu früh die Meinungen gebildet werden. Erst mit dem einundzwanzigsten Jahre wird das Ich geboren, und erst von da ab kann in Frage kommen, daß der Mensch von sich aus die Welt beurteilt. Erst da steht er der Welt selbständig gegenüber.
Weiterhin, so etwa vom einundzwanzigsten bis achtundzwanzigsten Jahre, bildet sich dann noch das, was man die Empfindungsseele nennt, heraus; dann die Verstandesseele und die Bewußtseinsseele in Zeiträumen von je sieben Jahren. Es ist daher ein okkultes Gesetz, daß einer vor dem fünfunddreißigsten Jahre nicht imstande ist, auf dem Felde des Okkultismus irgend etwas zu geben oder zu erreichen. Von großer Wichtigkeit ist besonders das fünfunddreißigste Jahr. Ich erinnere Sie an Dante, seine Vision, sein Hineinschauen in die geistige Welt: rechnen Sie es aus, er hatte das im fünfunddreißigsten Jahre.
Da, wo okkulte Tradition lebte, da wußte man, daß solche Zyklen sich auch im einzelnen Menschen ausleben. Man wußte, wie die geistigen Kräfte des Menschen, der da heruntersteigt, arbeiten, wo sie einsetzen und wie lange sie zur richtigen Entfaltung brauchen. Man wußte, daß alles Leben eine Einheit ist, ein großes Ganzes. Aus dieser Einsicht heraus muß sich auch das Zusammenleben der menschlichen Gesellschaft gestalten. Theosophie soll uns lehren, daß die Weisheit übergehen muß in die Tat, in die soziale Tat und in den Alltag des unmittelbaren Lebens. Theosophie hat um so größeren Wert, je weniger sie abstrakte Weisheit bleibt, je mehr sie durch die Seele bis in die Geschicklichkeit der Hand hineinfließt. Die Handfertigkeit ist dann eine Art physischer Ausdruck des Geistes der Welt. ein sinnlicher Ausdruck des Spirituellen.
The Physical World as an Expression of Spiritual Influences and Beings
Now we must shed some light on the conditions of our physical world in relation to the spiritual world described yesterday, through which human beings pass between death and a new birth. For those who are open to spiritual scientific truths, it is self-evident that everything that happens in the physical world is the expression of spiritual influences, facts, and beings, so that the underlying causes of all our physical events are to be found in the spiritual world, in Devachan. Now you may ask me: Is there also an influence from our physical world into the spiritual world? Yes, and we will understand these relationships best when we consider human life. Threads are spun here in the physical world from soul to soul, as they arise from the manifold circumstances of life, bonds of friendship, love, and so on are formed. And everything that is thus connected from person to person has not only meaning and substance for this physical world, but is also important for the spiritual world. In fact, one can say that the more spiritual the relationships have been here, the more meaningful they are for the devachanic world. When a person dies, everything that is physical in these relationships of love and friendship falls away, and only the soul-spiritual remains. This is the case, for example, in the relationship between mother and child. Initially, a relationship develops between these two from the basis of nature, and this gradually becomes spiritualized. Indeed, over the course of time, this original basis of nature becomes something that has actually only provided an opportunity to weave a bond between soul and soul. When a person dies, this basis of nature falls away, but what has become intertwined as a bond between soul and soul remains. And if you place before your soul the entire human race on earth, all the existing bonds of friendship and love, you must imagine these connections as a great net, as a vast web, and this web really exists in Devachan. And when the clairvoyant looks down on earth from the perspective of Devachan, he sees this web of spiritual connections. The human being finds this web of spiritual connections again when he enters Devachan after death. He is placed within all the spiritual connections that he himself has woven. This also answers the question: Do we see our loved ones again in Devachan? Yes, we see them again, freed from all the obstacles of space and time that lie like a veil over all these soul relationships here below. In Devachan, souls stand face to face with one another. The relationship between soul and soul is much more inner than in the physical world and much more intimate. In Devachan, there can never be any doubt as to whether one recognizes the other when one enters Devachan earlier and the other much later after a long interval. Recognizing one's loved ones there is not particularly difficult, for there, so to speak, everyone has their spiritual inner being written on their spiritual face. They speak their own names in a much more appropriate way than is possible here, as their own fundamental tone—as it is called in occultism—which is also their true self in the spiritual world. Such undisturbed togetherness of lovers is only possible when both are in Devachan. However, the disembodied person is not unconscious of those who are still on earth; they can even follow their actions. Of course, those in Devachan cannot see earthly physical colors and forms, since they no longer have physical organs in Devachan. But everything in the physical world has its spiritual counterpart in the spiritual realm, and this is what the departed perceive. Every movement of the hand in the physical world, because it is preceded by a will, conscious or unconscious, every change in the physical human being has a spiritual counterpart that he can perceive in Devachan. Being in the spiritual realm is not a kind of dream or sleep, but a conscious life. Imagine that human beings receive predispositions and impulses in Devachan in order to remain in closer contact with their loved ones and to find them again on earth in a later incarnation. This is often the meaning of incarnation on earth: to form ever closer bonds. Life together in Devachan is at least as intimate as any life here. Empathy in Devachan is much more energetic and intimate than on earth; you experience pain there as your own pain. On earth, more or less personal happiness is possible at the expense of others, but in Devachan this is impossible. There, the unhappiness that one causes another in order to be happy oneself would rebound on oneself, and one could not really be happy at the expense of others. This is the balance that emanates from Devachan. You bring with you from there the impulses to realize brotherhood on earth. What is a self-evident law in Devachan is to be realized on earth as a task.
There is much more to say about the connection between the spiritual world and the earth. You can now think it through and then answer many questions for yourselves about seeing your loved ones again and being together with them in Devachan.
Yesterday it was said that when a person has developed his spiritual archetype in Devachan, he receives the impulse to descend again to the physical plane, much as when a thought is ripe and you feel the urge to put it into action. But that is still said in a rather abstract way. What is it that actually causes the soul to descend back into the physical world, what is it that gives it the impulse to do so? During the Kamaloka period, when the soul gradually weans itself from its attachment to physical life, it continually receives impulses from its experiences that ignite its will to remove obstacles to its development. It experiences for itself the pain and harm it has caused others. In this experience of the pain of others, the impulse arises in her: You must make amends! - a provisionally indelible impulse. Thus, step by step, the soul takes with it from Kamaloka to Devachan the impulses for correcting its mistakes. In the higher worlds, there is even more possibility that what arises will be preserved in the appropriate manner. When, after the Kamaloka period, the human being lays down the astral body as its third corpse, everything that the I has not yet worked on dissolves. But something like a web remains in the astral world from what the human being itself has placed in the world as obstacles to its development. Human beings really pave their own way through the world with all the forms that express the harm they have caused to others. Once human beings have completed their archetype in Devachan and woven into it everything they have taken with them as an extract of their etheric body from their last incarnation, a kind of fertilization takes place. The archetype is fertilized by the fabric of one's own unbalanced deeds. So the first thing that happens to the soul after it has matured in Devachan is that it experiences fertilization with what we call karma. And this gives it the impulse to descend back to earth in order to compensate as much as possible for the damage it has caused in the past. At the end of Devachan, the soul is fertilized with the consequences of its own deeds. Only then is it completely ready to descend to a new earthly existence.
The clairvoyant sees such souls everywhere in the astral world, wanting to incarnate. However, the spatial and temporal conditions of the astral world are different from those of the physical world. Such a soul can move at tremendous speed in astral space, and it is driven by special forces to the place where a physical and etheric body correctly constructed for that soul is created. A distance such as that between Budapest and New York is irrelevant. Time relations are only relevant insofar as they enable the earthly possibilities for the best conditions of embodiment to be achieved. From the earth, this soul, which looks like a bell shape spreading from top to bottom as it flies through astral space, is met by the physical, which is created from the line of inheritance.
Now we need to discuss a little more about what attracts the soul down there and what wants to incarnate. You know that reproduction corresponds to a certain sum of emotional impulses, more or less spiritual impulses of love, love sympathy. The process of reproduction is preceded by a love sympathy, which the clairvoyant perceives as a swaying back and forth of astral forces, a back and forth play of astral currents between man and woman. Something lives there that is not otherwise present when the human being is alone; the coexistence of the souls themselves is expressed in the ebb and flow of the astral currents. But every act of love is individual. Every act of love proceeds from a particular individuality in a back-and-forth interplay. And now, before any earthly fertilization, before the physical act, the individuality, the nature of the being that descends back to earth is reflected in the love desire, in this astral back-and-forth interplay. This is what makes each act of love special. So we can say that before physical fertilization, what descends from the spiritual world already begins to have an effect; the bringing together of man and woman is co-determined by the spiritual world. Here, forces from the spiritual world play together in an intimate and wonderful way. And that which descends, which sinks down, is generally bound from the beginning to the result of fertilization. It is by no means the case that only after a certain time does some individuality connect with it. From the moment of fertilization, this descending individuality is connected to the result of physical reproduction. However, there are exceptions. In the first days after fertilization, this spiritual individuality that descends does not yet influence the development of the physical human being, but it is, so to speak, already present; it is already connected to the developing embryo. The intervention takes place around the eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first days after fertilization; at that point, what has descended from a higher world is already working with the developing human being. Thus, from the very beginning, the fine, intimate organic tissue that is necessary for the human individuality to use the physical body as an instrument is prepared according to its earlier abilities. The fact that the human being is a unity stems from the fact that the smallest organ corresponds to the whole organism, that is, even the smallest must be of a certain kind so that the whole can be as it is, so that it can happen that already from the eighteenth to the twenty-first day the I participates in the formation of the physical and etheric bodies.
To what extent does that which is physically transmitted, i.e., what the parents give—the female and male elements—influence the formation of the developing human being? Well, if you engage with what lies occult-spiritually behind the physical, then much will become understandable to you. Here, of course, only the essentials can be outlined. If only the female element were involved in human reproduction—we will hear that in earlier times, before the separation of the sexes, reproduction took place without the involvement of the male—if that were still the case today, what would happen? To what extent, then, is the female involved as female? Let us now examine this. If only the female element were at work, then further development would have taken place in such a way that the child would be extremely similar to its ancestors. Only beings of exactly the same form would ever come into being. The general, the similar, comes from the female element. It is only through gender separation that human individuality has been able to develop. For what causes the offspring to differ from its ancestors is the influence of the male. The male element specializes; in the female, the species is preserved, it reproduces what is similar; the male gives individuality.
Therefore, it was only when dual sex arose on earth that incarnations or reincarnations could take place one after the other. Only then did human beings have the opportunity to somehow embody on earth what was the result of what had gone before. The fact that what takes place down here on earth and what must develop and enrich itself from incarnation to incarnation, what is individual, fits together, stems from the interaction of the male and female elements. The human ego would no longer find a suitable body today if the general principle of humanity were not modified by the male element, that is, if the general type did not develop into the individual. The etheric body essentially works from the female element. The driving force of the female element is found in the etheric body, where the permanent tendencies lie. Anchored in it is that which is general, that which belongs to the species. In the etheric body of women today, there is still the counterimage of what we find outside as the soul of the people, as the spirit of the race. The soul of the people and the spirit of the race are similar to each other. If we now consider what lies at the basis of fertilization as something spiritual, we must say: Fertilization itself is nothing more than a kind of killing of the living forces of the etheric body. Already at the moment of fertilization, death is woven into the human body. It is something that hardens the etheric body, which would otherwise multiply infinitely, killing it, so to speak. That which comes from the female nature, the etheric body, which would otherwise only form copies, is condensed by the male influence and thereby becomes the formative force of the new human individuality. Procreation consists in the production of a copy of the female etheric body; by being hardened, killed, in a certain sense, through fertilization, it is at the same time individualized. And hidden in the killed etheric body lies the formative force that brings forth the new physical human being. Thus, fertilization and reproduction come together. We see, therefore, that two kinds of fertilization take place: below, physical, human fertilization, and above, the fertilization of the archetype by its own karma. We have already said that from the eighteenth to the twenty-first day, the I works on the embryo; but much later, after six months, other forces begin to work on the embryo, forces which we can call the forces that determine the karma of the human being. We can express this by saying that the tissue woven from karma begins to take effect. Gradually these forces intervene. But there are exceptions here too, so that in later times a replacement of the ego can occur. We will talk about that later. The very first thing that intervenes in the formation is the ego.
If we want to form a rough picture of what is found in the spiritual worlds and descends down here, we must say: the individual who is incarnating brings the lovers together. The archetype that wants to incarnate has attached itself to the astral substance, and this astral substance now works into the passion of love, into the feeling of love. What surges here and there on earth as astral passion reflects back the astral nature of the descending being. Thus, the astral feeling of the lovers meets the astral substance from above; it is influenced by the substance of what descends to incarnate. If we think this thought through to its conclusion, we must say: The reincarnating human being is definitely involved in the choice of his parents. Depending on what he is, he is drawn to the parents in question. The objection is cheap, that with such a justification for the choice of parents, one loses the feeling of being reborn in one's children, and that the love based on having given the children their very essence is thereby diminished. This is a groundless fear, for this motherly and fatherly love is understood in a much higher and more beautiful sense when we see that the child in a certain sense loves its parents beforehand, even before fertilization, and is thus drawn to them. Parental love is therefore the response to the love of the child; it is reciprocal love. Thus we have an explanation of parental love as a reproduction of what is given as childlike love before the physical origin of humanity.
It has already been mentioned that higher beings are involved in the incarnation of the new human being. You will understand this when you consider that there is never a complete correspondence between what descends from above for incarnation and what it takes on as a shell down below. This complete correspondence between the higher and the lower can only take place when the human being has reached the goal of his development, when he has attained the Atma. When he has transformed his physical body into Atma, his etheric body into Buddhi, and his astral body into Manas, then man stands at the point of evolution where he chooses his last incarnation with completely free will. Before that, a real matching is impossible. Consider this: as humans are today, they have only transformed part of their astral body, part of their etheric body, and part of their physical body. And they are only masters of this. But that which they have not yet transformed must be crystallized for them from outside. Other beings must attach this to them. There are two different kinds of beings involved in this process: those who attach the etheric body to the human being and those who bring it to the parents. At the present stage of their development, human beings are not yet able to attach the etheric body to themselves. The forces lying in the etheric body give rise to the moment of the “front of the face” which we spoke about yesterday. When the human being has the etheric body and the astral body, and the physical body is then attached, the moment comes when the face must disappear; the etheric body must fit into the physical body. The etheric body is not only the carrier of memory, but of everything temporal: memory and foresight. But when it enters the physical body, it is bound to the physical laws, and these laws cancel out its power in a certain respect. Just as the human being, through the influence of the physical body, can only develop his memory to a certain degree, whereas after death, when the etheric body is free again, he reconstructs the entire picture of his memory, so it is with foresight: looking into the future is limited in the physical world by the physical body. This is the normal course of incarnation. The soul receives the shock mentioned earlier through an abnormal preview of difficult circumstances in its later life.
Now we have reached the moment when the actual human being, the I itself, begins to work on what has been given to it and with what it has been brought together in the physical world. The forces of the various spiritual members of the human being, which have to work in the time before birth, now work initially through the corresponding members of the mother's being. In the first period before birth, the human being can only live by being completely enclosed by the mother's shell. The human being pushes this physical maternal shell away at birth. At first, only the physical body becomes free, the etheric body — the clairvoyant sees that it remains surrounded by an etheric maternal shell; it remains protected and sheltered by it until the physical body changes teeth. This is an important point in human development, when the maternal etheric shell is shed and a second birth takes place. Then, when the etheric body has shed its mother's shell, the individual etheric body is born and becomes free. This is very important for human development. Until the change of teeth, it is still possible for human forms to remain elastic and change in one direction or another; from this time on, they only grow larger. Essentially, the forms are complete with the change of teeth. This is important to know. Therefore, everything that has a formative influence on the physical body from outside, everything that is to remain with it, must be carefully considered and formed until this time of the change of teeth. However, everything external that influences the human being also forms the finer limbs and organs, such as light and color. All of this essentially forms the human being until the age of seven. It is therefore not irrelevant what color the child is surrounded by, what environment it has, and what you let it do. If you never used your hand, it would atrophy. It is the same with all organs. Even the finer ones are formed through activity. Red, for example, has a different effect on the finer organs in the human being that are just developing than blue does; and so, depending on the color that surrounds the child, the effect is different. The organs are formed through work. The eye sees habitually, certainly, but what it sees has an effect on the whole human nature. It is not all the same for the development of the child whether the eye sees red or blue. This is where theosophy will prove itself in the most eminent sense in the not too distant future. Why do we practice theosophy? We practice it out of love for humanity, because it allows us to intervene usefully in such subtle connections.
At the age of seven, therefore, the etheric body becomes free. It is the carrier of memory. The most important thing now with regard to the child's memory is that it should not be trained by educational means before the age of seven. Only from the age of seven onwards is the time when true education should influence the formation of memory. Some people object to this, saying that nature itself ensures that children practice their memory long before the age of seven. That is true, but this is merely the preparatory work that nature carries out. The child's eye is also already complete in the womb before birth, but what would happen if you allowed sunlight to shine on the embryo's eye? It is precisely so that sunlight can later act properly on the eye that nature must prepare the eye before birth. The same is true of the other organs before physical birth. Nature prepares them in advance, but they are protected by the outer covering of the mother's womb. And so nature must also work on the child's memory until the age of seven, so that it can then be properly developed from the age of seven onwards. And how should one influence the child's memory from then on? In the same way that nature influences it until the child is physically born.
A person carries an astral mother's shell with them until the age of fourteen or fifteen, until they reach sexual maturity. Then they cast it off, and the astral body becomes free: a third birth takes place, so to speak. The astral body is the bearer of human judgment, of human criticism. We should move away from the view that children should come to independent judgment as early as possible. From the seventh to the fourteenth year, it is necessary to gather a wise store of memories for life, in order to create as mature and rich a soul content as possible during the time when the astral body is being born. Only then should judgment begin. The old method of simply memorizing the multiplication table in school: 1-1-1 and so on, is, since it is purely based on memory, significantly preferable to the current abstract method of “proving” the multiplication table with red and white balls on a so-called calculating machine. This is decidedly harmful. The same applies here as with small children; they understand language long before they can speak themselves. So we should not allow them to judge until they have acquired a good store of memory for the etheric body and developed certain lasting inclinations and habits. It is very important to develop the child's emotional life: gratitude, reverence, and holy awe are feelings that manifest themselves later in life as the power of blessing and of radiant love for humanity. The strongest impulses are given to the etheric body through religious experiences, through feeling connected to something divine and spiritual, to the whole world. Abstract judgment should only be developed later, when what flows from the etheric body has been made so soft and pliable that the danger of becoming accustomed to abstract and irreverent thinking has been averted. The more pictorial and symbolic the knowledge is presented to the child, the better. The emotional world develops through parables and symbols, especially through everything that is presented from the history of characteristic human beings, and through immersion in the mysteries and beauties of nature. The way questions are answered to the child is of great importance here. For example, as an explanation for the origin of human beings, for death and birth, the emergence of the butterfly from the chrysalis. This is an image of the soulfulness of the human being striving out of the physical body. But of course, when you tell this to the child, you must believe it yourself, otherwise the child will not believe it either. Corresponding facts in nature can be found everywhere to confirm the truth of these images. The occultist knows that the image of the butterfly and the chrysalis can serve as a symbol of a much higher process. We must learn to believe again in what today is dismissed as abstract philosophy and fairy tales. Even the stork fairy tale and songs such as “Fly, little beetle, fly” can be interpreted in a meaningful way. This fairy tale was not invented in ancient times to tell children a lie, but was conceived by someone who knew that something descends from the spiritual world at birth. Later, one will be able to say just as well: It is a lie that there were people in the past who believed that when a new human being comes into being, when a new human being is born, no other process takes place than the physical union of two human beings. That is a fairy tale, the fairy tale of the 19th and 20th centuries; we know better now! — people will say in the future. And hopefully our descendants will be more understanding and forgiving of our weaknesses than we are of those of our ancestors.
The symbol is the best way to influence the astral body. The idea should be cultivated until the astral body is freed, only then should judgment be passed. Why are so many people today unfortunately crippled in their souls? Why? Because they learned to say “yes” and “no” to things far too early. In the period leading up to sexual maturity, they should learn to revere the great role models and the great processes in nature; judgment should only mature between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one. There would then be fewer writers of the kind who tend to write below and above the line. The result of premature judgment by immature writers is the shallow materialism of our time. This hidden materialism is much worse than the combative, scientific kind. An opinion only has weight when it is based on soul experience. People must learn to judge; opinions are so different because they are formed far too early. It is not until the age of twenty-one that the ego is born, and only then can it be possible for people to judge the world on their own. Only then do they stand independently before the world.
Furthermore, between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-eight, what is called the sentient soul develops, followed by the intellectual soul and the conscious soul, each in periods of seven years. It is therefore an occult law that before the age of thirty-five, a person is incapable of giving or achieving anything in the field of occultism. The age of thirty-five is particularly important. I remind you of Dante, his vision, his insight into the spiritual world: calculate it, he had this at the age of thirty-five.
Where occult tradition was alive, it was known that such cycles also play out in individual human beings. It was known how the spiritual forces of the human being who descends work, where they come into play, and how long they need to unfold properly. It was known that all life is one, a great whole. The coexistence of human society must also be shaped by this insight. Theosophy teaches us that wisdom must be put into action, into social action and into the everyday life of the immediate world. Theosophy is all the more valuable the less it remains abstract wisdom, the more it flows through the soul into the dexterity of the hand. Manual dexterity is then a kind of physical expression of the spirit of the world, a sensual expression of the spiritual.