The Rudolf Steiner Archive

5. The Pilgrimage of the Soul

I. Article in “Deutschland”, Second Edition, November 22, 1903

[ 1 ] Theosophical Lecture. On Friday at 8:00 p.m., Dr. Rudolf Steiner delivered his previously announced lecture on “The Pilgrimage of the Soul” in the main hall of the “Erholung.” He began by saying that this time, unlike in the three lectures he had given here last spring, he did not wish to start from an understanding of nature, but rather to speak directly in the language of theosophy and to present things as they appear to one whose spiritual eye is open to supersensory realities. — Humanity has its origin in three directions. That which is eternal and imperishable within him, that which reappears in ever-new incarnations, originates directly from the Source of Life—from what the great sage and martyr Giordano Bruno called the World Soul. Just as human thought is an outflow of the human soul, so the eternal human spirit is an outflow of the divine Primordial Soul. And just as human beings, as they live today, draw their perceptions from the external world—from sensory nature—through their senses, and allow their will to be spurred on by their feelings and passions, as well as by the deliberations of their intellect trained in the laws of nature, so, before it incarnated, the eternal human spirit drew all its thinking and willing from the source of the Eternal, from the divine Primordial Soul. In this form, it awaited its earthly incarnation. This became possible because, on a world body that preceded our Earth, physicality was being prepared, which provided the foundation for external development. On this other world body—unknown to external science but well known to spiritual research—the sensory ancestors of humankind developed. These were beings who certainly possessed sensation and emotion, instincts, and passions, but who were still entirely devoid of the power of reason and rational thought. They were very different from both present-day humans and present-day animals. These beings entered a dormant state once the task of the aforementioned celestial body had been fulfilled. Just as a plant seed lies dormant, waiting to awaken to new life when planted in the soil, so these seeds of being lay dormant until, at the dawn of our Earth’s evolution, they were received by our planet and called to a new existence. Now a new preparatory stage began for them. The ability developed within them to place their sensory drives, sensations, feelings, and passions in the service of a higher power. This power was the beginning of what later became the intellect—that which enables modern humans to find their way in the external world and makes it possible for them to master the lower forces of nature. For long periods of time, the human beings who were later to become the abodes of human spirits lived in this preparatory stage. Then the moment arrives when they are ready to receive the young human spirit described above. This spirit incarnates for the first time in such human bodies. It gradually learns to master the physicality that is, as it were, wrapped around it like a shell. But he can learn only a little in his first life. He must pass through the “Gate of Death” again and again to attain a new incarnation. Then, between two incarnations, the human spirit journeys through the higher worlds, where he brings the experiences of earthly development to maturity. It passes through the “Land of Desires” (Kamaloka) to bring its desires into proper harmony with the whole of the universe; it proceeds further through a purer spiritual world, where it can bring to maturity the capacity for thought it has developed within itself through its struggle with the world. Then it returns to a new incarnation to once again undergo earthly life for a time and gather new experiences for its higher development. Thus does the spiritual soul make its pilgrimage through many incarnations until its earthly destiny is fulfilled and all human spirits are led over to a new, even higher existence in a world whose sublimity is beyond the imagination of present-day humanity. II. Report in the Weimarische Zeitung of November 22, 1903

[ 2 ] Last night at the “Erholung,” Dr. Rudolf Steiner of Berlin sought to illustrate “The Pilgrimage of the Soul”—as it unfolds according to theosophical views and assertions—to his audience, which consisted largely of women. He took as a given that an eternal, active soul dwells within the human body, and explained that this eternal aspect within us has its origin in the “World Soul,” whose existence Giordano Bruno had already posited. But according to Dr. Steiner, the human being consists not only of soul and body; a third element is added: the spirit. This “young human spirit,” as the lecturer calls it, springs from God and is truly imperishable. However, this trinity was not united within a human being from eternity; rather, the “physical human being” developed from another purely physical, instinctively acting human being, whose existence took place on an earlier world body that gave birth to our Earth. It was only during the — mysteriously unfolding — transition to our planet that the “soul,” which had also already undergone its own developments, descended into him. It took a long time before the human being was ready to receive the young human spirit. The spirit first had to acclimate; only gradually did it learn to perceive through human senses. But all this did not take place within a single human being. Because the spirit had now incarnated, it became entwined with human desires and passions. It finds it difficult to detach itself from them, even after the “physical human being” has already died. Rather, it must purify itself at various stations in the afterlife, after having assimilated within itself what it learned during its earthly life. For a short time, this spirit then sinks into a region where it can unfold and expand; then it descends again into a new body. This journey continues until it reaches its predestined goal, the theosophical “Nirvana.” This, however, is not the “nothingness” as the ancient Indian sages (and Schopenhauer as well) called it, but a state whose nature we have not yet begun to comprehend. — Such is—in broad strokes—the “pilgrimage of the soul,” as Dr. Steiner teaches it. He expressly emphasized that these were truths, just as certain as the truth that electric arc lamps were shining in the recreation hall. The style of his lecture also reflected this conviction. Dr. Steiner always used the phrase “It is such and such” to support his assertions. This gave one the impression that he believed with certainty that he possessed the truth. (Not “one truth” or “his truth.”)

[ 3 ] In his next lecture, he will discuss “The Soul of the World and Human Destiny.”