The Rudolf Steiner Archive

1. Birth and Death in the Life of the Soul

Article in an unknown Cologne newspaper

[ 1 ] Birth and Death in the Life of the Soul. A Glimpse into the Theosophical Worldview. On Monday evening, Dr. Rudolf Steiner from Berlin gave a lecture on this topic at the Theosophical Society (Cologne Section), attended by approximately 100 people in the Isabellensaal of the Gürzenich. The main points of this captivating two-hour speech are summarized here briefly.

[ 2 ] Those who are not completely absorbed in material life will have to ask themselves: What happens to us after death? What were we before birth? Even the earliest philosophers raised these questions. From the dying Socrates’ conversation with his students, it becomes clear to us that Socrates firmly believed in the continued existence of his soul. This belief reached an even higher level of development in his student Plato. He asked the question: “Why do we live?” It was clear to him that the purpose of our life could not be fulfilled with the death of the body. Through birth, our life is essentially already predetermined. The environment into which birth places us determines whether we eke out our existence in wealth or poverty, in joy or suffering, and whether our spirit will progress or remain at a lower level. Should life be considered fulfilled with death for the poor and the ignorant? Rarely does a person die without desires; these desires suggest that there must be another life for us in which we can attain higher development. The body, of course, is transitory, but our spirit is eternal. It can never be a product of the body. The body derives its nourishment from the physical, while the spirit derives it from the spiritual. What the spirit has absorbed does not perish; the truth and goodness that enable the spirit to ascend to a higher level are eternal. The eminent physiologist Wilhelm Preyer said: “Everything physical passes away and breaks down into its constituent parts, but force and motion are enduring.” Redner adds to this statement with the words: “and the spirit is enduring.” If we believe in the eternity of the soul, we must also accept that our soul continues to develop and that there is a highest stage of this development. To reach this level, the soul will incarnate again and again. The doctrine of reincarnation was more or less explicitly taught by the founders of the major religions, and our great sages believed in it. Redner recalls Giordano Bruno, Lessing, Goethe, and natural scientists of both past and present. The belief in reincarnation also prevailed during the early centuries of Christianity. In the Middle Ages, however, it was lost. At that time, people knew only of earth and heaven. Today, however, now that we have made great strides in our understanding of nature, it has become necessary to study our soul anew based on this view of nature. Just as the lily of the field fades and leaves behind a seed in which all the power resides to bring forth a new plant like the one that has died, so the human soul returns again and again to a new body. It is not speculative thoughts that have led to this belief, but rather what highly developed individuals have beheld with the spiritual eye. Theosophy is understood as this study of the soul. Redner now provides a narrative insight into the Theosophical worldview. He explains how human beings consist of three parts. The outer shell is the perishable body; within it lies the soul, which grants the ability to perceive the external world and to feel joy and sorrow, love and hate. These elements of the soul separate from the body shortly after death and merge with the universe. The core of the human being, however, is the spirit. The spirit—which is unique to humans and not found even in highly developed animals—remains eternal and will always return to a human body until, having reached the highest level, it enters the realm of the spirit.

[ 3 ] The speaker's remarks were met with enthusiastic applause. It may be of interest to note that Dr. Steiner was formerly the librarian of the Goethe Archive in Weimar and was involved in editing the scientific manuscripts for the major Weimar edition.