The Rudolf Steiner Archive

8. The Mystery of Death and the Enigma of Life

[ 1 ] Every profound soul must repeatedly ask itself the question of the meaning of life; it must constantly ask itself anew about the mystery of death. Not only when we gaze up at the starry heavens, into the distant reaches of the universe, but with every step we take in everyday life, questions about the fundamental mysteries of life arise. When one person is born into circumstances such that we can already foresee at his cradle that hopelessness and hardship will accompany him through life, while another is born into the most favorable circumstances and endowments—so that we know he is destined for a happy life and will be able to bring great blessings to his fellow human beings—then we ask: Why is this so? We ask: How is it that one person is born and raised in hardship and misery, seemingly through no fault of their own, while another is able to lead a happy life, seemingly without having earned it?

[ 2 ] Human beings are never able to find answers to life’s mysteries through a purely physical perspective. Theosophy seeks these answers in the spiritual understanding of the deeper meaning of existence, which extends beyond the sensory world. Theosophy seeks to answer the questions about life’s mysteries not because idle curiosity plagues people, but because humanity needs, for a healthy existence, the confidence that comes from the sources that provide us with answers to these questions.

[ 3 ] If we wish to explore the sources of life in accordance with the theosophical worldview, we must bear in mind the structure of the human being. What the senses perceive in a human being is only a part of the human being that it shares with the so-called mineral beings. Then spiritual science shows us how the physical organism is kept alive by a second principle of the human being—the etheric or life body—which is a constant fighter against the decay of the physical body. Furthermore, through theosophy, we have seen how everything that lives in the soul—pleasure and suffering, joy and pain, drives, desires, and passions, as well as ideals—has a third component of human nature as its vehicle: the astral body. While humans share the physical body with all mineral beings, they share the etheric body with all living beings, but the astral body only with animals. The sum of these forces—that which lies at the center of human being—can be summed up in the words “I am.” The “I am” is unique to humans among all living beings around them.

[ 4 ] From this “I,” he becomes the master and transformer of his other three members. As the “I” works, it first transforms a part of the astral body into the spiritual self, or Manas. As the “I” works upon itself through powerful impulses, the life body is transformed into the life spirit, or Budhi. When the “I” works its way down into the physical principle, Atman—or the Spiritual Man—develops from that physical principle.

[ 5 ] In the ordinary human being, the four members up to the “I” are present. Large parts of Manas are also usually already developed. In the course of his development, the human being will come to develop the seven members of his being independently. In reality, the seven parts are only four members, for Manas is the transformed astral body, Budhi is the transformed etheric body, and Atman is the transformed principle of the physical body.

[ 6 ] From the moment a person wakes up in the morning until the moment they fall asleep at night, we see four aspects within the human being: the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body, and the I.

[ 7 ] In the state of sleep and in the state of death, these four elements exist in different relationships. The state of sleep is also called the brother of death. When a person falls asleep in the evening, pleasure and suffering, joy and pain—everything of which the astral body is the bearer—sink into an indeterminate darkness. The ego, too, sinks into an indeterminate darkness when a person falls asleep in the evening. For those who view human beings from the standpoint of spiritual science, the state of the sleeping person appears as follows: the physical body and the etheric body lie in bed; the astral body and the ego are lifted out. In modern human beings, the astral self and the I do not yet possess spiritual organs of perception. To perceive the world, they still require the organs of the physical and etheric bodies. Otherwise, they cannot perceive consciously. Naively, but quite correctly, a person does not say, “My eye sees, my ear hears,” but rather, “I see,” and “I hear.” The sense organs of the physical body are the instruments of the astral body and the “I.”

[ 8 ] Sleep presents itself as that state of the human being in which the astral body and the inner self—the “I”—are in a purely spiritual world. Is the astral body inactive at night? No, it is not. During the night, it is outside the physical and etheric bodies. For those who can investigate these matters, it can be observed that the astral body works on the human being’s physical and etheric bodies throughout the night. Where it is at night is its true home. There lie the forces into which it immerses itself at night. During the day, it takes in all manner of impressions through the external senses: form, color, light, and so on. All of this surges back and forth within the astral body.

[ 9 ] The astral body is not yet in complete harmony with the physical body; this gives rise to fatigue. This fatigue must be dispelled at night as the astral body immerses itself in the forces of its spiritual home and refreshes itself. Once complete harmony has been established between the astral body and the physical body, a completely different state will have set in. The balancing out of the impressions absorbed during the day from the physical environment manifests as fatigue in the evening. During the night, the astral body works through this fatigue. We feel the effects of this work on the physical and etheric bodies early in the morning. The manifestations of what the astral body does at night can be seen in the morning in the form of renewed vitality. Even when the physical and etheric bodies are ill, the astral body exerts a harmonizing influence on the disturbed etheric and physical bodies during sleep.

[ 10 ] Physical science may raise many objections to such things, but the fact that spiritual processes are at work behind the facts does not contradict the findings of scientific research. If one repeatedly seeks to raise objections, based on physical research, against the teachings of spiritual science regarding mental and psychological processes, one can point to the following example of a similar assessment. Let us suppose: One person slaps another. A has observed that the first person experienced a surge of anger and was therefore led to slap the other. B, however, says: “I saw his hand rise, I saw it move toward the other person’s face, and that is why the slap occurred. This talk of a surge of anger is nonsense!” — This is how physical research judges matters when it insists on the truth of external facts in contrast to the findings of spiritual research. We perceive only a small part of the world when we judge and observe only external facts. Everything that happens in the world—what physics investigates, what external observation shows us—is merely the gestures of the world’s soul life. The situation is quite different for a human being at death than in sleep. Then not only does the “I” detach itself along with the astral body, but the etheric body also departs, and only the physical body remains behind. During life, the etheric body is a constant fighter against the decay of the physical body. But the physical body disintegrates the moment the etheric body leaves it. Immediately after death, the “I,” the astral body, and the etheric body are together—for a brief moment. It is not the case for all people that these three remain together immediately after death; rather, for each person, this state lasts as long as the person was able to exist without sleep.

[ 11 ] The experiences a person has during this time are very strange. He literally feels himself growing out of himself, becoming larger. During this time, he sees all the events of his past life unfolding around him as if in a vast tableau of memories. This moment is extraordinary. Only in exceptional cases does a person experience something similar during the course of their life. It may be that, during a moment of intense fear—such as when they are on the verge of drowning or falling—they experience a detachment of the etheric body from the physical body to such an extent that the memories of their entire past life come before them. However, this is only the case if the ego and the astral body do not lose consciousness. The astral body must remain within the etheric body.

[ 12 ] Another example of how the etheric body is at times separated from the physical body is when a limb—for example, a hand—has gone numb. Children have a very telling expression for this; they say, “It feels like seltzer water.” The seer knows that at that moment, the etheric body protrudes from the physical body at that spot. The altered blood circulation is merely a consequence of the etheric body being partially detached. Like the fingers of a glove, we can see the etheric body hanging out of the hand. When someone is hypnotized, one can see the etheric body protruding on the left and right, hanging down like flaps.

[ 13 ] Perhaps some will say that these remarks are nonsense and regard them as folly. It is particularly good when we can cite examples in our accounts of the realities of the spiritual world from people who might themselves laugh at theosophy. The criminal anthropologist Benedikt recounts that he experienced the following: Once, while swimming, he was on the verge of drowning when suddenly his entire life flashed before his eyes.

[ 14 ] We can explain the fact that, after death, a person sees his entire past life unfold before him as a tableau—and the similar experience that occurs during a severe shock—as follows: The etheric body is, among other things, the carrier of memory. In ordinary life, it is connected to the physical brain. At the moment when the carrier of memory is freed from the physical brain—but while the astral body is still contained within the etheric body—the entire life appears before the human soul as a vast tableau of memories. Little by little, it fades into the darkness, and a second corpse remains behind. From the etheric or life body, something remains for the person—like an essence, like an extract of the great tableau of memories—as if the contents of a large book had been summarized on a single page. Thus, after death, the essence of earthly life remains for us from this tableau of memories; it is incorporated into the astral body on its journey after death.

[ 15 ] Now, the human being consists of the ego, the astral body, and the imprinted essence of his last life. If we want to know what fate awaits the astral body after death, we must recall the experiences of ordinary life. Let us see what it is that actually experiences pleasure in physical things. It is the astral body, which uses the physical organs merely as tools. For example, in the case of a gourmet, it is also the astral body for which the physical organs serve only as tools. But it is the astral body that has the craving for delicious food. Let us imagine ourselves in the astral body after death. It has the same cravings and instincts as it did before, but it now lacks the instruments to satisfy them. The astral body is now in a special situation. It has the desires but no tools to satisfy them. The person is in a state of burning thirst. The more a person is attached to all that can be satisfied only through the physical body, the more intense the thirst becomes. This thirst lasts until the astral body realizes that it must break the habit of these desires. The period of burning thirst is called the Kamaloka period; Kama means “desire,” and Loka means “place.” It is the sum of experiences that can be satisfied only through the physical body and must be overcome.

[ 16 ] When a person learns to seek the divine-spiritual in the world, he lacks nothing after death. It is a way to shorten one’s time in Kamaloka if one frees oneself from base pleasures and learns to find inner satisfaction through spiritual interests. The highest means by which a person can free themselves from the sensual within the sensual is art—true art. The more idealistic and spiritual the art that influences a person, the shorter the time spent in Kamaloka. Art that is directed toward the external and the sensual is not suitable for the human being as a whole. It is a period—relatively longer for one person, shorter for another—during which one must wean oneself from what binds one to the physical world.

[ 17 ] Then comes the shedding of a third body. After a long time, the human being sheds the astral body. Anything that has not been purified by the “I”—the “I” cannot take it along on the journey of life that lies ahead. The unpurified, unprocessed parts of the astral body remain in the astral world. These astral corpses are always around us. People who are—or have been—intensely connected to the sensory world shed dense astral corpses.

[ 18 ] Some influences on human beings stem from the fact that they pass through spiritual beings, that their souls are permeated by such spiritual beings. This also includes astral bodies. For if a person is not equipped to deal with this, they are susceptible to such influences. A restlessness arises within them, and perhaps even negative impulses. However, a good person of strong character will not succumb to these harmful influences.

[ 19 ] We have now traced the human being up to the point where only the “I” remains, along with the purified parts of the astral and etheric bodies. Now a purely spiritual state begins, which is called Devachan. There, the human being is stripped of his veils; he is a purely spiritual being. We now have the “I” before us. It has sprouted from the physical sheaths and has become spiritually independent. The “I” in the human being appears almost as if a plant that had been enclosed by crevices in a rock were set free and were unfolding freely. Once the astral body has fallen away, the “I” unfolds in all directions. Through this, it experiences a profound sense of bliss.

[ 20 ] If we wish to understand these feelings, we must compare them to a feeling that is merely a very faint echo of them. When a hen sits on her eggs and, through her body heat, guides the developing life toward maturity, we find a small glimpse of this feeling of bliss that the self experiences during this time.

[ 21 ] The time is coming when the fruit ripens, as the essence of one’s past life. It is not for nothing that the self has absorbed this essence of its past life. The self has taken in the world through thousands upon thousands of impressions. With its intellect and its spirit, the self faced life. Everything it has absorbed is condensed into this small essence, and this essence, imbued with a feeling of inner bliss, has become a creator.

[ 22 ] The “I” is preparing to build a new human being. We have built ourselves just as we are. Only our physical constitution and a small part of what is in the etheric body have been passed down to us through heredity. What we already see taking shape in the child’s body required this long period after death to assimilate the fruits of the last life. Each time at death, a person takes with them such an essence of their last life. Each time, a person builds a new life for themselves through what they have experienced. To what we have brought with us from previous lives, the essence of the last life is added after death. The ego experiences this incorporation of the fruits of the last human life and their utilization as a source of bliss. Thus, the ego works to use these fruits of the last life to build a new human being. Physical heredity provides the building blocks. How they are assembled stems from the last life. The shaping of the new life lies within the essence of the last life.

[ 23 ] But after death, human beings have something else to do besides focusing on themselves. When we look at the evolution of the Earth, we must realize that everything on Earth changes. Human beings do not reappear on Earth until they are ready to have new experiences there. Imagine Europe a few centuries before Christ, when everything was covered with vast forests, and how every corner of the Earth has changed since then. The face of the Earth is constantly changing, and so, too, is the cultural face of the Earth. Our children learn something completely different in school than the children of the ancient Romans did. The face of the Earth has also changed in spiritual and psychological terms. Where are the forces that bring about these changes?

[ 24 ] The forces that transformed that Germany which existed in the first centuries after the birth of Christ lie in the spiritual world. The agents of this transformation are human beings themselves. After death, they help shape the face of the Earth. The seer sees how earthly beings are surrounded and enveloped by disembodied human beings who are preparing the ground into which they will be born in a new life. In physical life, we build cities, construct instruments, machines, and so on. But after death, we reshape the face of the Earth. We prepare the bed into which a human being is laid when he or she is ready to assume a new form. We see human beings creating there in the spiritual world; they are among the architects, among those who help shape the Earth’s transformation.

[ 25 ] It takes a long time for the Earth to change to such an extent that the soul returns to a completely transformed setting. Once, humanity appeared for the first time in an earthly body. Before that, it existed in a purely spiritual world, in the bosom of the Divine. What a human being experiences in the physical body in the physical world can only be experienced within the physical body. With each life, he adds, as it were, a new page to the one that came before. At the end of his incarnations, these earthly experiences are incorporated into his soul, and he lays them down before the altar of the Deity.

[ 26 ] As long as a person can be enriched by particular forms of earthly existence, he continues to incarnate. This is how individual life can be understood. It is an effect of previous lives and a preparation for a future life. This law is not meant for brooding, daydreaming, or idly looking back on the past. The law tells us: The experiences of this life are the consequences of past lives and the preparations for a future life. When I am in need and misery, this serves as preparation for future experiences. This is a law of life that knows how to solve life’s mysteries in a wondrous way.

[ 27 ] If, invoking this law, one were to object—as sometimes happens—that it would then be impossible to help those in need, that is utterly nonsensical. Just as a merchant’s ledger shows a specific balance, but new entries can be made every day on both the debit and credit sides, so too can we take stock at any moment in life of all our good and bad deeds—yet new entries can also be added to either side at any moment. At no moment is it impossible for us to add entirely new entries. It is precisely through the law of karma that we are able to help others. It is a law that inspires life and mobilizes all energy. The law of karma is often misunderstood by two groups: theologians and some theosophists. Theologians object that salvation through Christ Jesus has been brought to all of humanity, and therefore human beings themselves can do nothing to achieve their own salvation. Some theosophists, on the other hand, believe they must oppose the doctrine of salvation through Jesus Christ because they believe in the law of karma. But if they understand the law of karma correctly, they know that one can always add a new entry to one’s life account and that, therefore, one can help another person at any time. Thus, the more powerful a person is, the more they can help others. A powerful being, such as Christ, is capable of influencing an infinite number of people. The act of salvation is inscribed in the karma of all humanity. The Law of Karma stands in the most beautiful harmony with salvation through Jesus Christ.

[ 28 ] Theosophy is the finest tool for understanding the great religious truths. Through it, modern man attains the form that is right for his soul.

[ 29 ] The meaning of life becomes clear when we recognize what lies behind life and incorporate it into the impulses that guide our actions. Theosophy is intended for energetic people who want to create in this life. As we learn to recognize the spiritual forces, we also learn to integrate them into our lives. The theosophist is completely indifferent to whether people argue for or against theosophy using ordinary, dialectical arguments. What matters in theosophy is that it becomes an instrument for life, that it increasingly takes hold in life. In the coming phase of cultural development, it will become clear what humanity owes to Theosophy: that through Theosophy, people will become joyful in their work and full of hope.

[ 30 ] Theosophy is a remedy for humanity. If it proves itself to be such, then it requires no other logical proof. If Theosophy has a healing effect on people, then it will be proven by the facts of life.