The Rudolf Steiner Archive

13. Specific Questions About Reincarnation and Destiny

[ 1 ] To those who look more deeply, the most ordinary things are the greatest mysteries. One needs the deepest science to unravel the most ordinary things. Natural science provides the fundamental key to solving many questions. Other questions can only be solved through the spiritual science known as theosophy—a name that is often misused and misunderstood. The great, gigantic destiny that elevates humanity by crushing it is often called a series of coincidences. Some grow up without care at their cradle and can render only meager service to their fellow human beings. Others are watched over by caring love; their abilities are developed, and they can lead a fulfilling life and become a useful member of society. Why? To answer this, one must explore the law of the chain of facts, causes, and effects.

[ 2 ] Let’s consider a few cases. A person at age eighteen chooses a different career than they did at age twelve. But after eight years, a disharmony arises. They are like an elastic ball that has been compressed and then expands again. This occurs both before and after the turning point. Around the middle of life, between the ages of 35 and 37, a kind of turning point arises. Thus, causes from youth have a retroactive effect in old age. In one’s fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth years, one had youthful ideals that became ingrained in one’s life. As a result, there is no wavering back and forth later on. Even if they are not fulfilled—for our soul, they are not—they become powerful forces within our soul. This is how a person of inner stability develops. After midlife, such ideals can bear the fruit of equanimity.

[ 3 ] From the ages of seven to fourteen, authority is a vital need. What is true is not considered true because of its reasoning, but because of a revered authority. There is also a certain emotional life: one takes joy in every flower, believing that divine, spiritual beings lie behind them. From the mid-forties onward, the opportunity arises to draw upon what had then become a firmly established character in the freshness of life. These things emerge so deeply as effects because they penetrated so deeply into our soul. Experiences in the seventh year have effects in a person’s twilight years. But when we say, “This is beautiful, that is ugly,” it contributes practically nothing to the well-being of people. We should awaken from within the soul the need to do this or that. To do so, we descend one step deeper. We draw sustenance from this in our old age. In this way, we provide the child with provisions for old age. A great poet says: “What we have recognized with our intellect, we look up to with devotion. Devotion comes back to us as an effect in later life; later on, we radiate an atmosphere of love and bliss.”

[ 4 ] Such connections can be found in the humanities. They are governed by the law of karma. It is possible to modify the above, for example, by getting married at the age of twenty-three; however, this does not overturn the law that governs the turning point of a career change at the age of eighteen.

[ 5 ] In the seventeenth century, there was a belief that has only recently been disproved. People thought that worms, insects, and so on sprang from river mud. Today, it is understood that an earthworm germ is necessary for this to happen. In the seventeenth century, it was believed that if one beat ox carcasses until they were mushy, bees would emerge; from horse carcasses, hornets; and from donkey carcasses, wasps. Francesco Redi, who died in Pisa in 1697, said: “Life can only come from life.” He was considered a formidable heretic.

[ 6 ] This is how it is with the spiritual world: what is brought over from the spiritual-soul realm takes on the characteristics of the father and mother and is thereby fulfilled. The law of karma is still rejected today; in later times, people will not even believe that it was ever disbelieved.

[ 7 ] Development takes place between birth and death. Experiences coalesce into a skill, such as the ability to write. The individual experiences are forgotten. Experiences bring about a state in which things happen without compulsion.

[ 8 ] All sensory impressions, pleasure, and suffering sink into unconsciousness during sleep. The life of the soul is [aroused] by external stimuli. During sleep, there is unconsciousness because external impressions are silent. The spiritual seeker must consciously command silence over external impressions with his will; but inwardly, the soul must be filled with that which is stronger than external impressions. The first act is the emptying of the soul; the second is complete stillness, otherwise there will be a storm. Then comes the awakening of initiation. At a lower level, it is like a person born blind undergoing surgery. Then come spiritual realities and spiritual beings; then comes hearing and seeing with spiritual ears and eyes. Then comes knowledge of the other parts of the human being.

[ 9 ] While awake, we expend our soul forces; during sleep, we replenish them, drawing from our homeland what replaces the expended forces. In sleep, experiences are transformed and crystallize into essence in the form of abilities, such as the ability to write. We could never develop if we did not sleep. As we fall asleep, the “I” descends into the depths of consciousness. The astral body has its own subconscious; the “I” rests, while the astral body plunges into its own world to transform our experiences. The astral body transforms experiences into abilities in a way we cannot. The “I” cannot bring about its own development, nor can it establish relationships with the environment. The “I” detaches itself from the entire sphere of the environment. A coincidence that we do not comprehend is like the “I,” which must refrain from establishing a relationship with the environment. Coincidence is everything that can be called “sleep” in a spatial sense.

[ 10 ] We pass through the gates of death with the extract.