The Rudolf Steiner Archive

11. The Supernatural Worlds and the Nature of the Human Soul

[ 1 ] Ladies and gentlemen! I ask that you consider today’s and tomorrow’s lectures as a single whole. Although I will endeavor to present each one as a self-contained whole in a certain sense, what I have the honor of presenting to you will only be fully illuminated when what is presented in one lecture is measured against what is presented in the other.

[ 2 ] When, from the perspective of the worldview from which my explanations are to be presented here, we speak today about the nature of the human soul and its connection to the supersensible worlds, it is understandable that to those who judge what is to be said here from the standpoint of today’s general education, it must at first seem alien, strange, perhaps even fantastical. This is most understandable to the very person who holds this worldview, which is based on a kind of spiritual research, for how could it not seem strange, on the one hand, when—in contrast to today’s worldviews, which believe they stand on the firm ground of modern science—this so-called spiritual research asserts that the human soul is a far more comprehensive entity than anything known to the human being about this soul in ordinary life, throughout the entire course of life between birth and death, for this spiritual research seeks to show that human soul life is not limited to all that comes to light between birth and death, but that this human soul being follows its path from birth to death and again from death to birth into new lives, as the consequence of previous [earthly lives and the cause of subsequent ones].

[ 3 ] Human existence as a whole thus breaks down into successive earthly lives, between which lie forms of soul-spiritual existence that unfold in a purely spiritual world. At first glance, this understandably appears to be nothing more than a completely fantastical notion, and no one need be surprised—not even those grounded in spiritual research—that in the broadest circles of today’s educated public, such a view is regarded as nothing more than the fantasy of a few eccentric dreamers, and even if, on the one hand, the matter itself appears highly open to criticism, such criticism can easily be joined at present by another that many also raise—namely, the one that says: “Even if there really is such a thing as a soul life that is separate—and particularly separate—from everyday life, a person, with the ordinary powers of cognition at his disposal, certainly cannot advance to a solution of the world’s mysteries that is grounded on the basis just described.” So if one person, who concurs with the prevailing view of our time, were to say that such a thing cannot be known at all, the other would declare the matter to be entirely fantastical. And indeed, ladies and gentlemen, one does not readily come close to the research methods and paths that lead to insights of which those indicated regarding the human soul are [only] a part. Not through external activities, through external experiments, nor even through the ordinary observational methods of external science, can human beings arrive at such results; and anyone who might imagine that spiritual research can resort to the same methods as conventional science would be indulging in a grave error. Spiritual science cannot resort to evidence similar to that of conventional science. Oh, [undoubtedly] everything [to which what is said refers] lies beyond the realm [beyond which] human souls can observe, and beyond what even those cognitive powers of human beings bound to the instrument of the brain can experience. This immediately raises the question: Are there, in the nature of the human soul, any possibilities for arriving at insights that are not conditioned by the senses or by the human brain? The answer to this question can, of course, only be provided by experience—the experience of those who have already arrived at such insights. But anyone can ask: Is there any possibility at all of speaking of a “superior being” of the human soul that exists separately from the external physicality of the human brain?

[ 4 ] A starting point, ladies and gentlemen, is one that I have often taken—on the many occasions when I have had the honor of speaking before you—namely, a fact that is intimately connected with all of humanity’s greatest mysteries of life, a fact that presents itself anew to us every day, yet goes unobserved simply because people are least inclined to observe in life precisely those things they experience as part of their everyday routine. Surprisingly more significant, however, is the mystery of life that will be discussed in greater detail tomorrow—one that centers on the question of death and immortality. But intimately connected to this mystery of life, which touches every human being so deeply, is [another], everyday mystery. This is the mystery of life hidden in the transitional state we experience daily between waking and sleeping. We shall not discuss here the scientific hypotheses—which are, admittedly, of the utmost interest—concerning the nature of sleep, but rather what spiritual science has to say, in a very elementary way, about the nature of the transitional state between waking and sleeping. Spiritual science must first draw attention to the illogicality inherent in the assumption that every evening, everything that has arisen during the passing day—from morning to evening—would vanish as we plunge into [the darkness], the unconsciousness of sleep. Instincts, desires, passions, sensations, ideas, [joy and sorrow]—all sink into the unconsciousness of sleep; that they would vanish in the evening and [return] in the morning, taking shape anew—no logical thinking can accept this. Therefore, this line of thought can turn its attention to what spiritual science has to say on the matter and, for the time being, regard it as a hypothesis. For spiritual science teaches that when a person falls asleep—when they lose control over their physical limbs and movement, and when they lose the ability to feel and think—their soul-spiritual being, as spiritual science puts it, leaves the physical body at that very moment. [The human soul-spiritual being] is outside the body during sleep, and it returns to it in the morning; when the person [awakens] once more and their daily life begins, this soul-spiritual being—so says spiritual science—[once again] submerges into [physical] body [and] begins to stir in order to interact with the physical-sensory external world.

[ 5 ] Certainly, ladies and gentlemen, this must be a hypothesis for anyone who has not yet delved more deeply into spiritual science; for even if one assumes that the spiritual-soul being withdraws from physicality and leads an existence of its own, human beings are not capable of knowing anything about this spiritual-soul being; even if we assume that it has stepped out of the outer physical body, human beings nevertheless lose [upon stepping out] the ability to feel themselves—consciously, actively, and in suffering—within what is supposed to be out there. And if there is no way to demonstrate that what emerges is truly real, if there is no way to demonstrate that a human being can come to experience themselves outside the body, then there can be no real proof for what spiritual science asserts. This proof must be provided by the one who wishes to be a spiritual researcher, and it is impossible to look into the spiritual world; it is impossible to gain insights into the spiritual world unless what submerges into the spiritual world during sleep—that which is activated and enlivened within the human being as their own human-soul being— and raised to consciousness even when it is separated from the body. The spiritual researcher must undergo this as a development of his own spiritual-soul being so that he may arrive at a [new] insight. The spiritual researcher must learn to perceive and to commune with that spiritual-soul being of which the human being knows absolutely nothing in ordinary life, of which he must say: “Even if it is happening to me, I am still unaware of it.” This implies that something could occur in the spiritual researcher that would be similar to the state of sleep [and] yet radically different. Let us assume for a moment that the hypothesis is correct; then one could say: In sleep, the human being leaves his physical body. Conscious life ceases, the [sensory] organs cease to function; thus, the state of sleep is [constituted] by the fact that the human soul, when it does not make use of these instruments, becomes [apparently] unconscious and sinks into the darkness of sleep. The spiritual researcher must be able to bring about this [soul] state through his own volition, through his energetically exerted will. He must in fact [voluntarily] bring about that which otherwise befalls a person involuntarily: the severing of all contact with the physical external world. The spiritual researcher must bring this about artificially. But that is not enough; if he did only that, he would not be bringing about anything for spiritual knowledge; he would merely be inducing a state of sleep.

[ 6 ] A second condition must also be met: When [the spiritual researcher], through his own free will, has freed himself from all service to the physical body, he does not fall into unconsciousness, but knows that he finds himself with the “I” in a new world—one that exists beyond the ordinary world—that is to say, he must be able to develop the “I”—which otherwise appears paralyzed, sensing no inner activity or inner life—into inner life and activity; what otherwise appears as something unreal and paralyzed, [he must make entirely real].

[ 7 ] At least in principle, I must [explain] to you, esteemed audience, what leads to such a revitalization; a detailed account of how a person can attain a true inner revitalization [of their soul] can be found in my writings *How Does One Attain Knowledge of the Higher Worlds?*, “Theosophy,” and [“A Path to Self-Knowledge”]. What is explained in detail there will be presented here only in principle. One does not attain this through external measures, but through intimate inner processes that can be described with the words meditation, concentration of the soul life, and contemplation. What is meant by these terms? One gains the best understanding if one does not initially imagine that these terms refer to [something] entirely foreign to ordinary soul life or lying apart from it. Everything that the spiritual researcher must apply to his soul is merely a continuation of what he otherwise accomplishes [in his soul life].

[ 8 ] Let's take an example. One of the great advances in humanity’s spiritual life is marked by what Giordano Bruno once accomplished, standing as a thinker of the cosmos on the foundation of the Copernican worldview. What, in fact, was gained for the evolving spiritual life through Giordano Bruno? We can outline what was gained in roughly the following way: A large portion of humanity [at that time], in the era preceding Giordano Bruno, looked up into outer space; they saw the various stars circling there, but the naive people of that time imagined that the entire space was enclosed by the ether—by what was called the “crystal sky,” because they saw the blue vault of the heavens. But how did Giordano Bruno look out into outer space? He looked out into outer space in such a way that he recognized: Every gaze that looks out sees into infinities, and where a boundary appears to the eye, there is actually nothing; it is only through the eye, through the entire human perception, that something like a blue hollow sphere is seen. Thus, what the eye sees was transcended; and through Giordano Bruno’s worldview, that which the mission of human development had required up to his time was transcended. A new element emerged. [Infinite cosmic spaces lie before the eye], embedded in infinite cosmic space, infinite worlds. A person can say to themselves: What you see there—just as your gaze rests upon the blue vault of the sky—is only an illusion, is only brought about by your interaction with the external world, and [in truth] is not really there at all. How was such a perspective gained? [This perspective was gained] not through external observation, of course, for that contradicted such perspectives; rather, through a higher energization [or vitalization] of human cognitive and spiritual life. One had mustered the courage to derive inner insight from the data provided by the senses and thereby transcend what the senses offered. That which the senses offered had been declared to be an all-encompassing illusion. Because the human soul has developed within itself powers that can enlighten it about reality despite outward appearances, what is referred to as meditation, contemplation, and [concentration] can be regarded, as it were, as a continuation of that modest spiritual development to which the spiritually leading personalities devoted themselves.

[ 9 ] How a person comes to possess the ability to divert one’s attention can be read about [in my book *How Does One Attain Knowledge of the Higher Worlds?*]. Just as it is possible in ordinary life to withdraw one’s attention from something, so too is it possible, through an inner, higher act of will, to divert all the soul’s attention away from all external impressions, so that one artificially enters a state similar to falling asleep involuntarily. [But] one must already have ensured [that one’s soul life is strong enough] so as not to fall into lifelessness or inactivity, and this is achieved by performing the inner soul activity necessary for it. And how this is to be accomplished will become clearest to us when we consider that human beings experience, think, and feel everything in relation to the external world. One need only reflect on how empty the human soul would be if it were to suddenly, in an instant, forget everything that comes from the outside. Many a soul would then feel far too empty. Now, [however], one can also achieve a certain deepening and internalization [of the soul life] by taking the images gained through external impressions, holding them back, [withdrawing, and] processing them inwardly—[that is, the images gained through external impressions. This is already a kind of meditation.] It becomes effective only when the spiritual researcher brings to life ideas that do not come from the outside, but which he [creates] for himself from within the soul, even if they have a resonance with external realities. I would like to highlight one such concrete idea here, an idea that may at first seem quite foolish to the outer human being: Imagine that you have two glasses of water in front of you, one empty and one partially filled; imagine further that you pour water from the half-filled glass into the empty one; as you do so, try to imagine that the glass does not become emptier as you pour, but rather becomes fuller and fuller the more water you pour out. A foolish notion in the outer world, but such notions are important and essential for something else. To anyone who might object that this notion is indeed quite foolish, one would have to say: Such a notion is not meant to represent anything from the outside, but [its purpose is] to stir the soul into activity, to awaken a symbolic image within the soul. How should we relate to this? This image can be a symbol for something [highly enigmatic] and profoundly significant in human life; and that is what is encompassed by the word “love.” Wherever one looks in human life, it appears to us as something life-giving, [revealing itself as something invigorating]. It presents us with riddle upon riddle, [life’s greatest mysteries]. Who would presume to say that they could peer into those depths of the soul that are touched upon when we speak of love? [Something infinitely all-encompassing is evoked by the concept of “love.”] But one quality of love is wonderfully illustrated by the parable of the two glasses, by this impossible notion: the one who [always] gives again and again out of love does not become emptier and emptier, but fuller and fuller, richer and richer. This is a peculiarity [of love], of that which is expressed here: that the soul is given more and more as it gives out of love. We can conceive of what is presented in that metaphor; in doing so, we are not committing any immense folly, for we are following the example of the scientist—the one considered the most rigorous, the mathematician—we are doing so according to mathematics and geometry.

[ 10 ] Let’s suppose someone has a medal in front of them and has absolutely no idea what it actually represents—but there is one thing they can see: that it is circular. They sketch the circle; they imagine it. Everything he can imagine as a circle applies to the medal. So what does he do? He isolates the properties from the objects [and] considers them [individually], in isolation, and in this way he arrives at his insights. With such a mental image, however, one cannot go quite as far as in mathematics. But this symbol is meant to lead to the soul’s [independent] inner life. The point now is that, by setting aside all other ideas, by setting aside all worries—[that is, whatever else life experience might entail]—one should spend some time devoting oneself entirely to such a concept, living wholly within it. What is achieved in this way? What is achieved is that the person who wishes to become a researcher of the soul has united within his soul everything that he would otherwise have scattered across many sensory perceptions and many impulses of the will; he concentrates everything onto a single image that he has created for himself—one that he thus fully comprehends—[a symbol]. An immensely greater energy of the soul life must be expended when such an idea has no support, no crutch, in the outer soul life. But it is not enough to engage in such training for only a short time. Much is required, as stated in the book *How to Attain Knowledge of the Higher Worlds*. Moral concepts of all kinds [are necessary]; they are particularly fruitful for inner energization, for inner revitalization, and for stimulating the life of the soul.

[ 11 ] The first thing the soul feels in this way is not, as it were, immediate supersensible knowledge—it is the realization that within you lies the potential to summon powers other than those experienced in ordinary life. Experiencing this is an important, essential moment in life. This moment cannot be compared to anything one otherwise experiences [in ordinary life] in another branch of science—what might be called an expansion of knowledge within the ordinary scientific realm; what one experiences here can only be compared to something else in human life, namely, what a child experiences after being intimately connected to the physical body during the earliest period, the first years after birth. We see the child growing up in such a way that the soul is, as it were, not separated from the body—spiritual influence manifests itself in physical movement—and then we become aware of that [important] moment when the child realizes that it is an “I,” a realization it will later recall, while the earlier period fades away. The child’s life presents itself as an inner division into a spiritual and a soul aspect. The physical now stands opposite the soul life as something distinct; a kind of birth of the soul life takes place, a detachment of the soul life; it is not merely that the child has gained something, but that it has become different—it has [thereby] become a different being. In the same sense, one feels oneself growing as one approaches what can be attained through meditation; [one feels something similar to what the child feels in this experience.] At that moment, one feels more and more how something is breaking away, just as the child’s physicality breaks away from the life of the soul. The soul life becomes twofold; one sees something branching off, as if a new person were being born out of the old one, [one becomes a different being, acquires a new “I,” and a new inner soul life awakens]; just as the child, when it begins to become conscious of itself as an “I,” relates to its physicality quite differently than before, so too does the person who has experienced this relate to their entire inner life. This, however, is a moment that is again fundamentally different from the moment just discussed in the life of the child; how so becomes clear when you consider that throughout their life, a person is what they have developed within themselves as their feeling, thinking, and imagining; what they now experience psychologically, they must detach from themselves as a new “I.” What was inner must now become outer; the greater part of it now becomes outer, and a new inner—and at the same time higher—life of the soul awakens. It is only at this moment that one feels two distinct things: the experiences are well known from earlier times, but one has never before gone through them with such intensity.

[ 12 ] The first thing that happens is this: Now you know what self-love is. At that moment, self-love becomes clear to you. Now one knows: You must separate yourself from that which you were so in love with, that which you considered your everything, that which you have hitherto called your very being; it is as if the ground were vanishing from under your feet. Only now does one feel how much one has loved oneself, and what one [must] tear away when this inner life is objectively revealed to you. [This is natural]; in everyday life, it must be this way, because a person loves what they are most of all, even if they consider themselves to be as selfless as possible. In doing so, one overlooks the fact that what one has gradually shaped within one’s soul life—[what one must tear away]—is what one loves most. It is a difficult moment to detach oneself from oneself; and without reaching the point where one, so to speak, tears from oneself what one loves and values most within oneself—without this fact—one cannot recognize the soul as rooted in the spiritual worlds. One also has a sense of what it means to cast off self-love in ordinary life; but the strength [of selflessness] now required for this sensation is only truly recognized at a certain point in the development of the meditative, concentrated life of the soul—a point that first allows the soul to become aware of its own essence.

[ 13 ] The second is becoming aware: What are you now [at your core], after you have made your core into your shell, [after what seemed to be the core turns out to be only the shell]? At first, one senses that one is not much at all, that what confronts one as a new self is quite thin. What one now needs is inner courage to hold one’s ground in the face of the feeling of powerlessness, of the groundlessness of this entire new existence. Essentially, one of the most important experiences for the spiritual seeker is the uprooting of self-love and the overcoming of the immense fear that arises when one recognizes the powerlessness of the new self. Now, what the spiritual seeker achieves in this process is also present in ordinary life; it is present in everyone. Something new is not actually given to human beings at all; rather, the spiritual seeker can only become aware of it at the stage described. There, he is confronted with what he truly is; self-knowledge only now begins to take hold. Why can’t a person always have it? [Why wasn’t it there before?] And here we come to that important discovery that everyone who wishes to become a spiritual scientist—who transforms the nature of his soul so that he can look into the supersensible worlds—must make: He comes to realize that it is good in ordinary life that all of this—[that self-knowledge]—does not occur, because human beings would not be able to bear it. The training must consist in ensuring that [at the moment when he sheds the soul-sheath], he is then also capable of facing himself in such a way that he uproots all self-love and possesses the necessary courage to a sufficient degree. The fact that people do not face this in ordinary, [real] life serves as a protection, because [ordinary people] could not bear [for what was once internal to become external]. That is why spiritual science speaks of stepping before the “Guardian of the Threshold” [at that moment]. The threshold referred to here is the one that must be crossed if one wishes to enter the supersensible world. It is said that ordinary life finds protection through this Keeper of the Threshold, for it is only now, in essence, that the possibility of the soul’s relationship to the supersensible worlds begins; only now is the soul ready to look into the supersensible worlds. Only now does a person begin to become a spiritual researcher.

[ 14 ] For there comes a time when a person, having cultivated such an inner strengthening of his soul life for a sufficiently long time, having held such symbolic images before his soul for long enough—[images he knows are meant to strengthen the soul’s powers]— then his soul has become strong; then he also perceives the fruit of this strengthening; then he becomes aware of that important, significant moment, which he experiences as an illumination. From the indefinite depths of his soul life, such imaginations arise [of their own accord], which seem to reveal new worlds to him. Now the most important, the most decisive moment for the soul of the spiritual researcher has arrived. Now he must be able to make a decision that is immensely difficult. Why it is difficult may become clear from a comparison—a comparison of what happens to a person when, through no action of his own, ever new images arise within him that do not stem from external facts. As you know, these are called visions, hallucinations, delusions, and the like. An external scientist will be tempted to say: What the spiritual researcher experiences is nothing other than delusions that arise in a sick soul.

[ 15 ] Now, however, it is not easy to explain the difference, but it can become clear to anyone if they make another comparison. You are also aware of what happens to a person who has developed such delusions as a result of illness. Trying to talk such a sick person out of these delusions is a futile endeavor. This is precisely where it becomes evident just how [deeply] a person is in love with what he has created for himself. It is precisely this that a person must come to realize: as a spiritual researcher, one must not be so enamored of one’s own image; and therefore one must uproot self-love; one must know: in all that arises as a mental image, it is only you yourself who lives within it; like shadows of one’s own being—the inner nature of one’s soul’s mood is expressed in what surrounds you there. — This is very difficult, for one may encounter people who, through various exercises, through states of illness—which we shall not discuss here—and the like, have arrived at such experiences. Oh, such people are blissful in the world they believe they have gained. One can hear strange stories from them; they are completely convinced of this new world. Ensuring that this does not happen is part of spiritual training. Yes, the will must go even further; it must not stop at mere knowledge, for that does not help in the long run. A magnificent new world presents itself to you, but you must know what it means—that it has arisen from the inner nature of your soul’s mood. [It takes a strong will to tell oneself: All of this is merely a reflection of your own being; abstract knowledge is of no use here.] The resolve of the will must be so strong [that it is capable of] erasing this entire [imaginative] “I”-world, so that it is no longer there. That is the Rubicon that must be crossed. One has created this world for oneself, and one must be able to erase this world again. [Only those who have gone through this can speak of it.] But once one has managed to erase this entire “I-world,” [then one has become objective], and one has freed one’s consciousness to experience an objective new world. Things return, much like forgotten images that lie dormant in the depths of the soul’s life, and yet they are entirely different; [imagination rests within the soul]. Only then does the soul find itself transported by its own powers into an entirely new world. It is so peculiar what one experiences at this stage of cognition; it is as if one were experiencing something entirely new, which has enabled the soul to perceive an objective spiritual world. Now the life of the soul has become a spiritual eye, a spiritual ear; now it does not [merely] perceive itself, [one has become objective]; now the soul is a spiritual eye and ear, because it no longer sees itself. Just as the outer eye [cannot see itself], knows nothing of itself, and has thereby become permeable to the outer world, [so] must the human being, through the procedures undertaken, have made himself, as it were, permeable to the spiritual world; [then one sees the supersensible world]. Once one has made oneself permeable through the energy at one’s root, one discovers what lives within the soul!

[ 16 ] Well, one could say: Everything the spiritual researcher encounters could simply be autosuggestion or an illusion. I have already cited here what someone once told me in another [gap in the transcript]: “The soul is a peculiar thing; it often imagines that it has a reality before it.” — One would have to object to this by saying that there is no proof for anything that can be experienced in any world, except for the experience [itself]. Only experience provides the proof. We need only recall a peculiar philosophical assertion by Schopenhauer, upon which philosophies were founded. When we hear that the world is a representation, and that, fundamentally, everything that comes to meet a person is [merely] a representation—we must respond that representations must be quite clearly distinguished from experience. It is quite another matter, after all, to form even the clearest representation of a piece of hot iron, and to actually touch a hot iron; one will burn oneself on the latter, but certainly not on the clearest representation. There is no proof of reality other than that provided by direct experience. If no one had ever seen a whale, we could never prove that such an animal really exists. In life itself, reality is indeed guaranteed by this experience. The same is true in the supersensible worlds. Anyone who has reached the point to which the spiritual researcher is meant to arrive experiences the reality of those worlds into which they have entered; and when that gentleman said that there are people who can imagine a glass of lemonade so vividly that they believe they can taste it, one must say: Yes, certainly, it happens that someone can imagine the taste of lemonade through the image of it, but has the experience been carried through to its conclusion? — It is only complete when one has quenched one’s thirst, and no one has ever quenched their thirst through the mere imagination of taste. The experience must indeed be brought to its conclusion, and one experiences this bringing of experiences to their conclusion when one has [truly] entered the supersensible worlds with one’s soul. Only when one has approached the supersensible worlds in this way is one, in essence, able to penetrate the supersensible nature inherent within oneself.

[ 17 ] This essence of the self becomes particularly evident when one looks back on one’s own life. Yet it is precisely this own life that a person finds very difficult to recognize, for everything as it usually appears is, one might say, a one-sidedness brought about by life circumstances and one’s disposition. We encounter idealists and materialists; each regards the other as a fool. It is not enough to see through a superficial self-understanding. Deeper minds, such as Goethe, recognized that, when it comes down to it, each of these different viewpoints represents nothing more than a one-sided perspective. The material must be understood through material laws; the spiritual through spiritual laws. Yet Goethe adopted every point of view and never came to regard the spiritualist as a fool, for he knew that one can comprehend the supersensible life only through one’s spiritual powers. Some who have not advanced as far as Goethe believe that one must seek the truth in the middle; for those who know the truth, it is just as if one had two chairs, and it could happen that, instead of sitting on one of the chairs, one would sit on the floor between them. One does not arrive at the truth by taking the arithmetic mean; rather, as Goethe says, one finds the path to the truth by making every point of view one’s own. But one can truly do this only after undergoing a deeper self-knowledge; when one [looks back on one’s life], one realizes: You have achieved this through and because you have taken your standpoint, [from which you view the whole world]; through this you have become what you are. In this way, life becomes a picture, and one comes ever closer to what might be called the “stepping aside” of the human being, for the human being is usually nothing more than his or her standpoint. When a person steps aside from themselves, one’s own life becomes a picture, something that confronts one in the way that was once described in terms of the imagination; and when one now applies one’s strong will to one’s life, when one suppresses everything one perceives [through a strong act of will], and when one’s entire life—once it has been there—becomes like a forgotten image, then what one is outside the body between birth and death, what extends beyond death, [what one is outside the individual life in a purely spiritual world] can emerge. One comes to know oneself as a spiritual being who sheds the body and lives in a purely spiritual world between death and a new birth, who carries what one has experienced over into the new life and who now helps to shape the human body, only to become conscious of oneself later. In short, through experience one will thus also come to know the more comprehensive nature of one’s soul, which is not limited by the boundaries that define our life; [it is a being that transcends the limits of life and passes from life to life.

[ 18 ] In this way, this new life incorporates an element that bears some resemblance to what Copernicus and Giordano Bruno introduced.] While people in Giordano Bruno’s time looked up at the stars and assumed a limited world, he broke through this limitation and explained it as being removed from the confines of spiritual life; thus, spiritual research, in full harmony with the natural sciences, will solve the riddle of death [gap in the transcript], showing that: Just as the firmament is not an actual boundary, so the boundary set for life from birth to death is not a real one, but is merely a product of human perception. Just as we are enclosed by birth and death as if by a spiritual firmament; but just as Giordano Bruno broke through the finite [and led people into the infinity of space], so too will spiritual research do in full harmony with natural science, [thus spiritual science points to the infinity of the spirit].

[ 19 ] But how does the spiritual researcher relate to those who cannot themselves become spiritual researchers—those who can only read and hear what the spiritual researcher has to say? The objection that only the spiritual researcher can look into the spiritual worlds is unfounded. The spiritual researcher is like a painter standing before his own painting. If two people stand before the painting—one dull, the other with a vivid sense of feeling—a whole world can open up to the latter. But the fact that the painting could come into being is due to the painter’s art. He must have overcome whatever it was that made it possible for the painting to be created; but when the viewer penetrates it, what the painter intended becomes present to them. The spiritual researcher must reach the point where he can describe, in ordinary concepts and words, what he has gleaned from spiritual science. One does not need to be a painter to understand a painting. In the same way, one can also perceive as truth what the spiritual researcher expresses. Therefore, the results of spiritual research can be recognized even by those who are not spiritual researchers. Thus, what spiritual research offers can certainly become part of our cultural life. Anyone who [truly] engages with the insights of spiritual research can [thereby] arrive at a genuine understanding of the supersensible world and the human soul. [One can] become aware of the supersensible world with such certainty that, in the face of all objections that may arise from those who, for understandable reasons, regard theosophy as folly and fantasy, one is placed in a situation similar to that in which Goethe was once compelled to make his peculiar statement in response to people who, as philosophers, denied motion. Even in ancient Greek philosophy, the denial of motion was present. These philosophers said: When [an arrow is shot and] the flying arrow is seen in one instant, it [is always] at rest; in the next instant, it is at rest, and so on; therefore, it is always at rest; therefore, it is not in motion at all, [so there is no motion]. Goethe said, when this image came to his mind’s eye—which is, after all, a plausible proof:

You may spot something hostile,
Stay calm, stay silent;
And if they deny you the freedom to move,
Go right around their noses.

[ 20 ] He believed that the facts had been proven—which can indeed be proven beyond a doubt by reason—but in the opposite direction. One would want to take the same stance once one has gained certainty regarding the reality of the spiritual world, the human soul itself, and its foundation in the supersensible world. Then one would recall this statement by Goethe when people come and [attempt to] prove conclusively from their point of view that there can be no supersensible world, and that even if it exists, it cannot be known; then one would counter these deniers of spiritual life and the foundation of the human soul—when they take a hostile stance toward the worldview of spiritual research—with the following:

Hostile things may happen,
But you, stay calm, stay cheerful,
And if they deny your spirit,
Don’t dwell on it any further.
Yes, in the end, even agree with them,
Their spirit is simply in a bad state