The Rudolf Steiner Archive

19. Theosophy and the Concept of Freedom

[ 1 ] At first glance, it might seem as if the strict regularity in the The [...]M[...] is incompatible. You know that this problem [...]

[ 2 ] Is man free or not free? Is he subject to ironclad laws, or are his actions governed by his will? To begin with, this question has not been posed, and much depends on asking questions correctly. As man stands today, he is neither one nor the other—neither free nor bound—but rather both one and the other. With regard to certain actions, they are free; with regard to others, they are subject to ironclad necessity. Freedom is something we are constantly approaching; the more we develop, the freer we become. In the beginning, we are very bound, dependent on everything to which our instinctive mat[...] has predisposed us.

[ 3 ] But the more we evolve, the freer we become. How does this relate to the laws of karma? Theosophy deals with laws that have an effect into the future. If we state such fixed laws, how can we speak of a progression toward freedom? If we engage very closely in specific investigations of the human soul in this field, we will make progress. Above all, we must ask ourselves: What is freedom? Can it be a creation out of nothing? Is it a specific being? Is humanity predisposed to freedom at the stage of existence it now occupies? — The moment a person poses such a question, they are a being who has evolved to a certain point.

[ 4 ] The fact that my hand moves is the result of infinitely complex laws. Now, the question is not whether I can do away with these laws, but whether, within these laws—in which I have come into being—I have free will; whether a being born according to certain [laws] and moving within these laws can claim freedom for itself or not. These laws are part of our becoming in the past and extend into the future. Imagine someone who wants to be trained as an athlete. He must train in a very specific way, follow certain rules, and reach a certain level; once he has done that, he can become an athlete. Freedom does not consist in changing the laws by which we have come into being, but in acting within those laws.

[ 5 ] You have heard that a person follows either the left or the right path. Yes, so he is not free to choose; he must follow one or the other. If he has a guru, he must follow rules and strive toward a goal—can we really speak of freedom then? In truth, there is no such goal that we are supposed to strive toward. Occult development has no such purpose; rather, its purpose and intent are to help people develop abilities and, through laws, bring them to a certain level. Once they have reached this level, they are capable of setting a goal for themselves.

[ 6 ] An animal cannot act of its own free will, but only according to instinct; no act driven by instinct or passion is free—it is internally compelled. To be free, one must above all have the ability to decide freely; to feel no compulsion within oneself to do this or that.

[ 7 ] This is a level to be attained. And all occultism deals with the abilities we are to develop in order to make free decisions. Suppose a person acquires the ability to glimpse into the supersensible world. At first, the person acts out of instinctive drives. What is the purpose of this inner compulsion? Its initial task is to place the person in a relationship with the external world. The instinctive drives initially guide his life—which makes him unfree. When a person begins to glimpse into the supersensible world, the first step is to discern the connection between these drives and the interrelationships within the world. They come to understand how an instinct functions as a cause in the world. They progress to an understanding of the connection between themselves and the external world. — Occultism provides the guidance for this.

[ 8 ] You have come to understand this lawful mechanism of the world more and more deeply and see how freedom arises from it. The fact that you combine oxygen and hydrogen is an act of your freedom. If we know nothing of the law, we cannot foresee what will happen and must submit to compulsion. It is by recognizing the lawful consequences that we become free. The more we understand the higher laws, the more we can adhere to them in order to reach our goals. What we come to recognize are the means by which we achieve certain goals that we then set for ourselves. The Master does not give the chela instructions on where to go; the chela must learn to move in the direction of the goal. A goal arises for us when we observe the world truly and without prejudice. Only a goal that a person sets for himself from the abundance of worldly phenomena can be a free goal. Then he is, in truth, a liberated person.

[ 9 ] The three most important elements of spiritual life are activity, wisdom, and will. Our actions must be determined by our wisdom and our will; therefore, they are not free. Wisdom is partly free and partly not.

[ 10 ] I am free to conceive of my home as I wish; my knowledge of the laws enables me to design it exactly as I want. And the better I know them, the better I will be able to bring this idea to life.

[ 11 ] Free is the one who is able to create from thought itself.

[ 12 ] The will, guided by free thought, is what truly liberates human beings. Thus, human beings cease to be determined from behind by the past and are instead determined from ahead by their goals.

[ 13 ] A pearl in a shell, for example.

[ 14 ] A person is not free as long as we find within them the reason why they have set that goal for themselves; if the law lies in the goal itself, then they are free, and they can refrain from acting. They act selflessly, devoted to the goal. The opposite of inner compulsion is being guided by the object, love for the object.

[ 15 ] Only God is truly free; but man is on the path to becoming divine.

[ 16 ] Through objectification, through the transformation into knowledge, what was once coercion is transformed into freedom.

[ 17 ] That is why human beings are on the path to freedom: because they are capable of identifying what [lives] within them as a goal. The path to freedom lies in this act of objectification.