The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Lecture XXII

[ 1 ] As a continuation of our discussion of karma and reincarnation, we will address the problem of death as a specific issue within the broader context.

[ 2 ] The question: Why do people die? — has continually preoccupied humanity. But it is not all that easy to answer, because what we call “death” today is connected to the fact that we are at a very specific stage of our development. We know that we live, first and foremost, in three worlds—the physical, astral, and mental worlds—and that our existence shifts between these three worlds. Within us, we have an inner core of being, which we call the monad. We preserve this core of being throughout the three worlds. It lives within us in the physical world, but it also lives within us in the astral and devachanic worlds. The inner core of our being is simply clothed in a different garment in each of these worlds. In the physical, astral, and devachanic worlds, the garment of our inner core is different.

[ 3 ] Let us now set death aside for the moment and imagine human beings in the physical world clothed in a certain form of matter. Then, each time they enter the astral and devachanic worlds, they do so in a different form. Let us now assume that a human being were conscious in all three worlds, so that he could perceive the things around him. Without senses and perception, a human being would not live consciously even in the physical world. If a human being were equally conscious in all three worlds today, then there would be no death; there would only be transformation. Then a human being would consciously pass from one world into the next. This transition would then not be a death for them, and for those left behind, it would be at most like a journey. The fact is, however, that human beings only gradually acquire the continuity of consciousness across these three worlds. At first, they experience it as a darkening of their consciousness when they pass from the physical world into the other worlds. They only regain clear consciousness when they return to the physical world. Beings who retain their consciousness do not know death. Let us now agree on how human beings came to possess their present physical consciousness, and how they will acquire a different consciousness.

[ 4 ] We must certainly recognize the human being as a duality, as composed of two beings: the monad and the monad’s envelope. We ask: How did one come into being, and how did the other? Where did the astral human live before becoming what he is today, and where did the monad live? — Both have gone through different stages of development; both gradually came to be able to unite.

[ 5 ] When we consider the physical-astral human being, we are taken back to very distant times when he existed only as an astral archetype, as an astral form. The astral human who originally existed there was a being that was not like today’s astral body, but a much more comprehensive entity. One can imagine this former astral body in such a way that the Earth at that time was like a great astral sphere, composed of astral humans. All the forces of nature and beings that surround us today were still contained within the human being at that time; the human being lived in a state of dissolution within astral existence. All plants, animals, and so on—the animal instincts and passions—still lived within the astral human being at that time. What the lion and all mammals possess today was, at that time, thoroughly intermingled with the human astral body. At that time, the human astral body contained within itself all the beings scattered across this Earth. The astral Earth was composed entirely of astral human bodies, like a great ball of blackberries, and enclosed in a spiritual atmosphere in which Devachanic beings lived.

[ 6 ] This atmosphere—one might call it astral air—that surrounded the astral Earth of that time was composed of a substance somewhat thinner than the human astral body. Spiritual beings, both lower and higher, lived in this astral air, including the human monads, which were completely separate from the human astral body. That was the state of the Earth at that time. The monads that were already present in the astral air could not unite with the astral body, for the astral bodies of human beings were still too unruly at that time. The instincts and passions first had to be set aside. Thus, through the excretion of certain substances and forces possessed by the astral body, the human astral body gradually emerged in a purer form. The excretions, however, remained separate astral entities—beings with an even denser astral body, with wilder individual instincts, drives, and passions.

[ 7 ] So now there were two astral bodies: a less wild human astral body and a very dense, wild astral body. Let us keep these two strictly separate: the human astral body and everything that lived around it. The human astral body becomes ever finer and nobler, expelling ever more secretions, which became denser and denser. From these—once they reached physical density—the other kingdoms arose: the animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms. Certain expelled instincts and forces emerged through this process of densification as the various animal classes.

[ 8 ] Thus, a continuous purification of the astral bodies took place, and this had a necessary consequence on Earth. For because, as a result of this purification, what the human being had previously held within himself was now outside him, he came into contact with these beings; and what he had once held within himself now acted upon him from the outside. This is an eternal process, as seen in the separation of the two sexes, which subsequently also influence one another from the outside. The entire world was initially interwoven with us; only then did it begin to influence us from the outside. The primal symbol for this return to oneself from the other side is the serpent biting its own tail.

[ 9 ] Images of the surrounding world now arise in the purified astral body. Let us suppose that the person has perhaps separated out ten different forms that now surround him. Previously, they were within him; now they are around him. Now, mirror images of the surrounding world—of the forms existing outside of him—arise within the purified astral body. These mirror images become a new force within him; they work within him, reshaping the nobler astral body that has been purified. For example, he has cast out the wildness from within himself; it now exists outside of him as an image and acts upon him as a formative force. The astral body is built up by the images of the world that has been cast out, which was formerly within him. They build a new body within him. The human being had formerly held the macrocosm within himself, then cast it out, and this now formed within him the microcosm, an outline of himself.

[ 10 ] Thus, we encounter human beings at a certain level in a form bestowed upon them by their entire environment. The mirror images affect his astral body in such a way that they differentiate and split it. Through the mirror images, his astral body split apart, and he reassembled it from the parts, so that it then became a structured organism. The common astral mass has been differentiated into the various organs—the heart and so on. At first, everything was astral, and then the physical human being took shape. As a result, human formations became increasingly capable of condensing and evolving into a more complex and diverse organism that is a reflection of the entire environment.

[ 11 ] The physical body has become the densest; the etheric body is less dense, and the astral body is the most subtle. They are essentially mirror images of the external world—a microcosm within the macrocosm. In the process, the astral body has become increasingly finer, so that at a certain point in Earth’s evolution, human beings possess a developed astral body. Because the astral body has become increasingly finer, it has drawn closer to the fine astral matter surrounding it.

[ 12 ] Meanwhile, in the upper region, the opposite evolutionary processes have taken place. The monad has descended from above—from the highest regions of Devachan—into the astral region, and has become denser during this descent. There, the two parts meet. On the one hand, the human being ascends into the astral body; on the other hand, the Monad encounters him on its descent into the astral world. This occurred during the Lemurian epoch. There, the two were able to mutually enrich one another. The Monad clothed itself first in Devachanic matter, then in astral air matter. From the bottom up, we have physical matter, then etheric matter, then astral matter again. Thus, the two astral matters fertilize one another and merge. The Monad contains within itself that which comes from above. It settles into the astral matter as if into a bed.

[ 13 ] This is how the descent of the soul takes place. But for this to happen, the monad must develop a thirst for knowledge of the lower regions. This thirst must first be assumed. As a monad, one can only come to know the lower regions by incarnating in the human body and looking out into the surroundings through it. Now, the human being is fourfold: first, he has a physical body; second, an etheric body; third, an astral body; and fourth, within these, the “I,” the monad. Once the fourfold body is in place, the monad can look out into the surroundings through it, and an interaction then takes place between the monad and everything in the surroundings. This satisfies the monad’s thirst to some extent.

[ 14 ] We have seen that the entire human body is composed—and has been composed—of parts that arose when the originally undifferentiated mass divided into organs, after the original astral body had secreted various substances and images arose within it through these secretions surrounding it, which were reflected within it. These images became forces within it and formed its etheric body; that is, its etheric body is structured through these manifold images. Within this etheric body, which now consists of parts, each such etheric part in turn condenses within itself, and the physical body of members arises. Each such physical core, from which the organs then develop, simultaneously forms a kind of center in the ether.

[ 15 ] The spaces between the centers are filled by the etheric mass itself. Let us imagine the body as being composed of ten parts. These ten parts, which we take as a model, hold the body together through their interrelationships; they are reflections of the rest of nature, and everything depends on how strongly they are connected. There are varying degrees of affinity between them and the individual parts. As long as these hold, the body remains intact; when the degrees of affinity cease, the parts fall apart; the body disintegrates. Since we have brought forth the most diverse forms during our earthly development, the parts of the etheric body hold together only to a certain degree. Human nature is a reflection of the entities that have been set forth. To the extent that these beings lead separate existences, the parts of the physical body also lead separate existences. When the connection between the forces has become so weak that it ceases, we live only until that point; the length of our life is thus determined by how well the entities around us get along.

[ 16 ] The development of the higher human being proceeds in such a way that the person first works on his astral body. There he instills ideals, enthusiasm, and so on. He combats his instincts. The moment a person replaces drives with ideals, instincts with duties, and develops enthusiasm instead of desires, he creates harmony within the parts of his astral body. This peace-making work begins with the entry of the monad, and the astral body begins to become more and more immortal. From then on, the astral body no longer dies, but endures to the extent that it has brought about peace—to the extent that this peace can withstand the destructive forces. From the moment the Monad enters, it brings about peace, initially within the astral body. There, the instincts begin to coexist. Harmony arises from the former chaos, and an astral form emerges that endures and remains alive. Peace is not initially established in the physical body or the etheric body, but only partially in the astral body. It initially persists in other worlds only for a short time, but the more peace has been established, the longer the Devachan period lasts.

[ 17 ] Once a person has become a chela, he also begins to bring peace to the etheric body. Then the etheric body also endures. In the case of the Masters, peace is also established in the physical body; therefore, the physical body also endures in them. The task is to bring the various bodies—which consist of individual, conflicting parts—into harmony and transform them into eternal bodies.

[ 18 ] Human beings have shaped their physical bodies by projecting the natural realms outward from themselves, realms that were then reflected back within them. This is how the individual parts within them came into being. Now they perform actions; through these, they re-enter into interaction with their surroundings. What they now project outward are the effects of their actions. Now he integrates his actions into the environment, and he gradually becomes a reflection of these actions. The monad has entered the human body; it begins to act. It is the monad’s actions that are integrated into the environment, and they are reflected back within it. To the same extent that it begins to bring about peace, it also begins to absorb the reflections of its own actions.

[ 19 ] We have now reached a point where we are constantly creating a new realm around us—the effects of our own actions. This, in turn, builds something within us. Just as we previously separated the residual etheric body from the mirror images, so now we incorporate the effects of our actions into monadic existence. We call this the foundation of our karma. Through this, we can make all of this permanent within the monad. Previously, the astral body purified itself by casting off everything that was within it. Now the human being creates a new realm of action, as it were, out of nothing—relatively speaking, out of nothing. That which previously had no existence—the new relationship—is reflected in the monad as something new with an image-like character, and a new inner core of being forms within it, arising from the reflection of actions, the reflection of karma. As the monad continues to work, this core of being grows larger and larger. After some time, we observe the monad: it will then have formed harmony out of the conflicting forces on the one hand, and out of the effects of actions on the other. Both unite with one another, giving rise to a communal structure.

[ 20 ] Let us assume that a person’s earthly garment is shed and the monad remains. It retains the effects of its deeds. The question arises as to the nature of the effects of these deeds. If they are such that they can exert their influence in the worlds where the monad now resides, then human beings will be able to remain there for a long time; if not, then only briefly. Then they must fall back into the monad’s thirst [for the physical plane] and take on a physical body once more.

[ 21 ] Human life is a constant process of absorbing what surrounds us: involution—evolution. We take in forms and shape our own bodies accordingly. What the monad has wrought, man takes back as karma. Man will always be the effect of his karma. - Vedanta teaches that the various parts of the human being are dissolved and scattered in all directions; what then remains of him is his karma. This is the eternal essence that the human being has fashioned from within himself—what he himself initially absorbed as an image from his surroundings. Human beings are immortal; they need only will it, they need only shape their actions so that they have a lasting existence. What is immortal in us is that which we acquire from the outside. We have come into being through the world and are beginning, through the fertilization by the monad within us, to build the mirror of a new world. The monad has enlivened the mirror images within us. Now these images can exert an outward influence, and the effects of these images are once again reflected. A new inner life emerges. Through our actions, we are constantly transforming our surroundings. This gives rise to new mirror images; these now become karma. This is a new life that springs from within. It follows that, in order to develop ourselves further, we must, from a certain point onward, step outside of ourselves and act selflessly in our surroundings. We must make this stepping outside possible in order to bring our surroundings into a state of selfless harmony. This requires harmonizing the mirror images within us. Our task is to make the world around us a harmonious one. If we are destroyers in the world, the devastation is reflected within us; if we bring harmony to the world, the harmonies are reflected within us.

[ 22 ] The highest degree of perfection that we have established—that which we have created around us—we will take with us. That is why the Rosicrucians said: Shape the world so that it contains within itself wisdom, beauty, and strength; then wisdom, beauty, and strength will be reflected within us. If you have used your time for this purpose, then you yourself will depart from this earth bearing the reflection of wisdom, beauty, and strength. Wisdom is the reflection of Manas; beauty, piety, and goodness are the reflection of Buddhi; strength is the reflection of Atma.

[ 23 ] First, we develop a realm of wisdom around us by cultivating wisdom. Then we develop a realm of beauty in all areas. Then wisdom becomes visible and is reflected within us: Buddhi. Finally, we give the whole a physical existence—wisdom within, beauty without.

[ 24 ] If we have the power to bring this about, then we have strength: Atma, the power to make all of this a reality. This is how we establish the three realms within ourselves: Manas, Buddhi, Atma.

[ 25 ] It is not through idle contemplation that human beings progress on Earth, but by incorporating wisdom, beauty, and strength into the Earth. Through the work of our higher Self, we transform the mortal bodies given to us by the gods and create for ourselves eternal bodies. The chela who refines his etheric body [so that it is preserved] gradually renounces the maharajas. The Master, whose physical body is also preserved, can do without the Lipikas. He stands above karma. We must regard this as humanity’s inner progress. We must seek to enter into that which is higher, outside of ourselves. Therefore, our higher Self is not to be found within us, but in the individualities that have ascended to higher realms.