The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Fifth Lecture

[ 1 ] Yesterday we became somewhat acquainted with the nature of Devachan; now the question naturally arises: How does the true bliss of Devachan come about? — Activity in Devachan consists mainly of creative work, and it is difficult to convey a sense of this bliss. But perhaps a comparison with something earthly will bring it closer to our understanding.

[ 2 ] There is a sensation on Earth that can best be studied by observing a being engaged in an activity related to the creation of another being—for example, a hen hatching an egg. It is a grotesque but very apt comparison. For the hen’s sensory experience, brooding is a state of bliss, an immense sense of well-being. This can now be applied to the spiritual realm, allowing us to envision Devachan.

[ 3 ] In the first region—the continental area of the Spirit Realm, where all that is physical unfolds before the person in a negative form, yet like a vast tableau—the person is prompted to bring forth the image of his or her new body. He or she does so with unbridled energy, experiencing the bliss of creation in the process.

[ 4 ] In the second region, general life—which in physical life is bound to human, animal, and plant forms and is delimited within each being—flows like the waters of the sea. One sees this universal life flowing—not only externally but also internally. Externally, it flows in reddish-purple hues from plant form to plant form, from animal form to animal form, as if encompassed within the unity of life. Life dwells in the Devachan. All forms of spiritual life—for example, that of Christian communities—are seen there as a single, flowing life. Even the first principle of theosophy—the search for the one and all-encompassing Life—can be truly practiced there; there one sees the one Life, common to all, flowing.

[ 5 ] In the third region, one sees practically everything that takes place here on a spiritual level between human beings brought to life. When two people love one another, one sees love there as a being in its own right, embodied in love. If one imagines all of this, one gains a picture of the bliss of Devachan. Anyone who knows anything about this will say little, because the spiritual cannot be described with physical language.

[ 6 ] However, one must not believe that a person is idle or concerned only with himself in Devachan. A person still has other work to do there.

[ 7 ] The face of the Earth is constantly changing, along with all its fauna and flora. How different it was, for example, in northern Siberia at the time when the mammoth—which is now found frozen in ice fields as if still alive—still lived there! How different it was here, where primeval forests once covered the ground, where wild animals of the hot zone made their home—in short, where a tropical world once existed! Who is responsible for this? Who is changing the state of the Earth? What about the soul, the spirit of the animals? What about the soul of the plants?

[ 8 ] When we consider the physical plane, we are right to say: Man has his “I” here, his home here; he is the most outstanding creature among the beings who live here. The situation is quite different on the astral plane. As soon as the initiate enters the astral plane, he encounters a whole host of new beings that do not exist at all here on the physical plane. In this respect, it makes no difference whether one is an initiated person or a deceased individual; the initiate can work on the astral plane even while still in an incarnation. There, for example, they see the species or group souls of animals; they interact with them there just as they do with human beings here; they regard them as their equals. On the physical plane, animals possess only the physical, etheric, and astral bodies; their “I” is not located on the physical plane, but on the astral plane. Just as your ten fingers have a common soul, so do all animals of a species have a common soul on the astral plane. The “I” of the animal species—lions, dogs, ants, and so on—exists there as a single entity. It is, as it were, as if the “I” were suspended in astral space, holding the various animals like marionettes by strings. Such group souls also exist for plants; however, their “I” resides in the Devachan. There, the “strings” reach even higher, so to speak. And all minerals composed of common substances—such as gold, diamonds, stones, and so on—have a common group soul in the upper region of the Devachan. Thus, the entities differ in their hierarchical sequence:

[ 9 ] When a human being has died, his “I” is on the astral plane together with the “I”s—this unusual plural cannot be avoided—of the animals, and there he can perform a task similar to that of the animals’ “I”s. This task consists of gradually transforming the animal world. In the lower Devachan, he finds the “I’s” of the plants as his companions; there he can transform the plant world. In this way, he himself contributes to the transformation of the Earth.

[ 10 ] Thus, it is human beings themselves who bring about the great changes on Earth; they themselves shape the face of the Earth. Human beings themselves have brought about this completely transformed setting for their new incarnation. But they carry out this work under the guidance and direction of higher beings. It is therefore entirely true when, with regard to the animal and plant worlds—which are constantly changing—we say: This is the work of the departed. The dead are working on the transformation of fauna and flora, indeed even on the transformation of the physical forms of the solid earth. Work on the earth is the work of the dead. We must also see the actions of disembodied human beings at work in the forces of nature. And how powerfully these forces of nature are transforming the earth!

[ 11 ] All activity, all work, had a beginning long ago. Back then, there were no pyramids yet, nor were there any tools. Everything was there as the gods—or, as the materialists say, the forces of nature—had created it, and humankind was placed within it. Now, all around us, the Earth has been transformed by human labor; and what cannot be achieved here, what humankind cannot do here, is accomplished in the time between death and a new birth. Thus, our own development is intertwined with the transformation of the entire Earth. The structure and evolution of the Earth are the work of humankind on the higher planes, and the higher humankind develops, the more rapidly and perfectly the transformation of the physical Earth and of the fauna and flora proceeds. The more highly developed a person is, the longer they must work in the higher regions of Devachan. The primitive person has little insight into this. In many legends and fairy tales, the human spirit—seemingly childlike but in reality inspired by higher powers—has given expression to these facts.

[ 12 ] How, then, do the forces work to bring a person to a new incarnation? As we have seen, approximately a thousand years pass between death and a new incarnation; during this time, the soul matures so that it may once again embark on the path to a new birth. For the seer, it is extraordinarily interesting to explore the astral world. He can, for example, observe flying astral bodies that are in the process of dissolving. The astral body of a highly developed person who has worked on their lower instincts dissolves rapidly; but the process of dissolution proceeds slowly in the case of people of a lower spiritual level who have given free rein to their inclinations and passions. It can even happen that the old astral body left behind has not yet dissolved when its original bearer proceeds to a new birth. And that is a heavy fate. It may also be that, due to special circumstances, a person returns soon and still finds his old astral body; this body then exerts a strong attraction on him and slips into his new astral body. The person thus forms a new astral body, but his old one attaches itself to it, and he then carries both with him through life. The old astral body then appears to them in nightmares or visions as their second self, deceiving, tormenting, and tormenting them. This is the illegitimate, false “Guardian of the Threshold.” This old astral body easily steps out of the person because it is not firmly connected to the other members of the being, and then appears as a doppelgänger.

[ 13 ] In addition to these figures, the seer sees yet another particularly remarkable type of formation; they are bell-shaped formations that fly and shoot through astral space at tremendous speed. These are the human embryos that have not yet incarnated but are striving toward incarnation. Time and place are actually quite insignificant for these human seeds striving toward incarnation, because they can move so easily. They are multicolored and surrounded by a colorful atmosphere; in one place they are red, in another blue, and in the center a yellow-glowing ray sparkles. These, then, are the human seeds just entering the astral space from Devachan. What has happened there? The human being had taken the higher astral body and the fruits of the various lives—as the causal body—with them into Devachan, and now they are gathering new “astral matter” around themselves. It is, as it were, as if scattered iron filings were arranged according to the forces of a magnet. Depending on their inherent forces, the human being gathers astral matter around themselves; with a good past life, they gather different material than with a bad one. The bell-shaped structure is now the former causal body, the forces of the former astral body, and the new astral body. The human germ is no longer meant to find the old astral body, but rather to form a new astral body from undifferentiated astral matter, so that this process depends on the person themselves: the form and color of the new astral body depend on the forces of the past life. This is a fact that must be carefully noted. Why do these human seeds race through space at such breakneck speed? Because the parental couple must be found whose character and family circumstances match those of the human seed. This speed makes it possible to find the parental couple. The human seed can be here at one moment and in America the next.

[ 14 ] In what happens next, the human being is dependent on help. Higher beings, the Lipikas, guide the human embryo to the appropriate pair of parents; the Maharajas shape the etheric body in accordance with the astral form and the contribution of the parents’ outer physical bodies. During the act of conception, the seer can also detect astral matter in the passion that develops on the part of the parents. This determines the child’s passionate nature, depending on the intensity of that passion. Then etheric matter surges in from the north, south, east, and west, from above and from below.

[ 15 ] It is not always possible to find a pair of parents who match the human embryo exactly; one can only select the best possible match. Nor is it possible to construct a physical body that matches the etheric body of the human embryo exactly. There can never be complete harmony. This is the source of the conflict within human beings between soul and body.

[ 16 ] Immediately before incarnation, a very important event occurs that parallels the one at the moment of death. Just as, immediately after death, memories of the past life appear before the soul like a tableau, so too, immediately before incarnation, there is a kind of foreshadowing of the life to come. One does not see all the details, but in broad outlines, all the circumstances of the coming life appear before one’s eyes. This moment is of immense significance. It happens that people who have suffered greatly in past lives and endured very difficult circumstances experience a shock upon seeing the new circumstances and destinies, and their soul holds back from fully incarnating, so that only a part of the soul enters the body. The consequence of this shock during such a forevision is the birth of a person with intellectual disabilities or epilepsy.

[ 17 ] At the moment of incarnation, immediately after fertilization, the yellow, shining thread in the causal body darkens and disappears. Only in the initiate does it remain throughout all stages.

[ 18 ] Now, one must not imagine that the higher members of the being are fully connected to the embryo from the very beginning. What first begins to unfold its activity is the causal body, for it is already at work during the very earliest formation of the physical body.

[ 19 ] The etheric body does not begin to work on the embryo until the seventh week; the astral body not until the seventh month. Before that, the mother’s etheric body and astral body work on the child. It is now very important for the child’s upbringing in the early years to further develop these bodies. This should be taken into account much more in the child’s upbringing than is currently the case. One should observe the time when the child’s etheric body and astral body begin to participate.

[ 20 ] After birth, development continues in a step-by-step manner in a wide variety of ways, and the period from the seventh to the fourteenth year of life is particularly important for education. Tomorrow we will continue to examine how Theosophy addresses educational issues, which, after all, represent an important chapter in human development.