The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Seventh Lecture

[ 1 ] Today I would like to speak about the effects of the law of karma throughout individual human lives. But first, let me note that, of course, any such discussion must be incomplete, since no speculations or hypothetical cases will be presented; rather, as should always be the case in occultism, only facts will be presented—only things for which there is empirical evidence. Thus, it will only be stated that this or that occurs when one has actually observed a person who was in such a situation. Karmic connections will be discussed solely on the basis of experience.

[ 2 ] Yesterday we already touched on the fact that the most pressing question in life for human beings is this: What determines our fate in the first place, and what determines our various circumstances and dispositions at birth?

[ 3 ] If we wish to understand these karmic connections, we must once again take into account what we said about the composition of the human being, consisting of his various bodies: the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body—and within these, the “I”-body, which encompasses the remaining, higher part of the human being. When considering karmic connections, we will focus primarily on the question of how causes and effects are related within these various bodies.

[ 4 ] Let us first consider the physical body, insofar as it is relevant to the law of karma. All our actions take place in the physical world; we must be in the same place as another person—not to be taken literally, of course—in order to be able to cause them joy or pain. Our actions depend on the movements of our physical body and everything that is in any way determined by it. Our external destiny in future lives is linked to our actions in this physical life. External destiny is, so to speak, the environment and circumstances into which we are born. Those who have committed evil deeds bring upon themselves a bad environment, and vice versa. This is the first important karmic law: the deeds of a previous life determine one’s external destiny.

[ 5 ] A second fundamental law arises from the following. Let us take a look at a person’s development. Over the course of a lifetime, a person absorbs a great many ideas, concepts, feelings, and experiences; they learn an extraordinary amount. As a result, major changes take place within the person. Just think back a few years, to before you knew about Theosophy; how many new ideas have you gained since then, and how has your life changed as a result! All of this has transformed the astral body, for the astral body—being the thinnest and most subtle—undergoes these changes most rapidly.

[ 6 ] People change much less in terms of temperament, character, and inclinations. A quick-tempered child, for example, changes only very slowly. Temperament, character, and inclinations often remain constant throughout one’s entire life. Changes in experiences and ideas occur rapidly in life, while changes in temperament, character, and inclinations occur slowly. They are very tenacious; they do change somewhat, but only extremely slowly. They stand in roughly the same relationship to what one learns as the small hand of a clock does to the large one. This is because all of this is attached to the etheric body, and the etheric body changes only slowly because it consists of a substance that is far less malleable than the astral body. The physical body, however, changes most slowly of all. It is, so to speak, predetermined once and remains more or less the same throughout one’s entire life. We will see later how the initiate can also change his physical body and how he can influence his etheric body. For now, we must first consider how these things extend beyond life.

[ 7 ] The thoughts, feelings, and so on accumulated over a long life, which transform the astral body, will not bring about a profound change in the etheric body until the next life. Therefore, if one wishes to ensure that one is born in the next life with good inclinations and habits, one must try to prepare for this as much as possible in one’s astral body during this present life. Thus, if someone strives to perform many good deeds, they will be born with a disposition toward good deeds. This becomes a characteristic of the etheric body. If, for example, someone wishes to be born with a good memory, they must do as many memory exercises as possible in this life and frequently look back on the individual years of their life and on their life as a whole. In this way, they develop something in the astral body that will become a characteristic of the etheric body in the next life: a good memory. A person who merely races through life will be born in the next life in such a way that he or she can attach little importance to individual things in the environment. On the other hand, someone who lives in close harmony with a particular environment will be born with a special fondness for everything that has shaped that environment.

[ 8 ] Now one can also trace the various temperaments back to past lives, since the temperaments are, after all, characteristics of the etheric body.

[ 9 ] The choleric person has a strong will; he is courageous, bold, eager for action, and has an urge to do a lot. Among historical figures, for example, Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Caesar, and Napoleon were all choleric types. This character trait is already evident in childhood. Such a child wants to play a leading role among his or her playmates.

[ 10 ] The melancholic person is very self-absorbed; as a result, he or she tends to isolate himself or herself. He or she thinks a great deal, mainly about how his or her surroundings affect him or her. He or she likes to withdraw and is easily suspicious. This is already evident in children: they are reluctant to show their toys, are afraid that something might be taken from them, and would love to have a little key for everything.

[ 11 ] The phlegmatic person has little interest in anything; he daydreams a lot, is inactive, lazy, and seeks sensual pleasure.

[ 12 ] The sanguine person, on the other hand, takes an easily aroused interest in everything, but it does not last; it fades easily and quickly, and he changes his interests frequently and often.

[ 13 ] These are the four basic traits a person can possess. Usually, a person has a mixture of all four temperaments; however, one can always identify a predominant one to a greater or lesser extent. These four temperaments are expressed in the etheric body. There are, therefore, four different main types of etheric bodies. These, in turn, have different currents and movements that are expressed in a specific basic color in the astral body. This does not depend on the astral body; it merely manifests itself in it.

[ 14 ] The melancholic temperament is particularly brought about karmically when a person was forced in a previous life to live within the smallest, most confined circle, to spend a great deal of time alone, and to be constantly preoccupied only with himself, so that he could not awaken any interest in anything else within himself. On the other hand, someone who has experienced a great deal, who has encountered many things and not merely observed them—and whose previous life was harsh—will become a choleric. If one has had a pleasant life without many struggles and hardships, or even if one has seen a great deal and encountered many things but has only observed them, one will become a phlegmatic or a sanguine. Everything that happens in the astral body in this life is karmically transferred in the next life, in its fundamental nature, to the next closest body—the etheric body.

[ 15 ] From this, one can see how one can work toward one’s next life, and in the occult schools, conscious work is done with people in this direction. Admittedly, this was even more the case in the past than it is today. This is related to the cyclical changes in evolution. About five thousand years ago, the secret teacher had a completely different task. At that time, he had to care for people more as groups; people were not yet ready to take care of themselves individually. Conscious effort was made to ensure that entire categories and groups of people would harmonize with one another in their next lives. However, people are becoming increasingly individual and independent, so that today the Secret Teacher can no longer use a person as a means to an end, but must treat each individual as an end in themselves, guiding each one as far as is possible for them. In the most ancient cultures, for example in India, the entire population was divided into four castes, and work was done with them in such a way that people would fit into a specific caste in the next life. The education of people was systematically designed to ensure the future for millennia to come, to reshape the worldview for millennia, and it was precisely this that gave the occult leaders their great power.

[ 16 ] How, then, does a person influence their etheric body with regard to the next life? Everything a person develops in their etheric body evolves, albeit very slowly, and education can help foster very specific habits. What takes place in the etheric body in one life comes to be manifested in the physical body in the next life. All the inclinations and habits of the present etheric body determine the predisposition to health or illness in the next life. Good inclinations and good habits create a predisposition to health; bad inclinations and bad habits appear in the next life as a predisposition to certain illnesses. The resolve, the firm will, to break a bad habit already extends down into the deeper bodies and thus creates a predisposition toward health. It has been particularly well observed how the predisposition to infectious diseases arises in the physical body. It is not whether one contracts a disease—that depends, after all, on one’s actions—but whether one is predisposed to it, whether one is more or less exposed to it; this depends on the inclinations of the previous life. Strangely enough, infectious diseases can be traced back to a particularly pronounced, self-centered drive for material gain in the previous life.

[ 17 ] If you want to learn about health and illness, you must consider how many factors interact. Illnesses need not be the result of individual karma alone; there is also collective karma with regard to illnesses.

[ 18 ] An interesting example of how peculiarly things are interconnected in spiritual life is the migration of the Huns and the Mongol tribes, who poured westward from Asia. These peoples, the Mongols, were stragglers from the Atlanteans. While the Indians, the Germanic peoples, and others continued to evolve upward, the Mongols were the brothers who had remained stagnant at a certain stage. Just as animals have branched off along the path of human evolution, so too do lower peoples and races branch off. These peoples, the Mongols, were backward Atlanteans who had physically devolved. In the astral bodies of such backward people, one sees abundant astral substances of decay. The Mongols encountered the Germanic peoples and the other Central European peoples, who were seized by fear and terror. Fear and terror, however, are qualities of the astral body; such astral substances of decay thrive particularly well in them. Thus, the European astral bodies became infected, and this infection then manifested in the physical body in later generations—not for the individual, but for entire peoples. This was leprosy, the dreadful disease that wreaked such havoc in the Middle Ages. This disease was the physical consequence of the influence on the astral body.

[ 19 ] You cannot consult philological research here, because it knows nothing of these astral influences. But even in the names themselves, you can find clues to their descent from the ancient Atlantean race: Attila, the leader of the Huns, is called Attila in the Nordic language, which means “one who descends from the Atlanteans.”

[ 20 ] This is how widespread diseases come about. In ancient times, people were still aware of such things, and the Bible expressed them through a truth that is often misunderstood: “He who punishes the iniquity of the fathers to the third and fourth generation”; for this does not refer to successive individual incarnations, but to generations—this kind of collective karma. This is to be taken literally, just as many such sayings are to be taken more literally than one might think.

[ 21 ] One must first learn to understand how to read religious texts. There are four stages to this. In ancient times, the naive person approached them by taking them literally. As people became more enlightened, this was less and less the case. The liberals, who had become more discerning—the free thinkers—interpreted the texts according to their own understanding, and so it came to pass that much was not interpreted but simply set aside. Then there is yet another stage: the symbolists. These are the ones who interpret everything symbolically—both the ancient myths and legends as well as the life of Jesus Christ. Of course, all of this depends on the wisdom of the individual, for one can form wise images as well as less wise ones. But there is still a fourth stage: that of the initiate, who can once again understand everything literally because, through spiritual insight, he sees through the connections.

[ 22 ] From what has been said, you can see how what was previously present in one’s spiritual life—in feelings and habits—manifests itself in physical life. An important practical principle can be derived from this: If one fosters people’s habits in a beneficial way, one improves not only the moral life but also the physical health of a people in future generations—and vice versa. This is what is known as national karma.

[ 23 ] Today, there is a widespread illness that was virtually unknown a hundred years ago; not that it had not been recognized, but it was truly not widespread: this is nervousness. This peculiar form of illness is the result of the materialistic worldview of the 18th century. Without the preceding development of these materialistic habits of thought, it would never have come into being. The Secret Teacher knows that if materialism were to continue for decades to come, it would have a devastating effect on public health. If these materialistic habits of thought were not curbed, people would not only become generally nervous in the future, but children would be born trembling and would not merely perceive their surroundings but experience pain in every environment. Above all, mental illnesses would spread at an alarming rate: epidemics of insanity would arise in the coming decades. That was also the danger toward which humanity was heading: epidemic mental illness. And this worldview of the future was the true reason why the occult leaders of humanity—the Masters of Wisdom—felt compelled to infuse some spiritual wisdom into the general population. Only such a spiritual worldview can restore a sound constitution to future generations. You see, Theosophy is a profound movement born out of the needs of humanity.

[ 24 ] A century ago, a “nervous” person was someone who had strong nerves—nerves of steel. Just by looking at how the literal meaning of the word has changed, one can see how something entirely new has come into the world.

[ 25 ] How does the law of karma relate to physical heredity? Physical heredity plays a major role. We know that certain characteristics of the father and ancestors are found in the son; for example, there were twenty-eight notable musicians in the Bach family over a period of two hundred and fifty years. Bernoulli was a notable mathematician, and eight notable mathematicians followed in his family. People say that this is all heredity—but that is only partly true. For example, to become a great musician, it is not enough merely to have developed musical aptitude in one’s soul; one must also physically possess a correspondingly good ear. What is purely physical in a family of musicians—the refined auditory organs—is inherited from the parents to the child.

[ 26 ] In a family where music is a central part of life, there are therefore ears that are well-trained for music. Now, when a soul with a strong aptitude for music incarnates, it is understandable that it would not be born into a family where music is not practiced at all—for there it would wither away—but rather into one where suitable physical organs are present. This fits perfectly with the law of karma.

[ 27 ] The same may be true of moral courage. If a predisposition for it does not find the right blood, it withers away—so, as you can see, one must be careful in choosing one’s parents! It is not the child who resembles the parents, but rather the child is born where the parents are most like him.

[ 28 ] Now the question arises: Doesn’t this undermine a mother’s love? — That is by no means the case. Precisely because the deepest affection already exists before birth, the child is drawn to the mother, so that the origin of this love actually lies even further back; it merely continues after birth. The child already loved the mother before birth; no wonder, then, that the mother later reciprocates this love. Thus, a mother’s love is not denied, but rather explained in terms of its true causes.

[ 29 ] More on that tomorrow.