The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Sixth Lecture

[ 1 ] Today we turn to the experiences of human beings within our physical world, insofar as they are determined by a person’s past lives. First, it must be emphasized that life is determined not only by past incarnations but also—albeit to a small extent—by the present life. This law, which we encounter here—how a person’s past, present, and future are interconnected—is called the law of karma in spiritual science literature. It is the true law of destiny for human beings. In the effect of the law of karma in each individual life, we have only a special case of the great law of the cosmos, for what we call the law of karma is a completely general cosmic law, and its application in human life is merely a special case. Whenever we grasp the connection between any preceding circumstances and subsequent effects, we are already thinking in terms of this law. That is why I would like to clarify in detail—specifically as it pertains to human life—the application of this law in the cosmos in an appropriate manner.

[ 2 ] If we have two vessels filled with water in front of us and throw an iron ball heated until it glows into one of the vessels, the water will sizzle and become warm. If we now remove the ball and throw it into the other vessel, the water will no longer sizzle or become warm. If we had thrown the ball into the second vessel right away, the water there would also have sizzled and the ball would have cooled down; but now it can no longer be made to sizzle, because the ball is no longer red-hot—it had already cooled down in the first vessel. The effect of the ball’s behavior in the first vessel determines its behavior in the second vessel. Thus, in the physical world, cause and effect are always interconnected. What happens to an object beforehand determines how that object behaves afterward.

[ 3 ] Another example is provided by certain animals whose eyes have atrophied as a result of their migration into dark caves. In these animals, the substances that previously supplied the eyes with nourishment are redirected to other parts of the body, since the eye no longer needs them—it no longer needs to see. As a result, their eyes have atrophied, and now animals with atrophied eyes will be produced in all subsequent generations. Through their earlier migration, they themselves determined this behavior of the organs, and the fate of their subsequent generations was determined by what the creatures did in the past. In this way, they prepared their fate for the future.

[ 4 ] The same is true throughout human life. A person shapes his future through his past, and since his innermost essence is not confined to a single incarnation but passes through many, the causes of the events that befall him in a particular life are to be found in a previous life.

[ 5 ] Let us now turn to the chain of events, which can be understood if one takes into account, even just a little, the sequence of human actions, thoughts, and feelings in general. In everyday life, people so often say: “Thoughts are duty-free!”—that is, you can think whatever you want; it doesn’t bother anyone in the outside world. Here you have an important point where the person who is truly gripped by spiritual impulses differs from the materialistically minded person.

[ 6 ] The materialist believes that he is indeed hurting a person when he throws a stone at them; on the other hand, he believes that a hate-filled thought he harbors toward his fellow human being does not hurt that person. But anyone who truly knows the world understands that a hate-filled thought has far, far stronger effects than could ever be caused by throwing a stone. Everything a person thinks, feels, and senses has its effects in the astral world, and one can observe in great detail exactly how, for example, a loving thought directed toward another person works—and how very different the effect of a hate-filled thought is. When you send out a loving thought, the seer sees a form of light take shape, like a kind of flower calyx, which lovingly envelops the person’s etheric and astral bodies and thereby contributes to their vitality and bliss. The hate-filled thought, on the other hand, pierces the etheric and astral bodies like a wounding arrow.

[ 7 ] One can make a wide variety of observations in this area. In the astral world, there is a tremendous difference between uttering a true thought and a false one. A thought relates to a particular thing and is true insofar as it corresponds to that thing. For example, a fact occurs somewhere, and this fact has an effect that radiates upward into the higher worlds. If someone recounts this fact truthfully, an astral form radiates from the narrator, which unites with the form arising from the fact itself, and the two reinforce each other. These amplified forms serve to make our spiritual world increasingly structured and rich in content, just as we need it to be if humanity is to progress. But if the fact is recounted in a way that does not correspond to the event—that is, if it is a lie—then the thought-form of the narrator collides with the one emanating from the fact; the two clash, and mutual destruction ensues. Such explosive destruction caused by lies acts like an ulcer on the body that destroys the organism. In this way, lies kill the astral structures that have arisen and must arise, thereby hindering or destroying a part of evolution. In fact, everyone who speaks the truth advances the evolution of humanity, while those who lie hinder it. Hence, there is an occult law: Spiritually speaking, a lie is murder. It not only kills an astral form but is also a form of suicide. Everyone who lies places obstacles in their own path. Such effects can be observed everywhere in the spiritual world. Thus, the clairvoyant also sees that everything one thinks, feels, and senses has its effects on the astral plane.

[ 8 ] Everything a person possesses in terms of inclinations, temperament, and enduring character traits—that is, thoughts that are not merely temporary—radiates continuously not only into the astral world but also into the Devachanic world. A person with a cheerful temperament is a source, a center for certain processes in Devachan. A person with an intellectual disposition acts in such a way as to increase the essences and substances associated with the intellectual nature of human beings. Thus, spiritual science shows us that we do not stand in isolation, but that our thoughts continually give rise to forms that color the Devachanic world and permeate it with all manner of substances and essences. All four regions of the Devachanic world—the continental, the oceanic, the atmospheric, and the region of original ideas—are continually influenced by people’s thoughts, feelings, and sensations. — The higher realms, where the Akashic Records already come into play, are influenced by human actions. What happens externally has an impact even on the highest realms of Devachan, which we have called the world of reason.

[ 9 ] We will thus come to understand how, during his descent into a new incarnation, a human being reassembles and reintegrates his astral body. Everything he had thought, felt, and sensed had become permanently integrated into the astral world. It has left many traces there. If what they had thought was largely true, these traces will form a good astral body for them. What they have incorporated into the lower Devachan world—such as their temperament and so on—forms the new etheric body, and the deeds they have accomplished influence, from the highest regions of Devachan—where the Akashic Records are already to be found—the placement and localization of the physical body. Here lie the forces that bring a person to a specific location. If one has done evil to someone, this is an external fact that ascends to the highest regions of Devachan. During the new incorporation into a physical body, it acts as forces that the person has left behind and, under the guidance of higher beings, impels him toward the place where he can now experience the effects of his deeds in the physical world.

[ 10 ] Everything we experience externally, without it particularly affecting us internally, has an effect on our astral body in our next incarnation and attracts corresponding feelings, sensations, and peculiarities of thought. If one has made good use of one’s life, observed much, and acquired abundant knowledge, the result is that in the next life the astral body is reborn with special gifts in these areas. Experiences and events, then, are imprinted on the astral body in the next incarnation. But what one feels—pleasure and suffering, the inner experiences of the soul—affects even the etheric body in the next incarnation and creates a lasting inclination within it. Those who experience much joy will have an etheric body with a temperament inclined toward joy. Those who strive to perform many good deeds will, through the feelings developed in the process, have a veritable talent for good deeds in their next life. They will also have a carefully developed conscience and will be morally minded individuals.

[ 11 ] What the etheric body carries in this life—the enduring character, the predispositions, and so on—manifests in the physical body in the next life, such that, for example, a person who has developed bad inclinations and passions in this life will be born with an unhealthy physical body in the next life. A person, on the other hand, who is in good health and can endure a great deal has developed good qualities in a previous life. Someone who is constantly prone to illness has ingrained bad impulses within themselves. Thus, it is within our power to bring about health or illness for ourselves, insofar as these are rooted in the constitution of the physical body. One need only eradicate all bad tendencies to prepare a good, strong body for the next life.

[ 12 ] One can observe in every detail how the inclinations present in one life influence the physical body in the next. A life characterized by a tendency to love everything around it, one that responds lovingly to every being—a life that radiates love—will, in its next incarnation, have a physical body that will look young and vibrant for a long time. Love for all beings and the cultivation of sympathy result in a physical body that retains its youthful appearance. A life filled with hatred, full of antipathy toward other beings, one that criticizes and nitpicks everything and wishes to withdraw from everything—such a life, based on these inclinations, results in a physical body that ages prematurely and becomes wrinkled. Thus, the inclinations and passions of one life are carried over into the physical life of the next incarnation.

[ 13 ] One can examine the details closely and might discover how a well-developed, instinctual drive for material gain—which is always aimed at amassing wealth—can, by becoming a habit, create a predisposition to infectious diseases in the physical body in the next life. One can certainly identify such cases where a pronounced susceptibility to infectious diseases can be traced back to a previously strong acquisitive instinct, which, after all, has the etheric body as its vehicle. In contrast, an objective striving within humanity—one that seeks to gain nothing for itself, but works for humanity with the distinct intention of serving the whole—such an inclination in the etheric body results in a marked resistance to infectious diseases in the next life.

[ 14 ] Thus, one can gain a deep insight into the world’s development right down to its innermost core if one understands the connection between the physical and astral worlds; and things are sometimes connected in ways quite different from what people would like to imagine. Many people, for example, complain about pain and suffering. But from a higher perspective, there is no justification for complaining about them, for once they have been overcome and one is ready for the next incarnation, suffering and pain become the sources of wisdom, prudence, and a broader perspective on things. Even in a recent work, born of the materialistic worldview of the present day, we find the statement that in the physiognomy of every thinker there is something akin to crystallized pain. What the materialistically minded writer says here has long been known to the occultist, for the greatest wisdom in the world is acquired through the calm endurance of pain and suffering. This creates wisdom in the next incarnation.

[ 15 ] No one who, weary of life, flees from pain—who refuses to endure it—can lay the foundation for wisdom. Indeed, if we look deeper, we cannot even complain about illnesses. When viewed from a higher vantage point, from the perspective of eternity, they appear quite different. Illnesses that one endures often manifest in the next life as a special physical beauty, so that much of the physical beauty found in human beings has been attained through illness in a previous life. This is the connection between the injury to the body caused by illness—and specifically also by external circumstances—and beauty. One can apply the words of the French writer Fabre d’Olivet to this most remarkable connection: When one considers human life, it often resembles the formation of a pearl within a pearl oyster. Only through an illness of the oyster does the pearl come into being. — So it is indeed in human life: beauty is karmically connected to illness and is its result. But if I were to say, “Whoever develops harmful passions creates a predisposition to illness,” then it must be strictly understood that this refers to an inner predisposition to illness. If one becomes ill, for example, by working in polluted air, that is something else; one can also become ill that way, but it is not connected to the predisposition of the physical body.

[ 16 ] Everything that is a fact on the physical plane—everything that is an action, that plays itself out and has an effect in the physical world, from a step or a hand movement to the most complex processes, such as the construction of a house—comes to the human being as a real physical effect from the outside in a later incarnation. You see, we live from the inside out: What lives in the astral body as joy, pain, pleasure, and suffering reappears in the etheric body; what is rooted in the etheric body as enduring drives and passions appears in the physical body as a disposition; but what one does here—using the physical body to do it—appears as external fate in the next incarnation. Thus, what the astral body does becomes the destiny of the etheric body; the etheric body becomes the destiny of the physical body; and what the physical body does returns as an external effect in the next incarnation as a physical reality.

[ 17 ] You have identified precisely the point at which external fate intervenes in human life. This influence of fate is something that may be long in coming, but which is certain to affect a person. When one traces a person’s life through their various incarnations, one can always see that in a subsequent incarnation, their life is prepared by beings who are active in the process of incorporating them into their physical body, so that they are led to a specific place where their destiny will overtake them.

[ 18 ] Here is another example from real life: At a medieval assembly of the court of feudal justice, there were a number of feudal judges who handed down the verdict and carried out the sentence themselves. They killed a person. They traced back to earlier incarnations of the judges and the person who was killed, and it turned out that they had all lived at the same time—specifically, the executed person as the chief of a tribe, and this chief had had those who were now the judges executed. This act from the previous physical life created the connection between the individuals; it generated forces that extend into the Akashic Records. When a person is reincarnated, these forces cause him to be born again at the same time and in the same place as the person with whom he is thus linked, and they shape his destiny. The Akashic Records are indeed a source of power in which everything a person owes to another is inscribed. Some people can sense these processes; however, very few are aware of them.

[ 19 ] For example, a person is in a profession that seems to make him happy and content. He is driven out by some circumstance, cannot find another job in the same place, and is cast miles away, into another country, where he must embark on a new career path. There he meets a person with whom he must form some kind of relationship. What has happened here? This person once lived with the other person whom he has now encountered. He had previously remained indebted to that person in some way. This is recorded in the Akashic Records, and the forces have guided him to this place so that he might meet this person and settle his debt.

[ 20 ] From birth to death, human beings are constantly enveloped in a web of forces that surround them spiritually on all sides; these are the guiding powers of their lives. You see, you actually carry within you the effects of past lives at all times; you are always experiencing the effects of past incarnations.

[ 21 ] You must therefore realize that in your life you are guided by forces that you yourself do not know. What acts upon the etheric body are forms that you yourself once brought forth on the astral plane, and what shapes your destiny are beings and forces in the higher regions of Devachan that you yourself have inscribed in the Akashic Records. These forces or beings are not unknown to the occultist; they are fully integrated into the hierarchy of similar beings. You must realize that in the astral body, the etheric body, and the physical body alike, you feel the effects of other beings. Everything you do involuntarily, everything you are driven to do, happens through the influence of other entities. It does not happen out of nowhere. The various aspects of human nature are constantly and truly permeated and filled with other entities, and the initiated teacher has you perform a good portion of the exercises to drive them out, so that the person may become freer and freer.

[ 22 ] The entities that permeate the astral body and rob it of its freedom are called demons. You are constantly permeated by such demons in your astral body, and the entities that you yourself create through your true or false thoughts are those that gradually grow into demons. There are good demons that arise from good thoughts. But bad thoughts—especially untrue, deceitful ones—give rise to demonic forms of the most terrible and hideous kind, which, if one may put it that way, pepper the astral body. Likewise, the etheric body is permeated by entities from which a person must free themselves—these are the spectres or ghosts—and finally, there are those that permeate the physical body; these are the phantoms. In addition to these three, there are other entities that drive the “I” back and forth; these are the spirits, just as the “I” itself is also a spirit. In fact, human beings are the ones who summon such entities, which then, when they descend to Earth, determine one’s inner and outer destiny. These same entities animate the course of life in such a way that you feel everything that your astral body has produced in the form of demons, your etheric body in the form of ghosts, and your physical body in the form of phantoms. All of this is related to you; it strives toward you when you are reincarnated.

[ 23 ] There you can see how religious texts express these truths. When the Bible speaks of the casting out of demons, this is not an abstraction; rather, it is to be understood as real and literal. What did Jesus Christ do? He healed those possessed by demons; he extracted the demons from their astral bodies. These are real processes and should be taken quite literally. Even Socrates, that enlightened spirit, spoke of his demon, which was at work in his astral body. That was a good demon; one need not imagine demons as only evil entities.

[ 24 ] But there are also terrible, destructive demons. All demons of lies act as if they were setting humanity back in its development, and since in world history the lies of great personalities always give rise to such demons of lies—which grow into truly formidable entities—they are referred to as the spirits of hindrances or obstacles. In this sense, Faust says to Mephisto: “You are the father of all obstacles!”

[ 25 ] The individual human being, woven as he is into the fabric of the rest of humanity, has an impact on the entire world through whether he speaks the truth or lies; for whether he creates demons of truth or demons of lies has very different effects. Imagine a people consisting entirely of liars. They would populate the astral plane with nothing but demons of lies, and these, in turn, can manifest in the physical realm as epidemics. Thus, there is a certain form of bacilli—carriers of infectious diseases—that originate from the lies of humanity. They are nothing other than physically embodied demons of lies. There you see that the lies of antiquity manifest in world karma as a specific host of beings. You can see how much truth myths and legends contain in a passage from Faust. There you will find a connection between vermin and lies, as well as in the role that rats and mice play in connection with the spirit of lies, Mephisto. Legends often preserve wondrous connections between the spiritual and the physical worlds.

[ 26 ] We still have to discuss a number of other things in order to understand the law of karma. The spiritual science movement arose, in fact, out of a certain intimate understanding of the law of karma. You have just seen how things that lie within the etheric body affect the physical body in the next life. In this way, one’s disposition—the tendency to think in a very specific way—affects the physical body; and so, for a subsequent incarnation, it is not irrelevant whether your disposition is spiritual or materialistic. A person who knows something of the higher worlds—they need only believe in the higher worlds—will have, in their next life, a well-balanced physical body whose nervous system functions calmly, a body they have under control right down to the nerves. A person, on the other hand, who is willing to accept only what exists in the sensory world, carries this mindset over into his physical body and, in his next incarnation, will have a body predisposed to nervous disorders—a restless physical body that lacks a firm center of will. The materialist disintegrates into a multitude of details; the spirit holds everything together, for it is unity.

[ 27 ] This predisposition manifests itself in individual people through their fate in the next incarnation, but it continues through the generations, so that the sons and grandsons of fathers who were materialistic in their outlook must atone for this through a poor constitution of the nervous system and nervous disorders. A nervous age like ours is the result of the materialistic mindset of the last century, and as a countercurrent, the great teachers of humanity have recognized the need to allow a spiritual mindset to take hold.

[ 28 ] Materialism has also permeated religion. Or are those who may believe in the spiritual worlds but lack the will to recognize them not materialists? This is materialism in religion—the kind that wants the mystery of the six-day creation—as the great evolution of the world unfolds in the Bible’s six-day creation—to play out before its very eyes, and that speaks of Jesus Christ as a “historical figure” while ignoring the mystery of Golgotha. Materialism in the natural sciences is merely a consequence of materialism in religion; it would not exist if religious life were not permeated by materialism. Those who are too complacent today to delve deeply into religious matters are the very same people who have given rise to materialism in the natural sciences. And the nervous breakdown caused by this materialism affects entire tribes, entire peoples, as well as the individual lives of human beings.

[ 29 ] If the spiritual movement does not gain enough power to reach even the lazy and complacent, then that which is the karmic consequence—nervousness—will gain ever more influence over humanity, and just as there were epidemics of leprosy in the Middle Ages, so too will severe nervous disorders—entire epidemics of madness—arise in the future, brought on by materialistic attitudes, and entire peoples will be struck down by them.

[ 30 ] Thus, by gaining insight into this aspect of the law of karma, spiritual science should not be a subject of controversy, but rather a remedy for humanity. The more humanity becomes spiritual, the more everything related to diseases of the nervous system and the soul will be eradicated.