The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Eleventh Lecture

[ 1 ] At various points in our lecture series, we have attempted to present the facts of post-Atlantean development and have suggested that in our time a kind of repetition, a resurrection, is taking place of the experiences that humanity went through during the Egyptian-Chaldean culture. Now we would like to outline schematically for these two periods what we have already indicated for the others. It has been said that the Indian period will repeat itself in the seventh period, the Persian in the sixth period, the Egyptian in our own period, and that the fourth—the Greek-Latin period—stands, so to speak, on its own. Let us now outline this schematically by drawing a line connecting the Egyptian period with our own, to show why a certain resurgence of outer and inner experiences can be observed when we relate our time to the Egyptian period.

[ 2 ] We have seen that there are mysterious forces in the spiritual worlds that correspond to certain other forces in the physical world, which cause these repetitions to occur. This is how resurrections of external and internal experiences come about. In between, in the middle, stands the Greek-Latin period, during which Christ appeared on Earth and the Mystery of Golgotha took place. It has also been pointed out that not only have the external conditions of development on the physical plane changed, but that conditions in the spiritual world have also become different. I have pointed out how different the human soul was in Egyptian times, when it gazed upon the gigantic pyramids, and how different the soul was when it was reincarnated in the Greco-Latin era, and how differently the soul feels in our own time. We have seen that not only does this take place, but that during the period between death and a new birth in the Kamaloka and the Devachan, a kind of progress, of transformation, occurs, so that the soul does not experience the same thing when it enters the Kamaloka or Devachan from an Egyptian, a Greek, or a present-day body. Outwardly, the world of the physical plane changes, but progress also occurs in the spiritual realm; there, too, the soul experiences something different each time.

[ 3 ] Now, above all else, we must also consider—from the perspective of this “beyond,” if we wish to call it that—the mighty manifestation of Christ on our Earth today. Today we will address the question in a much deeper way: What significance does the appearance of Christ on our Earth hold? What significance does the manifestation of Christ hold for the souls of the departed, for life on the other side—on the spiritual side of existence? To answer this, we must first outline various events that took place for the souls on both sides of the physical plane during the Egyptian period.

[ 4 ] From everything we have learned about the earlier great epochs of Earth’s evolution, we can conclude that the Egyptian-Chaldean period offered a reflection in knowledge and experience of what took place during the Lemurian epoch—what occurred on Earth during and after the separation of the Moon. What people experienced then, they experienced as a memory through what the Egyptian initiates imparted to them. The Egyptian initiate himself experienced events during his initiation that a person can otherwise only experience when he passes through the gate of death. However, the Egyptian initiate experienced this in a different way than an ordinary deceased person. He experienced it differently—and much more besides.

[ 5 ] It is now appropriate, as a foundation for these reflections, to briefly describe the nature of Egyptian initiation. The nature of this initiation differs greatly from the nature of initiation in the post-Christian era. For through His appearance, initiation has been fundamentally transformed. We have seen that human beings had to descend more and more into the material world and had to develop an ever-greater interest in the physical world. To the same extent, however, the experiences between death and a new birth in the spiritual world became more shadowy, more faint. The more vivid human consciousness became in the physical world, the more people preferred to be there, and the more they discovered the laws governing the physical plane, the more shadowy their consciousness became in the spiritual world. And consciousness in the spiritual world reached its lowest point during the Greco-Roman era. But before human beings had descended completely into this material depth, it was not possible for them to fully experience within the physical body what one must experience if one wishes to gain insight into the spiritual world during the period between birth and death.

[ 6 ] The initiation process can be briefly characterized as follows: it applies to all forms of initiation—pre-Christian and post-Christian alike—with only the conclusion differing. Initiation is nothing other than the human being gaining the ability to develop organs of perception in his higher bodies. Today, at night, a person sees darkness; it is dark around them. This is because a person has no organs of perception in their astral body. Just as the eyes and ears have developed as physical organs of perception, supersensory organs must be developed from the higher members of the being and integrated into the astral body. This occurs when the student is given certain exercises in meditation and concentration. A person undergoes these exercises after first gaining an overview of what initiates can impart regarding the spiritual worlds. It has always been the case that students had to learn what we today call elementary spiritual science. Great care was taken to ensure that students could come to know the truths through a systematic progression of stages. Once sufficient theoretical preparation was in place and the students were ready, the exercises were given to them. These exercises serve a very specific purpose. When a person allows sensory impressions to take effect in daily life, these impressions do indeed bear fruit for ordinary life on the physical plane. These impressions continue into the human being’s astral body, which then transmits them to the “I.” But these impressions are not of such a nature that the human being is able to retain them when, at night, he slips out of his physical and etheric bodies with his astral body and “I.” What a person receives in this way from the physical plane does not penetrate him deeply enough for him to retain it as a lasting impression. However, when a person practices meditation and concentration—which have been refined over millennia of experience—the astral body does not lose these impressions but retains them when it slips out of the physical body at night. In this way, the astral body receives vivid impressions that structure and shape it, just as the physical organs have been structured. Thus, over a certain period of time, these exercises work upon the astral body. Through this process, the supersensory organs of perception become imprinted upon the astral body. However, a person would still be far from being able to use these organs of perception if they were merely imprinted upon the astral body. More must happen so that when the astral body returns to the etheric body, it imprints upon the etheric body—like seal impressions—that which has been formed within it. Only at the moment when what has been formed in the astral body is imprinted upon the etheric body does enlightenment occur—enlightenment that makes it possible for a person to see the spiritual world just as he sees the physical world today.

[ 7 ] Here we begin to understand what we received as an impulse through Christ’s appearance on Earth. In the ancient initiations, the astral body had the power to act upon the etheric body only when the etheric body had been lifted out of the physical body. This was because, at that time, the etheric body—being connected to the physical body—would have offered too much resistance for what the astral body had formed within itself to be imprinted upon it. Therefore, in the ancient initiations, the initiate was placed in a death-like state for a period of three and a half days, during which the physical body was separated from the etheric body, and the etheric body, freed from the physical body, united with the astral body. And the astral body then imprinted upon the etheric body what had itself been imprinted upon it through the exercises. When the hierophant then revived the initiate, the latter was an enlightened being; he knew what takes place in the spiritual world, for during those three and a half days he had undergone a remarkable journey. He had been guided through the realms of the spiritual world; he had seen what takes place there; he had experienced firsthand what another person can only come to know through revelation. Thus, one who had been initiated could, based on his own experiences, bear witness to the beings that existed in the spiritual world, beyond the physical plane.

[ 8 ] Thus, humanity had come to know what was experienced in the spiritual world when human beings had not yet descended so deeply onto the physical plane. There, the initiate had become acquainted with the true forms of Osiris, Isis, and Horus. During this journey into the spiritual world, the initiate saw what had been myth. He was then able to convey this to others by cloaking it in myths and legends. He saw it all; he saw how peculiar the effects of Osiris had become when the Moon had separated from the Earth. He saw Horus emerging from Isis and Osiris; he saw the four human archetypes: the bull, the lion, the eagle, and the true human form. He also saw the destinies of human beings between death and a new birth. The Sphinx had appeared to him as a real being; he experienced it. He could say: “Oh, I have seen the Sphinx, the human being when he still had an animal-like form, and his etheric body—human-like, yet protruding from this animal-like form.” — The Sphinx was a real experience for the initiate. He also heard the Sphinx’s question with its enigmatic content. He saw how the human body was developing out of the animal realm, at a time when the head was only ethereal in nature—the etheric head of the Sphinx. This was a truth for the initiate, but just as much a truth for him were the older divine figures, who had, so to speak, taken a different path of development.

[ 9 ] It was stated in the previous discussion that certain entities follow a different path in evolution. The individuality of Wotan, for example, follows such a different path. It shares a common path with humankind up to a certain stage, but then it does not descend as deeply. Humankind continues to descend into materiality and will only later reunite with these beings, who complete their evolution during the Earth era. We have seen how Wotan later no longer wandered about in our world on Earth. Such beings, however, were not beings like Osiris and Isis. These were beings who had branched off even earlier, who completed their evolution in a still higher realm, in complete invisibility. These figures went through their own unique experiences.

[ 10 ] Let us look back to the Lemurian Age. At that time, the etheric body had not yet taken on a human form; humans were still animal-like in their etheric bodies, and the gods who descended at that time had to adapt to appearing in the same animal-like form in which humans existed on Earth. If a being wishes to enter a particular plane, it must fulfill the conditions for that plane. This was also the case here. The divine beings who were connected to the Earth during the departure of the Sun and the Moon—those who were on Earth—had to assume a form that was possible at that time: an animal-like form. And since the Egyptian religious worldview represents, in a sense, a repetition of the Lemurian era, the Egyptian initiate looked up to the gods—for example, Osiris and Isis—as if they were animal-like forms. He still saw the higher deities with animal-like heads. Therefore, from the perspective of occult vision, it was entirely correct to depict such figures—based on what the initiates knew—with the head of a sparrowhawk or a ram. The gods were depicted as they walked upon the earth, in the form they had when they roamed the earth. The external depictions could only be similar to what the initiate saw, yet they were rendered very faithfully. These various divine beings underwent profound transformations. Their forms were different in Lemuria than in Atlantis. The beings underwent much more rapid transformations in those times than they do now. At that time, they were also still ethereal beings, and when one looks back at these figures, one sees them in their three bodies, but illuminated and radiant with astral and etheric light. And this was depicted quite accurately in the images. People today are quick to laugh at the figures that were depicted, for they do not know how realistic they were.

[ 11 ] There was a being who rendered particular service during the period of human evolution when, through the cosmic-terrestrial forces, the combining intellect was integrated into human beings. At that time, the physical brain was prepared in such a way that human beings could later develop intelligence. This ability was implanted in human beings and counted among the deeds of God.... This was connected to what was incorporated into human beings as intelligence. When we observe a person today who possesses a keenly developed capacity for judgment and synthesis—when we view them clairvoyantly—we find a strong expression and reflection of this in a green glitter and radiance of the astral body, the astral aura. The power of deduction manifests itself in green color inclusions in the aura, especially in those who possess a sharp, mathematical mind. The ancient Egyptian initiates saw the god who implanted the capacity for intelligence in human beings, and they depicted him and painted him green because they saw his luminous astral and etheric form shimmering green. This is still the shimmering auric color today when a person is engaged in intellectual activity. And much could be studied about these connections if people were truly willing to study the wonderful realism of the Egyptian depictions of the gods. Because these depictions of the gods are so realistic and not arbitrary, they acted as magical agents; and anyone who could see more deeply would perceive how the colors of these ancient figures contain profound mysteries. One could look deeply into the workings of human evolution.

[ 12 ] We have seen how the Sphinx captures what the initiates have seen. Although it is not a photographic representation, it is realistic. But the forms did, after all, change time and again. The form of the Sphinx reflects in the image what human beings once were. Human beings have shaped their present form themselves. We know that, through evolution on Earth, various animal forms have branched off. What, in fact, is an animal form? It is a form that has remained static while human beings continued to advance in evolution. We see in them stages of human development that have come to a standstill, insofar as these stages have become physical. In the spiritual realm, something entirely different has taken place. What human beings are spiritually has nothing at all to do with their physical ancestors. Only the physical aspect is relevant here. But human beings do not descend from animals; rather, the animal forms have remained static. In the case of human beings, however, the form has been transformed to a certain degree. Animals are former physical human forms that have fallen into decay.

[ 13 ] The situation is different in another area of evolution. Not only have the physical forms of the animals remained unchanged, but so too have the predispositions for the etheric and astral forms. Just as the lion looked different back when it split off from the rest of the animals than it does now, so too do certain soul-spiritual forms that remain stagnant at a certain level change over time—they degenerate. Indeed, it is a law of the spiritual world that whatever remains stagnant on the spiritual or soul level falls ever deeper into decadence.

[ 14 ] Let us say, for example, that when the Sphinx comes to a standstill, it degenerates, taking on a form that resembles a caricature of its original appearance. The Sphinx has thus been preserved on the astral plane to this day. The person who, as an initiate or in some other regular way, ascends into the higher worlds has little interest in these decadent forms, which are, so to speak, the degenerate rabble of the spiritual world. But those who, endowed with a lower clairvoyant gift, are led into the astral world in exceptional cases will encounter such decadent forms.

[ 15 ] Oedipus encountered the true Sphinx, but even today she has not died. To this day, she has not yet died; she merely confronts humanity in a different, special form. When people in rural communities—who have remained at a certain stage of development—rest in the fields at noon in the summer’s scorching heat and fall asleep, and they experience something that could be called a latent sunstroke, and when, as a result of this effect on the physical body, the astral body and the etheric body detach from a part of the physical body, then such people are transported to the astral plane, and they see this decadent, last descendant of the Sphinx. This phenomenon is known by various names. In some regions, she is called the Noon Woman. Many people in the countryside recount having encountered the Noon Woman. She is present everywhere in the most diverse regions, under the most varied names. She is a descendant of the ancient Sphinx. And just as the ancient Sphinx posed questions to the people who encountered her, so too does the Noon Woman ask questions. One can hear stories of how the Noon Woman has approached people and asked endless questions. This torment of questioning is itself a decadent descendant of the ancient Sphinx. The Noon Woman has emerged from the ancient Sphinx. All of this points to how evolution proceeds, even beyond the physical world—how entire lineages of spiritual beings descend and ultimately become mere shadows of what they originally were. Here we see, once again, a feature of the nature of interconnections in evolution. This has been said so that one may see just how manifold evolution truly is.

[ 16 ] However, in order to understand everything correctly, we must bear in mind that, over the course of time, human beings have incorporated into what they brought with them at the beginning of Earth’s evolution—their physical body, etheric body, and astral body—a fourth member: the “I.” I have shown how this “I” permeates the astral body, taking it over in such a way that it exercises the dominion that higher spiritual beings once exercised. It was an act of the higher beings that this “I” was implanted into the astral body. If evolution had then continued in accordance with the will of certain higher beings, a different course of evolution would have unfolded than the one that actually took place. However, certain beings remained stagnant at that time. They had not become capable of cooperating in the implantation of the “I” into the astral body.

[ 17 ] When human beings first set foot on Earth, they consisted of the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body, and continued to develop these. Then, certain exalted beings—who resided primarily on the Sun and the Moon—bestowed upon them the sense of self. These beings, so to speak, cooperated in the formation of the “I.” However, there were certain other beings who, during the Saturn, Sun, and Moon stages of evolution, had not elevated themselves sufficiently to be able to participate in this incorporation of the “I.” They could only do what they had learned on the Moon. They had to limit themselves to working on the human astral body, so that something was incorporated into the human astral body that did not belong to its noblest nature—something that did not come from the exalted higher beings, but from the belated, backward intruders. Had these beings done this on the Moon, it would have been a supreme achievement. But because they did it on Earth as latecomers, they incorporated into the astral body something that placed it on a lower level than it might otherwise have attained. It was endowed with instincts, passions, and egoism.

[ 18 ] We must bear in mind that forces acted upon the human being from two sides, and that the human being also received impacts on the astral body, which caused it to be degraded. However, something that affects the astral body does not affect only the astral body. In the earthly human being, the effect on the astral body is transmitted through it to the etheric body, and this in turn transmits the effect to the physical body. The astral body exerts an influence everywhere, and thus those spirits act through the astral body upon the etheric body and the physical body. If these spiritual beings had not been able to exert such an influence, then what came upon human beings at that time would not have occurred in human life. This is an intensified sense of self in human beings, an intensified sense of “I.” What this brought about in the etheric body is precisely what gave rise to clouded judgment and the potential for error. Everything that was thus brought about by the astral body in the physical body is the basis of what arose as illness. This is the spiritual cause of human illnesses; in animals, the process of becoming ill is something different.

[ 19 ] We see how disease is transmitted in human beings. Disease is connected to the causes that have been indicated here. And since the physical and etheric bodies are connected to hereditary factors, the principle of disease is transmitted through the hereditary line. It should be emphasized once again here that we must distinguish between what constitutes internal diseases and what constitutes external injuries. If a person is hit by a car, that has nothing to do with this. Certain internal diseases can also be related to external causes. If a person eats something that upsets the stomach, that is, of course, also an external factor. Before those beings gained influence over human beings in the course of evolution, human beings were organized in such a way that they reacted much more strongly than they do today to the negative influences acting upon them from the outside. But to the same extent that these beings gained influence, human beings lost the instincts they once possessed for recognizing what was wrong. Previously, human beings were still, in their entire constitution, such that they possessed subtle instincts for what was not right for them, so that if anything sought to enter the stomach—something that today remains there and then causes harm—it was simply denied entry by these instincts. Looking back, we increasingly find ourselves in times when human beings were in a subtle interconnection with the forces of their environment, and when they reacted in a subtle way to those forces. But human beings became increasingly unable to reject what was not beneficial to them.

[ 20 ] Now, this is connected to something else as well. It is connected to the fact that, the more inward a human being became, the more something also happened out in the world: that outwardly, what we know as the other three kingdoms of nature came into being. The three kingdoms around us arose only gradually. At first, only human beings existed. Then the animal kingdom joined them, followed by the plant kingdom, and only then the mineral kingdom. If we were to look back to the primordial Earth, when the Sun was still united with it, we would find a human being in whom all the substances of the physical world still flowed in and out. At that time, the human being still lived in the bosom of the gods; there, the human being could, so to speak, still tolerate everything. Then he had to leave behind what has become the animal kingdom. If he had taken that with him, he would not have been able to develop further at all. He had to expel the animal kingdom and, later, the plant kingdom as well. What exists out there in the animals and plants is nothing other than temperaments, passions, and certain human characteristics that humans had to expel. And when humans formed their bones, they expelled the mineral world. After some time, humans could look at their surroundings and say: “I used to be able to tolerate you; you used to flow in and out of me, just as the air does now.” “When I still lived in the water-earth, I could tolerate you; I processed you. Now you are outside; I can no longer tolerate you, no longer process you.” — When human beings were enclosed by skin, when they became self-contained, distinct beings, they saw the realms around them to the same extent.

[ 21 ] Let us assume that things had continued in this way; then these beings would not have influenced human beings, and something else would not have come about. As long as a person is healthy, he will maintain a normal relationship with the outside world. If, however, he has disturbed forces within him, these must be driven back by the forces that the person possesses. If his own forces are too weak for this, then something must be instilled in him to counteract that against which he cannot muster his normal resistance on his own, but rather must absorb something from the outside. Something must then be implanted in him so that the resistance he once exerted—when forces from the outside were still flowing in and out of him—is called forth. When a person is ill, it may be necessary, for example, to instill in them the forces of a metal. This is why it is justified to instill metals, plant juices, and the like into a person—to use as a remedy something with which they were previously connected.

[ 22 ] At a time when the Egyptian initiates could look back on the entire course of world evolution, they knew exactly how the individual organs of the human body corresponded to the substances in the external world—which plants and which metals had to be administered to the sick—and one day a vast treasure of occult wisdom will be unearthed in the field of medicine, a treasure that humanity once possessed. Today, not only is there a great deal of botched work in the field of medicine, but there are also many errors made when, in a one-sided manner, special healing powers are attributed to this or that substance. The true occultist will never be one-sided. How often does it happen that one must shake off tendencies that seek to compromise with spiritual science? Spiritual science cannot support a one-sided method; rather, it seeks to establish the comprehensiveness of research. It is one-sided to say: “Away with all poisons!” — Those who say this do not know the true healing powers. Of course, nonsense is being perpetrated today, for experts are usually unable to see the full picture. And a certain tyranny within medical science excludes what can come from occultism. If campaigns were not waged against the oldest branches of medicine—against metal therapy—then reform could take place. Modern experimentation yields nothing that truly stands up to the time-tested remedies, which only laypeople’s ignorance can oppose so vehemently, as is often the case. The ancient Egyptian initiates, in particular, were masters of these mysteries. They were able to gain insight into the true interconnections of evolution. And when certain physicians today speak of Egyptian medicine in a somewhat condescending tone, one can very quickly tell from that tone that they know absolutely nothing about it. This hints at some of what one must know about Egyptian initiation.

[ 23 ] It was such things that found their way into the collective consciousness. Now we must bear in mind that the same souls that are in our bodies today were also incarnated in those ancient times. Let us consider that these same souls saw all the images that the initiates had created based on what they knew through their vision into the spiritual world. We know that what the soul takes in from one incarnation to the next bears fruit again and again in some way. Even if a person cannot remember it, the fact remains that what lives in the soul today lives there because it was implanted there in the past. The soul has been shaped both within and beyond physical life. Whether it was between birth and death, or between death and a new birth, Egyptian concepts have had an influence; that is why today’s concepts have arisen from them. Today, certain ideas are developing out of the Egyptian concepts. What is called Darwinism today did not arise for external reasons. It is these same souls that received in Egypt the images of the animal forms of humanity’s ancestors. All these views have reawakened; it is only that humanity has descended even deeper into the material world. He remembers being told: “Our ancestors were animal forms”—but he does not remember that they were gods. This is the psychological reason why Darwinism emerged. The divine forms appear in a materialistic guise. Thus, there is an intimate spiritual connection between the old and the new, the third and the fifth cultural periods.

[ 24 ] Now, it is not as if the sole fate of our time is that human beings view in a material way what they once viewed in the spiritual realm. That would have been the fate had the Christ impulse not entered into human evolution in the meantime. This has had significance not only for life on the physical plane. Today let us bring to mind the significance the events in Palestine had for the other side of life, where the souls of the ancient Egyptians also resided after death. Here on the physical plane, the events already discussed took place. But the three years of Christ’s ministry—including the event at Golgotha and the baptism in the Jordan—were just as significant for the souls who were incarnated on Earth as they were for those who found themselves in the state between death and new birth.

[ 25 ] We recall the fact that the outer physical expression of the “I” is the blood. That which physically acts within the forces of the blood is the physical expression of the “I.” Now, in the course of evolution, an excessive degree of egoism had developed, meaning that the “I” had imprinted itself too strongly upon the blood. And this “excess” of egoism must be removed from humanity if spirituality is to be restored to it. On Golgotha, the impulse was given for this removal of egoism. And at the very moment when the Savior’s blood flowed on Golgotha, at that very moment other processes were taking place in the spiritual world. The blood of the Redeemer flowed down into the material world, but the excess of egoism present there passed over into the spiritual world. The excess of egoism had to vanish from the world, and the impulse for this was given on Golgotha. Furthermore, universal love for humanity is taking the place of egoism in present-day humanity.

[ 26 ] But what was this event at Golgotha? This event of a death lasting three and a half days on the physical plane? It was the manifestation on the physical plane of what the initiate had also experienced in his spiritual development. He lay dead there for three and a half days. The one who had undergone this symbolic death was able to tell humanity: Death can be conquered. There is something eternal in the world. — Death was conquered by the initiates, and they felt themselves to be the conquerors of death. The event at Golgotha signifies that what had often taken place in the mysteries of ancient times became, for once, a historical event: the conquest of death by the Spirit, which was now carried out onto the physical plane, out into the world. When we allow this to take effect upon our souls, we perceive what happened with the Mystery of Golgotha—the New—as an image of the ancient initiation. Having entered the world as a historical event, we perceive this unique occurrence.

[ 27 ] And what was the result of this? What was the initiate able to do? Based on his experiences, he was able to say to his fellow human beings: “I know that there is a spiritual world, that one can live in the spiritual world. I have lived there for three and a half days and bring you news from there.” I bring you the gifts of the spiritual world.”—These gifts were useful and for the healing of humanity. Conversely, one who had lived in the physical world as a candidate for initiation could bring nothing of the sort to the dead. He could only say to the dead on the other side: “Everything that happens on the physical plane is such that humanity may be redeemed.” - Such was the case when the ancient initiates in the spiritual world communicated with the dead, to whom they could only impart this teaching: “Suffering is life; only redemption is salvation.”

[ 28 ] This is what the Buddha taught. This is what the Initiate taught—both to the living and to the dead. But through the event at Golgotha, death has been conquered in the physical world, and this has significance for the departed who are in the spiritual world. Those who receive the Christ into their inner being once again illuminate the shadowy life in Devachan. The more a person experiences the Christ here, the brighter it becomes over there in the spiritual world. After the blood flowed from the Saviour’s wounds—this is part of the mysteries of Christianity—the Christ Spirit descended to the dead. This is one of humanity’s deepest mysteries. Christ descended to the dead and said to them: Something has happened over there that is not such that one would have to say of it: what happens over there is not as much as what happens here on this side. What a person brings with them into the spiritual realm, in connection with this event, is a gift that can be brought from the physical world into the spiritual world.—This is the message that Christ brought to the dead during the three and a half days; he descended to the dead to redeem them.

[ 29 ] In the ancient initiation, one could say: We reap the fruits of the spiritual in the physical! Now an event had occurred in the physical world that bore its fruits and had an effect in the spiritual world. And one can say: It was not in vain that human beings completed their descent to the physical plane. They completed it so that fruits could be reaped here in the physical world for the spiritual world.

[ 30 ] The fact that the fruits could be reaped was made possible by Christ, who was present among the living and the dead, and who gave an impulse so intense and so powerful that it shook the entire world.