The Rudolf Steiner Archive

6. Questions About the Law of Karma

[ 1 ] Reincarnation and karma will be the subject of tonight’s public lecture, and it might be appropriate for us to choose as the topic of our branch lecture a discussion that delves more deeply into certain questions concerning the law of karma and, in a certain sense, serves as a more intimate complement to what can only be presented in general terms during the public lecture.

[ 2 ] Karma, the great law of existence, the law of destiny—one might say it is discussed in the very foundations of spiritual science, for it is one of the most fundamental aspects of our worldview. The more intimate questions, however, are such that understanding them requires familiarity with spiritual science—a familiarity that can only be gained by having worked for a while in a study group and by having absorbed not empty theories, but rather what flows quite imperceptibly from the spiritual teachings into the human soul: a certain kind of sensations and feelings. This is something that every spiritual seeker soon realizes: that spiritual science is something other than just another worldview, since it gives us concepts and ideas that are transformed in our hearts into feelings and sensibilities, and that through it we become different people—people with an entirely different way of relating to our fellow human beings.

[ 3 ] This is the kind of preparation meant when we speak of a relative inner maturity that one acquires in this way through spiritual science. We know that karma primarily means the spiritual causation of a future event, a future characteristic, or ability in a human being through a preceding event. Regardless of whether this spiritual causation occurs in a single life between birth and death, or whether it extends as the great law of destiny for humanity across various earthly lives—so that the causes for something that happens in one life lie in a previous or a life long past—this law, this all-encompassing law of destiny, is what we call karma. Now, if one wishes to examine karma in detail, one could truly speak of it for many months and even longer, and only slowly and gradually does one come to understand the concepts associated with it. Therefore, in a lecture one can only present the facts of the law of karma in a narrative manner; and it is here that the maturity of the aspirant to spiritual science becomes evident—that he can now accept these things as facts, as results, and then reflect further upon them and seek them out in life. Individual lives reveal the effects of karma in the most diverse ways; however, the human perspective on life does not usually extend very far. People generally observe themselves or their fellow human beings with attention only for a short period of life, because their vision is not sharpened by the spiritual eye.

[ 4 ] I would like to begin by discussing just how little this is the case, so that you may gain an understanding of how to cultivate spiritual insight in everyday life. This is to be achieved through a kind of personal experience. Some of you may already know that I spent fifteen years of my life as a teacher, during which time I was responsible for a wide variety of educational situations—including, perhaps, difficult ones involving problems that could only be solved through prolonged observation and study. It stands to reason that, in the course of such work, I had the opportunity to make observations not only of the children directly under my care but also of their relatives—their cousins, who were always around. One then sees how they grow up, and one can observe a large circle of people entering the world. Now, anyone who follows life with a bit of attention, with a keen intellectual eye, can perceive many things from such details. For example, during the time I was engaged in that work, there was a widespread—though at the time highly regarded—medical malpractice in vogue, which consisted of trying to keep children “strong” by giving them a small glass of red wine every day. It was the fashion at the time for doctors to have the little ones given a small glass of red wine with a meal. Parents followed this prescription conscientiously. Now I had the opportunity to observe children to whom this had been done, and those to whom it had not. Once you’re out in the world, you can observe in all sorts of ways people who were still children when you first met them. The children who were subjected to this wine back then are now people between the ages of twenty-six and twenty-eight.

[ 5 ] So I’ve had the opportunity, in a wide variety of ways, not only to observe a few years, but also to take in longer periods of time. The people who were one to three years old when I first met them and are now twenty-eight years old can be divided precisely into two groups: those who were given a small glass of red wine back then to “strengthen them for life,” and those who were not. The former have become people who today, speaking in a physical sense, all struggle terribly with their nervous systems—or, in spiritual scientific terms, with their astral bodies. They have become people who lack what is called a firm commitment to a life goal, a backbone; whereas those who managed without wine in their youth have become people who have backbone, who are firmly grounded, who know what they want, who do not need—at a time when their business affairs least permit it—to have to go here and there for relaxation, and who, because they have become restless people, do not get that relaxation anyway. The others, on the other hand, have become more steadfast individuals. I do not wish merely to point out what it is like to encounter such a person again after many years, but rather to emphasize that life takes on a somewhat different appearance when viewed in terms of the relationship between cause and effect—not merely as far as one’s nose can reach, but also in terms of the broader and deeper connections between causes and effects.

[ 6 ] This, too, is observation of life at the highest level, when we seek to observe human beings in terms of qualities that are of an inner, karmic nature. It is, unfortunately, a fact that people generally do not connect the beginning of human life with its end. People do observe children, but who has the patience—where they have the opportunity—to observe what emerges depending on what a person’s inner life was like in a certain way during the early years of childhood, and then again, what life is like as the course of life draws to a close? And yet there is a very definite karmic connection between the beginning and the end of life. Certain events that occur at the end of life or in its second half have very specific causes rooted in the early years or the youth of a person’s life.

[ 7 ] Let’s take a specific case, for example, a person who, in early adolescence, is angry and quick-tempered—someone who is easily prone to flying into a rage over something happening in their surroundings. This anger—and especially the quick temper that occurs in children—can take two forms. It can, so to speak, be merely what is called a bad habit—which, in a certain sense, is simply an outburst, a rage-like outburst of excessive selfishness. But it can also be something else. One must learn—especially as an educator—to distinguish between these two types. A child’s outburst of anger can also be what we encounter when a child sees an injustice taking place near them. A child does not yet possess the power of judgment; they cannot yet use their intellect to understand what is happening. If one were to try to explain that what is happening is not wrong, one would soon realize that the child is not yet capable of understanding this. Therefore, it is rooted in the world order, in the spiritual guidance of the world, that what later manifests as the power of judgment appears in childhood in the form of affects and emotions. The child cannot yet understand what is happening, but it becomes angry. This anger, this emotion, is a preliminary expression of the soul of what will later become the power of judgment. These two types of anger—anger and sudden outbursts of anger—must be very clearly distinguished from one another. Anger in the first case must be handled in such a way that the child is allowed to work through this anger—if possible—by truly experiencing, in an appropriate manner, the effects of this anger as well as the wrongness of the anger itself. For if, for example, one always does for the child—out of love, so to speak—what enables the child to have its will fulfilled, then the anger fails to have its effect. Anger always has an effect on the soul. When anger arises in the soul and is not resolved by achieving what it seeks, it rebounds inward. And that is a good thing. That is why popular speech—which often has a keen sense for such things—refers to anger as “poison” in various regions where German is spoken. To be angry is called “to poison oneself.” This word is truly drawn from the realities of the soul’s life. Anger enters the soul, and through its inner effect—when it rebounds—excessive egoism is driven out. Thus, even anger has its good side. It is a teacher of humanity; it acts like a poison that tempers excessive egoism.

[ 8 ] Anger that arises when a child witnesses an injustice is something entirely different. This anger is a preemptive judgment. It is justified. In this case, one must not merely attempt to punish—for by punishing, one would drive the anger back inward—but one must try to use this emotion in the child to gradually instill in them an understanding and teach them the power of judgment. This anger is overcome by developing the power of judgment. If a child becomes angry at an injustice they witness, the following would happen: One would guide the child toward an understanding that the injustice arises from human nature; one would provide them with an explanation of what happened, appropriate to their level of maturity. Then such anger will also have its proper effect. It will prepare the child to judge the world, for it is a harbinger of the power of judgment. This is said to draw attention to the fact that human beings are not always unjustifiably angry. Anger has its value for human development. Human beings must purify themselves; they must overcome anger. Anger is something that has a beneficial effect precisely because it is overcome. A person could never ascend to perfection without overcoming anger.

[ 9 ] Now one might ask: Why does anger exist in the world government? Anger exists because one becomes strong by overcoming it; one gains greater mastery over oneself by overcoming it. If one observes someone who experienced that noble anger in their youth—during the years when idealism emerges, when something filled them with anger because they were not yet able to grasp the deeper connections—and then observes them in later life, one sees that in old age the positive effects of that anger become apparent. On the other hand, those who in their youth were unable to overcome anger, to purify themselves, and to master their emotions will not easily attain in later years that gentle vitality that is so soothing. For gentleness is precisely the result of overcoming anger. Gentleness in old age is the result of overcoming anger in youth.

[ 10 ] That quality of the soul, which also emerges in youth, has a completely different effect: devotion. It consists in a person developing a sense for what they cannot yet fully comprehend. Anger is a rejection; reverence is a looking up toward what one cannot yet comprehend, a gazing upon that which one is not yet equal to. No one can attain knowledge who cannot revere with reverence that which stands above them. Devotion is the best path to knowledge. People would never attain knowledge if they had not first, from a dark background, revered those spiritual powers that stand above them. Devotion is a force that leads upward toward what one wishes to achieve. That is why it is fundamentally necessary to cultivate devotion. The person who, later in life, can look back on many moments of devotion will look back on them with bliss. If one has experienced, in early childhood within the family, hearing people speak of a family member who is said to be deeply revered, and if, as a child, you also absorbed this feeling within yourself, and the day approaches when you can see this person for the first time—if you then feel a sacred hesitation to turn the doorknob behind which the revered person is to appear—then that, too, is a very devout feeling, and we will have much of it in later life if we have experienced several such moments in our youth.

[ 11 ] Devotion is the foundation, the karmic cause of the power to bless in later years, in the second half of life. That power, which flows forth and enables us to be a source of comfort to others, is attained through nothing other than a devotional disposition in our youth. Look around you for a person who reaches out to others who are sad, who need only be there—by their mere presence—to comfort the sorrowful, to be their comforter, and to spread active love—and you will find that the karmic cause of this active power lies in those devotional dispositions of youth. The power that is poured into the soul of the growing human being as devotion is something that remains within them; it flows through the soul and manifests as a blessing in later life. We could examine many cases where the karmic law is already at work in a pronounced way between birth and death.

[ 12 ] Let us examine the law of karma in even greater detail in everyday life using a specific example. Suppose a young person had been studying. At the age of eighteen, his father went bankrupt. The young person was therefore forced to stop studying; he was torn away from the profession for which he had been preparing; he had to pursue a different career path. Now, of course, not all professions are of equal value; we are only interested in the facts surrounding the change in profession. So the young man had to become a businessman. Now, if one is not an observer of life, one might say: “Well, that event happened”—and one would observe what came before and what came after. But only someone who truly observes life with a spiritually keen eye will discover a connection between what came before and what came after. Once the young man is in his new profession, and everything goes normally—I won’t say it always goes that way, but it can—we will be able to see something else in the later years of his life. At first, the profession is new to him. He is figuring out what is relevant to him. But as early as the age of twenty-one, it will become apparent that there is something different about this man compared to a man who was prepared for a career in business from the very beginning: as early as the age of twenty-one, it becomes clear that he has less interest in the duties required of him in his profession. Certain feelings arise in his soul that separate him from what he is supposed to do, so that he cannot perform the tasks required of him with true satisfaction. If one now investigates where this comes from, one will observe the following: When a particular point occurs where the course of life takes a turn—a turning point in life, such as a change of profession—then, according to the law of karma, little is noticeable in the first few years. But then it catches up with him, so that in the twenty-first year, feelings, sensations, and moods make themselves felt—feelings that can be explained by what arose in the eighteenth year from the preparations for the other career—feelings that he absorbed but did not bring to fruition. At first, he may have suppressed them; yet they eventually assert themselves to such an extent that he no longer feels satisfied with his new career. What was planted within him three years before the career change will come to light three years after that change in such a way that the person in question can no longer find true satisfaction. And from there, things may unfold such that the fourteenth year of life repeats itself in the twenty-second year, and the thirteenth year in the twenty-third. Because everything in life intersects, things may also turn out differently. For example, he may start a family in his twenty-third year; then interests arise that intersect with past ones and cause them to take a different course. But the law still holds true. Even when a new interest arises, the earlier interests—which have been diverted—are still present. From such an example, you can see the course of the life process as it appears to spiritual science. The least one gains from spiritual science is a variety of concepts; but the most important thing is that through it one penetrates into the life process. Let’s suppose—I never recount cases other than those that have actually occurred; one must cultivate the habit of never inventing anything, but always choosing cases that have truly happened—so a mother comes to me who must guide her only son toward a different life path because his father has been taken from him. In today’s world, the right thing is unlikely to happen here, for true observation of life is hardly compatible with today’s view of life. If such a mother becomes acquainted with spiritual science, she learns to reckon with the law of karma and can become a true friend to the young man who is to be guided through the years of such a career change. This was the case some time ago. A mother came to me and asked, “What is my greatest life task?” I told her to use those few years to earn her son’s deep trust. Then spiritual science would shape his character in such a way that it could help him bear what is certain to come. The feelings of piety instilled in his soul would make themselves strongly felt throughout his later years, and she would also be able to see clearly what is so certain to happen. If the son then comes home one day and says, “I don’t know what to do; my career doesn’t satisfy me at all”—then she will be able to trace this back to what happened earlier. She will recognize the cause and, guided by her inner intuition, will know how to intervene helpfully to guide her son through the difficulty. She will certainly be better able to do so than if she had no idea how karma works and merely believed that the mood or depression arose from some trivial matter. Nothing arises without a cause; but often the causes lie much closer at hand than one might think. We simply need to observe such a turning point, trace life back from there, and see what is unfolding differently. It’s like this: Imagine you have a violin string. You’ve stretched it taut and are bowing it with a suitable object. The string produces a certain sound. If you now hold it in the middle, something happens on both sides: the string vibrates on both sides. There are such events in life where one can observe how what happens beforehand is reflected afterward.

[ 13 ] Middle age, too, is such a turning point. What is prepared in youth comes to fruition in old age. It is necessary to bear these things in mind so that one gradually gains a genuine sense that spiritual science is not something impractical, but that one’s entire life can be shaped practically from the perspective of spiritual science. A life lived merely in love is of no use unless wisdom is combined with love. Love must be combined with wisdom, with the knowledge of what is right. Love alone is not enough for life.

[ 14 ] We can mention another case that occurred in the first half of the eighteenth century and has been thoroughly examined. A mother was raising her young daughter. She had indeed noticed that this little girl had begun, when she was very young, to take things—to steal. But in her love—which is, of course, an admirable quality—she could not bring herself to punish her. The little girl stole once, twice, a third time, and did other things as well; and if one follows her life story, one sees that the child became a notorious poisoner. Here you have love that is not united with wisdom. Love must be imbued with the light of wisdom. Love can only truly unfold when it is imbued with wisdom. How else can one, as a friend, help a young person—who is meant to develop—navigate important moments in their life, when one knows that there is a law which sometimes reveals the causes of an event quite clearly—causes that one would not understand without knowledge of the law? Thus, it would be right not only to know in general terms that there is a law of karma, but also to trace karma in specific cases by acquiring a correct worldview. It must be a serious responsibility of the spiritual scientist to immerse himself in the concrete workings of these laws and to know how they manifest in life. That is the most important thing: not to spout platitudes about karma, but to engage with it and trace the laws as they play out in life. This is essential!

[ 15 ] Now I’d like to tell you something else. We can also highlight a few cases that relate to karma carried over from one life to the next. Of course, even here we can only limit ourselves to individual cases. So let us consider a question regarding a person’s inner karma, which arises from the fact that, fundamentally, a human being must always be a dual entity in life. When you look at life, you will have to admit: when a person enters existence through birth, two things must be distinguished. One is what they have inherited from their ancestors. For example, Schiller inherited the shape of his nose from his grandfather; but what is specifically “Schiller-like” was not inherited—rather, it comes from his earlier incarnations, his earlier embodied lives. On the one hand, there is the current of heredity—that which is passed down through generations; on the other hand, there is what the human being himself carries over from one life to the next. Anyone who has developed an eye for the spiritual will always ask himself how much a person has from his parents, and how much stems from his previous incarnation.

[ 16 ] From a rational standpoint, one cannot teach unless one is able to make this distinction. The art of education will only take on its proper form once people have learned to distinguish between these two currents. Only at the end of Earth’s evolution will these two currents converge, so that the human being will be able to find the body into which he or she fits. At the present time, this is not yet possible. If a complete harmony between outer physicality and inner individual organization were to occur in our present time, it would be impossible for a person to die before the normal age due to inner causes; for since death is not something accidental but a disharmony, premature death could not occur, since harmony would then reign within the human being. As it is, however, this disharmony between what is inherited and what is brought over from a previous incarnation can become so strong that it brings about an early death.

[ 17 ] If people were willing to engage even a little with spiritual teachings, they could already grasp reincarnation with their own hands today—this is not to be taken figuratively, but literally—if only materialistic theories interpreted the relevant facts correctly rather than incorrectly. This can be demonstrated in specific cases. There are people who are still so far behind in their development that their feelings are entirely rooted in their feeling soul. Their entire consciousness is connected to the feeling soul. And this can already be seen in people’s outward gestures: they reveal certain causes that lie in the astral body. When a person is still completely immersed in the sensory soul and feels quite at ease inwardly—for example, after enjoying a good meal—it happens that they pat themselves on the chest out of contentment. This is a sign that their sensory soul is still too dominant. When a person is deeply immersed in the emotional soul, this is also evident. Because the sense of truth resides in the feeling soul, a person who is immersed in the feeling or intellectual soul will tap their chest to affirm a truth. A person who is deeply immersed in the conscious soul touches their nose when they are thinking deeply about something. That which relates to the feeling soul is expressed in the lower body; that which relates to the intellectual or emotional soul is expressed in the chest, and that which relates to the conscious soul is expressed in the head—one also scratches behind the ears. I say this only to show how what is in the astral body finds expression in the physical body.

[ 18 ] Now the following can occur. Human beings can take into their consciousness the highest feelings, ideas, and ideals that they can possibly have at this stage in this cycle of time; for example, our ethical ideals, which in and of themselves should be proof to human beings of the existence of a spiritual world. When we are inspired by an inner voice to embrace these ethical ideals and devote ourselves to them, the impulse for this cannot come from outside. This can go so far that a person elevates something he feels without ideals to the level of an ideal, so that he lives according to a particular idea not out of a sense of duty, but simply because he can no longer do otherwise. For those who allow themselves to be permeated by a moral idea, it will come to pass that they immerse themselves so deeply in this idea that they command themselves to do what is right in its spirit. Thus, the ideals must shine forth in the conscious soul; then they flow downward and become instincts.

[ 19 ] When this happens—when a person has so thoroughly infused their feelings with their ideals—then something special comes into play. These instincts strive to express themselves even through the physical body. However, between birth and death, a person can no longer work on their physical body. Thus, certain currents flow through the chest toward the head. When someone is inspired by an ideal, burns with passion for it, and is so filled with fervor that they feel with love, “This must happen”—then they will devote themselves to it in this life and do everything for it. But that is not all. Through this activity, currents flow into the upper part of the human being, all the way to the head. These are forces that seek to act upon the physical body; but they can no longer alter the head in this life, because the human physical body—even when one refines oneself in this way—is no longer capable of formation. Yet these forces still flow upward. These currents remain with the human being in their soul, and when the person passes through death and a new birth, they carry them into a new existence. Here we see what gives phrenology its individual validity: these forces, acquired in this way, manifest themselves in the protrusions of the skull. One cannot say that this protrusion expresses something general; rather, it expresses what the individual has often associated with themselves in this way during their previous life—and which, nevertheless, was no longer able to reshape the body.

[ 20 ] Thus, these bodies pass through life, moving between death and rebirth, and we truly grasp what a person has so often allowed to flow into themselves in their previous life. You truly grasp reincarnation and karma when you feel the various protrusions and bumps on the head. However, we must be aware that every person has their own laws; these bumps must not be judged in general terms, but rather on a completely individual basis. So, for example, we touch a bump and know: it is the work that the person performed on their soul in their previous life. So one can actually grasp karma and reincarnation—grasp them with one’s hands! In this way, one can learn about spiritual science right down to the physical form of the body.

[ 21 ] Just as the physical form carries over from one life to the next, so do other things. However, one really must not view all these things too narrowly. One must not believe that the law of karma is as rigidly defined as a civil code; it can only be understood through comprehensive study.

[ 22 ] Let’s consider a great misfortune that causes deep pain. We often view it incorrectly because we always focus solely on seeing the effect. We then see that an event has occurred that has made us unhappy, that has thrown us off course. We see only the effect. But we should look for the cause. There we might find the following: Yes, in a previous life there was an opportunity to acquire this or that ability. But we did not do so; we failed to do so. Thus, we passed through the gate of death without having acquired this ability. Now, those forces—which are already karmic forces—drive us toward misfortune in the next life. Had we acquired that ability in the previous life, that force would not have driven us toward misfortune. Because this misfortune befalls us, we now acquire this ability. Let us now suppose that this misfortune befell us in our twentieth year, and in our thirtieth year we look back on it and ask ourselves: What caused us to possess these or those abilities? In this way, we recognize the purpose of this misfortune. We gain infinitely more when we regard things not as effects but as causes of what they make of us. This, too, is a benefit of the doctrine of karma: viewing things as causes. All these things are details of the law of karma. So you see that one should participate in the anthroposophical life because one can learn much that would otherwise remain merely a general concept.

[ 23 ] Attention should be drawn to something quite significant related to the law of karma. A person who is new to spiritual science and hears that it is possible to develop spiritual abilities—even to the point of acquiring the gift of clairvoyance—might be tempted to ask: Why is it always so difficult to learn what spiritual science teaches? — This question may well be justified, but it really stems mostly from a misunderstanding held by many people who are only superficially acquainted with spiritual science—a misunderstanding they have regarding the connection between physical and spiritual life. They know that physical life is by no means unnecessarily inserted into human existence. It has its mission, just as the life between death and a new birth in the spiritual world does.

[ 24 ] Let’s ask ourselves the following question: What about two people, one of whom, due to his karma from his previous life, is unable in this incarnation to develop the gift of clairvoyance, but must content himself with diligently acquiring anthroposophical knowledge through study, so that he understands how these things are to be grasped—that is, he could make progress only through study— and another who has been given the opportunity to develop his clairvoyant gifts and penetrate the spiritual world? The latter might have the following attitude. He says to himself: I can see into the spiritual world; I can see spiritual beings—why should I still study books? I know there is a spiritual world; why should I still study anthroposophy? That’s unfounded and boring.”—This is something that happens time and again: people who are karmically fortunate enough to possess clairvoyant abilities tell themselves, “We don’t want to learn anything more now; why should we study things that are presented only in dry concepts?” - One person is capable of studying all the more diligently, but cannot develop the gift of clairvoyance; another despises the studies, but his karma is so favorable that he can become a clairvoyant. What, then, becomes of these people after death? What is the overall picture? The person who attained the gift of clairvoyance between birth and death—who could look into the spiritual world and see various things, but who did not want to learn the theoretical concepts, who did not want to grasp the spiritual scientific teachings through logical thinking, who despised it all—that person gains absolutely nothing from it after death. They are no better off than if they had never possessed the gift of clairvoyance during their lifetime. In fact, the person who was not yet able to see clearly during their physical life but who was not prevented from forming a logical understanding of the spiritual world through reading is actually better off.

[ 25 ] However, this is not meant to be an instruction to be lazy or to do nothing to develop one’s spiritual senses. No one can know whether they might not still acquire the gift of clairvoyance before their death. For those who have studied the spiritual-scientific worldview, these concepts are now transformed into actual insights. What one acquires here through concepts is never lost; it remains. There is an obligation: Even if one were highly initiated, even if one could see to the highest heights, but could not penetrate what is seen with concepts, one would still gain nothing from it. Human beings should not merely stop at seeing, but should cast everything into concepts drawn from physical life. Human beings are called upon to truly take into themselves what they can experience on earth. What is lacking in the spiritual world must be acquired in the physical world and carried up from there.

[ 26 ] What has just been said is connected to something far more significant. There is one thing that human beings in the spiritual world could never have come to know. No event in the spiritual world could ever have been known if human beings had not been brought down to the physical Earth and guided through incarnations. All spiritual beings who do not incarnate cannot experience one event: death. Death does not exist in the astral world or in the realms above it; it cannot be experienced there. Hence the ancient principle in esoteric philosophy: If gods wish to learn about death, they must go to Earth to learn it. - This is a very profound truth. And yet another aspect is connected with death: Humanity would never have attained self-consciousness. Only by passing through the gate of death again and again as each incarnation comes to an end—and shedding its physical forms—only in this way does humanity attain true consciousness of the “I.” Humanity must learn to overcome death. Had death not entered the world, humankind would never have come to know self-awareness. Thus, death had to become the great teacher of the physical world. This is connected to a great event. If humanity had never descended to the physical earth, if it had always remained above in the spiritual spheres, it could never have experienced what is the greatest event in Earth’s evolution: the Mystery of Golgotha.

[ 27 ] The Christ event can only be experienced between birth and death. And it is precisely in this that the greatness of this event lies: that a God descended from the heights of heaven and shared in the fate of humankind. Only on Earth could He accomplish this mystery. Nowhere in the spiritual world could the Mystery of Golgotha ever have been established. In order to teach humanity the victory over death, a God had to descend from spiritual heights to die on Earth. And this event, as understood by human beings on Earth, is the greatest thing that can flow into a human being’s earthly incarnation. This is the greatest thing a human being can take with them when they leave the physical earth through the gate of death. A human being could never comprehend the greatness of Christ if they did not learn on earth what Christ is. Once they have learned this on earth, they can preserve it and bring it with them into the spiritual world.

[ 28 ] Humanity would never have been able to come to know the Christ if it had not descended, developed a physical body, and had the opportunity on Earth to understand the death of a God. This event—which has significance for all the future—had to take place. Humanity will once again evolve backward into the spiritual world. Before that, it knew nothing of the Christ impulse; on Earth it had to learn about it, and now it is carried upward, taken along by all those who have gained an understanding of it on Earth. With this understanding, which is gradually acquired on Earth, and with that event living in the soul, the human being lives on in subsequent incarnations and also in those lives that flow between death and birth. People will understand more and more what Golgotha is. Christ will live on more and more. And when the Earth has one day been physically shattered, when only the souls—the spirits of human beings—remain, they will look back on Earth’s evolution and say: We had to undergo a process of development in a world where we prepared ourselves for Christ. Then this Mystery came; evolution continued; we came to understand the events in Palestine ever more deeply; we processed them in our lives between birth and death; and once this great Mystery was comprehended, the Earth was ripe to disappear again, for by then we had internalized what was the most important aspect of the entire evolution of the Earth. We had to be on Earth; we had to go through it all in order to experience what cannot be experienced anywhere else. Now it has been carried up into the spiritual world, but the origin of what is now in the spiritual world was down there.

[ 29 ] This is how your souls will feel when they have gone through many incarnations, when the Earth has ceased to exist as a physical planet, and when humanity has ascended to a new existence. What is the most important legacy of Earth’s evolution? What is the most important thing we have taken with us—something that can be experienced and lived through only and exclusively on Earth? The Mystery of Golgotha. Now we have the Christ within us. That is the significance of the sacrifice: that the Christ descended and underwent that event which human beings experience as death—to become ever more self-aware, to gain ever more strength, and thus to absorb the karma of the Christ-force to an ever greater degree.

[ 30 ] Thus we see how karma operates in this significant case, and how the understanding of Christ is connected to the entire earthly karma of humanity. And humanity is to receive Christ within itself. Humanity cannot fulfill its earthly karma without having attained this understanding of Christ. And the attainment of the earthly goal will be a karmic effect of the assimilation of the understanding of Christ. Thus we can say: We will understand both the smallest and the greatest events when we consider the law of karma.