The Rudolf Steiner Archive

19. Some Thoughts on Karma, Reincarnation, and Initiation

[ 1 ] We have seen how the Atlanteans, with their consciousness, were still at home in the spiritual world—how, in fact, it was day for them there and so-called night here in the physical world. Then we traced humanity’s descent into the post-Atlantean era through the various cultural epochs up to the Greco-Roman period, up to the appearance of Christ Jesus on Earth.

[ 2 ] Now let us once again consider our own era, the fifth cultural epoch. By virtue of its intelligence, which is directed solely toward the physical plane, humanity today has descended far deeper below the level of the descent than was the case in the other great cultures. Materialism has driven an immense expenditure of mental energy and intellectual effort, all directed solely toward physical comfort. The defining characteristic of our time has crystallized, for example, in the department store. Contemporary culture works solely for the physical plane, but with a sophistication unprecedented in history. It is therefore clear to the occultist why, precisely in our time, the contrast between religion and science—which finds expression in the most diverse movements—is so great, and the gulf between them so wide. A conflict between religion and science—from which art, too, suffers—always arises when the level of culture declines. We can observe this in contemporary science, which has become completely entangled in material and abstract thinking. Philosophy is not something absolute, but rather something that, in the course of human development, had to arise and evolve from certain premises. Before there was a philosophical way of thinking—and this did not begin until the 6th century B.C. among the Greeks—there was a form of knowledge drawn from the wisdom of the mysteries. This wisdom had as its source an inner experience of the soul, in which the mysteries of world events were revealed. When the ancient capacity for intuitive insight was lost in the human soul, observation of sensory and psychological perceptions guided by the intellect took its place. Yet in the early days, philosophers—whether through an inner vision still available to them or through the tradition of ancient mystery knowledge—were still aware of this wisdom and interwove it with the emerging capacity for intellectual thought. Pythagoras and Plato still drew their inspiration from the tradition of seers. It was Aristotle who worked solely from the technique of pure thought and established the foundations of logic. Aristotelianism remained dominant throughout the Middle Ages and flourished in early Scholasticism. Gradually, however, a chasm opened up between knowledge and faith. A gap emerged between reason and its techniques of thought on the one hand, and supersensible truth on the other, finding its ultimate expression in Kant. In Kant and his philosophy, we find one of the dead ends to which materialistic thinking has led. And Kant was, unfortunately, the one who inspired the entire field of modern philosophy. Yet the spiritual researcher does not point out these facts in order to criticize modern science. He points them out to shed light on the path that can lead us out of the ossification of thought. There is only one way to achieve this: science, art, and religion—the three branches of culture—must be reunited and interpenetrate one another; they must radiate spiritual life. And achieving this is the task of Western theosophy. It must bring about peace between the two aspects of the soul itself, which can no longer unite faith and knowledge within itself. Even in our material world, nothing happens without the spiritual working at it. The spiritual is always the creator of the physical. In James’s much-discussed philosophical school of pragmatism, we find something that can only be described as pseudo-spiritualism, which interprets the spiritual in materialistic terms. At any rate, it has also produced some good things.

[ 3 ] Our era attaches immense and decisive importance to hereditary predisposition. With regard to hereditary predisposition as well, from the perspective of spiritual science—which views the physical as a consequence of the spiritual—it must be said that in the pathological phenomena attributed to it, the spiritual is hindered by the physical and cannot manifest itself. But the spirit has merely descended into physical matter; it will ascend again once it has gathered its experiences in the physical realm. Everything in the world is in a state of development, including the physical human being and his organs. We know that the physical human body contains organs that no longer serve any function today; these are organs of the past, the vestiges of which we carry within us. Likewise, we possess the potential for organs of the future, which are currently in a state of transition or undergoing transformation. We mention, above all, the human heart. It is an organ composed of striated muscle. The heart poses a conundrum for the anatomy of materialistic science, for it is an involuntary organ and, unlike all voluntary human organs, consists of striated rather than smooth muscle fibers. It is, in fact—though science does not yet suspect it—an organ of the future and on its way to becoming a voluntary human organ. In the initiate, it is already fully developed today. The same is true of the larynx: it, too, is an organ of the future. The profound mystery of procreation is connected to it. This manifests itself in the present during puberty as the breaking of the voice. In the future, human beings will speak in a way unlike anything before; the larynx will become a creative organ. Shaping the inner, soul-spiritual aspects into material forms—that is the future of humanity. Humanity is on the path to spiritualization, working ever more consciously to transform its bodies. We must draw strength for this future task from a spiritual worldview. We should also be filled with joy and strength at the thought of becoming a participant in this magnificent evolution.

[ 4 ] Let me say a few more words here about the two great universal laws of karma and reincarnation. These two laws did not yet exist on the ancient Moon. It was only with the incorporation of the “I” on Earth—beginning in the middle of the Lemurian epoch and continuing until about the middle of the Atlantean epoch—that we can speak of the beginning of reincarnation as we know it today. For animals, whose “I” is the group soul, there is still no reincarnation even today. We find the connection between an animal species and its corresponding “I” in the astral world. For the group soul of lions, for example, the death of a lion down here on the physical plane means as much as it does to you when you cut off a fingernail. It is such an animal—a lion—that is first an astral entity, reaching down like a strand from the group soul; thus it descends to the physical plane, densifies, and after the death of the individual lion, this astral entity returns to the astral plane. The group soul draws it back in like a limb. On the ancient Moon, the same process took place with the human soul. It was a limb of its group soul and returned to its bosom. It was, as the Bible puts it, sheltered in the bosom of Father Abraham. It was not until the Lemurian epoch that the terms “reincarnation” and “karma” began to make sense, and one day they will cease to make sense. Then human beings will enter permanently into a spiritual world where they will continue their work. When human beings, for example, have developed the impulse of brotherhood within themselves, then racial evolution will cease; it will have been overcome. In the sixth culture, people will already know how to organize themselves better; the concepts of race will no longer apply there. From within, from the spiritual realm, people will organize themselves there, and no longer from the outside through physical connections. And in the seventh culture, which will mirror the Indian culture, there will once again be a caste system, but a voluntary one. Everything in evolution is constantly changing; yet steady progress can be observed. The Atlantean era, this midpoint of our Earth’s development, shows us the important milestone marked by the now-complete entry of the “I” into the physical human body. It begins in the middle of the Lemurian era, after the Moon’s separation from the Earth. Humanity then continues to develop further and further, and when the concept of brotherhood is practically realized on Earth, the races will be overcome. Karma, too, will then be overcome,

[ 5 ] What is the law of karma? The tendency to make amends in one of the next incarnations for what was wrong in one of the previous ones. A distinction must be made between karma that acts internally and karma that acts more externally. The former includes the formation of character, traits, and habits. The latter, which manifests more externally, consists of the living conditions into which one is placed—family, nation, and so on. Let us examine more closely how karma works in physical life. For example, what appears in one life as an impulse, a desire, or an idea will appear in the next life—or in one of the next lives—as a habit. And good habits will give rise to a beautiful, well-proportioned, and healthy physical body in the next life; a bad habit manifests as an illness or a predisposition to illness in another life. Thus, the causes of illnesses are to be found in the inclinations and habits of past lives. A person’s destiny, on the other hand, is the result of their past deeds. Whoever gives much love in one life will, in another, possess the ability to remain young for a long time, even outwardly. Whoever harbors many feelings of hatred in one life will age prematurely in another. People who abandon themselves to a sluggish, ordinary life that works against spirituality are neglecting something for their future lives that they will find difficult to make up for later.

[ 6 ] Now let me add a few words about initiation. The leadership of humanity has always drawn from its sources. The great individuals who presided over the mysteries—whom we call the Masters—were the ones who guided and directed humanity. To understand this better, let us examine the principle of initiation. One can truly speak of initiation being bestowed upon humanity only since the time of the Atlantean catastrophe. For initiation, too, has undergone a process of development and has changed—not only in its outward forms—in accordance with the needs of humanity.

[ 7 ] Why does a person not perceive sensory impressions while sleeping, even though he is surrounded by a sensory world? Because his intellect is not active at night. While the sleeping person lies in bed, the physical and etheric bodies remain; the astral body and the I detach themselves and are in the spiritual world. But why do they also perceive nothing of the spiritual world surrounding them, into which the astral body and the ego enter during the night? Because the astral body of the average person, which leaves the physical body at night, has no astral sense organs and therefore cannot perceive astral phenomena. Through initiation or training, the chaotic astral mass—which is what the astral body of the average person appears to be—is organized in such a way that it gradually develops organs and can then perceive during the night. In normal life, a person is not yet strong enough to form organs in their astral body. To be able to do so, the person’s inner strength must be significantly enhanced. This is achieved through very specific exercises in meditation and concentration, as well as other “instructions.” The student must devote themselves to very specific mental images in their emotional and mental life, choosing things that correspond little or not at all to reality. For mental images that depict external things are not suitable for building the organization of the astral body. But if you imagine a symbol—such as the Rose Cross, the black cross with the seven red roses—then, provided you perform the exercise with the necessary energy and patience, you will experience something through it after a shorter or longer period of time, depending on your level of development. You will thereby transform your astral body and incorporate organs into it. These must not be merely abstract ideas; rather, they must be accompanied by the proper emotional and sensory life. Only then will you achieve the correct results.

[ 8 ] We must distinguish between three types of initiation, all three of which lead to the same goal. These are three paths to be chosen according to the individuality of the person. One initiation is that of wisdom: this corresponds to the Indian or Eastern tradition. The second, that of feeling, is the Christian one. Only a few people today can still follow this path, because it requires a very strong force of devotion and piety. The first path, the Indian one, however, involves great dangers for European, Western bodies and is therefore not the right one. The third path of initiation is the Rosicrucian training, the path of initiation through thought and will. It leads to a connection with the forces of the other paths of initiation. The conclusion is the same for every initiation, but the initiation itself must adapt, in the course of development, to the respective needs of the soul and to the possibilities afforded by the human body.

[ 9 ] The initiate of the ancient initiation had to lie in the tomb for three and a half days, as if dead. His etheric and astral bodies were outside, experiencing the spiritual world. The hierophant supervised the process and called the neophyte back to life. After his reawakening, he became a witness to the spiritual world. This is the form of the ancient initiation; today it is no longer necessary in this way. Christian and Rosicrucian initiation have such a powerful effect on the human being that he or she can achieve what the ancient initiation was intended to accomplish through the departure of the higher members of the being from the physical body—namely, that impressions from the spiritual world are imprinted upon the astral and etheric bodies without that three-and-a-half-day lethargy. Modern initiation—if we wish to call it that—brings about, once the purification or catharsis of the astral body has been accomplished, those effects that lead to real visions and result in experiential knowledge of the spiritual world; for the impressions received by the soul in the spiritual world are then imprinted upon the astral and etheric bodies. This is what is called enlightenment in occult development.