The Rudolf Steiner Archive

27. Introduction To Theosophy II

[ 1 ] Today we will continue discussing what takes place at the moment of death, when a person enters a new existence. We have already seen that a person retains an essence from the physical body, and we will yet see how important this essence is and how it is incorporated into the higher bodies. Now let us consider the astral body. It remains what it was before death and retains all its good and bad qualities, its drives, passions, and so on. What, then, are the first sensations of the deceased in their astral body?

[ 2 ] Once the physical body—which still served as a link to the physical world—has disintegrated, the deceased, unless he is clairvoyant and never rose above the circle of his own selfish interests during his earthly life, will, after an initial period of complete unconsciousness, awaken to a painful state in which he is aware that he is alive, but with the deceptive sensation of still possessing his physical body—just as a person still feels an amputated limb of his physical body yet is aware that he cannot use it. On the other hand, however, the astral body, freed from its physical bond, vibrates with full power and strength, so that the person feels his instincts, passions, and so on to an heightened degree, and suffers immensely [from] being unable to satisfy them due to the lack of the necessary instruments. For the instincts are in reality inherent in the astral body and not in the physical body, and the astral body can satisfy them only through enjoyment. If a person is, for example, a gourmet, he retains the desire for fine foods even while his palate is missing. The same applies to the other sense organs.

[ 3 ] Added to this is the feeling of loneliness caused by the fact that the person cannot perceive anything at all of the new world surrounding them. Gradually, however, they begin to perceive things. First and foremost are auditory perceptions, for the astral world is, in the most eminent sense, a world of sounds. Then come the perceptions of light. It is important to note that, while in physical life we see the things around us illuminated by light, in astral life, on the other hand, the person themselves begins to shine like a small sun. When we observe him there, we first see him as if shrouded in a dark cloud. This cloud is formed from that part of the astral body which contains the passionate elements and which must be cast off on the astral plane at the end of life.

[ 4 ] Life in the astral world usually lasts one-third as long as the preceding earthly life, although there are exceptions—for example, for very intelligent people who are completely entangled in materialistic views, whose lives on the astral plane can last for centuries. It should be noted, however, that the perception of time there differs from our own. Once astral life is complete, a person leaves behind their third corpse. We are surrounded by such corpses, which float around us and even penetrate us. It is these that can be made visible during spiritualist séances through mediumistic powers or somnambulists. The Christian religion refers to life in the astral world as “Purgatory,” and in India it is called “Kamaloka.”

[ 5 ] When we speak of supersensible worlds, we must not fall into the error of imagining them—through the terms “plane” or “realms,” as they are often called—as spatial regions superimposed one upon another. In reality, they are states of consciousness and different modes of perception within a single space. The length of time spent in Purgatory or Kamaloka depends precisely on the intensity of the individual’s instincts and passions. It is a time of purification. Unfortunately, we do not always strive to shorten it. However, those who are already capable of spiritual enjoyment on Earth will have a shorter stay in Kamaloka. Above all, artistic pleasures—such as contemplating the works of art by Raphael or Michelangelo—help make life in the spiritual world accessible to us. The same cannot be said, however, of art that merely seeks to glorify the physical form and has no uplifting effect whatsoever. Furthermore, life in Kamaloka is also shortened by noble deeds and by a life devoted to the search for truth and knowledge.

[ 6 ] One peculiarity of astral life—which is rarely mentioned in occultism—is that it proceeds in reverse. At first, the initiate is completely bewildered because everything in that world unfolds in reverse and appears inverted, like an image reflected in a mirror. Thus, a number such as 345 is read as 543. It is particularly disconcerting and confusing that this also applies to time, so that the past appears to us after the present, as if it were the future. For example, one will see the chicken crawl back into the egg from which it came. As for our lives, we experience them in reverse as well; we begin at the day of our death and end at the day of our birth. In contrast, however, to the panorama presented to us by the physical body, the perceptions of the astral body do not leave us indifferent, and they are always accompanied by the corresponding feelings.

[ 7 ] For example: If a person died at the age of eighty and, when he was fifty, caused pain to another person, and if he has now reached his fiftieth year in his backward-moving Kamaloka life, then he feels the pain because he [now] identifies with his victim.

[ 8 ] The same applies, however, to the joys we experience. If people did not have these experiences, they would later encounter many obstacles along their path. But in this way, we learn that every evil must be made up for. If this were not the case, evil would never be separated from us, and union with God would be impossible.

[ 9 ] In this way, then, we purify ourselves. And when we reach the state of childhood, we have arrived at the threshold of the heavenly world. Scripture alludes to this—albeit in a veiled manner—with the words: “Unless you become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” Through purification, the mist that darkened the astral body dissipates, and it then shines in all its splendor. The “I,” together with the purified astral body, enters the Devachan.

[ 10 ] Has it always been this way? We know that humanity lived on Earth in a certain way during the Egyptian era, in a different way during the Indian era, and so on, and that our era is also quite different from the Greek era. So is there also a history for the other world? Yes, most certainly: The inner life of an Indian from two thousand years ago was quite different from ours. He had no interest whatsoever in the physical world. To him, people, animals, plants, and so on were all maya—a dream. He wanted to decisively deny this world, which was an illusion to him. Even during this life, he was in the spiritual world, and after death he did not feel disoriented at all. Humanity, however, has not retained this tendency to flee the physical world.

[ 11 ] Even the ancient Persians, who were taught by Zoroaster—not the historical figure, but a far greater one—learned to love life and take an interest in the physical world, while the Indians thought only of Brahma beyond the stars. Zoroaster taught that human beings must live and work here on Earth, but at the same time direct their spirits upward. He preached that humanity must cultivate the material, physical world in order to unite with the great spiritual aura of the sun. He called this Ahura Mazdao; later it was called Ormuzd.

[ 12 ] In the meantime, however, humanity lost its direct and conscious connection with the Primordial Light, and its life on Earth—and even after death—became darkened. This darkening was already very pronounced during the Egyptian-Chaldean period and reached its peak in the Greek era. The Greeks placed the very center of life entirely within the physical world. If we look at a Greek temple, we see that it is harmoniously constructed according to spiritual measurements. It may stand there, abandoned and lonely, and yet we feel that nothing is lacking in it, even when there are no people inside, because the deity to whom it was dedicated could dwell within it—and indeed did so, filling it completely. If, on the other hand, we look at a Gothic church, we truly sense a void. It requires the souls of the faithful to bring it to life. Viewed clairvoyantly, the Greek temple appears in its astral form as nothing more than a black spot. That is why the people of that time could take nothing with them when they passed through the gates of death; they were not at all prepared for life after death. For them, life after death was the realm of shadows, which they feared so much that they said: Better to be a beggar on earth than a king in the realm of shadows. — At that time, human beings found themselves isolated in the spiritual world. In contrast, the astral form of the Gothic church appears quite different; it is radiant and offers the eye a point of connection between the two worlds. Let us now trace the history of the spiritual world.

[ 13 ] After the classical era, an immensely important event takes place within humanity—one that all the great teachers of humanity had previously foretold. The seven great rishis of India had said: “Our wisdom extends only to a certain point, but no further.” Beyond this point, a being will come who will redeem humanity. Zarathustra, too, had a premonition of this being, and Hermes [Trismegistus] revealed to the Egyptians a being who was ready to come—Osiris—and who would come with a divine mission.

[ 14 ] Before this important event—which we will discuss later—took place, another equally important event occurred six hundred years earlier: the appearance of the Buddha. We know that he was of royal descent and that his attention was drawn to the suffering of humanity by the sight of a sick person, an old person, and a corpse. In sickness, old age, and death, he saw only suffering; the same was true of unfulfilled desire. Life itself seemed to him to be nothing but suffering, so he sought to teach humanity to flee from life. He left his family, his relatives, and his possessions and devoted himself entirely

[ 15 ] the search for the path to this liberation. Thus, the so-called “truths of life” arose in his soul. [But six hundred years later, with the great event at Golgotha, we see that everything has changed fundamentally.]

[ 16 ] What, then, did a corpse on a cross mean to the new community? That corpse had become the true sign of redemption and bliss! Nothing like it has ever occurred in the history of humanity, and it came about solely through the Mystery of Golgotha. If there had been a clairvoyant present when the Mystery of Golgotha unfolded and the blood of Christ flowed from the five wounds, he would have seen how Christ penetrated the realm of the dead like a arrow of light, transforming it from a realm of darkness into a realm of light.

[ 17 ] At that very moment, the substance of the Earth’s astral body received the Christ principle and began to shine; this is precisely what happens to us as well, the more we draw closer to Christ. In the past, human beings brought nothing with them from the Earth; now they can love life, [because the human elements have been shaped by the elements of Christ]. The clairvoyant sees nothing of the Greek temple on the astral plane; but what he sees there of the Gothic church and the works of art by Raphael and Michelangelo, and so on, is infinitely more beautiful and sublime than what physically exists here on Earth. The same can be said of the Gospels and the Book of Revelation. When we experience them, we take in a large part of the spiritual world.

[ 18 ] Later, we will see how the dead continue to live in heaven in the light of Christ.