The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Second Lecture

[ 1 ] Today’s discussion will be devoted to topics that may be of interest to anthroposophists in the broader sense of the word, and which are intended to shed more light on this or that subject for those who have been attending these branch meetings for some time. Above all, it is good for us to remind ourselves from time to time that in spiritual science, it is not merely a matter of knowing this or that in general as a theory or a doctrine, but rather of engaging again and again more precisely and thoroughly with the relevant questions and life’s mysteries. Someone might perhaps say: What one initially needs to know about life from spiritual research could easily be contained in a small booklet of perhaps sixty pages—if one were to include everything—and then everyone could make this sixty-page booklet their own; they would then have a conviction regarding the nature of the human being, regarding reincarnation and karma, regarding the evolution of humanity and the Earth, and could now walk through life with this conviction. And someone who would like that might perhaps say: Yes, why doesn’t this anthroposophical movement, in fact, distribute as many copies as possible of these most essential points of view throughout the world, so that every person can form their own conviction about them? Why does this movement do something that seems strange at first glance—namely, gathering together once a week those who wish to engage with spiritual science, only to describe, time and again, what could easily be condensed into sixty pages? What, one might ask, do these anthroposophists have to say to their followers week after week, over and over again?

[ 2 ] Well, it may be in keeping with certain contemporary beliefs to have such a brief, pocket-sized overview of spiritual science as well, so that one can thus grasp the most important points. But this is precisely what we should keep reminding ourselves more and more: that such “outline knowledge” is not enough in spiritual science—that, fundamentally, it is not about knowledge at all, even though spiritual science consists of knowledge and insight—that it is not enough to view the essence of spiritual science in general terms, but rather in very specific insights. But then again, it is not enough to have acquired these insights—say, in the spirit of our times—as a general conviction and then to be satisfied with that. For it is not a matter of simply having such a conviction once, of knowing: Human beings do not live only once; there are causal relationships that carry over from one life into the next; there is reincarnation and karma. The true healing power of spiritual science does not lie in spreading these teachings, but in engaging with them deeply and intimately—especially with regard to their details—again and again, and allowing them to work ceaselessly upon one’s soul. For, fundamentally, one gains nothing from a belief that simply leads us to think: “Yes, a human being does not live only once between birth and death; they live many times; there is reincarnation, karma, and so on. Belief in these things does not really amount to much. And, when it comes down to it, there is not a very great difference—in terms of the true depths of life—between the soul of a person who does not know that reincarnation and karma exist and the soul of a person who does know this. In the anthroposophical sense, our soul only becomes a different one when we engage, again and again, not merely with generalities but with the specific depths that spiritual research has to reveal to us. This is why it is beneficial for us to continually exchange views regarding the anthroposophical understanding of this or that particular aspect of life. Merely knowing in general terms that there is a great law of destiny which creates a connection between a person’s past deeds, past feelings, and past thoughts, and between present and future experiences—merely knowing this in general terms—is by no means sufficient. Spiritual science becomes a matter of life only when we can apply these general teachings to the individual experiences of life, when we are able, so to speak, to attune our whole soul to the perspective through which we view life in a new way. Therefore, today we shall begin with a brief reflection on the law of karma, that great law of destiny as it relates to the details of life. We shall summarize, from the perspective of the law of karma, matters that are already familiar to most of you, but which must also be viewed from the perspective of karma.

[ 3 ] “Karma” generally refers to the connection in the spiritual world between what happens today and what will happen in the future, and what has happened in the past. It is not even particularly appropriate to call the law of karma or destiny the “law of causation” and then compare it to the law of cause and effect in the external world. If we wish to draw a comparison for this great law of destiny, we must always ensure that the comparison itself is accurate—that it truly illustrates what the law of destiny states.

[ 4 ] Let’s consider the following example for comparison. We have two containers of water and two metal balls at room temperature. We drop one ball into one of the containers of water: the water remains as it is. Now we take the other ball, and after heating it until it glows, we drop it into the other container of water: the water inside becomes hot! Why did the water in the second container become hotter? Why not in the first? It became hotter because the ball itself underwent a change before it was thrown into the water, and that change—caused by being heated to a red-hot state—resulted in the water becoming hot. An event occurred that was the consequence of another event, namely, the ball being heated to a red-hot state. What we experience in the present or future—as an experience or a phenomenon—is connected to what was an experience or an action in the past.

[ 5 ] When we consider the law of spiritual connections between the past, present, and future in this way, we will find it confirmed even in ordinary life—the life that unfolds all around us and that we can observe if we so choose—even if we are still far from having developed any clairvoyant abilities. For we must repeatedly affirm this as a golden rule: A law of the spiritual world can be truly proven only through clairvoyant observation, only by the spiritual researcher; on the other hand, such a law can always be corroborated by external confirmations through the experiences of the external world. However, in order to find confirmation of the law of karma in life, people will have to get into the habit of observing external life a little more closely than is usually the case. For people generally do not observe life any further than, figuratively speaking, the tip of their nose. They no longer observe what lies a little farther away. But anyone who observes external life more deeply will be able to find ample confirmation of the law of karma here and there even within the span of human existence between birth and death.

[ 6 ] Let us stick to concrete examples as much as possible; let us consider the following case. Suppose a young person, at the age of fifteen, had been torn from his previous course of life by some event. Let’s say that, thanks to his parents’ circumstances, he had been able to study until the age of fifteen, and at fifteen he was forced—perhaps because his father lost his fortune—to enter the business world. He was thus thrown out of one life path and into another. Of course, the point is not to regard one career path as more valuable than another, but rather that a change occurs in life when something like this happens. Now, if one views life in the materialistic sense that is common today, one will probably not look for anything significant in a person’s life resulting from such an event—and consequently will not find it. But anyone who observes more closely will find that a person who enters a different profession in this way can initially, through the variety that the new profession offers, experience joy and a sense of affinity for their work—that they, so to speak, grow into this profession with interest. Then, however, something remarkable can occur. What constitutes inner experiences, and what constitutes likes and dislikes in one’s profession, can begin to take on a different form between the ages of eighteen and nineteen. The joy in one’s profession may cease, and the person may begin to relate to their profession in an entirely different way. One may, in a certain sense, be at a loss as to what is then taking place in the soul of such a person if one has never heard of anthroposophy.

[ 7 ] What happened there? What happened was that, starting at the age of fifteen, when he was assigned to a new profession, he became deeply interested in it. At first, this interest pushed aside the feelings and moods that had developed when this person was engaged in entirely different activities. But then there comes a time when all of that breaks through with even greater force. Just as when one presses down on an elastic object—one can press for a while, but then the object snaps back all the more strongly—so the result may be that the interests that had been pushed aside for a time now burst forth with particular intensity. Between the ages of eighteen and nineteen, everything that had made its way into the soul in the form of feelings and moods three years before that change bursts forth—that is, between the ages of eighteen and nineteen, everything that had made its way into the soul between the ages of eleven and twelve, and so on. And one can only make sense of a person’s life if one can say to oneself: A turning point in life occurred at the age of fifteen, and after this point, events occur whose outward effects manifest just as many years later as their causes lie just as many years before this turning point.

[ 8 ] Just think about how one can help a person with their emotional states and life difficulties if one is able to ask oneself: Where is such an emotional turning point in this person’s life? — It can be very intimate. But once you arrive at such a turning point, you can work backward and see that the spiritual effect extends just as many years after this turning point as the cause extends just as many years before it. This is how one gains an understanding of karma. This insight helps us in life, and we can say to ourselves: Such causes and effects in a person’s life are connected across specific time periods, so that they are oriented toward a specific point in life; and if we count forward and backward from this point, we can discover the connection between cause and effect.

[ 9 ] Of course, something like that can be overshadowed by other events. For example, someone might come along and say, “The example you just gave us isn’t right!” I just experienced this with a young person for whom that isn’t the case. — Yes, I’ve also seen it happen: two people were playing billiards together when the waiter happened to walk by and bumped into the one who was taking the shot, and the ball flew in a completely different direction than it otherwise would have. But that doesn’t mean the law of causation is wrong; it simply means that different circumstances have come into play. But we must bear in mind that we will never come to know the law unless we disregard those things that disrupt it. After the age of fifteen, other circumstances may arise that thwart the law. One does not come to know laws simply by observing life, but by first acquiring the correct method of synthesizing life’s phenomena. For in life, things are constantly disrupted, and the laws do not reveal themselves so easily. Nevertheless, one can only regulate life if one knows the laws as they must be discovered. If one knows the details, one can say to a young person who has experienced such a setback in life: It is the educator’s task to pay attention to this now! — That is when karma becomes a law of life; that is when the situation arises in which one can apply the law in life; that is when it first becomes useful. In such a case, perhaps—after one can no longer give the child what one gave them before—one can now, for the first time, be a guide to them. But one can only be that if one understands such connections, if one knows what the person is lacking and can intervene and act precisely where that particular deficiency arises in life. If one does not know this, one cannot be an advisor to the young person. That is when the law of karma becomes a defining force in life; that is when one learns to be an advisor in life by regarding the law of karma as a law of life.

[ 10 ] Of course, life does not consist solely of such connections; the law of karma between birth and death also manifests itself in other ways. For instance, there is a curious connection between a person’s experiences in the first half of their life and those in the second half—it’s just that people don’t notice it. For example, you meet someone; he is young, and you lose touch with him before he reaches a certain age. Or you meet someone later in life and thus do not know what his youth was like; or even if you do know about his youth, you forget what happened many years ago. To contemplate the beginning and end of life—in those cases where one is able to do so—would provide the most beautiful confirmation of the law of karma already within the existence between birth and death.

[ 11 ] You may recall something that was said in the public lectures, for example, about anger that manifests as a noble anger in youth. We characterized at that time how a young person is not yet able to fully comprehend an injustice taking place in their surroundings; their intellect is not yet mature enough to fully grasp an injustice as it unfolds. But through the wise guidance of the universe, it is ensured that we have an emotional judgment before we can arrive at a rational one. In a good person, if the predisposition exists, a noble anger arises in childhood when an injustice occurs—an anger that is simply present as a feeling and is the only way the soul can perceive the injustice. Human beings are not yet mature enough to see through injustice with the intellect. But if this noble impulse of anger is present in a person’s character, then we should take it seriously. For everything that is experienced in this way as an emotional judgment in response to an injustice remains in the soul. This noble anger of one’s youth permeates the soul and transforms over the course of life. And what is thus transformed in the course of life reappears in a different form in the second half of life: it manifests as an emotional inclination toward loving gentleness and a spirit of blessing. Thus, the noble anger of youth—of the first half of life—is transformed, so that in later life it appears as loving gentleness, as a spirit of blessing. And we will not easily find—if all other conditions are such that nothing disrupts the process—that this loving, blessing-bestowing gentleness appears in the second half of a person’s life without having first expressed itself in the years of youth as a noble anger, aroused by folly, stupidity, and ugliness in life. Thus we have a karmic connection in ordinary life, and we could illustrate it with an image and say: That hand which could not even clench in noble anger during the first half of life will not easily be able to reach out to bless in the second half of life.

[ 12 ] However, only someone who, as I said, observes life a little more broadly than just what’s right under their nose can notice such things. But that’s not what people do in everyday life. I could use a very trivial example to show how little people are inclined to observe such things in life.

[ 13 ] I have mentioned this many times before: For anyone who wishes to gain intimate insights into life—particularly in order to deepen their understanding of occult soul conditions—it is extremely beneficial to have worked, for example, as a teacher for a number of years. There one comes to know souls in a completely different way than through ordinary school psychology, which is usually of no value whatsoever for understanding the soul. One acquires an understanding of the soul not merely by observing it, but by having to guide the lives of others oneself, year after year, under one’s own responsibility. There one also learns to observe more intimately. During my many years as a teacher, I was able to observe not only the children who were entrusted to my care at any given time, but—as you know—on various occasions different families come together, and in the process one also gets to know other children—not only children of all different ages, but also children, so to speak, from the very first moment they enter the world.

[ 14 ] It’s been perhaps twenty-five to thirty years now since, for a certain period of time, the medical profession—which, as you may have already noticed, has a view of what constitutes “health” for humans that changes steadily every five years—held a very particular belief: namely, the view that it would be particularly fortifying for weak children to be given a good glass of red wine every day at the age of three, four, or five. I have seen children who were given this glass of red wine, and also those who were not. I was able to wait with my observations—for, of course, medicine is, after all, infallible at first; to speak out against it would not amount to much given the prejudices of the present time—so I was able to wait with my observations. The children who, back then, between the ages of two and five, received their daily glass of red wine for their strength are now young adults between the ages of twenty-five and twenty-seven, and I have found—for I have paid close attention to this, since it is only then that the effects of such a practice become apparent— I have found: all the children who received their red wine have become “fidgety little ones”; their astral bodies fidget, and they don’t know what to do with them—they don’t know how to cope with their soul life, which stirs involuntarily. Those, on the other hand, who at that time “unfortunately,” as people said, could not be fortified with that glass of red wine, have now become completely grounded individuals who are not as restless in their astral bodies or in their nervous systems, as one might put it in materialistic terms.

[ 15 ] Here we have such a connection in life. It is, admittedly, a trivial one—not one that particularly illustrates karma—but it is one through which we can see that observing life should not merely extend as far as the end of our noses, but must encompass longer periods of time, and that it is not enough to simply conclude: ‘This or that remedy works in such and such a way.’ For what is actually set in motion there can only be ascertained by the true observer after many years. Only the great interconnections of life—and everything that directs us to seek out these great interconnections—can truly enlighten us about the way cause and effect are linked in human life. Thus, one must also strive to bring together life phenomena that are more widely dispersed in relation to the actual qualities of the soul. Then one can already perceive the law of karma between birth and death; then one very often finds how the events of later life are connected to what was experienced in the first half of life.

[ 16 ] Do you also remember what was said about the purpose of devotion—about the importance of being able to look up with a sense of reverence toward some being or phenomenon that one does not yet understand, which one reveres precisely because one’s intellect is not yet capable of grasping it? And I always like to point out how wonderful it is when a person can say to themselves: “As a child, I once heard about a particularly venerable family member who was immensely revered.” I had not yet seen this person, but I already felt a deep reverence for this individual. Then one day, when the opportunity arose, I was led to meet this revered family member. And with the deepest, most sacred awe, I placed my hand on the doorknob of the room where this remarkable person was to appear!

[ 17 ] One will be grateful for that feeling of reverent admiration later in life, for one owes an immense debt to the fact that one was able to admire during the first half of one’s life. And reverent admiration is especially beneficial in every life. I have known people who, when made aware of the feeling of reverent admiration toward something spiritual and divine, objected: “I am an atheist; I cannot revere anything spiritual.” — To such people one can say: “Just look at the starry sky! Can you create it?” Look at the wise architecture and think to yourself: Here one can sink into a feeling of true, genuine awe! — There is much in the world that we cannot grasp with our intellect, but toward which we can look up in reverence. And especially in youth, there is much to which we can look up devoutly, even if we are unable to comprehend it.

[ 18 ] Devotion in the first half of life is now transformed once again into a very special quality of life in the second half. We have all probably heard of people who, simply by virtue of who they are, are a source of comfort to those around them. They don’t need to say anything special; they just need to be there. It is as if something invisible radiates from them through the very nature of their being and communicates itself to other souls. Their entire demeanor has a soothing and uplifting effect on those around them. To whom do such people owe this power to have a beneficial effect on their surroundings through their spiritual qualities? They owe it to the fact that they were able to experience a life of devotion in their youth—that they lived with great devotion during the first half of their lives. Devotion in the first half of life transforms into the power to exert an invisible, blessing, and soothing influence in the second half of life.

[ 19 ] Here again we have a karmic connection that manifests itself clearly and distinctly between birth and death, if one only observes it. And, in essence, it was out of a beautiful karmic sentiment that Goethe chose these lovely words as the motto for one of his works: “What one desires in youth, one has in abundance in old age!” — Of course, if one observes only short-term patterns in life, one will often speak of unfulfilled desires; if one considers the larger picture, less so.

[ 20 ] All these things, which have been characterized in this way, can now, in turn, be transformed into genuine life practice. And fundamentally, only those who view life from the perspective of spiritual science can be true educators. For in the first half of life, they will be able to give people what they know the person will be able to apply in the second half. Today, people are unaware of the responsibility they assume when they instill this or that in young people. But today it has become so common to speak condescendingly about these things—to speak about them, so to speak, from the high horse of materialistic thinking. And I would like to illustrate this assertion I have just made with a small experiment that we ourselves conducted here in Berlin.

[ 21 ] Once, a visitor came—the kind of person who believes that if he just attends one or two meetings, just once in his life, he can form an opinion about the matter. In particular, such people seek to form an opinion about spiritual movements similar to ours so that they can subsequently write about the matter “objectively.” Those who today seek to supply the world with newspaper articles hold precisely this belief: that one can form an opinion about something in this way. You go there once, and then you know what’s going on! — This visitor I’m referring to also wrote about it, and it was amusing when an article about one of our branch meetings appeared in an American magazine. Of course, the description was also remarkably accurate. But as I said: What one truly wishes to grasp from a spiritual-scientific perspective cannot, of course, be acquired in this way at all; rather, one must be clear that one can only enter into spiritual life if one has the will to truly experience and go through the details.

[ 22 ] I have recounted all this simply to illustrate the judgment that the visitor in question passed—a judgment he did not hesitate to voice. This visitor said: What he didn’t like about spiritual science was that it categorized everything in this way—that the world was divided into the physical world, the astral world, the devachanic world, and so on. Why should one do that—categorize everything like that? —He had formed this impression from just one or two visits. How terrifying it must have seemed to him if he had also heard about the other classifications! The visitor in question was of the opinion that one need not view things in this way, but that one speaks “in general” about the spiritual world—so why should one first distinguish between classes?—This is how people speak today in the field of education; this is how they speak in all areas of life; and, fundamentally speaking, this is also how modern science speaks. The world talks its way around things based on the arbitrariness of observing life, not on the proper investigation of individual phenomena of life. That is why it is so terrible how such reforms and programmatic speeches must affect someone who is truly capable of observing the world, for they cause something comparable to a terrible physical pain. One need only pick up an ordinary scientific book today. No matter how conscientiously the observations may have been carried out, the way things are presented is simply dreadful, because there is absolutely no concept of how these phenomena should be observed. And so today people also admire all sorts of individuals who, on a whim, shout this or that out into the world simply because it happens to occur to them. | It is precisely this that is important: that the anthroposophist cultivate the awareness that life, down to the smallest details, should be observed exactly according to those methods that karma and the other laws of life provide us for practical living. Therefore, we can hope for a blessing for the future development of humanity—including with regard to educational issues—only if the anthroposophical perspective also permeates the principles of education. Karma is something that simultaneously provides a firm foundation, for example, for all observations of life that pertain to education.

[ 23 ] For example, it is infinitely important that we understand the karmic connection behind a certain phenomenon in education, which is expressed in the view that if a child develops properly, it must turn out a certain way. I like that idea for life! And now people think the child is a sack, and that you can stuff everything into it that you happen to think is right. You imprint your own nature and whatever you personally feel as sympathy or antipathy onto the child. If one knew what this results in within the karmic context, one would view the matter differently. One would see that what has been crammed into the child as if into a sack fulfills itself karmically in such a way that it makes the person withered and dry, causes the child to age prematurely, and kills the very center of its being. If we wish to raise a child, we must, so to speak, approach the child indirectly when we believe that it should acquire this or that quality. We should not seek to impose this or that quality on the child, but must first awaken a need for that quality—a desire within the child to acquire it. We must therefore take a step back. In fact, even when we know that a particular food is good for a child, we must not force it upon them, but rather ensure that they first develop a taste for it, so that they themselves crave that food. We must guide their desires and cravings so that the child spontaneously seeks what is good for them. This is a different approach from simply throwing everything into a sack and saying, “All right, in it goes!” So if we first regulate the child’s needs, we touch the very core of the child’s being, and then we will see that this is karmically fulfilled in the second half of life, in that the person once again radiates joy and vitality, so that such a person in the second half of life is not withered and dry, but remains alive from the very center of their being.

[ 24 ] When we consider the law of karma in this way, we will realize that it is not enough simply to have written in a little book: “There is a law of karma, a connection between the past and the future”—rather, we must view life from the perspective of the law of karma. Only when one delves into the details of life does anthroposophy reveal itself in its true form; but then one must also have the will to work at it again and again—that is, never to stray from it again. One must find the time to view the phenomena of life from the perspective of anthroposophy.

[ 25 ] These were some of the perspectives intended to illustrate the connections within life between birth and death. However, we can also trace the law of karma sufficiently beyond birth and death, linking one life to another. What we experience today in this life between birth and death must also be connected to things we have experienced in the past or will experience in future lives. Countless details could be cited here as well. Today, I would like to limit myself to examining an important question of life from a karmic perspective—insofar as karma extends from one life into the next—namely, the question of health and illness, and specifically the latter.

[ 26 ] Some might believe that if they are stricken with any illness, it would be correct, in terms of karma, to say: “I simply deserve it; that is my fate!” — But that alone does not always accurately characterize the law of karma. When it comes to an illness, we must first be clear about what its true nature is, understood spiritually. We would do well, for example, to begin by examining the nature of pain. From there, we will then be able to move on to a spiritual understanding of the illness.

[ 27 ] What is the nature of pain? Let us now consider a purely external physical pain, for example, when we have cut our finger. Why does it hurt? We will never be able to understand the nature of pain spiritually unless we realize that this physical finger is permeated by an etheric finger and an astral finger. Whatever the physical finger represents—its shape, the way blood flows through it, the course of the nerves—all of this has been shaped by the etheric finger. It is the shaper and still ensures today that the nerves are arranged in the proper way, that the blood flows correctly, and so on. How the etheric body shapes these structures is regulated by the astral body, which permeates the whole. Why it hurts when we cut our finger—let us clarify this through an external comparison.

[ 28 ] Suppose one of your favorite pastimes is watering the flowers in your garden once a day; you derive a certain satisfaction from it. One morning, however, your watering can is broken or has been stolen, and now you cannot water the flowers in your garden. You are saddened by this. This is not physical pain; but in being deprived of your favorite pastime, you may feel something akin to physical pain. You cannot perform an activity because the tool is not there. What is externally lacking here—and which can therefore only cause moral pain—becomes physical pain through the following:

[ 29 ] The etheric body and the astral body are designed to keep the finger in the condition it is in now. I can never cut through the etheric finger or the astral finger. If I cut my finger in two, the result is that the etheric finger can no longer function properly. It is accustomed to maintaining the proper structure of the finger, and this structure is now disrupted—just as my activity was disrupted earlier when I tried to water the garden. The astral body and the etheric body are therefore unable to function, and this manifests in the astral body as pain, as deprivation. Being unable to perform one’s usual activities or to function in the usual way manifests itself in the astral body as pain. But the moment the etheric body and the astral body can no longer function properly, a greater effort also comes into play. Just as we, in our own case, when we want to water the garden, make an effort to find the watering can or the like, so too must the astral body and the etheric body now exert greater activity to restore the situation to order. And this greater effort that must be expended is what actually brings about healing. The spiritual is called upon to engage in more energetic activity, and that is what actually brings about healing. Whatever can call upon the spiritual members of the human being to engage in greater activity is what brings about healing. Now, every illness is based on the fact that, due to some disorder in the human physical body or even in the etheric body, the spiritual aspects cannot intervene in the proper way—they are, so to speak, hindered—and healing consists in summoning a stronger resistance against the disorder. Now, an illness can either run its course in such a way that it is healed, or we can die from it. Let us consider both cases from a karmic perspective.

[ 30 ] If the course of the illness leads to our recovery, it means that we have infused into the physical bodies we brought with us from previous incarnations those strong life forces capable of truly healing us. And when we look back on our past incarnations, we can say: Not only were we able to properly nourish our bodies through what we normally have in life, but we also brought with us a reserve fund that we can draw upon from our spiritual life forces.

[ 31 ] Now let’s assume we die. What happens then? Then we will have to say: If an attempt was made to heal, then we also called upon the stronger forces within us. But they were not enough; they were insufficient. But whenever we summon forces so that they make themselves strongly felt, it is not in vain. We have, in fact, had to make greater efforts to do so. If we have not yet been able in this life to restore order in any area of our organism, we have at least become stronger. We wanted to put up a fight. It just wasn’t enough. But even if it wasn’t enough, the forces we summoned are not lost. They carry over into the next incarnation, and the organ in question becomes stronger than it would have been had we not had the illness. And we will then be able to develop the organ that brought about our premature death in this life with particular strength and regularity. Thus, there will still be a beneficial effect even if, despite proper treatment of the illness, we are unable to cure it. From a karmic perspective, we must also see in this case something within an illness that can play out in a more favorable way in a future life. In the next life, we may then, in this or that instance, possess a particular strength precisely because we fought the illness but did not overcome it. However, one must not conclude from this that it is perhaps better to let the illness run its course; for if we allow the illness to play out fully and do not intervene to cure it, the forces within us will grow stronger, and the karma will be fulfilled all the better! — That would be nonsense. The point is precisely to arrange the healing in such a way that the balancing forces can intervene as favorably as possible; that is to say, we must do as much as possible to bring about true healing, regardless of whether a cure actually occurs or not. Karma is always life-affirming, never life-denying!

[ 32 ] The law of karma, as it extends from one life to the next, has thus been shown, through a specific example, to be life-affirming. And we can say: If we are particularly strong in this or that organ, this points to a previous life in which this organ—in which we are now particularly strong—was once particularly sick. We were not able to heal it completely at that time. But in return, the forces were called upon that now make this organ appear particularly strong. — Thus we see how events and facts extend from one life into the next, how the core of our being grows stronger and stronger—provided we are also consciously aware, in the right way, of how we can strengthen it. And in this way, we can increasingly arrive at a living understanding of the core of our spiritual being through the law of karma.

[ 33 ] Now we come to an answer to the question: Why do we gather so often? — We gather so often not only because we wish to enrich our understanding by absorbing teachings, but also because these teachings, when presented in the right way, are capable of making the core of our being ever stronger and more vigorous. We infuse our lives with a spiritual lifeblood when we come together and engage with anthroposophy. Thus, anthroposophy is not a theory, but a life-giving elixir that pours into our souls time and again, and which we know makes the soul ever stronger and more vigorous. And when anthroposophy is no longer what it is for people today—due to the lack of understanding in the outer world—when it eventually permeates our entire spiritual life, then people will see how salvation—including that of physical life and the whole of outer life—depends on the strengthening that can be gained through anthroposophical contemplation and through living anthroposophy. The time will come when such anthroposophical gatherings can become the most important source of strength for people, so that they go out and say: We owe what we are capable of, our health, and our strength in life to the fact that we continually renew our strength at the very core of our being, at the center of our being! — Only when people feel that anthroposophy, through its individual insights, gives them what makes them strong and healthy right down to their physical bodies—only then will they sense this mission of anthroposophy. And today, those who engage with anthroposophy should see themselves as pioneers for anthroposophy as something that strengthens life! Only then will it be what it truly is and only then will it be able to gain the right foothold against something that is so often life-weakening today.

[ 34 ] Finally, one more point deserves attention. No phrase is heard more often today than the phrase “hereditary predisposition.” How could anyone today who does not use the phrase “hereditary predisposition” at least three or four times a week be considered an educated person? An educated person must surely know, at the very least, that medical science has established what hereditary predisposition means in human life! Anyone who cannot say that when someone here or there does not know what to do with themselves, that person is genetically predisposed—such a person is not an educated person, but something else entirely, and among that “something else” perhaps even an anthroposophist. This is where the science of modern life begins not only to err theoretically, but also to cause harm to life itself. This is the boundary where the theoretical approaches the moral, where it is immoral to hold a false theory. Here, the life force and the security of life depend on knowing exactly what is right. Whoever strengthens and invigorates themselves through a correct spiritual perspective in their soul—by taking in an elixir of life—what will they be capable of?

[ 35 ] Whatever he may have inherited, these are inheritances in the physical body, or at most in the etheric body. Through his correct outlook on life, he will grow stronger and stronger in his true inner core, and he will overcome whatever hereditary burden he carries, for the spiritual, when present in the true sense, is capable of balancing the physical. But whoever does not strengthen his spiritual core—whoever says, “The spiritual is merely a product of the physical”—is, because he lacks a strong inner life, at the mercy of hereditary burdens, which will inevitably have a harmful effect on him.

[ 36 ] It is no wonder at all that what is called “hereditary predisposition” has such terrible effects today, because people are first convinced of the power of hereditary predisposition and then deprived of what counteracts it. First, the belief in hereditary predisposition is fostered, and then people with a spiritual worldview are deprived of the best means of combating it. First, the omnipotence of hereditary predisposition is invented, and through this it then takes effect. Not only do we have a false view that gives rise to forces hostile to life—a view that wrests the weapons from people’s hands—but here begins a theory based entirely on materialistic views. Here, a materialistic worldview begins to intrude into the moral realm, and it is not merely theoretically false but also immoral. Nor can one get past this simply by saying: “Those who make such claims are simply mistaken.” There is no need to be too harsh in judgment of those who put forward such theories. The individual representatives of science should never be targeted here; in their case, it is understood—and can even be understood with compassion—that they are caught up in this, that they are bound to arrive at such errors. One person may be unable to break free from a scientific tradition; in the case of another, one may find it forgivable, for he has a wife and children and might find himself in a difficult situation if he were no longer willing to adhere to prevailing views. But attention must be drawn to the phenomenon as a whole, because this is where science begins not only to spread false theories but also to wrest from people’s hands the life-sustaining means that, as a spiritual worldview, are meant to supply life with strength—and which alone are capable of standing up against the physical realm, a power that would otherwise overwhelm humanity. This physical realm remains an overwhelming force only as long as human beings do not develop spiritual strength to counter it. If they do develop this strength, then a fighter against all that is physical will arise within them.

[ 37 ] We cannot expect this to happen overnight. But those who understand things in their true sense will gradually come to know the spiritual-scientific view regarding phenomena in the face of which human beings initially appear powerless. What is not balanced out in one life is balanced out in the totality of life. And when we consider the individual life, as well as life from incarnation to incarnation, then the law of karma, properly understood, will not be a law that can now weigh us down, but rather a law that will give us comfort and strength and make us ever stronger. The law of karma is a law of life force, and we should understand it as such. It is not a matter of knowing individual abstractions, but of pursuing the spiritual truths of life in their particular manifestations, and of never growing weary in the pursuit of spiritual knowledge by immersing ourselves in the individual truths of spiritual research.

[ 38 ] If you keep this in mind, you are living an anthroposophical life in the true sense. Then you will understand why we are not content merely to have read this or that book, but rather regard anthroposophy as a matter of the heart—one that never ceases to engage us, to which we gladly return time and again, and of which we know that the more often we return to it, the more and more it can enrich our lives.