The Rudolf Steiner Archive

First Lecture

[ 1 ] This series of lectures is intended to address questions in the field of Spiritual Science that have a profound impact on life. From the various presentations that have been given over time, we are well aware that Spiritual Science is not meant to be an abstract theory, nor a mere doctrine or teaching, but rather a source of life and vitality, and it fulfills its purpose only when, through the insights it is able to offer, something flows into our souls that can make life richer and more comprehensible, and our souls more capable and energetic. However, if someone who professes this worldview of ours holds that ideal—which has just been outlined in a few words—before them and then takes a brief look around at the present to see to what extent they are able to put into practice in this life what flows to them from Theosophy, they might perhaps come to a rather disheartening conclusion. For if one impartially considers everything the world today thinks it “knows,” and what drives people in our present time to these or those feelings or actions, one might say that all of this is so infinitely far removed from theosophical ideas and ideals that the theosophist has no possibility whatsoever of intervening directly in life with what he acquires from the sources of Spiritual Science. — Yet that would still be a rather superficial view of the situation—superficial because such a view fails to take into account what we must infer from our own worldview by telling ourselves: “Once the forces we absorb through theosophy become strong enough, they will also find a way to intervene in the world; but if nothing were ever done to make these forces stronger and stronger, their intervention in the world would simply be impossible.”

[ 2 ] But there is something else that can, so to speak, offer us comfort, even if such reflections might otherwise leave us feeling desolate, and this is precisely what we are to take away from the reflections in this series of lectures: reflections on what is called human karma and karma in general. For with every hour we spend here, we will see more and more how we can never do enough to bring about the possibility of intervening in life with theosophical forces, and how, if we seriously believe in and hold fast to karma, we must assume that karma itself will present us with what we will sooner or later have to do in order to develop our powers. We will see: If we believe that we are not yet able to apply the powers derived from our worldview, then we have simply not made these powers strong enough for them to bring about the condition where karma will also enable us to intervene in the world with these powers. Thus, these lectures are not merely meant to convey a body of knowledge about karma, but with each passing hour they are intended to awaken greater trust in karma—the certainty that when the time comes, whether tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or many years from now, our karma will bring us tasks to perform, insofar as we, as adherents of our worldview, have duties to fulfill. Karma will present itself to us as a teaching that not only tells us how this or that behaves in the world, but which, through the insights it brings us, can at the same time bring us fulfillment and elevation in life.

[ 3 ] However, if karma is to fulfill such a task, it is necessary for us to examine the law in question in somewhat greater depth—that is, in its manifestation throughout the world. To do so, however, requires something that I do not usually employ in my Spiritual Science reflections: namely, providing a definition, an explanation of the term. I do not usually do this, because such explanations of terms generally do not accomplish much. In our discussions, we typically begin by presenting facts, and when these facts are grouped and arranged in the appropriate way, the concepts and mental images arise of their own accord. However, if we were to take a similar approach to the comprehensive questions we will be discussing in the coming days, we would need far more time than we have available. Therefore, for the sake of mutual understanding, it is necessary this time that we provide—if not a definition, then at least a kind of description—of the concept that will occupy us for some time. After all, definitions serve only to establish a common understanding of what is meant when one uses or utters this or that word. It is in this spirit that a description of the concept of “karma” will be provided, so that we know what we are talking about when the term “karma” is used in these lectures.

[ 4 ] Based on various reflections, each of us has likely already formed our own understanding of what karma is. A rather abstract concept of karma is probably the one in which karma is called the “spiritual law of causality”—the law according to which certain effects follow certain causes that lie in spiritual life. However, this is too abstract a concept of karma, because it would be, in part, too narrow and, in part, far too broad. If we wish to understand karma at all as a law of causality, we must place it alongside what we otherwise refer to in the world as the law of causality—the law of cause and effect. Let us first agree on what we generally mean by the law of causality in the broader sense, where we are not yet speaking of spiritual facts and spiritual events.

[ 5 ] Today, external science so often emphasizes that the true significance of this science lies in the fact that it is based on the comprehensive law of causality, that it traces all effects back to their corresponding causes. However, people are far less clear on exactly how this tracing of effects back to causes takes place. For even today, in books that consider themselves well-scholarly and believe they are clarifying concepts in a truly philosophical manner, you will still be able to find statements such as: “A fine effect is that which follows from a cause.” But when one says that an effect follows from a cause, one is completely missing the point of the facts. For if we consider, for example, the warming ray of sunlight that strikes a metal plate, causing that metal plate to become warmer, then we are speaking of cause and effect in the external world. But will we ever be able to say that the effect—the warming of the metal plate—follows from the cause of the warm ray of sunlight? If the warm ray of sunlight already contained this effect within itself, then the fact would not exist, since the warm ray of sunlight does not warm a metal plate at all unless it encounters it. For an effect to follow from a cause in the world of phenomena—in the inanimate world that surrounds us—it is always necessary for something to meet that cause. And without something meeting the cause, one can never speak of an effect following from a cause. — It is not superfluous for us to preface our discussion with such a remark, which may sound quite philosophical and abstract; for if one wishes to make fruitful progress in the field of theosophy, one must get into the habit of defining concepts with great precision and not as carelessly as they are sometimes defined in other sciences.

[ 6 ] However, no one should speak of karma if an effect were to occur merely in the same way that it does when a warming ray of sunlight heats a marble slab. Although causality—the connection between cause and effect—is present here, we would never arrive at a proper understanding of karma if we were to speak of it only in this context. We cannot, therefore, speak of karma when an effect is merely connected to a cause.

[ 7 ] We can now go a step further and develop a somewhat more sophisticated understanding of the relationship between cause and effect. For example, if we have a bow, draw it, and then shoot an arrow with that bow, then an effect has occurred as a result of drawing the bow. We must not attribute the term “karma” to this effect of the shot arrow in connection with its cause any more than we did to what was just said. However, if we consider something else in this process, we come close to karma in a certain sense, even if we still do not fully grasp the concept of karma: namely, when we consider that the bow, if drawn often enough, becomes slack over time. Thus, what the bow does—what happens to it—does not merely produce an effect that manifests outwardly, but also an effect that returns to the bow itself. Through the continuous drawing of the bow, something happens to the bow itself. Something that happens as a result of the drawing thus, so to speak, falls back upon the bow itself. An effect is thus produced that falls back upon the object from which this effect itself was caused.

[ 8 ] This is already part of the concept of karma. Without an effect being produced that rebounds upon the thing or entity that brings about this effect—without this characteristic of the effect rebounding upon the causing entity—the concept of karma is inconceivable. So we are already getting a little closer to the concept of karma insofar as it becomes clear to us that the effect caused by a thing or being must rebound upon that thing or being itself. Nevertheless, we must not call the bow’s losing its tension due to constant drawing its karma, and here is why: If we have drawn the bow quite frequently for about three to four weeks, and it has become slack after four weeks, then what we actually have before us in the slack bow is something entirely different from what we had four weeks ago in the taut bow; the bow has become something else; it has not remained the same. So if the repercussive effect is such that it completely transforms the thing or entity into something else, then we cannot yet speak of karma. We may only speak of karma when the effect that rebounds upon the entity strikes the same entity upon rebounding, or when the entity has at least, in a certain sense, remained the same.

[ 9 ] And so we have come a step closer to understanding the concept of karma. But if we want to describe the concept of karma in this way, we essentially end up with only a rather abstract mental image of it. Nevertheless, if we wish to grasp this concept abstractly, we can hardly define it any more precisely than by expressing it in the way we have just done. There is only one thing we need to add regarding the concept of karma: If the effect that rebounds upon the being occurs at the very same moment—that is, if the cause and the rebounding effect take place simultaneously—then we can hardly speak of karma. For in this case, the being from whom the effect emanates would, in essence, intend to bring about the effect directly; would thus presuppose this effect; and would see through all the elements leading to it. If that is the case, we do not speak of karma. For example, we would not speak of karma if we were faced with a person who performs a specific act with the intention of achieving this or that, and if then—in accordance with his intention—this or that effect, which he had just intended, occurs. This means that there must be something between the cause and the effect that eludes the being’s immediate awareness when the cause is brought about, so that while the connection between cause and effect does exist, it is not actually intended by the being itself. If this connection is not intended by the being that causes it, then the reason why a connection exists between cause and effect must lie elsewhere than in the intentions of the being in question. That is to say, this reason must lie in a certain lawfulness. It is therefore part of karma that the connection between cause and effect is a lawful one that transcends what the being directly intends.

[ 10 ] We have thus gathered some elements that can help us understand the concept of karma. But we must incorporate all these elements into the concept of karma and not stop at an abstract definition. Otherwise, we will not be able to understand the manifestations of karma in the various spheres of the world. We must now first seek out these manifestations of karma where karma first confronts us: in the individual human life.

[ 11 ] Can we find something like this in an individual’s life, and when can we find it—that is, what we have just described through our explanation of the concept of karma?

[ 12 ] We would find something like this, for example, if an experience were to enter our lives in which we could say to ourselves: This experience that is occurring for us is connected in some way to an earlier experience in which we ourselves were involved, one that we ourselves brought about. Let us try—initially simply by observing life—to determine whether such a thing exists. Let us now adopt the standpoint of external observation alone. Anyone who does not make such observations can never come to recognize a lawful connection in life; they are just as incapable of doing so as someone who does not observe the collision of two billiard balls could be of understanding the law of elastic collision. Observation of life can indeed lead us to the insight of a lawful connection. Let us single out a specific connection for this purpose.

[ 13 ] Let’s say a young person, at the age of eighteen, had been thrown off the career path that had seemed to be laid out for him up to that point by some unforeseen event. Let us assume that this person had been pursuing a course of study up to that point, had prepared himself through that study for a profession that such a course of study might lead to, and that he had now—for example, due to a misfortune befalling his parents—been thrown off that path and driven into the merchant’s trade at the age of eighteen. Anyone who observes such cases in life with an unbiased eye—with the same perspective one might use in physics to observe the collision of elastic spheres—will find, for example, that the experiences of the business career into which the young person has been thrust initially have a stimulating effect; that he carries out his duties within it, learns something, and perhaps even becomes quite capable. But one can also observe that, after some time, something quite different sets in: a certain weariness, a certain dissatisfaction. Such dissatisfaction does not arise immediately. If the career change has taken place by the age of eighteen, the next few years may pass quietly. But perhaps around the age of twenty-three, it will become clear that something has taken root in the soul, something that appears inexplicable. If one then investigates further, one can often observe—when the case is clear—that this weariness, five years after the career change, finds its explanation in the thirteenth or fourteenth year. For we will very often have to look for the causes of such a phenomenon approximately the same length of time before the career change as the time that has elapsed since an event occurred after it, as we have just described. It may be that the person in question, during his or her thirteenth year—that is, five years before the career change—absorbed something into his or her emotional world that granted him or her a certain inner bliss. Let us assume that the career change had not occurred; then what the young person had become accustomed to in his or her thirteenth year would have played out in later life and borne this or that fruit. But then came the career change, which initially interested the young person and captured his soul. What this introduced into his inner life pushed back what had previously been there. For a certain time, this can be suppressed, but as it is suppressed, it gains a special strength precisely within; there, it accumulates, so to speak, inner tension. It is similar to when we squeeze an elastic ball: we can press it to a certain limit, then it offers resistance; and when it is caused to spring back, it will spring back with all the greater force the more we have squeezed it beforehand. Experiences such as those just described—which a young person absorbed in the thirteenth year of life and which then became entrenched until the career change—can also be repressed in a certain way; but after some time, a resistance makes itself felt in the soul. And then one can see how this resistance has become strong enough to manifest its effect. Because the soul lacks what it would otherwise have had had the career change not occurred, what had been suppressed asserts itself and now comes to the surface in such a way that dissatisfaction and weariness with what the surroundings offer set in.

[ 14 ] So here we have a case where the person in question experienced something, did something between the ages of thirteen and fourteen, and later did something else—namely, changed careers—and we see how these causes play out in such a way that their effects later recoil, striking back at the same being. In such a case, we would first have to apply the concept of karma to the individual life of the human being. — But one should not now object: We have, after all, encountered cases where nothing of the sort was evident at all! — That may be so. But it would never occur to a physicist, when investigating the laws governing a falling stone—which falls at this or that speed—to conclude that the law is incorrect simply because the stone might be knocked off course by a blow. One must learn to observe correctly and exclude those phenomena that do not contribute to the formation of the law. Certainly, such a person—who, if nothing else were to happen, would by the age of twenty-three find the impressions of his thirteenth year tedious—would not reach this point of tedium if, for example, he had married in the meantime. But that would be a matter having no bearing on the determination of the fundamental law. What matters, however, is that we find the correct factors that can lead us to a law. Observation in and of itself is nothing; only systematic observation brings us to the knowledge of the law. Now, if we wish to study the law of karma, it is also a matter of conducting such systematic observations in the proper manner.

[ 15 ] Let us suppose that, in order to recognize a person’s karma, a severe stroke of fate were to befall them at the age of twenty-five, causing them pain and suffering. If we simply make our observations in such a way that we say, “This severe blow of fate has just struck this person’s life and filled it with pain and suffering”—that is, if we stop at mere observation—we will never come to recognize the karmic connection. But if we go further and consider the life of such a person—who experienced such a blow of fate at the age of twenty-five—in his fiftieth year, then we may arrive at an insight that we can express something like this: The person we are observing here has become a diligent and energetic individual who stands firmly in life; now let us look further back into his life. At the age of twenty—we then discover—he was still a good-for-nothing and didn’t want to do anything at all; at the age of twenty-five, he was struck by that severe blow of fate. Had this blow not struck him—as we can now say—he would have remained a good-for-nothing. Thus, that severe blow of fate was the reason why, at the age of fifty, we have before us an energetic and capable person.

[ 16 ] This fact teaches us that we are mistaken if we regard the misfortune of the twenty-fifth year as a mere effect. For when we ask, “What caused it?”, we cannot stop at mere observation. But if we do not regard such a blow as an effect and place it at the end of the phenomena that preceded it, but rather place it at the beginning of the subsequent events and regard it as a cause, then we come to realize that we can, in fact, fundamentally alter our emotional judgment—our intuitive judgment—regarding this stroke of fate. We may feel sad if we regard it merely as an effect—that this person has suffered this blow. If, on the other hand, we regard it as the cause of something that comes later, then we may perhaps be glad and feel joy about it. For it is thanks to this stroke of fate—so we can say—that the person in question has become a decent human being.

[ 17 ] Thus we see that our perceptions can change significantly depending on whether we view a fact of life as an effect or as a cause. It is therefore not a matter of indifference whether we regard anything that befalls a person in life as a mere effect or as a cause. Of course, if we make our observation at the very moment when the painful event has occurred, we cannot yet perceive the immediate effect. But once we have formed an understanding of the law of karma through similar observations, then this law of karma itself can tell us: An event may be painful now because it appears to us merely as the effect of what preceded it; but it can also be viewed as the starting point for what follows. Then we can say: We sense that here the starting point is the cause of effects that cast the matter in an entirely different light! Thus, the law of karma itself can be a source of comfort. That comfort would not exist if we were to get into the habit of placing an event only at the end—and not at the beginning—of a sequence of phenomena.

[ 18 ] It is therefore essential that we learn to observe life systematically and to relate things to one another as causes and effects in an appropriate manner. If we conduct such observations thoroughly, we will discover patterns in individual human lives that unfold with a certain regularity, as well as other patterns that appear irregular in the course of that life. Thus, anyone who observes human life—and not just as far as the nose can reach—can find remarkable connections within it. Unfortunately, however, the phenomena of human life are observed today only over short periods of time—barely a few years—and people are not accustomed to connecting what occurs after a greater number of years with what might have existed as a cause earlier on. Therefore, few people today will be found who establish a certain connection between the beginning and the end of human life. Nevertheless, this connection is extraordinarily instructive.

[ 19 ] Let’s assume we have raised a child during the first seven years of his or her life in such a way that we did not do what usually happens—that is, we did not proceed from the belief that if a person is to become a decent human being in life, he or she must be this way or that way, and must absolutely conform to our ideas of what a decent person is. For in such a case, we would want to drill into the child as precisely as possible everything that, in our view, would make them a decent person. But if we start from the realization that one can be a decent person in many different ways, and that we need not yet have any mental image of the specific way in which the child, as they are still growing up, is to become a decent person according to their individual disposition, then we will say: Whatever notions I may have of a decent person, the person who is to emerge from this child must come into being by drawing out the best qualities within them—which I may first have to figure out as a puzzle! And so one will say to oneself: What does it matter that I am bound by this or that commandment and the like? The child itself must feel a need to do this or that! If I want to develop the child according to his or her individual aptitudes, I will try to develop and bring out those needs that are innate within him or her, so that, above all, a need for the actions arises—that is, so that the child performs the actions out of his or her own need. — We see from this that there are two very different methods of influencing a child during the first seven years of his or her life.

[ 20 ] If we now observe the child’s life as it unfolds, it will take a long time before we see what the most pronounced effect will be of what we have instilled in the child in this way during the early years. For observation of the course of life reveals that the actual effects of what has been planted as causes in the child’s soul do not set in until the very latest—that is, in old age. A person can retain a vibrant spirit within themselves until the end of their life if we have raised them as a child in the manner just described: by taking into account their inner life, everything that is alive within them. If we have drawn out and nurtured the inner forces present within them, then we will see the fruits of this emerge in old age in the form of a rich inner life. In contrast, in a withered and impoverished soul—and consequently also in the physical infirmities of old age, since, as we shall see later, a withered soul also affects the body—we see the effects of what we did wrong to the person in early childhood. Here we see something that, in a certain sense, manifests regularly in human life—in a way that applies to every person—as a relationship of cause and effect.

[ 21 ] We could also find such connections for the middle stages of life, and we will draw attention to them later. — The way we treat a person from the age of seven to fourteen becomes evident in its effects during the penultimate stage of life. Thus, we see cause and effect playing out cyclically, as if in a circle. The causes that were present earliest appear as effects latest. But not only are such effects and causes present in the individual human life; alongside the cyclical course, a linear one also runs parallel.

[ 22 ] In our example of how the thirteenth year can influence the twenty-third, we have seen how cause and effect are interrelated in human life in such a way that what a person has experienced within themselves brings about effects that then rebound upon that same human being. This is how karma unfolds in the individual human life. However, we will not arrive at an explanation of human life if we seek connections between cause and effect only within this single human life. We will discuss in the coming sessions how to further substantiate and elaborate on the idea that has now been introduced. For now, let us merely point to something that is already known: that Spiritual Science shows how this human life between birth and death is a repetition of earlier human lives.

[ 23 ] If we now seek out the defining characteristic of life between birth and death, we can describe it as the continuation of one and the same consciousness—at least in essence—throughout the entire period between birth and death. If you recall the earlier stages of your life, you will say: There is a point in time that does not coincide with my birth, but lies somewhat later, where my memories of life begin. This is what all people who are not initiates will say; and they will then speak of their consciousness extending only that far. Essentially, in the period from birth to death, we are dealing with something very peculiar regarding the beginning of these life memories, and we will return to this later; it will shed light on significant matters for us. But if we do not take this into account, we can say: It is characteristic of life between birth and death that a consciousness extends over this period.

[ 24 ] Even if a person in ordinary life, when something befalls them in later years, does not seek out the causes in earlier stages of life, they could still do so if only they were attentive enough to everything and would investigate it all. They could do so with the consciousness available to them as memory consciousness. And if, through memory, they tried to create a mental image of the connection between the past and the future in a karmic sense, they would arrive at the following conclusion.

[ 25 ] For example, he might say: I see that certain events that have happened to me would not have occurred if not for this or that having happened earlier in my life. — He might say: “I must now atone for the impact my upbringing has had on me.” — But even if he merely recognizes the connection between what was done to him—not what he himself did wrong, but what was wronged in him—and later events, that alone will be a help to him. He will more easily find ways and means to make amends for the wrongs that were committed against him. Recognizing such a connection between causes and effects in the individual stages of our lives—which we can grasp through our ordinary consciousness—can be of the greatest benefit to us in life. Indeed, if we gain this insight, we may be able to do something else as well. — However, if a person has reached the age of eighty and then looks back to find the causes of events in their eightieth year in their earliest childhood, it may be quite difficult for them to find remedies to make amends for what has been done to them; and even if they allow themselves to be instructed then, it will no longer be of much help. But if they allow themselves to be instructed beforehand and look back at the wrongs committed against them, and, let’s say, take precautions against them as early as their fortieth year, then they may still have time to take certain countermeasures.

[ 26 ] We see, then, that we should not limit ourselves to learning only about the most immediate aspects of life karma, but should learn about karma in general and the lawful interrelationships that karma implies. This can be beneficial to our lives. — But what does a person do in their fortieth year to prevent the harmful consequences of certain sins—sins that were committed against them, for example, in their twelfth year, or that they themselves committed? They will try to make amends for the sins they have committed or the wrongs done to them, and do everything possible to prevent the consequences that would otherwise occur. In a certain sense, he will even replace the necessary consequence—which would have occurred without his intervention—with another. The realization of what happened in his twelfth year will itself lead him to a specific action in his fortieth year. He would not have taken this action had he not recognized that this or that had occurred in his twelfth year. What, then, has the person accomplished by looking back on his past life? Through his consciousness, he himself has caused a specific effect to follow a cause. He has willed the effect that he has now brought about. — This shows us how our will can intervene in the chain of karmic consequences and create something that takes the place of karmic effects that would otherwise have occurred. If we consider such a context, where our consciousness quite deliberately brings about a connection between cause and effect in the course of life, we will say to ourselves: In such a person, karma—or karmic law—has entered into consciousness; he himself has, in a certain sense, brought about the karmic effect.

[ 27 ] But let us now suppose that we base a similar line of thought on what we know about a human being’s repeated earthly lives. The consciousness we have just spoken of—which, with the exception mentioned, extends to our life between birth and death—arises because human beings can make use of their brain as an instrument. When a person passes through the gate of death, a different kind of consciousness emerges, one that is independent of the brain and bound to fundamentally different conditions. And we know that for this consciousness, which lasts until the next birth, a kind of retrospect occurs regarding everything a person has accomplished in the life between birth and death. In the life between birth and death, a person must first form the intention to look back upon any sins committed against them if they are to truly introduce the karmic effects of these sins into their life. After death, as a person looks back on their life, they reflect on the sins or actions they have committed. At the same time, they also see the impact these actions have had on their soul or what they have wrought within their soul. There the person sees how, by performing a certain action, their worth has either diminished or increased. If, for example, we have caused another person any suffering, our worth has diminished as a result; we have, so to speak, become less valuable, have become more imperfect by inflicting that suffering on the other person. When we look back after death, we reflect on numerous such instances in which we say to ourselves: We have become more imperfect as a result. But it follows for the consciousness after death that the strength and the will arise within it—when it again has the opportunity—to do everything possible to regain the value it has lost; that is, the will to make amends for all the suffering it has caused. Thus, between death and rebirth, a person adopts the tendency and the intention to make amends for the wrongs they have committed, so that they may once again attain the state of perfection that they are meant to have as human beings—a state that was prevented by the corresponding action.

[ 28 ] Now the human being re-enters existence. His consciousness changes once again; he has no recollection of the time between death and rebirth, nor of how he formed the intention to make amends for something. But this intention remains within them. And even if they do not know: “You must do this or that to make up for this or that!”—they are nonetheless driven by the power within them to some action that serves as a balancing force. And now we can create a mental image of what happens when, for example, something very painful befalls a person in their twentieth year. With the consciousness he possesses between birth and death, he will be weighed down by his pain. But if he were to remember the intentions he took on in the life between death and rebirth, then he would also feel the force that drove him to the very place where he was able to suffer this pain—because he sensed that he could only regain the degree of perfection he had forfeited and was meant to regain by enduring this pain. So even if ordinary consciousness says, “The pain is there; you are suffering from it!”—and considers only the pain in its effect—for the consciousness that also surveys the time between death and rebirth, the very act of seeking out pain or some misfortune might be the intention.

[ 29 ] This is indeed what we see when we view human life from a higher perspective. There we can see that events of fate occur in human life that do not appear to be the effects of causes within the individual life course, but are caused by a different consciousness—namely, a consciousness that lies beyond birth and that continues our life into earlier times than those that have elapsed since our birth. If we grasp this idea precisely, we will say: We have, first of all, a consciousness that extends over the period between birth and death, which we shall call the consciousness of the individual personality; and we shall designate as the individual personality that which exists between birth and death. We then see how a form of consciousness can operate beyond birth and death—one of which the human being is unaware in his ordinary consciousness, but which can function in precisely the same way as this ordinary consciousness. We have therefore first described how a person takes on their own karma and, for example, balances something out in their fortieth year so that the causes from their twelfth year do not affect them. In doing so, they incorporate karma into their individual personality consciousness. If, on the other hand, a person is driven somewhere where they may suffer pain in order to balance something out or to become a better person, this also comes from within the person; it simply does not come from the individual personality consciousness, but from a more comprehensive consciousness that encompasses the time between death and a new birth. Let us call the aspect of the human being that is encompassed by this consciousness the “individuality” of the human being; and let us call this consciousness—which is thus continually interrupted by personality consciousness—the “individual consciousness,” in contrast to individual personality consciousness. Thus, we see karma at work in relation to the individuality of the human being.

[ 30 ] However, we would still not understand human life if we were to merely follow the sequence of phenomena, as we have done thus far, by focusing only on those causes and effects within human beings that are sought for their own sake. We need only consider a simple case—one that is presented merely to make the point more vivid—and we will immediately see that we do not understand human life if we take into account only what we have just said. — Let us take an inventor or discoverer, for example, Columbus or the inventor of the steam engine, or anyone else. A discovery involves a specific action, a specific deed. If we consider this deed as the person performed it, and then seek the reason why the person performed it, we will always find causes that lie in the direction we have just indicated. Why Columbus, for example, sailed to America, why he conceived this intention at a specific point in time—we will find the causes for this in his individual and personal karma. But we may now ask ourselves: Must this cause be sought solely in personal and individual karma? And must the deed be regarded solely as an effect for the individuality that was active in Columbus? — The fact that Columbus discovered America had a specific effect on him. Through this, he rose and became more perfect. This will be evident in the further development of his individuality in his next life. But what other effects did this deed have on other people? Shouldn’t it also be regarded as a cause that intervened in countless human lives?

[ 31 ] However, this is still a rather abstract view of such a matter, which we can understand much more deeply if we consider human life over long periods of time. Let us suppose we examine human life as it unfolded during the Egyptian-Chaldean era, which preceded the Greek-Latin era. If we examine this era in terms of what it gave to humanity and what people experienced at that time, something highly peculiar becomes apparent to us. If we compare this epoch with our own, we will recognize that what is happening in our own age is connected to what took place during the Egyptian-Chaldean cultural period. The Greek-Latin era stands between the two. Certain things would not be happening in our time if certain things had not happened in the Egyptian-Chaldean culture. If contemporary natural science has produced this or that result, this certainly also stems from forces that have developed and unfolded from the human soul. But the human souls that have been active in our time were also incarnated in the Egyptian-Chaldean era and absorbed certain experiences there, without which they could not accomplish what they accomplish today. Had the students of the ancient Egyptian temple priests not absorbed Egyptian astrology—with its insights into the connections of the heavens—they would not have been able to penetrate the mysteries of the world in their own way later on, and certain souls of our time would not have possessed the forces that have now led humanity into the realms of the heavens. How, for example, did Kepler arrive at his discoveries? He did so because a soul lived within him that had absorbed, during the Egyptian-Chaldean epoch, the forces necessary for those discoveries, which it was then able to make in the fifth epoch. It fills us with a certain inner satisfaction when, in individual spirits, memories emerge, as it were, in such a way that the seeds of what they are now doing were sown in the past. One of the spirits who accomplished great things in the exploration of the laws of the heavens, Kepler, says of himself:

[ 32 ] “Yes, it is I; I have plundered the golden vessels of the Egyptians to build a sanctuary for my God from them, far beyond the borders of Egypt. If you forgive me, I will rejoice; if you are angry, I will bear it;—here I cast the die and write this book for readers both today and in the future—what does it matter? And even if it must wait a hundred years for its reader: God Himself has waited six millennia for the one who will recognize and behold His work.”

[ 33 ] This is a memory that surfaces sporadically in Kepler—a memory of what he absorbed as a seed for what he was able to accomplish in his personal existence as Kepler. Hundreds of similar examples could be cited. — But here we see something more than merely the fact that something emerges in Kepler that is the effect of experiences from a previous earthly life. We see something emerge that appears to be the natural consequence for all of humanity of something that, in turn, was significant for humanity in an earlier time. We see how a human being is placed in a position to accomplish something for all of humanity. We see that not only in individual human lives, but throughout all of humanity, there are connections between causes and effects that extend over vast periods of time. And we can infer from this that the individual law of karma will intersect with the laws we might call the karmic laws of humanity. Sometimes, however, this intersection is not very transparent. Just think what would have become of our astronomy if the telescope had not been invented at a specific time in the past. Trace the history of our astronomy back, and you will see that an infinite number of things depend on the invention of the telescope. Now, it is well known that the telescope was invented because children were once playing with lenses in an optical workshop, and—by “chance,” one might say—they arranged the optical lenses in such a way that someone later realized: This could result in something like a telescope. — Think how deeply you must delve to reach the individual karma of those children and the karma of humanity that led to the invention of the telescope at a specific moment in time! Try to think this through, and you will see how, in a remarkable way, the karma of individual personalities and the karma of all humanity intersect and interweave! Then you will say to yourself: We would have to conceive of the entire development of humanity differently if this or that had not occurred at a specific time.

[ 34 ] The question is usually quite pointless: What would have become of the Roman Empire if the Greeks had not repelled the Persian invasion during the Persian Wars at a certain point in time? But the question is not idle: How did it come about that the Persian Wars unfolded in precisely this way? — Anyone who explores this question and seeks an answer will see that certain specific achievements in the East came about solely because there were certain despotic rulers who sought only their own personal gain and, to this end, allied themselves with the sacrificial priests and so on. The entire political structure of that time was necessary so that something could be created in the East, but this structure also brought about all the harm that subsequently occurred. And it is connected to this that a people of a different nature—the Greeks—were able to repel the Eastern attack at the decisive moment. When we consider this, we will ask: What about the karma of the individuals who worked in Greece to repel the Persian attack? — There we will find many personal elements in the karma of the people concerned; but we will also find that personal karma is linked to the karma of the people and of humanity, so that it is justified to say: The karma of all humanity has placed precisely these specific individuals in this place at this time! — We see here the interplay of humanity’s karma with individual karma. And we will have to ask ourselves further how these things interact. But we can go even further and consider another connection.

[ 35 ] From the perspective of Spiritual Science, we can look back to a time in Earth’s evolution when there was not yet a mineral kingdom on our planet. Earth’s evolution was preceded by the Saturn, Sun, and Moon stages, during which there was no mineral kingdom as we understand it. It was only on Earth that our present-day minerals arose in their present forms. But because the mineral kingdom was separated out in the course of Earth’s evolution, it exists as a distinct kingdom for all subsequent eras. Previously, humans, animals, and plants had developed in such a way that there was no underlying mineral kingdom. In order for the other kingdoms to achieve later progress, they had to separate out the mineral kingdom. But now that they have separated it, they can develop only in the way they do on a planet that has a solid mineral foundation. And nothing will ever arise other than what came about on the premise that a mineral kingdom was formed. The mineral kingdom exists, and all subsequent destinies of the other kingdoms depend on the emergence of the mineral kingdom, which once formed during our Earthly existence in the distant past. Thus, the emergence of the mineral kingdom has brought about a development with which all subsequent Earthly evolution must reckon. What follows from the formation of the mineral kingdom will be fulfilled in all other beings. Here again, in later ages, we have the karmic fulfillment of something that happened earlier. On Earth, what has been prepared on Earth comes to fruition. There is a connection between what happened earlier and what happened later, but it is also a connection whose effect reverberates back to the being that caused it. Humans, animals, and plants have excreted the mineral kingdom, and the mineral kingdom reverberates back upon them. Here we see that it is possible to speak of a karma of the Earth.

[ 36 ] And finally, we can highlight something whose foundations can be found in the general discussions in Outlines of Esoteric Science.

[ 37 ] We know that certain beings have remained behind at the stage of the Earth’s ancient lunar development, and that these beings have remained behind in order to impart very specific qualities to human beings on Earth. But it is not only beings that have remained behind from the Earth’s ancient lunar era; substantialities have as well. Beings have remained at the lunar stage who, as Luciferic entities, influence our earthly existence. Through this fact of their remaining behind and influencing our earthly existence, effects take place in earthly existence whose causes were already laid down during the lunar stage. But something similar also takes place on a substantial level. — When we look at our solar system today, we find it composed of celestial bodies that perform movements that recur regularly and exhibit a certain inner coherence. But we also find other celestial bodies that, while they too move with a certain rhythm, break, so to speak, the usual laws of the solar system—namely, the comets. Now, the substance of a comet is not governed by laws such as those that exist in our ordinary, regular solar system, but by laws such as those that existed in the ancient lunar existence. In fact, the laws of the ancient lunar existence have been preserved in the cometary existence. I have mentioned on several occasions that Spiritual Science has demonstrated these laws before they were confirmed by natural science. In 1906, in Paris, I drew attention to the fact that during the ancient lunar existence, certain compounds of carbon and nitrogen played a role similar to that played today on Earth by compounds of oxygen and carbon—that is, carbonic acid, carbon dioxide, and so on. These latter compounds have a killing effect. Cyanide compounds—compounds similar to hydrocyanic acid—played a similar role during the ancient lunar existence. This fact was pointed out by Spiritual Science in 1906. It was also noted in other lectures that the cometary existence introduces the laws of the ancient lunar existence into our solar system, so that not only have the Luciferic beings remained behind, but also the laws governing the ancient lunar substance, which exert an irregular influence on our solar system. And it has always been said that cometary existence must still contain something like cyanide compounds in the comet’s atmosphere. Only much later, after this had been proclaimed by Spiritual Science—and only this year—has the cyanide spectrum been found in cometary existence through spectral analysis.

[ 38 ] Here is one piece of evidence in response to those who say: “Show us how one can actually discover something through Spiritual Science!” — There are more examples like this; they just need to be observed. So something from our former lunar existence is influencing our present earthly existence.

[ 39 ] Now let us ask ourselves: Can we claim that external sensory phenomena are based on something spiritual?

[ 40 ] For those who are committed to Spiritual Science, it is clear that behind everything that is sensibly real there is also a spiritual aspect. When something substantial from the old lunar existence influences our earthly existence, when the comet shines upon our earthly existence, then something spiritual is also at work behind it. And we could even specify which spiritual force, for example, manifests itself through Halley’s Comet. Halley’s Comet is the outward expression—every time it enters the sphere of our earthly existence—of a new impulse toward materialism. This may seem superstitious to the modern world. But people need only reflect on how they themselves attribute spiritual effects to constellations of the stars. Or who would not say that the Eskimo is a different kind of human being than, for example, the Hindu, because in the polar regions the sun’s rays strike at a different angle? Everywhere, natural scientists also attribute spiritual effects in humanity to constellations of the stars. — Thus, a spiritual impulse toward materialism occurs in parallel with Halley’s Comet. This impulse can be demonstrated: The appearance of Halley’s Comet in 1835 was followed by that materialistic current of thought which can be described as the materialism of the second half of the previous century; its earlier appearance was followed by the materialistic Enlightenment of the French Encyclopedists. That is the connection.

[ 41 ] For certain things to occur in earthly existence, their causes had to be established earlier, outside of earthly existence. And here we are even dealing with a matter of world karma. For why were spiritual and substantial elements eliminated on the ancient Moon? So that certain effects could radiate back to those beings who had cast them out. The Luciferic beings were cast out and had to undergo a different course of development so that free will and the possibility of evil on Earth could arise for the beings who are on Earth. Here we have something that goes beyond the karmic effects of our earthly existence: a glimpse of world karma.

[ 42 ] So today we were able to speak about the concept of karma, about its significance for the individual personality, for individuality, for all of humanity—both within the sphere of our Earth’s influence and beyond it—and we have also discovered something we can refer to as world karma. Thus we find the law of karma, which we can call a law of the connection between cause and effect, but in such a way that the effect rebounds upon the cause and that, in rebounding, the essence is preserved—it remains the same. We find this karmic law everywhere in the world, insofar as we regard the world as a spiritual one. We sense that karma will manifest itself in the most diverse ways across a wide range of areas. And we sense how the various karmic currents—personal karma, human karma, Earth karma, world karma, and so on—will intersect, and that it is precisely through this that we will gain the insights we need to understand life. And life can only be understood in its individual aspects if we can discern the interplay of the most diverse karmic currents.