Historical Necessity and Freewill
GA 179
11 December 1917, Dornach
4. The Rhythmical Relationship of Man with the Universe and with the World of the Dead
The subject that we shall discuss now is a very wide one, and today it will not be possible to deal with it as extensively as I should have liked. But we shall continue these considerations later on. In these considerations, I should like to give you a basis for the understanding of freedom and necessity, so that you may obtain a picture of what must be considered from an occult point of view, in order to understand the course of the social, historical and ethical-moral life of man.
We emphasized that, as far as the life between birth and death is concerned, we only experience in a waking condition what we perceive through the senses, what reaches us through our sense-impressions and what we experience in our thoughts. Man dreams through everything contained as living reality in his feelings, and he sleeps through everything contained as deeper necessity, in the impulses of his will, everything existing as the deeper reality. In the life of our feelings and of our will we live in the same spheres which we inhabit with the so-called dead.
Let us first form a conception of what is really contained in the life of our senses from an exterior aspect. We can picture the sense-impressions as if they were spread out before us—I might say, like a carpet. Of course, we must imagine that this carpet contains also the impressions of our hearing, the impressions of the twelve senses, such as we know them through Anthroposophy. You know that in reality there are twelve senses. This carpet of the sense impressions covers, as it were, a reality “lying behind”—if I may use this expression (but I am speaking in comparisons). This reality lying behind the sense perceptions must not be imagined as the scientist imagines the world of the atoms, or as a certain philosophical direction imagines the “thing in itself.” In my public lectures I have emphasized that when we look for the “thing in itself,” as it is done in modern philosophy and in the Kant-philosophy, this implies more or less the same as breaking the mirror to see what is behind it, in order to find the reality of beings that we see in a mirror. I do not speak in this sense of something behind the sense perceptions; what I mean is something spiritual behind the sense-perceptions, something spiritual in which we ourselves are embedded, but which cannot reach the usual consciousness of man between birth and death. If we could solve the riddle contained in the carpet of sense perceptions as a first step toward the attainment of the spiritual reality, so that we would see more than the manifold impressions of our sense-impulses—what would we see, in this first stage of solving the riddle, of solving spiritually the riddle of the carpet woven by our senses? Let us look into this question.
It will surprise us what we must describe as that which first appears to us. What we first see is a number of forces; all aim at permeating with impulses our entire life from our birth—or let us say, from our conception—to our death. When trying to solve the riddle of this carpet of the senses, we would not see our life in its single events, but we would see its entire organization. At first it would not strike us as something so strange; for, on this first stage of penetrating into the secret of the sense-perceptions, we would find ourselves, not such as we are now, in this moment, but such as we are throughout our entire life between birth and death. This life, that does not extend as far as our physical body, and that cannot be perceived, therefore, with the physical senses, permeates our etheric body, our body of formative forces. And our body of formatives forces is, essentially, the expression of this life that could be perceived if we could eliminate the senses, or the sense-impressions. If the carpet of the senses could be torn, as it were (and we tear it when we ascend to a spiritual vision) man finds his own self, the self as it is organized for this incarnation on earth, in which he makes this observation. But, as stated, the senses cannot perceive this.
With what can we perceive this? Man already possesses the instrument needed for such a perception, but on a stage of evolution that still renders a real perception impossible. What we would thus perceive cannot reach the eye, nor the ear—cannot enter any sense organ. Instead—please grasp this well—it is breathed in, it is sucked in with the breath. The etheric foundation of our lung (the physical lung is out of the question, for, such as it is, the lung is not a real perceptive organ) that which lies etherically at the foundation of our lung, is really an organ of perception, but between birth and death the human being cannot use it as an organ of perception for what he breathes in. The air we breathe, every breath of air and the way in which it enters the whole rhythm of our life, really contains our deeper reality between birth and death. But things are arranged in such a way that here on the physical plane the foundation of our entire lung-system is in an unfinished condition, and has not advanced as far as the capacity of perceiving. If we were to investigate what constitutes its etheric foundation, we would find, on investigating this and on grasping it rightly, that it is, in reality, exactly the same thing as our brain and sense organs from a physical aspect, here in the physical world. At the foundation of our lung-system we find a brain in an earlier stage of evolution; we might say, in an infantile stage of evolution. Also in this connection we bear within us, as it were (I say purposely, “as it were”), a second human being. It will not be wrong if you imagine that you also possess an etheric head—except that this etheric head cannot yet be used as an organ of perception in our everyday life. But it has the possibility of perceptive capacity for that which lies behind the body of formative forces, as that which builds up this body of formative forces. However, that which lies behind the etheric body as creative force is the element into which we enter when we pass through the portal of death. Then we lay aside the etheric body. But we enter into that which is active and productive in this body of formatives forces. Perhaps it may be difficult to imagine this; but it will be good if you try to think this out to the end.
Let us imagine the physical organization of the head and the physical organization of the lung; from the universe come cosmic impulses that express themselves rhythmically in the movements of the lungs. Through our lungs we are related with the entire universe, and the entire universe works at our etheric body. When we pass through the portal of death, we lay aside the etheric body. We enter that which is active in our lung-system, and this is connected with the entire universe. This accounts for the surprising consonance to be found in the rhythm of human life and the rhythm of breathing. I have already explained that when we calculate the number of breaths we draw in one day, we obtain 25,920 breaths a day, by taking as the basis 18 breaths a minute (hence 18 x 60 x 24). Man breathes in and breathes out; this constitutes his rhythm, his smallest rhythm to start with. Then there is another rhythm in life, as I have already explained before—namely, that every morning when we awake we breathe into our physical system, as it were, our soul being, the astral body and the ego, and we breathe them out again when we fall asleep. We do this during our whole life. Let us take an average length of life—then we can make the following calculation:—We breathe in and breathe out our own being 365 times a year; if we take 71 years as the average length of human life, we obtain 25,915. you see, more or less the same number. (Life differs according to the single human being.) We find that in the life between birth and death we breathe in and out 25,920 times what we call our real self. Thus we may say;—There is the same relationship between ourselves and the world to which we belong as there is between the breath we draw in and the elements around. During our life we live in the same rhythm in which we live during our day through our breathing. Again, if we take our life—let us say, approximately 71 years, and if we consider this life as a cosmic day (we will call a human life a cosmic day), we obtain a cosmic year by multiplying this by 365. The result is 25,920 (again, approximately one year). In this length of time, in 25,920 years, the sun returns to the same constellation of the Zodiac. If the sun is in Aries in a certain year, it will rise again in Aries after 25,920 years. In the course of 25,920 years the sun moves around the entire Zodiac. Thus, when an entire human life is breathed out into the cosmos, this is a cosmic breath, which is in exactly the same relationship with the cosmic course of the sun around the Zodiac as one breath in one day in life. Here we have deep inner order of laws! Everything is built up on rhythm. We breathe in a threefold way, or at least we are placed into the breathing process in a threefold way. First, we breathe through our lungs in the elementary region; this rhythm is contained in the number 25,920. Then we breathe within the entire solar system, by taking sunrise and sunset as parallel to our falling asleep and awaking; through our life we breathe in a rhythm that is again contained in the number 25,920. Finally, the cosmos breathes us in and out, again in a rhythm determined by the number 25,920—the sun's course around the Zodiac.
Thus we stand within the whole visible universe; at its foundation lies the invisible universe. When we pass through the portal of death we enter this invisible universe. Rhythmical life is the life that lies at the foundation of our feelings. We enter the rhythmical life of the universe in the time between death and a new birth. This rhythmical life lies behind the carpet woven by our senses, as the life that determines our etheric life. If we would have a clairvoyant consciousness, we would see this cosmic rhythm that is, as it were, a rhythmical, surging cosmic ocean of an astral kind. In this rhythmically surging astral ocean we find the so-called dead, the beings of the higher hierarchies and what belongs to us, but beneath the threshold. There arise the feelings that we dream away, and the impulses of the will that we sleep away, in their true reality.
We may ask, in a comparison, as it were, and without becoming theological: Why has a wise cosmic guidance arranged matters so that man—such as he is between birth and death—cannot perceive the rhythmical life behind the carpet of the senses? Why is the human head, the hidden head that corresponds to the lung-system, not suitable for an adequate perception? This leads us to a truth which was kept secret, one might say, right into our days, by the occult schools in question, because other secrets are connected with it; these must not be revealed—or should not have been revealed so far. But our period is one in which such things must reach the consciousness of mankind.
The occult schools that were inaugurated here and there keep such things secret for reasons that will not be explained today. They still keep them secret, although today these things must be brought to the consciousness of mankind. Since the last third of the nineteenth century, means and ways were given whereby that which occult schools have kept back (in an unjustified way, in many cases) becomes obsolete. This is connected with the event that I mentioned to you—the event which took place in the autumn of 1879. Now we can only lift the outer veil of this mystery; but even this outer veil is one of the most important pieces of knowledge concerning man. It is indeed a head that we bear within us as the head of a second man; it is a head, but also a body belongs to this head, and this body is, at first, the body of an animal. Thus we bear within us a second human being. This second human being possesses a properly formed head, but attached to it, the body of an animal—a real centaur. The centaur is a truth, an etheric truth.
It is important to bear in mind that a relatively great wisdom is active in this being—a wisdom connected with the entire cosmic rhythm. The head belonging to this centaur sees the cosmic rhythm in which it is embedded, also during the existence between death and a new birth. It is the cosmic rhythm that has been shown in a threefold way, also in numbers—the rhythm on which many secrets of the universe are based. This head is much wiser than our physical head. All human beings bear within them another far wiser being—the centaur. But in spite of his wisdom, this centaur is equipped with all the wild instincts of the animals.
Now you will understand the wisdom of the guiding forces of the universe. Man could not be given a consciousness which is, on the one hand, strong and able to see through the cosmic rhythm, and on the other hand, uncontrolled and full of wild instincts. But the centaur's animal nature—please connect this with what I have told you in other lectures dealing with this subject from another point of view—is tamed and conquered in the next incarnation, during his passage through the world of cosmic rhythms between death and a new birth. The foundation of our lung-system in the present incarnation appears as our physical head, although this is dulled down to an understanding limited to the senses, and what lies at the basis of our lung-system appears as an entire human being whose wild instincts are tamed in the next incarnation. The centaur of this incarnation is, in the next incarnation, the human being endowed with sense perception.
Now you will be able to grasp something else:—You will understand why I said that, during man' s existence between death and a new birth, the animal realm is his lowest realm and that he must conquer its forces. What must he do? In what work must he be engaged between two incarnations? He must fulfill the task of transforming the centaur, the animal in him, into a human form for the next incarnation. This work requires a real knowledge embracing the impulses of the whole animal realm; in the age of Chiron, men possessed this knowledge atavistically, in a weaker form. Although the knowledge of Chiron is a knowledge weakened by this incarnation, it is of the same kind. Now you see the connection. You see why man needs this lower realm between death and a new birth; he must master it; he needs it because he must transform the centaur into a human being.
What Anthroposophy sets forth has been attained only in single flashes outside the occult schools. There have always been a few men who discovered these things, as if in flashes. Especially in the nineteenth century a few scattered spirits had an inkling, as it were, that something resembling the taming of wild instincts can be found in man. Some writers speak of this. And the way in which they speak of these things shows how this knowledge frightens them. High spiritual truths cannot be gained with the same ease as scientific truths, which can be digested so comfortably by the mind. These high truths often have this quality; their reality scares us. In the nineteenth century some spirits were scared and tremendously moved when they discovered what speaks out of the human eye that can look round so wildly at times, or out of other things in man. One of the writers of the nineteenth century expressed himself in an extreme manner by saying that every man really bears within him a murderer. He meant this centaur, of whom he was dimly conscious.
It must be emphasized again and again that human nature contains enigmas which must be solved gradually. These things must be borne in mind courageously and calmly. But they must not become trivial, because they make human consciousness approach the great earnestness of life. In this age it is our task to see the earnest aspect of life, to see the serious things that are approaching and that announce themselves in such terrible signs.
This is one aspect, preparing the way for certain considerations that I shall continue very soon. The other aspect is as follows:—Man passes through the portal of death. Last time I mentioned the great change in man's entire way of experiencing things, by showing you how a connection with the dead is established—what we tell him seems to come out of the depths of our own being. In the intercourse with the dead the reciprocal relationships are reversed. When you associate with a human being here on earth, you can hear yourself speaking to him—you hear what you tell him, and you hear from him what he tells you. When you are in communication with the dead, his words rise out of your own soul, and what you tell him reaches you like an echo coming from the dead. You cannot hear what you tell him as something coming from yourself; you hear this as something coming from him. I wished to give you an example of the great difference between the physical world in which we live between birth and death, and the world in which we live between death and a new birth.
We look into this world when we contemplate it from a certain standpoint. When we look through the carpet woven by our senses, we look into the rhythm of the world—but this rhythm has two aspects. I will show you these two aspects of the rhythm in a diagram, by drawing here, let us say, a number of stars—planets if you like [The drawing can not be rendered.]. Here are a number of stars or planets—the planetary system, if you like, belonging to our Earth. Man passes through this planetary system in the time between death and a new birth. (A printed cycle of lectures contains details on these things.) Man passes through the planetary system. But in passing through the world which is still the invisible world, he also reaches—between death and a new birth—the world which is no longer visible, and is not even spatial. These things are difficult to describe, because when we imagine anything in the physical world we are used to imagine it spatially. But beyond the world that can be perceived through the senses lies a world which is no longer spatial. In a diagram I must illustrate this spatially. The ancients said:--Beyond the planets lies the sphere of the fixed stars (this is expressed wrongly, but this does not matter now), and beyond this lies the super-sensible world. The ancients pictured it spatially, but this is merely a picture of this world.
When man has entered this super-sensible world, in the time between death and a new birth, one can say (although this is also rendered in a picture):—Man is then beyond the stars, and the stars themselves are used by man, between death and a new birth, for a kind of reading. Between death and a new birth, the stars are used by man for a kind of reading. Let us realize this clearly. How do we read here on earth? When we read here on earth we have approximately twelve consonants and seven vowels with various variations; we arrange these letters in many ways into words; we mix these letters together. Think how a typographer throws together the letters in order to form words. All the words consist of the limited number of letters that we possess. For the dead, the fixed stars of the Zodiac and the planets are what the letters—approximately twelve consonants and seven vowels—are for us, here on the physical plane. The fixed stars of the Zodiac correspond to the consonants; the planets are the vowels. Beyond the starry heaven, the outlook is peripheral. (Between birth and death, man's outlook is from a center; here on the earth he has his eye, and from there his gaze rays out to the various points.) It is most difficult of all to imagine that things are reversed after death so that we see peripherally. We are really in the circumference, and we see the Zodiac-starsthe consonants and the planets—the vowels, from outside. Thus we look from outside at the events taking place on earth. According to the part of our being which we imbue with life, we look down on the earth through the Taurus and Mars, or we look through the Taurus, in between Mars and Jupiter. (You must not picture this from the earthly standpoint, but reversed—for you are looking down on the earth.) When you are dead and circle round the earth, you read with the help of the starry system. But you must picture this kind of reading differently. We could read in another way, but it would be more difficult, from a technical aspect, than our present reading system. It is possible to read differently—we could read in such a way that we have a sequence of letters—a, b, c, d, e, f, g, etc.—or arranged according to another system and instead of arranging them in the type-case, we could read in the following way:—If the word “he” is to be read, a ray of light falls on h and e; if “goes” is to be read, a ray falls on g, o, e, s. The sequence of the letters could be there, and they could be illuminated as required. It would not be arranged so comfortably, from a technical aspect—but you can picture an earthly life in which reading is arranged in this way—an alphabet is there, and then there would be some arrangement which always illuminates one letter at a time; then we can read the sequence of the illuminated letters, and obtain as a result, Goethe's Faust for instance.
This cannot be imagined so easily; yet it is possible to imagine this, is it not?
The dead reads in this way, with the aid of the starry system: the fixed stars remain immobile, but he moves—for he is in movement—the fixed stars remain still and he moves round. If he must read the Lion above Jupiter, he moves round in such a way that the Lion stands above Jupiter. He connects the stars, just as we connect h and e in order to read “he.” This reading of the earthly conditions from the cosmos—and the visible cosmos belongs to this—consists in this—The dead can read that which lies spiritually at the foundation of the stars. Except that the entire system is based on immobility—the entire godly system of reading from out the universe is based on immobility.
What does this mean? This means that according to the intentions of certain beings of the higher hierarchies, the planets should be immobile, they should have an immobile aspect; then the being outside engaged in reading would be the only one moving about. The events on the earth could be read rightly from out the universe if the planets would not move, if the planets had an immobile position.
But they are not immobile! Why not? They would be so, if the world's creation had proceeded in such a way that the Spirits of Form, or the Exusiai alone, had created the world.
But the luciferic spirits participated in this work, and interfered—as you already know. Luciferic spirits brought to the earth what used to be law during the Moon-period of the Earth, where several things were governed by the Spirits of Form; luciferic spirits brought this system of movement to the Earth from the Moon-period. They caused the planets' movement. A luciferic element in the cosmic spaces brought the planets into movement. In a certain respect this disturbs the order created by the Elohim; a luciferic element enters the cosmos. It is that luciferic element which man must learn to know between death and a new birth; he must learn to know it by deducting, as it were, in what he reads, that which comes from the movement of the planets, or the moving stars. He must deduct this—then he will obtain the right result.
Indeed, between death and a new birth we learn a great deal concerning the sway and activity of the luciferic element in the universe. Such a thing, like the course of the planets, is connected with the luciferic.
This is the other side that I wished to point out. But from this you will see the connection between the other life between death and new birth, and the present life. We might say that the world has two aspects; here, between birth and death we see one aspect, through our senses. Between death and a new birth we see it from the reversed side, with the soul's eye. And between death and a new birth, we learn to read the conditions here on earth in relationship with the spiritual world. Try to realize this, try to imagine these conditions. Then you will have to confess that it is, indeed, deeply significant to say that the world which we first learn to know through our senses and our understanding is an illusion, a Maya. As soon as we approach the real world, we find that the world that we know is related to this real world in the same way in which the reflection in the mirror is related to the living reality before the mirror, which is reflected in it. If you have a mirror, with several shapes reflected in it, this shows that there are shapes outside the mirror, which are reflected by the mirror. Suppose that you look into the mirror as a disinterested spectator. The three figures which I have drawn here [diagram not available] fight against each other; in the mirror you see them fighting. This shows that the mirrored figures do something, but you cannot say that the figure A, there in the mirror, beats the figure B in the mirror! What you see in the mirror is the image of the fight, because the figures outside the mirror are doing something.
If you believe that A, there in the mirror, or the reflected image of A, does something to B, there in the mirror, you are quite mistaken. You cannot set up comparisons and connections between the reflected images, but you can only say:—What is reflected in the mirrored images points to something in the world of reality, which is reflected. But the world given to man is a mirror, a Maya, and in this world man sees causes and effects. When you speak of this world of causes and effects, it is just as if you were to believe that the mirrored image A beats the mirrored image B. Something happens among the real beings reflected by the mirror, but the impulses leading to the fight are not to be found in the mirrored A and in the mirrored B. Investigate nature and its laws; you will find, at first, that such as it appears to your senses it is a Maya, a reflection or a mirrored picture. The reality lies beneath the threshold which I have indicated to you, the threshold between the life of thought and the life of feelings. Even your own reality is not contained at all in your waking consciousness; your own reality is contained in the spiritual reality; it is dipped into the dreaming and sleeping worlds of feeling and of will. Thus it is nonsense to speak of a causing necessity in the world of Maya—and it is also nonsense to speak of cause and effect in the course of history! It is real nonsense! To this I should like to add that it is nonsense to say that the events of 1914 are the result of events in 1913, 1912, etc. This is just as clever as saying:—This A in the mirror is a bad fellow; he beats the poor B, there in the mirror! What matters is to find the true reality. And this lies beneath the threshold, which must be crossed by going down into the world of feeling and of will—and does not enter our usual waking consciousness.
You see, we must interpret in another way the idea that “something had to happen” or “something was needed;” we cannot interpret it as the ordinary historians or scientists do this. We must ask:--Who are the real beings that produced the events of a later period, which followed an earlier one? The preceding historical events are merely the mirrored reflections—they cannot be the cause of what took place subsequently.
This, again, is one side of the question. The other side will be clear to you if you realize that only a Maya is contained in the waking reality embraced by our thoughts and by our sense perceptions. This Maya cannot be the cause of anything. It cannot be a real cause. But pure thoughts can determine man's actions. This is a fact taught by experience, if man is not led to deeds by passions, desires and instincts, but by clear thoughts. This is possible and can take place—pure ideals can be the impulses of human actions. But ideals alone cannot effect anything. I can carry out an action under the influence of a pure idea; but the idea cannot effect anything.
In order to understand this, compare once more the idea with the mirrored image. The reflection in the mirror cannot cause you to run away. If you run away it displeases you, or something is there which has nothing to do with the reflection in the mirror. The reflection in the mirror cannot take a whip and cause you to run away. This image cannot be the cause of anything. When a human being fulfills actions under the influence of his reflected image, i.e., his thoughts, he fulfills them out of the Maya; he carries out his actions out of the cosmic mirror. It is he who carries out the actions, and for this reason he acts freely. But when he is led by his passions, his actions are not free; he is not free, even if he is led by his feelings. He is free when he is led by his thoughts, that are mere reflections, or mirrored images. For this reason I have explained in my The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity that man can act freely and independently if he is guided by pure thoughts, pure thinking, because pure thoughts cannot cause or produce anything, so that the causing force must come from somewhere else. I have used the same image again in my book The Riddle of Man. We are free human beings because we carry out actions under the influence of Maya, and because this Maya, or the world immediately around us, cannot bring about or cause anything. Our freedom is based on the fact that the world that we perceive is Maya. The human being united himself in wedlock with Maya, and thus becomes a free being. If the world that we perceive were a reality, this reality would compel us, and we would not be free. We are free beings just because the world which we perceive is not a reality and for this reason it cannot force us to do anything, in the same way in which a mirrored reflection cannot force us to run away. The secret of the free human being consists in this—to realize the connection of the world perceived as Maya—the mere reflection of a reality—and the impulses coming from man himself The impulses must come from man himself, when he is not induced to an action by something that influences him.
Freedom can be proved quite clearly if the proofs are sought on this basis:—That the world given to us as a perception is a mirrored reflection and not a reality.
These are thoughts that pave the way. I wish to speak to you about things that lie at the foundation of human nature—that part of human nature that can perceive reality and has not attained the required maturity in one incarnation, but must be weakened in order to become man in the next incarnation. The centaur, of whom I spoke to you, who is to be found beneath the threshold of consciousness, would be able to perceive truth and reality, but the centaur cannot as yet perceive. What we perceive is not a reality! But man can let himself be determined by that part of his being which is no longer, or is not yet, a centaur; then his actions will be those of a free being. The secret of our freedom is intimately connected with the taming of our centaur-nature. This centaur-nature is contained in us in such a way that it is chained and fettered, so that we may not perceive the reality of the centaur, but only the Maya. If we let ourselves be impelled by Maya, we are free.
This is looked upon from one side. From the other side we learn to know the world between death and a new birth. That which otherwise surrounds us as the universe shrivels up, and enables us to read in the cosmos; the physical letters are a reflection of this. The fact that languages contain today a larger number of letters (the Finnish languages has still only twelve consonants) is due to the different shadings; but, essentially, there are twelve consonants and seven differently shaded vowels. The various shadings in the vowels were added by the luciferic element; what causes the vowels to move corresponds to the movement of the planets.
Thus you see the connection of that which exists in human life on a small scale; the connection between the reading of the letters that are here on the paper, and that which lives outside, in the cosmos. Man is born out of the cosmos, and is not only the result of what preceded him in the line of heredity.
These are some of the foundations that will enable us gradually to reach the real conceptions of freedom and necessity in the historical, social and ethical-moral course of events.
Vierter Vortrag
Das Thema, das wir jetzt besprechen, ist sehr umfassend, und es wird heute nicht so weit geführt werden können, als ich eigentlich gewollt habe, aber wir setzen ja diese Betrachtungen weiter fort. Denn ich möchte gerade in diesen Betrachtungen vor allem die Grundlage zum Verständnis von Freiheit und Notwendigkeit so legen, daß Sie ein Bild bekommen von dem, was vom okkultistischen Standpunkte in Betracht kommt, um den Verlauf des sozialen und des geschichtlichen, des ethisch-moralischen Menschenlebens zu verstehen.
Wir haben betont, daß für das Leben zwischen der Geburt und dem Tode völlig wachend eigentlich nur das durchlebt wird, was wir in der Sinneswahrnehmung haben, was aus den Sinneseindrücken stammt und was in den Vorstellungen erlebt wird. Dagegen verträumt der Mensch alles das, was in den Gefühlen als Wirklichkeit lebt, und er verschläft alles, was in den Willensimpulsen eigentlich als die tiefere Notwendigkeit liegt, als die tiefere Wirklichkeit vorhanden ist. Wir leben in unserem Gefühls- und Willensleben in denselben Sphären, in denen mit uns gemeinschaftlich die sogenannten Toten da sind.
Nun ist es gut, wenn wir uns zunächst eine Vorstellung davon machen, was eigentlich hinter dem Sinnesleben nach außen hin liegt. Die Eindrücke der Sinne, man kann sie sich vorstellen, als ob sie sich wie ein Teppich vor uns ausbreiteten. Natürlich, diesen Teppich müssen wir uns besetzt denken auch mit den Gehörseindrücken, mit allen Eindrücken der zwölf Sinne, wie wir sie ja aus anthroposophischen Betrachtungen kennen. Sie wissen, daß die wirkliche Zahl der Sinne zwölf ist. Dieser Sinnesteppich deckt gewissermaßen eine hinter ihm liegende Wirklichkeit zu. Diese hinter den Sinneswahrnehmungen liegende Wirklichkeit dürfen wir uns nicht so vorstellen, wie etwa der Naturforscher sich die Atomwelt vorstellt, oder wie eine gewisse philosophische Richtung vom Ding an sich spricht. Denn ich habe sogar in den öffentlichen Vorträgen betont: Suchen nach einem Ding an sich, wie es die heutige Philosophie tut, wie es der Kantianismus tut, das hieße ungefähr dasselbe als, die Wesen, die man in einem Spiegel sieht, ihrer Wirklichkeit nach dadurch suchen zu wollen, daß man den Spiegel zerbricht, um zu sehen, was dahinter ist. - In diesem Sinne rede ich nicht von etwas, was hinter den Sinneswahrnehmungen liegt, sondern ich rede von etwas, was hinter den Sinneswahrnehmungen liegt als einem Geistigen, in dem wir selber eingebettet sind, an das aber des Menschen gewöhnliches Bewußtsein, das er zwischen der Geburt und dem Tode trägt, nicht reicht. In dem Augenblicke, wo wir den Sinnesteppich gewissermaßen enträtseln würden auf einer ersten Stufe, so daß wir nach außen hin mehr sehen würden als die Mannigfaltigkeit der Sinnesimpulse - was würden wir da auf dieser ersten Stufe der spirituellen Enträtselung des Sinnesteppichs sehen? Diese Frage wollen wir uns einmal vorlegen.
Es kann zunächst überraschen, was als dasjenige genannt werden muß, das man zunächst sieht. Was man da zunächst sieht, ist eine Summe von Kräften, die alle darauf ausgehen, unser gesamtes Leben zu impulsieren von der Geburt, oder sagen wir von der Empfängnis bis zum Tode. Nicht in den einzelnen Ereignissen würden wir unser Leben sehen, wenn wir den Sinnesteppich enträtseln, aber in seiner ganzen Artung. Nicht irgend etwas ganz Fremdartiges würden wir zunächst finden, uns selbst würden wir finden auf der ersten Stufe der Enträtselung der Sinneswahrnehmungen - aber uns selbst nicht, wie wir in diesem Augenblicke sind, sondern uns selbst so, wie wir geartet sind dieses ganze Leben zwischen der Geburt und dem Tode. Dieses Leben, das nicht in unseren physischen Leib hereinspielt, daher auch nicht mit physischen Sinnen wahrgenommen werden kann, dieses Leben spielt in unseren Ätherleib, in unseren Bildekräfteleib herein. Und unser Bildekräfteleib ist im wesentlichen ein Ausdruck dieses Lebens, das wir überblicken würden, wenn wir die Sinne, die Sinneswahrnehmungen ausschalten würden. Würde gewissermaßen der Sinnesteppich zerreißen - und er zerreißt, wenn der Mensch zum Schauen aufsteigt -, so findet sich der Mensch selbst, so wie er geartet ist für diese Erdeninkarnation, in der er die betreffende Beobachtung macht. Aber wie gesagt, die Sinne sind nicht geeignet, dies wahrzunehmen.
Was ist geeignet, dies wahrzunehmen? Der Mensch hat es schon, was geeignet ist, dies wahrzunehmen; aber er hat es in einer solchen Entwickelungsstufe, daß von einem wirklichen Wahrnehmen gegenwärtig noch nicht die Rede sein kann. Was da wahrgenommen würde, das dringt in kein Auge, kein Ohr, dringt nicht in Sinnesorgane, sondern wird - ich bitte Sie, das wohl zu verstehen — eingeatmet, mit dem Atem eingesogen. Und das, was unserer Lunge ätherisch zugrunde liegt - von der physischen Lunge kann ja dabei gar nicht die Rede sein, denn die Lunge ist, so wie sie ist, kein unmittelbares Wahrnehmungsorgan —, was ätherisch unserer Lunge zugrunde liegt, das ist eigentlich Wahrnehmungsorgan, aber für den Menschen zwischen Geburt und Tod nicht brauchbares Wahrnehmungsorgan desjenigen, was da eingeatmet wird. In der Atemluft, die wir einsaugen, liegt eigentlich in bezug auf jeden Atemzug, wie er sich einfügt in den Gesamtrhythmus des Lebens von der Geburt bis zum Tode, unsere tiefere Wirklichkeit. Es ist nur so eingerichtet, daß das, was dem ganzen Lungensystem zugrunde liegt, beim Menschen auf dem physischen Plan unausgebilder ist, nicht vorgeschritten ist bis zu der Fähigkeit, wahrzunehmen. Würde das, was eigentlich unser Lungensystem aufbaut, was da ätherisch zugrunde liegt, untersucht und richtig erkannt, dann stellte es sich im Grunde genommen als ganz dasselbe dar, was physisch, für die physische Welt, unser Gehirn mit den Sinnesorganen ist. In dem, was unserem Lungensystem zugrunde liegt, haben wir ein Gehirn auf einer früheren Entwickelungsstufe, auf einer, man möchte sagen, noch kindlichen Entwickelungsstufe. Auch in dieser Beziehung tragen wir gewissermaßen - ich sage ausdrücklich: gewissermaßen - einen zweiten Menschen in uns. Und Sie stellen nicht falsch vor, wenn Sie sich denken, daß außer dem physischen Kopf, den der Mensch trägt, noch ein ätherischer Kopf vorhanden ist, der nur noch nicht als Wahrnehmungsorgan im gewöhnlichen Leben brauchbar ist, der aber in der Anlage Wahrnehmungsvermögen- hat für das, was hinter dem Bildekräfteleib, als diesen Bildekräfteleib schaffend, liegt. Dies aber, was da hinter dem Bildekräfteleib schaffend liegt, das ist dasjenige, in das wir eintreten, wenn wir durch die Pforte des Todes gehen. Den Bildekräfteleib selbst legen wir dann ab, aber was ihn schafft, was ihn produziert, in das treten wir ein. Es ist vielleicht eine schwierige Vorstellung; allein es ist gut, wenn Sie versuchen, diese Vorstellung wirklich zu Ende zu denken. Schematisch könnten wir uns die Sache doch noch verdeutlichen.
Wir stellen uns das physische System des Kopfes vor, und wir stellen uns das physische System der Lunge vor (siehe Zeichnung, rot), hereinwirkend aus dem Kosmos die Impulse des Kosmos (blaue Pfeile), die sich rhythmisch ausdrücken in den Lungenbewegungen (rot schraffiert). Durch unsere Lunge stehen wir mit dem ganzen Kosmos in Beziehung, und der ganze Kosmos schafft an unserem Ätherleib. Den Ätherleib selbst legen wir ab, wenn wir durch die Pforte des Todes treten, aber wir treten ein in dasjenige, was hineinspielt in unser Lungensystem; das steht mit dem ganzen Kosmos in Verbindung. Daher jene merkwürdige Übereinstimmung im Rhythmus des Menschenlebens und im Rhythmus der Atmung. Sie wissen ja — ich habe das schon einmal hier ausgeführt —, wenn Sie die 18 Atemzüge, die der Mensch in der Minute hat, ausrechnen, so daß Sie die Zahl der Atemzüge in einem Tage bekommen, so sind es also 18 mal 60 in der Stunde, für den Tag mal 24 sind 25 920 Atemzüge in einem Tage. Der Mensch atmet ein und atmet aus; das gibt seinen Rhythmus, seinen kleinsten Rhythmus zunächst. Dann aber ist ein anderer Rhythmus in unserem Leben da, wie ich Ihnen schon einmal angedeutet habe: der besteht darinnen, daß wir unser Seelisches, das Ich und den astralischen Leib, an jedem Morgen beim Aufwachen in unser physisches System gewissermaßen einatmen, beim Einschlafen wiederum ausatmen. Das machen wir durch unser ganzes physisches Leben hindurch. Nehmen wir ein Durchschnittsmaß des menschlichen Lebens an, so haben wir das so zu berechnen, daß wir sagen: 365 mal während eines Jahres atmen wir uns selbst aus und uns selbst ein. Das gibt, wenn wir das menschliche Leben, sagen wir durchschnittsmäßig auf 71 Jahre annehmen, 25 915. Sie sehen, im wesentlichen dieselbe Zahl - das Leben ist ja nicht gleich bei den einzelnen Menschen -, wiederum 25 920mal während eines Lebens zwischen Geburt und Tod wird aus- und eingeatmet dasjenige, was wir unser eigentliches Selbst nennen. So daß wir sagen können: Wie wir uns mit einem Atemzug verhalten zu den Elementen ringsherum, so verhalten wir uns zu der Welt, der wir selbst angehören. In demselben Rhythmus zum Kosmos leben wir während des Lebens, in welchem wir durch unser Atmen während des Tages stehen. Und wiederum, wenn wir unser Leben nehmen, sagen wir also ungefähr 71 Jahre, und wir betrachten dieses Leben des Menschen als einen kosmischen Tag — nennen wir einmal ein Menschenleben einen kosmischen Tag —, so würde ein kosmisches Jahr 365 mal soviel sein, 25 920, also annähernd wiederum ein Jahr. Das aber ist die Zeit, in welcher die Sonne wiederum zurückkehrt zu demselben Sternbilde: 25920 Jahre. Wenn in einem bestimmten Jahre die Sonne im Widder erscheint, nach 25920 Jahren erscheint sie wiederum im Widder im Aufgang, denn die Sonne bewegt sich durch den ganzen Tierkreis im Laufe von 25 920 Jahren. So also ist ein Jahr des Menschenlebens, herausgeatmet aus dem Kosmos, ein Atemzug des Kosmos, der sich genau zum kosmischen Werden, zum kosmischen Umschwung der Sonne im Tierkreis verhält, wie ein Atemzug zum Tagesleben. Eine tiefe innerliche Gesetzmäßigkeit! Sie sehen, alles ist auf Rhythmus aufgebaut. Wir atmen dreifach oder wenigstens stehen dreifach in einem Atmungsprozeß drinnen. Wir atmen zunächst durch unsere Lunge in den Elementen - in einem Rhythmus, der durch die Zahl 25920 angegeben wird. Wir atmen im ganzen Sonnensystem, wenn wir Auf- und Untergang der Sonne als parallellaufend zählen unserem Einschlafen und Aufwachen. Wir atmen durch unser ganzes Leben hindurch in einem Rhythmus, der wiederum durch die Zahl 25920 bestimmt ist. Und endlich, das Weltenall atmet uns aus, atmet uns wieder ein in einem Rhythmus, der wiederum durch die Zahl 25920 bestimmt ist, bestimmt durch den Umlauf der Sonne um den Tierkreis.
So sind wir hineingestellt in den ganzen sichtbaren Kosmos, dem nun der unsichtbare Kosmos zugrunde liegt. In diesen unsichtbaren Kosmos treten wir ein, wenn wir durch die Pforte des Todes treten. Rhythmisches Leben ist dasjenige Leben, das unserem Gefühlsleben zugrunde liegt. In das rhythmische Leben des Kosmos treten wir ein in der Zeit, die wir durchleben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt. Dieses rhythmische Leben liegt als unser ätherisches Leben bestimmend hinter dem Sinnesteppich ausgebreitet. Sehen würde man in dem Augenblicke, wo man zum schauenden Bewußtsein kommt, diesen Weltenrhythmus, der gewissermaßen ein rhythmisch wogendes Weltenmeer ist, jetzt astralisch gearter. Und in diesem rhythmisch wogenden astralischen Meere sind auch die sogenannten Toten vorhanden, sind die Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien vorhanden, ist dasjenige vorhanden, was zu uns gehört, was aber unter der Schwelle liegt, aus der nur die Gefühle heraufwogen, die verträumt werden, die Willensimpulse heraufwogen, die in ihrer eigenen Wirklichkeit verschlafen werden.
Die Frage kann aufgeworfen werden - wir dürfen die Sache vergleichsweise, ohne in Teleologie zu verfallen, so sagen: Warum hat es die weisheitsvolle Weltenlenkung eingerichtet, daß der Mensch, so wie er nun einmal ist zwischen Geburt und Tod, nicht wahrnimmt, was da als rhythmisches Leben hinter dem Sinnesteppich liegt? Warum ist der Kopf des Menschen, der verborgene Kopf des Menschen, dem das Lungensystem entspricht, nicht geeignet zu einem entsprechenden Wahrnehmen? Ja, das führt auf eine Wahrheit, welche, man kann sagen, bis in unser Zeitalter von den entsprechenden okkulten Schulen als ein Geheimnis bewahrt worden ist, weil allerdings mit diesem Geheimnis andere Geheimnisse in Verbindung stehen, die nicht enthüllt werden sollen, sollten, bisher. Allein in unserer Zeit ist eben auch die Epoche gekommen, in der solche Dinge zum Bewußtsein der Menschheit gebracht werden müssen.
Die okkulten Schulen, die da oder dort eingerichtet sind, bewahren solche Dinge aus Gründen, die jetzt nicht erörtert werden sollen, vielfach heute noch, obwohl die Dinge heute notwendigerweise an das Menschenbewußtsein herangebracht werden sollen. Aber seit dem letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts sind Mittel und Wege gegeben, durch die dasjenige überholt werden kann, was die okkulten Schulen eigentlich vielfach unrechtmäßigerweise zurückhalten. Das hängt zusammen mit dem Ereignis, von dem ich Ihnen gesprochen habe als fallend in den Herbst des Jahres 1879. Wir können nur den äußersten Saum dieses Geheimnisses für diesmal berühren. Allein schon dieser äußerste Saum dieses Geheimnisses gehört zu den bedeutsamsten Erkenntnissen des menschlichen Wesens. Ein Kopf ist es allerdings, den wir da in uns tragen als den Kopf eines zweiten Menschen, ein Kopf ist es - aber was zu diesem Kopf gehört, ist auch ein Leib, und der Leib, der dazugehört, der ist zunächst ein Tierleib. Der Mensch trägt also einen zweiten Menschen in sich: dieser zweite Mensch hat einen richtig ausgebildeten Kopf, aber einen Tierleib daran, einen richtigen Kentaur. Der Kentaur ist schon eine Wahrheit. Er ist eben eine ätherische Wahrheit.
Das Bedeutsame ist das, daß in dieser Wesenheit eine verhältnismäßig große Weisheit spielt, eine Weisheit, die sich auf den ganzen kosmischen Rhythmus bezieht. Was der. Kopf sieht, der diesem Kentaur angehört, das ist der kosmische Rhythmus, in dem auch der Mensch als Wesen, das zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt lebt, eingebettet ist. Es ist jener Weltenrhythmus, der hier in dreifacher Weise selbst zahlenmäßig gezeigt worden ist, jener Rhythmus, auf dem viele Geheimnisse des Kosmos beruhen. Dieser Kopf ist viel weiser als unser physischer Kopf. Alle Menschen tragen einen sehr weisen andern Menschen, eben den Kentaur, in sich. Aber zugleich ist dieser Kentaur, trotz seiner Weisheit, ausgerüstet mit allen wilden Instinkten der Tierheit.
Jetzt werden Sie die weise Weltenlenkung verstehen. Sie konnte nicht dem Menschen ein Bewußtsein geben, das auf der einen Seite mächtig ist und den Weltenrhythmus durchschaut, aber auf der andern Seite ungebändigt ist, in wilden Trieben lebend. Aber was in der einen Inkarnation tierisch ist an diesem Kentaur, das wird - halten Sie das, was ich jetzt sage, mit andern Vorträgen zusammen, in denen ich das Thema von einem andern Gesichtspunkte aus beleuchtet habe -, das wird in der nächsten Inkarnation gebändigt, indem er durch die Welt des Weltenrhythmus durchgeht zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt. Was unserem Lungensystem in der gegenwärtigen Inkarnation zugrunde liegt, was da verborgen wird, das erscheint als Ihr physischer Kopf, der dann allerdings herabgedämpft ist zu seinem beschränkten sinnlichen Wissen, und es erscheint in der nächsten Inkarnation als der ganze Mensch nun auch den wilden Trieben nach gebändigt. Was Kentaur in dieser Inkarnation ist, ist der sinnlich wahrnehmende Mensch in der nächsten Inkarnation.
Und jetzt werden Sie ein anderes begreifen. Jetzt werden Sie begreifen, warum ich gesagt habe, daß der Mensch zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt als unterstes Reich das tierische Reich hat, in dessen Kräften er Meister werden muß. Was muß er denn tun? Woran muß er denn teilnehmen zwischen zwei Inkarnationen? Er muß daran teilnehmen, den Kentauren, das Tierische in ihm für die nächste Inkarnation ins Menschliche umzuwandeln. Dazu sind wirklich Kenntnisse notwendig, welche über die Impulse des ganzen tierischen Reiches sich erstrecken müssen, welche in ihrer Abschwächung atavistisch eigen gewesen sind den Menschen jenes Zeitalters, in dem der Chiron gelebt hat. Wenn auch die Erkenntnisse, von denen der Chiron spricht, Abschwächungen sind dieser Inkarnation, von dieser Art sind sie. Aber Sie sehen den Zusammenhang. Sie sehen, wozu der Mensch zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt dieses untere Reich braucht, in dem er Meister werden muß: er braucht es, weil er den Kentauren in einen Menschen umwandeln muß.
Was die anthroposophisch orientierte Geisteswissenschaft darbietet, war bis jetzt eigentlich nur in einzelnen Lichtblitzen außerhalb der okkulten Schulen erlangt worden. Aber einzelne Menschen hat es immer gegeben, die auf solche Dinge wie durch Lichtblitze des Lebens gekommen sind. Besonders im 19. Jahrhundert kamen, ich möchte sagen vorahnend, einzelne Geister darauf, daß im Menschen drinnen so etwas mit wildgebändigten Trieben steckt. Es gibt Schriftsteller, die davon sprechen. Und aus der Art, wie sie davon sprechen, sieht man, wie sie erschrocken sind über diese Erkenntnis. Ja, so bequem geistig zu verdauen wie die heutigen naturwissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse, sobequem sind die hohen Wahrheiten nicht. Diese hohen Wahrheiten haben schon zuweilen die Eigenschaft, daß man vor ihrer Wirklichkeit erschrecken kann. Und es hat Geister im 19. Jahrhundert gegeben, die erschrocken sind, die furchtbar berührt gewesen sind, als sie wahrnahmen, was eigentlich aus dem manchmal verwirrt blickenden Auge des Menschen oder aus sonstigem am Menschen spricht. Einer der Schriftsteller des 19. Jahrhunderts hat sich drastisch ausgedrückt, indem er sagte: Jeder Mensch trägt eigentlich einen Mörder in sich. — Er meinte diesen Kentauren, der ihm unklar zum Bewußtsein gekommen ist.
Daß auf dem Grunde der Menschennatur Rätselhaftes ist, über das der Mensch sich nach und nach aufklären muß, das ist etwas, was immer wieder und wieder betont werden muß. Mit Mut und Gelassenheit müssen diese Dinge ins Auge gefaßt werden. Aber sie dürfen nicht vertrivialisiert werden, denn sie rücken das Menschheitsbewußtsein an den großen Ernst des Lebens heran. Und den Ernst des Lebens zu durchschauen, das ist dasjenige, was den Menschen vorgesetzt ist für diese Zeit, die da kommt, die jetzt durch so furchtbare Zeichen eingetreten ist.
Dies ist die eine Seite, durch die ich eine gewisse Betrachtung vorbereiten will, die wir dann demnächst fortsetzen werden. Die andere Seite ist die folgende: Der Mensch tritt durch die Todespforte; ich habe ja das letzte Mal davon gesprochen, wie verschieden das ganze Erleben dann wird, indem ich Ihnen angedeutet habe, wie der Verkehr mit einem Toten eigentlich so vor sich geht, daß dasjenige, was man selber ihm mitteilt, wie aus ihm spricht, und dasjenige, was er einem mitteilt, wie aus den Tiefen des eigenen Wesens heraus spricht. Es kehrt sich geradezu das gegenseitige Verhältnis um im Verkehr mit dem Toten. Wenn Sie hier mit einem Menschen verkehren, da sprechen Sie. Sie hören sich dasjenige sprechen, was Sie dem andern mitteilen. Von ihm hören Sie dasjenige, was er Ihnen mitteilt. Wenn Sie mit dem Toten sich verständigen, dann dringt aus Ihrer eigenen Seele herauf dasjenige, was er sagt, und wie durch ein Echo tönt von ihm zurück Ihnen entgegen, was Sie ihm mitgeteilt haben. An sich nehmen Sie es gar nicht wahr, was Sie ihm mitgeteilt haben: an ihm nehmen Sie es wahr. Das wollte ich nur als ein Beispiel angeben für den radikalen Unterschied, der da besteht zwischen der physischen Welt hier, in der wir zwischen Geburt und Tod leben, und der Welt, in der wir leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt.
Hinein schauen wir, indem wir diese Welt von der einen Seite anschauen: indem wir den Sinnesteppich durchschauen, schauen wir in den Rhythmus der Welt. Aber dieser Rhythmus hat zwei Seiten. Ich will Ihnen diese zwei Seiten des Rhythmus schematisch dadurch darstellen, daß ich vielleicht eine Anzahl von Sternen, sagen wir Planeten zunächst, hier aufzeichne (rot). Das sei eine Anzahl von Sternen, Planeten. Meinetwillen sei das das Planetensystem, das zu unserer Erde gehört. Der Mensch geht durch dieses Planetensystem durch in der Zeit, die zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt liegt. Es gibt einen Zyklus von Vorträgen, der gedruckt ist, in dem Sie sich über diese Dinge unterrichten können. Der Mensch geht durch das System durch. Aber indem er durch das, was noch sichtbare Welt ist, durchgeht, kommt er in der Zeit zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt auch in die Welt, die nicht mehr sichtbar ist, die nicht einmal räumlich ist. Da redet man allerdings von schwierigen Dingen, weil der Mensch gewohnt ist, nach den Erfahrungen hier in der physischen Welt, wo er sich überhaupt etwas vorstellt, sich Räumliches vorzustellen. Aber es liegt eine Welt jenseits des Sinnlich-Wahrnehmbaren, die allerdings nicht mehr räumlich ist. Ich kann sie schematisch nur räumlich ausdrücken.
Die Alten haben gesagt: Jenseits der Planeten liegt der Fixsternhimmel - das ist zwar verkehrt gesagt, darauf kommt es aber jetzt nicht an - und jenseits davon liegt nun die übersinnliche Welt. - Die Alten stellten sie räumlich dar, aber das ist nur eine bildliche Vorstellung davon (siehe Zeichnung, blau).
Ist der Mensch eingetreten in diese übersinnliche Welt in der Zeit, die zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt liegt, dann kann man sagen, trotzdem das auch wieder bildlich gesprochen ist, der Mensch befindet sich dann jenseits der Sterne, und die Sterne selbst dienen ihm zu einer Art von Lesen. Also die Sterne dienen dem Menschen zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt zu einer Art von Lesen. Machen wir uns das ganz klar, wie das ist. Wie lesen wir, wenn wir hier auf der Erde lesen? Wenn wir hier auf der Erde lesen, haben wir ungefähr zwölf Konsonanten und sieben Vokale mit verschiedenen Nuancen. Diese Buchstaben setzen wir in der mannigfaltigsten Weise zu Worten zusammen. Wir werfen sie durcheinander, die Buchstaben. Stellen Sie sich vor, wie der Setzer im Setzkasten die Dinge durcheinander wirft, damit Worte daraus werden. Aus den bestimmten Buchstaben, die wir haben, werden ja alle Worte. Was für den Menschen, der hier auf dem physischen Plane ist, diese Buchstaben sind, diese ungefähr zwölf Konsonanten und sieben Vokale mit den verschiedenen Nuancen, das sind für den Toten die Fixsterne des Tierkreises und die Planeten. Die Fixsterne des Tierkreises sind die Konsonanten und die Planeten sind die Vokale. Ist man jenseits des Sternenhimmels, dann sieht man peripherisch. Der Mensch sieht zentral, wenn er zwischen der Geburt und dem Tode ist; er hat hier sein Auge, und dann sieht er so ausstrahlend nach verschiedenen Punkten hin. Es ist am schwersten vorzustellen, daß das umgekehrt ist nach dem Tode: da sieht man peripherisch. Man ist eigentlich im Umkreise und man sieht von außen die Sterne des Tierkreises, die Konsonanten, und die Planeten, die Vokale. Und so sieht man von außen herein auf das, was auf der Erde vorgeht. Und je nachdem man irgendeinen Teil seines Wesens belebt, sieht man — Sie müssen sich jetzt das nicht von der Erde aus denken, sondern umgekehrt, auf die Erde herunterschauend — durch den Stier und Mars auf die Erde nieder, oder Sie sehen durch den Stier durch zwischen Mars und Jupiter. Sie lesen, indem Sie als Toter die Erde umkreisen, Sie lesen mit Hilfe des Sternensystems. Nur müssen Sie sich dieses Lesen jetzt etwas anders vorstellen. Nicht wahr, wir könnten auch anders lesen, nur wäre es nicht technisch so bequem eingerichtet wie unser gegenwärtiges Lesesystem. Man könnte auch anders lesen. Man könnte so lesen, daß wir die Buchstaben hintereinander haben: a, b, c, d, e, f, g und so weiter oder nach einem andern System — und statt daß wir sie im Setzkasten um und um werfen, könnten wir so lesen, daß, wenn zum Beispiel «der» gelesen werden soll, ein Lichtstrahl fällt auf das «der»; soll «geht» gelesen werden, fällt ein Lichtstrahl auf «geht». Es könnte also die Reihenfolge der Buchstaben erst da sein, und sie könnten so hintereinander beleuchtet sein. Es wäre technisch nicht so bequem, aber Sie könnten sich immerhin ein Erdenleben vorstellen, in dem das Lesen so bewerkstelligt würde, daß man vor sich nimmt ein Alphabet, und dann gäbe es irgendeine Vorrichtung, durch die immer beleuchtet wird ein Buchstabe; dann liest man hintereinander die Aufeinanderfolge der beleuchteten Buchstaben - und es hat den Goetheschen «Faust» ergeben. Das ist natürlich nicht so ohne weiteres vorzustellen, doch eine Möglichkeit gibt es, sich so es vorzustellen, nicht wahr?
Aber so liest der Tote mit Hilfe des Sternensystems: Die Fixsterne stehen fest, und er bewegt sich, denn er ist in der Bewegung drinnen. Die Fixsterne stehen fest, er bewegt sich. Soll er den Löwen über dem Jupiter lesen, so bewegt er sein Wesen so, daß ihm der Löwe über dem Jupiter steht, wie wir «der» lesen, indem wir das d mit dem e zusammenbringen und so weiter. Dieses Lesen der Erdenverhältnisse aus dem Kosmos - wozu der unsichtbare Kosmos gehört - besteht also darinnen, daß das, was geistig den Sternen zugrunde liegt, von den Toten gelesen werden kann. Nur ist das ganze System auf Ruhe eingerichtet; dieses ganze göttliche System des Lesens vom Kosmos herein ist auf Ruhe eingerichtet. Was heißt das? Das heißt: Eigentlich sollten nach den Intentionen gewisser Wesen der höheren Hierarchien die Planeten ruhig sein, sollten eine ruhige Form abgeben. Dann würde bloß das Wesen, das sich draußen lesend verhält, in Bewegung sein. Es würde vom Weltenall aus auf der Erde unbedingt richtig gelesen werden können, wenn die Planeten in Ruhe wären, eine ruhende Lage hätten.
Das sind sie nicht! Warum sind sie es nicht? Sie wären es, wenn die Weltenschöpfung so gegangen wäre, daß die Geister der Form, die Exusiai nach unserer Benennung, die Welt allein zustande gebracht hätten. Doch es beteiligten sich, hereingreifend in die Welt, luziferische Geister, wie Sie wissen. Luziferische Geister brachten das, was Gesetz war während der Mondengestalt der Erde - wo gewisse Dinge, die dann übergingen in die Macht der Geister der Form, den Geistern der Bewegung unterstanden -, dieses System der Bewegung herüber aus der Mondenzeit der Erde: sie brachten die Planeten in Bewegung. Daß die Planeten in bestimmter Bewegung sind, ist ein Luziferisches im Weltenraum. Das bringt in einer gewissen Beziehung in die elohimistische Ordnung Unruhe hinein; das bringt in das Weltenall, in den Kosmos ein luziferisches Element hinein. Es ist das jenes luziferische Element, das der Mensch zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt kennenlernen muß; gerade dadurch kennenlernen muß, daß er lernt abzuziehen gewissermaßen von dem, was er liest, das, was aus der Bewegung der Planeten, der Irr- oder Wandelsterne kommt. Das muß er abziehen, das muß er abrechnen; dann bekommt er das Richtige zustande.
Man lernt in der Tat zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt viel kennen über das Walten und Weben des Luziferischen im Kosmos. Und solche Dinge, wie der Gang der Wandelsterne, der Gang der Planeten, hängen mit Luziferischem zusammen.
Das ist die andere Seite, auf die ich habe aufmerksam machen wollen. Sie sehen aber daraus, wie jenes andere Leben, das wir durchleben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt, mit unserem hiesigen Leben zusammenhängt. Man möchte sagen, die Welt hat zwei Seiten. Hier zwischen der Geburt und dem Tode sieht man die eine Seite durch die Sinne. Von der abgewendeten Seite aus schaut man sie mit dem Seelenauge an in der Zeit zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt. Und zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt lernt man die Verhältnisse hier im Irdischen mit denen der geistigen Welt zusammenhängend lesen.
Man mache sich so etwas nur ganz klar, man versuche, sich hineinzuversetzen in diese Verhältnisse. Man wird sich gestehen müssen, daß es allerdings eine tiefe Bedeutung hat, wenn man davon spricht, daß die Welt, die der Mensch zunächst durch seine Sinne und durch seinen Verstand kennenlernt, eine Maja ist. Sobald man an die wirkliche Welt herantritt, verhält sich allerdings die Welt, die man kennt, zu dieser wirklichen Welt so, wie das, was im Spiegel drinnen erscheint, zu dem sich verhält, was vor dem Spiegel ist als Lebendiges und sich im Spiegel bloß spiegelt.
Nun, wenn Sie hier einen Spiegel haben und dadrinnen sind verschiedene Gestalten, so weist das darauf hin, daß außerhalb des Spiegels Gestalten da sind, die sich spiegeln. Nehmen Sie an, Sie schauen in den Spiegel hinein als unbeteiligter Zuschauer. (Es wird gezeichnet.) Die zwei Gestalten, die ich da aufgezeichnet habe, die prügeln sich, das sehen Sie, die prügeln sich. Das weist zwar darauf hin, daß diejenigen Gestalten, die sich spiegeln, irgend etwas tun, aber Sie werden nicht behaupten dürfen, daß die Gestalt A im Spiegel dadrinnen die Gestalt B im Spiegel dadrinnen durchprügelt. Was da im Spiegel drinnen erscheint, das gibt das Bild des Prügelns, weil die Gestalten außer dem Spiegel irgend etwas tun. Sind Sie der Meinung, daß die Gestalt A, die da im Spiegel drinnen ist als Spiegelbild, der Gestalt B, die im Spiegel drinnen ist, etwas antut, dann sind Sie in einer ganz irrtümlichen Meinung befangen. Sie können nicht Beziehungen, Verhältnisse aufstellen zwischen den Spiegelbildern, sondern Sie können nur sagen: Das, was sich in den Spiegelbildern ausdrückt, das weist hin auf irgend etwas in der Welt der Wirklichkeit, die sich spiegelt. - Aber die Welt, die der Mensch als gegebene hat, ist ein Spiegel, ist eine Maja, und in dieser Welt redet der Mensch von Ursachen und Wirkungen. Wenn Sie in dieser Welt von Ursachen und Wirkungen reden, so ist das gerade so, wie wenn Sie glauben würden, daß das Spiegelbild A dadrinnen das Spiegelbild B durchprügelt. In den wirklichen Wesen, die sich spiegeln, geschieht etwas; aber in dem Spiegelbild A, in dem Spiegelbild B liegen nicht die Impulse des Sich-Prügelns.
Gehen Sie die ganze Naturordnung durch: sie ist zunächst, so wie sie den Sinnen erscheint, eine Maja, ein Spiegelndes, ein Gespiegeltes. Die Wirklichkeit liegt unter der Grenze, die ich angegeben habe, die zwischen dem Vorstellungsleben und dem Gefühlsleben liegt. Selbst Ihre eigene Wirklichkeit ist in dem, was das wache Bewußtsein enthält, gar nicht einmal drinnen. Aber diese eigene Wirklichkeit ist in der Geistwirklichkeit drinnen, in welche die träumende und schlafende Gefühls- und Willenskraft hinuntertaucht. Also von ursächlicher Notwendigkeit in der Maja zu sprechen, ist, wie Sie sehen, ein Unding; ein Unding auch, in der historischen Folge der Ereignisse von Ursache und Wirkung zu sprechen. Ein Unding! Zu dem, was ich gesagt habe, füge ich hinzu, daß es ein Unding ist, zu sagen, die Ereignisse von 1914 sind eine Folge der Ereignisse von 1913,1912 und so weiter. Das ist geradeso gescheit, wie wenn man sagen würde: Ach, dieser A im Spiegel, der ist ein schlechter Kerl, der haut den B dadrinnen durch! - Auf die wahre Wirklichkeit zu gehen, das ist das, worauf es ankommt. Und die wahre Wirklichkeit liegt unter der Schwelle, die überschritten wird nach unten von unserer Gefühls- und Willenswelt, die aber nicht in das gewöhnliche wachende Bewußtsein tritt. Und da lebt auch der Kentaur, von dem ich gesprochen habe.
Sie sehen, daß man den Begriff: Irgend etwas mußte geschehen — Irgend etwas war notwendig — anders fassen muß, als man ihn in der gewöhnlichen Geschichte oder gar in der Naturwissenschaft faßt; daß man die Frage aufwerfen muß: Welches sind die wirklichen Wesen, die dasjenige, was in einem späteren Zeitpunkte auf einen früheren folgt, hervorgebracht haben? — Die sogenannten historischen Ereignisse von vorher sind nur Spiegelbilder, die können das nicht bewirken, was nachher geschieht.
Das ist aber wiederum die eine Seite der Sache. Die andere wird Ihnen klar, wenn Sie bedenken, daß eigentlich im Vorstellungs- und Sinnesleben der wachen Wirklichkeit nur ein Spiegel des wahren Lebens, eine Maja gegeben ist. Diese Maja kann aber nichts bewirken. Diese Maja kann nicht im Stande einer Causa sein, irgendeine wirkliche Ursache sein. Der Mensch ist aber in der Lage, sich von seinen reinen Vorstellungen zu Handlungen bestimmen zu lassen. Das ist eine Erfahrungstatsache des Lebens, wenn der Mensch nicht durch Leidenschaften, Triebe, Begierden, sondern durch reine Vorstellungen getrieben wird. Das kann sein, und das ist möglich; der Mensch kann sich von reinen Idealen, von reinen Ideen impulsieren lassen. Aber die können selbst nichts bewirken. Ich kann also eine Handlung ausführen unter dem Einfluß einer reinen Idee; aber die Idee kann nichts bewirken.
Vergleichen Sie noch einmal, um das einzusehen, die Idee mit einem Spiegelbild. Ja, das Bild im Spiegel, das kann nicht bewirken, daß Sie davonlaufen. Es muß Ihnen nicht gefallen, oder es muß etwas sein, was gar nicht mit dem Spiegelbild in irgendeiner Beziehung steht, wenn Sie davonlaufen. Das Spiegelbild selbst kann nicht eine Peitsche nehmen und bewirken, daß Sie davonlaufen. Das kann keine Causa sein. Wenn aber der Mensch unter dem Einfluß seiner Spiegelbilder, also seiner Ideen handelt, dann handelt er aus der Maja heraus, handelt er eben aus dem Weltenspiegel heraus: Er muß es sein, der handelt, deshalb handelt er dann frei. Wenn er seinen Leidenschaften folgt, handelt er nicht frei; nicht einmal, wenn er seinen Gefühlen folgt, handelt er frei. Wenn er seinen Vorstellungen, die bloß Spiegelbilder sind, folgt, handelt er frei. Aus diesem Grunde ist es, warum ich in der «Philosophie der Freiheit» ausgeführt habe, daß der Mensch, wenn er reinen Ideen folgt, dem reinen Denken folgt, ein frei handelndes Wesen ist, weil reine Ideen eben nichts bewirken können, also das Bewirken von anderswoher kommen muß. Ich habe diese Sache mit diesem Bilde noch einmal durchgeführt in meinem Buche «Vom Menschenrätsel». Gerade weil dasjenige, was uns zunächst umgibt, eine Maja ist, die nichts bewirken kann, wir aber unter dem Einflusse dieser Maja handeln, sind wir freie Menschenwesen. Unsere Freiheit beruht darauf, daß unsere Wahrnehmungswelt Maja ist. Unser Wesen vermählt sich mit der Maja und ist dadurch ein freies Wesen. Wäre die Welt, die wir wahrnehmen, Wirklichkeit, dann würde diese Wirklichkeit uns zwingen, dann wären wir nicht freie Wesen. Wir sind freie Wesen gerade deshalb, weil die Welt, die wir wahrnehmen, nicht eine Wirklichkeit ist, daher uns auch nicht zwingen kann, ebensowenig wie uns ein Spiegelbild zwingen kann davonzulaufen. Darinnen beruht das Geheimnis des freien Menschen, daß man den Zusammenhang einsieht zwischen der Wahrnehmungswelt als einer Maja, der bloßen Spiegelung einer Wirklichkeit, und dem Impulsieren des Menschen durch sich selbst. Der Mensch muß sich selber impulsieren, wenn dasjenige, unter dessen Eindruck er handelt, ihn eben nicht bestimmt.
Die Freiheit läßt sich streng beweisen, wenn man diesen Beweis auf der Grundlage sucht, daß die Welt, so wie sie als Wahrnehmung gegeben ist, ein Spiegelbild ist und nicht eine Wirklichkeit.
Das sind die vorbereitenden Ideen, die ich Ihnen mitteilen wollte über dasjenige, was auf dem Grunde der Menschennatur liegt. Was Wirklichkeiten wahrnehmen würde, aber zur Wahrnehmung in einer Inkarnation noch nicht reif ist, sondern abgeschwächt erst in der nächsten Inkarnation Mensch wird, der Kentaur würde Wahrheit, würde Wirklichkeit wahrnehmen; aber der Kentaur nimmt eben noch nicht wahr. Dasjenige, was heute wahrgenommen wird, ist noch keine Wirklichkeit. Aber der Mensch kann sich bestimmen lassen durch dasjenige in seinem Wesen, was nicht mehr — oder noch nicht - ein Kentaur ist: dann handelt er als ein freies Wesen. Das Geheimnis unserer Freiheit hängt innig zusammen mit der Bändigung unserer Kentaurennatur. Unsere Kentaurennatur verhält sich so zu uns, daß sie angekettet, gefesselt ist, damit wir nicht die Wirklichkeit des Kentauren, sondern eine bloße Maja wahrnehmen. Wenn wir uns durch die Maja impulsieren, sind wir frei.
Das ist von dieser Seite aus gesehen. Von der andern Seite lernen wir erkennen die Welt zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt, indem dasjenige, was uns sonst als Kosmos umgibt, zusammenschrumpft zu einem Lesemittel im Kosmos, dessen Abglanz hier die physischen Buchstaben sind. Daß mehr Buchstaben heute vorhanden sind in den Sprachen - die finnische Sprache hat heute noch immer bloß zwölf Konsonanten -, das ist nur, weil Nuancen geschaffen werden; aber im wesentlichen gibt es zwölf Konsonanten und sieben mit verschiedenen Nuancen behaftete Vokale. Die verschiedenen Nuancen der Vokale sind dasjenige, was als Luziferisches dazugekommen ist. Was die Vokale in Bewegung bringt, das entspricht der Planetenbewegung.
Sie sehen den Zusammenhang desjenigen, was im Kleinen im Menschenleben spielt: das Lesen, der Zusammenhang zwischen dem Lesen der Buchstaben, die wir hier auf dem Papiere haben, und demjenigen, was im Kosmos draußen lebt. Der Mensch ist aus dem Kosmos heraus geboren, nicht bloß wiederum eine Wirkung desjenigen, was ihm in der Vererbung vorangegangen ist.
Das sind so einige Grundlagen, um allmählich zu dem wirklichen Begreifen von Freiheit und Notwendigkeit von historischem, sozialem und ethisch-moralischem Geschehen zu kommen.
Fourth Lecture
The topic we are now discussing is very comprehensive, and it will not be possible to go into it as far as I had intended today, but we will continue these considerations. For in these considerations, I would like to lay the foundation for understanding freedom and necessity in such a way that you will gain a picture of what is taken into account from the occult point of view in order to understand the course of social and historical, ethical, and moral human life.
We have emphasized that, in the life between birth and death, we are actually only fully awake to what we have in our sensory perception, what comes from our sensory impressions, and what we experience in our ideas. In contrast, human beings dream away everything that lives as reality in their feelings, and they sleep through everything that actually lies in the impulses of the will as a deeper necessity, as a deeper reality. We live in our emotional and volitional life in the same spheres in which the so-called dead are present with us.
Now it is good if we first form an idea of what actually lies behind our external sensory life. We can imagine the impressions of the senses as spreading out before us like a carpet. Of course, we must imagine this carpet as being filled with auditory impressions, with all the impressions of the twelve senses, as we know them from anthroposophical observations. You know that the real number of senses is twelve. This sensory carpet covers, as it were, a reality lying behind it. We must not imagine this reality behind our sensory perceptions in the same way that natural scientists imagine the world of atoms, or in the way that a certain philosophical school speaks of things in themselves. For I have even emphasized in public lectures: To search for a thing in itself, as contemporary philosophy does, as Kantianism does, would be roughly the same as trying to find the reality of the beings one sees in a mirror by breaking the mirror to see what is behind it. In this sense, I am not talking about something that lies behind sensory perceptions, but about something that lies behind sensory perceptions as a spiritual entity in which we ourselves are embedded, but which is beyond the reach of the ordinary consciousness that humans possess between birth and death. At the moment when we would, as it were, unravel the tapestry of the senses on a first level, so that we would see more outwardly than the multiplicity of sensory impulses—what would we see on this first level of spiritual unraveling of the tapestry of the senses? Let us consider this question.
It may initially be surprising what must be called the first thing we see. What we see at first is a sum of forces that all work to impel our entire life from birth, or let us say from conception, to death. When we unravel the sensory tapestry, we would not see our life in individual events, but in its entire nature. We would not find anything completely foreign at first; we would find ourselves on the first step of unraveling sensory perceptions—but not ourselves as we are at this moment, but ourselves as we are constituted throughout this entire life between birth and death. This life, which does not play into our physical body and therefore cannot be perceived with physical senses, plays into our etheric body, into our formative body. And our formative body is essentially an expression of this life, which we would see if we turned off our senses, our sensory perceptions. If, so to speak, the sensory veil were to be torn away—and it is torn away when a person rises to the level of seeing—the person would find themselves as they are constituted for this earthly incarnation in which they are making the observation in question. But as I said, the senses are not suited to perceive this.
What is suited to perceive this? Human beings already have what is suitable for perceiving this, but they have it at such a stage of development that there can be no question of actual perception at present. What would be perceived there does not penetrate the eye or the ear, does not penetrate the sense organs, but is — I ask you to understand this well — inhaled, drawn in with the breath. And that which lies at the etheric basis of our lungs — we cannot speak of the physical lungs here, for the lungs as they are are not organs of immediate perception — that which lies at the etheric basis of our lungs is actually an organ of perception, but for human beings between birth and death it is not a usable organ of perception of that which is inhaled. In the air we breathe in, our deeper reality actually lies in relation to each breath as it fits into the overall rhythm of life from birth to death. It is simply arranged in such a way that what underlies the entire lung system is undeveloped in humans on the physical plane, not advanced enough to be perceived. If what actually constitutes our pulmonary system, what lies at its etheric foundation, were investigated and correctly recognized, it would essentially prove to be the same thing that our brain with its sense organs is for the physical world. In what underlies our lung system, we have a brain at an earlier stage of development, at what one might call a still childlike stage of development. In this respect, too, we carry within us, in a sense—and I say expressly: in a sense—a second human being. And you are not wrong in thinking that, in addition to the physical head that human beings carry, there is also an etheric head that is not yet usable as a sense organ in ordinary life, but which has the potential to perceive what lies behind the image-forming body, creating this image-forming body. But what lies behind the image-forming body, creating it, is what we enter when we pass through the gate of death. We then lay down the image-forming body itself, but we enter into that which creates it, that which produces it. This may be a difficult idea to grasp, but it is good to try to think it through to its conclusion. We can illustrate this schematically.
We imagine the physical system of the head, and we imagine the physical system of the lungs (see drawing, red), with the impulses of the cosmos (blue arrows) acting upon them, expressing themselves rhythmically in the movements of the lungs (red hatching). Through our lungs, we are connected to the entire cosmos, and the entire cosmos works on our etheric body. We shed the etheric body itself when we pass through the gate of death, but we enter into that which plays into our pulmonary system; this is connected to the entire cosmos. Hence the remarkable correspondence between the rhythm of human life and the rhythm of breathing. You know — I have already explained this here before — if you calculate the 18 breaths that a human being takes in a minute, so that you get the number of breaths in a day, that is 18 times 60 in an hour, and 24 hours in a day, which makes 25,920 breaths in a day. Human beings breathe in and breathe out; this gives them their rhythm, their smallest rhythm at first. But then there is another rhythm in our lives, as I have already indicated to you: it consists in the fact that every morning when we wake up, we breathe our soul, the I and the astral body, into our physical system, so to speak, and when we fall asleep, we breathe it out again. We do this throughout our entire physical life. If we take the average length of human life, we can calculate that we breathe ourselves in and out 365 times a year. If we assume that the average human life is 71 years, that makes 25,915. You see, essentially the same number—life is not the same for every individual—25,920 times during a lifetime between birth and death, what we call our actual self is breathed in and out. So we can say that the way we relate to the elements around us with each breath is the way we relate to the world to which we ourselves belong. We live in the same rhythm as the cosmos during our lifetime, in which we stand through our breathing during the day. And again, when we take our lives, say approximately 71 years, and we consider this human life to be a cosmic day — let us call a human life a cosmic day — then a cosmic year would be 365 times as much, 25,920, which is again approximately one year. But that is the time in which the sun returns to the same constellation: 25,920 years. If in a certain year the sun appears in Aries, after 25,920 years it appears again in Aries at sunrise, because the sun moves through the entire zodiac in the course of 25,920 years. Thus, a year of human life, exhaled from the cosmos, is a breath of the cosmos, which relates to the cosmic becoming, to the cosmic turning of the sun in the zodiac, just as a breath relates to daily life. A profound inner law! You see, everything is based on rhythm. We breathe three times, or at least we are involved in a threefold breathing process. We breathe first through our lungs in the elements—in a rhythm indicated by the number 25,920. We breathe throughout the entire solar system when we count the rising and setting of the sun as parallel to our falling asleep and waking up. We breathe throughout our entire lives in a rhythm that is again determined by the number 25,920. And finally, the universe breathes us out, breathes us in again in a rhythm that is again determined by the number 25,920, determined by the sun's orbit around the zodiac.
Thus we are placed within the entire visible cosmos, which is now based on the invisible cosmos. We enter this invisible cosmos when we pass through the gate of death. Rhythmic life is the life that underlies our emotional life. We enter into the rhythmic life of the cosmos during the time we live between death and a new birth. This rhythmic life lies behind the sensory world as our etheric life. At the moment when we attain conscious awareness, we would see this world rhythm, which is in a sense a rhythmically undulating world ocean, now in a more astral form. And in this rhythmically undulating astral sea are also present the so-called dead, the beings of the higher hierarchies, that which belongs to us but lies below the threshold, from which only feelings rise up, which are dreamt away, the impulses of the will rise up, which are slept away in their own reality.
The question may be raised – we may say this comparatively, without falling into teleology: Why has the wise world order arranged it so that human beings, as they are between birth and death, do not perceive what lies behind the sensory veil as rhythmic life? Why is the human head, the hidden head of the human being, which corresponds to the lung system, not suited to perceiving this? Yes, this leads to a truth which, one might say, has been kept secret by the relevant occult schools until our time, because this secret is connected with other secrets that should not be revealed, at least not yet. But now the time has come when such things must be brought to the consciousness of humanity.
The occult schools that have been established here and there still preserve such things for reasons that will not be discussed here, even though these things must now necessarily be brought to the consciousness of humanity. But since the last third of the 19th century, means and ways have been available through which what the occult schools have in many cases unjustly withheld can be overcome. This is connected with the event I told you about as occurring in the fall of 1879. We can only touch on the outermost fringe of this secret for now. This outer edge of the mystery alone is one of the most significant insights into the human being. It is indeed a head that we carry within us as the head of a second human being, it is a head — but what belongs to this head is also a body, and the body that belongs to it is initially an animal body. So, the human being carries a second human being within themselves: this second human being has a properly formed head, but an animal body attached to it, a real centaur. The centaur is already a truth. It is simply an etheric truth.
What is significant is that a relatively great wisdom is at work in this being, a wisdom that relates to the entire cosmic rhythm. What the head belonging to this centaur sees is the cosmic rhythm in which human beings, as beings living between death and new birth, are also embedded. It is that world rhythm which has been shown here in threefold numerical form, that rhythm on which many secrets of the cosmos are based. This head is much wiser than our physical head. All human beings carry within themselves a very wise other human being, namely the centaur. But at the same time, despite his wisdom, this centaur is equipped with all the wild instincts of animality.
Now you will understand the wise guidance of the world. It could not give human beings a consciousness that is powerful on the one hand and sees through the rhythm of the world, but on the other hand is untamed and lives in wild instincts. But what is animalistic in this centaur in one incarnation will be tamed in the next incarnation—keep what I am about to say in mind, together with other lectures in which I have examined the subject from a different point of view—as he passes through the world of world rhythms between death and new birth. What underlies our lung system in the present incarnation, what is hidden there, appears as your physical head, which is then, however, dampened down to its limited sensory knowledge, and in the next incarnation it appears as the whole human being, now also tamed according to the wild impulses. What the centaur is in this incarnation is the sensually perceptive human being in the next incarnation.
And now you will understand something else. Now you will understand why I said that between death and a new birth, the human being has as its lowest realm the animal realm, whose forces it must master. What must it do? What must he participate in between two incarnations? He must participate in transforming the centaur, the animal nature within him, into the human nature for the next incarnation. This requires knowledge that extends beyond the impulses of the entire animal kingdom, which in their weakened form were atavistic characteristics of the people of the age in which Chiron lived. Even if the insights of which Chiron speaks are attenuations of this incarnation, they are of this kind. But you see the connection. You see why human beings need this lower realm between death and a new birth, in which they must become masters: they need it because they must transform the centaur into a human being.
What anthroposophically oriented spiritual science presents has actually only been attained in isolated flashes of insight outside the occult schools. But there have always been individuals who have come to such things as if through flashes of light in their lives. Particularly in the 19th century, I would say presciently, individual spirits came to realize that there is something within human beings with wildly tamed instincts. There are writers who speak of this. And from the way they speak of it, one can see how frightened they are by this realization. Yes, the higher truths are not as easy to digest intellectually as today's scientific findings. These high truths sometimes have the quality of frightening us with their reality. And there were minds in the 19th century who were frightened, who were terribly moved when they perceived what actually speaks from the sometimes confused gaze of human beings or from other aspects of human beings. One of the writers of the 19th century expressed this drastically by saying: Every human being actually carries a murderer within themselves. — He meant this centaur, which had become unclear to his consciousness.
It must be emphasized again and again that there is something mysterious at the core of human nature that people must gradually uncover. These things must be faced with courage and composure. But they must not be trivialized, for they bring human consciousness closer to the great seriousness of life. And to see through the seriousness of life is what is required of human beings for the time that is coming, which has now arrived with such terrible signs.
This is one side of the question, which I want to prepare for a certain consideration that we will continue shortly. The other side is this: Man passes through the gate of death; I spoke about this last time, about how different the whole experience then becomes, indicating to you how communication with a dead person actually takes place, in that what you yourself communicate to him speaks as if from him, and what he communicates to you speaks as if from the depths of your own being. The mutual relationship is completely reversed in communication with the dead. When you communicate with a person here, you speak. You hear what you communicate to the other person. You hear what he communicates to you. When you communicate with the dead, what he says rises up from your own soul, and what you have communicated to him sounds back to you as if by echo. You do not actually perceive what you have communicated to him: you perceive it in him. I wanted to give this as an example of the radical difference that exists between the physical world here, in which we live between birth and death, and the world in which we live between death and a new birth.
We look into it by looking at this world from one side: by seeing through the tapestry of the senses, we see the rhythm of the world. But this rhythm has two sides. I will illustrate these two sides of the rhythm schematically by drawing a number of stars, let us say planets, here (in red). Let these be a number of stars, planets. For my purposes, let this be the planetary system that belongs to our Earth. Human beings pass through this planetary system in the time between death and a new birth. There is a series of lectures, which has been printed, in which you can learn about these things. Human beings pass through the system. But as they pass through what is still the visible world, they also enter the world that is no longer visible, that is not even spatial, in the time between death and a new birth. However, this is difficult to talk about because human beings are accustomed to imagining things spatially based on their experiences here in the physical world, where they can actually see things. But there is a world beyond the realm of sensory perception, which is no longer spatial. I can only express it schematically in spatial terms.
The ancients said: Beyond the planets lies the fixed starry sky—which is incorrect, but that is not important now—and beyond that lies the supersensible world. The ancients represented it spatially, but that is only a figurative representation (see drawing, blue).
When a person enters this supersensible world in the time between death and a new birth, then one can say, even though this is again figurative, that the person is then beyond the stars, and the stars themselves serve as a kind of reading for them. So the stars serve as a kind of reading for people between death and a new birth. Let us be very clear about how this is. How do we read when we read here on Earth? When we read here on Earth, we have approximately twelve consonants and seven vowels with different nuances. We combine these letters in the most varied ways to form words. We mix the letters up. Imagine how a typesetter mixes things up in a type case to form words. All words are formed from the specific letters we have. What these letters are for people here on the physical plane, these approximately twelve consonants and seven vowels with their different nuances, are the fixed stars of the zodiac and the planets for the dead. The fixed stars of the zodiac are the consonants and the planets are the vowels. When you are beyond the starry sky, you see peripherally. Human beings see centrally when they are between birth and death; they have their eyes here, and then they see radiating outwards to various points. It is most difficult to imagine that this is reversed after death: then one sees peripherally. One is actually in the orbit and sees from outside the stars of the zodiac, the consonants, and the planets, the vowels. And so one sees from outside in on what is happening on earth. And depending on which part of your being you enliven, you see—you must not think of this now from the Earth, but vice versa, looking down on the Earth—through Taurus and Mars down onto the Earth, or you see through Taurus between Mars and Jupiter. You read by orbiting the Earth as a dead person; you read with the help of the star system. Only you have to imagine this reading a little differently now. We could also read differently, but it would not be as technically convenient as our current reading system. One could also read differently. One could read in such a way that we have the letters one after the other: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, and so on, or according to another system — and instead of throwing them around in a type case, we could read in such a way that, for example, when “der” is to be read, a ray of light falls on “der”; when “geht” is to be read, a ray of light falls on “geht.” So the order of the letters could be there first, and they could be illuminated one after the other. It would not be so convenient technically, but you could at least imagine a life on earth in which reading would be accomplished in such a way that one would take an alphabet, and then there would be some device that would always illuminate one letter; then one would read the sequence of illuminated letters one after the other—and it would result in Goethe's “Faust.” Of course, this is not easy to imagine, but it is possible to imagine it, isn't it?
But this is how the dead read with the help of the star system: the fixed stars are fixed, and he moves, because he is in motion. The fixed stars are fixed, he moves. If he wants to read the lion above Jupiter, he moves his being so that the lion stands above Jupiter, just as we read “der” by bringing the d together with the e, and so on. This reading of earthly conditions from the cosmos – to which the invisible cosmos belongs – consists in the fact that what lies spiritually behind the stars can be read by the dead. But the whole system is set up for rest; this entire divine system of reading from the cosmos is set up for rest. What does that mean? It means that, according to the intentions of certain beings in the higher hierarchies, the planets should actually be at rest, should have a restful form. Then only the being who behaves as if reading outside would be in motion. It would be possible to read the Earth correctly from the universe if the planets were at rest, if they were in a resting state.
But they are not! Why are they not? They would be if the creation of the world had proceeded in such a way that the spirits of form, the Exusiai according to our nomenclature, had brought the world into being on their own. But, as you know, Luciferic spirits intervened and interfered with the world. Luciferic spirits brought over from the lunar period of the Earth that which was law during the lunar form of the Earth—where certain things, which then passed into the power of the spirits of form, were subject to the spirits of movement—this system of movement: they set the planets in motion. The fact that the planets are in a certain movement is something Luciferic in the world space. This brings a certain unrest into the Elohimistic order; it brings a Luciferic element into the universe, into the cosmos. It is this Luciferic element that human beings must come to know between death and a new birth; they must come to know it precisely by learning to subtract, as it were, from what they read, that which comes from the movement of the planets, the wandering or changing stars. They must subtract this, they must take it into account; then they will achieve what is right.
Between death and a new birth, one indeed learns a great deal about the workings and weavings of the Luciferic in the cosmos. And such things as the course of the wandering stars, the course of the planets, are connected with the Luciferic.
That is the other side I wanted to draw attention to. But you can see from this how that other life we live between death and a new birth is connected with our life here. One might say that the world has two sides. Here, between birth and death, we see one side through the senses. From the other side, we see it with the soul's eye in the time between death and a new birth. And between death and a new birth, we learn to read the relationships here on earth in connection with those of the spiritual world.
Let us make this very clear to ourselves and try to put ourselves in these circumstances. We will have to admit that it does indeed have a profound meaning when we say that the world which man first gets to know through his senses and his intellect is a Maya. As soon as one approaches the real world, however, the world one knows behaves in relation to this real world in the same way as what appears in a mirror behaves in relation to what is in front of the mirror as a living being and is merely reflected in the mirror.
Now, if you have a mirror here and there are various figures in it, this indicates that there are figures outside the mirror that are being reflected. Suppose you look into the mirror as an uninvolved observer. (A drawing is made.) The two figures I have drawn there are fighting, you can see that, they are fighting. This indicates that the figures reflected in the mirror are doing something, but you cannot claim that figure A in the mirror is beating up figure B in the mirror. What appears in the mirror is the image of fighting because the figures outside the mirror are doing something. If you believe that figure A, who is in the mirror as a reflection, is doing something to figure B, who is in the mirror, then you are mistaken. You cannot establish relationships or connections between the mirror images; you can only say that what is expressed in the mirror images points to something in the world of reality that is being reflected. But the world that man has as given is a mirror, a maya, and in this world man speaks of causes and effects. When you speak of causes and effects in this world, it is just as if you believed that the mirror image A was beating up the mirror image B. Something happens in the real beings that are reflected, but the impulses of the beating are not contained in the mirror image A or the mirror image B.
Go through the entire natural order: as it appears to the senses, it is initially a Maya, a reflection, something reflected. Reality lies beneath the boundary I have indicated, which lies between the life of the imagination and the life of the feelings. Even your own reality is not even contained in what the waking consciousness contains. But this reality of your own is contained in spiritual reality, into which the dreaming and sleeping power of feeling and will plunges. So to speak of causal necessity in Maya is, as you see, an absurdity; it is also an absurdity to speak of cause and effect in the historical sequence of events. An absurdity! To what I have said, I would add that it is absurd to say that the events of 1914 are a consequence of the events of 1913, 1912, and so on. That is just as clever as saying: Oh, that A in the mirror is a bad guy, he's beating up B in there! - Getting to the true reality is what matters. And the true reality lies below the threshold that is crossed downward by our world of feelings and will, but which does not enter into ordinary waking consciousness. And that is also where the centaur I spoke of lives.
You see that the concept: Something had to happen — Something was necessary — must be understood differently than it is understood in ordinary history or even in natural science; that one must ask the question: What are the real beings that brought about what follows at a later point in time? The so-called historical events of the past are only mirror images; they cannot bring about what happens afterwards.
But that is only one side of the matter. The other side becomes clear when you consider that, in the life of the imagination and the senses, waking reality is only a mirror of true life, a Maya. But this Maya cannot bring about anything. This Maya cannot be in the position of a cause, of any real cause. But human beings are in a position to allow themselves to be determined to act by their pure ideas. It is an empirical fact of life that human beings are driven not by passions, instincts, or desires, but by pure ideas. This can be and is possible; human beings can be driven by pure ideals, by pure ideas. But these cannot themselves bring about anything. I can therefore carry out an action under the influence of a pure idea, but the idea cannot bring about anything.
To understand this, compare the idea with a reflection in a mirror. Yes, the image in the mirror cannot cause you to run away. You may not like it, or it may be something that has nothing to do with the reflection in the mirror if you run away. The reflection itself cannot take a whip and cause you to run away. That cannot be a cause. But when a person acts under the influence of his mirror images, that is, his ideas, then he acts out of Maya, he acts out of the mirror of the world: it must be he who acts, therefore he acts freely. When he follows his passions, he does not act freely; not even when he follows his feelings does he act freely. When he follows his ideas, which are merely mirror images, he acts freely. This is why I explained in The Philosophy of Freedom that when man follows pure ideas, follows pure thinking, he is a freely acting being, because pure ideas cannot bring about anything; the effect must come from elsewhere. I have elaborated on this point once again in my book Vom Menschenrätsel (The Riddle of Man). Precisely because what initially surrounds us is a Maya that cannot bring about anything, but we act under the influence of this Maya, we are free human beings. Our freedom is based on the fact that our world of perception is Maya. Our being marries Maya and is thereby a free being. If the world we perceive were reality, then this reality would compel us, and we would not be free beings. We are free beings precisely because the world we perceive is not reality and therefore cannot compel us, any more than a mirror image can compel us to run away. This is the secret of free human beings: that they understand the connection between the world of perception as Maya, the mere reflection of reality, and the impulses that drive human beings. Human beings must drive themselves if they are not to be determined by the impressions that influence them.
Freedom can be strictly proven if one seeks this proof on the basis that the world, as it is given to perception, is a mirror image and not reality.
These are the preliminary ideas I wanted to share with you about what lies at the foundation of human nature. What would perceive realities but is not yet ripe for perception in one incarnation, but only becomes human in the next incarnation in a weakened form, the centaur would perceive truth, would perceive reality; but the centaur does not yet perceive. What is perceived today is not yet reality. But human beings can allow themselves to be determined by that in their nature which is no longer — or not yet — a centaur: then they act as free beings. The secret of our freedom is intimately connected with the taming of our centaur nature. Our centaur nature behaves toward us in such a way that it is chained, bound, so that we do not perceive the reality of the centaur, but only a mere Maya. When we are driven by Maya, we are free.
That is how it appears from this perspective. From the other perspective, we learn to recognize the world between death and a new birth, in which that which otherwise surrounds us as the cosmos shrinks to a means of reading within the cosmos, whose reflection here are the physical letters. The fact that there are more letters in languages today—the Finnish language still has only twelve consonants—is only because nuances have been created; but essentially there are twelve consonants and seven vowels with different nuances. The different nuances of the vowels are what has been added as the Luciferic element. What sets the vowels in motion corresponds to the movement of the planets.
You see the connection between what happens on a small scale in human life: reading, the connection between reading the letters we have here on paper and what lives in the cosmos outside. Human beings are born out of the cosmos, not merely as an effect of what has preceded them in their heredity.
These are some of the foundations for gradually arriving at a real understanding of freedom and necessity in historical, social, and ethical-moral events.