The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Karma in the Individual and in the Evolution of Humanity II

[ 1 ] If one surveys the historical development of humanity, events appear one after another in the course of time, and in more recent times we have become accustomed to viewing the historical phenomena that arise in such a way that we seek the effects of earlier times in later ones, even speaking of causes and effects in history just as we speak of cause and effect in the external physical world.

[ 2 ] When one considers the course of history in this way, however, one must admit that almost everything remains unexplained. For example, you will not succeed in simply deducing the World War as a consequence of the events from the early 19th century through 1914. You will not succeed in deriving the French Revolution, which broke out at the end of the 18th century, solely from what came before. Various historical constructs are devised, but they do not get you very far, and in the end, you feel that they are, after all, artificial historical constructs.

[ 3 ] What takes place in the historical lives of human beings can only be understood by examining the historical figures who play a significant role in the unfolding of historical events in light of their repeated earthly lives. And only after one has spent some time examining the karma of such historical figures over the course of their repeated earthly lives will one develop a spiritual perspective on the state of one’s own karma. That is why today we want to consider a little historical karma—figures from history who have done this or that which is familiar to us—and then trace what is familiar to us back to what was, so to speak, written in their karma through the repetition of their earthly lives. Through this, we will come to the realization that the events occurring in a historical epoch are carried over from people of earlier ages. And when we, with the utmost seriousness, visualize with complete precision and concreteness that which is often viewed only theoretically in relation to karma and repeated earthly lives, we will indeed say to ourselves: All of us sitting here have been on Earth many times and carry the results of earlier earthly lives into our present earthly life.

[ 4 ] Only when we take this completely seriously can we say that we understand this concept of karma. But one can only learn through the concept of karma if one transforms what one absorbs as ideas about karma into a major question for historical life. Then one no longer says: What happened in 1914 is the consequence of what happened in 1910; what happened in 1910 is the consequence of what happened in 1900, and so on. — Instead, one seeks to understand how the personalities that appear in human life carry over from earlier epochs into later ones what is relevant. And only in this way can a genuine, true view of history emerge—when one sees the background of human destinies set against the foreground of the events that outwardly confront us in history.

[ 5 ] History certainly holds so many mysteries. But some of these mysteries become clear when you try to explain them the way I just did.

[ 6 ] You see, my dear friends, there are often figures in history who appear—one might say—like meteors. One is amazed that they appear at a certain time. If one examines their upbringing, one cannot explain from it why they appear in this way. If one examines their era, one again cannot explain why they appear in this way. Only karmic connections shed light on the matter.

[ 7 ] I would like to point out a few such figures about whom people often ask two kinds of questions—especially when they are figures closely connected to our own present lives, that is, when they lived in times not too long ago. Then people often ask: What was their previous earthly life like? What did they bring over from that previous earthly life that led them to become who they are?

[ 8 ] And when one is dealing with historical figures who lived in times long past, one naturally wants to know when they reappeared and in what form. If it was precisely a past historical life that made these individuals famous, one asks oneself: In what form have they returned? One then wants to see others in light of this historical earthly life of theirs; perhaps it is another figure famous in history or in some other way—but one simply wants to understand the connections.

[ 9 ] Now, such connections are truly extraordinarily difficult to investigate, and that is why I would first like to give you an idea of how, when one wishes to investigate karmic connections, one must look at the whole person, not merely at what often strikes one as particularly telling or characteristic.

[ 10 ] I’d like to give an example that may at first seem personal. I once had a geometry teacher whom I loved very much. It wasn’t hard for him to win my affection, because I was exceptionally fond of geometry during my boyhood. But the teacher really had many, many peculiar traits. He had a unique gift for geometry that was fascinating, even though he came across as dry and matter-of-fact to people who aren’t easily moved by others. But even though he was dry and matter-of-fact, the aura he exuded could move one—not in a lyrical way, but in an extraordinarily artistic one.

[ 11 ] I had always felt a profound need to uncover the secret behind this particular teacher’s personality. And so I tried to apply those methods of occult research that can lead to results in such matters.

[ 12 ] I had already spoken about this over in Torquay, and I would just like to repeat here that when one advances in the development of the soul’s occult powers—as I also described here in a branch lecture a year ago—and reaches the state of empty consciousness, when that empty consciousness is then filled with what resounds from the spiritual world, and when one then adds such things as I described this morning, one can already reach a point where one has impressions and intuitions that are as precise as a mathematical truth and that point to a past life based on certain phenomena in a person’s present life.

[ 13 ] Now, thanks to the excellent approach to geometry—or rather, I would say, thanks to the way the teacher taught geometry—I developed a great interest in this teacher. And that interest remained with me, and his presence stayed with me, even after he passed away at an advanced age. However, after I left the school where this teacher worked, fate no longer brought me into contact with him. But in my mind—as a reality—this person remained vividly present to me until his death, and especially clearly after his death, with all the details of his actions and activities.

[ 14 ] I now had an opportunity to gain insight into this person’s previous life—or, more specifically, the previous earthly life that was decisive for her—from her current life, based on the fact that she had a clubfoot and one foot was shorter than the other, meaning she walked with a shorter foot.

[ 15 ] If one considers that, in the transition from one earthly life to the next, what was the head organization in the previous life becomes the foot organization, and what was previously the foot organization was the organization of the limbs becomes the organization of the head—as you know from my earlier lectures—then one will already realize that such an outwardly physical manifestation can have a certain significance in human life, insofar as this life encompasses repeated earthly existences. From this clubfoot, I was able to trace back this teacher’s personality. And even though he stands, I might say, as an obscure figure—yet as a figure who, within the circle in which he was active, was able to make a profound impression at least on me and on others as well, and who in fact had an extraordinarily strong influence on the lives of many people— I was able to trace how contemplation of this figure led back to the same region of historical development where Lord Byron is also to be found.

[ 16 ] Now, Lord Byron also had a clubfoot. And these peculiarities—seemingly external, but what is outwardly physical in one life is spiritual and psychological in another—these characteristics led to the realization that the two personalities, who were not living in the same earthly life at that time—my geometry teacher with the clubfoot lived later than Byron with the clubfoot—had been united in an earlier earthly life. So these two: one as the brilliant poet, the other as the brilliant geometer, one achieving widespread fame, the other making only a profound impression on a few individuals, yet shaping the destinies of many—they stood side by side in their earlier medieval earthly life. Both had heard together the legend of the Palladium, which was once the treasure of Troy, the sacred treasure that then came over with Aeneas, was later regarded as the treasure of Rome—upon which Rome’s fortune depended—and was then brought by Emperor Constantine to Constantinople. In turn, the fortune historically associated with Constantinople depended on this Palladium. And the legend continues, looking prophetically into the future: whoever acquires this Palladium will rule the world in the future.

[ 17 ] There is no reason here to go into detail about the merits or content of this legend. I will only say that these two people, who were incarnated at that time in what is now Russia, undertook together an enthusiastic journey to Constantinople in search of the Palladium; though they were unable to capture the Palladium there, they retained their enthusiasm in their hearts.

[ 18 ] And now one could truly see how Byron, in a different way, sought to retrieve the Palladium as a participant in the Greek struggle for freedom. And if one examines Lord Byron’s life closely, one will discover just how much of this brilliant poetic personality depended on having experienced such enthusiastic inspiration in a previous earthly life.

[ 19 ] And again, when I look back on my geometry teacher: despite all his modest qualities, it seemed to me that he owed the charming, likable qualities he was able to develop to that undertaking of long ago, even though he had only played a secondary role in it at the time. Had he been fully on equal footing with Lord Byron, he would have become his contemporary in later life as well.

[ 20 ] I cite this example so that you can see that one must consider the whole person—including, for example, physical imperfections—if one wishes to explore karmic connections. If one finds that a particular personality has an outstanding spiritual signature in a specific earthly life—let’s say they were a great painter—then one must not draw an abstract conclusion from this, such as: “They were also a great painter in their previous earthly life.” What appears on the surface of the soul are merely the ripples first woven by karma. Karma flows much deeper and has to do with the human being’s body, soul, and spirit. And one must have an eye for the entire earthly life.

[ 21 ] Sometimes, when it comes to these peculiarities of human life, the way someone moves their fingers points to karmic connections far more than any of their other, more significant activities in life. I once had the experience of discovering intimate karmic connections in a person through something seemingly trivial. It made a deep impression on me that this person, who often had to give lessons, would always take out a handkerchief and blow his nose before beginning a lesson. He never started his lessons any other way—it was a deeply ingrained habit. In the significant impression this made on me, one could then find an intention to trace back to important things, to meaningful events in a previous earthly life. One must find signs—signs, something in a person that often indicates something significant—and then one finds one’s way back to previous earthly lives.

[ 22 ] Now that I have, so to speak, presented this to you, I would like to draw your attention to how historically interesting the question of karma becomes. Just consider a few specific cases. Take, for example, the following case: In the 18th century, Swedenborg appeared in a very peculiar way. Last year in Penmaenmawr, I spoke about Swedenborg’s spiritual uniqueness from a completely different perspective, though at that time I did not touch upon his karma.

[ 23 ] Swedenborg is a remarkable figure. He lived to be over forty years old and, by that time, had become an extraordinarily great and significant scholar—so significant that he wrote many purely scientific works that scientists fully accept; so significant that even now the Swedish Academy of Sciences is still working to publish the many volumes that have not yet been published, those in his estate—purely scientific works. Arrhenius, for example, is engaged in the publication of these highly precise scientific works, and one really has to say that something must be extremely unspiritual for Arrhenius to be interested in it! So no one could accuse Swedenborg, right up until his fortieth year, of having had anything to do with the spiritual in his understanding. Then suddenly he begins—as scientists would say—to go mad; he suddenly begins to provide grand, comprehensive descriptions of the spiritual world as he saw it. It appears in Swedenborg’s life like something entirely new, like a comet. One wonders: Well, what must the situation be regarding a previous earthly life for something like this to emerge?

[ 24 ] Once again, there is a figure like Voltaire—I want to mention a few individuals now who can pose questions to us—Voltaire, who emerges as a truly, I would say, incomparable figure. At first, one has no idea how this man—partly mocking, partly pietistic, smeared with all the ointments of life—grows beyond his era and yet comes to exert such an enormous influence on his era.

[ 25 ] And how ironic fate seems! This Voltaire exerts such a great influence on the Prussian king; such significant events in the fate of European intellectual life unfold through this connection between Voltaire and the Prussian king! One is led to ask: What actually lies deeper in the background of historical development?

[ 26 ] And yet another case can be raised, especially in today’s world, where certain things are once again emerging very aggressively from the background of existence: Let us consider a figure such as Ignatius of Loyola, who died in the 16th century, the founder of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuit Order.

[ 27 ] When one considers the strange fate of the Jesuit Order, one cannot help but ask: In what way did Ignatius of Loyola live on—and, if he has indeed returned, continues to live on—in the course of history after he had passed through the gate of death and left earthly life behind?

[ 28 ] There are questions like these which, if they can be answered, are certainly well-suited to shedding light on the historical background of many of the events that have taken place.

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[ 29 ] For example, this intuitive perspective led back to a soul who, in the period shortly following Augustine, was educated in North African schools, just as Augustine himself had been. This individual, whom I am referring to as belonging to roughly the 5th century of the Christian era, was able to become acquainted in Africa—in those very schools that Saint Augustine himself had attended—with everything that emerged from Manichaean scholarship, from that which stemmed from deeply Eastern wisdom, though later altered. This individual then traveled on to Spain in the course of his life’s journey, where he absorbed what might be called early Kabbalistic teaching—a Kabbalistic teaching that provides an overview of the great interconnections within the order of the world—so that this individual was able to acquire, in Africa and in Spain, an extraordinarily broad perspective, but at the same time with an insight that was partly already in decline and partly just beginning to flourish—an insight that, in a certain sense, deepened the soul while simultaneously leaving it in a state of obscurity.

[ 30 ] After passing through the gate of death—and having wandered about on various journeys beforehand—this individual, as a result of their karma, came into contact at a certain point between death and a new birth with a special genius, a special spiritual being belonging to the world of Mars.

[ 31 ] You see, the fact is that during the time between death and a new birth, a person spiritually develops his or her future karma—which he or she will incorporate into subsequent earthly lives—together with other human souls with whom he or she has a karmic connection. But it is not only other human souls that participate in the development of this karma; beings from the various spiritual hierarchies also play a role, and they are assigned tasks precisely because of what the soul in question brings with it from previous earthly lives. And so this soul of which I speak here, through what it had absorbed, done, thought, and felt in previous earthly lives—namely, in the decisive earthly life I have just outlined—was, in the karmic development of its next life, brought into the vicinity of a spiritual being belonging to the worlds of Mars. There, it had first acquired a strongly aggressive disposition, but on the other hand also an immense eloquence; for everything that ever enters into a language is prepared by Martian beings from the cosmos and placed within a person’s karma. Whatever eloquence or linguistic artistry appears in a person’s karma always stems from the fact that the individual in question, depending on their karmic experiences, has come into close proximity with Martian beings.

[ 32 ] This personality I have spoken of, this individual who had now come into close contact with a particular Martian being—a Martian being who began to interest me to the highest degree when I came to know it in connection with this human soul—this individual then reappeared in the 18th century as Voltaire. So that Voltaire carried within himself everything I have described to you about the North African and Spanish people from a previous earthly life, having reworked it within himself in such a way that the shaping of his karma had taken place with the help of this Martian being, this particular Martian genius. If you consider Voltaire’s great eloquence, if you consider his inconsistency in many matters, if you focus not so much on the content of what he wrote as on the overall attitude and demeanor of his work, you will gradually come to understand that Voltaire became what he was under the influences I have just described to you as his karmic influences. And when one now sees how Voltaire carries over from earlier earthly lives his aggressive spirit, his eloquence, his tendency to mock so many things, his partly veiled insincerity, yet also his great enthusiasm for the greater truth—when one considers this, on the one hand, in relation to his earlier earthly lives and, on the other hand, in connection with this Martian being— then one begins to take an interest not only in Voltaire, but even more so—from an occult standpoint—in this Martian entity.

[ 33 ] Investigating this Martian entity became, at a certain time, a specific task for me. And through this Martian entity, the nature of earthly events was in turn shed light upon. In history, we are struck by the remarkable figure of Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus: Ignatius of Loyola, who was initially a soldier, was struck down by a serious illness and, during this illness, was driven to undertake all manner of spiritual exercises, through which he filled himself with inner spiritual strength, enabling him to take on the task of saving traditional Catholic Christianity in the face of the spreading Protestant movements. This Ignatius of Loyola, who succeeded—with the help of the very forces he derived from his wounded leg (and this is the interesting part)—in founding the Jesuit Order, which in the most powerful way translates occult exercises of the will into practical religious life; who, in a magnificent way—regardless of how one might otherwise view it, that is out of the question—but who, in a magnificent way and in a purely material sense through will training, sought to represent the cause of Jesus on earth and founded this Jesuit Order.

[ 34 ] Anyone who delves into the life of Ignatius of Loyola cannot help but feel a certain admiration for this remarkable life. And then, when one approaches the matter with an intuitive, occult perspective, one grasps something significant.

[ 35 ] Ignatius of Loyola founded this Jesuit Order, which integrates Christianity most deeply into earthly, material life—but does so with great spiritual power. This Jesuit Order has a rule that is quite repulsive to modern people, but which, in many respects, is the source of its greatest effectiveness. In addition to the usual monastic vows, the spiritual exercises, and everything else that prospective Jesuits must undergo in order to become priests at all, the Jesuit Order also has the rule that it must submit unconditionally to the commands of the Pope in Rome. Whatever the Pope of Rome demands, no one within the Jesuit Order asks what one should think of it; it is carried out because they are convinced that higher truths are revealed through the Pope of Rome and that, in unconditional obedience to Rome, they must carry out the command of this higher power. Although this is a matter of concern, it is nonetheless a selflessness present in the workings of Jesuitism, which in turn signifies an immense strengthening of power; for everything a person does in such a way that they perform it with immense effort and intensity in the service of a cause—not out of emotion—bestows tremendous strength. This strength moves, so to speak, within the lower realm of the material, yet it is a spiritual force. It is, in fact, something quite unique.

[ 36 ] And now, when one observes these remarkable, striking, magnificent phenomena, one comes to the conclusion that this very same genius of Mars, of whom I have spoken to you—the one who underlies Voltaire’s life—is the very same genius who, through supernatural influences, accompanied the life of Ignatius of Loyola from the moment Ignatius of Loyola passed through the gate of death. Ignatius of Loyola’s soul was constantly under the influence of this genius of Mars.

[ 37 ] Immediately after Ignatius of Loyola had passed through the gate of death, his experience was quite different from that of other people. Other people, by shedding their etheric body not immediately after death but a few days later, have a brief opportunity to look back on their earthly life before embarking on their journey through the world of souls. Ignatius of Loyola had a long period of reflection. It was precisely through this special kind of spiritual exercise, which arose in the soul of Ignatius of Loyola, that a particularly intense connection with the Mars genius came into being, because there was a kind of activity, a kinship, an elective affinity between this Mars genius and what was taking place in the soul of this ailing warrior, this warrior who had been confined to bed by his foot ailment and had been transformed from a warrior into a man who could not use his leg.

[ 38 ] All of this had an immensely strong influence, and when one looks at the whole person, one can see that. And this led Ignatius of Loyola into a connection with this Mars genius, whom I, however, came to know in a different way. And what took shape through this connection made it possible for Ignatius of Loyola to experience this meaningful retrospective that never ceased—a retrospective that people otherwise experience only for a few days after death; it continued indefinitely. Ignatius of Loyola remained in this retrospective view of his earthly life and was thus able to provide a retrospective framework for all those who followed in the Jesuit Order. He remained connected to his Order through this retrospective view of his own life.

[ 39 ] In this retrospective account by Ignatius of Loyola himself, the forces that held the Order together took shape—forces that were so extraordinary that they also determined the extraordinary fate of the Jesuit Order: to place themselves under the unconditional obedience of the Pope, despite the Pope’s dissolution of the Order, and despite the many persecutions that followed! But even what the Jesuits themselves accomplished in the world—all of it—was brought about by this peculiar connection that I have just described.

[ 40 ] Now, this example reveals something else as well—something that sheds a truly dazzling light on certain historical connections. You see, even after Ignatius of Loyola passed away, he has, in a sense, always remained close to the earth, for one is close to the earth when one looks back in this way. If this retrospective perspective were to expand, it could not possibly extend over many centuries, for in reality, if it were to span such long periods of time, it would be something quite abnormal—but abnormal things do occur in the context of the world. And so, relatively soon after his earthly life, Ignatius of Loyola reappeared in the soul of Emanuel Swedenborg.

[ 41 ] This is something extraordinarily striking, but at the same time also something extraordinarily enlightening. For consider the sparkling historical light that is shed here: The Jesuit Order continued to exist; but the one who had held it together up to a certain point had become someone entirely different—he emerged as the individuality of Emanuel Swedenborg—so that, through Emanuel Swedenborg’s spiritualization, the Jesuit Order is guided by impulses entirely different from those of its earlier founder. One sees, in the course of historical development, that the founders of any given cause—those personalities who were deeply connected to it—when one traces the karmic course, separate themselves from these movements, and these movements pass over to entirely different forces. Thus one learns: it makes no historical sense at all to speak of today’s Jesuit Order in such a way as to trace it back to Ignatius of Loyola. External history does this. Inner insight cannot do this at all, because one sees how individualities separate from their movements.

[ 42 ] Thus, many historical phenomena are attributed to this or that founder based on their outward course; but if one is familiar with the founder’s later earthly life, one knows that he has long since separated himself from the phenomenon he historically initiated; then the entire story, as it is presented, simply loses its meaning in many respects if one truly wishes to grasp the occult facts underlying it in karmic evolution. That is one thing.

[ 43 ] The other point is this: The soul of Ignatius of Loyola—that is, Swedenborg—entered an organism that had attained its mental health—its tremendous mental health—through Ignatius of Loyola’s leg ailment in a previous life. And so, at first, this soul—which had always remained close to the earth—could not fully enter the earthly body that was now given to it in Emanuel Swedenborg. The body remained such that, well into his forties, Emanuel Swedenborg had only an extraordinarily healthy physical body with a healthy brain, an extraordinarily healthy etheric body with a healthy constitution, and a healthy astral body; but as he developed the highest erudition of his time within these constitutions, it was not until his forties—after the development of the “I,” when he entered into the development of the spiritual self—that he came under an influence which had been only slightly suppressed during the first forty years of Swedenborg’s life; he came under the influence of that very same Mars genius of whom I have already spoken; and this Mars genius, with all that he now knows spiritually of the universe, speaks. For it was he who now spoke through Emanuel Swedenborg.

[ 44 ] And so the brilliant, magnificent, and ingenious chronicler of the spiritual realm—albeit through images that are cause for concern—emerges in the person of Emanuel Swedenborg, as the great spiritual will of Ignatius of Loyola is transformed in this way.

[ 45 ] It’s always the same: if you investigate the specific karmic connections, something startling usually comes to light. What people very often speculate about regarding repeated earthly lives is, in fact, mere “speculation.” When examined with true precision, these matters usually reveal something extraordinarily striking; for what actually progresses as karmic evolution from one earthly life to the next is, in essence, very, very deeply hidden beneath everything a person experiences between birth and death.

[ 46 ] I wanted to illustrate this with the example of a well-known figure so that you can see how hidden that which flows karmically from one earthly life to the next can be. But it is only when one explores this hidden aspect that the true explanations actually emerge.

[ 47 ] Take a look at the life of Emanuel Swedenborg, and you will find explanations for everything once you understand the connections I have told you about.

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[ 48 ] At the beginning of this century, I was in London several times. During one of these stays, I gained some insight—initially of a purely literary nature—into an extraordinarily significant figure. And since there were longer intervals between my travels back then than there are now, I had the books written by this figure—Laurence Oliphant—brought to me from the Theosophical Library.

[ 49 ] Laurence Oliphant is indeed an extraordinarily interesting figure—one who immediately strikes one as a truly significant figure when one studies his books. The books that deal with the similarities among the various religions, with spiritual religions, and so on—these books all bear witness to Laurence Oliphant’s profound understanding of the connection between human beings, in their various physical and psychological processes, and the mysteries of the universe. And when one reads Oliphant’s writings, one actually gets the impression that here, drawing upon deep cosmic instincts, the human being is portrayed in his earthly life. Furthermore, the processes of human life on Earth—those related to birth, embryonic life, ancestry, and so on—are described in such a way that, as presented by Laurence Oliphant, they reveal how the human being, as a microcosm within the macrocosm, is wonderfully rooted within it.

[ 50 ] My study of Oliphant very soon led me to visualize the figure of the late Laurence Oliphant before me, but not so much in a way that made it seem to me as though I were dealing with his individuality as it now lives on after death; but rather, from the coming to life, from the spiritualization of what is contained in these—I would say—cosmic-physiological, cosmic-anatomical writings, a figure emerged that was not immediately entirely clear, yet was present on a wide variety of occasions. One could conduct occult investigations in this or that field: this figure, which I could not relate to anything other than what had arisen in me from reading Laurence Oliphant, was often present; it was simply there, standing there. At first, I often could not quite make sense of what this figure wanted or what its manifestations meant. But it became clear from the very way this figure presented itself—and I knew for certain that it was Laurence Oliphant’s individuality—that this figure had lived a long life in the period between death and a new birth, that is, the birth of Laurence Oliphant, interrupted probably only once by an earthly life, which, however, was not very significant for the other world. So there could be a great deal contained within this personality of Laurence Oliphant. In short, this appearance of the figure of Laurence Oliphant always pointed to a significant karmic question.

[ 51 ] Now, in the course of karmic research, a spiritual being had appeared who is involved in the shaping of human karma—just like the one I have occasionally spoken of to you in connection with Voltaire, and occasionally in connection with Ignatius of Loyola, as a Martian genius. One can come to know such genii in a wide variety of ways. Such genii are particularly present when it comes to conducting research aimed specifically at spiritually exploring what is initially given to human beings physically in the earthly world.

[ 52 ] Well, this has always been close to my heart. Even my Philosophy of Freedom, which is translated here as Philosophy of Spiritual Activity, leads into cosmic reflections on the life of the human will. Such things have always been very close to my heart. And the questions that now lie within the scope of the anthroposophical movement’s tasks—even if they are not exhausted by this, even if this may be only a part of it—lead, after all, to karmic investigations. And again, karmic investigations lead to such genii as this Mars genius of which I have spoken. Such genii, however, also come to meet one when one undertakes the kinds of research that I have hinted at as being included in the book currently being co-authored by Dr. Wegman and myself in the field of medicine, the first part of which is now in print. When one seeks this kind of initiated knowledge of nature, one similarly encounters Mercury genii, who appear to one specifically because Mercury genii play a distinctive role in human karma. When a human being passes through the life between death and a new birth, they are first purified with regard to their moral qualities under the influence of the lunar beings. Through the Mercury genia, their illnesses are transformed into spiritual qualities. Thus, what a person experiences as illness in life is transformed by the Mercury genia in the Mercury sphere into spiritual energies and qualities. This is an extraordinarily significant connection.

[ 53 ] This connection, however, leads us further—specifically toward examining karmic questions related in some way to the pathological. Now, the research I have just described in Torquay led me to become more deeply acquainted with a figure such as Brunetto Latini, Dante’s teacher.

[ 54 ] By entering these spiritual worlds in the manner described, one can also encounter individualities in the form in which they lived during a particular time. And so, in the 13th century of the Christian era, one may encounter, for example, Brunetto Latini, Dante’s great teacher, who still possessed a understanding of nature in which nature was viewed not in such abstractions as today’s laws of nature, but under the living influence of spiritual beings. And Brunetto Latini, upon returning from his post as Spanish ambassador, encountered all sorts of distressing and unsettling news on his way back to his hometown of Florence, and also suffered a mild case of sunstroke. And it was precisely in this state—under the influence, too, of the pathological agitations he was experiencing—that he gained insights into the workings of nature and the cosmos, as well as into the connection between humanity and the planetary world; these insights are magnificent and, I would say, have since been submerged, as it were, in the shadow of Dante’s monumental work, the Commedia.

[ 55 ] But if one now follows this Brunetto Latini, one sees that at a decisive moment—when insight threatens to overwhelm him, when it seems to him as though he might stray from true knowledge into error—at that very moment Ovid becomes his guide, Ovid, the ancient Roman writer who penned the Metamorphoses, in which—albeit in a sober Roman manner, in a sober Latin manner—he incorporated magnificent insights from the ancient Greek era.

[ 56 ] Now Ovid—the individuality of Ovid—appears in connection with Brunetto Latini. Once one has truly grasped this connection, Brunetto Latini in the pre-Dante era truly appears to us united with the individuality of Ovid. Ovid is present there as well. And it was precisely in connection with scientific and medical research that this Ovid revealed himself as Laurence Oliphant. After this long life—spanning the ancient Ovidian era, through the transition to Christianity, and appearing on Earth only once in an incarnation insignificant to the outside world, in a female incarnation—Ovid reappears, transposed into modern times in terms of the content of his soul, as Laurence Oliphant.

[ 57 ] And it is not only Brunetto Latini; other figures in the intellectual history of the Middle Ages also repeatedly assert that Ovid was their guide. At first glance, this seems like a living tradition, doesn't it?

[ 58 ] In reality, my dear friends, the real Ovid was the guide in the spiritual world for many initiates, just as he later reappeared as Laurence Oliphant in the magnificent cosmic-anatomical and cosmic-physiological vision. One of—I would say—the most brilliant and illuminating examples, an example of immense significance, is revealed through this connection between Laurence Oliphant and Ovid.

[ 59 ] I'll talk more about these things in the next class.