The Rudolf Steiner Archive

32. Morality and Karma

[ 1 ] Today, it will be my task to speak a little about morality and karma, and tomorrow, I will say a few words about the appearance of Christ—things that have not yet been discussed.

[ 2 ] Spiritual Science truly becomes fruitful only when we are able to observe it in life, when it becomes life within us. Of course, theosophical principles may generally be interesting as teachings, but what we call, in the true sense of the word, “having a conviction of the truth of teachings from Spiritual Science”—that is extremely difficult to achieve in theory. It is true that all theosophical teachings discovered through genuine spiritual research can be examined by the intellect and recognized through logic; but there is a long way from simply accepting the teachings of Spiritual Science to the point where they can even be examined. Many of our listeners want to make the path easier for themselves and accept spiritual truths on authority. That is decidedly more convenient. But on the other hand, today hardly anything else is possible for the vast majority of humanity. For the path of independent examination is difficult; the other path—observing life as it is—is easier. But if the laws of karma are correct, then life must unfold for me in such a way that I can see how karma works as experience and as a means of character development. Verification through life is easier for the spiritual seeker in gaining conviction.

[ 3 ] In our discussion today, we will begin with two traits that are widespread. As moral traits, people have always harbored a peculiar, instinctive aversion to them. Envy and lying have always been regarded as particularly grave moral transgressions. You will be able to gauge the intensity of this aversion most clearly by the fact that—no matter how many human failings you consider—you will find nowhere else where this instinctive feeling of rejection is as strong as it is toward envy and lying. Both great and ordinary people share this feeling. Benvenuto Cellini, a great man, once remarked that he was convinced he was capable of any fault, but could not recall ever telling a real lie. And Goethe also found it reassuring to himself to be able to say that he had never harbored a feeling of envy in his soul. Thus, in the simplest human soul as well as in the great souls of distinguished minds, there exists an instinctive sense of aversion toward envy and lies.

[ 4 ] Setting aside Spiritual Science for the moment, it must be said of the vices of envy and lying that they quite clearly violate what constitutes a fundamental element of human coexistence: they are a violation of compassion. For compassion is not merely sharing in another’s pain, but also in another’s worth. A person should be able to take sincere joy in the worth of another.

[ 5 ] People still have a long way to go when it comes to compassion. There is still a great deal of selfishness involved in compassion. It is said of Herder, for example—who was originally destined to become a physician—that when he first entered an autopsy room, he fainted, not out of compassion, but out of weakness, out of selfishness: he could not bear it. True compassion, however, is one that arises not only from the suffering and pain of others, but from the inherent worth of every human being. Compassion must become more selfless; people must be able to take joy in another’s success, in another’s rise to prominence; they must be able to look upon another’s virtues without bitterness. The reason why compassion is a fundamental element in all spiritual coexistence lies in the fact that all of people’s spiritual experiences are interrelated. Envy violates the appreciation of another’s worth, and lying does so even more so. Through envy and lying, we harm others in regard to their very being. Through envy and lying, we place ourselves in conflict with the course of the world, and through both we violate the laws governing the world’s order. Envy and lying can easily be recognized by people as faults, and they do not wish to tolerate them in themselves. Both envy and lying usually have occult backgrounds. Certain mysterious laws are at work here that easily elude our observation and through which envy and lying can reappear in altered forms in the same person later in life.

[ 6 ] Envy does not always manifest as a conscious, faint feeling of envy. People would certainly want to rid themselves of it if they were aware of it. Envy as such is a characteristic of the astral human being. We know that feelings, passions, and so on are to be found in the human astral body. The passion, the feeling of envy, is therefore in the astral body. And now there is a certain law which states that qualities that arise in our astral body and, through their repulsiveness, stir within us a longing to rid ourselves of them, creep into our etheric body and then manifest there in deceptive forms. Specifically, they manifest in very specific judgments we pass on others. These judgments are such that we do not envy the other person, but rather criticize them, finding fault with everything about them. It is a secret envy that creeps into our etheric body; there it manifests as a judgment that plays itself out in this way. We say: “He did this and that,” “He does it this way or that way,” and so on. The judgment seems just, but in truth, envy lies behind it. What has actually happened? A very significant process in human nature has taken place here.

[ 7 ] We know that the human soul passes through many incarnations and that there was a time when Ahriman and Lucifer crept into this soul life as tempters. What, then, do Lucifer and Ahriman still represent in human beings today? Without clairvoyant research, this is not easy to discern, for there is a profound truth in Goethe’s saying: “The little people never notice the devil, even if he were to grab them by the collar.” For it is indeed true: From a modern perspective, it is easy to deny the existence of the devil, Mephistopheles; yet Ahriman and Lucifer continue to manifest themselves in human nature—Ahriman in the human etheric body and Lucifer in the human astral body. Lucifer is the power that tempts the human soul toward all that drags a person down and morally distances them from their origin, hurling them into the depths of earthly nature from which they should guard themselves. Lucifer is a power that drags a person down into the depths of the abyss of passions. Ahriman, on the other hand, is the spirit of lies and error, which distorts human judgment. Both forces—Lucifer and Ahriman—are hostile to human progress, yet they get along very well with one another. Envy is a trait through which the Luciferic power in human beings expresses itself. Envy is a truly vile trait, which is why people have an aversion to it. Human beings seek to rid themselves of envy, to get rid of it. Once they have recognized envy within themselves, they seek to wage war against Lucifer as the source of envy. What does Lucifer do then? He simply hands the matter over to Ahriman, who then clouds human judgment. Where Lucifer is fought in the astral body, it very easily happens that Ahriman creeps into the etheric body: this leads to a clouding of judgment regarding another person, and this clouding is a lie. Lying, however, is an Ahrimanic trait. Human beings also have an aversion to lying and seek to combat it. With regard to lying, another situation arises: when it is fought against, Ahriman hands over control to Lucifer—and then a quality creeps into the human astral body that manifests as very, very strong selfishness. This is then a form of restrained deceitfulness.

[ 8 ] These two traits—lying and envy—are the ones that most clearly express how the strongest forces of Lucifer and Ahriman manifest themselves in human beings.

[ 9 ] Even within a single incarnation, one can observe karma as it relates to envy and lying. Let us discuss some of the evidence for this, which also serves to confirm the findings of Spiritual Science. Let us consider a period in a person’s life and imagine that this person has lied a great deal. The law of karma in this case will then become apparent later on. We must wait until it begins to play out, but we can already observe the connections within a single incarnation between the various earlier and later stages of life.

[ 10 ] Observing life teaches us that while a person may eventually shed the habit of lying—life is, after all, a school—a very specific character trait emerges in its place: a certain shyness sets in. There are people who cannot look you in the eye. In this way, we can observe a connection between later shyness and earlier a tendency to lie.

[ 11 ] Another example: Envy arises in a person. When envy is gone—when it has been suppressed or has receded—we can observe that, later in life, such people now feel dependent on others, that they are lacking in self-reliance and unsteady in life. These connections between lying and shyness, between envy and a lack of self-reliance—which can already be observed in a single incarnation—are karmic connections. Essentially, karma works in such a way that it manifests as a subtle fulfillment within the same incarnation, but it becomes decisive for one’s character in the next incarnation. Thus, where envy manifested in youth, helplessness arises in old age. This is a subtle karmic nuance. It then persists even after death and continues to exert its influence throughout the Kamaloka; and what then manifests as uplifting forces for the next life incorporates this karmic nuance and weaves it into what is expressed as the fundamental character of the three bodies—the physical, the etheric, and the astral—in the next life.

[ 12 ] If envy is a fundamental trait of one’s character in a given incarnation, it will influence all three bodies of the person in the next incarnation and will result in poor health. It will act as a powerful organizing force in the next incarnation. If we see a person who, by nature, appears helpless and dependent in life, we must tell ourselves: Something like envy must have played a role in their previous incarnation, and we must behave accordingly toward them. If karma is true, it will become evident whether our behavior is appropriate. If we see a person entering life in poor health, we can assume that envy played some role in their previous incarnation. If we have such people in our circle, we must tell ourselves that karma has brought us together with this person for some reason. We may very well be the very person whom the other once envied. What can we do for this person now? Is there a way to help them?—If karma is a fact and may be regarded as truth, then it must become evident that by behaving correctly toward such people now, we can achieve a favorable outcome for this frail person who has been born into this very environment.

[ 13 ] He needs to find forgiveness; he needs to experience this feeling to the fullest extent possible. Assuming we have something to forgive him for, we must positively envelop him in an atmosphere of forgiveness. You have something to forgive this person for, so do it—that is what we will tell ourselves, but not to him—and we will act accordingly, and then we will wait and see how this person becomes stronger and more vigorous, how he becomes healthier. Just try to do what is right, and success will follow. This is how one can live out karma; this is how one can live out the whole of Theosophy.

[ 14 ] Someone might now come along and say: Yes, it’s only fair that this person is suffering now. This is retribution for what was done in a previous incarnation. That things have turned out this way is only reasonable; his karma demands it. - Anyone who thinks this way does not understand karma, for part of understanding karma is knowing that another person’s karma is none of our business. Helping them—that alone is our task. The fulfillment of their karma will come about on its own. We, however, must do everything in our power to transform their karma in a favorable way. Knowing and feeling this is part of a deep understanding of karma and its laws.

[ 15 ] It is a different matter when someone wishes to undergo an esoteric development. In that case, advice can be given on how best to work through one’s karma. Moral qualities do indeed have karmic consequences. They may well be transformed into a person’s incarnation, but in the next incarnation they must descend all the way into the physical body.

[ 16 ] We have said that lying can lead to shyness even within the same incarnation, causing a person to withdraw into themselves. All the more so, lying in one incarnation will bring about the trait of shyness in the next. Such a person is born with an anxious, fearful disposition. Not only will they be shy toward the people around them, but they will also fall into certain pathological states of fear and anxiety. Thus, what manifested as a mild karmic consequence in one incarnation will appear in the next as a fundamental aspect of the physical body’s constitution.

[ 17 ] If we must assume that someone has told many lies in a previous incarnation, how do we act reasonably toward that person? Well, we tell ourselves—not him—and must make this our guiding principle: He must have lied to us a great deal in a previous incarnation; he has led us astray. We must now try to teach him fruitful, valuable truth. The one who has been brought together with him through karma must delve into his soul life with love and devotion. We must repay lies with truth; these are two opposing poles that are capable of creating a kind of balance.

[ 18 ] The secret here is that not everyone can have such a positive influence on such a person—only the one who is karmically connected to him. Whoever does so will see just how positively he can influence that person when he can offer positive truth and show understanding. Karma is a real law; success will manifest itself in a most remarkable way. We will have an infinitely healing and liberating effect on such people if we respond lovingly to their weaknesses. If we are able to live fully within their being through our own, then we will have a rejuvenating effect on others. There are two ways to respond to a person: either with understanding or with reproach. What, then, is the effect of this? We can either help them or we cannot. One can offer them understanding—that is, lovingly immerse oneself in the other’s being and address their weaknesses when it is karmically required of us. But we can also rebuke them and leave it at that. Let us now observe life in both cases. If there is a great deal of rebuke, does this have a positive effect on the one who has been rebuked?

[ 19 ] It may be successful; the rebuke may or may not have been helpful. But those who habitually criticize will also experience a consequence: a certain feeling of isolation in life, of being alone, will come over them. Let us compare this to what happens in an incarnation when one responds to others with genuine love, despite their faults. The outcome may be good or bad in that case as well, but a favorable spiritual outcome will certainly be present. We can learn from this that whether one, so to speak, stops at reproach or proceeds to understanding is governed by entirely different laws. For reproach rebounds upon ourselves, creating new karma; understanding, however, bestows a treasure that the other person then carries within, dissolving karma, smoothing it out, and erasing it. This is an extraordinarily significant fact for life.

[ 20 ] We can now summarize the results of these observations in a single sentence that expresses a profound truth about life: namely, that, fundamentally speaking, one is extraordinarily incapable of benefiting oneself, but very capable of harming oneself; whereas one is very capable of benefiting others, yet can do them little harm through one’s own vices. Thus, by being good, one can be of great benefit to others; by being bad, one can harm oneself greatly, but cannot cause others lasting harm. This is a very remarkable law. It already reveals karma within a single incarnation. For whoever has benefited another through understanding, through loving consideration, and through being good can be certain that they will most certainly experience a favorable repercussion from this at a later time. Do not say that this is selfishness when a person is good and noble. No, being good must be a matter of course, and the other aspect—the positive effect that follows later—occurs merely as a natural consequence. If we remain self-centered, show no understanding toward others, and only rebuke them, then the favorable repercussion does not occur. And this is what is remarkable: It is impossible to move forward without being kind to others; only then can we make progress. This is a fundamental law that manifests itself in a powerful, magnificent way from one incarnation to the next. In the next incarnation, its distinctive nature already becomes apparent: If, in the first incarnation, the instinct for life guides us in this way, it manifests itself in the next incarnation as theosophy, which has already taken effect.

[ 21 ] Let us imagine, for example, a person who did us a favor at a time when we were not yet able to guide ourselves. Here we see a great difference between a good deed and a good deed that is undeserved—we speak, after all, of an “undeserved good”—and we can observe that in one person this good deed, the undeserved one, has a very positive effect, while in another it serves no purpose. To the clairvoyant, something very special becomes apparent here: the good deeds that the other person did for us before we had earned them from him appear to the clairvoyant as a good that we have re-earned from the other person. If they are this, then they have a positive effect on us. If they were not, then they cannot have a positive effect on us.

[ 22 ] One must be mindful of the karmic consequences, for everything one does has an effect, even if that effect is not immediately visible to the physical eye. The paths that karma takes are very convoluted, but they can become understandable to us if we examine life, for then we will find evidence of the operation and workings of karma in the world. Success in life itself then shows us that—if we observe karma in this way and act accordingly—we have proceeded from a correct principle.

[ 23 ] There are three ways to approach karma: One can choose not to believe in it at all, one can believe in it, and one can test it through one’s own life; and then one will come to understand the truth of its laws.

[ 24 ] Spiritual Science should not merely be theoretical truth; rather, it should be a search for evidence of this truth in life.