The Rudolf Steiner Archive

55. On Life Between Death and Rebirth

[ 1 ] Theosophy is not meant to be a theory, but rather the elixir of life, and it will become just that when one recognizes its effects.

[ 2 ] A man dies; a seer makes contact with him and learns that this man is unhappy because he can no longer make contact with his wife, who is still alive and whom he loved very much on earth. The connection cannot be established because the woman has not awakened within herself the higher life to which Theosophy is meant to lead.

[ 3 ] Two people live together; one is a Theosophist, the other opposes Theosophy, but deep down—precisely because he opposes it—he harbors a longing for Theosophical insights. The latter dies. The former reads from Theosophical writings to the deceased, thereby helping him.

[ 4 ] People who were unscrupulous in this life must serve, in Kamaloka, the spirits who bring illness and death to humans. People who were deceitful in this life must serve the evil spirits.

[ 5 ] Christian Rosenkreutz made an agreement with Buddha that he would give up his earthly mission and ascend to Mars to work there as the Prince of Peace, where he underwent a kind of crucifixion. From there, he also helps human souls as they pass through the sphere of Mars.

[ 6 ] In the spheres of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, and so on, as a person passes through—between death and rebirth—he inscribes his deeds, his virtues, and his faults; they remain inscribed there until they can be erased after atonement.

[ 7 ] People who are suddenly torn from life by a tragedy provide support for the good spirits who counteract the evil spirits just mentioned. If someone were to take their own life in order to help the good spirits, it would be futile. The sacrifice would not be accepted. - Only misfortune from outside can bring this about. People who die young—suddenly, not of old age—also help the good spirits.

[ 8 ] After death, the soul grows to the size of the planets; for reincarnation, it then becomes smaller and smaller until it turns into a small sphere, which then incarnates at the moment of conception.

[ 9 ] The fairy tale about the stork was quite good; and the Enlightenment’s endeavor is certainly inclined to explain human development solely in material terms. The fairy tales simply stated that a child cannot come into being solely from what the father and mother could provide. Once upon a time, all people knew about repeated earthly lives. This knowledge must have been lost to them. Now, theosophy is bringing this insight back and giving many people the liberating feeling one has when one rediscovers something valuable that one had been unable to recall no matter how hard one tried.

[ 10 ] It is harrowing for the seer to witness the moment when a person has shed everything that still connected them to their former earthly life and looks toward the future and a new birth. But a soul schooled in theosophy will not have to endure this great pain, because it approaches a new life with full awareness.

[ 11 ] A saying by Luther: “When I am angry, I preach best”—meaning: suppressed, subdued anger sinks into the subconscious and rises again as love.