The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Seventh Lecture

[ 1 ] In the course of the discussions of the past few days, I made a remark to which I would like to return today, because its broader implications should serve as a kind of foundation for what I will have to say in the coming days. I said that, in a certain sense, it was necessary for our Spiritual Science movement to establish a spiritual movement that fully takes into account the demands of humanity’s current cycle of development—one that truly considers everything that arises from the development of humanity itself as a necessity for a Spiritual Science movement in our time. A movement, therefore, that regards atavistic clairvoyance—and also the knowledge that has been left behind by atavistic clairvoyance—as antiquated and no longer useful for our time; in a certain sense, it no longer takes into account that which originates from the atavistic side.

[ 2 ] This meant that a large portion of the knowledge imparted in the so-called Theosophical Society—as it was presented there—simply had to be rejected or ignored, and that, from certain quarters, a completely new foundation had to be laid. It was therefore also the most earnest endeavor of the old representatives of the Theosophical Society, from the very beginning, to oppose us. I will cite just one example.

[ 3 ] You can compare what I published in 1904 in the first edition of my *Theosophy*—specifically regarding the description of the world of the soul and the realm of spirits—with what existed previously. In particular, you must take into account the precise distinction I made regarding the world of the soul and the inner soul of the human being, and then you will see how great importance was placed on clearly defining the distinction between the emotional, intellectual, and conscious soul. This threefold distinction had never been made in the literature of the Theosophical Society; we introduced this distinction right from the start.

[ 4 ] It was precisely with this distinction that the other side sought to blur it, to prevent it from emerging. I still vividly remember how our friend Ludwig Lindemann—who has since passed away and who strove to carry out our cause in Italy—was repeatedly pressured to back down from this, with people saying: “It’s really just the same thing, expressed in different words, that is already stated in our teachings.” — In short, they did not want to acknowledge that there was anything new in it; and it was necessary to point out this threefold distinction again and again so that people would see what was at stake. And so it was with very, very many things.

[ 5 ] Thus, from the very beginning, we had set out on the path required by our present cycle of time: to truly take into account and consider everything that I have been able to tell you—at least in outline form—over the past few days and weeks. But in order to carry this out strictly, it was necessary, so to speak, to reshape the entire way of working as it existed throughout the Theosophical Society. And of course, this gave rise to many difficulties—many quite arduous ones. This arduousness is reflected in the way I myself was able to contribute to the literature. Naturally, in the early years I had to present certain matters with a great deal of caution, simply because it took years to verify certain things thoroughly, and because from the very beginning I had resolved to publish nothing—and, in essence, to say nothing—other than what I could vouch for having verified myself.

[ 6 ] Now, as you will see—especially in light of the remarks I have made here over the past few days—confusion had arisen because research into life between death and rebirth had been steered in a completely wrong direction. I have described this to you in my recent lectures. But it has not always been easy to verify these things firsthand. If one wanted to proceed conscientiously and with full responsibility, one really had to examine in detail every opportunity that presented itself for verification. And these opportunities must not be brought about artificially; rather, in spiritual research, one must wait for them to arise naturally. They must not even be wished for in the slightest.

[ 7 ] Most evident from everything I have already presented to you, as you have formed a mental image of it, were the supposed insights regarding life between death and a new birth. But while on the physical plane false research findings can be corrected simply by verifying them through physical means—and it is then relatively easy to determine that they are incorrect—the situation is, of course, different in the spiritual worlds. In the spiritual worlds, the existence of a false or incorrect mental image of a fact is itself confusing for the research. So when things have come to light in the way I have indicated to you regarding the communications about life after death through mediums—such that they were not actually communications from the dead at all, but rather communications from the living, shaped by all sorts of inclinations—these so-called research findings were nevertheless there. They stand before one. And when one investigates in this field, one must combat these research results as real forces. Something that is said on the physical plane can be rejected. One simply sits down at one’s desk and rejects it. A false research result in the spiritual world, however, is a living being. It is there; one must first combat it, one must first remove it.

[ 8 ] Just as I have told you that thoughts are living beings, so too are false research findings real forces that are immediately present when one crosses the threshold into the spiritual world. So one might say that one is now entering the spiritual world and wishes to bring to light the knowledge of life between death and a new birth. But now the false thoughts that have been produced stand before you as living beings. They are real; at first they give the appearance of being real, of being true. One must therefore first combat them; one must first examine whether they possess the characteristics of untrue thoughts or whether they possess the characteristics of the true—that is, characteristics capable of sustaining life.

[ 9 ] This must first be verified, and that sometimes takes a long time. And so, naturally, it was difficult—when one set out to conduct this verification—to research precisely this realm of life between death and a new birth; difficult because so many false findings had come to light. For this reason, it was necessary to exercise great caution in this particular regard, ensuring that statements were made only when they could be presented as absolutely and strictly true. Consequently, much preparatory work was required before, for example, the lecture series now available on “The Inner Nature of the Human Being and Life Between Death and a New Birth” could be delivered.

[ 10 ] This life between death and a new birth—in general, it is easy to describe. It begins with the human being, after having completed that review of past events brought about by the separation of the etheric body from the physical body, living in what was commonly referred to in the literature of the Theosophical Society as: Kamaloka. But if you compare what was called Kamaloka in that literature with what has gradually been published over the years, you will find a considerable difference. Now, I am not saying—please do not misunderstand me here—that everyone today has the task of verifying everything. Much can be disseminated for reasons that lie within one’s own soul. One person’s task is simply not the same as another’s. I consider it my task to say nothing that I cannot substantiate as having been verified. I regard that as my specific, entirely individual task.

[ 11 ] Now I would like to say a few more things that are important to consider when discussing these very first years of life between death and a new birth. One can really only gain a positive, accurate picture of these first years or decades by making various comparisons. Only through the various insights that emerge from such comparisons can a clear picture be formed; only then, if I may say so, can the general picture I have presented in *Theosophy* be supplemented with all manner of details—and our entire development is based on this. *Theosophy* provides, so to speak, a broad outline, and our task should then consist of filling in the individual sections—filling in what has been sketched out according to the grand plan. It is therefore a matter of bringing forth various elements through which this or that can be filled in, and if you start from the presentation in *Theosophy* and then move on to what is contained in the cycles—to what has been stated in ever more intimate terms, and which was later published—you will see that we have indeed made progress, gaining an ever more intimate understanding.

[ 12 ] Thus, if one wishes to gain an accurate picture of the first years or decades of life after death, it is necessary to compare what this life is like for people who died very young—say, in early childhood—with what it is like for people who died somewhat later, around the middle of their lives, and then again for people who died at an advanced age. There are significant differences in every respect. In reality, life after death varies greatly depending on whether one died early or late; and a truly accurate picture emerges only from such comparisons of the experiences of people who died at different ages.

[ 13 ] For example, one essential and important basis for arriving at certain conclusions was to gain a clear understanding of what happens to people who die at an early age—that is, to young children—and also to those who die at the ages of eleven, twelve, or thirteen. There really is a significant difference to be noted regarding life after death—the postmortem life—depending on whether a person died before the age of eight or nine, or before the age of sixteen or seventeen. This can be clearly seen from certain experiences one can have with the dead. For example, one can observe that people who died very young—those who died in the earliest stages of childhood—are, after death, very, very much concerned with the tasks facing humanity in the period immediately following their deaths.

[ 14 ] The public representatives of religious communities do nothing to prevent certain mental images—which do not correspond to the truth—from taking root in people’s minds. You will know from your own life experience that the representatives of religious communities do little to counter the mental image that people have of an elderly person or a child dying, which is that the elderly person continues to live on as an elderly person and the child as a child in the afterlife. But the way souls live here has nothing to do with the way they live there. Even if I die as a three- or six-month-old child, all my past earthly lives are taken into account, and I can still enter the spiritual world as a very mature soul. It is therefore completely wrong to have a mental image of the child living on as a child. There one finds that such souls, who died at an early age, are given tasks related to what the Earth needs in order to obtain the necessary spiritual resources to continue its work. I would like to say that people cannot work on Earth without receiving impulses from the spiritual worlds. However, these impulses do not come in such a vague manner as pantheism has in its mental image, but rather they come from real beings, and among these one also finds the souls of children who died at an early age.

[ 15 ] To be more specific: Let’s suppose we are watching Goethe grow up. Of course, part of Goethe’s genius stems from the fact that the spiritual world comes to his aid. But if one investigates this further, one arrives at the souls of children who died at an early age. The spiritual realm that lives in the world is connected to the souls of children who died young. When, on the other hand, children die who are nine or ten years old—but not yet sixteen or seventeen—one finds them very soon after death in the company of spiritual beings. But these spiritual beings are human souls. They are often found in the company of human souls—specifically those who must soon descend to Earth and those who are awaiting their next incarnation. Those who die very early in childhood—that is, up to the age of seven or eight—are often found interacting with people who are here on Earth. Those who die between the ages of seven or eight and sixteen or seventeen, however, are found interacting with souls who are striving to incarnate soon. These souls then serve as significant sources of support and assistance—one might say, important messengers—for what they need to prepare for their earthly existence. This is important to know if one does not merely wish to speak in general terms but truly wants to penetrate these spiritual worlds.

[ 16 ] But it’s not exactly easy to figure these things out. One can come to understand how these things are, for example, by asking oneself: What is actually the best way to find the dead? It then turns out that one finds the dead—whether they died years or even decades ago, or very recently—by waking up during sleep with an awareness of the spiritual world.

[ 17 ] I have often described to you that there are two ways to wake up. Either you wake up in the middle of sleep and realize, “You are not sleeping now, but you are in the spiritual world”—you can find hints about this in the booklet *A Path to Self-Knowledge for Human Beings. Eight Meditations,” which was also published once in Munich—or one can awaken in the midst of being awake. But this exploration of the life of the dead is best undertaken when one awakens in the midst of sleep, because then one’s own activity is most closely aligned with that of the dead.

[ 18 ] One then makes a very strange discovery. Isn’t it true that here in physical life, from the moment one wakes up until one falls asleep, one always remembers the previous life from waking up until falling asleep? How does a person actually live? Isn’t it like this: waking up, daily life, falling asleep; waking up, daily life, falling asleep, and so on. During daily life, one always remembers what lies behind in a previous day’s life. Actually, daily life—when it proceeds as usual—consists of remembering in this way. It is different when our “I” is interrupted [by sleep], when we do not remember in this way. The curious thing, however, is that during sleep we always remember only the preceding states of sleep. Only, this is unconscious to the person. In most cases, they do not remember the past states of sleep. Yet a subconscious memory of these states is present throughout one’s entire life during sleep.

[ 19 ] Let us consider life, which consists of falling asleep, night, waking up; falling asleep, night, waking up. This cycle continues in such a way that daytime life interrupts nighttime life, yet there is still a continuous flow of life. The curious thing about this is that, while we are passive in our daytime recollections—the objects of memory are there, they surface in our memory, and only in exceptional cases do we have to make an effort to recall something from the past—during sleep, if we want to remember something for any purpose, we must make an effort. This effort during sleep is the norm. But people usually lack the strength to become aware of this activity, which is why they do not remember during sleep. Yet people are generally much more active, much more mentally engaged during sleep than while awake. This is always the case. There is no dreaming involved. Dreaming corresponds to what we experience while awake when we make a real effort to remember. But when we make a slight effort at night, this corresponds to ordinary remembering during the day, when we do not exert ourselves, when we remember because the memories come of their own accord. The memories we have of our daily life are quickly exhausted after death as we look back on our completed earthly life. The memories, however, of what a person has experienced during the night are retraced in reverse. During the Kamaloka period, a person retraces all the experiences of their nights in reverse.

[ 20 ] Isn’t it true that here in life we are truly preoccupied with what the day had to offer, and also with what we experienced during the night—but without realizing it? After death, however, we become aware of everything we experienced during the night. Night after night, it comes back to us. And it is important to realize that the dead person actually relives their nights first. One only comes to realize this gradually, and it is not at all easy to grasp that the dead person actually relives their nights. Of course, they relive their life, but they experience it through the detour of their experiences throughout the nights.

[ 21 ] I have often said: one spends about one-third of one’s lifetime in Kamaloka. If you now consider that a person who does not die as a child spends about one-third of their life sleeping, then you will understand why the time spent in Kamaloka accounts for about one-third of one’s earthly lifetime. The time spent in Kamaloka lasts as long as the time spent sleeping at night, which accounts for about one-third of one’s entire earthly life.

[ 22 ] You see, this is how things come together. It is absolutely necessary to carefully piece together concrete insights step by step. That is why it is—how shall I put it?—so shocking—though the word does not fully capture what I mean, I will use it anyway—when one wants to speak about the spiritual world with full responsibility, and after the lectures, just anyone asks about this or that. People would like to know everything, but on the other hand, one wants to say only what one has thought through directly. So one is then forced to speak about a great many things that one has not yet had the opportunity to examine carefully. One can, of course, speak, for the science of occultism exists; but if one has made it a principle to say only what one has verified, then speaking in this way is something one would actually prefer not to do.

[ 23 ] Now, remember that I said: When one crosses the threshold into the spiritual world in this way, one finds a person who died at the age of eleven, twelve, thirteen, or fourteen—relatively soon after their death—among those who wish to return to Earth soon and carry out tasks there. This person now helps them find the right paths into incarnation. It sounds strange when you put it that way, but it is indeed so.

[ 24 ] These things, however, are in turn connected to certain mysteries of life—to very specific mysteries of life. The fact is that one can only truly arrive at certain things in the right way once one is able to ask the right question. Not every question one asks is asked correctly; rather, one must first wait until one is, so to speak, deemed worthy of asking the right question.

[ 25 ] Now I’m going to tell you something that might strike you as quite strange, but which is nevertheless true. You see, there is a question that arises from the following: Isn’t it true that humans get teeth twice? First, they get the teeth that fall out around the age of seven, and then they get teeth a second time. That is a fact. I don’t think very many people ask themselves: What is actually the story behind this getting of teeth twice? For I have always found that when experts have discussed this process of getting teeth twice, they spoke as if the first set of teeth and the second set were one and the same thing. But when one considers the matter from an occultist’s perspective, the first and second sets of teeth are entirely different things. So once I had to give a rather grotesque answer to someone—a medical professional—who asked me this question; yet from the occult perspective, it is correct, even though it struck him as amusing. He said that children with baby teeth should be accustomed to biting as soon as possible, since that is, after all, what human teeth are for, and therefore they must be accustomed to biting. However, this line of reasoning is not correct—or, from an occult standpoint, at least only half correct. In any case, it must be examined more closely. There is no question whatsoever that the second set of teeth is meant for biting. But with the first set of teeth, it is a matter of debate. These are, in fact, inherited. We have them because our parents and ancestors had them; they are something inherited. Only after we have shed these do we develop our permanent teeth, which are then an individual achievement. The primary teeth are inherited. That is a difference. It is something that comes into consideration only when one pays attention to subtle distinctions. It is not a particularly important matter; one cannot make particularly serious mistakes by not raising this question. But it is important to know that the first teeth have a completely different relationship to hereditary influences than the second set. The second set of teeth is connected to overall health and the entire human constitution, whereas the first teeth—particularly in terms of their health significance—are much more closely linked to the health of one’s parents and ancestors. In this respect, there is already a difference that can be further explored empirically. These are subtle differences. But once one’s attention is drawn in this way to the history of the teeth, something else becomes apparent—and here comes what may strike you as strange, but which is nonetheless true.

[ 26 ] Suppose a child dies before having fully grown its permanent teeth, or shortly thereafter. This is curious because, as occult research has shown, it becomes apparent in the spiritual world whether the child has not yet grown its permanent teeth or has had them for some time. Suppose the child was eight or nine years old when they died. In such cases, one discovers that certain impulses—which would otherwise enter the physical world—are still at work. One then realizes that these are the forces that should have gone into the teeth but are now available to the child. One notices this particularly in a child who died at an early age, who had lost their first set of teeth but had not yet received their second set, or who had just received them. Strangely enough, it turns out that the child possesses certain powers, and that these powers are of exactly the same nature as those by which, on the physical plane, the teeth are guided as they grow out of the entire organism.

[ 27 ] So, isn’t it true that when one is here in the physical world, one must develop certain physical forces in order to bring the teeth into being within the organism? If one has not yet developed these teeth—or has developed them only to a very limited extent—and dies before doing so, then one has these forces freely available in the spiritual world to use them to influence this earthly world. When one is in the physical world, these forces grow into the teeth, through which one then acts in the physical world.

[ 28 ] There one truly glimpses this wonderful connection with the cosmos and recognizes the profound truth of what is described in the first scene of *The Trial of the Soul*, in the second Mystery Play: how the spiritual worlds, with their beings, work toward bringing forth the human being—and this is portrayed in such a way that, when Capesius comes to realize that the human being is the goal of all divine activity, it could make him arrogant. Yet this grandeur is scarcely noticed.

[ 29 ] I have also said that human souls who die between the ages of eight, nine, sixteen, and seventeen are among those souls who wish to incarnate soon. They, in turn, possess special soul powers that are also the result of a transformation. A person reaches sexual maturity at the ages of fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen. The forces that lead to sexual maturity are transformed in the spiritual world—if sexual maturity has not yet manifested or has already passed—into forces with which one can work among those souls awaiting their next earthly incarnation, in order to help them prepare for it.

[ 30 ] Consider what an infinitely profound connection exists here: the forces of production are transformed in the spiritual world into forces that assist the souls who are about to descend into the physical world. These are truly connections that show us how the spiritual realm, which acts beyond the threshold, continues to exert its influence here in specific, concrete ways. We also only truly begin to recognize the physical world when we examine the matter in this way and say to ourselves: We generally do not even notice that forces are at work when a person loses their baby teeth and develops new ones. — These are manifestations of force. And again: the fact that a person reaches sexual maturity signifies the unfolding of forces. When a person is mature, these forces are something entirely different.

[ 31 ] All of this leads us to ask ourselves: What, in fact, is the reason for not allowing people, in their everyday lives, to glimpse into the spiritual world? This spiritual world is blocked in two ways. First, by external nature. We perceive external nature, as it were, as a shell covering what lies beyond it. If one can penetrate this shell, one finds oneself within the spiritual world. The materialistic worldview does everything in its power to prevent people from realizing that there is spirit behind it. I have often explained in public lectures that there is an unconscious fear at work here. But it is the same on the inner level. A person perceives their thinking, feeling, and willing. But behind that lies something else: behind it lies the entire soul nature, which passes from incarnation to incarnation. And the current religious communities do not want people to realize that behind thinking, feeling, and willing lies something else.

[ 32 ] For this reason—as I explained in the last chapter—the book *The Riddles of Philosophy* will be quite unsettling to people. One might say that, after just two pages, the path to the spiritual world is blocked. While natural scientists, on the one hand, strive to produce nothing that might lead into the world that lies beyond nature, the representatives of religious communities, on the other hand, strive to ensure that nothing reaches the souls that might enlighten them about what lies beyond death and on into the next life.

[ 33 ] Why do natural scientists, on the one hand, prevent people from looking beyond nature, and priests, on the other hand, prevent people from looking beyond the mysteries of the soul? This question is important and worth considering. For you will find that things will become increasingly acute. Those who form a worldview based on natural science will be our opponents, because they do not want to allow the spiritual world that lies behind nature to come through. And the priests will be our opponents, because they do not want to allow that which lies behind thinking, feeling, and willing—that which passes from incarnation to incarnation—to come through. On the one hand, the natural scientist says through natural science: “Here are the limits of knowledge”; on the other hand, the representatives of religion say: “To want to go further is a sin; it is human presumption.” We will address the question of what lies at the root of these two forms of opposition tomorrow, and from the answer to this question we will move on to further considerations.