The Rudolf Steiner Archive

9. On Scarring — The Mummy

[ 1 ] Question: The one question: Why does it heal completely when a person inflicts a wound on themselves—a cut, for example—while, if one cuts off a piece of flesh, for instance, a scar always remains; for thirty to forty years, the person in question has had no sensation in that area. He would like to know how this works, given that it is said to renew itself every seven years!

[ 2 ] The second question concerns the discoveries in Egypt. It is reported that a mummy and a tomb were found, and that while opening the tomb or while digging into the passageway, two engineers—the foremen—died of poisoning. In the first case, it was believed to have been a simple heart attack or something similar; later, the same fate befell the other. It was mentioned in magazines that poisons may have been used during the mummification process to prevent people from entering the tombs. I cannot believe that poisons would last that long. Or did gases perhaps develop in the air spaces, causing death to occur after a very short time? Or can poisons available in Egypt at that time have lasted that long?

[ 3 ] Some pieces of clothing were found there. These items were exposed to the air, whereupon they immediately crumbled to dust. Subsequently, chemical experiments were conducted to reconstruct these materials so that they could be preserved for posterity.

[ 4 ] Grain that had been lying in the pharaohs' tombs for millennia was discovered. This grain was sown, and it is said to have still been capable of germinating.

[ 5 ] I would like to ask whether all of this could have been possible under normal circumstances.

[ 6 ] According to newspaper reports, for example, it took them eighty days to clear the main stone before they reached the main tomb. But it was as if the mountain had collapsed, and the tombstone—that huge stone—had rolled onto it. Or as if everything had subsequently collapsed due to an explosion, even though the graves were so difficult to reach—how could that have been possible?

[ 7 ] Dr. Steiner: First of all, regarding wound healing—if we answer the questions one by one—the incisions that must be made during surgery: These incisions heal more or less well. That’s the first thing to note: they heal more or less well. In fact, one can observe how incisions sometimes heal exceptionally well, so that later on you have to look very closely when you come to the spot where the incision was to find the scar. On the other hand, there are other incisions—and you’re not just referring to surgical wounds, but also to when you cut yourself, aren’t you?—that heal with extraordinary difficulty; the scar is thick, and you can often find a very hard scar. Now let me tell you something. As a boy, I used to do a lot of carving with knives myself. Back then, I had this quirk where I always had to have a pocketknife—I walked a long way to school—you have to have something like that, don’t you? But I was always losing my pocketknife, so I had to get a lot of replacement knives. I did a lot of whittling and, as is common when whittling, cut myself very badly here and here, among other places. But you’ll have to look very closely if you still want to see the trace of it; it’s almost completely healed. But if you look very closely, you can see this cut, which was a gaping wound that bled profusely. You can hardly see it anymore, though. With some cuts, on the other hand, the edges—the thick scars—remain visible for a long time. Now, what causes these thick scars? You see, the human body is formed entirely from the inside out; you’ve seen this from the way I’ve described the formation of the human body to you, and I’ve also told you: Everything that must be formed by the human body must be formed from the inside, right down to the surface of the skin. — Well, what causes colds? I’ve spoken to you about that as well. Colds arise because one does not generate one’s own heat alone, but because external heat or cold affects one—one is, so to speak, treated like a piece of wood by the environment—so that the cold comes so quickly that one becomes chilled, so that one perceives the cold merely as a stimulus that opposes what comes from within. All of this is foreign to the human body and is fought off by it. — Now, the moment you cut yourself—whether through clumsiness, an accident, or an operation—at that very moment there is a foreign instrument in the place where only the human body is supposed to act. The knife penetrates the space where blood, nerves, muscles, and so on are actually supposed to function. So at that spot, a very intense struggle arises between the forces within the body and the forces that are intruding. They are, after all, intruders. And to ward them off, the inner physical matter of the human body gathers itself together all around and forms the scar. It gathers itself together to prevent these forces from penetrating any further. So the scar is initially a protective shell formed to prevent the foreign forces from penetrating. The scar always forms at the beginning.

[ 8 ] Well, suppose you’re young—very young, for example, like I was when I made those carving stories; I was ten, eleven, twelve years old. Yes, when you’re that young, the etheric body is in full swing—it’s extraordinarily active. When the etheric body is as strong as it is throughout early youth, the scar will simply heal gradually as the physical matter breaks down; the substance of the tissues is arranged in such a way. Suppose you’re older; then the etheric body—especially at the site of the scar—isn’t strong enough to overcome this. The person repeats the action, does it a second time, because they cannot overcome the spot where the scar has formed—they cannot get past it. For whether a scar forms or is gradually eliminated always depends on the strength or weakness of the etheric body. Injuries sustained in childhood will always leave weaker scars than injuries sustained later in life. But people are, of course, different; some retain an exceptionally strong etheric body throughout their entire lives, and for them, scars are overcome more easily than for others whose etheric body is weakened.

[ 9 ] For example, if a person is a farmer who always works outdoors in the fresh air, who never works hard in carbon-dioxide-laden air—at most in the winter, when he isn’t working, is he in carbon-dioxide-laden air—he alternates more between winter and summer in good and bad air—he has a stronger etheric body. It’s not as if the farmer is always out in the fresh air. There’s that well-known saying, isn’t there: Why is the air so good in the countryside?—Because the farmers don’t open their windows! If the farmers were to open their windows, the air wouldn’t be so good!—But that’s just an aside. - Those who live in the countryside are constantly exposed to a strong alternation between oxygen-rich and carbon dioxide-rich air. As a result, they live under entirely different, healthier conditions. This is evident not only in how wounds heal but also in other physiological processes. Come out to the countryside, where, as you know, people walk around barefoot in the summer, without boots. It happens all the time that someone steps on a really rusty nail; but out there, that doesn’t mean much at all! He pulls the nail out, wipes the blood away with a dirty finger—everything is dirty, the nail is dirty, the blood he wipes away is dirty—it oozes a little, but after a short time it’s all over and healed. It’s no big deal.

[ 10 ] Someone who is used only to living in the city has a much more sensitive etheric body. It can happen that someone has a small pimple; he shaves, cuts himself—and dies from it! I’m telling you something that’s actually true: Someone shaved, cut himself a little while shaving, and simply died from that tiny pimple because blood poisoning set in immediately. That is to say, the blood poisoning occurred because of the weakness of the etheric body. The etheric body was no longer strong enough to immediately eliminate the invading toxins—the foreign substances—in the proper way. For that, you need a robust, vibrant etheric body. But that is precisely the case with farmers. Now, of course, it’s getting weaker there too; but if you’d gone out to the countryside back in my youth, you could have marveled at the farmers’ vibrant etheric bodies! Of course, when old age sets in—especially among farmers—they collapse, because the etheric body then does indeed decline, and because the astral body is not very strong among farmers. But the etheric body is very strong. That is why everything heals much faster there than among city dwellers. Working the land has something tremendously healthy about it.

[ 11 ] You see, of course one can know all of this; but given our social conditions, there’s nothing we can do to change it for the time being. First, knowledge of these things must become widespread. Surely it is already understandable that, depending on whether the etheric body is active to a greater or lesser degree, both the formation of scars and the healing of things associated with it—such as external substances that do not belong in the body—will be stronger or weaker. A knife, for example, is an external substance; dirt that penetrates the body is an external substance—the body must immediately defend itself accordingly, and so on. And once you know this, it’s actually no longer surprising that some wounds don’t heal at all, because people then have an emaciated, depleted etheric body. This stems in many cases specifically from the fact that work is no longer connected to nature; it does not even stem so much from the carbon dioxide-rich air, but simply from the fact that people are no longer connected to nature in this way. When someone spends the whole day in an office or in a workshop, what they are dealing with has nothing to do with nature at all. Just consider our incredible culture, which has gradually developed: It completely separates human beings from nature; it produces ever more harmful substances that are increasingly alien to what is natural.

[ 12 ] There has been a major shift in recent times. From a spiritual standpoint, people don’t usually consider such things, but they must be considered from a spiritual standpoint. Just think about it: In the past, people used to write by hand. Today, people work with typewriters. Yes, what is the most significant factor for one’s health when writing, aside from movement and so on? I would say that among the more hidden factors involved in writing, the smell of ink is the most significant for one’s health. And the smell of ink from the old method of ink production was not harmful; in a certain sense, it was even beneficial. The wear and tear one suffered, the strain on the hand caused by unnatural postures—all of that was actually counterbalanced by the old method of ink production, specifically the production of ink from gallnuts. The substance extracted from the gallnuts had a scent that continuously strengthened the etheric body—if not greatly, then at least to some extent. As you know, once people began making aniline ink—producing purely chemical ink, that is, no longer drawing on nature but, as they say in chemistry, making synthetic ink—human beings became completely cut off; and aniline ink emits a smell that is the very opposite of what the smell of ink used to do. Now, of course, people are increasingly switching to typewriters. Certainly, the movements one has to make, the clatter—there are already typewriters that type silently, but that’s only the latest design—that’s not the worst part; the worst part is the filth used to make the ink. It completely ruins the human etheric body, to the point that people develop heart disease from typing, because the heart is primarily powered by the etheric body. Culture is certainly making progress in this area as well; but this progress can never be balanced except through knowledge of what is actually at work here. It really is the case, isn’t it, that the present is increasingly resisting progress. Well, that mustn’t be, of course; but underlying it is a certain instinct that consists in sensing—even if one doesn’t know it exactly—that increasingly harmful things are emerging precisely with the progress of the future. The two are connected. But that is how it is. Now, as for your other question—why these extraordinarily dangerous things first appear when ancient mummy tombs are unearthed—this is not only the case with ancient mummy tombs, but it is also the case, for example, where there are no mummy tombs, as in Egypt, but where the tombs are otherwise well-preserved and are rock-cut tombs. When you enter such a tomb, there is indeed an extremely toxic atmosphere that, if I may say so, greets you—one that is extraordinarily dangerous and harmful. Well, where does that come from?

[ 13 ] It may seem strange to you, gentlemen, that I must go into such detail to explain this matter, but this is the only way you can understand it. You see, human beings do not live just once on Earth, but—as I have already hinted to you—they live through repeated earthly lives; they return again and again. But when a person returns, they are completely different from what they were before. You would all probably be very astonished if a painter were to come along who knew Spiritual Science so well that he could paint the entire group sitting here as they were in a previous earthly life! You would be astonished to see how each of you looked completely different back then than you do now. That would be quite interesting! Wouldn’t it? After all, you will return. Once you have lived this life, passed through death, and journeyed through the spiritual world, you will return. The force that exists to form the future body—which is not formed solely from the mother and father, but also from what is within us now and is carried through death into the spiritual world—this force continues to work. What is at work within the previous earthly bodies remains present.

[ 14 ] But the fact is that you can ask: Does a human being really have the power to transform what is within him today—and which is, after all, entirely connected to the body he possesses—in such a way that a completely different body comes into being? - Today, no one could transform the spiritual forces within their body in such a way that a different body could be formed. But you cannot die and be reborn immediately; rather, a period of time—and a rather long one at that—must elapse in between. This long interval must truly exist. During this time, all forces undergo transformation. And under normal circumstances—unless one has been a criminal or someone of that sort—this period between death and a new birth lasts quite a long time. So, when does one return to Earth? One returns to Earth when the circumstances in which one lived have become completely different. Certainly, some people do find themselves back in their old circumstances; this causes them great pain. But normally, one actually returns to Earth only when the circumstances have become completely different. So one is not reborn into the old circumstances.

[ 15 ] Yes, what is it that causes these old conditions to have become completely different? You see, one must never merely fantasize; rather, one must stick to reality. The powers we possess when we are not living on Earth but between death and a new birth are such that they also take effect here on Earth. These forces stream toward us from all the stars and from everywhere. But these are actually our own forces. We are simply not on Earth during that time. While we are on Earth, our forces work from the Earth; when we are not on Earth, they work from the heavens. And these are precisely the forces of destruction. They destroy the very conditions in which we existed.

[ 16 ] You can easily understand this from external circumstances; but it extends even further into the natural world out there, gentlemen! It extends into the natural world out there!

[ 17 ] Just imagine, under today’s circumstances, that a person is cremated or buried. After some time, you realize: There is hardly anything left of that person. And if you finally go to the cemeteries and look, after fifty or sixty years, to see what remains at the spot where you know one of your ancestors was once buried, you will find, at most, a few bone fragments; but even those will eventually disintegrate. So there is nothing left of all that which must be destroyed; after all, our entire body must be destroyed when we are reborn. But even if nothing of our body is visible on the outside, there is still a great deal there; and anyone who can see the finer substances will find that at the place where a person is buried—or even where a person has been cremated—what simply remains of the person continues to have an effect for a long time. All of that must be destroyed first.

[ 18 ] Now, the Egyptians had a specific purpose in this custom of wrapping mummies. Their intention was, essentially, to prevent people from having to return to Earth. They did not want that at all; for by embalming the body, they prevent that return. They wanted to preserve for people the comfort of being in the spiritual world. And the result of this was that they not only preserved the mummies but also used materials—and applied them with such great expertise—that the physical form remained so beautifully intact that we still have the mummies in museums today. They are an exact replica of what human beings actually were back then.

[ 19 ] Well, gentlemen, first of all, it is necessarily the case that whatever has been preserved for millennia is like poison, because it is destructive. It actually belongs to the forces of destruction. An immense number of destructive forces live within a mummy. It is indeed true that when you look at a mummy from which dust is emerging, what is coming out consists entirely of forces of destruction. These forces of destruction are present for the reason I mentioned: because, from an extraterrestrial perspective, humanity actually wants to destroy what was there—including its form. Now it is there, and humanity has sent its forces of destruction into it. So it already has these destructive forces within it.

[ 20 ] Secondly, however, the Egyptians used very special substances to preserve these mummies. These substances are particularly resistant to decay. And within a short time, these substances react in such a way that they create a toxic atmosphere. There is always a toxic atmosphere in the vicinity of a mummy. This stems from the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians.

[ 21 ] Now, of course, there is something else to consider. How did the Egyptians come by such substances that turned into poison in a relatively short time, even though they themselves were quite able to work with them effectively? You see, people today have absolutely no idea anymore of the power of language! In ancient times, including the Egyptian era, the power of language was immense. Imagine you have a fire that produces thick smoke. If you blow into the fire, you change the shape of the smoke. By blowing gently, you can make the smoke swirl in various ways; you can thus alter its shape. Blowing alone doesn’t make much of a difference. But if you start whistling a little tune—which is, after all, a continuous stream of breath—you’ll find that you’re already shaping the smoke and flames according to the content of the tune. The ancients always knew that when they spoke into a substance in any way—and especially through certain words—it would be completely transformed. Now they used their spices for embalming, for preparing the mummies. They did not work with these spices the way we do today; rather, it was always done in such a way that during the embalming process, something was spoken that today would sound something like this: “Whoever approaches my body will meet death.” - But this was said in such a tone of voice and in such language that the matter conformed to it, so that during the embalming process this power was transferred into the substance of the spices. It lives within them. - People today can no longer believe this at all; yet it is true. So if you have a mummy and come into contact with the material of a mummy, the ancient words are still contained within it today: “Whoever approaches my body will die from it; they will meet their death.” - This happens because, in the meantime, this material has acquired the power that entered it through the words.

[ 22 ] Today, all of this survives only in the very last remnants. But go into a Catholic church—there, the priest no longer has the power to subdue the spices with his words; instead, he makes use of a lesser power: he burns incense. Now, the entire procedure taking place there would unfold quite harmlessly if first the proper steps were taken, then the incense were lit, and then certain prayers were spoken—or thoughts sent—into the incense. But that is not what happens; instead, the incense is produced, and certain words are spoken into it—these words are then contained within the incense and exert an effect on the people who are in the atmosphere of the incense. Therefore, the scent of incense is an important means of converting sinners.

[ 23 ] So you see, gentlemen, the last remnants of all that still remain! But this embalming was in fact a religious ritual, and the substance was altered. You see, a man I know well, who has approached Asian tombs—Egyptian tombs are particularly characteristic in this regard, though Asian ones have it as well—has discovered that you simply cannot approach these tombs beyond a certain point; you know that if you go any further, you will faint or die. - So you can’t get close; the toxic atmosphere holds you back. This is because the substances used to treat the corpses have, in fact, had the word—the harmful, destructive word—implanted within them.

[ 24 ] But now something else happens. Isn’t it true that if a person lived on Earth, say, ten centuries ago—a thousand years ago—his powers undergo a transformation? He passes through the time between death and rebirth. He returns. Now he possesses the powers to build up his new body. He has these powers. He possesses them only because he can overcome all destructive forces in the spiritual realm. Thus, the power that works from within the seed is strengthened precisely by this. For a human being today could not shape a human seed into a body of his own choosing; rather, it would simply become the body that existed centuries ago. The power that lies within any seed must also be ancient; it must have existed from earlier times. With the power available today, one cannot effect anything in any seed. You see, in order for the seed to take effect in the plant at all the following year, it must be withdrawn from external forces throughout the winter and turned toward the inner forces of the earth. These forces are forces of destruction for everything external.

[ 25 ] Now, these grains of wheat that were placed in the Egyptian royal tombs were, in fact, buried along with the forces of destruction. So while everything that constitutes the present physical body is destroyed when a person offers their body to the forces of destruction, that which lies within the seed has the opposite relationship. It is actually strengthened in its life force. As a result, it can happen—though not with all grains, but with many—that the same thing occurs that otherwise happens only during winter: the plant’s seeds are in contact with the destructive forces of the corpses, and their powers are even preserved and maintained. Thus, even after a long time, they remain as effective as fresh grains of wheat.

[ 26 ] And so, especially when one looks at such things, one must be clear that there are indeed events in life that cannot be understood at all through materialistic science, because spiritual forces are truly at work there. And these spiritual forces begin to take effect immediately once a certain period of time has elapsed in the course of Earth’s history.

[ 27 ] Let’s suppose the following. Of course, this is something I can only tell you; but it is possible for a person to actually look back on past earthly lives—both their own and those of others who were with them. But by then, those people from the past have been transformed into spirits. Nothing of them remains. So if, let’s say, a person who lived in ancient Greece—and who is now a very wise person—is reborn and can look upon his former self from ancient Greece, as he walked about there, then he sees them in spirit, sees them clearly in spirit. If, all of a sudden, through some means—I don’t know, through a devil—what he sees in spirit were transformed into a real human being—that is, if he were to encounter himself again as a physical human being—he would die from it. One cannot encounter the past in physical form. That’s how one dies! And anyone who were to see a past incarnation as it truly was physically would also face the forces that are determined to bring about the death of the future—to bring about its true death. That is indeed the case. Well, this gives rise to entirely unnatural circumstances. Just imagine: the people in Egypt whose bodies were mummified—who thus now lie there in their physical form—have long since returned to Earth; they have long since returned! So they have lived—or are now living—and their former forms are still there. These former forms not only affect the people who have returned, but once a person has returned, they also have a destructive effect on other people who are in the vicinity of such a preserved form. So, in reality, every mummy actually radiates a hostility toward human life. It simply cannot be otherwise: a hostility toward human life emanates from them. People do not really take any of this into account. And as a result, it can of course happen that mummies—which belonged to particularly ambitious people with great power and authority, and which were shrouded in mystery to ensure they would remain preserved for a long time and exert a harmful influence—can in fact have such a severe effect that, if one comes near them, one becomes ill and, under certain circumstances, may even die. Hence these inexplicable occurrences that are now coming to light.

[ 28 ] Now there remains the third point: that, according to these reports, it is extremely difficult today to gain access to these tombs. It is, in fact, terribly difficult. And when we hear about the ancient mysteries today—as we often do—one might well ask: Where, then, are these mysteries? Well, one would first have to dig deep into the rocks; there one would come upon caves; in these caves, if one could decipher them, one would see all sorts of interesting inscriptions. All of this is essentially covered by rock today—rock that has become so overgrown, with the scars—those scars that naturally form when rock is worked—so overgrown that today, if one looks at it superficially, one doesn’t even notice that these rocks did not come to be there naturally, but were actually shaped by human hands. - And it was indeed the case that the Egyptians wanted the tombs to be protected. So they carved them deep into the rock and then also built artificial structures over them, which have gradually transformed over the course of millennia, so that they now look like natural rock formations or rocky hills.

[ 29 ] That leaves only one question, but it will help you understand much of history that would otherwise remain a mystery. Well, I would like to know how it would be possible today for a group of people—no matter how large—to muster the kind of strength one must imagine was necessary to build these things! Even the act of destruction alone takes as much time as you said! Just imagine the pharaohs—as the Egyptian kings were called—who had the power to influence people through their strong spiritual presence. If one can influence matter, one can certainly influence people through words. We do not do that today, because today people are supposed to be convinced by what they hear. But those ancient pharaohs—they possessed immense power. That is why they could exert an immense influence on people’s strength, on their labor. Now, however, you must consider another phenomenon to understand this. You see, an ordinary person can, of course, lift and move certain things and so on. But haven’t you noticed that when someone goes mad, tremendous strength grows within them? You may sometimes be amazed at the strength a person gains—to lift things they otherwise couldn’t lift, to carry things they otherwise couldn’t carry at all! And just imagine the strength they gain when they’re fighting with you! You could have overpowered them with ease when they weren’t yet insane; but once they go mad, they’ll throw you to the ground in an instant. That’s how a person’s strength grows when they’ve gone mad.

[ 30 ] Well, the Egyptians weren’t like that. But they weren’t as level-headed as we are today either; instead, they lived a dreamlike existence and possessed immense strength. And people today have absolutely no concept of how few people were needed in ancient Egypt to roll a massive stone into place—a stone that could sometimes be very high up. People today can no longer even form a mental image of the times when five people could take a colossal boulder from far away and haul it high up. The strength of the people in ancient Egypt was simply immense. And of course, this could only be achieved by developing that strength in these people—by effectively turning them into slaves. But slavery was not merely for that purpose; this became evident once humanity had already grown weak and reason had already awakened. In the era that followed the Egyptian one, physical strength was already diminishing as a result of the development of reason. Slavery then took on the form of something one merely sought to maintain, and the right to do so was demanded. In earlier times, however, it was different; then the entire nature of human beings was kept dull, numb, and dreamlike, because this allowed their physical strength to be strengthened. And through such artificially cultivated physical strength, things such as these royal tombs were built—tombs that today require such an enormous amount of work just to enter, only to destroy them!

[ 31 ] Isn't it true that the most erroneous views are being spread about all these things, simply because today it is mostly the most materialistically minded people who have access to them? They simply cannot understand what is actually going on. Someone digs up a royal tomb—and dies. People are terribly astonished by this because they do not know that, deep down, it was actually intended by the ancient Egyptians that the person should die. They had the means to exert their influence even across time.

[ 32 ] Just imagine this: Let’s say you’re in Basel and you have a radio telegraph; someone in Berlin picks up the telegram and hears what you’re saying on the radio telegraph. Isn’t that a long way away—a very long way away? Why? Because with the radio telegraph we’ve invented, we overcome space and are able to act across it. What is transmitted via the radio message appears somewhere else entirely. The radio message travels through space and comes to life in another corner of the world. Yes, gentlemen, just imagine: here you send out the radio message: Whoever hears what I say will die!—and now imagine that a very nervous person, a terribly impressionable person, heard this here. He hears: “Whoever hears what I say will die”—of course, he must already be very nervous, but he could actually die of fright, especially if the one speaking, the one sending the radio message, is a madman. For the forces that dwell in the speech of a madman are, after all, far more overwhelming than the forces that dwell in the speech of a level-headed person. So if a madman speaks into the radio and someone on the other end hears the madman’s words, that person could die.

[ 33 ] Now, the Egyptians had the opportunity to preserve such things in their tombs, to place such sayings there. These now exert their influence not through space, but through time. And when an Englishman sticks his nose in there, he doesn’t realize that the words embedded in the spices are at work in the scent that enters his nose.

[ 34 ] The person who listens here at the radio telegraph—a nervous person—and hears the madman’s radio message must at least die of fright. The other, however, dies without even hearing anything first, because it’s in the smell. He dies from it. The “radio message”—if I may use that term—is magically conjured into it; and in a sense, this is akin to the ancient Egyptians’ practice of long-distance telegraphy. They wanted to kill anyone who stuck their nose into it. This happens precisely because they knew the art of speaking the appropriate words into the spices so that they would take effect.

[ 35 ] You see, when you approach what can be known spiritually, you will no longer be surprised by these things. But the strange thing is that, as people today go everywhere conducting their investigations, they are sometimes—as these recent cases show—confronted in a rather unpleasant way with how the spirit works. Those upon whom the spirit exerts its strongest influence—by killing them—would, if they could spread wisdom after their death, speak the truth! Well, that is not possible. So we ourselves must articulate the insights from the spiritual world.