Supplements to Member Lectures

GA 246 — 25 April 1913, Elberfeld

59. On the Necessity of Learning to Think Reincarnation and Karma

Only Theosophy will give clarity about the words:

And the Elohim looked at what they had made, and behold, it was very good.

(It was for the best). Such words are read, but they are no longer understood today. In fact, they are so little understood that our religious documents, which contain the deepest wisdom, will find more and more opponents from day to day; opponents who are relatively harmless in the circles of people who often profess to be materialists. How many there are among them who profess to be materialists and who believe that they can overlook such words as they can overlook childish poetry of earlier ages. These overwise people are regrettable for the effect of religious documents on mankind, but they are actually less dangerous. For they will be confronted by the fact that spiritual science will shed more and more light on the true meaning of the religious documents. And that finally, through their absurdity, these materialistic-minded people will, so to speak, extinguish themselves with their views. That is something regrettable.

Much more dangerous is the fact that today there is a large number of people among the theologians of the most diverse denominations who, even though they have the external office of understanding these documents, no longer make any effort to get beyond the materialistic-literal meaning of these documents. And it is all the more regrettable because it can be said of this theological side that in the course of the nineteenth century it has expended untold diligence to finally discover what is the most blatant error about the religious documents. If one judges men by their diligence, one might say that one should admire all that has been accomplished. (Apocalypse and five books of Moses). But if one wants to judge the value of what has come to light there, one comes to a different judgment, which must be really bad, because for the spiritual content, for the depth of the religious documents in the circles that officially represent them, all understanding has died out, and because it is precisely there that the thorough rejection of any spiritual influence is openly evident today.

And the Elohim saw what they had made, and behold, it was very good!

Such words are not written to be invoked in the trivial sense that is applied to them today, but such words are there so that they should strike into the hearts of men, that they should have an awakening effect for a special spiritual wisdom that lies dormant in the souls and should be brought out by the thunderbolt with which such words are to be received.

What does that mean: “It was all very good”? The word “good” here means that the Elohim saw at the moment meant that the arrangement of the world, the arrangement of the earth, which had followed the embodiment of the moon, was really pervaded by that which can be called: There was about it the breath of moral goodness in everything.

Yes, now man, when he puts out his eye, sees air. And he comes to it as a chemist: it consists of oxygen and nitrogen and so on. He perceives clouds, wind, rain, sun, the kingdoms of nature. But he does not realize that with the breeze, the wind, a moral breath had passed over the earth, that nature was also a moral substance.

The word at the beginning of the Bible, however, means that, just as the mere natural air envelops the earth, so moral goodness was poured out over the earth, for the Elohim saw that “all was goodness”.

Let us try to penetrate the meaning of these words: they saw that everything was good. Suppose it had remained as it was when the Elohim looked at it. Yes, then it would be so on earth that a person who tells a lie, who says something that is not true, would have to feel how the blood would be driven into his eyes by this lie, by this untruth, and how his eyes would be clouded by the fact that he has spoken a lie. Only a faint reflection of this deep effect, which was caused by the Elohim, has remained in man, namely the faint reflection of the feeling of shame. The blood is driven into your face when you have told a lie. You are ashamed, and it shows. That was predisposed to a much higher degree, so that when a lie came, the blood would have rushed to the face - the blood was just not yet so thick - and it would have darkened the face. So that he who had lied would have become blind for a time and would only have been able to see again if he had put the truth in the place of the lie. And it would have been similar with all moral transgressions. And if someone had fallen into error, he would also have had protection against it, because his senses would not have failed in the same way as with moral transgressions, but he would have noticed that his senses were drained of blood. He would have noticed that he had to make an effort to get out of the error again.

In short, what would have happened in man as moral events would have been natural events at the same time, and man would have noticed from the impotence of his senses that he had done wrong. Man's senses were calculated to be a barometer of his moral state.

The eyes would have been darkened if a person had told a lie, deceived someone and so on. The ears would have been deafened if man had listened to anything that was dishonest or the like. A moral world order would have been poured out over the whole earth. And the Elohim would have said: "And behold, it has remained so good everywhere. - For goodness manifests itself in natural effects.

Only then do we fully understand the deep influence of what we call the Luciferic impulse, when we know that it was through Lucifer and his influence that things became as they are now. And only then do we understand the words of Lucifer:

Your eyes will be opened and you will discern the good and the evil.

Distinguish in this case means: You will have handed it over to your judgment only, no longer to your pain. You will have surrendered it to the coolness of the mind.

And so one can say: Through Lucifer something has come over man that shows us a completely different sleep than the ordinary sleep of the night. Man always sleeps between birth and death, in contrast to what is supposed to be the natural effect of morality. For it is only because his eye has become insensitive to the extent that he no longer blinds his eye by lying that man has become what he is now. In this way he is at the same time in a state of sleep towards the natural effects of the moral. That which comes from the moral speaks to him through his moral judgment or through his conscience. But that which should actually bring about good in the world does not do so - through the Luciferic influence. It does not bring it about!

But we must actually say that it does not bring it about between birth and death. Because when the Luciferic influence came, the human body was made so dense by the spiritual beings who bring about progress that the dense body can no longer have such an effect. I said that the blood would have [remained] thinner. It has been made dense so that the person in the waking state does not realize, when he tells a lie, that there is actually the greatest conceivable danger for him, namely the danger of blinding himself or impairing other senses. But this danger is always present. And because this danger is present and man only lulls himself against this danger through his dense body, the insight into this danger comes to man all the more meaningfully when he is not physically between death and a new birth. Therefore, when a person tells a lie that should actually blind him, which does not blind him, a force arises within him, and this force remains. It is, as it were, a retained force. And it remains when the time comes when it emerges with particular vividness before the soul: This should have happened to you as a result of your lie at that time; it just didn't happen because your body was too dense. But one day you will have to go through a development because this power has built up. And then the will arises in the soul to make amends for the lie under the same circumstances in which it was committed, in a next life.

Here you have directly illustrated the effects of karma. A person cannot commit a wrong that does not leave behind a force that clearly manifests itself between death and a new birth. This force then arouses in man the longing to make amends for the injustice. In this way, what was predestined by the Elohim to happen on earth itself [should have happened] is brought about.

Even Aristotle had the view that man, when he has passed through the gate of death, looks back on earthly life because all the forces are at work in him that show him what he did not do right on earth. But he had a different view of it. He knew nothing of reincarnation. And that is why we see a thought emerge in Aristotle that appears quite seriously in Aristotle a few centuries before the Christian era, but which is actually terrible; nevertheless, it is there. Because Aristotle was not yet a fool like the modern materialists and did not believe that life was extinguished at death and that all wrongdoing was wiped out, he still knew that the soul passes through death and that nothing is wiped out of what man has done on earth. But he knew nothing of a return, of a re-embodiment. Therefore, the time that must come when a soul has passed through death and must now look back eternally on its wrongdoing was something terrible to him. Today we know that half of Aristotle's idea, which was the correct one in the Greco-Latin age, that the soul must look back on its injustice, that this half of Aristotle's view is correct. But we also know today that the soul can develop countervailing forces and compensate for wrongs committed in the next life. This is the great, meaningful aspect of the doctrine of reincarnation, that it is also able to reconcile us with a deeper insight into the spiritual connections of the world; to reconcile us in the grand style that pervades us when we gain an insight into the wisdom-filled world order.

But from this, if one takes such a view of the world, one also sees that life between death and a new birth is dependent on the life we have gone through here.

And here I may also point out a thought that you could often hear and still hear today - there are certainly friends here who have already heard this thought: Sometimes people tell you: Well, we'll see what happens over there. Why do we need to worry about it here? We'll find out everything then.

As natural as this thought seems, it is nonsensical. For the person who does not take care of the spiritual here, goes through death in such a way that he then enters the world after death as a world that is as dark for him. For we must make it clear to ourselves that although we enter the spiritual world after death, we must carry the light that illuminates this world within us. We must have prepared this light here, otherwise we will see nothing in this spiritual world. So the person who believes that he does not need to concern himself here with the soul-spiritual existence, enters the spiritual world with death like someone who goes into a dark room and takes no light with him; he says, why should I take a light in the next room, I will see what is in the dark room. What do we have to gain over there? The powers we have to take with us into the new life on earth. We are born with abilities. What is passed on to us in the hereditary line does not extend to all the details of the finer structure of the brain.

You would make strange eyes if you could see what a brain would look like if it only had the inherited characteristics. If you could only get a brain like that, you could just about manage to do what you have to do up to the age of fifteen. Because by then you already have all the inherited characteristics. You couldn't learn anything with a brain like that. But all the characteristics that are imprinted on the brain in its finer structure must be engraved in this brain. From the earliest time, individuality must work on the finest structure of the brain. But the individuality must acquire all these powers between death and a new birth.

It also receives these abilities, if everything goes regularly, from the Exusiai, Dynamis, the Spirits of Wisdom, Kyriotetes. From each of these beings, when we pass by them, when we are together with them, we receive powers to develop a brain. But we can only absorb these powers if we bring a light with us; otherwise we don't get the powers.

So you can see how a person who does not care about spiritual things here, how he falls into darkness; how he passes by the beings of the higher hierarchies and cannot receive their powers because he cannot illuminate the field. Hence we see how such a man, who does not concern himself with such matters, passes through a darkness between death and a new birth; that he cannot receive the powers in the right way; that he therefore enters again into a new existence with insufficient powers and cannot develop the finer structures of the brain, of the heart; with a stunted body and with a poor disposition to do right when he is reborn to balance the karma.

We meet people in life who confront us in a certain way so that we say: Whatever we do with them, we cannot develop this or that ability in them. Why are they so untalented? Well, because in the previous embodiment they did not want to know anything about the spiritual, because before their birth they could not receive the powers that can prepare the organs. Formerly they were unwilling, now they cannot endow themselves with abilities. They go through the world foolishly. There we see the connection between one incarnation and the next. We can already see [this connection] today because many of today's people were incarnated at a time when there was already enough materialism in the world. In the third, fourth and fifth centuries there were souls who did not care about the spiritual world. This is where the lack of talent in this or that direction comes from today.

Yes, we also had materialism in earlier times and can therefore prove it up to the third embodiment. Now we can say that something strikes us terribly when we look at it: Yes, when we hear all this, how man was unwilling in a previous life and how he now enters the supersensible world again without light and without talent: it must be terrible if man now goes through darkness again. He would be powerless to ever come into the light.

Through the one time when a person voluntarily rejects the spiritual world, he enters in a state of inability. But when he then passes through the gate of death, he has no illumination of his own, but then Lucifer has all the more [opportunity] to step to his side. And in the next life, Lucifer walks beside him with the lamp, illuminating the whole field for him. [Such a person] then acquires abilities, but abilities of a very special kind: intellectual abilities without morals; an intellect that looks only to its own advantage. Today there are many clever, clever people who, for example, are clever on the stock market and take advantage of their neighbors. They have a lot of sense. These are people who have had the field illuminated by Lucifer in the last existence between death and the new birth. In the previous incarnation they were untalented because earlier in an incarnation they rejected the will to deal with the spiritual world.

There we can follow three lives. However, a kind of freedom occurs again. Lucifer always brings freedom along with temptation. Such a person, guided by Lucifer, can also use his mind to rekindle his spiritual life. This enables him to turn back. So it is not as terrible as it looks if a person does not take a lamp with him. He can rise again.

These are the shattering connections that seeric research can bring to the human soul. Indeed, how many souls of the present time, by the way they are, point clearly to the previous centuries in which they were embodied and thereby prepared themselves for the present life?

But there are also people who do not reject the supernatural world, but who are content with a comfortable mysticism. I knew a person who said: "Well, what do you want to know! Everything you see is maya. The spiritual is Atma. So in other words: “I am Atma”, and then: “God is in all people”. This is a comfortable mysticism in man. In this field we meet all kinds of enthusiasts who do not want to enter into a real realization of the spiritual world. How often do we meet people who pick up a thick book on “secret science”, but then put it down again and say: "What do I need to know that; I want to elevate myself through my soul. Yes, people rise up, but they rise up to the most abstract thoughts of some entity that they think they recognize and so on.

Yes, you see, such people who come to a certain abstract rapture: When they pass through the gate of death, they too feel the consequences of a lack of real engagement with the spiritual world. Not as if they had no light, but they now have too much light again. This light blinds them, and then they too cannot receive in the right way what they should receive. And the consequence of this is that they also do not absorb the right forces to build up the next incarnation in the right way. Then they enter the new existence. And lo and behold, it turns out that such people are not really good for anything in life, that they can't attack anything, that they prove to be clumsy everywhere in life. You get to know people like that. They often can't sew on a button. This is an example of something that is often present in the world. People who are useless in life, for whom everything points to an incarnation in which they have indulged in an abstract-mystical enthusiasm. When these people pass through the gate of death, they are given Ahriman as their guide. They then receive the powers that they lack in the right way, but they receive them in the way that they can be conveyed through Ahriman. And the consequence of this is that these people appear in the next life in such a way that they lack any possibility of carrying within themselves what is called a calm, careful view of the facts of the world. [Gap in the transcript]

The objection is often raised that the child does not come to religious images of its own accord; since the soul does not come to religious images of its own accord, they should be left out instead of instilling them in people. - This is an idea that makes sense to many people today. Yes, but you only have to consider that it is well known that if you abandon a child in a wilderness before it can speak, it will never learn a language. So you could also say that people only learn to speak through their environment. And it would be consistent if we also forbade “teaching” language. This shows that there are people who drill themselves into a thought, who see nothing that speaks against such a thought. Anyone who is sensitive to such things cannot read a newspaper today without it stinging and gripping them, because there is so much confusion in the world today. That's what happens when you have Ahriman as your leader. And so you could follow three lives there too: Confused people, fanatical people who cannot see the logic of the facts. This life follows a life of clumsiness. This clumsy life follows one in which people have indulged in mystical enthusiasm and have not wanted to enter into the real facts of the world.

You see, the fact of reincarnation only really begins to have an effect on our minds when we recognize it in these concrete cases. It is not just a matter of believing in reincarnation, but of gaining insight, as we have just tried to do.

Now that some preliminary work has been done, it is now possible to say in the branches what such concrete research can bring to light in these matters. It is very important that these things are also disseminated, because they contribute enormously, if they are known, to proper self-knowledge. And it is basically a good, beautiful way for a fruitful meditation to catch yourself thinking this or that stubborn thought. You don't have to have all of the characteristics listed, but many people have a mixture of these things. At a certain point, many people who otherwise have an open mind for many things in life are stubborn. You can then catch yourself out, and you can now know that this stubbornness comes from the Ahrimanic leadership. And then, if you want to make this fruitful for yourself, for your own perfection, you can turn everything you have heard about Ahriman into a study. By making yourself more perfect, you will then also benefit the world. One has then recognized one's relationship to Lucifer and Ahriman.

In this way we get to know the life between death and a new birth better and better. And this is just as important as the life between birth and death. But you can see from this how incorrect it is for someone to say that he can wait until death occurs, then he would already see what it is like in the spiritual world. It must be emphasized again and again: As human beings, we are not placed in this earthly existence for nothing. Everyone has their mission in the world. We not only have to learn for the earth, but also for the other world. If we take such things into consideration, only then will we be able to let the whole deep meaning of the theosophical mission take effect. Then we will be able to penetrate ourselves more and more with the thought that this Theosophy is an absolute necessity for our age.

In addition to the fact that man is evolving, human nature is evolving. All those sitting here were embodied in earlier centuries. However, it is not only the souls that have changed from incarnation to incarnation, but also the bodies. Bodies change from age to age. Today's anatomists would only believe this if they could dissect the bodies of people who died a thousand years ago. You can no longer see that in the Egyptian mummies. But it is true that the body changes. And from now until the time when we reincarnate, the body will have changed a lot. This is the divine process which, in addition to what the soul brings into the body, also has a changing effect on the whole of humanity. The bodies will then be such that they will be more suitable than today's bodies for consciously looking back on the previous incarnation. The human being will then have the organ to do so. But he will only really be able to remember if he has something to remember.

Let us illustrate this with an example. In the evening, you might take your cufflink, put it aside and say to yourself: I'm going to put this piece here. If you do this consciously, then the next morning you will go to the right place to pick up the button again. You can only remember a thought that you have actually thought. You will only find the button if you put it down consciously.

How is a person supposed to remember in the next incarnation if they have not grasped the thought of recollection? But this can only be done through spiritual science. The human being will have the organ for recollection. However, he will only be able to remember if he has now conceived thoughts that he can remember. If he has not grasped these thoughts, then he will be born into a body with an organ that he feels he cannot use. This then leads to a neurasthenic state. For most people this is not yet the case, but for the second or third incarnation it will be the case for almost all people on earth, that they should remember back. However, if they had not grasped the thoughts, people would become neurasthenic all over the earth. That is why spiritual science must now work with all its might to give people something they can remember. When you realize this, my dear friends, then you will understand the necessity of Theosophy. And once you have understood the most essential tasks of Theosophy, you cannot help but be a Theosophist. Those who are not, have not yet grasped the profound seriousness and the profound necessity of Theosophy.