Our Dead

GA 261 — 23 July 1912, Munich

Eulogy for Caroline von Sivers-Baum

Dear friends!

When the dear woman whose mortal remains we are gathered around here, looks down from the bright heights of the spirit and reads our souls to see why we are here, she will hear the simple, plain and yet so meaningful answer: we all loved her and will always love her. And when the son and daughter, whom she brought to us for many years through several summer weeks for our deepest satisfaction, and the granddaughter return to their earthly home with the mortal remains of the dear woman, they may take with them the thought that during the times during the time she lived among us, she endeared herself to all hearts with her loving nature and noble qualities, and now we look up with love to the soul that has freed itself from its earthly shell and ascended to the spiritual realm. And the son wishes me to express these thoughts by thanking those gathered in his and his relatives' name for their heartfelt sympathy at the passing of the dear wife and for the floral tributes that express this sympathy.

And the daughter, who lives in spiritual community with our dear friends, will always feel strengthened by the fact that so many dear colleagues send their thoughts to the spiritual world with her for her dear mother, when she herself will faithfully and devotedly send her thoughts there.

How warmly and sincerely the deceased was loved was always expressed by our friends when this woman was among them each year; they loved her because their souls recognized her kind and noble character and felt sincere affection for it. And this was a feeling that was based on inner understanding. The soul that has left us took a warm interest in the spiritual life that our friends cultivate. And how she related to the glimpse into the spiritual worlds often came to my mind in recent years when she spoke of these worlds and of her hope of being together with her dear husband there in the future. So we stand here around her mortal remains and believe that our thoughts and loving feelings will find the dear soul in the realm that man enters when he has crossed the threshold of death.

And especially in the last days of her painful suffering, one could feel this relationship to the divine worlds so beautifully, It poured into my soul like a warm spiritual intimacy when the daughter, who is working with us in spirit, shared with me the feelings with which the deceased listened to the spirit-imbued ode by Zschokke, which expresses the elevation of the earthly human to divine heights in the last hours in which she could still absorb words. Thus her last meaningful impression was caused by a glimpse into the spiritual world when her daughter read the poem to her.

All this strengthens our belief that we may forward as a last earthly greeting the words that express our way of thinking about man's entering the higher worlds when he has found the connection with these worlds here on earth. And we may think that the harmonies of their soul will resound, which man can find in the realm of peace of mind, and that the spiritual light will shine upon it, which is permeated with love. And this, our last earthly greeting, is the thought: The dear woman knew herself grounded in the divine here. Those who were allowed to stand by her deathbed when her soul detached itself from the mortal shell know that she died in that to which we are so faithfully devoted, in the power and essence of Christ; therefore we may believe that the spirit will lead her to the light in which the soul will live peacefully.

Live well and be bathed in light! This is what the souls who loved you so dearly here and who will continue to love you call after you.