31. On the Inheritance of Dispositions and Abilities

The following question has been asked: “According to the law of reincarnation, one should imagine that human individuality possesses its talents, abilities, etc. as an effect of its previous lives. Is it not contradictory that such talents and abilities, for example moral courage, musical talent, etc., are directly inherited from parents to children?”

If we have a correct understanding of the laws of reincarnation, rebirth and karma, there is no contradiction in what is expressed above. However, only those characteristics of a person that are attributed to his physical body and etheric body can be inherited directly. The latter is the carrier of all life phenomena (the growth and reproductive forces). Everything that is connected with it can be inherited directly. To a lesser extent, what is bound to the so-called soul body can be inherited. This is to be understood as a certain disposition in the feelings. Whether one has a keen sense of sight, a well-developed sense of hearing, etc., can depend on whether the ancestors have acquired such qualities and passed them on to us. On the other hand, nobody can pass on to their descendants what is connected with the actual spiritual nature of a person, for example the sharpness and precision of their imagination, the reliability of their memory, their moral sense, the knowledge and artistic abilities they have acquired, and so on. These are characteristics that remain within their individuality and manifest themselves in their next reincarnations as abilities, talents, character, and so on. But the environment into which the reincarnating human being enters is not accidental, but is in a necessary relationship with his karma. For example, let us assume that a person has acquired the disposition for a morally strong character in his previous life. It is in his karma that this disposition will come out in a reincarnation. This would be impossible if he were not incarnated in a body of a certain nature. This physical nature must, however, be inherited from the ancestors. The incarnating individuality now strives, through an inherent attraction, towards those parents who can give it the appropriate body. This is due to the fact that this individuality connects itself with the forces of the astral world before reincarnation, which strive towards certain physical conditions. Thus, a person is born into the family that can pass on the physical conditions corresponding to his karmic predispositions. In the example of moral courage, it seems as if this were inherited from the parents. In reality, the individual being has sought out the family that will enable it to develop moral courage. It may also be the case that the individualities of the children and parents were already connected in previous lives and have therefore found each other again. The karmic laws are so complex that one can never form a judgment based on outward appearances. Only those who have a partial insight into the higher worlds through their spiritual senses can do so to some extent. Those who are able to observe not only the physical body but also the soul organism (astral body) and the spirit (mental body) will realize what has been passed on to the person from his ancestors and what is his own property acquired in previous lives. To the ordinary eye, these things are mixed up and it can easily appear as if something is merely inherited that is karmically conditioned. It is a very wise saying that children are “given” to their parents. In a spiritual sense, they are completely given to them. But children with certain spiritual qualities are given to them because they have the opportunity to develop these spiritual qualities in their children.