81. On the Formation of Destiny

But the karma that we now have to weave into it is what we acquire here. Between death and birth we learn how to build the physical body. Here and there, however, it becomes apparent how unskilled we are at weaving in karma, for example when we have fantastic dreams. The dream is all the more fantastic the less skillful we are at entering or leaving the physical body. Everything that is fantastic in a dream has to be polished here in earthly life. The dream is the expression of the inability to find harmony between the ego and the astral body on the one hand and the etheric body and the physical body on the other. Just as one can observe the continuing effects of karma in the clumsy child, one can see in dreams how clumsily a person works at preparing his destiny for the future life. For example, if someone has anxiety dreams, you will be able to see from them approximately how the person is preparing himself for a life in which he must always be very careful. If someone has flying dreams, if he dreams of flying and storming, you will observe that he is preparing himself for a life in which he will be quite superficial; for example, someone who goes to the movies a lot.