10. Between Death and Rebirth of the Human Being

Now, this experience of the soul in the world of thoughts that has become objective lasts for different lengths of time, varying individually for each person, but only for days. For after days – I have pointed out in my “Outline of Esoteric Science” how this relates to human life – after days, the person who has passed through the gate of death experiences how this whole world, which has become his world, so to speak, recedes, recedes from him as if in a spiritual perspective, as if it were moving far, far away from him in the spiritual sphere. It takes days until the moment of this departure, this becoming thinner and thinner, this becoming more and more foggy, more and more dim, of the world of thoughts, which recedes into the distance. In my “Secret Science,” I pointed out that spiritual scientific research shows that it takes longer for those people who, in life before death, can more easily, that is to say, without losing their strength, spend days without sleeping. As long as one is able to spend days without sleeping in life, this tableau of memory lasts. This can be discovered through spiritual scientific research. Therefore, those who tire more quickly—but here it depends above all on the powers that the person has—those who cannot endure without sleep at all, if it should be necessary to stay awake longer, will find that the tableau of memory recedes sooner than in those who can exert themselves to maintain their powers longer without sleep. However, one does not need to make an effort in this direction; it is only a matter of what a person is capable of achieving in this regard.