Lecture VII

However, this process of transformation of moral forces often takes a very long time. Declining peoples and races have a kind of decay process in their astral bodies. The invading Huns and Mongols brought fear and terror to the European peoples through the nature of their decadent astral matter. Fear and terror, however, are a very suitable breeding ground for such decaying astral substances. These declining forces spread to the etheric bodies of the European population, and the result was the terrible disease of leprosy in the Middle Ages. Those who are courageous and fearless cannot be harmed by such decaying astral substances as those carried by the Huns and Mongols.