XXIII. Karmic Law as Outcome of Active Life. Causes of Sickness and Heredity

Changes in the physical body, which is the coarsest of them all, are of course even slower; it works most slowly of all. We'll hear on the other evenings how initiands learn to work on their astral and ether bodies and finally also their physical bodies at a faster rate.[^1] Ultimately they will reach the point where they can change their pulse beat. Of course we have not got that for today, for anything we learn in this life will only produce the relevant changes in the next life. The change which the astral body undergoes in this life will appear in the ether body in the next incarnation, for it will influence its configuration. We have to work on our habits now in preparation for the next life, so that we shall then have the effect. Someone wishing to be born with a good memory in the next life should make every effort to recall everything as far as possible, calling to mind everything that happens in life. Thus he should recall at night what he has done that day, and then also what he did and what happened yesterday, a month ago, last year and in past years. That is how we can train our memory. People who rush through life heedlessly will be born with inclinations that will make it impossible for them to retain anything they come up against in life. One may, of course, sometimes be forced to rush; I only said what I've just been saying with reference to superficially skimming across everything in life.