V.
METAMORPHOSES OF OUR EARTHLY EXPERIENCES IN THE
SPIRITUAL WORLD, INTO NEW CAPACITIES FOR OUR NEXT LIFE.
It will be our
task to-day to describe to a certain extent the human being
during his sojourn in Devachan between death and new birth.
In this connection we must first of all form an idea of that
which man gains through the fact that during his passage
through the spiritual world he is, to begin with, active for
his own sake. We can picture this more easily if we bear in
mind the relationship of two things: of that which we
experience, and of that which our experience becomes during
the time between birth and death.
Consider, for
instance, everything which you experience when you learn to
write. You would find it difficult, to remember all the
things which you had to take in at that time in order to
learn the or writing. Think of all admonishments of your
teacher. Perhaps even of his anger! All this passed through
your soul, and what has remained? The capacity to write.
Everything else has become blurred and the art of writing has
remained.
This is the
course of things in life generally — not only during
the life between birth and death, but in the whole life of
the universe, both in the physical and in the super-sensible
world.
It is possible
to form a conception of how the things explained above are
active in the super-sensible world. Let us, for example, take
Mozart. When he was quite a young boy he heard a long piece
of music at St. peters in Rome; according to an old tradition
it was not allowed to write down this music, but Mozart wrote
it down afterwards, from memory. What memories you must have
had! And he could do this as a young boy! How do materialists
explained this? They would protest energetically if they were
asked to believe that an ox grows out of a piece of earth,
that in animals such as the ox arises in a way which does not
correspond to Nature. They say: Miracles do not exist ...
and they are perfectly right in this. But in the face of
spiritual things they become tremendously superstitious and
believed in miracles at which point materialists simply
accept back such as the one just now described from Mozart's
life, and without further ado they place it to the account of
heredity. Yet at Mozart's case, an explanation not arising
out of a spiritual science describes just as great a miracle
as that of an ox growing out of a piece of earth. For it is
possible for a human being gradually to acquire an excellent
memory if he turns his spirit again and again towards the
same object. Memory develops in exactly the same way in which
something perfect develops out of something imperfect, and it
would be a miracle if Mozart's memory had grown out of
nothing!
The answer of
spiritual science to such a problem is that even in such a
case upgrade developed gradually and naturally. If a
materialists seeks an explanation for it, he cannot extricate
himself otherwise that by admitting that he must either
believe in miracles or that capacity is which does manifest
themselves prove that they already existed in a
former life and that they followed an entirely natural course
of development.
Reincarnation
is consequently the logical deduction of such a train of
thought. And those who explain, through a materialistic way
of looking at things, that such a perfect memory as that of
the young boy Mozart can arise out of nothing, should follow
their belief to a logical conclusion and admit, for instance,
that frogs develop without further ado from mud — A
fact which was accepted by a natural scientists before the
time of Francesco Redi. Consequently, those who wish to be
logical in spiritual science state: Even as an oak-tree grows
out of the acorn and develops gradually, so our
soul-capacities develop little by little, and when a human
being enters life with capacities so highly developed as
those of Mozart, this undeniably proves that the human being
gained these capacities during former lives on earth. This
gives us a clue to the comprehension of man's destiny in the
spiritual world.
The essential
point is therefore that the experiences of one life transform
themselves into capacities for the succeeding life. All the
dispositions of character which we bring with us in this life
are the fruit of experiences gained during earlier lives on
earth. For this reason it is necessary to study man's passage
through Devachan in order to understand fully how the
experiences of one life become capacities in the next
life.
When we pass
through our life on earth, we daily experience many things,
and all these experiences appear in the panorama-picture
already described to you, which rises up before the soul's
eye immediately after death. But the capacities which we have
gained through all these experiences remain as an essence,
and we take along with us into the spiritual world this
essence,which endures for all times to come.
When the human
being enters Devachan, he perceives the regions described to
you yesterday; the continental region, consisting of the
archetypes of all earthly forms; the oceanic region,
consisting of everything which is life; the air-region,
consisting of everything pertaining to the soul, pleasure and
pain, joy and suffering, etc. In the continental region the
human being first perceives the archetype of his own physical
body, and in the air-region he of course perceives, to begin
with, also that which took place within his own soul during
his past life on earth in the form of joy, suffering,
pleasure, pain and passions. In other words, he once more
perceives all the experiences of his past life, but in an
entirely different way than during his passage through the
Kamaloka period, which I have already described to you. In
Kamaloka he lived through them once more in order to lose the
habit of being dependent on them. In the watery region of
Devachan man experiences all the peculiarities of his bodily
life, and in the air-region of the celestial world he passes
through all his psychic experiences.
It is important
and of great interest to realise that everything which we
have experienced in the course of one life — our
feelings concerning the world, pleasure, pain, etc. —
that in the spiritual world all this surrounds us as an
external world. We need not feel sad that there our
sufferings lie spread out before us. This is not sad at all,
for there, all our sufferings exist in the same way in which
storms exist in the physical world and in the spiritual world
all our joyful experiences appear to us like wonderful
cloud-phenomena. In Devachan our own inner experiences do not
exist within us, as here on earth, but they live in our
environment in an external form, in the same way in which a
picture of Nature lies spread out before us. Our inner
experiences live round about us, as if they were images,
sounds or atmospheric phenomena; they have become
objectified, as heavenly forms.
I have told you
that it is not sad if our sufferings come raying towards us;
just as little sad as lightning or thunder in physical life.
Those who perceive these connections know what they owe to
their sufferings in particular. Just those who have passed
through pain and suffering will always say that they
gratefully accept joy and pleasure, but that they would never
wish to do without suffering and pain. We owe all Our wisdom
to our suffering and pain during past lives on earth. A man
whose physiognomy bears upon it the mark of wisdom in this
life, owes this to the fact that in former lives he
experienced the world's connection as suffering.
I have already
explained to you that everything which we have experienced
during our earthly-life lies spread out before us in
pictures, etc, , when we enter Devachan. What does this
signify? It will be easier to understand this if we realise
what influence the environment exercises upon us. You all
know Goethe's words: “The eye has been formed through
the light and for the light.” What does this mean? The
eye must exist in order to perceive the light. If we did not
possess our eyesight the world would be dark and gloomy. But
what is the origin of the human eye? It has been formed by
the light itself, and similarly the eye would degenerate if there
were no light. It has, for instance, been possible to observe
this fact directly, in the case of animals who immigrated
into the caves of Kentucky.
Light is the
origin of the power of sight. Once upon a time man was not
endowed with sight, because he still lived under quite
different conditions; in earlier times of the earth's
development the sun was not visible to an external sensory
eye. Let us remember in this connection what the legends
relate in regard to “Niflheim”.
The:more man
lived exposed to the sun, the further the eye developed by
the light of the sun. All the other sense organs developed in
the same way: sound formed the ear, heat the sense of heat.
We would have no sense of touch if there were no hard
objects. The external world moulds and forms our body.
This is most
important in practical life; in fact, theosophy is always
meant to be applied to practical life. It is also most
important in education, for only an educator who can look
deeply into man's nature educate in the right way.
The physical
body develops until the child changes its teeth, the etheric
body develops up to the 14th/15th year, and the astral body
up to the 21st year. We must know all this if education is to
be approached practically and not fantastically. Since the
disposition of the physical body is what we must bear in mind
up to the seventh year, physical impressions, that is to say,
everything which the child perceives through his sense
organs, must be considered deeply and thoroughly. Sins of
omission in education in connection with the form and
disposition of the physical organs in the child's body, are a
loss for the whole of life.
An insight into
this last sentence gives medicine in particular many guiding
lines for a right treatment of illnesses, among others, for
instance, rickets, How is it that rickets arise just in this
period of life? Just because; the child is moulding its body,
and that is why these symptoms manifest themselves in the
form (deformed bones, bad teeth, wrong form of the
skull, etc.) But for this very reason the child is still
able, until dentition, to correct the wrong forms and lead
them back to a normal condition. We can see that even the
most crooked legs grow straight again if the child receives
the right treatment, and that perfectly sound second teeth
can develop even if the milk-teeth were quite defective,
whereas crooked legs which were not healed up to the seventh
year remain crooked for the whole of life.
Up to the
seventh year the brain is also engaged in the work of
moulding its plastic forms, and the fine developments and
forms of the brain's shape which could not be moulded up to
that time are lost forever. Since the physical brain is the
instrument through which the spirit manifests itself, it is
of tremendous importance that this instrument should be
moulded as finely as possible, that is to say, that it should
be prepared during, the first seven years of life. For even
the greatest individuality can do nothing with a defective
brain, just as the greatest pianist cannot play well on a
piano which is out of tune. Spiritual science, can give most
important guidance to pedagogy, as well as to medicine,
particularly in regard to the development of the brain.
In modern
medicine one comes across a complete misunderstanding of
facts particularly in this field. Rickets manifest themselves
in a deformation of the bones, but very frequently they also
appear in the shape of a defective glandular system and
diseased mucous membranes; that is to say, children affected
with rickets frequently have symptoms of swollen glands,
adenoid growths, etc. A third pathological symptom in such
children is that at school they frequently remain behind
spiritually and that they become apathetic, indeed even
slightly idiotic. In reality this is based on the defective
development of the physical brain, particularly of its
so-called corticose substance, which must above all be
developed in its finest structure during these years. And in
the same way the other symptoms are based on defective
development.
Through the
modern natural-scientific training and attitude, modern
medicine is in such cases more than inclined to follow the
example of modern natural science, namely to look upon the
external symptoms as cause and effect, linking them up
together like pearls on a chain and completely ignoring the
deeper spiritual causes. What is the result? The facts are:
rickety bones, adenoid growths, diminished attention and
comprehension on the child's part. The conclusion to which
modern doctors arrive is: Children with adenoid growths
become mentally defective Owing to those growths;
consequently it is necessary to remove them. The growths are
consequently removed by operation. If this conclusion were
right, every child who underwent such a treatment would
respond to it by the disappearance of the impediments in the
brain. But what is observed after such a treatment in the
great majority of cases? The operation results in a sham
success of brief duration, for the growths appear again after
a very short time. But if the illness is to be attacked at
its root — and this is quite possible, only now this
would lead us too far away from our subject — the
deformed bones, the swollen mucous membranes and glands
disappear, as well as the impediments in the working of the
brain.
After this
digression, let us new return to our subject. The external
world thus calls into being and moulds the right physical
forms. Up to the seventh year, the child is in reality
nothing but sense-organ. Everything which it takes in with
its senses is elaborated ; above all, what it sees and hears
in its immediate environment. Until dentition, the child is
therefore an imitative being, and,this goes as far as its
physical organisation. This is quite natural. Through its
sense-organs, the child takes in its whole environment. And
it is always practicing how to use it to limbs. It
watches how its father or mother, etc. do this or that thing,
and it simply imitates them. This goes as far as the
movements of hands and legs. If the father or the mother are,
for instance, fidgety people, then the child will also become
fidgety in countless cases; if the mother is calm, then the
child will of course, also become calm. We must try to
produce the right counter-condition by placing the child in a
right environment.
It is
absolutely necessary to stimulate the child's fantasy,
besides giving it sensory impressions, if it is to receive
the influences needed for the development of the physical
brain. It is consequently necessary to give a small child
toys which are as simple as possible. A natural child will
again and again turned to the “old doll”, made of
a rag, no matter how beautiful the “new doll”
which it receives. Only the spoiled children of our age are
brought up on “beautiful”dolls. What is the
reason for this? The child must exert its fantasy in order to
transform the red-doll in its fancy into something resembling
human shape, and this is a sound activity for the brain. Even
as the arm grow stronger through gymnastic exercises, so the
brain develops through this exercise.
Also the
colours in, the child's surroundings are important. They
exercise quite a different influence upon a small child than
upon an adult. Many people think that green has a calming
effect upon children. But this is quite wrong. A fidgety
child should be surrounded with red and a calm child with
green or blue-green. The effect of red upon the child is as
follows: If you look upon a bright red and then turn your
gaze away quickly to a piece of white paper you will see its
complementary colour, which is green. ... By this I mean
to, illustrate the tendency which the eye has to produce the
opposite colour. The child also attempts to do this;
inwardly he seeks to unfold the activity which calls
forth the counter-colour. This is an example showing how the
environment can influence a child.
In a similar
way the child is influenced by everything which surrounds it,
in addition to many, many things which I shall explain later,
in another connection. All this contributes to a very great
extent to the development of the child's physical body, from
its birth to dentition; to the development of the etheric
body, from the seventh to the fourteenth year; or to the
development of the astral body, from the fourteenth to the
twenty-first year, etc. Indeed, during the whole life the
surrounding world exercises its influence upon the human
being. The proverb, “Tell me with whom you go, and I
will tell you who you are”, is based on this insight,
for “with whom you go” means “what takes
place in my environment”. This environment therefore
has a strong influence upon us. This applies particularly to
the time when the astral body develops, from the fourteenth
to the twenty-first year, and it is an almost daily
experience that a young person can easily be astrally
corrupted by his environment during these years.
It is exactly
the same in Devachan, as here in physical life. Even as here
on earth the human being is constantly exposed to the
influences of the atmosphere, so he is also exposed to them
in Devachan — and there the atmosphere consists of all
psychic life, our own and that of our fellow men. All this
soul life continually influences the, human being, and gifts
and talents develop through the fact that they attract the
psychically kindred astral forces from the environment,
allowing them to exercise their influence. Mozart was born
with such a great musical memory because in a former life he
had gathered experiences having this goal in view, and then
allowed these experiences to exercise their influence for a
long time, during his life in Devachan. Through our
environment in Devachan we pass through an enhanced
development of our innermost being — indirectly,
through all our experiences during our preceding life on
earth.
All our
capacities are therefore the fruit of former lives, and in
Devachan they have been further developed. This is the
bliss-giving feeling in Devachan. In Devachan we hatch out
what we are able to do in our present life, And in accordance
with this is the feeling which we have during the whole
intermediary time of our Devachan existence: This feeling,
connected with everything productive, is bliss.
Here on earth
we often feel pain, but in Devachan even pain is bliss, for
there we realise, that we acquire wisdom through pain. Even a
materialistic scientist has discovered this fact his book
“Mimic of Thought” he writes: “Every wise
countenance reveals the expression of crystallised
suffering”. From the pains of his preceding life the
human being in fact produces through his experiences in
Devachan talents and wisdom for his next life on Earth. And
the feeling of producing this is one of untold bliss.
You may see a
pale reflection of this here on earth in a hatching hen. If
you transfer this to the spiritual plane and enhance it
immensely you obtain the feeling of incessant infinite bliss
between the time of Kamaloka and a new birth, — for
then the human being works out all his dispositions and
capacities for the next life. Everything there becomes a
source of blissful life.
We have
therefore seen that one source of bliss in Devachan is all
the ties formed here on earth are formed once more in
Devachan, indeed we experience the spiritual part of those
relationships in an immensely enhanced form. The other source
of bliss is the productive, creative activity for our next
life, as described above.
If the
spiritual investigator now turns his gaze upon this activity
of man in Devachan he perceives that this productive work has
a meaning not only for the individual human being and for his
future organisation, but that the human being must contribute
and cooperate in a significant way in the progress of the
whole evolution of the earth. It is an error to think that in
Devachan we are only concerned with our own affairs. How must
we work, as blissful spirits in the realm of spirits?
The activity of
the dead is a cooperation in the development of our earth . .
. We might easily ask: Why are we always born again, after
having passed through the experiences of one earthly life? Is
not reincarnation useless?
But this is not
the case. It is never useless for a man to be born again. The
single lives on earth are so far apart , that we always learn
something new and pass through new experiences. Centuries
elapse between two incarnations, and when we return, the
earth has completely changed. Let us suppose that we lived on
earth in the second century after Christ. What aspect did the
earth present at that time? Even the descriptions of this
region, of the Elbe and the Weser etc. of a much later period
would be quite different from present descriptions, for here,
in Nassau-Hessen, there were still virgin forests.
When the human
being is born again, he experiences something quite different
from his former life. During our various lives on earth we
participate in the development of the earth itself, through
the very fact that we incarnate again and again. In addition
there is the change brought about by every civilisation.
Think of what a Roman boy was able to do! Of the great
difference in the education of a boy of the present time! As
we have seen, all these experiences are immensely important.
It therefore has a deep significance that the human being
must always come back again.
Let us now ask:
Who changes the face of the earth? The dead themselves, who
live in the spirit-realm, do this, through the power which
they there acquire, enabling them to work upon this
transformation of the earth. Even as human beings are here
active externally upon the earth, so the dead are active upon
the spiritual prototype of the physical earth. It is they who
send their forces into this physical earth, cooperating in
its transformation. Of course, there are leaders in this work
and higher beings who take over the guidance. In this
spiritual realm — which is in our very midst —
the dead work upon the transformation of the countenance of
the earth.
Why am I in
this very place to-day? Why have I been born here? Because I
myself have, so to speak, prepared my bed in the very place
where I was born. The forces which have a transforming
influence both upon the oceans and, upon the surface of the
earth, are the forces of our dead. We know that the Atlantic
Ocean of to-day was once upon a time a wide expanse of land;
this transformation too has been brought about by our dead,
and these forces are quite natural and in no way
miraculous.
An insight into
such things proves with absolute logic the importance and
necessity of this work in the spirit realm. If we only know
how to interpret the phenomena in the right way, we may even
describe this work. Here on earth we breathe the air; we
could not live without air. It is similar with the dead,
except that there the light plays the same part which the air
plays here on earth. The initiate perceives the dead in the
midst of light, which is spread out everywhere. A clairvoyant
seer, for instance, sees the plants surrounded by the spirits
of the dead and these spirits of the dead make the plant grow
through the light and change the plant. In the spiritual
world we shall all soar above the earth and work upon the
plants.
If we thus
contemplate the world in connection with the spiritual
beings, it becomes larger and more significant to us.
In conclusion,
let me mention a few things which can help us to understand
certain fine details in our civilisation.
At times, the
seer finds that his own observations are confirmed by
phenomena in the history of ancient peoples, which before
were enigmas to him. It is, for instance, a well known fact
that at first primitive nations possess a kind of
clairvoyance enabling them to see things of which we have no
idea. These primitive races often saw in the shadow, for
example, something which is connected with the soul. The
clairvoyant now returns to this through his own observations.
For if you look in to the shadow which you yourself throw,
you first learn to perceive your own spiritual emanations. If
we retain the physical light, we perceive the spiritual in
the shadow-space. This knowledge has been preserved in occult
science, and many who had no inkling of this truth have used
it, for example, Chamisso in his “Peter
Schlemihl”. This is a man who lost his shadow and is
very unhappy over this. But it is a spiritual fact that the
soul is visible in the shadow, and the man without a shadow
is therefore a man without a soul.
There are
hundreds of examples of this kind. We really learn to know
the world fully if we learn to know its spiritual
foundations. Spiritual science therefore is not for brooding
people, but for those who wish to be active in practical
life. We do not wish to withdraw from the visible world, but
rather to understand it better.
The higher
facts are related to the visible world as magnetism is
related to iron. We learn to know iron fully if we also learn
to know magnetism. A few examples will show us that
especially that which we learn to know in the spiritual world
bears fruit in practical life.
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