LECTURE XXI
Berlin, 19th October 1905
In order to form an exact concept in regard to the technique of
reincarnation, we must, to begin with, make ourselves acquainted with
an idea that has significance for the whole world-conception; that is,
the law of effect and counter-effect. Each single effect calls forth
its counter-effect.
This can be perceived in a crude way, as when, for instance I strike
someone and he strikes back, so that a blow is followed by a
counter-blow. We can observe this law in action in the whole of
Nature. In Newton's writings this is stated in many places. It also
holds good in the sphere of occultism. The counter-effect is not always
perceptible, but it is for example clearly perceptible if you make a
dent in a rubber ball. The stronger the pressure, so much the stronger
is the re-action.
When in Nature an effect like heat arises this heat must be withdrawn
from some other part of the surroundings; there cold arises as
counter-effect.
This law of effect and counter-effect however also holds good for the
entire spiritual world and it is of the utmost importance to know this
if one wishes to understand reincarnation and karma. Action finds its
expression on the physical plane. A feeling does not show itself
directly on the physical plane. When I am connected with someone in
friendship we can be separated physically, so that we cannot make our
feeling known outwardly by means of an action and yet we can feel
affection for one another. A feeling can have its direct effect on the
astral plane. It is only when feeling passes over into action that it
finds its expression on the physical plane. We must bear this
difference in mind. We must be perfectly clear about the fact that
every single action that takes place on the physical plane has its
effect somewhere and also its counter-effect. Through the action an
alteration is always brought about on the physical plane.
If we wish to comprehend the world in a deeper way, we should not
limit ourselves solely to what we can see. Underlying all physical
things there are forces which bring them into being. If, for example,
we study the structure of a crystal we can observe its form, its
colour; but connected with it are forces that build it up. These
forces cannot be perceived on the physical plane, but they must also
be there first. These forces which create the forms on the physical
plane, that work there in a formative way, are not themselves on the
physical plane.
When we try to think meditatively into a crystal, for example into an
octagonal crystal, allowing it to enter deeply into our soul, adapting
ourselves inwardly to its form, perhaps allowing its form to work upon
us for an hour, and then succeed in suggesting it away, then one
reaches the Arupa plane ... [Gap in text ...] Thus when we let some
kind of crystal, for instance a rock crystal, work upon us, retaining
its forms in the disposition of our soul and finally allowing them to
disappear, then one is on the Arupa plane. In this way we actually
experience that the forces which build up the crystal are on the Arupa
plane.
All forces underlying the phenomena of the physical plane are to be
found on the Arupa plane. It is true that through such observations no
ideas can be gained which are directly related to human life. It is
actually very difficult to transpose ourselves on to the Arupa plane
by observing human actions, with the exception of the actions of an
adept. But we gain very much when, taking our start from the purely
physical, we undertake such a procedure as that of sinking oneself
into a crystal; because in the crystal lies a great purity. In it
there are no instincts and desires.
This ideal which man should attain in the distant future appears in
its full purity when we sink ourselves into the silent mineral
kingdom. A silent, unobtrusive, passionless stone possesses for
occultists an extraordinary magical power. Even in the plant world one
cannot make that silent, modest purity such an object of our
contemplation's as one can in this oldest kingdom.
Now, as on the physical plane forces are at work that are actually
present on the Arupa plane, so in the physical world we always have to
take into consideration a revealed side, the phenomena, and a hidden
side, the forces. When we are active on the physical plane, in the
first place we bring about phenomena, but every action does in fact
reach up also into the Arupa plane and has there its counter-action.
Deeds on the physical plane impress themselves into the Arupa plane,
like a monogram into a seal and there remain. The substance of the
Arupa plane is delicate, soft and enduring; it is Akasha and human
actions remain inscribed there.
We now come to all manifestations of the human being which contain
feelings. All the feelings which man expresses have their
counter-effect, just as deeds have, only the feelings do not reach up
to the Arupa plane, but find their counter-effect in the lower parts
of Devachan, on the Rupa plane.
Actually this is brought about by a certain contemplation of Nature.
When we concentrate on a plant in the same way as on a crystal we must
dwell much longer with our mental imagery on the plant, for we must
not only let the form work upon us, but also its inner mobility, its
life. In this way we can also bring about definite experiences, only
this takes longer than in the case of the mineral. One must look at
the plant every day in its process of growth. When we first allow the
tiny plant to work upon us and observe its growth meditatively until
it has sent forth blossoms and fruits, then allow this to continue
working on us, extinguishing its sensible form one can practise
this for decades then what the plant has released in us as soul
forces transposes us into the lower regions of Devachan.
Now we must ask ourselves; what force is active in the plants,
conditioning life. If we were able to creep into a plant, live within
it, growing with its growth, if we were able to become selfless enough
to creep into the plant world, then we should learn to know from
outside what inwardly we know well, that is, human feeling; pleasure
and pain, sorrow and joy, and so on.
(57)
If we were able to put our
pleasure outside ourselves, we should be able, through the pleasure,
to grow pure mineral substances. Through this force certain yogis find
it possible to influence the growth of plants; they have however
practised these observations and meditations for many years, indeed
through many incarnations.
Feeling has its counter-image on the Lower Devachanic plane. Man has
no influence on the plants if he has not developed the forces of Yoga,
but on our fellow human beings we can work in a living way through
warm feeling. An educator of children can observe this. If during a
lesson we approach the child with warm interest, we know what a
life-giving power feeling has. In other ways too we can observe the
effect of feeling in the world. There, where a beginning may be made
in influencing growth, demands are also made upon feeling. Through art
a beginning is made with what affects the growth of human beings. The
artist has within himself at any rate the beginning of what is an
organising force; in any case an artist of distinction as, for
instance, the creator of the Zeus head. It is artistic creation in
connection with human feelings which, if more intensively developed,
would make it possible to influence the growth of plants. Theosophy
should provide once more an impulse leading to an understanding of all
that is truly artistic, where this is conceived in its world-cultural
aspect in the purest, noblest sense.
Every combination of matter on the physical plane lacks an etheric
body, but all that grows has an etheric body. If someone works
artistically either in a visual or plastic way, this has an effect on
the etheric body. An artistically formed piece of sculpture or a
painting works directly on the etheric body. A virtue, on the other
hand, works on the astral body. Many noble human beings who return
from Devachan meet an etheric body which is in no way suited to their
advanced astral body, because they have done nothing in the way of
organised activity in the sphere of beauty. It therefore happens that
many people who in their last incarnation lived very holy lives, but
without concerning themselves with what is noble in the outer world of
the senses, when approaching reincarnation experience a fear of
re-birth, because they have not ennobled their etheric body through
that beauty which is dependent on the senses.
This very frequently brings about an apprehension before incarnation
and in an extreme case, rebirth as an idiot. When a person during his
life as an idiot experiences all that is detrimental in his etheric
body, this is balanced out in the following incarnation. Because the
human being at the moment of incarnation, of birth, receives a shock
if he has not ennobled his etheric body through allowing beauty which
is dependent on the senses to work upon it, Freemasonry took beauty as
its second principle. Wisdom, Beauty and Power or Strength are the
three constructive forces; these have to be developed. Anyone
possessing all three will in his next incarnation become a human being
who fits harmoniously into his three bodies.
These things lay upon us the duty of re-introducing artistic activity
into theosophical life. This is even now being taken up into the
stream of the Theosophical Movement. The teachings as such had at
first to work upon the astral body. Now feeling should also influence
the etheric body. Great teachings are not only embodied in words, but
in buildings, paintings and sculpture. If we were to have a world
around us, built up in a style in keeping with the great Theosophical
Movement, then we should have done much. Christianity is not only
given as doctrine, but was painted by Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo
da Vinci and also built into the Gothic cathedrals. Then the musical
element emerged, which was absorbed by Christianity after it had
become inwardly deepened.
After the world of feelings, we ascend into the world of thought. When
someone grasps a pure thought he comes into a situation which is
different from those brought about through his feelings and actions.
For whoever grasps a pure thought conjures up also through this
thought a counter-effect. Europeans have such pure thoughts very
seldom, for the thoughts are generally clouded by instincts, desires
and passions. There is usually only one area where they have pure
thoughts, that is in mathematics. When people calculate, their
passions are usually very little involved. Because the majority of
people everywhere wish to exercise their feeling and critical faculty
they have no love for mathematics. Here one cannot vote in
parliamentary fashion. Mathematical truth is recognised by man through
truth itself; a problem can only have one solution. Whether one or a
million people hold their own view about it, the problem must find the
same solution. Nowhere should we need majority decisions, if it were
possible in all spheres to make decisions in a way as free from
emotion, as objectively, as in mathematics. In Europe one can only
point to this as to an ideal, in the hope that one day, in other
spheres of life, judgements will be, reached equally objectively and
free from emotion.
Thinkers would not disagree so violently if they would take all the
factors into consideration completely objectively, for truth cannot
approach man in different ways. People hold different opinions because
with their instincts and passions they are involved in their ideas in
different ways. Haeckel had different instincts from Wasman; this is
why they reach different conclusions. No philosophy dealing with human
matters was expressed so objectively, with such pure mathematical
thinking, as the Vedanta philosophy which is truly philosophical in
the highest sense of the word. Whoever imbues himself with this, knows
what the following means: I need no other person in order to know
whether something is true. Whoever actually raises himself to this
clear, passionless thinking, needs no other opinion.
Heraclitus and Hegel had freed themselves from their emotions to a
greater degree than du Bois-Reymond, Herbert Spencer and Haeckel; they
stand therefore at a higher level. There are different standpoints and
conclusions, but not contradictory truths. Haeckel's truth crawls on
the ground; the Vedanta wisdom ascends in passionless purity and
surveys things from those heights. It does not contradict materialism,
but has a higher standpoint. Goethe, in his Metamorphoses of Plants,
(58)
tries to create a form as unemotional as that created by the
mathematician. Through this he wished to create emotionally free
thoughts and introduce the spirit of mathematics into higher regions.
Only some degree of Yoga, some degree of purification of emotion, can
make comprehensible what Goethe intends with his botany.
Because in this sense thought is something holy, with his thoughts man
is on the Devachanic plane. The European is practically never on the
Devachanic plane except when he is thinking mathematically. Certain
kinds of artistic creation also rise up to the Devachanic plane. When
Goethe attains to the highest heights as an artist he is only
understood with great difficulty. In Iphigenia and
Tasso he tried
to introduce these passion-free thoughts; still more so in the drama
Die natürliche Tochter. These dramas in particular have had a
powerful effect on human beings who were strong and forceful. Such
people shed tears over Die natürliche Tochter.
The counter-effect of thought which is on the Devachanic Plane is to
be found on the Astral Plane. These thoughts work downwards on to the
astral plane; other things work upwards. In the case of Fichte for
instance the thought content in Die natürliche Tochter worked on the
astral plane, on his feeling, and reduced him to tears. This was the
counter-effect of thought. Certain people were moved to the depths of
their being through the influence of such pure thoughts. The
counter-effect of action and feeling goes upwards; here it descends.
Even though thoughts seldom show themselves as such pure thoughts they
are nevertheless always present as driving forces. Although different
opinions give rise to much wrangling, the thoughts are there. If one
is to live in thought on the Devachanic Plane, one must grasp thought
in such a way that one develops feeling for the thought. Most people
are in agreement with the first theosophical principle,
(59)
in so far
as it is a thought. If one asks if he is also a representative of this
in feeling, one would come to a different conclusion. Only when an
opinion for which one stands is brought down to the astral plane, when
it has become completely imbued with feeling, only then does the
opinion become really effective. It is the aim of the Theosophical
Movement to develop human beings so that they also bring life and
feeling into what is inherent in its principles.
So let us recapitulate. The effect of all our outer actions is to be
found on the Arupa Plane. In a life between birth and death we leave
behind a whole skeleton of effects. From all that we have felt in life
we leave the imprint on the Rupa Plane. From all that we have thought,
an imprint is present on the Astral Plane. After death we go at
first through Kamaloka and then reach the Rupa Plane. We come there
when we have not yet had many such Devachanic thoughts. If we were to
have only such thoughts we should already have become Chelas, occult
pupils; then we should have the Devachanic Plane completely within us.
The Chela can remain on the astral plane; he is able to renounce
Devachan because through his pure thoughts he has so clarified and
strengthened his astral body that he can continue to make use of it.
With us everything is dissolved in Kamaloka which has not yet been
worked upon and ennobled by the ego. With savages the greater part is
dissolved, with highly developed people the smallest. The ennobled
astral body is taken with us into Devachan. Everything we have
developed as our feeling life prepares us for a new life, works upon
us. When we have united ourselves with all our deeds we are impelled
towards our next incarnation. The part of the ego that has been made
eternal, the I and the ennobled astral body, now returns and in the
astral world unites itself again with a body that corresponds to what
has not yet been ennobled. The preparation for union with an
unfamiliar astral body is undertaken in Devachan. Then the etheric is
added as a member. As a result of this arises the pre-vision of
everything that awaits the human being. Just as when forsaking the
physical body, memory awakens in the etheric and astral bodies of the
immediate past and back to the time of birth, so now we have a preview
of what is to come. Here something quite specific can occur: one can
receive a shock which brings about idiocy. With a further descent the
physical body is added.
Because thoughts are active only on the astral plane they are
karmically the most intimate. They are creative through their own
nature. Hence the saying holds good: What you think today you are
to-morrow: The purer and more super-sensible the thought, the more one
works creatively upon one's character.
Destiny is formed through yet other factors: feelings fashion the
opportunities, actions fashion the form.
Manifestation
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Forces
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Physical Plane
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Actions
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Arupa Plane
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Astral Plane
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Feelings
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Rupa Plane
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Devachan Plane
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Thoughts
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Astral Plane
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