The Problem of Death

and the Artistic Understanding of Life

By Rudolf Steiner The translator is unknown. A !"!
#n$line since% &'th (o)ember* +'!&

Here we have the fifth, sixth, and seventh of thirteen lectures given by Rudolf Steiner at Dornach in early February of 1915. hey are fro! the lecture series entitled, Ways of Spiritual Cognition and the Rejuvenation of the Artistic Lifestyle , "ublished in #er!an as, Wege der Geistigen Erkenntnis und der Erneurung Kuenstlerischer Weltanschauung . Fro! #$%&n 1'1. he translator is un(nown. )e "resent the! here with the (ind "er!ission of the Rudolf Steiner *achlassverwaltung, Dornach, Swit+erland.
his e. ext edition is "rovided through the wonderful wor( of, ,arious e.Te-t Transcribers

.#(T/(TS
-ontents .ecture / .ecture // .ecture /// Lecture !. he $wa(ening after Death. he .ife of reeling that is coloured by )ill finds its way into the su"ersensible )orld. he !aya of our life of !ental "ictures on arth. he hidden weaving between soul and soul. -onflicts in life of which only a s!all "ortion co!e to consciousness and beco!e sub0ects for artistic treat!ent. #ri!!1s tale, 2 he Singer.3 Lecture +. he after4wor(ing of the etheric organisation after death. 5nused etheric bodies beco!e a source of "ower in the ele!entary world, es"ecially for art that is based on clairvoyance, and for s"iritual !ove!ents. $ hu!an being who dies in advance age wor(s !ore as an individuality into s"ecific hu!an hearts, !ore hu!anly than cos!ically. he 2Death S"ectru!3 containing the will that is bound u" with the (ar!a which has not been lived out. he 26theric S"ectru!3 is a "ro"hetic "icture of what !ust, at so!e ti!e, be fulfilled between hu!an beings. Her!an #ri!!1s novel 25ncon7uerable 8owers3. -os!ic events, too, "roceed fro! the (ar!a that has not been lived out and has se"arated itself fro! the individuality. Lecture &. 9obility of inner life is "ree!inently necessary for the attain!ent of a connection with the s"iritual world. here !ust be ca"acity for ada"tation to all the diverse individualities. -onsciousness after death is, at first, too strong and therefore stu"efying. he freeing of the i!"ulses of will and of feeling fro! the light of the cos!ic thoughts envelo"ing us. he unity of the hierarchies and the attain!ent of relationshi" to the single &eings through the extraction of the rays of will fro! the "ower contained in death. :ne1s own being !ust be obliterated before the ob0ective truth can a""ear. /llusions as "arasites of the life of thought and idea. hose activities which the soul needs after death !ust "lay into all artistic occu"ations of hu!an beings; the )ill !ust be "enetrated by the s"iritual world, by the dyna!ic ele!ent. S"iritual4 scientific strengthening through contact with the invisible being of the Dead. 0ebruary '1* !2!1 0ebruary '"* !2!1

The Problem of Death 3

8age 1 of <=

Schmidt (umber% S$&'!"

Fe ruary !" #$#! %ornach /n these days when death is so constantly a source of "ain, / want to deal with certain as"ects of S"iritual Science in connection with the "roble! of death. oday / shall give a (ind of introduction to these "roble!s; to!orrow / shall go !ore closely into the sub0ect and on Sunday "ass over fro! these "roble!s to !ore general 7uestions of the artistic conce"tion of .ife. his will then lead us bac( to !atters connected with our &uilding. 9anifold indeed are the connections within which we are "laced in life. >ust as the life before birth is a "re"aration for its reflection in this life, so this reflection between birth and death is a "re"aration for the s"iritual life which co!es afterwards, between death and a new birth. he !ore we are able to carry over fro! this life into the life between death and a new birth, the richer !ay be the develo"!ent in that life; for the actual conce"ts which !ust be ac7uired of that life, the conce"ts of the truths of existence between death and a new birth !ust be very different fro! the conce"ts we !ust ac7uire of earthly 9aya if we want to understand this 9aya. So!e of the necessary conce"ts will be found in the lecture4course given last year in ?ienna. @&he 'nner Life of (an et)een %eath and a *e) irth.A Bou will find there what new conce"ts !ust be ac7uired for understanding the other side of !an1s life which ta(es its course between death and a new birth. /t is often exceedingly difficult to wor( out the conce"ts and ideas that are a""licable to this other (ind of life, and in reading such a lecture4course you will realise that it has been a 7uestion of wrestling for ter!s which in so!e way give ex"ression to these totally different conditions. $t this ti!e es"ecially when the deaths of very dear 9e!bers are occurring in our anthro"oso"hical life, / want to call attention to the following. C he "art "layed in the life between death and a new birth by the !o!ent of death is different fro! the "art that is "layed by the !o!ent of birth in our "resent life between birth and death. he !o!ent of birth is that "oint which, in ordinary circu!stances, is not re!e!bered by the hu!an being. /n :rdinary life, birth is not re!e!bered. &ut the !o!ent of death is the "oint which leaves behind it the very dee"est i!"ression for the whole of life between death and a new birth; it is the "oint that is re!e!bered !ost of all; in a certain sense it is always there, but in a 7uite different for! fro! that in which it is seen fro! this side of life. Fro! this side of life, death a""ears to be a dissolution, so!ething in face of which the hu!an being has a ready fear and dread. Fro! the other side, death a""ears as the light4filled beginning of ex"erience of the S"irit, as that which s"reads a sun4radiance over the whole of the subse7uent life between death and a new birth; as that which !ost of all war!s the soul through with 0oy in the life between death and a new birth. he !o!ent of death is so!ething that is loo(ed bac( u"on with a dee" sense of blessing. Described in earthly ter!s, the !o!ent of death, viewed fro! the other side, is the !ost 0oyful, the !ost enra"turing "oint in the life between death and a new birth. /f, out of !aterialis!, we have "ictured that the hu!an being loses consciousness with death, if we can for! no true idea of the continuation of consciousness C @/ e!"hasi+e this today because the incentive is co!!unity with dear ones who have recently gone away fro! us through death.A if it is difficult to "icture that consciousness exists beyond death, if we believe that consciousness is dar(ened @as a""ears to be the case after deathA C then we !ust realise, it si!"ly is not true. he truth is that the consciousness is excessively right and it is only because the hu!an being is still unaccusto!ed, during the very first "eriod after death, to live within this excessively clear consciousness, that there sets in, to begin with, i!!ediately after death, so!ething li(e a (ind of slee". his state of slee", however, is the very o""osite of the state of slee" through which we "ass in ordinary life. /n ordinary life we slee" because consciousness is di!!ed; after death we are, in a certain sense, unconscious because the consciousness is too strong, too forceful; because we live wholly in consciousness. $nd what we have to do during the first days is to live over into this condition of excessive consciousness. )e have to find our bearings and orientation within this condition of su"erabundant consciousness. )hen we succeed in so finding our bearings that, as it were, out of the fullness of the cos!ic thoughts, we feel, thou )ast that ... the !o!ent when, out of the fullness of the cos!ic thoughts, we begin to distinguish our "ast earth4life within this abundance of consciousness, then the !o!ent is ex"erienced of which we can say, )e a)aken. /t !ay be that we are awa(ened by an event that has been "articularly significant in our earthly life and is also significant in the ha""enings after our earthly life. /t is, therefore, a "rocess of getting accusto!ed to the su"ersensible consciousness, to the consciousness that does not rest u"on the foundation and su""ort of the "hysical world, but that is wor(ing and active in itself. his is what we call the 2$wa(ening3 after death. his awa(ening consists in the )ill stretching out to find its bearings, the will, which as you (now and can realise fro! the lecture4course already !entioned, !ay unfold strongly after death. / s"o(e of will that is coloured by feeling,
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of feeling that is coloured by will, when this life of feeling that is coloured by will stretches out to find its bearings in the su"ersensible world, when the first sally is !ade, then the awa(ening has co!e. /f we want to thin( of the ex"eriences that are connected with the "roble! of death, we !ust realise, above all, that the real being, the being who rules and weaves within !an, is "rofoundly un(nown to hi!. his true being is not only un(nown in res"ect of the dee"er side of a !an1s own hidden existence, but it is un(nown too, in res"ect of !any things that "lay very significantly indeed into the ex"eriences of everyday life. )e !ust be absolutely clear that even with the !ost i!"ortant instru!ents of (nowledge we "ossess for the "hysical world C with the senses C we loo( al!ost entirely fro! outside, and that in this loo(ing fro! outside, what !ay be called our s(in shuts us off fro! beholding our real, true being. $s soon as we begin to 0udge of our true being, as soon as we try to for! a "icture of this true being, we are obliged to a""ly our intellect, our "ower of for!ing !ental i!ages. /n the course of our develo"!ent within the "hysical body, however,both these faculties are strongly influenced fro! the $hri!anic as well as fro! the .uciferic side; and the nature of all these influences that are exercised fro! the $hri!anic and .uciferic sides u"on our intellect, in so far as it is bound to the brain, is such, that they are able in the highest degree to cloud the 0udg!ent we for! about our own being. $ll self4(nowledge is really co!"arable with the extre!e case / 7uoted in the lest lecture, of the university "rofessor who hi!self tells the story of how, in his youth, he crossed the street and suddenly saw co!ing towards hi! a young !an with a dreadfully unsy!"athetic face; he tells of the shoc( he received when he realised that he was seeing hi!self through two !irrors that were revealing his own "hysiogno!y, as if it were co!ing towards hi!. his shows that he had no in(ling of his external a""earance, which was exceedingly unsy!"athetic to hi!, / have told you how he narrates a second si!ilar instance. &ut really it is no different with what we call our !ore inti!ate self4(nowledge. :ur 6go and astral body which set out on the 0ourney through the worlds when the date of Death has been "assed C these !e!bers of our being are re!oved fro! our s"here of observation during "hysical life, for when we wa(e fro! slee" the 6go and astral body are not revealed to us. hey are not revealed to us in their true for! but in such a way that they are !irrored by the "ictures of the 6go and astral body that are s(etched by the etheric body and "hysical body. &etween slee"ing and wa(ing we should be able to see our astral being and our 6go in their true for! if we were not in the unconscious condition of slee". he drea!s, too, which occur in ordinary life are only faulty inter"reters of our real being, because they are, after all, reflections of what goes on in the astral body around the etheric body, and because it is essential, first, to understand the language of drea!s if we are to get at their correct !eaning. 'f we understand the language of drea!s, we can, certainly, ac7uire (nowledge about our true being fro! the "rocesses of drea!. &ut in ordinary life we are accusto!ed si!"ly to acce"t the "ictures "resented by the drea!. his, however, is no !ore sensible than if we were si!"ly to follow the signs of "rinted letters and not really read at all. :ur true being is withdrawn fro! us during life between birth and death. )e !ust realise here that in our astral body C and in our 6go too C there lie all those feelings and all those stirrings of will which lead us to our actions, to our deeds, but also to our 0udg!ents, to our conce"tions of things in the world. here, in the de"ths of our being, there at the seat of our astral body and our true 2/3, we have a whole world of e!otions, a whole world of feelings, of i!"ulses of will; but what we for! in everyday life as our own view of these e!otions, i!"ulses of will and feelings, stand !ostly C +ostly, / say C in a very distant connection with what we truly are, in our inner!ost being. a(e the following case C /t !ay ha""en in life that two "eo"le live together for a long ti!e and that through the strange forces "laying out of the un(nown regions of the astral body and 6go of the one "erson into the astral body and 6go of the other @these forces re!ain in the hidden regionsA, the one has in relation to the other a real desire for tor!ent, a (ind of need for cruelty. /t !ay be that the one "erson who has this desire for tor!ent, this need for cruelty, has no in(ling whatever of the existence of these e!otions in the astral body and 6go; he !ay build u" about the things he does out of this urge to cruelty, a whole nu!ber of ideas which ex"lain the actions on 7uite other grounds. Such a "erson !ay tell us that he has done this or that to the other "erson for one reason or another; these reasons !ay be very clever and yet they do not ex"ress the truth at all. For in ordinary life, what we all4too4often "icture as the !otives of our own actions, indeed of our own feelings, fre7uently stands, as / say, in a very, very distant connection with what is really living and weaving in our inner being. /t !ay be that the .uciferic "ower is actually "reventing the "erson concerned fro! realising the nature of this urge for cruelty, of these i!"ulses to do all (inds of things to the other "erson, and that under the influence of this .uciferic "ower everything he says about the reasons !erely s"reads a cover over what is actually "resent in the soul. he reasons we devise in our consciousness !ay often be cut out for hiding fro! us, disguising what is actually living and wor(ing in the soul. hese reasons too are often of a character which indicates a desire for self40ustification, for we should find ourselves 0ust as anti"athetic as the "rofessor of "hiloso"hy of who! / told you. )e should not at all li(e what is in our soul if we had to ac(nowledge what (ind of instincts and e!otions are really holding sway. $nd because we have to "rotect ourselves fro! the sight of our own soul4being, we discover, with the hel" of these reasons, all (inds of things that guarantee us "rotection, because they deceive us about what is actually the ruling force in the soul. >ust as it is true that the external world beco!es a 9aya to us because of the "eculiar character of our faculty to for! !ental "ictures, it is also true that what we have to say about ourselves in ordinary life is, to a very, very great extent, 9aya.
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-ertain instincts and needs of our inner!ost being in "articular !islead us into constantly deceiving ourselves about our own being. a(e the case of a "erson who is terribly vain, who suffers fro! a for! of !egalo!ania. Such "eo"le are by no !eans few in nu!ber. his is ad!itted. if, however, as described above, a !as( were not laid over what really is in the soul, it would be !uch !ore generally ad!itted that vanity and !egalo!ania exist in !any souls who have not the very slightest in(ling that it is so. 9egalo!ania gives rise to !any wishes ... but when / say EwishesF, you !ust understand what / !ean. C the wishes do not beco!e conscious, they re!ain wholly in the de"ths. Such a "erson !ay wish to exercise a controlling influence u"on so!eone else, but because he would have to ad!it that this desire for control over the other is born of vanity and !egalo!ania, he will not ad!it it. He then a""eals C unconsciously of course, C to those "owers of seduction which .ucifer is able to exercise all the ti!e u"on the hu!an soul. $nd under the unconscious influence of .ucifer, such a "erson never gets to the "oint of saying to hi!self, E)hat / have in !e, "roducing the desire for action, is really vanity, !egalo!ania.F He never says this, but on the contrary, he will often discover, under the influence of .ucifer, a whole syste! for ex"laining the feelings of which he is dar(ly aware but the true character of which he will not ad!it. He !ay have certain feelings for so!e other "erson but he cannot ac(nowledge the!, because what he really wants is to control this other "erson and he is unable to do so because this other "erson, "erha"s, will not allow hi!self to be controlled. hen, under the influence of .ucifer the soul discovers a syste!, discovers that the other "erson is "lanning so!ething !alicious; the first "erson then "roceeds to "aint a !ental "icture of the details that are being "lanned against hi!; he finally feels that he is being "ersecuted. he whole syste! of 0udg!ents and ideas is a !as( that is there !erely for the "ur"ose of covering with a veil what !ust be "revented fro! e!erging out of the inner life of soul. C /t is a real 9aya. /n connection with a series of actions, a !an once said to !e that he had done the! out of an iron sense of duty, out of infinite devotion to the cause he re"resented. / was bound to say to hi! in re"ly, 2 he o"inion you have about the !otives of your "rocedure and of your actions is no criterion whatever. :nly reality is the criterion, not the o"inion one !ay have. he reality shows that the i!"ulse, the urge to these actions was to gain influence in a certain direction.3 / said to the !an 7uite baldly, 2$lthough you believe that you are acting out of an iron sense of duty, you are really acting under the i!"ulse to ac7uire influence and you !isinter"ret this way of acting as being selfless, done "urely out of a sense of duty. Bou are not acting out of this !otive but because it "leases you to act so, because it brings you certain "leasure C again, therefore, out of a certain inner i!"ulse.3 :ur o"inion, our !ental "icture of ourselves !ay be extre!ely co!"licated; it !ay not rese!ble in the very re!otest degree what is really do!inating and weaving in the soul. it !ay be extre!ely co!"licated. Bou will ad!it at once that such things !ust be (nown when it is a 7uestion of living in a world of truth and not in a world of 9aya; you will also ad!it at once that it is necessary now and then to s"ea( of such things in a radical wayG he reasons which as genuine, true reasons, drive us to our actions, can only beco!e clear to us slowly and by degrees, when through S"iritual science, we really have (nowledge of the secret connections existing between the hu!an being and the world. .et us ta(e a definite case, C Bou will all (now that there are "eo"le in the world who are called gossi"s, chatterboxes. /f we as( these chatterboxes why they floc( together in their cafes or elsewhere and tal(, tal(, tal(, tal( @they often tal( a great deal !ore than they can answer for,A we shall hear !any reasons )hy it is necessary for the! to discuss this, that or the other. )e can get to (now "eo"le who! we then !eet rushing along the street, hurrying so!ewhere or other in order to arrive 7uic(ly ... and when we find out what they are after, we discover that it is nothing but the !ost futile, useless, silliest chatter. /f such "eo"le are as(ed about their reasons, they will give reasons which often sound exceedingly laudable and fine, whereas the !ost that can be said is that these reasons are well able to conceal the real facts of the case. $nd now we will consider these 2real facts of the case.3 )hat is ha""ening when we gossi" or chatterH @when we s"ea(, it is, of course, the sa!e.A )hat is ha""eningH hrough our organs of breathing and s"eech we set the air into !ove!ents which corres"ond with the for!s of the words. )e generate in ourselves those "hysical waves C and naturally the corres"onding ether4waves too, for when we s"ea( so!ething very significant is ha""ening in the etheric body C we generate these waves in the air and ether which corres"onds with our words, which give ex"ression to our words. 8icture it 7uite "recisely to yourselves, )hile you are sitting there C no, "ardon !e, not youG C while a !an is chattering with his cu" of coffee before hi! on the table, he is bringing his whole inner organis! into !ove!ent, that inner organis! which corres"onds with the for! of ex"ression, with the external "hysical and etheric for! of ex"ression of his words. So!ething is actually welling u" and weaving in hi!; he generates this in hi!self, but he also is aware of it, he feels it. He feels this self4!ove!ent of the "hysical and etheric bodies because the astral body and the 6go are continually co!ing u" against it. he astral body is continually co!ing u" against the ether4waves and beco!ing aware of the!; and the 6go is continually co!ing into contact with the "hysical waves of the air; so that while we are s"ea(ing, astral body and 6go are continually contacting so!ething, touching so!ething. in this contact, in this i!"act, we beco!e aware of our 6go and of our astral body, and the !ost
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agreeable sensation the hu!an being can have is that of self4en0oy!ent. when the astral body and the 6go contact the etheric body and the "hysical body in this way, the "rocess is si!ilar to what ha""ens on a s!all scale when a child lic(s a sweet C for the "leasurable sensation in lic(ing the sweet consists in the fact that the astral body is co!ing into contact with what is ha""ening in the "hysical body, and the hu!an being beco!es aware of hi!self in this way. He beco!es aware of hi!self, has self4en0oy!ent in this "rocess. hose who sit down at a table in a cafe in order to gossi" and chatter for an hour or two, si!"ly hurry there to find self4en0oy!ent. /t is self4en0oy!ent that is being sought in such cases. )e cannot beco!e aware of these things if we do not (now that !an1s being is fourfold and that all the four !e!bers are involved in every activity in the external world. here are other, different exa!"les. Fro! the exa!"le of chattering we have seen how the hu!an being has the urge to self4en0oy!ent caused by the i!"act of his astral body and 6go u"on the etheric body and the "hysical body. &ut he also, fre7uently feels the need for his astral body !erely to contact the etheric body, 0ust the etheric body. /n order that the astral body !ay contact the etheric body, this etheric body !ust "roduce !ove!ent, it !ust "roduce inner activity. hese "rocesses go on even !ore in the subconsciousness than do other "rocesses. here is an i!"ulse in the hu!an being, of which he is not conscious, to !a(e an i!"act with his astral body u"on his etheric body. his i!"ulse lives itself out in very curious ways. )e find that certain young !en C and in recent ti!es young ladies too C si!"ly cannot rest until what they write is "rinted. 8eo"le so!eti!es find it exceedingly "leasant to see their writings in "rint, but it is "leasant chiefly because they succu!b to the worst "ossible illusion, na!ely, to the illusion that what is "rinted is also read, /t is by no !eans always the case that writings are read when they are "rinted, but it is at least believed that they are, and this is an exceedingly "leasant sensation. 9any young !en and, as / say, !any young ladies too, si!"ly cannot bear it, they are constantly on edge ... until their writings are "rinted. )hat does this !eanH /t !eans this, C )hen writings are "rinted and actually read C which ha""ens in the rarest cases today C when writings are "rinted, our thoughts "ass over into other hu!an beings, live on in other hu!an souls. hese thoughts live in the etheric bodies of the other hu!an beings. &ut in us the idea ta(es root, E he thought you yourself had in your etheric body is now living out there in the world.F )e have the feeling that out there in the world our own thoughts are living. /f the thoughts are really living in the world, if they are actually "resent there C in other words, if our "rinted writings are also read C then this exercises an influence u"on our own etheric body and we i!"act what is living out there in the world. /nas!uch as it is living in our own etheric body, an i!"act ta(es "lace with our own astral body. his is 7uite a different i!"act fro! when we !erely i!"act our own thoughts; the hu!an being is not always strong enough to do this, because these thoughts !ust be called forth fro! the inner being by dint of energy. &ut when the thoughts are living in the world, when we can have the consciousness that our own thoughts are living out there in the world, then our astral body C to the best of our belief at least C co!es into contact with a "art of ourselves that is living in the outside world. his is the su"re!e self4en0oy!ent. &ut this for! of self4en0oy!ent lies at the basis of all see(ing for fa!e, all see(ing for recognition, all see(ing for authority in the world. $t the root of this i!"ulse for self4en0oy!ent there lies nothing else than a need to i!"act with our astral body ob0ective thoughts of our etheric body, and in the i!"act to beco!e aware of ourselves. Bou see what a co!"licated "rocess between astral body and etheric body lies at the root of things that "lay a certain role in the outer world. *aturally these things are not said for the "ur"ose of !a(ing !oral 0udg!ents into scarecrow. hey are not of this nature at all, for everything that has been !entioned belongs to the category of characteristics that are 7uite nor!al in life. )hen we s"ea(, it is absolutely natural that there should be self4en0oy!ent C even when s"ea(ing does not consist in gossi"ing. /t is 7uite natural too that when we allow so!ething to be "rinted, not out of thirst for fa!e but because we feel it a duty to say so!ething to the world, C that then too we i!"act the thoughts of our etheric body; in such a case the sa!e "rocess is at wor(. )e !ust not draw the conclusion that these "rocesses are always to be shunned, always to be regarded as so!ething lac(ing in !orality, C for / si!"ly !ean the! to be ta(en in a sy!bolic sense. /f the hu!an being were to flee fro! everything that "resses in u"on hi! fro! the side of .ucifer and $hri!an, he would have to co!e out of his s(in as soon as he realised it C / !ean this sy!bolically too, .ucifer and $hri!an exercise no other forces u"on us than those that are 0ustified, nor!al forces in hu!an life; only it is the case that .ucifer and $hri!an "ut the! into o"eration in the wrong "lace. / have said this in different lecture4courses. /f you thin( of all these things you will "erceive the infinite variety and co!"lexity of those threads in life which "lay over fro! hu!an soul to hu!an soul and again outwards fro! the hu!an soul into the world. How infinitely co!"licated it all is but at the sa!e ti!e you will realise how little, how very little real (nowledge the hu!an being derives fro! what he "erceives and "ictures concerning his relations to other hu!an beings and to the world. he "icture we have of ourselves is only a tiny frag!ent drawn fro! what we ex"erience. $nd this "icture, to begin with, is 9aya. :nly when we !a(e S"iritual Science into an actual asset of life, not into !ere theory, do we really get behind 9aya and reach so!e enlighten!ent u"on what is actually going on within us. &ut things do not change by our "ossessing a tiny and !ostly untrue frag!ent of the web in which we are involved in relation to the world; the things are as they are. $ll these hidden
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forces, this hidden web fro! soul to soul, fro! the hu!an being to the various agents of the world C it is all there, and every !inute of slee"ing and wa(ing life it is "laying into the hu!an soul. Bou will be able to 0udge fro! this how !uch has to be done in order to reach a true (nowledge of the being of !an. Studies of this (ind have to do with those shades of feeling which are re7uisite for a true ex"erience of what belongs, not to earthly incarnation, but to eternity. For by unfolding such shades of feeling we beco!e aware of the basis of the conflicts which a""ear in life. hese conflicts that are brought by life and rightly beco!e sub0ects for treat!ent in literature and the other arts, are due to the fact that there is an un(nown, hidden ocean of )ill in which we are swi!!ing in life, and that only a tiny frag!ent C !ostly distorted at that C co!es into our consciousness. &ut we cannot live in accordance with this tiny frag!ent; we !ust live with our whole soul in accordance with the great and !anifold ra!ifications which exist in life. $nd this brings the conflicts. now can the tiny frag!ent that is also in !any cases distorted, how can this tiny frag!ent co!e into a true relationshi" to hu!an life, how can it really understand what is actually going on in hu!an life, &ecause it is inca"able of this, the hu!an being inevitably co!es into conflict with life. &ut where reality is in "lay, there too is truth. Reality does not direct itself according to the "ictures we ta(e of it. $nd the !o!ent there is o""ortunity for it reality "itilessly corrects the 9aya of our ideas. $nd this (ind of corrective which reality bestows u"on the 9aya of our ideas, su""lies !ost significant !aterial for treat!ent in art, in "oetry. /n "ursuance of the line of thought contained in this lecture, / want now to start fro! a "oint that is connected with a wor( of art; in the lecture to!orrow we shall "ass on to a study of the life between death and a new birth, and then on Sunday to a the!e dealing with art in connection with our building. / do not want to start fro! a wor( of art chosen at rando! but fro! so!ething that gives a very concrete "icture of what / shall "resent to you as (nowledge of the reality of the s"iritual life. he reason for choosing this "articular exa!"le is that, for once, reality has been hit u"on in a certain s!all, but excellent "iece of writing. $n occultist alone is able to 0udge about the reality, but in this s!all wor( we see how when the hu!an being as a clairvoyant tries to "enetrate into the dee"er "roble!s of life, he si!"ly cannot avoid touching the occult sides of life, he cannot avoid touching those de"ths which send their waves u" into the life we often "ierce so shallowly with the 9aya of our thoughts. what / regard as i!"ortant fro! the "oint of view of art and of occultis! really occurs only at the end of a tale of which / want to s"ea( !erely as an exa!"le. herefore / shall !erely give a brief outline of the tale and read the concluding "assage only. /t is not a 7uestion of s"ea(ing !erely of a "iece of literature but of s"ea(ing of this "articular wor(, because here for once a writer has "resented so!ething that !ight actually ha""en, in absolute accordance with true occult laws. $s the tale was written in the sixties of the 19th century, you will gather fro! what / say, how what we s"ea( of as s"iritual Science has really always been "re"ared for and reflected in a certain way in hu!an consciousness. unconsciously, at least, in !any a soul there has been reflected what !ust enter into the culture of the 6arth and beco!e !ore fully conscious through s"iritual Science. /t !ay be that such a soul actually (new so!ething about this, but the ti!e was not ri"e for voicing this (nowledge in a for! other than the un"retentious for! of literature. $t the "resent day "eo"le are !uch !ore ready to condone the introduction of occult truths in the for! of stories or "oe!s ... in the age of !aterialis! they are !uch !ore ready to condone this than they will condone so!ebody who co!es out with the direct truth and declares that such things are realities. /f "eo"le can say to the!selves, 2)ell, after all, this is only ro!ance,3 they will often acce"t it. he tale that was written in the sixties of last century is !ore or less as follows. C /t is written as if one of the characters were narrating it hi!self; it is a 2first "erson3 story, as we say. his character tells of his ac7uaintance with 9lle. de #aussin in 8aris @which is the scene of the taleA. He tells how at a certain "eriod he "aid daily visits to the house of this 9lle. de #aussin who is a !uch4feted singer; he gets to (now all (inds of "eo"le who are ad!irers of the lady of the house C a!ong the! a !an who is "ractically always to be found in 9lle.de #aussin1s salon. he narrator "erceives that the feelings of this other !an for her are !ore than !ere friendshi", and he also realises that these feelings are not reci"rocated by the singer. 6verything that ha""ens results in a conflict. C here is a !an who ardently loves the singer; his love is not returned, but he is not actually re0ected; in reality he is brought nearer and nearer to her, but as a result of this he beco!es !ore and !ore restless and inwardly sha(en. he narrator of the story @it is, as / say a Efirst "ersonF taleA, notices all this. He is friendly with the other, and as he @the narratorA is engaged and is to be !arried during the next few wee(s, it is 7uite natural, as the other !an is also friendly with hi!, that there is no 7uestion of 0ealousy. :ne day the narrator has it all out with the other !an whose eyes are then o"ened and he feels bound to have a tal( with the singer. he result of this tal( is that he goes no !ore to the house C but, although he has "ro!ised not to thin( about the lady any !ore, and to forget her, he is inca"able of seriously turning his !ind to other things, of getting rid of his inner restlessness; the thoughts that were there during his friendshi" with the lady (ee" on returning. the leaves the town and lives away for a ti!e. During this "eriod the narrator of the story has !arried and has been obliged to go on a 0ourney. :n this 0ourney he !eets the other !an in a hotel, in a "itiful state. he other !an tells hi! how he has left 8aris and how he tried for a ti!e to live alone; how he went for a ride one day outside his estate
8age ' of <=

and had the ill4luc( to co!e across the lady with her traveling co!"any who were also away fro! 8aris; how all his feelings ca!e to life again and how he now goes about with two revolvers in order one day to "ut an end to his life. he narrator still has (indly feelings towards the other !an and invites hi! to his new ho!e, ho"ing to get hi! to thin( of other things. he !an acce"ts the invitation which is 0ust the thing to "rovide hi! with a sy!"athetic !ilieu as a guest; but he si!"ly cannot get hold of hi!self, he gets !ore and !ore de"ressed, and finally reaches the "oint where he has resolved to co!!it suicide. he two friends have a tal( together and the narrator succeeds in getting the other to "ro!ise that he will defer his intention. he narrator says that he hi!self has to go away and because he does not want to say, Ewait until / co!e bac(F C fearing that the other !ight not wait but !ight shoot hi!self in the !eanti!e C he gets the other to !a(e hi! a sole!n "ro!ise. He says, 2.oo( after !y wife until / get bac(.3 )hen the other !an has given the "ro!ise, the narrator goes off to 8aris with the idea of as(ing the singer to co!e to the country and do so!ething to !a(e the situation less !iserable. He reaches 8aris and travels bac( with the singer to the country. hey get to the hedge around the narrator1s country estate. $t this !o!ent the narrator notices that a !an who had been standing at the hedge, has run bac(. $s they a""roach, there is a shot. he other !an had (e"t his "ro!ise, had faithfully loo(ed after the wife, but had sent a "easant to (ee" watch at the hedge. he "easant signals, E*ow he is co!ingF C and then the !an shoots hi!self. he narrator brings the singer into the house C and fro! this "oint / will read you the words the!selves. J2 ales3 by Her!an #ri!!, 2 he Singer.3K 2)e reached the chateau in the evening. )hen / got to the "ar(, a "easant who was waiting for us ran with lightning s"eed towards the house, and hardly had we got half4way u" the avenue, than a shot rang out. So set was / u"on the success of !y "ro0ect that the !eaning of this shot never entered !y head. $!a+e!ent was not long to be withheld fro! !e; we went on; nobody ca!e out; the driver crac(ed his whi" and / s"rang out, 9lle. de #aussin after !e. he first thing we heard was a screa! fro! !y wife1s !aid who ca!e towards us deathly white, with the cry, EHe has shot hi!self deadF. )e hurried to the 9ar7uess1 roo! which was full of "eo"le; / sent the! all out, shut the door and stood with 9anon de #aussin beside the young !an1s body which lay on the ground. She stared at it for so!e !inutes, then gave a screa! and san( to the ground on her (nees beside the body. She did not faint. She too( his hands, laid hers on his forehead @the wound was in the !iddle of the chestA, loo(ed at !e, then at hi!, and suddenly began to sing in a loud voice. his filled !e with dread; / thought she had lost her reason. 9eanwhile one of !y agents who (new a little about first4aid and was accusto!ed to render si!"le !edical assistance, had arrived. / shall never forget the fear that ca!e over his face when he saw the dead 9ar7uess and the singer beside hi!. She was now silent, stood u", loo(ed at !e a long ti!e and left the roo!. / followed to find out what she !ight want. She said, E/ !ust have a roo! in which / a! 7uite alone.F / led her to the first good roo!, sent to fetch her !aid and hurried to !y wife. / heard to !y relief that she had gone for a wal(; / went to !eet her and told her what had ha""ened. $s we had often tal(ed about the 9ar7uess and had antici"ated the "ossibility of an end li(e this, she was less shoc(ed than troubled. / led her bac( to the chateau and "roceeded to give orders about the 9ar7uess. he body had been "laced on the bed and his servant was sitting by it, wee"ing bitterly. He said, E9y !aster told !e that he !ust not shoot hi!self until you had returned. his reassured !e. hen he arranged secretly with the !an >ohn that he should wait for the carriage. he !an did this and had hardly run bac( with the news that the carriage had entered the "ar( than !y !aster stood u", !ade a !ar( in the boo( he was reading, "ut his hand in his "oc(et, gave >ohn a coin, too( the "istol fro! the table and went into the other roo!; the !o!ent he had closed the door behind hi!, he was dead.F / began to re"roach !yself. 8erha"s / !ight have been able to save hi! if / had acted !ore 7uic(ly. /f 9anon de #aussin had arrived at the right !o!ent this tragedy !ight, "ossibly, have been avoided. $nd / also thought, 8erha"s "rovidence has wished to "rotect hi! fro! so!ething that would have been still worse, if the singer had decided to !arry hi!, as / believe she would have done, C although she told !e only afterwards that the disastrous conse7uences of such a ste" would have been unendurable and would si!"ly have brought !isery. / went to 9anon de #aussin. She was cal! and collected. here was nothing very unusual about her. She tal(ed to !e about the 9ar7uess1s fra!e of !ind and his natural dis"osition towards such a sad ending of his life. So cal! and collected was she that / felt the inner shoc( !ust have been very great, and / feared the reaction. / introduced her to !y wife; we dined together and then retired. he next !orning / was struc( by the change that had co!e over her. She said she felt well, but there was so!ething so strained about her a""earance, and in herself she see!ed so bro(en, that her state!ent belied itself. She tal(ed about leaving soon and as(ed if she !ight be given a different roo! for that night. his was arranged; we s"ent the day 7uietly and she only went to bed when all arrange!ents for her de"arture had been co!"leted. he next day she did not co!e down to brea(fast. her !aid as(ed !e to go to her !istress in her roo!. She received !e with a faint s!ile and was so "ale and hollow4eyed that / could not conceal !y a!a+e!ent. EDear friend,3 she said, 2Bou find !e loo(ing ill and don1t want to say soHF EDon1t you thin( that is naturalHF EBes, you are always full of feeling, reserved. &ut no secrecy hel"s now. / feel death within !e.F EDearest friendGF C / cried out in dis!ay. E/ feel death; for two nights now / have seen the 9ar7uess C awa(e C co!ing here C he is drawing !e to hi!GF
8age = of <=

/ loo(ed at her attentively. here was no over4strain in her eyes, nothing !aniacal in her voice. She went on, E)hen / saw hi! lying there in his blood, the feeling that / was the cause of this tragedy beca!e so strong in !e that / cried out because / could bear it no longer. /t was as though so!ething were shouting with unbelievable strength into !y ears, 2,ou are guilty, ,ou have (illed hi!G3 /n order not to hear this voice / began to sing louder and louder, but yet / did not deafen the voice. / heard it unceasingly. During the night / could not slee", / lay and loo(ed at the shadows cast by the furniture in the light of the la!". hen the door s"rang o"en. $ narrow, dar( strea( a""eared. hrough this strea( the 9ar7uess entered, as it were through a thread of cloud as thin as "a"er; his eyes were closed, he hovered or ca!e slowly towards !e, stood beside the bed, as cor"oreal as you, and with closed eyes. / did not want to loo( at hi! but he forced !e to do so; / was co!"elled to turn !y eyes towards hi!. hen he suddenly o"ened his and loo(ed at !e. / could not bear it, and / lost consciousness. .ast night it was the sa!e. / can bear it no longer. / feel that he is suc(ing the life out of !e with his eyes.F / tried with all the argu!ents of "hysics, "hiloso"hy and religion to get her to dis!iss the "heno!enon fro! her !ind. She re!ained resolute ... E/ a! deter!ined to go away,F C she said. E8erha"s his shade is fettered only to this house.F / o""osed this. / could not allow her to travel alone and / could not leave !y wife who was ex"ecting her confine!ent. / therefore "ro"osed to 9anon de #aussin that she should !ove into !y agent1s house and / "ro!ised to watch by her bed the next night. She finally let herself be "ersuaded into this, got u" and wal(ed around the roo! li(e a wraith. /n the evening when she had gone to bed, her !aid called !e to her. / "ut a table with night4lights near the bed, with a screen around it, and after tal(ing to her for a little, began to read a boo(. She see!ed to be slee"ing; the lights burnt badly. / cleaned the!, dran( so!e wine and water and loo(ed at the door. Suddenly C it was !ade of wood and was not fir! C it s"rang o"en; the catch !ay not have been wor(ing. / was about to go over softly and shut it noiselessly when, turning to 9anon de #aussin, / saw her sitting u"right in bed with staring eyes. She stretched out her ar!s towards !ine and "ointed straight in front of her with her finger, E here he co!esGF here was absolutely nothing to be seen. E)hereHF / said. / released !yself fro! her and went to the corner. EHereHF E-o!e,F she screa!ed, Ehe is standing in front of youGF )ith one lea" / was by her side. EHold !y eyes closed, / cannot bear it he is standing there, he is touching your (neeGF / "ressed both her hands over her eyes. She breathed with effort, but there was nothing to be seen. $fter a while she too( her hands away. E/ !ust see if he is still thereF, she said softly. EDear friend there is nothing here,F / answered, and released her. She loo(ed around. EHe has gone away again, :, if he co!es once again it will be better for hi!. He will sli" through the doors together.F his idea !ade !e shudder. She lay bac( and declared that the next day she would certainly go away into a convent. / tried to tal( her out of this. E#o to 8aris,F / said C EBou will forget there.F She interru"ted !e. C E/ have deserved it; / have also deserved that you should !a(e such a "ro"osal to !e. hat / shall never forgetG Hi! "erha"s / shall forget, if he ceases to tor!ent !e, but !y guilt C that is fast s!eltedGF EBour guilt a!ounts to nothing,F / said. E hat he loved you was destiny; the fact that you did not love hi! was not in your "ower to change. hat you were able to believe you had cured hi! was only too natural in his deranged state.F E:F she cried, Ecan a !other who lets her child fall into the water ever console herselfH Do you thin( that guilt is only constituted by evil intentH /f it were so, could one not wash away all regret with the thought of higher necessityH /f #od !a(es us guilty, it is also his will that we shall bear the conse7uences. /t has been decreed that / shall hear these chains rattling to all eternity.F / had soon exhausted !y argu!ents. She left the chateau, and / did not acco!"any her. he birth of a son tore !e away fro! all dar( thoughts. / gave a feast in honour of this 0oyful event; the christening, and care for !y wife too( u" !y ti!e so co!"letely that everyone will understand why / did not !a(e en7uires about the unha""y, beautiful creature of who!, however, / thought fro! ti!e to ti!e. :ne day / received a "ac(et fro! 8aris. /t had been addressed to !e in the care of !y business !anager. /t contained a little case and a letter, both sealed. / o"ened the letter first; there were only a few lines. Dearest friend, )hen you receive this / shall be dead. / (new that the 9ar7uess would call !e to hi!. $lthough he ca!e no !ore to disturb !y nights, / had so!e thing in !y soul that too( the "lace of hi!. ell your wife that / have no "leasanter !e!ory than that of her (indness to !e. #uard your son fro! "eo"le li(e !e. #ive !e a 7uiet little corner for the "hotogra"h enclosed. Bou need not brea( the seal. / do not want to destroy it; it !ust not fall into wrong hands. /f you do loo( at it, thin( that "erchance, even i/ had a heart 9anon de #aussin. / o"ened the case and the face of the unha""y girl who had announced her death to !e in advance strea!ed out with all the !agic she had "ossessed in the days of her "ri!e. ears started into !y eyes and / thought of all the ha""y hours / had s"ent in her house.3
8age L of <=

Here we have a true descri"tion of the etheric body of a dead !an a""earing to so!eone else. /t is an absolutely true descri"tion. /!!ediately after the death, 9anon de #aussin saw the wandering etheric body of the dead !an. / si!"ly wanted to show you how this "heno!enon is treated in a story written in the sixties of last century. /t is the "heno!enon of the a""earance of the etheric body of a dead !an, and it can teach us about the secret, hidden relationshi"s that !ay hold sway between hu!an beings. )e will "ass on to!orrow to further studies. ry to feel how behind what existed in 9anon de #aussin1s consciousness as a frag!ent of 9aya, a wide real! was "laying, and how out of this wide real!, in the hours she lived through directly after the 9ar7uess1 death, a "heno!enon a""eared to her in the for! of a !eeting with the etheric body of the dead !an. ruly, the etheric body is !ore inti!ately connected with the !anifold circu!stances in which we are interwoven within the universe than the "ictures we bear in our self4(nowledge and in our consciousness.

The Problem of Death 33

Schmidt (umber% S$&'!4

Fe ruary -" #$#! %ornach Besterday / told you the story of 9anon de #aussin because it gives an actual descri"tion of the wor(ing of the etheric organisation, the etheric body, after death. :ne cannot, of course, 7uote every novelistic descri"tion in such a connection because, naturally, a writer !ight evolve the !ost unreal ideas and one would then be 7uoting so!ething that is incorrect. &ut / chose an exa!"le where, in a way that accurately corres"onds with the facts of such a case, the wor(ing of an etheric body is described. he first truth encountered by s"iritual4scientific (nowledge is that when the hu!an being "asses through the date of death, etheric body, astral body and 6go are loosened fro! the "hysical body; a (ind of inter!ediate condition then sets in, a condition in which, on the one side, the "hysical body is still there and, on the other side, with a connection between the!; etheric body, astral body and 6go. )e (now that then, after a co!"aratively short ti!e, the etheric body frees itself, and the 6go, together with the astral body of the hu!an individuality, has to enter u"on the further 0ourney through the cos!os in the "eriod between death and a new birth. )e !ust realise that the etheric organisation, the etheric body, is destined to !aintain the earthly body of the hu!an being through the whole !axi!u! age of life. $ hu!an being who has reached advanced age, has of course, the sa!e etheric body as when he was a child. )hen a hu!an being has to leave the "hysical "lane "re!aturely in so!e incarnation and the etheric body has then se"arated fro! the astral body and the 6go, then this etheric body is in a different condition fro! the etheric body of a hu!an being who has reached a certain !axi!u! age and who has therefore been able to use the forces of this etheric body through !any decades of his earthly life. when a hu!an being dies "re!aturely, the forces that are still "resent in the etheric body would, if his (ar!a had allowed hi! to re!ain on the earth, have been used during the further course of his life. he using of these forces denotes a continual wearing out of the etheric body. herefore an etheric body which se"arates fro! one who has died early, contains !any unused forces; these forces are "reserved in the etheric body. hey are forces which have gone over into the s"iritual world but which would have been able, for a long ti!e yet, to !aintain a "hysical life. *aturally, these forces are not destroyed when a hu!an being has "assed through the irate of Death. For nothing C and still less in the s"iritual world than in the "hysical world C is destroyed. $ll the forces in existence change into other for!s. he law of the conservation of force has assu!ed great significance in "hysical science since the year lLI< when it was discovered by >ulius Robert 9ayer. $ force is a""lied in the si!"lest action, for exa!"le, when the hand is rubbed over so!e surface. his force is not lost; the surface gets war!; the force of the "ressure and of the rubbing is changed into war!th. *o force is lost; forces change their character. Si!ilarly, no force is lost in the s"iritual world. So that we !ay say, forces of the etheric bodies of those who have died "re!aturely "ass over into the s"iritual world and, as they have not been used for the earthly life, are used for the "ur"ose of the hu!an individuality who is living on as 6go and astral body. hese forces which would otherwise have been used for the individuality in his life on the 6arth, are used in the s"iritual world and re!ain in the ele!entary world. @ he etheric body itself is dissolved within the ele!entary world.A /n the ele!entary world they for! a real source and reservoir of force. his is very significant, for it sheds light, in a !ost concrete way, u"on the connection between the "hysical world and the s"iritual world.
8age 9 of <=

For real (nowledge it is not enough to "icture !erely in the abstract that the "hysical world is connected with the s"iritual world, and that the s"iritual world is behind the "hysical world. here is variety and differentiation in the s"iritual world which lies behind the "hysical world. $rt that is born of clairvoyance and has an i!"ortant "art to "lay in hu!an evolution on the earth owes a great deal to these unused etheric bodies. Significant sti!uli for clairvoyant (nowledge and for the (nowledge that is ins"ired by S"iritual Science are "rovided by these etheric bodies in the ele!entary world. 8lease realise this thoroughly. C /n a certain sense we have to than( those who have died "re!aturely for the fact that their etheric bodies have been given over to the ele!entary world and that !any s"iritual influences can therefore "roceed fro! these etheric bodies. / thin( / need hardly say that such influences can "roceed only fro! souls whose end has co!e in the course of natural (ar!a and never fro! a soul who has in any way willed his own death, through suicide. /n such a case things are entirely different; fruitful forces of the etheric body are destroyed by decisions e!anating fro! that !aya of consciousness of which / s"o(e yesterday C and all decisions ta(en during earthly life in regard to death e!anate fro! this 9aya. / say this only in "arenthesis. /n a very s"ecial way the etheric bodies of which / have s"o(en are at the basis of the s"iritual sti!uli which !ay co!e to us. he s"iritual !ove!ent we serve will owe, as we !ay well realise, a very very great deal to what it is able to receive fro! this side. 8erha"s it is not necessary for !e to indicate how significantly our (nowledge can be enriched in the direction of the love and the reverence we bring to our tread by the reali+ation of such facts and by our learning to understand how we have to than( those who have died in early youth, and how we have to than( those who have died in !ature age, who have ta(en u" into their individuality those forces which, in other circu!stances, are unused forces of the etheric body. )hen so!ebody dies in advanced age C and we have also had to ex"erience such a case recently C he has ta(en u" into his astral body forces which would otherwise still be in the etheric body. He has, as it were, !ade hu+an what, under other circu!stances is cos+ic. $nd because this is so, there goes out fro! hi!, fro! his individuality, the sti!ulus of which / have s"o(en; he can be "articularly influential because these sti!uli can then be received by s"ecific hu!an hearts, also by the hearts of those who do not "roceed fro! S"iritual Science or fro! clairvoyance but abandon the!selves to the ordinary i!"ulses of life. into the souls of such !en too there can be received C / say Ethere can be receivedF C those forces C now less cos!ic but 0ust because of that, !ore hu!an C which flow into the s"iritual world in which the soul is always i!bedded. )e have now !entioned one detail that is connected with the 2Death S"ectru!3 as / will call it C this etheric organisation which re!ains when 6go and astral body are released. / will call it the 2Death S"ectru!3 ... it contains the forces / have described, but !uch else as well. /n order to study what else is contained in this death s"ectru! we gist resort to such !atters as / tried to bring before you yesterday, derived fro! #ri!!1s tale. /t will have been clear to you fro! what / said, and also fro! the whole treat!ent of the sub0ect in that case, that between 9anon de #aussin and the !an who shot hi!self, there existed a (ar!ic tie which was, of course, the outco!e of "revious earthly lives s"ent together. Mar!ic connections of this (ind are indicated in nearly all i!aginative writings. Such writings C above all, the !ost i!"ressive of the! C ta(e their start fro! the fact that these (ar!ic connections arising fro! "revious earthly lives have not been wholly lived out. 9anon de #aussin !eets the !an who loves her. She does not understand his love and out of the !aya of her consciousness she resists the full and co!"lete living4out of (ar!a. Hence there arises that conflict which is very ada"table to artistic treat!ent; out of the !aya of consciousness hu!an beings re el against what is (ar!ically "redestined. hey cannot, of course, do away with it. / a! not saying that (ar!a can be got rid of, for it !ust certainly be lived out in a subse7uent incarnation. he hu!an being certainly cannot esca"e fro! (ar!a, or at least only in the very rarest cases, and in such cases the (ar!a has to be transfor!ed. &ut in one incarnation the soul !ay resist the full C living4out of (ar!a. -onse7uences then arise such as those which are dealt with in this tale. he one hu!an being leaves the "hysical "lane, and (ar!a has not ta(en the sha"e it should have ta(en. &ut this 2should3 of (ar!a is inscribed in the nature of the !an. Mar!a should have been fulfilled in a certain way. )e !ay resist (ar!a in one incarnation because we do not recognise it, and then we "ost"one it until a later incarnation. *evertheless it was there within us ... it was actually within us. )e wi"e (ar!a away, as it were, fro! the one life, wi"e it away fro! the ha""enings of the life between birth and death. $nd so what 9anon de #aussin and the !an who loved her would have ex"erienced if they had fully lived out their (ar!a, is wi"ed away fro! their lives. /t is wi"ed away fro! the "hysical events of life. &ut fro! the death s"ectru! it cannot be wi"ed away or effaced. /t re!ains in the death s"ectru! as )ill, and then it ha""ens that after the death of the hu!an being concerned this death s"ectru! follows the will of the (ar!a that has not been lived out. So that when 9anon de #aussin see(s and finds rest at the "ro"er !o!ent, this death s"ectru! co!es to her because there is living in it the will
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which should have brought about the union of the two. he death s"ectru! C so far as this is "ossible C fulfils what ought to have been but has not been fulfilled. he connection described in the tale has, in this res"ect, been truly "ortrayed. his death s"ectru!, therefore, also contains the (ar!a that has not been lived out, and after the death of the hu!an being so!ething ta(es sha"e in the ele!entary world that is li(e a "icture of this (ar!a. )e have to do with two as"ects C "lease realise this C )hen a hu!an being dies with (ar!a that has not been lived out, he will have to live out this (ar!a in a subse7uent incarnation ... this will ha""en at so!e ti!e in the future. &ut in the death s"ectru! there arises so!ething that is li(e a "ro"hetic "icture of what will have to co!e about at so!e ti!e, what ought to have co!e about but has not. clairvoyant vision of the death s"ectru! therefore brings an ex"erience of destiny, of (ar!a that has not been lived out. /t !ay be said that in the etheric s"ectru! of the hu!an being after death so!ething ha""ens that could have ha""ened in life, but has not. $ "icture of ha""enings which could have been ha""enings of life !ay be ex"erienced in this death s"ectru!. his is a very significant esoteric connection. the hu!an individuality @6go and astral bodyA "asses over al!ost i!!ediately after death to a (ind of cos!ic existence and for so!e days is still connected with the death s"ectru! @the etheric bodyA, so that the (ar!a4will of the individuality is "laying fro! the cos!os into the death s"ectru!. hen, after a few days, what belongs to the cos!ic s"heres is loosened fro! what has received its s"ecific, uni7ue character fro! the connection with the "hysical hu!an being and has only assu!ed the for! of the "hysical hu!an being because it has been enclosed within the hu!an "hysical body. he 6go and the astral body have not this "hysical for! of the hu!an being; but the death s"ectru!, the etheric body has, in a certain res"ect, also the "hysical for! of the hu!an being. he death s"ectru! loses this hu!an for! only in the course of days. )hen the soul has been freed fro! the "hysical body it loses this hu!an for!. he "hysical body, through its forces, has "reserved this death s"ectru! in its for!; but now that the s"ectru! is outside the "hysical body, it ta(es on other for!s, deter!ined by the external forces of the cos!os. /t is therefore understandable that a true descri"tion of the e!ergence of the hu!an individuality together with the etheric body fro! the "hysical body !ust indicate the death s"ectru! rising u", as it were, in the for! which has been that of the "hysical body. if, therefore, so!ebody wants to describe the !o!ent of death truly, he will describe how the etheric body rises u" li(e a (ind of cloud, still !anifesting the for! of the "hysical body with its ar!s and other li!bs, and how this gradually dissolves into the !ore s"iritual forces wor(ing in fro! the cos!os. his is a transfor!ation, a !eta!or"hosis, a transition he "icture revealed by clairvoyance is difficult for us, because in "hysical life the hu!an being is bound to ti!e and s"ace, and indeed to those for!s of ti!e and s"ace which are at our dis"osal "recisely when we are in the "hysical body, na!ely, ordinary three4di!ensional s"ace and one4di!ensional ti!e, with its "ast, "resent and future. $nd so !any "eo"le are inclined to connect with "urely s"iritual "erce"tions, three4di!ensional s"ace and one4di!ensional ti!e with its "ast, "resent and future. )e can s"ea( of ti!e and s"ace in connection with the s"iritual world too; but there they are altogether different. he difficulty is that words coined for the "hysical world are inade7uate and i!"erfect when used for "ortrayal of the s"iritual world. /n conce"tions of ti!e in the "hysical world, the "ast is ... well, the "ast. he "ast lies behind us and we can only "reserve it in !e!ory. /t is only the "resent that can be there before us in i!!ediate "erce"tion. /n the s"iritual world it is not li(e this, nor even in the ele!entary world; there the "ast can be before us 0ust as the "resent is before us in the "hysical world. /n the s"iritual world, therefore, we can loo( at what is "ast, what has ha""ened, what can only be "reserved by the "hysical individuality in !e!ory when we have "assed through the #ate of Death we can loo( fro! a later "oint of ti!e at an earlier "oint of ti!e. /t is 0ust as if, fro! a later "eriod, we were loo(ing at what is "hysically "ast as so!ething that is i!!ediately "resent, 0ust as fro! this "oint where / a! standing / can loo(, "hysically, into the corner. he "ast is actually there, living before us, surrounding us. his conce"tions is !ade "articularly vivid by events li(e one that ha""ened a!ong us recently, when we attended the cre!ation of a dear friend, and when her consciousness first ca!e to itself at the !o!ent when the fire sei+ed the "hysical body. $t this !o!ent the consciousness began to be active. &ut before the "hysical body was given over to cre!ation the burial service was held, and it could be seen that this burial service was vividly "resent to the Dead, as vividly as when so!ething is before us in s"ace. JERudolf Steiner and our Dead.F 8hil. $nthr. verlag @not yet in translationAK Such things belong, of course, to the very dee"est esotericis! a!ong us. &ut in the course of !any years we have been striving to !a(e it "ossible to s"ea( a!ong ourselves of things that are veiled in !ysteries 0ust as one s"ea(s of ordinary everyday occurrences. )hat !ay be said now is this, that when these difficult days of the war are over, our esoteric life at all events will have to assu!e a !uch stronger and !ore inti!ate character then, things called forth by the suffering
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through which hu!anity has "assed C / do not !ean the individual suffering which s"rings fro! egotis! but the general suffering undergone by !an(ind as a whole. &ecause of this general suffering it will be "ossible for !uch to be dee"ened in other directions, in directions u"on which silence has "erforce now to be !aintained because hu!an beings are living in a ti!e of general transition. .et us thin( !ore inti!ately still of the e!ergence of the hu!an individuality C of the 6go and the astral body with the etheric body C let us thin( of the e!ergence of the threefold !an fro! the "hysical body. his is a "rocess which lasts for days, beginning when the hu!an being "asses through the gate of Death. his "rocess shows very vividly indeed how cos!ic forces !ay exist in the hu!an etheric body, but it also reveals, as we have seen, the (ar!a that has not been lived out. his is a "rocess that is individually different in different hu!an beings; it is not the sa!e in two hu!an beings. hat is why it is so difficult to describe these things. hey are not the sa!e in two cases; they are everywhere different. /t is of course the case that other ele!ents, as well as this "rocess, are contained in the death s"ectru!, but / cannot describe everything at once. /f we (now of two characteristic "heno!ena contained in this death s"ectru! we already have a !ore inti!ate "icture than when we are only able to associate the ter! Eetheric bodyF with this death s"ectru!. Mar!a that has not been lived out is contained within this death s"ectru! C and this !a(es it "ossible to deal with conflicts in written wor(s of art, to connect this (ar!a that has not been lived out with "rocesses that ta(e "lace after death. $ll that a "urely exoteric writer can do is to "ortray the conflict that has ta(en "lace in life, and then let his characters die. &ut when C as for exa!"le in Sha(es"eare1s wor(s C account is ta(en of esoteric connections in life las / have said on different occasions in indicating what was behind Sha(es"eareA, when a writer shows how things are connected with dee"er laws of life and his descri"tions ta(e account of what lies behind the external ha""enings, then a wor( li(e Ha!let can co!e into being. in what co!es fro! the s"irit of Ha!let1s father we see a great deal of (ar!a that has not been lived out, that is being transfor!ed. he dra!atic conflict for the !ain character of the "lay, for Ha!let, begins through the intervention of the father1s (ar!a which has not been lived out. So an artist who is convinced of the connection of the "hysical with the s"iritual world will often feel co!"elled not to let his hu!an characters si!"ly fade out at death C as !onistic and !aterialistic thin(ers "icture to the!selves C but to indicate that this "assing through death is a beginning of new events and ha""enings that are still !ore concrete than the concrete ha""enings of life between birth and death. /n order to show how art can see( enrich!ent by using earthly life as the starting4"oint for the continuation which then "roceeds in the s"iritual life. / have s"o(en about the tale fro! which / also read an extract yesterday. /t is interesting to find how the ex"erience of (ar!a that has not been lived out can co!e to a !an, how he can describe it. $nd he !ay feel co!"elled to say at the end of his wor(, EHere / feel the (ar!a that has not been lived out.F hen he !ay feel the urge to "ortray, in an ele!entary, real /!agination, how this (ar!a lives itself out. his can be done if life is ta(en in its totality and not !erely in its "hysical as"ect. /n this connection / want to s"ea( of yet another writing although / can indicate its content only very briefly, still !ore briefly than yesterday, because it is a novel of two volu!es. @2/nvincible 8owers3, by Her!an #ri!!A. Bou will see that what is said here also "ortrays an ele!ent of (ar!a that has not been lived out. / will indicate as briefly as "ossible how the story gives ex"ression to this. $ !other co!es with her daughter fro! $!erica to 6uro"e. he father died so!e ti!e ago in $!erica. on their 0ourney in 6uro"e they !eet a !an who is a descendant of an old noble fa!ily, a fa!ily fir!ly rooted in the traditions of aristocracy. 9any things ha""en fro! which it at once beco!es evident to those who observe the s"iritual connections of things that between the !an O2$rthur3 and the two wo!en who! he ha""ens to see in the street while they are going to a theatre, there are (ar!ic lin(s. $nyone who watches the events fro! the "oint of view of S"iritual Science observes this i!!ediately. hese (ar!ic ties lead to very intricate situations. hey ta(e their course in such a way that the whole "resent age, 6uro"ean culture that has grown old and the still young $!erican culture, are described in a great tableau. he whole "resent "icture of 6uro"e and $!erica is described with "oignant concreteness and self4surrendering love. he re"resentatives of these two (inds of culture are $rthur and the two other "ersonalities who have been !entioned. he whole of the "resent ti!e is described in these souls and !any things ha""en which, to those who bear the s"iritual connections in !ind, i!!ediately a""ear as conse7uences of the (ar!a "laying between the!. he external !ilieu, "ictured in the inter"lay between the $!erican outloo( u"on life and the atavistic 6uro"ean outloo(, is connected on the one side with the new, fresh, untouched culture of $!erica, and, on the other, with the atavistic 6uro"ean culture that is si!"ly subsisting on tradition. /n this whole !ilieu there is so!ething that is reflected in the souls of the characters and causes conflict after conflict. $rthur1s father who has died, owned an estate; his whole outloo( had been i!bued with old traditions of the aristocracy; with his !oney, or rather, with the disa""earance of his !oney, he was a "roduct of the old traditions of aristocracy, he had been obliged to sell the estate C as ha""ens so fre7uently in 6uro"e today. he estate has been sold, so that $rthur does not inherit it. /n the noblest way C which is not always the case in such affairs C an i!"rove!ent is brought about in the situation as a result of the attitude ta(en by the $!ericans to 6uro"ean conditions. *aturally, 6!!y has !oney and she is able to retrieve the estate for $rthur. his ha""ens, at all events is about to ha""en.
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&ut an u"start of uncertain origin has re!ained on the scene; he is not 7uite sure of his "arentage but he goes about on the estate li(e a tra!". he estate does not, of course, belong to hi!, but he has a delusion that he is the !aster of it C and now the idea co!es into his head that the estate !ust beco!e his "ro"erty. His "oint of view is that as the estate has been re4ac7uired, his rights have been violated. &ut his ErightsF are only a decadent delusion C he regards hi!self as the !aster of the estate which has long been !ortgaged to the &an(. &e goes about as !entally deranged "eo"le are allowed to go about when they are not dangerous. $ conflict begins, in that this !an is furious about the ac7uisition of the "ro"erty and actually shoots $rthur on the estate when o""ortunity offers. *ow 6!!y has already had terrible ex"eriences; this other ex"erience is added to the! and as a conse7uence of it an illness already "resent in ger!, develo"s. She is in the twenties. Her !other brings her to 9ontreux and in her illness she is cared for there by an $!erican who is extraordinarily well "ortrayed, a 9r. )ilson and so!e others who are in 9ontreux. he descri"tion of this 9r. )ilson is a wonderful "iece of writing; the whole of *orth $!erica see!s to be "ersonified in hi! ... it is all !ade wonderfully alive. &ut in s"ite of the care she receives C fro! the doctor too, who co!es into her life and is a (ind of rival to $rthur, an old friend of his C she cannot be cured. She dies ... and her death is described. /n the light of S"iritual Science, therefore, let us observe that here we have, in the sense, a case of (ar!a which in !any res"ects has not been lived out; we have to do with conflicts arising, in the !ain, between $!erica and 6uro"e; it is a case of (ar!a that si!"ly has been brought to an end by a shot fro! a gun. $nyone who realises this will naturally as(, if he is not !aterialistically !inded, C 2)here is the reality, what ha""ens to this unlived4out (ar!a i!!ediately after death, where will it continueH3 C his further continuance of (ar!a that has not been lived out will be felt by a !an who is not a !aterialist. /f he is an artist he will feel co!"elled to give so!e indication about it, and we actually find such an indication at the end of the writing. / need only read a few lines. C $rthur is dead, he has been shot. 9other and daughter go to 9ontreux. 6!!y is ill for so!e ti!e and in her last drea! $rthur a""ears to her. /t is evident at once that this is no ordinary drea!4"icture but an actual intervention of the real $rthur in the "hysical world. he !o!ent of death is described as follows, C 2&etween !idnight and dawn she thought she had wa(ened. Her first glance at the window through which the faint light was strea!ing into the roo!, was free and clear, and she (new where she was. Her !other who was slee"ing near her, heard her breathing. he next !inute, however, with a weight she had never before ex"erienced, overwhel!ing fear ca!e over her. /t was no longer the thoughts that had been troubling her the last days, but it was as if a gigantic hand were holding all the !ountains of the earth over her on a thin thread, $nd at any !o!ent the hand !ight o"en and hurl doo! the great !asses which would lie u"on her for all eternity. She tried to loo( within herself and outside herself, see(ing for a gli!!er of light; but none ca!e. the light fro! the window had vanished, her !other1s breathing was no longer to be heard, and a suffocating loneliness surrounded her. /t was as if she would never reach life again. She wanted to call out but could not; she wanted to !ove but no li!b obeyed her. 6verything was still and dar( and no thought would co!e in this terrible !onotonous state of fear in which even re!e!brance had de"arted ... and then, finally, one thought returns, $rthurG )onderful to tell, it was as though this single thought had changed into a "oint of light, visible to the eye. $nd as the thought grew to infinite longing, so did this light grow and ex"and, and suddenly see!ed to divide, unfold and ta(e on a for! ... $rthur was there before her she saw, and finally recognised hi!. /t was certainly he hi!self. He s!iled and was close beside her. She did not notice whether he was na(ed or clothed, but it was he; she (new hi! too well; it was he hi!self, no "hanto! who had assu!ed his sha"e. He stretched his hand towards her and said, E-o!e,F *ever had his voice see!ed so sweet and attractive as now. )ith all the "ower of which she was ca"able, she tried to raise her ar!s towards hi!; be she could not. He ca!e still nearer and stretched his hand closer to her, E-o!eGF he said once again. o 6!!y it was as though the "ower with which she tried to bring one word through her li"s would have been able to !ove !ountains, but she could not utter even this one word. $rthur loo(ed at her and she at hi!. :ne !ove!ent of a finger now and she would have touched hi!. $nd now the !ost terrible thing of all, he see!ed to be going away again, E-o!eGF he said for the third ti!e. )ith the feeling that he had s"o(en for the last ti!e, that the dreadful dar(ness would again hide the heavenly vision of hi!, she was filled now with a fear that s"lit her as the frost s"lits trees and !ade the final effort to raise her ar!s to hi!. but the weight and coldness which held her ca"tive were not to be overco!e.. $nd then, as a bud brea(s and a flower grows before our eyes, shining ar!s ca!e forth fro! her own ar!s, shining shoulders fro! her shoulders; these ar!s stretched towards $rthur1s ar!s and he, gras"ing her hands with his hands and slowly hovering bac(wards, drew her with hi!, together with the whole shining for! that has arisen fro! the body of 6!!y.3 his !o!ent of death, this e!ergence of the etheric body, the "assing over of the death s"ectru! into the cos!ic real!s, is wonderfully described. /n this death s"ectru!, s"iritually and concretely described as it e!erges fro! the body, there is contained the )ill that is ta(ing sha"e; this death s"ectru! contains the (ar!a that was not live out between $rthur and 6!!y. / 7uote this second exa!"le because you saw fro! the tale yesterday how the death s"ectru! co!es to the still living "ersonality. &ut here we have to do with two "urely s"iritual entities, with the etheric body of $rthur which has already undergone !any transfor!ations in the s"iritual world and with 6!!y1s e!erging death s"ectru!. /t is therefore an old relationshi", (ar!a that has not been lived out, that is "laying between $rthur1s etheric body and 6!!y1s death s"ectru! which is 0ust "assing into the s"iritual world. So!ething that has not been "layed out in life, so!ething that is unlived4out (ar!a, is "roceeding here in the s"iritual world.
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)e !ust really try to gras" in its reality what is "resent as the first !o!ent after the hu!an individuality has "assed through the gate of Death. the unlived4out (ar!a is freed fro! the individuality C the individuality can only live out his (ar!a in a subse7uent incarnation C it is freed, and beco!es cos+ic, cos!ic ha""enings are the result of it. $nd in !uch that ha""ens in the clouds, on the !ountains, in the s"rings, but also in !uch that ha""ens in the subconscious "rocesses of the soul4life of hu!an beings living on the earth, unlived4out (ar!a is being ex"ressed, (ar!a that has ta(en over into the s"iritual world and is li(e a wells"ring in this death s"ectru!. For these cos!ic ha""enings "lay continually into hu!an life; we are "er!eated by the!, interwoven in the!. C hus we !ust distinguish between what beco!es cos+ic when the hu!an being "asses through the gate of Death, and what re!ains individual. )hat re!ains of the "hysical body beco!es "ree!inently cos!ic, this "asses over C slowly in earth burial !ore 7uic(ly in cre!ation C into the ele!entary, the !ore "hysical4ele!entary world of earth; and it is a gross, !aterialistic idea to believe that this then si!"ly disa""ears or functions li(e the che!ical ele!ents. his is nonsense, and we shall see to!orrow how it goes on living in the "lanet, how significant it is for the "lanet. /t lives on in the "lanetary life. he che!ists1 (nowledge of what beco!es of the "hysical body a!ounts to nothing at all; for the earth has its essential subsistence fro! the fact that hu!an beings have died u"on it C its !ore i!"ortant forces are derived fro! this source. he earth has its subsistence fro! the "hysical nature of hu!an beings who have died. here, therefore, so!ething beco!es cos!ic fro! the "hysical body; the other beco!es cos!ic fro! the etheric body. $nd / have tried today to indicate what beco!es cos!ic fro! the ether4aura; what re!ains, and has beco!e cos!ic lives on as individuality in the higher s"iritual world. Bou will find it !entioned in !ore detail in the boo(s 2 heoso"hy3 or 2$n outline of :ccult Science.3 his lives on as individuality and / will s"ea( about it to!orrow. &ut we !ust realise that what lives on individually begins to live in new conditions which differ essentially fro! the ordinary conditions of earthly existence. -areful study of the vienna lecture4course on the life between death and a new birth will give you a conce"tion of what ha""ens during this "eriod. )e cannot really understand the nature of the conditions which "revail between death and a new birth if we have hot !ade these conce"tions alive within us. he &i+e that is "resented to our "hysical outloo( as "ast, "resent and future, continuing onwards in a straight line, is really a "hysical 9aya. $t death we enter into a different world, where the "ast exists not only in !e!ory, but is actually "resent; it is all around the hu!an being who is living in conditions where his inner being is revealed as his outer being; his inner being of soul is there in direct !anifestation C the being who has sha"ed the body as well as the "hysical incarnation between birth and death. he way in which we !ust a""roach one who has "assed through the #ate of Death is not an act of external "erce"tion but an inner sharing of his ex"eriences. he individuality is fully "resent when the #ate of Death has been "assed, although, as / have said, the hu!an being has to find his bearings and direction within his su"erabundant consciousness. &ut what he is in hi!self, the essential core of his being, is there as a real "resence, although it !ay not as yet be connected with his consciousness. /t is there. )hat a !an is in his essential being can be seen, and the ex"eriences shared. )hen / have s"o(en during the sad occasions caused by the recent loss of dear friends, / have always tried to s"ea( out of their being. / will give one or two indications C as far as this is "er!issible here C concerning the last three friends who have died. / have tried si!"ly to s"ea( out of these souls the!selves, as it were to let the! s"ea( with !e. $nd when / loo( bac( / realise that there were very good reasons for s"ea(ing 7uite differently in each of the three individual cases C for hu!an beings are individually different. / ad!it 7uite fran(ly that this was not in !y consciousness when the words were coined. /t ca!e entirely out of the situation itself. 9oreover words which have to be coined for S"iritual Science and also for the life into which S"iritual science leads us, are coined and unfold in the best and truest way when they are absolutely uncolored by any wish e!anating fro! life. if we are to snea( truly and accurately in the do!ain of S"iritual Science we !ust (ee" entirely aloof fro! any wish to coin this or that in a "articular way. )e !ust hold at a distance every wish that things !ight be this or that. )hen it is a 7uestion of s"ea(ing at the cre!ation of a dear friend there is naturally no )ish to s"ea( the words that were actually uttered. /n such circu!stances the words will certainly not be s"o(en out of any wish, but only out of the necessity. For naturally, the only wish that could be "resent in such a case is that such words should not have to be s"o(en. his attitude hel"s the coining of the words. o !e it was very significant C and / say this without any "retensions whatever that in the case of dear Frau #rossheint+ / had to s"ea( si!"ly as the organ of ex"ression for this soul. $ soul who had "assed through a long earthly life, who in her last years, with so !uch deter!ination and energy, had united all her forces with the i!"ulses of S"iritual Science ... united the! in a way that "erha"s only a few a!ong us have done ... who had !ade S"iritual Science one with her own initiatives in life C such a soul then "asses through the #ate of Death into a life that arises not as a theoretical life but as a life of real and vital i!"ulses, born of S"iritual Science. his life is actually there, even if the soul has not yet wa(ened sufficiently to be aware of it. /t is the characteristic ele!ent in the being who is beco!ing free. $nd so you will ad!it that the words / had to s"ea( @at the cre!ationA actually contain
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what / will call,, transfor!ed S"iritual Science, S"iritual Science that has beco!e will, that has beco!e feeling. his soul had had a long earthly life and "assed through the gate of Death with !ature etheric forces. :ne was co!"elled in this case, to s"ea( entirely out of the soul itself. he !ain words necessarily too( a for! as if the soul itself were s"ea(ing, /n )eltenweiten will ich tragen fuhlend Her+, dass war! es werde /! Feuer heil 1gen Mraftewir(ens; /n )eltgedan(en will ich weben Das eigne Den(en, dass (lar es werde /! .icht des ew1gen )erde4.ebens; /n Seelengrunde will ich tauchen 6rgeb1nes Sinnen, dass star( es werde Fur 9enschenwir(ens wahre Piele; /n gottes Ruhe streb1ich so 9it .ebens(a!"fen und !it Sorgen, 9ein Selbst +u! hohern Selbst bereitend; *ach arbeitfreud1ge! Frieden trachtend, 6rahnend )elten4Seins i! 6igensein, 9ocht1 ich die 9enschen"flicht erfullen; 6rwartend leben darf ich dann 6ntgegen !eine! Seelensterne, Der !ir i! #eistgebiet den :rt erteilt ... he inner !obility and life of this soul is revealed in that the first ti!e @at the beginning of the serviceA the words had to be, 26ntgegen !eine! Seelensterne,3 and at the end of the service, 26ntgegen !eine! Schic(saltsterne.3 /t is the nearness one !ust have to the soul who has "assed through the #ate of Death which calls forth such words C words which are characteristic of the being of the individuality after death. )hat / have to say concerning the other two cases will be said to!orrow.

The Problem of Death 333

Schmidt (umber% S$&'!5

Fe ruary ." #$#! %ornach /n connection with !any "ainful events that have recently ha""ened we have been considering the 8roble! of Death. / should li(e to call your attention today first to so!ething of a !ore general character which is connected with the "roble! and which can be discovered through the !eans given us by /nitiation Science. :ne !ust "icture to oneself that when the hu!an being "asses through the gate of death he co!es into a world which is 7uite different for hi! fro! what is often i!agined. /t is a tendency in hu!an nature which !ay very well be understood, to "icture the real! on the other side of death, the s"iritual (ingdo! into which we enter through the #ate of Death, as being si!ilar to the (ingdo! of the !ind and senses in which we live between birth and death. / say it is an understandable tendency to "icture this (ingdo! on the other side of death so!ewhat as a (ind of continuation of the (ingdo! here. &ut one is then in error. For it is difficult to find words fro! the treasures of our s"eech which !a(e it "ossible to characterise the ex"eriences between death and a new birth, words which are even in a slight degree ade7uate. / have, as you (now, often !entioned that our s"eech is calculated for the "hysical world and we !ust, as it were, ad0ust our relation inwardly to the words if we wish to !a(e the! words ca"able of ex"ressing that which lies on the other side of death. 9oreover the !ode in which these words co!e forth fro! the soul when the soul !ust characterise so!ething which lies on the other side of death is 7uite different fro! the !ode in which words co!e forth fro! us in the world of the !ind and senses. his !ode of ex"ressing oneself about the s"iritual world, its beings and its "heno!ena is !uch !ore a self4 surrender to this s"iritual world and a letting oneself be bestowed u"on the words. Such words as / have co!!unicated to you in res"ect of "ersons who have died were not for!ed as one for!s words when one wants to bring so!ething to ex"ression in the outer "hysical world, but they were so for!ed as if they "oured
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into one1s soul fro! the being in 7uestion. So that the being gives the!, "ours the! in, and we now have the feeling that C we are ex"ressing so!ething or other that we see through these words, but we have throughout the feeling, through us so!ething is ex"ressing itself, so!ething that uses us to a certain extent, as its organ, in order to ex"ress itself, in order to ob0ectify itself in s"iritual s"eech. So it is 7uite a different "roceeding, it is a self4surrender with one1s soul to the being with who! one is concerned, and such a self4surrender that the being finds the "ossibility of ex"ressing with our instru!ents its own inner nature and its own inner ex"eriences. )hen one fra!es the word it is not li(e the ada"ting of oneself to so!ething external, but li(e a surrender of the word to the being in 7uestion, li(e a "lacing of the word at this being1s dis"osal, so that the being can then itself !a(e use of our words. hus it is 7uite a different !ethod of "lacing oneself in ob0ectiveness, fro! the !ethod here in the world of the !ind and senses. :ne of the very first conditions, therefore, of gaining a right relation to the s"iritual world, is a certain !obility of the inner nature, a certain ada"tability to the !ost varied individuals, a continuous "ossibility of going out fro! oneself and beta(ing oneself into other individuals. /f one really wants to ex"ress with a certain surety of ai! C if / !ay "ut it thus C that which is in the su"ersensible world and lives therein, as is the case with one who has gone through the gate of death, one !ust first and fore!ost be healed of what can be called the earthly ego4delusion. :ne !ust have succeeded in thin(ing of oneself as little as "ossible, in setting oneself as little as "ossible in the central "oint of the universe. :ne !ust, if one has a strong "redilection for s"ea(ing a good deal about oneself, for brooding a good deal over oneself, con7uer this tendency; since this !uch s"ea(ing of oneself, !uch brooding over oneself, is actually the very worst "ath to self4 (nowledge. /f one has the tendency to s"ea( !uch of oneself, to 0udge everything so that first of all one is !indful of how one is oneself "laced in the world, and what one signifies to the world, if one has this tendency, then one is badly fitted for finding oneself rightly in the s"iritual world or for bringing anything at all of the s"iritual to ex"ression. :ne is !ost occu"ied with oneself in the s"iritual sense when in the earthly sense one is least so occu"ied, thin(s about oneself least, for what in the earthly sense is the !ost interesting of all to us, the connection of the world with our own "erson, is for the s"iritual world the !ost devoid of i!"ortance. So we shall always find that the way into the true s"iritual reality beco!es very difficult when at every o""ortunity we !ust find occasions, according to our inner nature, to s"ea( of ourselves, to s"ea( of what we could be worth to the world, if need be, and so forth C less or !ore. /f we e!"loy these !ethods in ordinary life, which is also ruled inwardly by s"iritual forces and i!"ulses, we do not get on well. Here one can find the !ost re!ar(able connections. / have !et with "eo"le who for instance greatly la!ented that they found it extraordinarily difficult to get u", that the decision to lift the!selves u" was very difficult. / have even !ade the ac7uaintance of "eo"le who have cal!ly ac(nowledged that if there were no external circu!stance co!"elling the! to rise, on the whole they would "refer not to get u" at all. :ne can always find an inner connection between the whole being of !an and such a "redilection. hese "eo"le as a rule would be those who tell one !uch, very !uch about the!selves, who have a great deal to say about what is sy!"athetic or anti"athetic to the!, what they have co!e across in this or that "lace, to their benefit or detri!ent ... and si!ilar things. :ne who desires to "re"are hi!self "ro"erly for a really ob0ective gras" of the s"iritual world !ust "ay attention to such connections. For we !ust observe life if we wish to enter into reality. $nd you !ay be 7uite sure of this, as hu!an beings, through our natural "redis"osition, there is nothing as a rule to which we are less dis"osed, than to ta(e life ob0ectively. )e are to nothing so !uch inclined as to ta(e ourselves in too !uch earnest and to observe outer life with too little earnestness. :ne only struggles through 7uite gradually to words which can then beco!e really true guiding lines of life, and with great geniuses one can often see how they go through a great deal, in order then to i!"ress their whole life4wisdo! into a single word. hen this signifies so!ething 7uite different fro! what it would when s"o(en by 0ust anyone in the ordinary daily course. / once drew attention C it was in connection with the lectures which / held in *orr(Q"ing C to how easily one can utter the great, the i!"ressive words of the aged >ohn, 2-hildren, love one another.3 &ut it !eans so!ething 7uite different if a foolish "erson, so!e youngster says it, or if >ohn says it at the end of a full life in which !uch, very !uch had been undergone here u"on earth. /t is not only a !atter of whether the saying is true, but also fro! what bac(ground of the soul it is s"o(en, fro! what bac(ground it arises. #oethe, too, fro! a rich, full life, wrestled through to a beautiful saying, the dee" !eaning of which one !ust fatho!, though it cannot be understood as "eo"le i!agine, using it in every situation of life. o understand it thus is C / should li(e to use the "aradoxical ter! C far too si!"le, for to understand it thus is "ossible for every child. &ut as it !ust be understood, as #oethe understood it u"on the foundation of a rich, and over rich life4ex"erience C / refer to the words, 2Mnow thyself and live in "eace with the world3 C is not "ossible to every child. &ut the lin(ing together of these two sentences shows us that there is no self4(nowledge which does not really lead to the sentence 2.ive in "eace with the world.3 / really wanted to review all these things as !uch as "ossible in detail since they are far !ore i!"ortant than you at first believe. &ut / !ust indicate the! and leave !uch to your own !editation. / should li(e only to "oint out that,
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according to the state!ents of !any "ersons there is a lac( of !aterial for !editation. "ut there is really no lac( of it, if one only has the goodwill to let the !editation !aterial be found in life, offer itself as such fro! life. *ow he who "asses through the "ortal of death is directly, through this fact, re!oved fro! all the illusory relationshi"s in which he lives, in which he is ensnared here, so long as he dwells in the "hysical body. He is re!oved fro! the! for they were forced u"on hi! as we (now through the fact of his being incor"orated in the "hysical body. He is above all re!oved fro! !any functions which had beco!e sy!"athetic to hi! in the life between birth and death, and which naturally, since he lac(s the "hysical body, he can no longer carry out after death. he whole !ode of living, of the relation to the universe, beco!es a co!"letely different one, and you can get an idea when you !editate u"on the ?ienna cycle 2.ife between Death and a *ew &irth3, of the 7uite different !anner in which one !ust "lace oneself to the world if one desires to !a(e conce"ts about this life between death and a new birth. :ne !ust only try, falteringly to coin the words which were sought for there, to ex"erience the! 7uite inti!ately. /n such !atters this is i!"eratively necessary. / have already "ointed out recently that the !o!ent of death is really not to be co!"ared with the !o!ent of birth into "hysical hu!an life exce"t su"erficially. /n the ordinary course of life, if one is not su""orted by clairvoyant (nowledge, one does not re!e!ber bac( to the "hysical birth in the "hysical body. hrough the ca"acities given us by the earth we re!e!ber no further bac( than the fact of being born C not even so far. /f there are "eo"le today who believe that they (now everything through the senses, they do not reflect that they cannot (now the very origin of their earth4life through sense4i!"ressions. hey can only (now it by being infor!ed about their birth or by being told on the foundation of an often not consciously but in fact unconsciously acce"ted inference. here are only these two !ethods of (nowing that one has been born if one has not the aid of clairvoyant forces; C to have it related to one, or to !a(e a deduction, an inference C other !en were born, / a! si!ilar to other !en, therefore at so!e ti!e / too was born. $ correct deduction. $nd any other !ethod of arriving at the fact of one1s own birth with earthly forces, exce"t to be told about it, or to !a(e this inference by analogy, any other !ethod than these two does not exist for the faculties of earth, so already by the effort to co!e to a (nowledge of our own birth we discover that it is not "ossible to find a foundation for the truth of it in !ere ex"erience of the senses. he !o!ent of death is utterly dissi!ilar fro! the !o!ent of birth, for one can always behold the !o!ent of death, whereas one cannot with ordinary earthly faculties in the "hysical body behold the !o!ent of birth. in the s"iritual world in the ti!e between death and new birth one can always behold the !o!ent of death fro! the instant when one has brought it for the first ti!e to one1s consciousness. here it stands although not "erha"s as we see it with its terror, fro! this side of life, but it stands there a wonderfully beautiful event of life, as a co!ing forth of the soul and s"irit nature of the hu!an being fro! the "hysical4sensible sheath, it stands there as the liberation of the )illing and Feeling i!"ulses fro! the fleeting, the ob0ective fleeting hought4being. hat directly after death a "erson is not in a "osition to behold this this !o!ent of death i!!ediately, is connected with the fact that we have, not too little consciousness, after death, after the entrance of death, but on the contrary, that we have too !uch consciousness. :nly re!e!ber what is said in the ?ienna lectures, that we find ourselves not in too little wisdo! but in too !uch wisdo!, in an unending, overflowing wisdo! "ressing u"on us fro! all sides. o be without wisdo! is i!"ossible to us after death. his co!es over us li(e a light, flooding us fro! every direction, and we !ust first succeed in circu!scribing ourselves, in orientating ourselves, where to begin with if we are not orientated. hus through this circu!scribing of the whole highly4"itched consciousness down to the degree of self4consciousness which we can bear in accordance with our earthly "re"aration for death, we co!e to that which we call 2the awa(ening3 after death. )e awa(e directly after death too vividly, and we !ust first di!inish this awa(ening to the degree corres"onding to the faculties which we have "re"ared for ourselves through our ex"eriences in our various earth4incarnations. So it is a struggle to stand our ground in the consciousness brea(ing in u"on us fro! all sides. $nd now co!es so!ething in which we !ust all C both after death and also if we would rightly enter /nitiation C first cure ourselves, as it were, of the habits of the "hysical4sensible life. /n order to be thoroughly understood / should li(e to lin( this on to so!ething. )hen we began in &erlin to carry on our !ove!ent of S"iritual Science in 7uite a s!all circle, we were at first 0oined by various "eo"le. )e were at that ti!e a very s!all circle. :ne day not long after we had begun to wor(, a !e!ber of this circle ca!e and ex"lained that he !ust withdraw again. He had seen that we were not on the right "ath, for it was not a !atter of see(ing all the things that we sought, but of see(ing 5nity. hat was an idee fi/e with this "erson. /n a long conversation he develo"ed the fixed idea of 5nity and then left us in order to see( unity. He thought to arrive at the su"ersensible 0ust through this see(ing for 5nity, through this idee fi/e of 5nity. &ut the idea of oneness or unity is so!ething only resulting fro! the last abstractions of the outer "hysical life. his striving after oneness is in fact the !ost !aterial towards which one can strive. /t is "recisely of this oneness4striving that one !ust be cured if one wishes to stand correctly in the s"iritual world. Here in the sense world it is so easy to say, we !ust see( oneness everywhere, we !ust see( unity in the "lurality, in the !ulti"licity. &ut that is so!ething which only has significance for the "hysical sense world here. For when we "ass through the gate of death then we do not have !ulti"licity, but so!ething
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which co!es before our soul as an overwhel!ing consciousness. )hen we have "assed through the "ortal of death we have nothing but oneness around us, continuous oneness. it is then a !atter of rightly finding "lurality, !ulti"licity. )e !ust strive there for nothing else than to co!e out of oneness into !ulti"licity. *ow / should li(e to give you a correctly for!ed idea of how a "erson co!es into !ulti"licity out of oneness. .et us su""ose that one "asses through the "ortal of death, enters into this world of surging s"iritual life of wisdo!. :ne enters first into this world, which to begin with stu"efies us when we awa(en there. )e do not distinguish ourselves within it at all. So !uch is it oneness that we do not distinguish ourselves in it, we do not !a(e a differentiation between ourselves and the universe, but rather we belong co!"letely to the universe; all is one. &ut now let us answer the 7uestion, and / "ray you to "onder not a little but very !uch u"on the answer that / will give. *ow we re"ly to a 7uestion, )hat actually is this oneness into which we are there receivedH Re!e!ber all the beings of the higher hierarchies of which nine are (nown to you, or ten if we count !an(ind. /n each hierarchy is a whole host of beings. hese all thin(. /t is not !an alone who thin(s. $ll the beings of these higher hierarchies thin(. -onsider therefore this whole host of beings in who! we are received when we have ste""ed through the "ortal of death. hey are around us, for in ste""ing through the "ortal of death we are received by the co!"lete fullness of being. $t first we do not "erceive the!. )e are within the!, but we do not "erceive the!. hat which surges around us at first is 0ust this oneness. &ut what is this onenessH /t is the thoughts of all the hierarchies !erging into one another. )hat all the hierarchies thin( together; this thought4world of the hierarchies indistinguished as to what one hierarch, what the other hierarch thin(s; C this is the .ight4&eing of hought that surges round us, this oneness. herefore we live in the thoughts of the hierarchies flowing together to a oneness. herein we live. $nd now what is the further course of our life after deathH :ur concern is to gain a relation to the se"arate beings, to lift ourselves out of the ocean of thought where all the thoughts of the hierarchies flow together, and to gain a relation to the single beings, to the !ulti"licity. $fter death we !ust not only gain a relation to the co!!ingled unity of the surging hought4essence of the hierarchies C for that is given to us, but we !ust wor( through so that we gain a relationshi" to the single beings of the hierarchies. How do we gain thisH *ow at first we are flooded with this ocean of the thoughts of the hierarchies !erging and flowing together. through what we have ac7uired for ourselves in our "hysical body there condenses at the gate of death to which we loo( bac(, our own inner being lifting itself out of the !aterial coverings. hat gives us strength of will. hat gives a will4i!"ulse of a feeling nature, and a feeling4i!"ulse of a will4nature. hese we inwardly beco!e aware of in beholding the being which ascends fro! the body which we are after death. hrough this we are in the "osition to so!e extent of attracting our 2will4 rays.3 $nd when we "lace such a will4ray so!ewhere, which we create out of the force of death, which is born with death, then we obliterate at another "lace, and at a third "lace, etc. at various "laces through the strength of our will4i!"ulse we obliterate the thought4world surging around us. $nd inas!uch as we obliterate it there co!es to !eet us in the hollow s"ace of the surging ocean of thought, if / !ay say so, the thought of a hierarch, the being that lives within it in the s"iritual world. )hereas here in the "hysical world we exert ourselves to find a thought for the thing which we see, in the s"iritual world, where, as / have "ointed out, thought stands in "rofusion at one1s bec( and call, we !ust obliterate the thought, drive it away. hen the beings a""roach us. )e !ust be !aster of the thoughts, then the beings a""roach us. $nd the strength to beco!e !aster of the thought, to cast the thought out of our field of sight, as it were, whereby the being a""roaches us in the sea of the surging thought4world, this strength we receive through the fact that as a beautiful beginning of our s"iritual life after death the vision of dying, of death itself, co!es to !eet us, and beco!es our teacher in the obliterating. For death beco!es to us after death the teacher of obliterating, the sti!ulator of that will force wherewith we !ust obliterate the thoughts in the surging sea of light. Herewith is indicated the entirely different !anner in which the hu!an being stands to his surroundings after death and before; how he !ust "roceed in the world of the senses by establishing hi!self there, having the at!os"here around hi! and then being obliged to wait until so!ething co!es into the at!os"here. :n the other hand, after death he !ust so "roceed that he has the .ight4s"here of hought around hi! and within it he !ust then hi!self obliterate the thoughts that lie before hi! in his field of vision, in which the beings concerned then a""ear to hi!. For here one has to do with beings, as / have indicated in !y boo(, 2 he hreshold of the S"iritual )orld.3 hus one co!es out of unity into !ulti"licity. 9onis! in the sense understood by !any "eo"le is only a world4conce"t for the #ate of Death. For there in the !ost !ar(ed degree an urgent necessity arises for see(ing !ulti"licity. o see( oneness is a last fetter, a theoretical fetter of life as understood by the senses.

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&ut what is it then that we actually acco!"lish thereH )ell, it is an activity by which we !a(e roo! for the hierarchies to a""roach us. :ur being, as you (now, is then s"read over the whole universe @/ have re"eatedly s"o(en of this,A and we !a(e roo! by creating these hollow "laces, as it were, so that what is ob0ective to us after death, can a""ear. *ever can what is ob0ective in the s"iritual world a""ear to us if we ta(e our own being into the s"iritual world; we can only discern the other in the s"iritual world if on the s"ot where the other is to a""ear we obliterate our own being; and that ha""ens in this way. his is an inner characteri+ation of the "rocess which is also necessary if we wish to reach the dead in the !anner / described to you at the beginning of the lecture, where one has to ac7uire the "ower of letting the dead s"ea(, of letting the dead ex"ress the!selves. :ne !ust then try to drive away one1s thin(ing and feeling fro! where the dead is, to drive away oneself, and where one has driven that away, i!"ulses co!e forth fro! the de"th of being which, without our will, "lace the words in our !outh which !ust co!e to us if we wish to ex"ress the ob0ective being of one who is not incor"orated in the "hysical body. Bou see, that which here in the "hysical world is in a way the wea(est in !an, willing and feeling, @they are the wea(est "arts of the hu!an soul and the !ost unclearA, over which we are least !aster, gains a s"ecial significance if we are to "erceive in the s"iritual world. :n the other hand, that which here in the "hysical world is the strongest of all, thought4conce"ts C we "refer to life, as you (now, in illusion and conce"ts, since there we can be !ost do!inant C is the wea(est in the s"iritual world. :ne cannot !a(e !uch beginning there with illusions, for illusions still disguise for us this overflowing oneness of thought4essence. :ur concern is not an exercising of the life of thought, but a develo"!ent of our life of will and feeling, and this too is the essential in !editation. /n !editation it does not !atter so !uch )hat we "icture, but, as / have e!"hasised re"eatedly, to "icture with inner strength. it is a !atter of inner energy, of feeling and sensation while we !editate, that is, of a will ele!ent which we develo" in !editation, and which we develo" !ore strongly if we have so to exert ourselves as in !editation we ought to exert ourselves, s"iritually exert ourselves. )hat is !ost o""osed of all to real "rogress in the s"iritual world is the longing to drea!, the longing to for! illusions about outer reality, because in this way we !a(e our will continually wea(er and wea(er. :ne !a(es the will wea(est of all if one cultivates the "arasites of the life of idea, if one !a(es illusions for oneself over all sorts of external things. $bove all, they way into the s"iritual world does not draw near to us by our holding life at a distance, but by understanding that not an i!"overish!ent of the outer life, but only an enrich!ent, can lead into the s"iritual world. 8eo"le would li(e so !uch to grow into the s"iritual world through wea(ness and not through strength. :ne grows into the s"iritual world by wea(ness if the outer world, the world of life, does not interest one, when one cannot fulfill the #oethe !axi! 2Mnow thyself, and live in "eace with the world.3 / should li(e to "oint out before / go further in these studies of death, that in all hu!an activity of an artistic nature there !ust lie as foundation a 2"laying in3 of that activity of the hu!an soul which is necessary for this hu!an soul after death. $s regards artistic activity it is "recisely the will4ele!ent which !ust be i!"regnated into the artist fro! the s"iritual world, not so !uch the ele!ent of observation. in our age of the decay of art and es"ecially of artistic labour, the o""osite is ta(ing "lace. /n our age of degeneration that ele!ent is being elaborated even in the artistic world, which !a(es the conce"tual life !ore so"histicated. herefore in our age, artists are beco!ing !ore and !ore de"endent on !odels and co"ies. hey can do extre!ely little if they have no !odels or co"ies. Hence in our age it will co!e about !ore and !ore that the artist will isolate hi!self in his art. &ut it can never reach real art if one isolates oneself in art. hat is the o""osite of what ought to be. )hat ha""ens, then, if so!eone is creating a hu!an being through art, in "ainting or scul"ture, and he does not occu"y hi!self with the inner forces which build u" this hu!an being, with the dyna!ic forces, but !erely goes out and gets a !odel and uses the !odel as one uses things in loo(ing at the!H He is then de"arting fro! the real "rinci"le of artistic creation. $rtistic creation begins when one creates an inwardly willed "icture of how the nose stands out here, of how the forehead is vaulted there; one does not see the things outwardly, but can "enetrate into the! inwardly. hat is what !atters. $nd so in a s"ecial way it is also the case with nature. /n nature it is a !atter of really living within the activities of nature. $nd here / will call your attention to so!ething which the hu!an being i!!ediately ex"eriences when he has "assed through the "ortal of death, which here, in the "hysical world, however, re!ains !ore or less un(nown to hi!. )hen we "aint, we "aint "referably that which is s"read, one !ight say, over the surface of things. )e "aint light and shade. )e "aint colours. *ow outer nature is furnished with light and colour fro! the fact that she does not acce"t the!, but throws the! bac(. :ver there is the ob0ect and it throws us bac( light and colour. hat is between us and the ob0ect. 9ineral things are, for instance, !inerals, because they cannot receive light and colour, )ithin, because they reflect the! externally. )here with in the colour, !an lives with his soul. $fter death he withdraws into it at once; there he (nows hi!self in light and colour, but here he does not (now hi!self within the!. )hen he co!es before the landsca"e as
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landsca"e "ainter, he !ust have so!ething of what is between hi! and the landsca"e, he !ust be able to rise into it, he !ust, as it were, bring so!ething into the "hysical world which only actually beco!es reality when the hu!an being has "assed through the gate of death. his gives the si!ilarity between artistic creation and the standing within the s"iritual world, although the artist is for the !ost "art unaware that the s"iritual world "ulsates and flows through hi!, nor is he conscious of the necessity of being "ulsated through by the s"iritual world. 8recisely on this account the design of our building has been !ade as it has been !ade, because we !ust "ay attention as / have often said, 0ust to what is not there, not to what is there. >ust the hollow for!s which have been left free have to be considered, not what is actually there. /n so far, through carrying our strea! of S"iritual Science into the "ractical do!ain, a beginning has been !ade which had to be !ade in our "resent e"och of culture. Bou see, such inter4"enetrations of the s"iritual world into hu!an life as through, let us say, the Death S"ectru!, were by no !eans so unusual in ti!es lying not so very far behind us. oday it is so!ething unusual, and as a natural gift it will beco!e !ore and !ore unusual. it will occur less and less as a natural gift. &ut the less the hu!an being here in the "hysical world can for! so!e (ind of connection with the s"iritual !anifoldness, the !ore he will be fettered when he has "assed through the gate of death. he "ossibility of creating those hollow for!s would entirely cease if !an(ind should 7uite lose connection with the s"iritual world, as Faust necessarily ha""en in the !ere external "rogress of world events. )e (now that the old clairvoyance !ust beco!e entirely lost. but if that inner relation to the s"iritual world were not to be re4established through S"iritual Science, a !an would gradually lose the "ossibility, after death, of actually living in the s"iritual world, of having a real, actual existence. hrough the bac(ward4survey of his life, which always re!ains for hi!, where the beholding of death is so!ething 7uite actual, he would be s"ell4bound, al!ost as if confined in a "rison. herefore in the case of those who, if / !ay say so, go through the gate of death strengthened by S"iritual Science, it is to be seen that co!"aratively 7uic(ly after death they gain freedo!, free activity in the s"iritual world. Hence the "oint is for a !an to re"lace by the strengthening of S"iritual Science what was earlier given to hi! by natural a"titude C the gaining of a relation to the su"er4sensible, to s"iritual "heno!ena. /f fro! a natural a"titude one can see so!ething li(e a Death S"ectru! @and "eo"le in earlier ti!es which do not lie so far behind us used always to see the death4s"ectru! C only it is a lost facultyA C one sees this death4s"ectru! through the se"aration fro! the body. his enables one to see the single, individual "heno!ena. hese single "heno!ena are carved out of the oneness ... and that is the i!"ortant thing ... this carving out of the oneness ... to learn how to do this. taut the "ossibility of learning how to do it is entirely lost with the loss of the natural, atavistic clairvoyance, and it !ust be re"laced by growing into S"iritual science. /t will be this strengthening given by S"iritual Science, through which the necessary faculty for artistic creation in every s"here will be called forth in the future. he scul"tor, the "ainter, the "oet, will not be able to create if they do not strengthen the!selves through S"iritual Science. oday "eo"le are still afraid of this. &ut the fear which co!es to ex"ression when a !usician, a "ainter, a "oet, says, ESince / have to engage in and struggle with all !anner of things this (ills the original artistic creative "ower in !eF C can be heard everywhere. his is only a fear of the strength that is necessary if the do!ain of hu!an art is really to last into the future. 9en are still afraid today of what in their inner being !ust co!e forth "recisely as the strongest force. i!es will co!e in hu!an evolution where artistic faculties !ust ri"en through the strengthening ac7uired through S"iritual Science. hen, at all events, there will be less of the scandalous thing that is "revalent today, na!ely, that in very early youth and out of nothingness, "eo"le vaunt the!selves artists and are, in their own o"inions, artists. )hen this (ind of art does not succeed, they thin( it is entirely due to lac( of a""reciation on the "art of the world. his nonsensical state of things will gradually cease. he art of the future will be an art of +aturity and it will not be until a co!"aratively late age in life that a !an will feel inwardly !ature enough to engage in art. it will no longer be believed that in later life it is i!"ossible for a !an to have the forces re7uisite for artistic creation C forces of youth as they are often called; far rather will it be found that only by the dee"ening and strengthening ac7uired through S"iritual Science can the forces that will lead to artistic creation in the future be liberated fro! the inner being. &ut "eo"le are still afraid of these forces today. hey are afraid of what has to be attained. 9any artists have a holy terror of this e!ergence of the inner de"ths of their being, and when they hear that it is not the external, earthly !an, but the higher !an within the! who should be the creative artist, they are thrown into the !ost utter confusion. /t is difficult to i!agine !ore co!"lete confusion than that of a certain !odern artist when he realised that it is the #enius in the inner !an, the being who belongs to the s"iritual world, who is really the creator in the artist. $n artist of !odern ti!es ex"ressed his holy terror of the s"iritual world in a""roxi!ately the following words, 2#enius is a terrible disease. /n the heart of every writer there is a !onster who devours his feelings directly they have been born. )ho will be victorious C the disease over the !an or the !an over the diseaseH $ !an !ust be great indeed if
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he is to hold the balance between his character and his genius. /f a "oet is not a giant, if he does not "ossess the strength of a Hercules, he !ust either forfeit his heart or his talent.3 he very flesh of one1s soul, so to s"ea(, cree"s when such words are uttered. For they are si!"ly an ex"ression of the holy terror which exists in the hu!an being in regard to things that are connected with the s"iritual world. 9oreover the last sentence is 7uite consistent, although the author is unaware of ho) consistent it is ... he fact that he s"ea(s of giants, of Hercules, is very characteristic. /t is very significant that "recisely these words co!e into his !outh C or rather into his "en. So the view !ay actually be held that the hu!an being !ust be victorious by virtue of what he is in earthly life ... for this is contained in the words, whereas true (nowledge will reveal that the healthy genius within a !an will "enetrate and ta(e hold of hi!, will !a(e hi! into its instru!ent. $nother !odern writer refers and adds to the sentences / have 0ust read, in strange, extre!ely strange words. He says, 2.et us "icture the tragic destruction of .aocoQn as described in the $enead. )ith natural horror and re"ugnance the citi+ens of roy witness the gigantic sna(es strangling .aocoQn and his sons. he s"ectators feel fear, co!"assion and certainly wish to save the victi!s; however different their conditions of soul !ay be, nevertheless the !o!ent of will undoubtedly "lays a very i!"ortant "art ... but 0ust i!agine a scul"tor in the !idst of this shoc(ed and excited crowd, a scul"tor who sees the terrible catastro"he ta(ing "lace before his eyes as the sub0ect of a future wor( of art. $!id the general excite!ent of these shouting, fren+ied, "raying "eo"le, he re!ains the unruffled observer. $ll !oral instincts in hi! are at this !o!ent su""ressed by the desire for aesthetic ex"erience.3 his, forsooth, is su""osed to be necessary for the creation of a wor( of art, $ crowd of "eo"le who are not artists stand there with dee" co!"assion, unable to hel", and together with the!, a si!"leton, a dunderhead, who has no in(ling of the "ain caused by it all. $nd this dunderhead is su""osed to be the true artist who is ca"able of "ortraying the scene; he stands there in his stu"idity !erely as an observer, hings have co!e to such a "ass at the "resent ti!e that "eo"le dare to de!and of the artist that he shall be a dunderhead when faced with life1s "heno!ena, in order that he !ay be 2ob0ective.3 He !ust tear co!"assion and sy!"athy out of his heart; he !ust beco!e a dull4headed si!"leton and only then, according to what is said here, will he be able to de"ict so!ething ca"able of interesting other hu!an beings. )hen "eo"le have it in the! to evolve such a view of art, they cannot hel" being sei+ed by the !ost terrible of all $hri!anic forces. Such a view denotes the decadence of art that is "roduced by the fear and dread of s"iritual reality. 8eo"le do not (now that if a !an wants to be an artist he !ust feel events with still dee"er sy!"athy, still dee"er co!"assion and !ust be able, at a later !o!ent to loo( at the sa!e events ob0ectively out of this dee" sy!"athy, !a(ing us love the! as we !ay love a being who is strange to us. :ut of this still dee"er 7uality of sy!"athy we !ust be ca"able of art that is creative. he "erversion of outloo( has reached such a "oint today that the opposite of truth is tru!"eted forth to the world as consu!!ate wisdo!. $nd / a! convinced that there are infinite nu!bers of "eo"le who consider this dullness very clever and who regard this laudation of insensitive stu"idity in the artist as the final discovery of what art really is. Such is the "resent day and it is for us to see( in S"iritual Science that su""ort and strengthening which enable us to realise that we ourselves are living in the world into which the hu!an being also enters, in the natural course of events, when he "asses through the #ate of Death. For us, art is related to death; it is related to the higher life, to be related to death !eans to be related to higher life. /n order to enter the s"iritual world we !ust in !any res"ects be ca"able of ideas and !ental "ictures 7uite different fro! those which !ust fill us for the "ur"ose of understanding the world we ex"erience between birth and death. )e !ust "ierce through 9aya not only in such a way that we ta(e this 9aya to be the sa!e everywhere, thin(ing that when we have bro(en through it at one "oint we are already in the s"iritual world. he density of 9aya is different at different "laces in life. his we shall find when we confront diverse s"heres of life. C 9aya is woven out of different !aterials. $lthough it is 9aya, it is woven out of different !aterials at different "laces in life. Su""ose we get to (now a child in its "hysical existence; we for! ideas about the being of the child, ideas built u" fro! our ex"eriences of !eeting the child in the "hysical body. here could be no greater error than to carry this "icture into the s"iritual world for the "ur"ose of really getting to (now this being when it has "assed through the #ate of Death. /n the death of heo Faiss, a terribly touching (ar!ic event has ha""ened a!ong us recently. /t would be a false "icture of hi! if we were !erely to enlarge the idea we for!ed of this child as we !et hi! in the "hysical world, if we were si!"ly to "ro0ect this "icture into the s"iritual world. /n 0ust such a being the very greatest !aturity can be observed soon after death. )e can find the forces which brought the child into the "hysical world through birth C and which have not been allowed by (ar!a to live the!selves out in the "hysical world C we can find these forces interwoven in the
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cos!ic forces and we gradually realise that a !ature soul has struggles through death to cos!ic existence, is growing little by little towards the heavenly s"heres. $nd when such a soul was a child in the last incarnation we can "erceive that this soul is able, co!"aratively 7uic(ly, to develo" to the "oint where it directs the forces that are now !erging into the cos!os. hen we learn to (now the hu!an being as he is after death; it is as though with his own being he were directing the forces which were contained in his death s"ectru! and are now weaving the!selves into the cos!os. hus the hu!an being grows into that creative activity which we !ay call the heavenly creative activity. hen his feeling that is coloured by will, and the ele!ent of will that is coloured by feeling, grow together with the universe outside hi!. >ust as when we, as children in the "hysical body, gradually ada"t ourselves with our sense4organs to the external world, 0ust as we then grow into the faculty of vision, so do we grow, after death, into the essential realities we grow into the unfolding of will. /f we allowed these things to wor( u"on us in the sense of S"iritual Science, we should observe, little by little, how the 9aya of external life is woven with different strengths at different "laces. 9aya is difficult to "ierce in cases li(e the death of a little child, because !ost of the external !anifestations disturb what !ust re"lace the! if we are to have a true "icture of what the hu!an being is after death. &ut there are also hu!an beings with who! it is co!"aratively easy to "ierce through the war" and woof of 9aya; it is easy because the truth of their being has been able to connect itself dee"ly even with the 9aya existing in the! in the "hysical world between birth and death. here are such !en, !en who bring down treasures of inner, s"iritual richness at their birth into the "hysical world and who are able to weave into their being and life what they have brought down fro! the s"iritual world. hey are those hu!an beings who! we needs !ust love because of what the -reators in their love have !ade of the!; often we do not as( why we love the!; love for the! is a !atter of course. such hu!an beings are li(e living witnesses to the s"iritual world, because even here in the "hysical world they are extraordinarily li(e their own s"iritual being, and because the web of 9aya only through the existence of love, of course, but through this very love C can very soon be dis"ersed, enabling us to ga+e into the de"ths of the soul. :ur attitude to such hu!an beings !ust have a certain delicacy, a certain inti!ate delicacy because they have brought down a very, very great deal fro! the s"iritual world into "hysical existence and because then, after death, they stand li(e living witnesses to the "rofound truth that the i!"ulses of the s"iritual world live on in all the !anifestations of this "hysical world. if we behold such hu!an beings after their death, it is as though they were wanting to say to us, hus were we before and the fact that we lived in such dee", and inward truth is now confir!ed when we have "assed through the #ate of Death. C hus do they stand as a"ostles of faith after death too, as a"ostles of the faith which allows us to have belief in the life we s"end here in the "hysical world. Since the death of our friend Sybil -olaxxa, she too stands there li(e an a"ostle of the faith that the world in which we live is "er!eated with s"irituality. $nd here it is necessary to ex"lain why the strange thing ha""ened in her case that the sight of her s"iritual being confir!ed what she revealed through the sheaths of external life in the "hysical world to everyone who (new and learned to love her. hence the different tone in the words that had to be s"o(en out of her soul; it was because her essential 7uality as an individual was "recisely that 7uality of which / have 0ust s"o(en,

... 5nd es durchaseelte diesse )esen ... $nd "er!eated are these beings Deine Sti!!e, die beredt Durch des )ortes $rt !ehr $ls in de! )orte selbst :ffenbarte, was verborgen /n deiner schQnen Seele weset ... hrough thy voice so elo7uent &y the nature of the )ord Rather than the )ord itself Revealing what is latent )ithin thy noble soul.

9ar( well that the "resentation of the "ast, the use of the i!"erfect tense, "asses over into the "resent, the resent tense, because observation of the life in the body har!onise with the vision of the life after death. his is ex"ressed in the words the!selves. )ords that are coined out of the s"iritual world contain their own necessity. hus the words had to be, his &eing filled with soul they voice, a voice which, elo7uent !ore through the 7uality of the words than the words the!selves, revealed what lay hidden within that soul, and is wor(ing on, existing. 2... 6xisting3 therefore, not 2existed.3
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Doch das hingebender .iebe eilnah!svoller 9enschen

&ut this being, silently unveiling /tself to sacrificing love

Sich wortlos voll enthullte, @one can also :f sy!"athetic !an; say, 6nthRlltA Dies )esen, das von edler stiller Schonheit Der )elten4SeelenschQ"fung 6!"fSngliche! 6!"finden (andete. his being, "roclai!ing lofty, cal! beauty o the susce"tible "erce"tion . :f )orld4Soul creation

@ver(undet C the "resent tense C can also be used. Here the two "eriods of ti!e flow together.A *ow let us thin( of a soul li(e Frit+ 9itscher, a friend who, to our great "ain, has died so recently. he nature of this soul can best be described by those who (new hi! in words which !ay sound abstract and dry, but which really do ex"ress it, he was an ob0ective hu!an being. Frit+ 9itscher was an absolutely ob0ective hu!an being. here can hardly have been any occasion when he s"o(e about hi!self. 6ven if he ever did, it only see+ed that he was s"ea(ing of hi!self in describing his relations to so!ething or other in the external world. His 2/3 was "ractically never even on the hori+on ... let alone at the centre of what he said. /t is natural for an elder "erson when he is s"ea(ing with a younger one about all (inds of things in life to bring the conversation bac( to hi!self, but it was characteristic of Frit+ 9itscher that when o""ortunity was there for hi! to s"ea( of hi!self, he avoided it, and diverted the conversation fro! hi!self to what he had ex"erienced round about hi!, describing it with the art he had ac7uired fro! S"iritual Science. /n the true sense of the word he was an ob0ective hu!an being. He did not thin( about what he signified to the world, about the "osition of his own 2/3 in the world. His interests were all "urely ob0ective, interests which ex"ress the!selves so characteristically when a !an is little concerned about the "osition he gains in the world. Frit+ 9itscher was one of those !en who, fro! the very beginning, was "assionately eager, even in "assing conversation, to convey to others with absolute ob0ectivity the truths he held !ost sacred; this eagerness was always "resent because he was one of those who are interested in the cause itself and not in the "erson and the "osition of the individual "ersonality in the world. $nd when he s"o(e before an audience he entered into the sub0ect with the greatest "urity, never losing his way in the "sychical i!"urity of s"ea(ing about hi!self. /t was this that was so characteristic of hi!. $nd it was this that !ade hi! so e!inently ca"able of gras"ing the world in such a way that through the !ediu! of the idea, the thought, the !ental "icture, he really entered into the world; he did not beco!e re!ote fro! the world but really entered into it. $nd so through thought, through idea, he lived right into world4 connections, lived together with the world, lived in his 2/3 C because he s"o(e so little of hi!self C and not only in his s(in, but right into the heart of things. it is really only hu!an beings of this (ind who truly understand ideals in the world, life in ideas and in !orals. o live in ideas and ideals is not !erely to have ideas and ideals; ideas and ideals are easily co!e by, they can be "ic(ed as easily as blac( berries. )hat !atters is not that a !an has ideas and ideals, but that he has the! in the "urity of the life of thought, and hu!an beings without nu!ber shir( this "urity. hey flee fro! thought in hosts. 9y dear friends, we need only call u" the /!agination, the real i!agination of "ure thin(ing, of the life in "ure thought, in sense4free thoughts and ideas; we need only "icture this "ure wells"ring of soul4existence and then try to "lace the s"ecters of hu!an beings around it, and we shall find that in whole hosts they flee fro! this "ure s"ring of the sense4 free world of thought. hey say, 2&ut this is barren, dry, it is so!ething that tears love out of one1s heart, it is cold, icy.3 $nd they flee in hosts; only a few stand steadfast in "urity of soul. hese few are the true "hiloso"her4souls, the !en who are really gifted for "hiloso"hy. $nd such !en as Frit+ 9itscher belong to the!. hat is why it is al!ost a !atter of course for such souls to grow into their connections in the !ost natural "ossible way C or, better said, the! for their (ar!a to bring the! into these connections. /n the case of Frit+ 9itscher this was so in a high degree. /t could never be noticed in hi! that he sought any "osition out of an intention for!ed in "hysical life. He always allowed hi!self to be led to his tas(s by the flow of (ar!a. Here again you have those truly "hiloso"hical natures who will always have to be led to their tas(s rather than that they will "ress forward to so!e tas( out of egotistical will. For these truly "hiloso"hical natures (now all too well in their dee" feelings and in their i!"ulses too, that a !an is, in reality, never ri"e for a tas(, that only i!!easurable vanity can give rise to the belief that he is !ature, and he always antici"ates in advance so!ething that can only be achieved later on. when a !an has only a little of this attitude, he feels in his life so!ething of an inner calling. $nd the life then will be filled, as it were, with the, 2Mnow thyselfG3 Mnowledge of the self
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is best attained when a !an s"ea(s and things little of his 2/3. his wor( and labours in life will then be "er!eated by the, 2Mnow thyself, live with the world in "eaceG3 Such was Frit+ 9itscher1s !otto. $ life li(e this continues in the s"iritual world and re!ains what it was, save that in the s"iritual world the fruit grows fro! the seed. /n such cases we !ust abandon the "oint of view C for it would be unreal C which would !a(e us as(, 2)hat would have co!e out of such a being if he had been able to stay longer in the "hysical worldH3 his is an unreal "oint of view. he real "oint of view leads us to the greatness, the wonder of such a soul being ta(en u" into the s"iritual worlds. )hat this soul is now called u"on to achieve in the s"iritual worlds is related to the ex"eriences between birth and death as the fruit of the "lant to the seed, so that the life here is actually revealed as a seed for the s"iritual life after death. $nd so when a being who has lived in ob0ectivity is seen after death, words which characterise this ob0ectivity of outloo( in life inevitably sin( into the soul, but they are words which also characterise the relationshi" to the surrounding world, how the whole being stood right within the world. /t was necessary to s"ea( of Frit+ 9itscher in this way. he characteristic ele!ent in these words was "recisely this difference between the seed here and the "lant which develo"s in yonder world. his is how / ex"lain to !yself the words being as they were

... 6in ?erlust, der tief uns sch!er+t, ... $ loss that dee"ly "ains us, so entschwindest du de! Feld, )o des #eistes 6rden(ei!e in de! Schoss des Seelenseins Deine! S"hSrensinne reiften ... So you vanish fro! the field )here the S"irits earthly ger!s in the la" of Soul4existence 9atured to vision of the s"heres ...

6ine Hoffnung uns begluc(end, So betratest Du das Feld, )o der 6rde #eistesblRten Durch die Mraft des Seelenseins Sich de! Forschen +eigen !Qchten.

$s a ho"e and as a blessing Bou a""eared u"on the field )here the earthly bloo!s of S"irit -ould to see(ers be revealed hrough the "owers of the Soul.

.autrer)ahrheitsliebe wesen )ar dein Sehnen urverwandt; $us den #eisteslicht +u schaffen )ar das ernste .ebens+iel, De! du rastlos nachgestreby ...

o essential love of truth Bour desire was related; -reation fro! the S"irit light )as your fervent ai! in life o which you restlessly as"ired ...

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6ine Hoffnung uns begluc(end, So betratest du das Feld )o der 6rde #estesblRten Durch die Mraft des Seelenseins

$s a ho"e and as a blessing Bou a""eared u"on the field )here the earthly bloo!s of S"irit -ould to see(ers be revealed

Sich de! Forschen +eigen !Qchten.. hrough the "owers of the Soul.

HQre unserer Seelen &itte /! ?ertraun dir nachgesandt, )ir bedurfen hier +u! 6rdenwer( Star(er Mraft aus #eistes4.anden, Die wir toten Freunden dan(en.

.ist to our Souls1 "etitions Sent to you with confidence; Here we need for earthly labours ?igorous "ow1rs fro! S"iritland )hich we owe to our dead friends.

6ine Hoffnung uns begluc(end, 6in ?erlust, der tief uns sch!er+t,

$ fir! ho"e C for us a blessing $ great loss that dee"ly "ains,

.ass uns hoffen, dass du ferne4nah, .et us ho"e that far or near 5nverloren unsre! .eben leuchtest Bou !ay still ilu!e our life C $ls ein Seelen4Stern i! #eistbereich. $ soul4star in the S"irit S"here.

Frit+ 9itscher was an individuality who beca!e, in an outstanding degree, what !any of our dead friends have actually beco!e since they entered into the s"iritual world. hey beco!e our !ost effective co4wor(ers in the field. of the s"iritual life we have to cultivate; they beco!e those to who! we loo( u"wards with s"ecial gratitude when we have to thin( of the tas(s of the "resent and future s"iritual evolution, tas(s that can be fulfilled only slowly and with difficulty within earth4existence with the forces that are incarnated in "hysical bodies. /n thin(ing of friends who have "assed through the #ate of Death, including our friend 9orgenstern, it always see!s to !e to be right to as( that they will re!ain a!ong us in order that through their forces !uch will be able to be done in our s"iritual !ove!ent that it is i!"ossible to do with earthly forces alone. /t is this that !ust be sent as a last greeting fro! the 6arth to such individualities, and it !ust be ex"ressed clearly and e!"hatically in connection with Frit+ 9itscher, a dear friend who with his youthful forces will be our strong hel"er, a true consolation when consolation is needed. $nd it is often needed. 6s"ecially during the !ost recent "eriod of our wor(, creative activities and striving, so !any things have !ade us realise how great are the hindrances of the "hysical "lane C truly they are not i!agined hindrances C how stubbornly the "re0udices of hu!an beings o""ose what !ust be achieved a!ong us, and how violent the o""osition often is.
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)e need only ta(e one such exa!"le. C 8eo"le outside our strea! of S"iritual Science write "a!"hlets ... ruly / a! not saying these things for "ersonal reasons, because / feel !yself to be only a feeble instru!ent of the s"iritual !ove!ent that has to bear us ... 8a!"hlet after "a!"hlet is written with the ob0ect of declaring that our adherents acce"t everything without "utting it to the test, acce"t it in faith and belief and confidence; it is suggested that nothing exists a!ong us exce"t blind faith. :ur !ove!ent is described by the outside world as if all our adherents were credulous si!"letons, si!"ly running after the confidence they feel. So it is in the outside world. &ut within the "recincts, this confidence C if we !ean a confidence that exists in the dee" foundations of souls and does not !erely lie in words C this confidence is often by no !eans so cons"icuous. here is a great contradiction between what we are accused of in "a!"hlets and what ought to exist in such rich abundance within the "recincts of our society. here is yawning contradictionG / say what / have to say here without criticis! and above all without bitterness, without in the least wanting to hit at any single "ersonality C but concerning !any things / said here in the autu!n, it has been stated in writings that Dr. Steiner haw(s about his occult researches into such !atters C !eaning !atters about which / have s"o(en ... he haw(s about his occult "owers in connection with the things that were s"o(en about. /f it has been "ossible for such a thing to have been written, then it is a clear "roof of the fact that the ele!ent of which we are accused in the world is by no !eans so fir!ly rooted in the dee"er forces of the souls a!ong us, although in !any ways it !ay exist in the u""er !aya of consciousness. .et it be said once and for always that the teaching "resented here is based u"on no "rinci"le of authority whatever, and belief in it as dog!a is never de!anded. /t is given in order that it !ay be tested in all details. &ut for anyone to set hi!self u" as a (ind of 0udge as to what / !yself should include in !y occult investigations and exclude fro! the! C this is a s"iritual tyranny which !ost certainly is not born of the ele!ent that !ust be "resent in the Society, although u" to a certain "oint it need not be "resent for the "ur"ose of ta(ing in s"iritual Science; this is a s"iritual tyranny e!anating fro! unconscious lac( of confidence. -onfidence is not needed for the "ur"ose of receiving teachings; but confidence is needed for the reali+ation that it is not for the s"iritual investigator to be told what he has to bring fro! the s"iritual world but that it !ust be 8resu!ed that the re"resentative of S"iritual Science (nows hi!self what he has to do; he has hi!self to decide what falls within the field of his investigations. -onfidence is needed here; this (ind of confidence can never be un"rofitable to the !ove!ent, because it does not transcend the li!its of the "ersonal and does not touch the teaching. &ut a fact li(e this denotes C as !any si!ilar facts denote C that great obstacles and hindrances do exist and that within our s"iritual !ove!ent we !ust carry out as a duty C far re!oved fro! anything that loo(s li(e desire in our wor( C what leads fro! insight into inner necessity. his duty will always be done, however sourly, it is done @EsourlyF according to the ordinary !eaning of the word.A &ut "recisely when we realise that we !ay give to our dear Dead a (ind of "ersonal charge to be together with our forces, then there arises for our !ove!ent a feeling of security which the "hysical world could never afford. $nd so, in thin(ing of our beloved Dead, there flows into our !ove!ent and into its i!"ulses, so!ething that is su"ersensible, not s"ringing fro! what we have here, so!ething that could never, in the "hysical world itself, give wings to our wor(. /t is "ossible for su"ersensible i!"ulses to flow into the 9aya of our society4activities, for us to feel secure C because what we do, contains not !erely the forces of the "hysical "lane but su"ersensible forces too. :ur beloved Dead have re!ained with us, although not in "hysical existence, and we therefore feel security in wor( which feels itself to be within the flow of s"iritual evolution,

2HQre unserer Seelen &itte, /! ?ertraun dir *achgesandt,

2.ist to our Souls1 "etitions Sent to you with confidence,

)ir &edurfen hier +u! 6rdenwer( Here we need for earthly labours Star(er Mraft aus #eistes4.anden, Die wir toten Freunden Dan(en.3 ?igorous "ow1rs fro! S"iritland )hich we owe to our dead friends.3

So do we s"ea( with reality of our beloved Dead as co!"anions, co4wor(ers, as those who are invisibly a!ong us. hus concretely do we sei+e the in visible being, giving the hand "hysically for the last ti!e to the friend in the visible world and then receiving this hand s"iritually, after death fro! the su"ersensible world. /n this exchange of hand4clas"s we have the sy!bol for wor( within a Society that is not intended to be a !outh"iece for the "hysical world but is to call the su"ersensible worlds too, into its activities. For such wor(, for such activities, we want to build a centre on this hill. 9ay there be a ho!e here for this wor(G

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