Theosophy
GA 9
III-2. The Soul in the Soul-world After Death
[ 1 ] The soul is the connecting link between the spirit of man and his body. Its forces of sympathy and antipathy which, owing to their mutual relationship, bring about soul-manifestations such as desire, susceptibility, wish, liking, aversion, etc., are not only active between soul-formations and soul-formations, but they manifest themselves also in relation to the beings of the other worlds, the physical and the spiritual. While the soul lives in the body it participates to a certain extent in all that takes place in the body. When the physical functions of the body proceed with regularity, pleasure and comfort arise in the soul; if these functions are disturbed, aversion and pain arise. And the soul has its share in the activities of the spirit also; one thought fills it with joy, another with abhorrence; a correct judgment has the approval of the soul, a false one its disapproval. The stage of evolution of a man depends, in fact, on whether the inclinations of his soul move more in one direction or in another. A man is the more perfect, the more his soul sympathises with the manifestations of the spirit; he is the more imperfect the more the inclinations of his soul are satisfied by the functions of the body.
[ 2 ] The spirit is the central point of man, the body the instrument by which the spirit observes and learns to understand the physical world and through which it acts in it. But the soul is the intermediary between the two. It releases the sensation of the tone from the physical impression which the vibrations of the air make on the ear; it experiences pleasure in this sound. All this it communicates to the spirit, which thereby attains to the understanding of the physical world. A thought which arises in the spirit is translated by the soul into the wish to realise it, and only through this can it become deed, with the help of the body as instrument. Now man can fulfil his destiny only by allowing his spirit to direct the course of all his activity. The soul can by its own power direct its inclinations just as readily to the physical as to the spiritual. It sends as it were, its feelers down into the physical as well as raising them into the spiritual. By sinking them into the physical world the soul's own being becomes saturated and coloured by the nature of the physical. But since the spirit is able to act in the physical world only through the soul as intermediary, it also receives in this way the direction towards the physical. Its formations are drawn towards the physical by the forces of the soul. Observe, for example, an undeveloped man. The inclinations of his soul cling to the functions of his body. He feels pleasure only in the impressions made by the physical world on his senses. His intellectual life too is thereby completely drawn down into this region. His thoughts are used only to satisfy his demands on the physical life. Since the spiritual Self lives from incarnation to incarnation, it is intended to receive its direction ever increasingly out of the spiritual. Its knowledge should be determined by the spirit of eternal Truth, its action by the eternal Goodness.
[ 3 ] Death, regarded as a fact in the physical world, signifies a change in the functions of the body. With death the body ceases to be, through its organisation, the instrument of the soul and the spirit. It shows itself henceforth entirely subject in its processes to the physical world and its laws; and it passes over into it in order to dissolve there. It is only these physical processes of decay in the body that can be observed after death by the physical senses. What then happens to soul and spirit escapes these senses. For even during life, soul and spirit can be observed by the senses only in so far as they attain to external expression in physical processes. After death such an expression is no longer possible. Therefore in regard to the fate of the soul and spirit after death, observation by means of the senses and a science based on them are of no value. Here a higher knowledge steps in, based on observation of what takes place in the soul- and spirit-worlds.
[ 4 ] After the spirit has released itself from the body, it still continues to be united with the soul. And as during physical life the body fettered it to the physical world, so now the soul fetters it to the soul-world. But it is not in this soul-world that the spirit's true, primordial being is to be found. The soul-world is intended to serve merely as its connecting link with the scene of its actions, the physical world. In order to appear in a new incarnation with a more perfect form, the spirit must draw force and renewed strength from the spiritual world. But through the soul it has become entangled in the physical world. It is bound to a soul-entity which is saturated and coloured by the nature of the physical, and through this it has acquired a tendency in that direction. After death the soul is no longer bound to the physical body, but only to the spirit. It lives now within soul-surroundings. Only the forces of this soul-world can therefore have an effect on it. And at first the spirit also is bound to this life of the soul in the soul-world. It is bound to it in the same way as it is bound to the body during physical incarnation. When the body shall die is determined by the laws of the body. Speaking generally, in fact, it must be said it is not that the soul and spirit forsake the body, but that they are released from the body when its forces are no longer able to fulfil the purpose of the human organisation. The relationship between soul and spirit is just the same. The soul will release the spirit to pass into the higher, the spiritual world, when its forces are no longer able to fulfil the purpose of the human soul-organisation. The spirit is set free the moment the soul has handed over to dissolution what it can only experience in the body, and retains only that which can five on with the spirit. This remainder which, although experienced in the body, can, nevertheless, as fruit be impressed on the spirit, connects the soul with the spirit in the purely spiritual world. In order to learn the fate of the soul after death, therefore, one has to observe its process of dissolution. It had the task of giving the spirit its direction towards the physical. The moment it has fulfilled this task the soul takes the direction to the spiritual. In fact, the nature of its task would cause it to be at once only spiritually active when the body falls away from it, that is, when it can no longer be a connecting link. And so it would be, had it not, owing to its life in the body, been influenced by the latter and in its inclinations attracted to it. Without this colouring, received through the body, it would at once, on being disembodied, follow the laws of the spiritual-soul-world only, and manifest no further inclination to the sense-world. And this would be the case if a man, on dying, completely lost all interest in the earthly world, if all desires, wishes, etc., attaching to the existence he has left, had been completely satisfied. In so far, however, as this is not the case, that which remains over in this direction clings to the soul.
[ 5 ] To avoid confusion, we must here carefully distinguish between what chains man to the world in such a way that it can be balanced in a subsequent incarnation, and that which chains him to one particular incarnation, that is, to the immediately preceding one. The first is made good by means of the law of destiny, Karma; but the other can be got rid of only by the soul after death.
[ 6 ] After death there follows, for the human spirit, a time during which the soul is shaking off its inclinations towards physical existence, in order once more to follow the laws of the spiritual-soul-world only and set the spirit free. It is natural that this time will last longer the more strongly the soul was bound to the physical. It will be short in the case of a man who has clung little to physical life; long, on the other hand, for one who has completely bound up his interests with it, so that at death many desires, wishes, etc., still live in the soul.
[ 7 ] The easiest way to gain an idea of the condition in which the soul fives during the time immediately after death, is afforded by the following consideration. Let us take a somewhat crass example: the pleasures of the bon vivant. His pleasure consists in the tickling of the palate by food. The pleasure is naturally not bodily, but belongs to the soul. The pleasure lives in the soul as also does the desire for the pleasure. But for the satisfaction of the desire the corresponding bodily organs, the palate, etc., are necessary. After death the soul has not immediately lost such a desire, but it no longer possesses the bodily organ which provides the means for satisfying the desire. The state of the man is now—to be sure, from another cause, but one which acts in the same way only far more strongly—as if he were suffering burning thirst in a region in the length and breadth of which there is no water. The soul thus suffers burning pain from the deprivation of the pleasure, because it has laid aside the bodily organ through which it can experience that pleasure. It is the same with all that the soul yearns for and that can only be satisfied through the bodily organs. This condition (of burning privation) lasts until the soul has learned not to long any more for what can only be satisfied through the body. And the time passed in this condition may be called the Region of Desires, although it has of course nothing to do with a “locality.”
[ 8 ] When the soul enters the soul-world after death it becomes subject to the laws of that world. The laws act on it, and on their action depends the manner in which its inclinations towards the physical are destroyed. The way in which they act on it must differ according to the kinds of soul-substances and soul-forces, in whose domain it is placed at the time. Each of these kinds will make its purifying, cleansing influence felt. The process which takes place here is such that all antipathy in the soul is gradually overcome by the forces of sympathy, and this sympathy itself is brought to its highest pitch. For through this highest degree of sympathy with the whole of the rest of the soul-world, the soul will, as it were, merge into it, become one with it; then it is utterly emptied of its self-seeking. It ceases to exist as a being inclined to physically sensible existence. In this way the spirit is set free. The soul therefore purifies itself through all the regions of the soul-world already described, until, in the region of perfect sympathy, it becomes one with the general soul-world. That the spirit itself is in bondage until this last moment of the liberation of its soul is due to the fact that, through its life with it, the spirit has become most intimately related to the soul. This relationship is much closer than the one with the body. For to the body the spirit is only indirectly bound through the soul; while to the soul it is directly bound. The soul, is in fact, the spirit's own life. For this reason the spirit is not bound to the decaying body, though it is bound to the soul that is gradually freeing itself. On account of the immediate bond between the spirit and the soul, the spirit can feel free from the soul only when the latter has itself become one with the general soul-world.
[ 9 ] In so far as the soul-world is the abode of man immediately after death, it can be called the “Region of Desires.” The different religious systems, which have embodied in their doctrines a knowledge of these conditions, know this “Region of Desires” by the name of “purgatory,” “cleansing fire,” and so on.
[ 10 ] The lowest region of the soul-world is that of Burning Desire. By it everything in the soul that has to do with the coarsest, lowest, selfish desires of the physical life is purged from the soul after death. For through such desires it is exposed to the effects of the forces of this soul-region. The unsatisfied desires which have remained from physical life furnish the points of attack. The sympathy of such souls extends only to what can nourish their selfish natures; it is greatly exceeded by the antipathy which floods everything else. Now the desires, however, are concerned with physical enjoyments which cannot be satisfied in the soul-world. The craving is intensified to its highest degree by this impossibility of satisfaction. But at the same time, owing to this impossibility, it is forced to die out gradually. The burning lusts gradually exhaust themselves, and the soul has learned by experience that the only means of preventing the suffering that must come from such longings lies in killing them out. During physical life, satisfaction is ever and again being attained. By this means the pain of the burning lusts is covered over by a kind of illusion. After death, in the “cleansing fire” the pain comes into evidence quite unveiled. The corresponding experiences of privation are passed through. It is a dark, gloomy state in which the soul thus finds itself. Of course only those persons whose desires are directed during physical life to the coarsest things can fall into this condition. Natures with few lusts go through it without noticing it, for they have no affinity with it. It must be stated that souls are the longer influenced by Burning Desire the more closely they have become bound up with that fire during life; and the more they require on that account to be purified in it. Such purification should not be described as suffering in the same sense as one would feel anything similar in the sense-world as suffering. For the soul, after death, demands its own purification, because only thereby can an imperfection that exists in it be purged away.
[ 11 ] In the second region of the soul-world, sympathy and antipathy preserve an equal balance. In so far as a human soul is in that condition after death it will be influenced for a time by what takes place in this region. The losing of oneself in the external glitter of life; the joy in the swiftly succeeding impressions of the senses, bring about this condition. People live in it in so far as it is brought about by the soul-inclinations just indicated. They allow themselves to be influenced by each worthless trifle of everyday life; but as their sympathy is attached to no one thing in particular, the influences quickly pass. Everything that does not belong to this region of empty nothings is repellent to such persons. If the soul experiences this condition after death without the presence of the physical objects which are necessary for its satisfaction, the condition must needs ultimately die out. Naturally the privation which precedes its complete extinction in the soul is full of suffering. This state of suffering is the school for the destruction of the illusion in which a man is enveloped during physical life.
[ 12 ] Thirdly, there comes under consideration in the soul-world that which is filled with predominating sympathy, that in which the wish-nature predominates. The effects of this activity are experienced by souls through all that maintains an atmosphere of wishes after death. These wishes also gradually die out on account of the impossibility of being satisfied.
[ 13 ] The region of Attraction and Repulsion in the soul-world which has been described above as the fourth, imposes on the soul special trials. As long as the soul dwells in the body it shares all that concerns it. The inner surge of attraction and repulsion is bound up with the body. It causes the soul's feeling of well-being and comfort, dislike and discomfort. Man feels during his physical life that his body is himself. What is called the feeling of self is based upon this fact. And the more people live in the sense-life, the more does their feeling of self take on this characteristic. After death the body, the object of this feeling of self, is lacking. On this account the soul, which still retains the feeling, has the sensation of being, as it were, hollowed out. A feeling as if it had lost itself overcomes the soul. This continues until it has been recognised that the true man does not lie in the physical. The impressions of this fourth region on the soul accordingly destroy the illusion of the bodily self. The soul learns no longer to feel this corporality as an essential reality. It is cured and purified of its attachment to corporality. In this way it has conquered that which previously chained it strongly to the physical world, and can unfold fully the forces of sympathy which flow outwards. It has, so to say, broken free from itself, and is ready to pour itself with full sympathy into the common soul-world.
[ 14 ] It should not pass unnoted that the experiences of this region are suffered with special intensity by suicides. They leave their physical body in an artificial way, while all the feelings connected with it remain unchanged. In the case of natural death, the decay of the body is accompanied by a partial dying out of the feelings of attachment to it. In the case of suicides there are, in addition to the torment caused by the feeling of having been suddenly hollowed out, the unsatisfied desires and wishes on account of which they have deprived themselves of their bodies.
[ 15 ] The fifth stage of the soul-world is that of Soul-Light. In it sympathy with others has already reached a high degree of power. Souls are connected with it in so far as, during their physical lives, they did not lose themselves in the satisfaction of lower necessities, but took delight and pleasure in their surroundings. Enthusiasm for Nature, for example, in so far as it has borne something of a sensuous character, undergoes cleansing here. It is necessary, however, to distinguish clearly this kind of love of Nature from that higher living in Nature which is of the spiritual kind, and which seeks for the spirit that reveals itself in the things and events of Nature. This kind of feeling for Nature is one of the things that develop the spirit itself and establish something permanent in the spirit. But one must distinguish between such a feeling for Nature and a pleasure in Nature that is based on the senses. In regard to this the soul requires purification just as much as in the case of other inclinations based on mere physical existence. Many people hold, as a kind of ideal, arrangements which minister to sensuous welfare, and a system of education which results above all in the production of sensuous comfort. One cannot say of them that they are furthering only their selfish impulses. But their souls are, nevertheless, directed to the physical world, and must be cured of this by the prevailing force of sympathy in the fifth region of the soul-world in which these external means of satisfaction are lacking. The soul here recognises gradually that this sympathy must take other directions; and these are found in the outpouring of the soul into the soul-region, which is brought about by sympathy with the soul-surroundings. Those souls also who seek from their religious observances mainly an enhancement of their sensuous welfare, whether it be that their longing goes out to an earthly or a heavenly paradise, are purified here. They find this paradise in the “Soul-land,” but only for the purpose of seeing through its worthlessness. These are, of course, merely a few detached examples of purifications which take place in this fifth region. They could be multiplied indefinitely.
[ 16 ] By means of the sixth region, that of Active Soul-Force, the purification of that part of the soul which thirsts for action takes place in souls whose activity does not bear an egotistical character, but springs, nevertheless, from the sensuous satisfaction which action affords them. Natures which develop this desire for action, viewed superficially, convey the impression of being idealists; they show themselves to be persons capable of self-sacrifice. In the deeper sense, however, the chief thing with them is the enhancement of a sensuous feeling of pleasure. Many artistic natures and such as give themselves up to scientific activity because it pleases them, belong to this class. What binds these people to the physical world is the belief that art and science exist for the sake of such pleasure.
[ 17 ] The seventh region, that of the real Soul-Life, frees man from his last inclinations to the sensibly physical world. Each preceding region takes up from the soul whatever has affinity with it. What now still envelops the spirit is the belief that its activity should be entirely devoted to the physical world. There are individuals who, though highly gifted, do not think about much more than the occurrences of the physical world. This belief can be called materialistic. It must be destroyed, and this is done in the seventh region. There the souls see that no objects exist in true reality for materialistic thinking. Like ice in the sun this belief of the soul melts away. The soul-being is now absorbed into its own world; the spirit, free from all fetters, rises to the regions where it lives in its own surroundings only. The soul has completed its previous earthly task, and after death any traces of this task that remained as fettering to the spirit, have dissolved. By overcoming the last trace of the earth, the soul is itself given back to its own element.
[ 18 ] One sees from this description that the experiences in the soul-world, and also the conditions of soul-life after death, assume an ever less repellent appearance the more man has shaken off those elements adhering to him from his earthly union with the physical corporality and immediately related to his body. The soul will belong for a longer or shorter time to one or another region according to the conditions created in its physical life. Where the soul feels itself to be in affinity, there it remains until the affinity is extinguished. Where no relationship exists, it goes on its way without feeling the possible influences.
It was intended that only the fundamental characteristics of the soul-world and the outstanding features of the life of the soul in this world should be described here. This applies also to the following descriptions of the Spiritland. It would exceed the prescribed limits of this book were further characteristics of these higher worlds to be described. For what can be compared with spatial relationships and the course of time (since conditions here are quite different from those obtaining in the physical world) can only be discussed intelligibly when one is prepared to deal with them in full detail. References of importance in this connection will be found in the book Occult Science—an Outline.
2. Die Seele in der Seelenwelt nach dem Tode
[ 1 ] Die Seele ist das Bindeglied zwischen dem Geiste des Menschen und seinem Leibe. Ihre Kräfte der Sympathie und Antipathie, die durch ihr gegenseitiges Verhältnis die Seelenäußerungen: Begierde, Reizbarkeit, Wunsch, Lust und Unlust und so weiter bewirken –, sie sind nicht nur zwischen Seelengebilde und Seelengebilde tätig, sondern sie äußern sich auch gegenüber den Wesenheiten der anderen Welten, der physischen und der geistigen Welt. Während die Seele im Leibe wohnt, ist sie gewissermaßen an allem beteiligt, was in diesem Leibe vorgeht. Wenn die physischen Verrichtungen des Leibes mit Regelmäßigkeit vor sich gehen, so entsteht in der Seele Lust und Behagen; wenn diese Verrichtungen gestört sind, so tritt Unlust und Schmerz ein. –Und auch an den Tätigkeiten des Geistes hat die Seele ihren Anteif: dieser Gedanke erfüllt sie mit Freude, jener mit Abscheu; ein richtiges Urteil hat den Beifall der Seele, ein falsches ihr Mißfallen. — Ja, es hängt die Entwickelungsstufe eines Menschen davon ab, ob die Neigungen seiner Seele mehr nach der einen oder der andern Richtung hin gehen. Ein Mensch ist um so vollkommener, je mehr seine Seele mit den Äußerungen des Geistes sympathisiert; er ist um so unvollkommener, je mehr ihre Neigungen durch die Verrichtungen des Leibes befriedigt werden.
[ 2 ] Der Geist ist der Mittelpunkt des Menschen, der Leib der Vermittler, durch den der Geist die physische Welt betrachtet und erkennt und durch den er in ihr wirkt. Die Seele aber ist der Vermittler zwischen beiden. Sie entbindet dem physischen Eindruck, den die Luftschwingungen auf das Ohr machen, die Empfindung des Tones, sie erlebt die Lust an diesem Ton. Alles das teilt sie dem Geiste mit, der dadurch zum Verständnisse der physischen Welt gelangt. Ein Gedanke, der in dem Geiste auftritt, wird durch die Seele in den Wunsch nach Verwirklichung umgesetzt und kann erst dadurch mit Hilfe des leiblichen Werkzeuges zur Tat werden. — Nun kann der Mensch nur dadurch seine Bestimmung erfüllen, daß er all seinem Wirken die Richtung durch den Geist geben läßt. Die Seele kann durch sich selbst ihre Neigungen ebensogut dem Physischen wie dem Geistigen entgegenbringen. Sie senkt gleichsam ihre Fühlfäden ebenso zum Physischen hinunter, wie sie sie zum Geistigen hinaufstreckt. Durch das Einsenken in die physische Welt wird ihre eigene Wesenheit von der Natur des Physischen durchdrungen und gefärbt. Da der Geist aber nur durch ihre Vermittlung in der physischen Welt wirken kann, so wird ihm selbst dadurch die Richtung auf das Physische gegeben. Seine Gebilde werden durch die Kräfte der Seele nach dem Physischen hingezogen. Man betrachte den unentwickelten Menschen. Die Neigungen seiner Seele hängen an den Verrichtungen seines Leibes. Er empfindet nur Lust bei den Eindrücken, welche die physische Welt auf seine Sinne macht. Und auch sein Geistesleben wird dadurch ganz in diese Sphäre herabgezogen. Seine Gedanken dienen nur der Befriedigung seines physischen Bedürfnislebens. — Indem das geistige Selbst von Verkörperung zu Verkörperung lebt, soll es immer mehr aus dem Geistigen heraus seine Richtung erhalten. Sein Erkennen soll von dem Geiste der ewigen Wahrheit, sein Handeln von der ewigen Güte bestimmt werden.
[ 3 ] Der Tod bedeutet, als Tatsache der physischen Welt betrachtet, eine Veränderung der Verrichtungen des Leibes. Dieser hört mit dem Tode auf, durch seine Einrichtung der Vermittler der Seele und des Geistes zu sein. Er zeigt fernerhin sich in seinen Verrichtungen ganz der physischen Welt und ihren Gesetzen unterworfen; er geht in dieselbe über, um sich in ihr aufzulösen. Nur diese physischen Vorgänge des Leibes können mit den physischen Sinnen nach dem Tode betrachtet werden. Was mit Seele und Geist dann geschieht, das entzieht sich diesen Sinnen. Denn sinnlich können ja auch während des Lebens Seele und Geist nur insofern beobachtet werden, als diese in physischen Vorgängen ihren äußeren Ausdruck erlangen. Nach dem Tode ist ein solcher Ausdruck nicht mehr möglich. Deshalb kommt die Beobachtung der physischen Sinne und die sich auf sie begründende Wissenschaft für das Schicksal von Seele und Geist nach dem Tode nicht in Betracht. Da tritt eben eine höhere Erkenntnis ein, die auf der Beobachtung der Vorgänge in der Seelen- und der Geisteswelt beruht.
[ 4 ] Hat sich nun der Geist von dem Leibe gelöst, so ist er noch immer mit der Seele verbunden. Und wie ihn während des physischen Lebens der Leib an die physische Welt gekettet hat, so jetzt die Seele an die seelische. – Aber in dieser seelischen Welt ist nicht sein ureigenes Wesen zu finden. Sie soll ihn nur verbinden mit dem Felde seines Schaffens, mit der physischen Welt. Um in einer neuen Verkörperung mit vollkommenerer Gestalt zu erscheinen, muß er Kraft und Stärkung aus der geistigen Welt schöpfen. Er ist aber durch die Seele in die physische Welt verstrickt worden. Er ist an ein Seelenwesen gebunden, das durchdrungen und gefärbt ist von der Natur des Physischen, und er hat dadurch selbst diese Richtung erhalten. Nach dem Tode ist die Seele nicht mehr an den Leib, sondern nur noch an den Geist gebunden. Sie lebt nun in einer seelischen Umgebung. Nur die Kräfte dieser Welt können daher noch auf sie eine Wirkung haben. Und an dieses Leben der Seele in der Seelenwelt ist zunächst auch der Geist gebunden. Er ist so an dasselbe gebunden, wie er während der physischen Verkörperung an den Leib gebunden ist. Wann der Leib stirbt, das wird durch dessen Gesetze bestimmt. Im allgemeinen muß ja gesagt werden: nicht die Seele und der Geist verlassen den Leib, sondern er wird von denselben entlassen wenn seine Kräfte nicht mehr im Sinne der menschlichen Organisation wirken können. Ebenso ist das Verhältnis von Seele und Geist. Die Seele wird den Geist in die höhere, in die geistige Welt entlassen, wenn ihre Kräfte nicht mehr im Sinne der menschlichen Seelenorganisation wirken können. In dem Augenblicke wird der Geist befreit sein, wenn die Seele dasjenige der Auflösung übergeben hat, was sie nur innerhalb des Leibes erleben kann, und nur das übrig behält, was mit dem Geiste weiterleben kann. Dies Ubrigbehaltene, was zwar im Leibe erlebt, aber als Frucht in den Geist eingeprägt werden kann, verbindet die Seele mit dem Geist in der rein geistigen Welt. –Um das Schicksal der Seele nach dem Tode kennenzulernen, muß also ihr Auflösungsprozeß betrachtet werden. Sie hatte die Aufgabe, dem Geist die Richtung nach dem Physischen zu geben. In dem Augenblicke, wo sie diese Aufgabe erfüllt hat, nimmt sie die Richtung nach dem Geistigen. Wegen dieser Natur ihrer Aufgabe müßte sie eigentlich sofort nur geistig tätig sein, wenn der Leib von ihr abfällt, wenn sie also nicht mehr Bindeglied sein kann. Und sie würde das auch sein, wenn sie nicht durch ihr Leben im Leibe von diesem beeinflußt, in ihren Neigungen zu ihm hingezogen worden wäre. Ohne diese Färbung, die sie durch die Verbindung mit dem Leiblichen erhalten hat, würde sie sogleich nach der Entkörperung den bloßen Gesetzen der geistig-seelischen Welt folgen und keine weitere Hinneigung zum Sinnlichen entwickeln. Und das wäre der Fall, wenn der Mensch beim Tode vollständig alles Interesse an der irdischen Welt verloren hätte, wenn alle Begierden, Wünsche und so weiter befriedigt wären, die sich an das Dasein knüpfen, das er verlassen hat. Sofern dies aber nicht der Fall ist, haftet das nach dieser Richtung Übriggebliebene an der Seele.
[ 5 ] Man muß hier, um nicht in Verwirrung zu geraten, sorgfältig unterscheiden zwischen dem, was den Menschen an die Welt so kettet, daß es auch in einer folgenden Verkörperung ausgeglichen werden kann, und dem, was ihn an eine bestimmte, an die jeweilig letzte Verkörperung kettet. Das erstere wird durch das Schicksalsgesetz, Karma, ausgeglichen; das andere aber kann nur nach dem Tode von der Seele abgestreift werden.
[ 6 ] Es folgt auf den Tod für den Menschengeist eine Zeit, in der die Seele ihre Neigungen zum physischen Dasein abstreift, um dann wieder den bloßen Gesetzen der geistig-seelischen Welt zu folgen und den Geist freizumachen. Es ist naturgemäß, daß diese Zeit um so länger dauern wird, je mehr die Seele an das Physische gebunden war. Sie wird kurz sein bei einem Menschen, der wenig an dem physischen Leben gehangen hat, lang dagegen bei einem solchen, der seine Interessen ganz an dieses Leben gebunden hat, so daß beim Tode noch viele Begierden, Wünsche und so weiter in der Seele leben.
[ 7 ] Am leichtesten erhält man von dem Zustande, in dem die Seele in der nächsten Zeit nach dem Tode lebt, eine Vorstellung durch folgende Überlegung. Man nehme ein ziemlich krasses Beispiel dazu: die Genüsse eines Feinschmeckers. Er hat seine Lust am Gaumenkitzel durch die Speisen. Der Genuß ist natürlich nichts Körperliches, sondern etwas Seelisches. In der Seele lebt die Lust und auch die Begierde nach der Lust. Zur Befriedigung der Begierde ist aber das entsprechende körperliche Organ, der Gaumen und so weiter, notwendig. Nach dem Tode hat nun die Seele eine solche Begierde nicht sogleich verloren, wohl aber hat sie das körperliche Organ nicht mehr, welches das Mittel ist, die Begierde zu befriedigen. Es ist nun –zwar aus einem anderen Grunde, der aber ähnlich, nur weit stärker wirkt — für den Menschen so, wie wenn er in einer Gegend, in der weit und breit kein Wasser ist, brennenden Durst litte. So leidet die Seele brennend an der Entbehrung der Lust, weil sie das körperliche Organ abgelegt hat, durch das sie die Lust haben kann. So ist es mit allem, wonach die Seele verlangt und das nur durch die körperlichen Organe befriedigt werden kann. Es dauert dieser Zustand (brennender Entbehrung) so lange, bis die Seele gelernt hat, nicht mehr nach solchem zu begehren, was nur durch den Körper befriedigt werden kann. Und die Zeit, welche in diesem Zustande verbracht wird, kann man den Ort der Begierden nennen, obgleich man es natürlich nicht mit einem «Orte» zu tun hat.
[ 8 ] Betritt die Seele nach dem Tode die seelische Welt, so ist sie deren Gesetzen unterworfen. Diese wirken auf sie; und von dieser Wirkung hängt es ab, in welcher Art die Neigung zum Physischen in ihr getilgt wird. Die Wirkungen müssen verschieden sein, je nach den Arten der Seelenstoffe und Seelenkräfte. in deren Bereich sie nunmehr versetzt ist. Jede dieser Arten wird ihren reinigenden, läuternden Einfluß geltend machen. Der Vorgang, der hier stattfindet, ist so, daß alles Antipathische in der Seele allmählich von den Kräften der Sympathie überwunden und daß diese Sympathie selbst bis zu ihrem höchsten Gipfel geführt wird. Denn durch diesen höchsten Grad von Sympathie mit der ganzen übrigen Seelenwelt wird die Seele gleichsam in dieser zerfließen, eins mit ihr werden; dann ist ihre Eigensucht völlig erschöpft. Sie hört auf, als ein Wesen zu existieren, das dem physisch-sinnlichen Dasein zugeneigt ist: der Geist ist durch sie befreit. Daher läutert sich die Seele durch die oben beschriebenen Regionen der Seelenwelt hindurch, bis sie in der Region der vollkommenen Sympathie mit der allgemeinen Seelenwelt eins wird. Daß der Geist bis zu diesem letzten Momente der Befreiung seiner Seele selbst an diese gebunden ist, rührt davon her, daß er durch sein Leben mit ihr ganz verwandt geworden ist. Diese Verwandtschaft ist eine viel größere als die mit dem Leibe. Denn mit dem letzteren ist er mittelbar durch die Seele, mit dieser aber unmittelbar verbunden. Sie ist ja sein Eigenleben. Deshalb ist der Geist nicht an den verwesenden Leib, wohl aber an die sich allmählich befreiende Seele gebunden. – Wegen der unmittelbaren Verbindung des Geistes mit der Seele kann der erstere sich von dieser erst dann frei fühlen, wenn sie selbst mit der allgemeinen Seelenwelt eins geworden ist.
[ 9 ] Insofern die seelische Welt der Aufenthalt des Menschen unmittelbar nach dem Tode ist, kann sie der «Ort der Begierden» genannt werden. Die verschiedenen Religionssysteme, die ein Bewußtsein von diesen Verhältnissen in ihre Lehren aufgenommen haben, kennen diesen «Ort der Begierden» unter dem Namen «Fegefeuer», «Läuterungsfeuer» und so weiter.
[ 10 ] Die niederste Region der Seelenwelt ist diejenige der Begierden glut. Durch sie wird nach dem Tode alles das aus der Seele ausgetilgt, was sie an gröbsten, mit dem niedersten Leibesleben zusammenhängenden selbstsüchtigen Begierden hat. Denn durch solche Begierden kann sie von den Kräften dieser Seelenregion eine Wirkung erfahren. Die unbefriedigten Begierden, die aus dem physischen Leben zurückgeblieben sind, bilden den Angriffspunkt. Die Sympathie solcher Seelen erstreckt sich nur über das, was ihr eigensüchtiges Wesen nähren kann; und sie wird weit überwogen von der Antipathie, die sich über alles andere ergießt. Nun gehen aber die Begierden auf die physischen Genüsse, die in der Seelenwelt nicht befriedigt werden können. Durch diese Unmöglichkeit der Befriedigung wird die Gier aufs höchste gesteigert. Zugleich muß aber diese Unmöglichkeit die Gier allmählich verlöschen. Die brennenden Gelüste verzehren sich nach und nach; und die Seele hat erfahren, daß in der Austilgung solcher Gelüste das einzige Mittel liegt, das Leid zu verhindern, das aus ihnen kommen muß. Während des physischen Lebens tritt ja doch immer wieder und wieder Befriedigung ein. Dadurch wird der Schmerz der brennenden Gier durch eine Art Illusion verdeckt. Nach dem Tode, im «Läuterungsfeuer», tritt dieser Schmerz ganz unverhüllt auf. Die entsprechenden Entbehrungserlebnisse werden durchgemacht. Ein finsterer Zustand ist es, in dem die Seelen sich dadurch befinden. Nur diejenigen Menschen können selbstverständlich diesem Zustande verfallen, deren Begierden im physischen Leben auf die gröbsten Dinge abzielten. Naturen mit wenig Gelüsten gehen, ohne daß sie es merken, durch ihn hindurch, denn sie haben zu ihm keine Verwandtschaft. Es muß gesagt werden, daß durch die Begierdenglut die Seelen um so länger beeinflußt werden, je verwandter sie durch ihr physisches Leben dieser Glut geworden sind; je mehr sie es daher nötig haben, in ihr geläutert zu werden. Man darf solche Läuterung nicht in demselben Sinne als ein Leiden bezeichnen, wie man Ähnliches in der Sinnenwelt nur als Leiden empfinden müßte. Denn die Seele verlangt nach dem Tode nach ihrer Läuterung, weil nur durch diese eine in ihr bestehende Unvollkommenheit getilgt werden kann.
[ 11 ] Eine zweite Art von Vorgängen der Seelenwelt ist so, daß sich Sympathie und Antipathie bei ihnen das Gleichgewicht halten. Insofern eine Menschenseele in dem gleichen Zustande nach dem Tode ist, wird sie eine Zeitlang von diesen Vorgängen beeinflußt. Das Aufgehen im äußeren Tand des Lebens, die Freude an den vorüberflutenden Eindrücken der Sinne bedingen diesen Zustand. Die Menschen leben in ihm, insofern er durch die angedeuteten Seelenneigungen bedingt ist. Sie lassen sich von jeder Nichtigkeit des Tages beeinflussen. Da aber ihre Sympathie sich keinem Dinge in besonderem Maße zuwendet, gehen die Einflüsse rasch vorüber. Alles, was nicht diesem nichtigen Reich angehört, ist solchen Personen antipathisch. Erlebt nun nach dem Tode die Seele diesen Zustand, ohne daß die sinnlich-physischen Dinge da sind, die zu seiner Befriedigung notwendig gehören, so muß er endlich verlöschen. Natürlich ist die Entbehrung, die vor dem völligen Erlöschen in der Seele herrscht, leidvoll. Diese leidvolle Lage ist die Schule zur Zerstörung der Illusion, in die der Mensch während des physischen Lebens eingehüllt ist.
[ 12 ] Drittens kommen in der Seelenwelt die Vorgänge in Betracht mit vorherrschender Sympathie, diejenigen mit vorherrschender Wunschnatur. Ihre Wirkung erfahren die Seelen durch alles das, was eine Atmosphäre von Wünschen nach dem Tode erhält. Auch diese Wünsche ersterben allmählich wegen der Unmöglichkeit ihrer Befriedigung.
[ 13 ] Die Region der Lust und Unlust in der Seelenwelt, die oben als die vierte bezeichnet worden ist, legt der Seele besondere Prüfungen auf. Solange diese im Leibe wohnt, nimmt sie an allem teil, was diesen Leib betrifft. Das Weben von Lust und Unlust ist an diesen geknüpft. Er verursacht ihr Wohlgefühl und Behagen, Unlust und Unbehagen. Der Mensch empfindet während des physischen Lebens seinen Körper als sein Selbst. Das, was man Selbstgefühl nennt, gründet sich auf diese Tatsache. Und je sinnlicher die Menschen veranlagt sind, desto mehr nimmt ihr Selbstgefühl diesen Charakter an. — Nach dem Tode fehlt der Leib als Gegenstand dieses Selbstgefühls. Die Seele, welcher dieses Gefühl geblieben ist, fühlt sich deshalb wie ausgehöhlt. Ein Gefühl, wie wenn sie sich selbst verloren hätte, befällt sie. Dieses hält so lange an, bis erkannt ist, daß im Physischen nicht der wahre Mensch liegt. Die Einwirkungen dieser vierten Region zerstören daher die Illusion des leiblichen Selbst. Die Seele lernt diese Leiblichkeit nicht mehr als etwas Wesentliches empfinden. Sie wird geheilt und geläutert von dem Hang zu der Leiblichkeit. Dadurch hat sie überwunden, was sie vorher stark an die physische Welt kettete, und sie kann die Kräfte der Sympathie, die nach außen gehen, voll entfalten. Sie ist sozusagen von sich abgekommen und bereit, teilnahmsvoll sich in die allgemeine Seelenwelt zu ergießen.
[ 14 ] Es soll nicht unerwähnt bleiben, daß die Erlebnisse dieser Region im besonderen Maße Selbstmörder durchmachen. Sie verlassen auf künstlichem Wege ihren physischen Leib, während doch alle Gefühle, die mit diesem zusammenhängen, unverändert bleiben. Beim natürlichen Tode geht mit dem Verfall des Leibes auch ein teilweises Ersterben der an ihn sich heftenden Gefühle einher. Bei Selbstmördern kommen dann noch zu der Qual, die ihnen das Gefühl der plötzlichen Aushöhlung verursacht, die unbefriedigten Begierden und Wünsche, wegen deren sie sich entleibt haben.
[ 15 ] Die fünfte Stufe der Seelenwelt ist die des Seelenlichtes. Die Sympathie mit anderem hat in ihr bereits eine hohe Geltung. Mit ihr sind die Seelen verwandt, insofern sie während des physischen Lebens nicht in der Befriedigung niederer Bedürfnisse aufgegangen sind, sondern Freude, Lust an ihrer Umwelt gehabt haben. Die Naturschwärmerei, insofern sie einen sinnlichen Charakter an sich getragen hat, unterliegt zum Beispiel hier der Läuterung. Man muß aber diese Art von Naturschwärmerei wohl unterscheiden von jenem höheren Leben in der Natur, das geistiger Art ist und welches den Geist sucht, der sich in den Dingen und Vorgängen der Natur offenbart. Diese Art von Natursinn gehört zu den Dingen, die den Geist selbst entwickeln und die ein Bleibendes in diesem Geiste begründen. Von diesem Natursinn ist aber eine solche Lust an der Natur zu unterscheiden, die ihren Grund in den Sinnen hat. Dieser gegenüber bedarf die Seele ebenso der Läuterung wie gegenüber anderen Neigungen, die im bloßen physischen Dasein begründet sind. Viele Menschen sehen in Einrichtungen, die der sinnlichen Wohlfahrt dienen, in einem Erziehungssystem, das vor allem sinnliches Behagen herbeigeführt, eine Art Ideal. Von ihnen kann man nicht sagen, daß sie nur ihren selbstsüchtigen Trieben dienen. Aber ihre Seele ist doch auf die Sinnenwelt gerichtet und muß durch die in der fünften Region der seelischen Welt herrschende Kraft der Sympathie, der diese äußeren Befriedigungsmittel fehlen, geheilt werden. Die Seele erkennt hier allmählich, daß diese Sympathie andere Wege nehmen muß. Und diese Wege werden gefunden in der durch die Sympathie mit der Seelenumgebung bewirkten Ausgießung der Seele in den Seelenraum. — Auch diejenigen Seelen, welche von ihren religiösen Verrichtungen zunächst eine Erhöhung ihrer sinnlichen Wohlfahrt verlangen, werden hier geläutert. Sei es, daß ihre Sehnsucht auf ein irdisches, sei es, daß sie auf ein himmlisches Paradies gehe. Sie finden im «Seelenlande» dieses Paradies; aber nur zu dem Zwecke, um die Wertlosigkeit desselben zu durchschauen. Alles das sind natürlich nur einzelne Beispiele für Läuterungen, die in dieser fünften Region stattfinden. Sie könnten beliebig vermehrt werden.
[ 16 ] Durch die sechste Region, diejenige der tätigen Seelenkraft, findet die Läuterung des tatendurstigen Teiles der Seele statt, der nicht einen egoistischen Charakter trägt, doch aber in der sinnlichen Befriedigung, welche die Taten bringen, seine Motive hat. Naturen, die eine solche Tatenlust entwickeln, machen äußerlich durchaus den Eindruck von Idealisten, sie zeigen sich als aufopferungsfähige Personen. Im tieferen Sinne kommt es ihnen aber doch auf die Erhöhung eines sinnlichen Lustgefühls an. Viele künstlerische Naturen und solche, welche sich wissenschaftlicher Betätigung hingeben, weil es ihnen so gefällt, gehören hierher. Was diese an die physische Welt kettet, das ist der Glaube, daß Kunst und Wissenschaft um eines solchen Gefallens willen da seien.
[ 17 ] Die siebente Region, die des eigentlichen Seelenlebens, befreit den Menschen von seinen letzten Hinneigungen zur sinnlich-physischen Welt. Jede vorhergehende Region nimmt von der Seele das auf, was ihr verwandt ist. Was nun noch den Geist umgibt, das ist die Meinung, daß seine Tätigkeit der sinnlichen Welt ganz gewidmet sein soll. Es gibt hochbegabte Persönlichkeiten, die aber über nicht viel anderes nachsinnen als über die Vorgänge der physischen Welt. Man kann einen solchen Glauben einen materialistischen nennen. Dieser Glaube muß zerstört werden, und er wird es in der siebenten Region. Da sehen die Seelen, daß keine Gegenstände für materialistische Gesinnung in der wahren Wirklichkeit vorhanden sind. Wie Eis in der Sonne schmilzt dieser Glaube der Seele hier dahin. Das Seelenwesen ist nunmehr aufgesogen von seiner Welt, der Geist aller Fesseln ledig. Er schwingt sich auf in die Regionen, wo er nur in seiner eigenen Umgebung lebt. — Die Seele hat ihre vorige Erdenaufgabe erfüllt, und es hat sich nach dem Tode gelöst, was von dieser Aufgabe als eine Fessel für den Geist geblieben ist. Indem die Seele den Erdenrest überwunden hat, ist sie selbst ihrem Elemente zurückgegeben.
[ 18 ] Man sieht aus dieser Darstellung, daß die Erlebnisse der seelischen Welt, und damit auch die Zustände des seelischen Lebens nach dem Tode, ein immer weniger der Seele widerstrebendes Aussehen gewinnen, je mehr der Mensch von dem abgestreift hat, was ihm von der irdischen Verbindung mit der physischen Körperlichkeit an unmittelbarer Verwandtschaft mit dieser anhaftet. — Je nach den im physischen Leben geschaffenen Vorbedingungen wird die Seele länger oder kürzer der einen oder anderen Region angehören. Wo sie Verwandtschaft fühlt, bleibt sie so lange, bis diese getilgt ist. Wo keine Verwandtschaft vorhanden ist, geht sie unfühlend über die möglichen Einwirkungen hinweg. Es sollten hier nur die Grundeigenschaften der Seelenwelt geschildert und der Charakter des Lebens der Seele in dieser Welt in allgemeinen Zügen dargestellt werden. Dasselbe gilt für die folgenden Darstellungen des Geisterlandes. Es würde die Grenzen, welche dieses Buch einhalten soll, überschreiten, wenn auf weitere Eigenschaften dieser höheren Welten eingegangen werden sollte. Denn von dem, was sich mit Raumverhältnissen und dem Zeitverlauf vergleichen läßt, in bezug auf die hier alles ganz anders ist als in der physischen Welt, kann nur verständlich gesprochen werden, wenn man es in ganz ausführlicher Art darstellen will. Einiges Wichtige darüber findet man in meiner «Geheimwissenschaft».
2 The soul in the soul world after death
[ 1 ] The soul is the link between the spirit of man and his body. Its powers of sympathy and antipathy, which through their mutual relationship form the expressions of the soul: Desire, irritability, wish, pleasure and displeasure and so on -, they are not only active between soul entity and soul entity, but they also express themselves towards the entities of the other worlds, the physical and the spiritual world. While the soul dwells in the body, it is to a certain extent involved in everything that takes place in this body. If the physical activities of the body proceed with regularity, pleasure and comfort arise in the soul; if these activities are disturbed, displeasure and pain arise. -And the soul also has its interest in the activities of the spirit: this thought fills it with joy, that with disgust; a correct judgment has the soul's approval, a wrong one its displeasure. - Indeed, a person's stage of development depends on whether the inclinations of his soul go more in one direction or the other. A man is the more perfect the more his soul sympathizes with the manifestations of the spirit; he is the more imperfect the more his inclinations are satisfied by the activities of the body.
[ 2 ] The spirit is the center of man, the body the mediator through which the spirit observes and recognizes the physical world and through which it works in it. The soul, however, is the mediator between the two. It releases the sensation of sound from the physical impression that the air vibrations make on the ear, it experiences the pleasure of this sound. It communicates all this to the spirit, which thereby arrives at an understanding of the physical world. A thought that arises in the spirit is transformed by the soul into the desire for realization and can only then become a deed with the help of the bodily instrument. - Now man can only fulfill his destiny by letting the spirit give direction to all his work. The soul can through itself bring its inclinations to the physical as well as to the spiritual. It lowers, as it were, its feeling threads down to the physical just as it stretches them up to the spiritual. By sinking into the physical world, its own essence is permeated and colored by the nature of the physical. But since the spirit can only work in the physical world through its mediation, it is thereby itself given a direction towards the physical. Its formations are drawn towards the physical by the forces of the soul. Consider the undeveloped human being. The affections of his soul are attached to the activities of his body. He only feels pleasure in the impressions which the physical world makes on his senses. And his spiritual life is also completely drawn down into this sphere. His thoughts only serve to satisfy his physical needs. - As the spiritual self lives from embodiment to embodiment, it should receive its direction more and more from the spiritual. Its cognition should be determined by the spirit of eternal truth, its actions by eternal goodness.
[ 3 ] Death, considered as a fact of the physical world, means a change in the activities of the body. With death, the body ceases to be the mediator of the soul and the spirit through its own mechanism. Furthermore, in its activities it shows itself to be entirely subject to the physical world and its laws; it merges into the physical world in order to dissolve into it. Only these physical processes of the body can be observed with the physical senses after death. What then happens to the soul and spirit is beyond these senses. For even during life, the soul and spirit can only be observed by the senses insofar as they attain their external expression in physical processes. After death, such expression is no longer possible. Therefore, the observation of the physical senses and the science based on them is not relevant to the fate of the soul and spirit after death. This is where a higher knowledge comes in, which is based on the observation of the processes in the soul and spirit world.
[ 4 ] Once the spirit has detached itself from the body, it is still connected to the soul. And just as the body chained it to the physical world during physical life, so now the soul is chained to the spiritual world. - But his very essence is not to be found in this spiritual world. It is only to connect him with the field of his creation, with the physical world. In order to appear in a new embodiment with a more perfect form, he must draw strength and reinforcement from the spiritual world. But he has become entangled in the physical world through the soul. It is bound to a soul being that is permeated and colored by the nature of the physical, and it has thereby itself received this direction. After death, the soul is no longer bound to the body, but only to the spirit. It now lives in a spiritual environment. Only the forces of this world can therefore still have an effect on it. And the spirit is initially also bound to this life of the soul in the world of the soul. It is bound to it in the same way as it is bound to the body during the physical embodiment. When the body dies is determined by its laws. In general it must be said that the soul and spirit do not leave the body, but are released from it when its powers can no longer function in the sense of human organization. The relationship between soul and spirit is the same. The soul will release the spirit into the higher, into the spiritual world, when its powers can no longer work in the sense of the human soul organization. The spirit will be liberated at the moment when the soul has given over to dissolution that which it can only experience within the body, and retains only that which can live on with the spirit. That which remains, which is experienced in the body but can be imprinted in the spirit as fruit, connects the soul with the spirit in the purely spiritual world. -In order to know the fate of the soul after death, its process of dissolution must therefore be considered. It had the task of giving the spirit the direction towards the physical. The moment it has fulfilled this task, it takes the direction towards the spiritual. Because of this nature of its task it would actually have to be immediately only spiritually active when the body falls away from it, when it can therefore no longer be a link. And it would also be this if it had not been influenced by the body through its life in the body, if its inclinations had not been drawn to it. Without this coloring, which it has received through the connection with the corporeal, it would follow the mere laws of the spiritual-soul world immediately after disembodiment and develop no further inclination towards the sensual. And this would be the case if the human being had completely lost all interest in the earthly world at death, if all desires, wishes and so on that are linked to the existence he has left were satisfied. But if this is not the case, what remains in this direction clings to the soul.
[ 5 ] In order to avoid confusion, a careful distinction must be made here between that which chains man to the world in such a way that it can also be balanced in a subsequent embodiment, and that which chains him to a determined last embodiment. The former is balanced by the law of fate, karma; the latter, however, can only be stripped from the soul after death.
[ 6 ] A time follows death for the human spirit in which the soul casts off its inclinations to physical existence in order to then again follow the mere laws of the spiritual-soul world and free the spirit. It is natural that the more the soul was bound to the physical, the longer this time will last. It will be short for a person who has been little attached to the physical life, but long for one who has tied his interests entirely to this life, so that at death many desires, wishes and so on still live in the soul.
[ 7 ] The easiest way to get an idea of the state in which the soul lives in the time immediately after death is to consider the following. Let us take a rather blatant example: the pleasures of a gourmet. He derives his pleasure from the thrill of the palate through food. Of course, pleasure is not something physical, but something spiritual. Pleasure lives in the soul, as does the desire for pleasure. For the satisfaction of desire, however, the corresponding physical organ, the palate and so on, is necessary. After death, the soul has not immediately lost such a desire, but it no longer has the bodily organ that is the means of satisfying the desire. It is now -albeit for a different reason, but which has a similar, only far stronger effect - for man as if he suffered burning thirst in a region where there is no water far and wide. Thus the soul suffers burning from the deprivation of pleasure because it has discarded the bodily organ through which it can have pleasure. So it is with everything that the soul desires and that can only be satisfied through the bodily organs. This state (of burning deprivation) lasts until the soul has learned to no longer desire that which can only be satisfied by the body. And the time spent in this state can be called the place of desires, although of course we are not dealing with a "place".
[ 8 ] When the soul enters the spiritual world after death, it is subject to its laws. These have an effect on it; and it depends on this effect in what way the inclination towards the physical is eradicated in it. The effects must be different according to the kinds of soul substances and soul forces into whose sphere it is now placed. Each of these types will exert its purifying, cleansing influence. The process that takes place here is such that everything antipathic in the soul is gradually overcome by the forces of sympathy and that this sympathy itself is led to its highest peak. For through this highest degree of sympathy with the whole remaining world of the soul, the soul will, as it were, melt into it, become one with it; then its selfishness is completely exhausted. It ceases to exist as a being inclined towards physical-sensual existence: the spirit is liberated through it. Therefore the soul purifies itself through the regions of the soul world described above until it becomes one with the general soul world in the region of perfect sympathy. The fact that the spirit itself is bound to the soul until this last moment of liberation is due to the fact that it has become completely related to it through its life. This kinship is much greater than that with the body. For he is indirectly connected with the latter through the soul, but directly with it. It is, after all, its own life. Therefore, the spirit is not bound to the decaying body, but it is bound to the gradually liberating soul. - Because of the direct connection of the spirit with the soul, the former can only feel free from the latter when it has itself become one with the general world of the soul.
[ 9 ] Insofar as the spiritual world is the abode of the human being immediately after death, it can be called the "place of desires". The various religious systems that have included an awareness of these conditions in their teachings know this "place of desires" under the name of "purgatory", "purification fire" and so on.
[ 10 ] The lowest region of the world of the soul is that of the glow of desires. Through it, after death, all the grossest selfish desires associated with the lowest bodily life are eradicated from the soul. For through such desires it can experience an effect from the powers of this region of the soul. The unsatisfied desires left over from physical life form the point of attack. The sympathy of such souls extends only over that which can nourish their selfish nature; and it is far outweighed by the antipathy which pours out over everything else. But now the desires are directed towards physical pleasures, which cannot be satisfied in the world of the soul. This impossibility of satisfaction increases greed to the highest level. At the same time, however, this impossibility must gradually extinguish greed. The burning desires consume themselves little by little; and the soul has experienced that in the eradication of such desires lies the only means of preventing the suffering that must come from them. During physical life, satisfaction comes again and again. Thus the pain of burning greed is concealed by a kind of illusion. After death, in the "purification fire", this pain appears completely undisguised. The corresponding experiences of deprivation are experienced. It is a dark state in which the souls find themselves as a result. Only those people can naturally fall into this state whose desires in physical life were aimed at the grossest things. Natures with few desires pass through it without realizing it, for they have no relation to it. It must be said that the more souls are influenced by the ardor of desire, the more they have become related to it through their physical life, and the more they need to be purified in it. Such purification must not be described as suffering in the same sense as something similar in the world of the senses must be perceived as suffering. For the soul desires its purification after death, because only through this can an existing imperfection in it be eradicated.
[ 11 ] A second type of process in the world of the soul is such that sympathy and antipathy are in balance. Insofar as a human soul is in the same state after death, it is influenced for a time by these processes. Absorption in the outward trappings of life, delight in the passing impressions of the senses, condition this state. Men live in it in so far as it is conditioned by the soul inclinations indicated. They allow themselves to be influenced by every triviality of the day. But as their sympathy is not directed to any one thing in particular, the influences pass quickly. Everything that does not belong to this inane realm is antipathetic to such people. If, after death, the soul experiences this state without the sensual-physical things which are necessary for its satisfaction, it must finally expire. Naturally, the deprivation that prevails in the soul before it is completely extinguished is painful. This painful situation is the school for the destruction of the illusion in which man is enveloped during physical life.
[ 12 ] Thirdly, in the world of the soul, the processes with predominant sympathy, those with predominant desire nature, come into consideration. The souls experience their effect through everything that maintains an atmosphere of wishes after death. These desires also gradually die out due to the impossibility of satisfying them.
[ 13 ] The region of pleasure and displeasure in the world of the soul, which has been described above as the fourth, imposes special tests on the soul. As long as it dwells in the body, it participates in everything that concerns this body. The weaving of pleasure and displeasure is linked to it. It causes it pleasure and comfort, displeasure and discomfort. During physical life, man perceives his body as his self. What we call self-feeling is based on this fact. And the more sensually inclined people are, the more their sense of self takes on this character. - After death, the body is missing as the object of this sense of self. The soul, which has retained this feeling, therefore feels hollowed out, as if it had lost itself. This persists until it is recognized that the true human being does not lie in the physical. The effects of this fourth region therefore destroy the illusion of the physical self. The soul no longer learns to perceive this corporeality as something essential. It is healed and purified from the inclination towards corporeality. As a result, it has overcome what previously chained it strongly to the physical world, and it can fully develop the powers of sympathy that go outwards. It has, so to speak, left itself and is ready to pour itself sympathetically into the general world of the soul.
[ 14 ] It should not go unmentioned that suicides in particular go through the experiences of this region. They leave their physical body artificially, while all the feelings connected with it remain unchanged. In the case of natural death, the decay of the body is accompanied by a partial extinction of the feelings attached to it. In the case of suicides, the agony caused by the feeling of sudden hollowing out is then compounded by the unsatisfied desires and wishes because of which they have emptied themselves.
[ 15 ] The fifth stage of the soul world is that of soul light. Sympathy with others already has a high validity in it. Souls are related to it insofar as they have not been absorbed in the satisfaction of lower needs during physical life, but have had joy and pleasure in their environment. For example, the nature-indulgence, insofar as it has had a sensual character, is subject to purification here. One must, however, distinguish this kind of nature-obsession from that higher life in nature which is of a spiritual nature and which seeks the spirit that reveals itself in the things and processes of nature. This kind of sense of nature belongs to those things which develop the spirit itself and which establish an abiding thing in this spirit. However, this sense of nature is to be distinguished from such a pleasure in nature that has its foundation in the senses. The soul needs purification from this as much as from other inclinations that are based in mere physical existence. Many people see a kind of ideal in institutions that serve sensual welfare, in an educational system that primarily brings about sensual pleasure. It cannot be said of them that they only serve their selfish drives. But their soul is nevertheless directed towards the world of the senses and must be healed by the power of sympathy, which prevails in the fifth region of the spiritual world and which lacks these external means of gratification. Here the soul gradually recognizes that this sympathy must take other paths. And these paths are found in the outpouring of the soul into the soul space brought about by sympathy with the soul's surroundings. - Even those souls who initially demand an increase in their sensual well-being from their religious activities are purified here. Whether their longing is for an earthly or a heavenly paradise. They find this paradise in the "land of the soul"; but only for the purpose of seeing through the worthlessness of it. Of course, these are just a few examples of the purifications that take place in this fifth region. They could be multiplied at will.
[ 16 ] Through the sixth region, that of the active soul power, the purification of the action-thirsty part of the soul takes place, which does not have an egoistic character, but nevertheless has its motives in the sensual satisfaction that actions bring. Natures that develop such a thirst for action certainly give the outward impression of idealists; they present themselves as self-sacrificing persons. In a deeper sense, however, what matters to them is the heightening of a sensual feeling of pleasure. Many artistic natures and those who devote themselves to scientific pursuits because they like it that way belong here. What chains them to the physical world is the belief that art and science exist for the sake of such pleasures.
[ 17 ] The seventh region, that of the actual soul life, frees man from his last inclinations towards the sensual-physical world. Each preceding region absorbs from the soul that which is related to it. What still surrounds the spirit is the opinion that its activity should be entirely devoted to the sensual world. There are highly gifted personalities who, however, do not think about much other than the processes of the physical world. Such a belief can be called materialistic. This belief must be destroyed, and it will be in the seventh region. There the souls see that there are no objects for materialistic thinking in the true reality. Like ice in the sun, this belief of the soul melts away here. The soul being is now absorbed by its world, the spirit is free of all fetters. It soars into the regions where it lives only in its own environment. - The soul has fulfilled its previous task on earth, and after death what remained of this task as a shackle for the spirit has been released. By overcoming the earthly remnant, the soul itself is returned to its element.
[ 18 ] It can be seen from this description that the experiences of the spiritual world, and thus also the states of the spiritual life after death, take on an appearance that is less and less contrary to the soul, the more the human being has shed that which clings to him from the earthly connection with the physical corporeality in terms of direct kinship with it. - Depending on the preconditions created in physical life, the soul will belong to one region or another for a longer or shorter time. Where it feels kinship, it will remain until this is eradicated. Where there is no kinship, it passes over the possible influences without feeling them. Only the basic characteristics of the world of the soul should be described here and the character of the soul's life in this world should be described in general terms. The same applies to the following descriptions of the spirit world. It would exceed the limits of this book if further characteristics of these higher worlds were to be described. For that which can be compared with spatial relationships and the course of time, in relation to which everything here is quite different from that in the physical world, can only be spoken of intelligibly if it is presented in a very detailed manner. Some important information about this can be found in my “Secret Science”.