How To Achieve Christ Consciousness And Attain Immortality - Rudolf Steiner
Summary
TLDRThe script delves into the concept of carrying ego consciousness beyond death, suggesting that it can only be achieved through unity with Christ, who supports it during the transition. It explores the development of consciousness through meditation, the nature of ordinary and imaginative thinking, and the relationship between the soul and the physical body. The lecture also touches on the significance of the Christ event in preserving ego consciousness and the role of anthroposophical research in understanding the mysteries of life, death, and spiritual evolution.
Takeaways
- 🧘 The script discusses the concept of carrying one's ego consciousness through death, suggesting that it can only be achieved through the mystery of Golgotha and the union with Christ.
- 🛌 It emphasizes the idea that ordinary consciousness is extinguished during sleep and is rekindled through imagination, inspiration, and intuition meditation, which deals with ordinary thinking to produce imaginative thinking.
- 🤔 The experience of meditation initially involves a temporary inability to think, as one feels outside the physical organization, leading to a stronger activity of thought in the soul upon renewed awareness.
- 💭 The script describes the process of developing imaginative thinking, where one's memories and ordinary consciousness are set aside to experience a deeper, more substantial form of thought related to one's etheric body and life course.
- 🕒 The concept of time is explored, with the script suggesting that in imaginative consciousness, time periods appear simultaneously, unlike ordinary consciousness that lives in the present with only memories of the past.
- 🔄 The script contrasts the experiences of ordinary consciousness with those of imaginative consciousness, noting that the latter does not rely on memory but on the present moment's active experience.
- 💡 It highlights the importance of distinguishing between true imagination and visionary experiences, with the former being a controlled and enriching addition to ordinary consciousness, while the latter is an uncontrollable and potentially misleading experience.
- 🧠 The physical body, particularly the head organization, is described as a metamorphosis of pre-early soul life, serving as a mirror for reflecting thoughts, while the will is linked loosely with the metabolic and limb systems.
- 🌟 The script suggests that through intuition, one can perceive the spiritual nature of the will and understand the divine spiritual world, which is not directly accessible through the physical head organization.
- 🤝 The attainment of ego consciousness is linked to the physical body, and the script proposes that the mystery of Golgotha and the Christ being are essential for preserving this ego consciousness after death.
- 📚 Finally, the script implies that higher perception and philosophy gain substance and life through the approach described, leading to a spiritual Christianity and a deeper understanding of human existence.
Q & A
What is the central theme of the script discussing?
-The central theme of the script is the exploration of human consciousness, particularly the ego consciousness, its relationship with the physical body, and how it can be carried beyond death through the mystery of Golgotha.
What does the script suggest about the nature of consciousness during sleep?
-The script suggests that during sleep, a person's ordinary consciousness, sense perception, and the experiences of thinking, feeling, and willing are extinguished, and these aspects are rekindled through imagination, inspiration, and intuition during meditation.
How does the script describe the process of developing imaginative thinking?
-The script describes the development of imaginative thinking as a process that starts with ordinary thinking and then transitions to a state where one's thinking is enhanced and more connected to the soul's experiences, including the ability to recall one's life from birth to the present moment in a simultaneous, spatial manner.
What is the significance of the 'mystery of Golgotha' in the context of this script?
-The 'mystery of Golgotha' refers to the crucifixion of Christ and is significant in this script as it is suggested that Christ can support and carry the ego consciousness through death, preventing it from melting away with the physical body.
How does the script differentiate between ordinary consciousness and imaginative consciousness?
-Ordinary consciousness is tied to the physical world and is bound by time, while imaginative consciousness allows for a simultaneous experience of time and a deeper, more substantial connection with the soul's life and experiences.
What role does the physical body play in the development of ego consciousness according to the script?
-According to the script, the physical body is instrumental in the development of ego consciousness. It is through the use of the physical body, particularly during the period of human evolution marked by the event of Golgotha, that humans learn to develop their ego consciousness.
How does the script explain the relationship between the soul and the physical body?
-The script explains that the soul has a dual relationship with the physical body. One part of the soul is transformed into the physical form, specifically the head organization, while another part remains connected to the metabolic and limb systems in a loose way, reflecting the will and not transforming into physical corporeality.
What is the significance of the head organization in the context of the script?
-The head organization is significant as it represents a physical metamorphosis of a soul-spiritual element from pre-early existence. It serves as a mirror for reflecting thoughts, formed and enlivened out of the experiences of pre-early life.
What does the script suggest about the nature of the will in relation to consciousness?
-The script suggests that the will operates in a part of the soul that is not fully conscious during waking life, akin to a state of sleep. It is only through intuition that one can perceive the true nature of the will and its connection to the divine spiritual world.
How does the script relate the concept of death to the evolution of human consciousness?
-The script relates death to the evolution of human consciousness by suggesting that death is not the end but a transition where the soul life that was transformed into the physical body during life is reborn into a new spiritual existence, particularly through the intervention of the Christ as per the mystery of Golgotha.
What is the role of intuition in understanding the human will and spiritual world?
-Intuition plays a crucial role in understanding the human will and the spiritual world as it allows one to perceive the true nature of the will and the soul's life that is otherwise concealed. It unveils the spiritual world by revealing the soul's embryonic life that is set to be born at death.
Outlines
🧘♂️ Ego Consciousness and the Mystery of Golgotha
This paragraph delves into the concept of ego consciousness and its connection to the physical body, suggesting that it can only be preserved after death through the union with Christ. It discusses the process of meditation and how it leads to imaginative thinking, which is essential for understanding the problem of death. The paragraph emphasizes the need to transcend ordinary consciousness to access deeper spiritual insights, highlighting the transformative journey from physical to etheric reality and the role of courage and presence of mind in experiencing this transition.
🔮 The Development of Imaginative Consciousness
The second paragraph explores the development of imaginative consciousness, contrasting it with ordinary consciousness. It explains how memories are lost during imaginative thinking, and how this form of consciousness allows for a simultaneous experience of one's life events, as opposed to the linear perception of time. The paragraph also addresses the challenge of retaining imaginative experiences in memory, emphasizing the need for repeated effort to access these insights, and differentiating between the substantial nature of imaginative thoughts and the illusory reflections of ordinary consciousness.
📚 The Role of Practice in Spiritual Perception
This paragraph discusses the importance of practice in cultivating spiritual perception, likening it to the acquisition of a skill. It emphasizes that the insights gained from super sensible worlds must be produced in the present moment and cannot be simply memorized. The speaker shares personal anecdotes to illustrate the difficulty of conveying spiritual truths and the necessity of composure and quiet for the subject to arise from a calm soul. The paragraph also touches on the expectations placed on lecturers of spiritual subjects and the potential disruptions caused by external inquiries.
🕊️ The Transformation of Soul Elements and the Physical Body
The fourth paragraph examines the relationship between the soul and the physical body, particularly focusing on how certain soul elements are transformed into physical form, specifically the human head organization. It explains that the head is a physical metamorphosis of pre-early soul life and serves as a mirror for reflecting thoughts. The paragraph also discusses the difference between the conscious experience of thoughts and the unconscious aspects of the will and metabolic processes, suggesting that the latter are more closely tied to the physical world and less reflective of the soul's true nature.
🤔 The Paradox of Consciousness and the Unconscious Aspects of the Soul
This paragraph delves into the complexities of human consciousness, highlighting the paradox that while we are awake in our thoughts, we are unconscious in our will and metabolic processes. It discusses the idea that the soul's life is partially asleep even when we are awake, particularly in relation to the will. The paragraph also explores the concept of intuition as a means to perceive the true nature of the will and the divine spiritual world, suggesting that through intuition, one can gain insight into the eternal nature of the soul and its development through pre-early existence, earthly life, and life after death.
🌐 The Soul's Journey from Pre-Early Existence to Earthly Life
The sixth paragraph discusses the journey of the soul from pre-early existence to earthly life, focusing on the transformation of the soul's elements during conception and birth. It explains that one part of the soul is completely transformed into the physical form of the human head, while another part remains connected to the metabolic and limb systems in a loose way. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of understanding the relationship between the soul and the physical body in order to gain insight into the nature of the soul and its experiences, particularly in relation to the development of ego consciousness.
💭 The Nature of the Will and the Soul's Eternal Being
This paragraph explores the nature of the will and its relationship to the soul's eternal being. It discusses how the will is a mystery even in waking life and can only be fully understood through intuition. The paragraph also examines the concept of the soul embryo, which is revealed through intuitive perception and represents the part of the soul that is born into a new spiritual life at death. The discussion highlights the importance of super sensible perception in understanding the evolution of the soul from pre-early existence, through earthly life, to life after death.
🛐 The Christ Event and the Preservation of Ego Consciousness
The eighth paragraph discusses the significance of the Christ event in preserving ego consciousness after death. It explains that ego consciousness, which is acquired through the use of the physical body, would otherwise be lost at death. The paragraph emphasizes that the mystery of Golgotha provides the answer to how ego consciousness can be carried beyond death, suggesting that it is through the union with Christ that this is made possible. The discussion highlights the importance of anthroposophical research in understanding the spiritual significance of the Christ event for human life.
🌟 The Role of Higher Perception in Spiritual Philosophy and Christianity
The final paragraph emphasizes the role of higher perception in shaping spiritual philosophy and Christianity. It discusses how higher perception leads to an appeal to the mystery of Golgotha and the entry of the Christ being into human consciousness. The paragraph suggests that modern super sensible perception, through spiritual philosophy and cosmology, can provide a firm foundation for spiritual Christianity. It also touches on the importance of imaginative knowledge in enriching philosophy and the insights gained from super sensible perception in understanding the nature of time and the human experience.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Ego Consciousness
💡Imaginative Thinking
💡Initiation Knowledge
💡Meditation
💡Super sensible Perception
💡Christ Event
💡Mystery of Golgotha
💡Intuitive Perception
💡Visionary Experience
💡Anthroposophy
💡Spiritual Christianity
Highlights
The concept of carrying ego consciousness through death, with the mystery of Golgotha as the key.
The necessity for the ego consciousness to unite with the Christ to be preserved beyond death.
The exploration of human consciousness during sleep and wake states, and its relation to the soul life.
The process of rekindling consciousness through imagination, inspiration, and intuition meditation.
The experience of non-thinking as a transition between ordinary and imaginative thinking.
The development of imaginative thinking through meditation and its impact on ordinary consciousness.
The distinction between the physical body's role in developing ego consciousness and its loss post-death.
The transformative journey of the soul from pre-existence through birth to death and beyond.
The role of the physical body as a mirror for thoughts and its metamorphosis from pre-existence.
The dual nature of consciousness: ordinary consciousness bound to the physical and higher consciousness transcending it.
The importance of maintaining ordinary consciousness alongside higher states for balanced perception.
The contrast between visionary experiences and true imaginative consciousness.
The process of discerning the soul's relationship to the physical body through super sensible perception.
The insight into the eternal nature of the soul and its journey from pre-existence to post-death existence.
The concept of the soul embryo, which matures at death, revealing a new spiritual life.
The transformative role of the Christ event in preserving ego consciousness through death.
The philosophical implications of the experience of non-thinking and its reflection in ordinary consciousness.
The potential of anthroposophical research to enrich modern philosophy, cosmology, and spiritual Christianity.
Transcripts
how do we carry our ego Consciousness
through death only the mystery of
golgatha can answer this
[Music]
question man could never carry his ego
Consciousness Beyond Death unless this
ego Consciousness having developed in
the physical body unites with the Christ
who holds and supports it when it would
otherwise melt away from the human soul
along with the physical
[Music]
[Music]
body when we look at the two conditions
of wake and sleeping that alternate in
daily human life we find that during
sleep in regard to ordinary
Consciousness man's sense perception is
suspended and that what he experiences
in his soul life as thinking feeling and
willing is also
extinguished everything that we as human
beings sum up as ourself when we are
awake is actually extinguished all that
is here extinguished will now be
rekindled bit by bit through imagination
inspiration and intuition meditation
must first deal with ordinary thinking
in order to produce imaginative thinking
I have described how thoughts are
employed so that through meditating
imaginative perception is attained
particularly concerning the problem of
death it is necessary to clarify still
further what is experienced on the path
of initiation knowledge for only then
does it become clear what kind of a
relationship man acquires in regard to
his physical body and his soul spiritual
being when death occurs when thinking is
used in meditation in the manner I have
described it the first experience of a
person is that he actually cannot think
for a while as he feels himself with his
whole soul to be outside the physical
organization
to a degree thinking is as it were for a
short time forgotten it takes a certain
amount of Courage inner energy and also
a certain presence of mind to experience
this moment with full awareness but then
as he awakens to renewed awareness he
notices that he experiences a much
stronger activity of thought in his soul
than he has had earlier thinking begins
again and man progresses in the the
following
way to start he has his ordinary
Consciousness I emphasize that ordinary
Consciousness is retained during genuine
imagination and then he must find his
way into the other form of Consciousness
and back again while the ordinary
Earthly view of things is naturally
preserved as far as ordinary
Consciousness is concerned in this other
state of mind that man can enter he
loses the capacity so to speak to
produce thoughts a stronger activity of
thought sets in however as meditation is
continued a more pronounced inner
thought experience is acquired in
ordinary Consciousness the thoughts that
are experienced have to do mostly with
the outer sense world and memories also
there are dim thoughts that are rise out
of any number of emotional
experiences now in this higher state of
consciousness man possesses a thinking
with which he can call up into awareness
in active thoughts the course of his own
life from birth to the present moment in
the manner I have
described this however has to do with a
deeper layer of the course of man's life
I have already mentioned that they are
not the memories a person also has has
in ordinary Consciousness these are on a
deeper level Man actually sees into an
etheric process that builds up saturates
and penetrates indeed has always
penetrated the physical
organization everything that has
occurred since birth in the physical
body as growth was produced in it how
the separate organs were plastically
formed how our capacities of thinking
feeling and willing were drawn out of
the depths of the bodily
organization everything connected with
Organic life that is otherwise hidden
from Consciousness all of this shoots up
in the form of active inwardly
experienced substantial thoughts in a
certain sense man passes from ordinary
thinking across an abyss to a thinking
that experiences its own etheric body in
developing imaginative thinking in this
way strict attention must be paid to
what escapes you during the moments when
you are within this imaginative thinking
the first thing you actually lose are
your memories you have the memories in
ordinary Consciousness but alongside
this ordinary Consciousness the other
imaginative Consciousness develops in it
no memories exist I ask you to clarify
this to yourselves through the following
explanation when you recall anything as
in in all experiences of ordinary
Consciousness you actually live in the
present you perceive what confronts you
at the present moment and you think
thoughts about it and if you remember
something of the past you nevertheless
have before you in your mind a picture
in the present moment that merely points
to the Past hence ordinary Consciousness
experiences the present imaginative
Consciousness experiences its own life's
course in such a way that the individual
stages are surveyed all at once as if
the things existing in time were spread
out in space just as you experience one
thing alongside another simultaneously
in sense perception so you now
experience your own past on Earth all at
once time becomes like space the events
you have lived through in your 30th 18th
10th 7th or fifth year stand before the
soul side by side in this way the
experiences of imaginative Consciousness
differ from those of ordinary
Consciousness ordinary Consciousness
lives in the present for the past it
only has its memories imaginative
Consciousness experiences different
times but in such a way that these time
periods appear simultaneously before the
soul I said that Recollections the
memory thoughts slip away first this is
really the case in imaginative
Consciousness man does not possess a
memory or Recollections faculties that
in his ordinary Consciousness are a
great help to him in life it goes
without saying that the capacity of
memory in his normal human nature
remains as it was because the ordinary
human being remains unchanged along
inside the new faculty but man cannot
remember his newly acquired imaginative
experience of the ordinary course of his
life let us assume that at a given
moment a person experiences his life's
course in imaginative Consciousness if
in 3 days he wants to relive it again he
will not be able to recall what he has
experience today he must repeat the same
efforts that led him to experience the
course of his life
again he must do the exercises that lead
to this experience just as a real
physical object cannot actually be
present in your memory you have to walk
over again to where it is located so
what you now experience namely your
etheric body cannot simply be called up
by memory for it is a living reality it
has to be summoned a new again and again
this is something that disappoints many
people who do such Soul exercises they
set about doing them and Achieve and see
something they assume that they can
retain this view that they can call it
up again any time in memory they are
unable to do this and are
disillusioned the efforts have to be
renewed each time in order to produce
the experiences inwardly again let me
give an example assume that a person
gives a lecture basing his talk on the
new science of meditation he lectures in
such a way that he has not turned
everything into abstract ideas but
rather speaks out of living perception
he therefore cannot prepare himself by
memorizing what he has in mind matters
pertaining to the physical world can be
memorized but not those relating to
imaginative Consciousness for they
always have to be produced a new a
person can indeed prepare himself but
this preparation is a kind of exercise
it is like acquiring a skill through
practice Earnest constant meditation and
practice help you to bring forth what
you want from the super sensible world
but it must be produced in the present
moment it must arise instantly if it is
to come out of the spiritual World in
truly alive form it then contains the
immediate echo of the spiritual in its
formulation
its
expression forgive me if I mention
something personal here I've perhaps
spoken already 30 or 40 times about one
subject it makes it no easier for me to
speak on it for the 30th time it is just
as hard as it was the first time for it
is always the same process again as a
basis for producing such material a
person needs composure and quiet so that
the subject can arise out of a calm Soul
Perhaps it is unnecessary but to make
myself clear I might add that in this
regard an audience that expects a person
to lecture on some aspect of the
spiritual world is often really cruel to
him naturally the present audience is
always accepted it may be acceptable in
a professorial lecture but not in a
spiritual one that any number of persons
come up prior to a lecture and ask all
all kinds of questions without
considering at all that in the next
moment facts from the spiritual world
are to be brought forth in this way I
have sought to describe to you the
subjective experience of one who has
imaginative
Consciousness because a person knows
within his own mind how this active
living thinking comes to the surface
which now has as its content his own
life's course he also understands the
nature of ordinary thinking from the
vantage point of imaginative
Consciousness he can now look back on
ordinary thinking and arrive at the
realization that in itself it has no
reality at all actually everyone lives
in imagination he does so unconsciously
carrying this substantial thinking
within himself but because he has not
strengthened his soul forces
sufficiently his soul is too weak to
lift into Consciousness what is within
him when he wants to think therefore he
always takes hold of his physical body
that becomes for him the basis of
ordinary
Consciousness but what actually happens
there because this inner activity which
even in ordinary Consciousness is
unconscious imagination turns to the
physical organism it slips right into it
this unconscious imagination of which
man knows nothing which remains
unconscious until it lights up in
imaginative knowledge as active thinking
slips into ordinary Consciousness into
the physical organism and makes use of
it then as imaginative Consciousness
which does not know what it is since it
remains unconscious it is reflected in
the form of inner mirror
Reflections these then are the ordinary
thoughts they have as little reality as
mirrored Reflections have in relation to
the objects standing before a mirror
something is reflected back to us from
our physical body and these are the
thoughts that arise in ordinary
Consciousness merely mirror images he
who experiences these thoughts therefore
experiences nothing substantial there is
no strength no life in these thoughts of
ordinary Consciousness at the moment
however when active thinking sets in
through imagination there is substance
in thinking in every imaginative thought
there is substance and energy you know
that with this imaginative thinking you
live within a force like the one that
brought you from the state of childhood
to that of a grown human being when a
person works his way through to
imaginative thinking he actually passes
to begin with from ordinary physical
reality to etheric reality but in doing
so he now receives the first insight
into the physical body he sees it as a
reflecting apparatus that throws the
thoughts back to the human being along
with this man begins to approach the
problem of death for it is not until his
physical body becomes for him an
external object that he can consider the
problem of death if Man actually still
exists as a being after death he is
quite certainly not present in his
physical body if therefore he wants to
solve the problem of death while he is
alive he must have his physical body
outside himself and view it as
objectively as is the case relatively
speaking when the body is beside or
outside the human entity in death this
characterizes the first step towards
solving the problem of
death in the second part of today's
lecture we shall discuss what else is
required on the basis of a perception
such as I have described to you man is
really in a position to judge how the
soul spiritual in the human being
relates to the corporeal physical not
until he can objectively survey the
physical organization the etheric body
and the Soul spiritual by means of the
imaginative as well as the subsequent
methods of super sensible cognition can
he perceive how the two parts conduct
themselves in the various stages of life
it is therefore of immense importance to
bear in mind that in the super sensible
perception of which I am speaking here
man retains the ordinary Consciousness
he possesses in every day Waking Life
alongside all the other perceptual
experiences already in imaginative
Consciousness when he confronts
something of his past life for instance
the manner in which certain traits
appeared in connection with the
processes of growth when he was still a
child of nine or 10 how moral Tendencies
arose he perceives all this because he
has before him the unity of the physical
and soul nature at age 9 or 10 he
observes what took place then in the
organism but at the same time he must
retain his everyday
Consciousness this means that he must
now have this view of the ninth or 10th
year of his life which reveals something
that otherwise remains entirely
unconscious on the other hand at his own
discretion he must be able to bring to
mind
instantaneously the memories that he has
in ordinary Consciousness which carry
him back in the normal way to his 9th or
10th
year man must always be able to compare
the one with the other the higher with
the ordinary
Consciousness in the same way that he
usually passes from one thought to
another he must pass back and forth
between an experience in imaginative
Consciousness and one in orinary
Consciousness this characteristic of the
higher Consciousness refer referred to
here is especially important those
people who judge anthroposophical
research only from the outside
frequently believe that what appears as
imagination can be dismissed like the
hallucinations of some Visionary but you
must become aware of the radical
distinction that exists between true
imagination and a vision a vision
certainly conveys a pictorial content
also but man is complete bound up in his
vision while the vision goes on his
Consciousness has transformed itself
into it and he cannot go back and forth
at Will from The Vision to his ordinary
Consciousness in contrast a person who
experiences imaginative Consciousness
has not transformed his ordinary
Consciousness into a vision he has
enriched it with
imagination he has added what he already
possesses in order Ary Consciousness to
what he has attained in imagination a
person with imaginative Consciousness
therefore firmly rejects the common
Visionary experience but he can also
discern the visionary's predicament in
life for whoever has achieved the
heights of perception indicated here can
observe in detail how a soul is inwardly
active in what way it employs the
physical organism so that the body can
reflect the thoughts back to it the
person experiencing imagination and
inspiration is familiar with the Soul's
relationship to the physical body in
normal
Consciousness he therefore can also form
a judgment about a
Visionary in the case of a Visionary the
soul has not become free of the body the
person who possesses imaginative
Consciousness knows what it means for
the soul to be free of the physical body
for he has actually lifted the soul out
of the body and has driven it into
activity when he observes a Visionary
however he sees that such a person's
soul is submerged more within the
physical body than is the case when it
perceives the outer world with ordinary
Consciousness this is the difference
between a person who has an imaginative
Consciousness and a Visionary
Consciousness the Visionary immerses
himself more deeply into his body's
functions than one does in ordinary life
while in imagination Man actually
emerges out of the physical
organization but at the same time the
ordinary Soul content in the physical
organism is consciously retained if the
vital significance of this difference is
not recognized if imagination is not
kept under rigorous control by ordinary
thinking which is retained side by side
with imagination the latter will always
be confused with Visionary activity that
has no accompanying control for there a
Man simply descends further into his
physical body and what appears to him as
his vision is perhaps only a passing
indisposition of his liver or stomach
which was already present in ordinary
life but into which he has now submerged
himself on the other hand the
imaginations of a person with
imaginative Consciousness have nothing
to do with his bodily organs he
consciously looks into a part of his
soul of which he was previously unaware
imaginative Consciousness therefore
doesn't lead away from ordinary
Consciousness to something Visionary as
some people believe rather the schooling
the exercises for cultivating
imaginative Consciousness are a precise
antidote for all uncontrollable
Visionary elements you do not develop in
the direction of Visions but in the
opposite direction the goal is to become
free of the physical organization and in
addition to be able to utilize the soul
in imagination to start with the
aetheric organism in order to arrive at
a substantial real thinking in ordinary
life the physical body represents
substantiality and what you possess in
addition to it are mirror images in
thinking that that have no substance no
real inner activity it is precisely the
contrast between the super sensible
insights referred to here and the
Visionary life that makes it abundantly
clear what is meant here by imagination
inspiration and intuition in the higher
Consciousness again you see how you can
gradually learn to comprehend the
relationship of the Soul spiritual to
the physical bodily Nature by means of
such perception you realize that
Visionary activity can arise when
someone's Soul descends more deeply into
the physical body during Earthly life
but you can also understand what it
implies to be outside your physical body
and what the soul experience is like at
a time when you are outside your body by
means of this Psychic Spiritual
experience outside the body you sense
and experience in advance how you must
live when you no longer have a physical
body this means that the problem of
death is solved within physical Earth
existence for you must be able to live
in a condition in which you will find
yourself one day when you no longer
possess your physical body I ask you to
understand that it is my aim to show how
the problem of death can be approached
and characterized with the greatest
discernment for this problem is nowadays
dealt with so often in an amateurish
fashion but I want to make it clear that
above all in anthroposophical research
all the circumspection in thinking that
could be demanded is indeed used to
consider this problem for this reason I
have not hesitated to formulate today's
lecture in a more exact way so as to
have a good basis for comprehending the
problem of death more concerning this
will follow in the third part of today's
consideration ations if we acquire a
view of man's Soul spiritual
constitution on the one side and his
physical bodily organization on the
other then when we rise to imaginative
inspirational perception and so on we
can survey the relationship that exists
between the two as I said earlier in any
given situation of man's life previously
I described how in descending from the
soul whole spiritual world man works on
the creation of his own physical
organization how it then Falls away from
him and how he finds it again in another
way through conception and birth I
describe furthermore how the problem of
birth appears when it is viewed from the
standpoint of pre-early
existence now let us look more into
Earthly existence as it is placed
between the events of birth and death
for if we want to arrive gradually at an
understanding of death we must be able
to link death to birth or conception by
means of Earthly life particularly when
we observe the way the soul spiritual in
pre-early existence relates to what a
man bears as a physical body in Earthly
life we can arrive at the realization
that one part of the Soul spiritual a
part that man also possesses in
pre-early existence is completely
transformed due to conception and birth
while it is still present in pre-early
life it now actually disappears it is
the part out of which thinking has
developed it is there in Pre Earthly
life but disappears as a sole spiritual
element the moment man arrives on the
earth traces of it remain in the infant
but gradually this part of Soul
spiritual life disappears in entirely
what has happened to it the part that
here disappears has been transformed
into the life and form of the human head
organization Now understand this
correctly it is entirely wrong to
believe that the whole soul spiritual
configuration of man exists as such in
pre-early life and then on Earth it
receives a kind of house by means of the
body into which it enters and lives it
is quite wrong to think in this way
about that part of the soul I now
referred to above that part Fades and
disappears it is transformed into a
really physical material thing namely
our head
organization the life and form of our
head organization is a physical
metamorphosis of a soul spiritual
element of our pre-early existence look
at your head organization
I do not mean now merely the head that
falls off when one is beheaded but the
head with its whole inner content with
all the nerves running into it and the
blood circulation in so far as it is
cerebral blood circulation all this is a
result of the transformation of a part
of man's pre-early sojourn this part of
pre-early Soul life disappears into the
head
organization as a result of the fact
that our head organization
represents a real metamorphosis of what
we possess in our pre-early life and
because we behold in the human head a
true physical replica of our pre-early
existence this head is a real mirror for
reflecting thoughts this has come about
because the head has formed and
enlivened itself as a physical organism
out of the experien thoughts of
pre-early life this way it is a mirror
for the thoughts we form by means of all
the sense perceptions by contrast I
might say on the other side of the
Soul's life another part of the Soul
emerges that passes in man through
conception and birth and does not
transform itself into physical
corporeality but comes only into loose
contact with man's metabolic and limb
systems it is that part of the Soul life
that is ordinarily experienced in its
Reflections as well compare the will
with the conceptual life
with thinking and you will
understand as human beings we are always
fully conscious in the life of thoughts
when we are awake indeed awake actually
means living in thoughts it is not so
with the will take the simplest Act of
will the raising of an arm hand how much
of this are you fully conscious of in
waking consciousness you first have the
idea I will raise my hand then something
happens that runs its course in the
depths of your bodily
organization you may experience all
kinds of undefined feelings shreds of
emotions and the like but what you next
experience clearly and in full
wakefulness is the result
the arm is raised you can see it
ordinary Consciousness is as unaware of
what takes place in the depths of the
organism in the actual sphere of the
will between the resolve to do something
and the accomplished action as it
remains unconscious of events during
sleep we are awake in our thought life
in our actual life of will we sleep even
when we are awake this partial life of
sleep that becomes evident in our will
is therefore a sleep that also permeates
our waking condition we are always
asleep in one part of our soul even when
we are awake namely in that part where
the will is rooted now this is the part
of the soul that is not transformed into
the physical organization at the time it
undergoes human conception and birth one
part of the Soul appears in the physical
world after birth as man's head
organization the metabolic and limb
system on the other hand is not a direct
replica of that other part of the Soul
it is born out of the physical world the
will segment of the Soul has linked
itself with it in a loose way for this
reason the metabolic and limb systems do
not mirror what the soul
experiences this is why man is asleep in
his will and also in relation to his
metabolic and limb system even when he
is awake when this part of the soul is
observed by the super sensible
perception in its relationship to the
physical organization it Bears a strong
similarity to the relationship of the
ego and astral body the whole soul to
the entire physical organization during
sleep indeed man is a much more
complicated being than is usually
believed there are certain descriptions
of the super sensible which simply State
when a person is awake his sole
spiritual nature is within his physical
etheric organization when he sleeps it
is outside but the matter is not as
simple as this at most one can speak in
this way of the head organization but
not of the rest of man's
corporeality for in regard to this
remaining organization a part of the
Soul sleeps even when the human being is
awake this part of the Soul's life that
is asleep and arises from the dark
depths of man's organization only in
certain mental images is brought into
view the moment a person attains to
intuition for as I have shown intuition
is a result of will
exercises in that way man learns to see
into what is otherwise always concealed
in Waking Life he learns to look into
the mysteries of the human will the
human will is a mystery even in Waking
Life it is revealed partly by
inspiration but only intuition finally
unveils it paradoxical as it may sound
once man has succeeded in perceiving the
true nature of his own will he also has
insight into the Divine spiritual world
in the head organization the spiritual
world is contained only in physical
metamorphosis not much of the spiritual
world as such can be discovered there
the human head is actually the least
spiritual part of man but the remaining
physical organization contains the
unchanged Soul life the way it was when
man dwelt in pre-early life without
physical and etheric bodies in this Soul
life that lives concealed in the will
man is Holy Spirit
even between birth and death through
intuition one can now discern the nature
of this Spirit the spirit that is
unveiled to intuition as the element
that underlies the will appears to this
perception as the reservoir for
everything a person has undergone during
Earth life in the form of intellectual
activities of the mind and soul
initiatives as moral inclinations and
impulses in the soul
as I have already indicated from another
standpoint this is revealed as the
younger part of the soul the part that
remains in an embryonic state in our
present Earth life and is at the
beginning of its
development if we look at this part of
the Soul we behold something in man's
inner being that heads toward death in
order to be actually born only at death
just as the soul in pre-early existence
approaches Earth life in order to be
born into it through conception and
birth beneath our will lives the soul
embryo which reveals its embryonic life
when intuitive perception beholds its
true nature we can tell by its nature
how it is born to a new spiritual life
at death just as we can tell by the
appearance of the human soul in
pre-early life that it enters Earthly
existence through birth in order to gain
insight into physical existence it is
therefore Our concern to become
acquainted to begin with in super
sensible existence with the sole being
that underlies the will through higher
perception man gains a view of the
evolution of his eternal being through
pre-early existence Earth life and life
after death now however to unprejudiced
Observation a mighty riddle arises
it arises when we see how ego
Consciousness is
acquired from the previous lectures you
may have surise that ego Consciousness
is dependent upon the physical
Organization for it originates only at
that point in the course of human Earth
development when man in ordinary
Consciousness can utilize nothing else
besides his physical organism
particularly here imaginative inspired
and intuitive knowledge makes it
abundantly clear that we as human beings
attain our ego Consciousness initially
in the physical world between birth and
death and that the attainment of this
ego Consciousness is linked to the use
of the physical body the body however is
taken from us at death
to a higher perception such as I
described again today the Eternal nature
of the Soul life that was experienced by
Earth Humanity prior to the development
of ego Consciousness can only appear as
a sole life that passes from pre-early
through Earthly to post-early existence
in other words through repeated Earth
lives concerning what man acquires as
ego Consciousness however we can say
with absolute certainty you attained it
through the use of your physical body
indeed only in the course of Humanity's
Evolution at the time when the mystery
of golgatha entered human evolution did
you learn to make use of your physical
body in such a way that ego
Consciousness lit up within you it is
therefore equally certain that in as
much as we gain ego Consciousness by
means of the physical body we must fear
that we shall lose it at death
this is one of the problems of death
even if the Eternal part of our being in
thought feeling and will has revealed
itself to us and we behold it in its
metamorphosis as the element appearing
only as a mirror image in thinking
actually it is the vanished Soul life
that has been transformed into the head
organization even if we see in the will
the shadow of what leads an embryonic
Soul life in the rest of the physical
organiz ization and will only come to
birth at death even if we are able to
look clearly into the soul life in this
regard we are still bound to become
fearful indeed we do not become afraid
because of an insignificant emotional
attitude but because of our Insight when
we Face the question what do we manage
to retain of the physical organism
beyond death for the physical body
decays after after death if we have
gained our ego Consciousness by means of
the body then the scientifically
Justified fear arises how do we carry
our ego Consciousness through death only
the mystery of Golgotha can answer this
question man could never carry his ego
Consciousness Beyond Death unless this
ego Consciousness having developed in
the physical body unites with the Christ
who holds and supports it when it would
otherwise melt away from the human soul
along with the physical
body ego Consciousness has been attained
by means of the physical body in death
along with the physical body it would
leave the soul if it were not bound up
with the Christ being in the sense of
Paul's words not I but the Christ in me
for the Christ takes our ego and carries
it through death in the following
lectures I will describe in detail how
this takes place and I will show how the
Christ is that being who makes it
possible for us to preserve our ego
Consciousness and carry it through the
portal of death only anthroposophical
research as meant here reveals the whole
significance that the Christ event has
for human life after all the
significance of such Insight already
begins in the case of ordinary
philosophy ordinary philosophy is only
awakened to an inner life and gains a
perception concerning itself when it can
be nourished by imaginative knowledge
think of what I said at the beginning of
my lecture when we advance through
meditation to imaginative perception we
cross over an abyss as it were our
thinking ceases and state of
non-thinking exists between ordinary
thinking and the active life-filled
thinking of
imagination several philosophers have
experienced this non-thinking for
instance Augustine and deart but they
were unable to interpret it correctly
they spoke of the doubt that arises at
the start of philosophical thinking this
doubt that Augustine and deart spoke
about is only the Reflection brought
into ordinary consciousness of this
condition of non-thinking that man finds
himself in between ordinary thinking and
imaginative thinking since neither
Augustine nor deart had submerged their
souls into this actual non-thinking they
did not come to the true experience only
the reflection of what a person
experiences when his thinking
particularly the thoughts of memory
ceases between ordinary and imaginative
thinking the doubt of August and decart
is only the reflected image in ordinary
consciousness of this experience that
does not appear until the transition
into imaginative Consciousness thus when
we observe it in the light of
imaginative philosophy we can correctly
interpret what appears vaguely in the
mere philosophy of ideas likewise we
have seen how a person confronts the
course of his life as a unity and how to
a perception that enables him to be
consciously alive in his ether body
events that run their course in time are
seen to stand side by side through this
Insight events that ordinarily occur one
after the other are seen side by side
like you normally see the objects in
space bergson for example felt this when
he formulated his idea of duration this
idea of duration plays a prominent role
in his philosophy but because of the
manner in which he conceived it it is
only an inkling of the truth the truth
is the imaginative view of time as
simultaneity bergson only arrived at the
abstract feeling that if he entered more
deeply into the matter he could now in
the present reach Beyond this world and
experience duration as such but since
bergson would not approach a form of
anthroposophical perception he again
arrived only at a reflected image of
what a person experiences with
imaginative perception in regard to time
as
simultaneity he called this elusive
element experienced as a reflected image
duration
duray it plays a prominent role in
bergson's philosophy regardless of which
aspect of philosophy you focus upon it
becomes evident that philosophy will
only contains substance and life when
this substance is grasped in the way it
was done today I have already indicated
that cosmology and religious knowledge
also gain substance in this way and I
will elaborate on the matter further in
regard to the questions about the Christ
in the next lectures I will show that
for man today all higher perception
leads basically to an appeal by his own
being to the mystery of golgatha
and when man's will aspires to reach the
mystery of golgatha and once again the
Christ being enters man's Consciousness
in his complete super sensible reality
then modern super sensible perception
will lead by means of a spiritual
philosophy and cosmology to a firm
foundation not only of super sensible
life in general but of a spiritual
Christianity
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