Published in Macrobiotic Times May 1999

People who have made some study of anthroposophy, and particularly of the basic principles of reincarnation, karma, and other truths connected with humanity and its evolution, may well ask: Why is it so difficult to gain a true, firsthand conception of that being in humans that passes through repeated earth lives--that being which, if one could only acquire more intimate knowledge of it, would inevitable lead to an insight into the secrets of repeated earth lives and even of Karma? It is certainly true to say that as a rule people misinterpret everything connected with this question.

At first we try, as is only too natural, to explain it through our ordinary world of thought, through our ordinary intellect, and we ask ourselves: To what extent can we find, in the facts of life, proof that the conception of repeated earth lives and karma is true? This endeavor, which is essentially of the nature of reflection can, admittedly lead us to a certain point, but no further. For our world of thought, as at present constituted, is entirely dependent on those qualities of our human organism that are limited to one incarnation; we possess them because, as human beings living between birth and death, we have been given this particular organism. And on this particular formation of the physical body, with the etheric body which is only one stage higher, everything that we can call our thought world is dependent. The more penetrating these thoughts are, the better able they are to enter into abstract truths--so much the more are they dependent on the outer organism that is limited to one incarnation. From this we may conclude that when we pass into the life between death and a new birth--that is to say, into the spiritual life--we can take with us least of all what we experience in our souls--our thoughts! And our most penetrating thoughts are what most of all we have to leave behind.

It may be asked: What is it that people especially discard when they pass through the gate of death? First of all, our physical body; and of all that constitutes our inner being we discard practically to the same extent all the abstract thoughts formulated in our soul. These two things--physical body, abstract thoughts, scientific thoughts as well--are what we can least of all take with us when we pass through the gate of death. It is in a certain sense easy to take with us the mode and nature of our impulses of will--but our thoughts least of all. Therefore, because our thoughts are so intimately bound up with the outer organism, we may conclude that they are instruments not very well adapted to penetrate the secrets of reincarnation and karma, which are truths extending beyond the single incarnation.

All the same, we can reach a certain point, and indeed we must develop our thinking up to a certain point, if we wish to gain insight into the theory of reincarnation and karma. The question of what can be contributed by the intellect will not further concern us now, but rather the question of how people can acquire a certain conception of reincarnation and karma; that is to say, a conception of more value than a mere theoretical conviction, able to bring about a kind of inner certainty that the real soul-spiritual kernel of being within us comes over from earlier lives and passes on into later lives.

Such a definite conception can be acquired by means of certain inner exercises that are by no means easy; indeed they are difficult, but they can nevertheless be carried out. The first step is in some degree to practice the normal kind of self-cognition which consists in looking back over one's life and asking oneself: What kind of person have I been? Have I been a person with a strong inclination for reflection, for inner contemplation; or am I one who has always had more love for the sensations of the outer world, liking or disliking this or that in everyday life? Was I a child who at school liked reading but not arithmetic, one who liked to hit other children but did not like being hit? Or was I a child always bound to be bullied and not smart enough to bully others? It is well to look back on one's life in this way, and especially to ask oneself: Was I cut out for activities of the mind or of the will? What did I find easy or difficult? What happened to me that I would like to have avoided? What happenings made me say to myself: "I am glad this has come to pass"--and so on. (from Reincarnation and Karma, Lecture One, Rudolf Steiner, 1912)