Journey between death and a new birth

From Anthroposophy

At death, the physical corpse falls away from that part of a Man's being which passes onwards through the gate of death.

The corpse is discarded and as a being of soul-and-spirit, Man lives through an intermediate period between death and a new birth, passing over from one state of existence to another.

Schema FMC00.498 below provides an overview of the regular process with the various stages:

Main stages

The ascent

The descent

Aspects

  • the importance of being able to connect to the H3 Third hierarchy in the process between death and a new birth (1921-10-07-GA207, 1922-11-12-GA218)
    • In 1922-11-12-GA218, examples are given of the importance and effect of how a soul passes through a sphere (eg disregarding the Venus sphere - no great connection with family). One could imagine this may also be relevant for the link someone has with the gender choice.
  • the soul lives .. (1921-10-01-GA207 and 1921-10-10-GA207)
    • in the sphere of the angels before the cosmic midnight hour, afterwards in the sphere of the archangels (with the help of his angel)
    • The whole time we are active in the sphere of the archai, transferring the contents of the previous earth life to the next. The archai brings Man back again into the earthly limits of his being.
  • states of consciousness between death and a new birth
    • after kamaloka - mineral consciousness; before and after cosmic midnight hour: plant consciousness; afterwards during passage of planetary spheres: taking part on creation animal realm and building up own inner animal realm and organs (1921-10-08-GA207)
    • after midnight hour first imagination, then inspiration, third stage intuition and combing with the line of heredity (1922-02-01-GA210)

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.498 is an overview diagram showing the process between death and a new birth, with some (non-exhaustive) references for the various phases. This can serve as a map to organize one's study coverage and initialize one's overall understanding based on the references that provide a starting point for the different phases and aspects. As most schemas on this site, also this schema originates from a pencil drawing made along such study process (DL 2016).

FMC00.498.jpg

Schema FMC00.593: illustrates how the human being sheds off his lower bodies after death, and gives off the cosmos the fruits of the Earth. As a result of the incarnate life on Earth, Man contributes the seeds for future worlds, that are taken up and carried by the higher hierarchies. Thoughts and feelings create fields of activity for the Third Hierarchy (H3) and Second Hierarchy (H2).

The process of death like an exhaling out into the cosmos. A new birth is like an inhaling, bringing down the spirit germ into the physical body carried by the stream of heredity (see Schema FMC00.321 and Schema FMC00.331 and on Embryo in the womb).

During incarnated life on Earth, the forces from the higher worlds keep working in the human being, see also the double.

illustrates how the human being sheds off his lower bodies after death, and gives off the cosmos the fruits of the Earth. As a result of the incarnate life on Earth, Man contributes the seeds for future worlds, that are taken up and carried by the higher hierarchies. Thoughts and feelings create fields of activity for the Third Hierarchy (H3) and Second Hierarchy (H2). The process of death like an exhaling out into the cosmos. A new birth is like an inhaling, bringing down the spirit germ into the physical body carried by the stream of heredity (see Schema FMC00.321 and Schema FMC00.331 and on Embryo in the womb). During incarnated life on Earth, the forces from the higher worlds keep working in the human being, see also the double.

Schema FMC00.287 depicts the cycle of incarnate life with the journey between death and a new birth. The drawings are taken from George O'Neil's book 'The human life'.

One can map this to the PDCA cycle of Plan Do Check Act

  • plan one's life based on learnings (red)
  • do by living the incarnate life (blue)
  • check by the learning path in kamaloka (astral rewind) and the spirit world, and then (green)
  • act by incorporating the learnings in the plan for the next life in the higher spirit world (red)
FMC00.287.jpg

Schema FMC00.597: connects the process between death and a new birth, before and after the midnight hour, to the mother and the father. The organization of the astral body draws one to the mother, the 'I' to the father, and the two poles of the human being then meet through mother and father.

For a visualization see also Schema FMC00.593 and Schema FMC00.321. For the process between fertilization and birth, see also Schema FMC00.331 on Embryo in the womb.

connects the process between death and a new birth, before and after the midnight hour, to the mother and the father. The organization of the astral body draws one to the mother, the 'I' to the father, and the two poles of the human being then meet through mother and father. For a visualization see also Schema FMC00.593 and Schema FMC00.321. For the process between fertilization and birth, see also Schema FMC00.331 on Embryo in the womb.

Schema FMC00.550 pulls together relevant quotes linking Man's journey of recurrent incarnations to a spiral path; this way linking Man as microcosm to the macrocosm of stars and planets as mapping to the astral and spirit worlds.

Compare also with Schema FMC00.549 on Zodiac clock.

FMC00.550.jpg

Schema FMC00.547 shows 'the ascent of the soul through the spheres' with two analogous presentations from the twelfth century, from an anonymous work called 'The Journey of the Soul' (or 'Peregrinatio Animae'), and showing figures climbing the ladder of ascension represented by the heavenly spheres and the spiritual hierarchies.

On the left version, the Godhead the Christ is shown with the words 'Creator omnium Deus - Causa prima - Voluntas divina' meaning 'God the creator of all things - the primal cause - the divine will'.

These pictures are covered by many sources, ao Titus Burckhardt, Jeffrey F. Hamburger (Thinking with diagrams in the middle ages), for a start see eg online source A.

Related, see also Schema FMC00.420 and variants on Sixteen paths of perdition

FMC00.547.jpg

Schema FMC00.531 depicts a simple metaphoric image for the main karmic patterns, challenges and debts in one's life or incarnation.

On the upper left is represented the accounting 'balance sheet' of karmic unbalances as a result of many previous lives, the 'book of lives' (part of Man's higher spiritual self or Individuality), also called 'causal body' in theosophy. In the accounting image, each life delivers like the equivalent of 'annual results' that is added to the balance sheet in the process and journey between death and a new birth.

When we investigate our current life with biography work and karma exercises (on the right), we will find particularities, obvious or recurrent challenges, curious patterns. Some don't seem to belong in our experience of this current life, and/or may be an odd aspect of our Personality, even though we feel and have to acknowledge they are an intrinsic part of our true self (and Individuality). Depending on the individual, the process may include spontaneous Past life memories, whereby certain karmic patterns may clearly point to a particular previous incarnation. Importantly, the patterns are typically interwoven with relationships with key people in our lives (their role, impact, the period of our life) see Karmic relationships.

Rudolf Steiner gave examples of the above with the Karma research case studies about the KRI - Karmic Relationships Individualities.

During the journey between death and a new birth, before incarnating the soul develops a life plan in the spiritual world, and so each life has a selection of challenges to work and balance out these karmic unbalances - see a.o. Schema FMC00.287. The image of the slide projector depicts how patterns seen in one life stem from elements from various previous lives shown here as overlay slides.

Initiation is the process of fast tracking this process (versus the 'wheel of karma') by taking on this work on our human character consciously during incarnate life with daily initiation exercises.

FMC00.531.jpg

FMC00.450 shows how the contents of Man's life experiences during a previous incarnation is 'processed' by the spiritual hierarchies (that also make up Man's constitution). See also Schema FMC00.132 on Structure of Man between death and a new birth for an illustration, and Man and the spiritual hierarchies.

FMC00.450.jpg

FMC00.136 summarizes the experience of Man's spirit between death and a new birth, as he rises to the spirit world and upto a certain subregion, depending on spiritual maturity.

FMC00.136.jpg


Schema FMC00.321 provides a schematic overview of the process of descent from the so-called 'midnight hour' in the spirit world, upto physical incarnation on Earth, and the connection between the spiritual process and the physical process.

See also Schema FMC00.548 and Schema FMC00.331 on Embryo in the womb for the prenatal process.

Adapted from Hoffmeister, see references below.

FMC00.321.jpg

Lecture coverage and references

Discussion

Note 1

Rudolf Steiner describes this pathway using various languages ..

  • the theosophical language (of the planes of astral and devachanic world - see see planes or worlds of consciousness)
  • the language of the planetary spheres
  • the language of the spiritual hierarchies.

.. and from various perspectives:

  • the technical aspects of each stage are described in general characterizations, related to Man's bodily principles and embedded soul characteristics
  • experientially: the personal experience of the soul in the process, both individual and in relationship with other souls and the hierarchies

Note 2 - About Schema FMC00.550

Schema FMC00.550 pulls together relevant quotes linking Man's journey of recurrent incarnations to a spiral path; this way linking Man as microcosm to the macrocosm of stars and planets as mapping to the astral and spirit worlds.

Compare also with Schema FMC00.549 on Zodiac clock.

Introduction

The goal of this note is to link this schema FMC00.550, and the spiral idea that it illustrates (just as the spiral idea in Schema FMC00.549), to a number of different angles of perspective, for which these schemas provide context.

The following perspectives are presented. These appear on different places on this site, but all talk about the same subject. The structuring of the site requires splitting up knowledge into areas, containers, topic pages .. but of course these are all interlinked and make up one whole. Therefore it is such inter-relations that are meant and described below.

Commentary

The Human races page states that "we shall receive the countless blessings of all races and all peoples since we ourselves are incarnated in different races at different times" and that "all men in their different incarnations pass through the various races". This can be taken together with the first point.

The second angle is quite related. Location of incarnation provides Rudolf Steiner's description of the world population, very broadly speaking, pointing at large classes or cohorts of the population in the various regions, and how they related in their then-current incarnation around 1920, to the geographical location of their previous incarnation. What is apparent is that one can see a clockwise rotation underlying the various descriptions.

The third angle, lecture 1905-06-25-GA091, gives the literal connection between Man's cycle of reincarnation as he experiences different conditions that are linked to the path of the Sun through the zodiac as perceived from the Earth, and his incarnation in various sub-races (Atlantean epoch) and cultural ages (Current Postatlantean epoch). In other words it connects the zodiac wheel to the development of humanity in human races across epochs and cultural ages (re zodiac clock), and how Man moves along in his developmental pathway across a spiral wheel.

Note:

  • This is a spiral wheel taking one platonic year of 25920 years (in very early lectures Rudolf Steiner used 12*2600 for approx. 31.200 years, versus later consistently 12*2160 for approx 25.920 years). [The actual figure may not matter here, as the period is only an average and varies per sign and time is only a very relative measure with limited validity on Earth, it is the process of what is explained that matters].
  • There is a second spiral movement described by Rudolf Steiner as depicted on FMC00.498, see also descriptions in the GA227 quotes on FMC00.550.

The fourth angle, lecture 1905-06-27-GA091, adds a different perspective all together. It describes how the spiritual guidance of mankind takes into account ...

[to be continued]

Notes WIP - Various temporary work notes

FMC00.498 .. missing on the schema, is period of ‘trial’ 1923-11-14-GA231

Related pages

References and further reading

see: Introduction to reincarnation#References and further reading

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