Dealing with karmic impressions requires attentiveness, humility, and the ability to distinguish authentic memories of the ‘I’ from identifications with historical role models.
Children are increasingly talking about memories from before they were born, often from the recent past. They remember places they have never seen or objects they’ve never handled, but which they know how to use. The child is simply familiar with some specific place on the Earth. They remember dangers, hunger, or violence, things they haven’t experienced in their short life. When children talk like this, it helps both them and their parents to simply listen and gently ask questions. Not to judge, but just to wait—maybe the child will continue to talk about this stream of memories. It’s very difficult not to interpret their words or label the child in some way. But every life should begin free. That’s why we forget so much. The past should not oppress our freedom.
But adults also experience suddenly finding themselves in a different time surrounded by different people: a shift in consciousness transports them to a past world about which they know everything, but in which they cannot act. The events are inscribed in the ether; one experiences and knows already what is happening. One also knows some impending disaster will occur, but does not have the accustomed freedom to act on it. Then the experience subsides, and we find ourselves back in familiar surroundings. Such a spontaneous glimpse into the past can be triggered by various events: an intense infatuation, a journey, an accident, or an altercation.
Dealing with Impressions
For those with a spiritual outlook or who are familiar with anthroposophy, these experiences are incisive and feel like major upheavals in our biographies. A look into our own past shakes us to our foundations, and it is essential that we deal with such experiences with care. For someone without a spiritual outlook, the impact is far more devastating. That’s why sincere attention is needed in these cases, especially since mainstream psychiatry prefers to resort to psychotropic drugs instead of trying to discover the origin of the images. Medical professionals show great attention to near-death experiences because those affected often radically change their lives afterwards or can suddenly become suicidal. But conventional medicine has nothing to offer a patient who has an experience of being a jester clad in a motley suit in some early modern city.
To care for these turning points in life, I offer practical guidance on questions of karma and reincarnation. This provides therapeutic attentiveness for anyone with questions on the subject or who has had such experiences. People without an anthroposophical background don’t need to feel deterred by any requirement for prior knowledge—the practice is open for everyone.
It may seem unfair that some people search and keep up a practice for many years, hoping to catch some glimpse of karmic insight, while someone else seems to just “get lucky” without putting in any effort. When we set out to search for karmic illumination, openness is an important prerequisite. This openness lies deeper than consciousness and is connected with trust in divine providence. Whatever reasons a person may have for losing trust in this age of materialism, we can still work to develop this trust again.
When one gains karmic impressions through Rudolf Steiner’s exercises, these are often very intimate. They are almost indistinguishable from the life of the soul. It may be very difficult to concentrate on them. The karmic image is like a needle in a haystack of thoughts. But concentrating on it strengthens the ability to grasp spiritual perceptions. This special, liberating concentration on the delicate trace of memory is an exercise toward deepening self-knowledge.
‘I’ and Ego
In Rudolf Steiner’s lectures, there are repeated indications that the traditional perception of the self as presented in the Theosophical Society is a hindrance: when we consider our own past to be noble and influential, we obscure the perception of past moments when we may have suffered or when we inflicted suffering and pain on someone else. But our past is multifaceted. That is why modesty and gratitude for the impressions we receive are fundamental. Our gratitude and humility in encountering our past seem to be prerequisites for gaining clarity about ourselves.
A big question here is to what extent our karmic impressions are true and to what extent they are susceptible to deception. Rudolf Steiner made pointed remarks about certain famous individuals being “over-occupied.” Cleopatra, Mary Magdalene, and Friedrich Schiller are popular examples. In contrast, Louis XV’s shoe shiner and Catherine the Great’s housekeeper appear less often. This makes it clear that people who had a far-reaching impact in their time continue to resonate with posterity. Many people have identified with impressive personalities over the centuries and carried this identification with them. Needless to say, Luciferic impulses blur the boundaries here, so that the ego obscures the truth. Lucifer, as the spiritual entity of art and illusion, affects the soul in such a way that we embellish our self-image.1
But whenever a person feels drawn to an outstanding personality and recognizes themselves in them, this attraction should be taken seriously. Not because their individualities must be identical, but in order to learn what elicits this fascination. What is it that so many people love about Cleopatra or Parzival?
Role Models
Especially for a personality whose path in life has become the subject of myth, there is a strong draw for them to be taken as role models. Parzival’s path affects many, and many have a vivid experience of this path. The inward experience can feel like a memory. People experience themselves as being like Parzival. But in order to have this experience and grow from it, not everyone needs to have been the individuality who was Parzival. Great role models and heroes belong primarily to the age of the intellectual soul. At that time, a folk hero shaped their people in terms of his or her appearance, values, and laws: Heracles, Siegfried, and Dido of Tunis were such role models and tribal heroes. Many people looked up to them and wholeheartedly followed their example. They learned from these godlike role models. This gesture is still hidden in the parts of our souls that belong to the intellectual soul. We’re not conscious of it, but it influences our actions. That’s why we consider ourselves united with another individuality.
With the consciousness soul, though, it’s important to distinguish between different levels: “What is the path of my ‘I’?” and “Who is the individuality whose work I owe so much?” This precise separation is what gives the consciousness soul its uniquely distinct quality. The ‘I’ can mature to the point of letting go of other people and returning to itself.
Inward and Personal
The real memory of our previous lives is characterized by an intimate inwardness. We are completely honest about our strengths and weaknesses. We don’t embellish things in the usual way. We maintain a pure clarity in our spiritual vision. What lingers after may become hazy, and we may talk ourselves into believing that things are better than they are. But the perception itself is honest. Even as a famous person, we would have a completely subjective image, not the image that later generations have of us. Everyone can test themselves in this way: Do I enter into a subjective experience and a certain self-understanding, or do I describe the person as they are described in books?
Sensitivity
We can also support each other by asking questions and encouraging exploration in a loving way. What a person experiences inwardly as karmic experiences can be shared with trusted friends or therapists in order to get to know ourselves better. This can bring clarity and help to know which wrong turns to avoid. As with all spiritual experiences, though, it is sensible to protect them and not to speak of them publicly. Gossip makes the truth untrue. The contents of the spirit require a frame and an inward modesty within which they can be expressed. Just as it makes little sense to parade forth Rudolf Steiner’s statements about the karma of certain people as a display of knowledge, it is also inappropriate to spice up the talk of the town with one’s own experiences.
As we humans gradually (re)learn to deal with karma and reincarnation in a reasonable manner, we are permitted to make mistakes along the way. But this topic, especially, which affects other people and us so intimately, can teach us to be respectful and warm-hearted. This way, we don’t hurt ourselves or others. Let us not become ensnared in our knowledge of karma.
Translation Joshua Kelberman
Image Karo Kollwitz, Interference, 2014
