Causal body

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Causal body (Sanskrit: कारणशरीर karana sharira, via कारण kāraṇa "cause, reason, motive", derived from the Sanskrit root कृ kṛ (kri) "to do, make, act, effect" and शारीर sharira "body") is called in Indian theosophical terminology that extract of the etheric and astral body which the human being carries on from incarnation to incarnation as his eternal (→ entelechy) and thereby enriches it more and more. Rudolf Steiner hardly ever used this term in later writings and lectures.

The causal body is, in the first approximation, the permanent extract of the after-death memory-tableau which man experiences in the first days after death.

„After the expiration of the time during which the etheric body in connection with the astral body has detached itself from the physical body, there comes the moment when the astral body with all that is the higher members again detaches itself from the etheric body. The latter separates, the memory tableau fades away. But something of it remains for the human being, it is not completely lost. It is true that what one might call etheric or life substance is dispersed throughout the ether of the world, but a kind of essence remains of it, which can never again be lost to man on the farther wanderings of his life. He takes it with him like a kind of extract from the life tableau into all his future incarnations, even if he cannot remember it. That which is formed from this memory extract is called concrete-real the causal body. After each life, a new leaf is added to the book of life. This increases the life essence and, if the past lives were fruitful, causes the next to unfold in the corresponding way. Therein lies the cause why a life is rich or poor in talents, endowments, and so on.“ (Lit.:GA 99, p. 38f)

„The first destiny of man after death is therefore this review of the life that has passed, which varies in length and lasts on the average about three and a half days. Then comes a kind of second dying, in which the etheric also completely detaches itself from the astral body, and then a kind of etheric corpse remains. This etheric corpse dissolves very soon, although at a different rate in each human being, in the general world ether, but not completely; a kind of essence from the past life remains, which the I takes with it and which is an imperishable good that remains with the human being for all subsequent embodiments. After each embodiment, a new leaf, as it were, is added to the previous ones. In Theosophy this is called the causal body, and in the quality of this causal body lies the cause of how the later embodiments take shape.“ (Lit.:GA 100, p. 45)

After the human being has passed after death through the Kamaloka backwards up to the last birth and has stripped off all earthly-sensual desires of the past life on earth, the remaining astral body joins the causal body:

„One begins the reliving at the last experience before death and goes back with threefold rapidity to birth. At the moment when man has reached his birth in his recollection, that part of the astral body which has been worked on and transformed by the I joins the causal body, while that which man has not yet worked on falls away like a shadow and shade. These are the astral corpses of man. Then man has laid aside the physical, the etheric and now also the astral corpse.“ (Lit.:GA 99, p. 40)

The causal body joins the four fundamental members of man - physical body, etheric body, astral body and I (Kama-Manas according to Indian theosophical designation) - at the top as the fifth member, which encloses the eternal of the human being and to which the pentagram symbolically points. The causal body includes the three spiritual members of the human being, as far as they are already developed, namely the spirit self, the life spirit and the spirit man, although the latter is hardly developed today.

„We have seen how in death man leaves behind as corpses first the physical, then the etheric and finally the lower astral body. What remains for the human being after these three bodies have been cast off? The memory-image which comes before the soul after death disappears the moment the etheric body is lifted out of the astral body; there it sinks, so to speak, into the unconscious, it disappears as an immediate impression on the soul. But something important remains: the image disappears, but the fruit remains. Like a kind of power-extract, the whole experience of the last life remains in the higher astral body and rests there.

But man has already gone through this process very often. At each death after his various incarnations, the memory-image came before his soul and left behind this so-called power-extract. Thus one life after another has added an image. A human being who incarnated for the first time had the first memory image after death, the second image after the second incarnation, and this image was already richer than the first, and so on. In these combined images we have a kind of new element of the human being. Before the first death, man consisted of the four bodies; when he dies for the first time, he takes the first image with him. After his re-embodiment he has not only the four members of his being, but also the experience of his former life. This is the causal body. Man now consists of five bodies: the physical, the etheric, the astral, the I and the causal body. Once this causal body is there, it remains; but it has only been composed of the experiences of the lives. Now one understands the difference between the individual human beings. Those who have lived often, that is, who have already passed through many incarnations, have added many leaves to their book of life, are highly developed and have a rich causal body; the others have only passed through a few lives, have therefore gathered less fruit and therefore possess a less developed causal body.“ (Lit.:GA 95, p. 38f)

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.
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