necessary for interpretations like the above. It would be impossible
to comprehend the whole life-process of man by means of imaginative
cognition alone. One might possibly be in a position to note how, in the
process of dying, the psycho-spiritual principles detach themselves from
what remains in the physical world, but it would be impossible to
understand the connection between what happens to man after death and the
preceding and following stages, were we unable to find our way through the
facts obtained by imaginative cognition. Without inspirational knowledge
the entire imaginative world would remain mere writing, at which we gaze
but which we are unable to read.

As the student proceeds from imagination to inspiration he will soon see
how wrong it would be to neglect this understanding of the facts of the
universe and limit himself only to those facts which, so to speak, touch
his close personal interests. Indeed, those who are not initiated into
these matters may be inclined to say: "The only thing that seems of any
importance to me is that I should ascertain the fate of the human soul
after death. If anyone can give me information upon that subject, it will
suffice; but of what use is it for occult science to present to me such
remote subjects as the Saturn and Sun states, or the separation of the
moon and the sun, etc.?"

Those, however, who have been properly instructed in these things will
recognize that a true understanding of what they desire to learn could not
be obtained without knowledge of these matters, which appear so
unnecessary to them. A delineation of man's states after death would
remain utterly incomprehensible and valueless to one who is unable to
connect it with ideas derived from those very far-off events. Even the
most elementary observations of a clairvoyant necessitate his acquaintance
with such things.

When, for example, a plant passes from the blossom to a state of fruition,
the clairvoyant observes a change in the astral being, which, while the
plant is in blossom, has covered and surrounded the blossoming plant from
above like a cloud. Had fructification not taken place, this astral being
would have been changed into quite a different form from the one it now
assumes in consequence of this fertilization. Now we understand the entire
process thus clairvoyantly observed, if we have learned to comprehend our
own nature through a knowledge of that great cosmic process, in which the
ear