Theosophical Correspondence.
Translation from German by Robert Hutwohl[1]
Question: — What does experience and occult science teach us about cremation?
Answer: — Theosophy is what wisdom teaches each person when he has come to the knowledge of the truth and to his own understanding. Experience teaches that cremation is far preferable to burying corpses in hygienic terms. Not only does the construction of large churchyards waste a lot of valuable land that could be used much better, but it is not uncommon for drinking water to be poisoned by nearby churchyards, as rainwater seeps through the graves and into the wells. Cholera, diphtheria, scarlet fever and other epidemic diseases can result from this, and it is often one of the causes of the plague, especially in the Orient, where Mohammedans bury their corpses near their homes.
An examination of these evils and their abolition belongs to the realm of external natural sciences and should be the concern of doctors and hygienists. For the disciple of occult science, however, other things come into consideration which are not accessible to external research in the material field. These are the following questions: “What is death? How can we prevent the burial of the apparently dead, and what influence can the burial of the body have on the departed or departing personality?”
According to the academic scholars, death is the cessation of life functions. But this does not say what life itself is, i.e. the force which produces these functions in the organism. The material body in itself cannot produce the force which animates it any more than a windmill can create the wind which moves it. If a machine stands still because an obstacle has got between the wheels, the moving force is not dead, but rather it starts working again when the disturbance is removed. Likewise, life activities can also start again in a person who appears to be dead if the obstacles are removed and the principle which caused life is still present. This principle is called “the soul” or “the ego.” From the standpoint of occult science (which is not everyone’s cup of tea), death appears as the separation of the soul from the material organism, and since most scholars do not know the soul, their own “I or ego”[2] (even if they speak of “themselves” at every opportunity), they cannot see the soul of another and consequently cannot possibly know whether or when it has separated from the material body. The soul receives its life from the spirit and communicates it to the body. Spirit is consciousness. As long as the connection between spirit and soul, and soul and consciousness, is not irretrievably broken, more or less consciousness and sensation can still exist even in an apparently dead organism.
It does not require much experience to say that if an organ absolutely necessary for the vital activity of the whole organism is destroyed, the resumption of vital functions is impossible; but such a circumstance does not prove the separation of the soul from the body. A corpse may be beheaded or dismembered without the soul having completely separated from it, and as long as this separation has not taken place, the treatment of the corpse can have an effect on the soul.[3] It is therefore the custom in most civilized countries to keep corpses for three days before giving them over to the earth or fire. Nevertheless, even today the cases in which people are thought dead and buried alive and regain external consciousness in the grave through the reawakening of vital activity are much more numerous than is usually inclined to believe.[4]
Such a perception of physical states, if it exists at all, will of course be only dreamlike, the greater or lesser clarity of which depends on the state in which the deceased finds himself. Souls who are no longer attached to earthly things will no longer worry about the carcass they leave behind; others who are still bound to the material world either by their passions or by earthly family ties and the like may suffer more or less from it.
To make this clear, we must consider the conditions of the astral body and its relationship to the physical body: The “astral body,” also called the “dream body,” “etheric” or “magnetic” body, is the seat of our inclinations and dislikes, instincts, sympathies and antipathies, etc. In an everyday person, who leads a kind of dream life even in the waking state, he has neither free will nor clear intelligence, which is why such a person acts more according to his inclinations, feels attracted to this or that object and is carried away by his instincts. In sleep, the spirit withdraws into itself, and with it the freedom of the will disappears completely; for in dreams the ordinary person is a plaything of dream images and fantasy; he does not do what he wants, but his dreams make him act, be they pleasant or terrible. Only the spiritually awakened person who has reached a higher self-consciousness controls his dreams; he controls himself in waking and sleeping.
After death, the spirit likewise withdraws to its source. However, this withdrawal is not always sudden. It is comparable to the setting of the sun, when the light first disappears from the lower valleys, while the mountain tops still shine and twilight reigns in the middle regions. Or it can be compared to a man who takes off his clothes one by one in the evening. Each of the principles of which man is composed has its own organism and its own form of consciousness. These forms of consciousness are not strictly separated from one another; they merge into one another like the colors of a rainbow; the higher sends its reflection into the nearest lower, just as light penetrates the air and the air penetrates the earth.
When the spirit has left the material body, its consciousness is at an end. The spirit also withdraws from the astral body, if it has not already become conscious during life and has not attained the use of its organs, and then finds itself in a state which is very similar to the dream life of a sleeping person. It has no willpower, but instinctively follows its magnetic attractions, and these lead it to where it belongs according to its nature, according to the instincts which control it. Whether a person’s dreams are pleasant or unpleasant depends on whether a person has created a heaven or a hell within himself during life. Every thing gravitates according to the reason from which it was born. In every person, the desire which predominates in him will naturally give rise to his dreams and ideas which arise from this and which become reality for him after death. Each person strives for its own kind. The suicide sees himself surrounded by suicides, the pious person has the angels he has created around him, the miser guards his treasure, the vengeful person is driven by his instinct to satisfy his thirst for revenge, and so on. In this way, ghosts and larvae of the dead are created, from which the last glimmer of the light of the spirit has finally escaped, and which are, to a certain extent, only dream images, but suffer nonetheless. The Bhagavad-Gītī says: “After the death of the body, man enters into that which his mind was directed towards at the end of his life.” Śankarācārya [Śaṅkarācārya] teaches: “In dream life, the impressions received while awake are repeated in the dream world.” The suicide repeats his deed, the person who is executed is executed again and again, etc. How long such impressions last, and consequently how long a ghost can exist, is difficult to determine. The duration of his existence obviously depends on the strength of the impression received and the mental vibrations generated by it. In a seminar in England a student recently moved into a previously unoccupied room and during the night saw a hanged man hanging in front of his bed. At first he thought it was a doll that his comrades had hung up as a joke and threw his pillow at it. He hit the supposed doll, which now dangled and turned back and forth so that he saw the disfigured face of a corpse before him. Investigations revealed that many years ago the director of this institution had hanged himself in that room and that the room was no longer inhabitable as a result of such hauntings. Spiritualist literature contains many similar cases.
Occult science teaches that the etheric, magnetic body continues to exist after death until the last remnant of the material body has dissolved into its elements. Clairvoyant people can see this body (the “double”) floating over graves in churchyards and therefore need no other proof of its existence than their own visual appearance, and the example given above shows that such phenomena are not insubstantial, but are also substantial and “material” in their nature. Now, of course, a distinction must be made between the etheric body (the Linga-Śārīra[5] of the Indians) and the body of desire (Kāma-Rūpa); however, there is still a certain relationship between the elements of which a person is composed, even after they have been separated by death. Proof of this is provided by the customs common in the practice of black magic, which we cannot go into here, since it is not our intention to give instruction in such matters. Nevertheless, the above explanations may serve to point out that under certain circumstances it is best if the body of a deceased person is dissolved into its elements as soon as possible, which is certainly done most quickly by cremation. A person whose soul is free from all earthly desires and no longer bound to anything will not care what happens to his body after the death of his body; but where egoism and its entourage still exist, the farewell may be long and painful, and in such cases it is a religious duty to shorten it and thereby make it easier.
As for the religious superstition that cremation would hinder a “resurrection of the flesh” on the last day, this is based on a wrong understanding of the doctrine of reincarnation, which speaks of a reunion of character traits (skandhas), and such a childish objection deserves no reply; it is refuted by common sense.
Note
[1] Theosophical Correspondence. Cremation. By Dr. Franz Hartmann. [Theosophische Korrespondenz. Feuerbestattung. Von Dr. Franz Hartmann. Theosophischer Wegweiser 8, no, 6 (March 1907), 184-188] {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than minor typos, translation from German by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025}
[2] The “soul” is the “I.” It is more correct to say, “Man is a soul having a body,” than to say, “I have a soul,” for the soul is not enclosed in the body, although it exercises its functions in it and manifests itself in it.
[3] Numerous accounts from the departed souls of suicides and others who died violent deaths testify to the truth of this statement. Those who were dissected soon after death declared that they felt the cuts of the dissecting knife just as if they had been dismembered alive.
[4] Compare, Buried Alive. An investigation into the nature and causes of apparent death and the means of preventing being buried alive. Dedicated to the friends of cremation by Dr. Franz Hartmann. (Editor’s note.) Earthly family ties and the like are still tied to material things, may suffer more or less from this.
[5] [R.H.—correctly: linga-śarīra, the matrix body, also called prāṇamaya-kośa, body composed of the vital energy called prāṇa; the etheric double in theosophical terminology.]