Life in the “afterlife” and communication with spirits.
(According to the Kabbalah.)
Franz Hartmann, M.D.[1]
Translation from German by Robert Hutwohl
When a person dies, leaving his physical body, what remains of him can be considered a trinity consisting of the following:
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- Neschamah, the true psyche or the celestial soul (anima divina), whose home is the heavenly world (Devachan).
- Ruach, the animal-human intellectual being, astral soul, or mental “spirit,” belonging to the human personality (anima bruta).
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III. Nephesh, the shadow, the ghost, the doppelganger, or also called “larva.”
Each of these three components has its own peculiar form of consciousness, and the task of the psyche, or celestial soul, is to wrestle itself free from the lower states of consciousness in order to live in the awareness of its inherent divine nature. Clinging to what binds it to the earth can only be a grave hindrance to this.
In the vast majority of people, consciousness is collected and concentrated in the anima bruta; in the few wise, it is polarized in the anima divina. The part of the human being in which the transformation takes place, which the Hebrews called Gilgal Neschamoth and signifies spiritual rebirth, is the anima divina (Neschamah), i.e., the region of the soul that is the vessel for the direct conception of the Spirit of God (ātma). This spiritual rebirth takes place in the wise and saints even during life. After death, no increase can occur, only a detachment of the heavenly from its material.
Since nothing exists in the world that is not created by the Word of God and consequently the Spirit of God is in everything, Neschamah is present not only in humans but also in animals, but only as a faintly glowing spark, which is why the self-consciousness of animals is only rudimentary and vague.
Neschamah is that which is ultimately freed from all earthly things and, through this redemption, enters Nirvana [nirvāṇa]. The Ruach is the earthly mind of man (mens), i.e., the part which bears all worldly and personal memories and desires, inclinations, and worries of earthly life and which bears its family name. After death, this anima bruta remains in the “middle region” or “astral sphere” and in contact with the magnetic earth sphere; but the anima divina, whose name is known to no one but God [the higher Self], ascends and pursues its path of evolution, taking with it only that, usually very small, part of the personal essence (Ruach) which was the purest in man and compatible with the heavenly soul. The “filth” remains in the astral sphere.
The anima divina is the true human being; in it lies his immortal individuality, which is to be distinguished from his earthly and ever-changing personality (persona = mask). This heavenly soul is not subject to the attraction of the earth’s magnetic sphere, and only on very special, ceremonial occasions does it return to earth, perhaps for a sacred purpose. The astral shadow (nephesh) is mute and senseless. The earth-bound anima bruta can remember earthly things and make communications; but its memories relate at most to what it experienced in its one earthly life, for the anima bruta lives only once and is never reincarnated.
The more refined a person is when it comes to death, the easier the separation of the soul (neshamah) from the lower states of consciousness by which it is surrounded takes place. The saint does not fear death, for his consciousness is already gathered in his soul, and it is united with the divine spirit. For him, death is not an ordinary pathological process, but a natural withdrawal of life and consciousness from the physical and animal realm into the astral or magnetic realm, and from there into the psychic life of the soul, which strengthens and invigorates it. Countless holy men, members of all countries and religions, have passed away in this way, and it can happen that in such a dissolution, the redeemed soul’s relationship with the material world completely ends. Such an end is complete liberation from the power of the body and victory over death. The righteous person, who for a long time died daily in relation to his lower elements, does not consider separation from the body a misfortune, but rather the completion of a work he has labored over for a long time. What is a grave shock to others comes to him as easy. Therefore, it is written: “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his.”
At death, consciousness quickly withdraws from the outermost and lowest region, i.e., from the physical body. In the shadow, specter, or astral body (nephesh), which is the lowest form of soul substance, it may linger for a short time before disappearing completely; in the astral soul (anima bruta or ruach), consciousness may persist for centuries, and all the characteristics of the deceased personality may become apparent therein; in the actual soul (neshamah), which is the vessel of the divine spirit, consciousness is as imperishable as the soul itself. The specter or larva remains in the astral sphere, but the soul follows its upward attraction, detaches itself from the lower elements, and ascends to its eternal home, unless it itself has become too material and incapable of this ascent, in which case it remains in its astral envelope, as in a prison. Homer describes this separation of the soul from the personality when he has Odysseus say, referring to his visit to the realm of shadows: “I saw Heracles, but only his phantom (εἴδωλον = eidolon), he himself is with the gods.”
These “spirits” (astral bodies) of the dead resemble mirrors with two opposing surfaces; one side reflects the earthly sphere and images of the past, the other receives influences from the higher spheres, where the true souls (neshamah) were absorbed. If something good still exists in the departed “spirit,” it does not die. The astral sphere is then the place of its purification; for Saturn, as a symbol of time, tests all things, devours all that is impure, and ultimately only that which is usable remains. The “spirit” thus soars upwards through the gradual loss of its material connections, whereby its substance is illuminated and purified. But if it follows the attraction of its connections with the earth and takes a permanent part in worldly things, it gives new nourishment to its earthly qualities, as it were, and maintains them in strength, thereby preventing a return to its true and spiritual self.
The dissolution of a “spirit” (ruach) occurs slowly and naturally, and its duration depends on the person’s character. The spirits of wicked people, with strong willfulness and sensuality, exist the longest and are the most common and popular apparitions among spiritualists. The phenomena they produce are the best because they themselves are very material in nature and bound to material things. Such “spirits” are in reality spiritless and are headed for destruction; there is nothing in them that can be redeemed. The spirit of the righteous, on the other hand, has nothing to do with such things. It does not wish to be disturbed in the progress of its evolution. “Why do you call me?” it would say. “Do not disturb my peace! The memories of my earthly life would be chains that bind me, reawakening desires from the past would hinder me. Let me pursue my path and do not disturb me; but let your love follow me and embrace me, and you will soar to ever higher spheres.”
Thus, when, as often happens, the “spirit” of a good man lingers near another good man who loved him, it is still a matter of love for the soul of the dead man, not of attachment to his inferior personality. The strength and holiness of this ideal love assists the soul in its purification and indicates the path it must take, which leads from the worldly to the divine. A wise man on earth can truly love nothing but that which is divine; therefore, what he loves in his deceased friend is not his personality, but the divine, his true and radiant Self.
It is said that marriages are contracted in heaven. This means that all unions based on true love have their origin in the heavenly part of man. The purely external or carnal inclinations and attractions of the anima bruta belong to the astral man. If a person wishes to find and recognize the object of his love in heaven (Devachan), his love must arise from Neschamah and not from Ruach. There he will then find in the beloved object everything that is of an ideal nature and corresponds to his own heavenly being. There are different degrees of love. True love is stronger than a thousand dead; for even if a person is reborn and dies a thousand times, a single love can still propagate through all these reincarnations, constantly growing in strength and power. But the love of an astral larva is like the love of a corpse that decays and ultimately disappears.
The anima bruta Ruach remains in the astral plane as a personality with certain ties to the earth and, depending on the degree of its consciousness, retains its memories of past lives, both good and bad. If it has done evil, it suffers but is not condemned; if it has done good, the memory brings it joy but does not make it blessed. It continues, as in a dream, its former activities and creates from the astral light those objects it needs and which correspond to its nature. Such a “spirit” can only speak of its one past life, for it has lived only once. It retains the memories and inclinations that still cling to it from that life until they are exhausted. If its attachment to a person was particularly strong, it remains in that person’s presence and overshadows them.
The spirit can only unite with the soul through the body, and consequently, such an astral soul is incapable of further perfection. Its progress consists only in the gradual dying of the lower forces (desires and passions) due to a lack of new nourishment, and it thus becomes purer. However, if it is drawn back to earth and participates in earthly things, as happens, for example, through its association with spiritistic mediums, this progress is also inhibited. However, it can receive help from pious and wise people, for their soul emanations reach and support it, and therefore it is attracted to their spheres. If such a spirit is questioned, even if it has existed for centuries, it cannot know more than it experienced in its earthly life, unless an idea originating from the questioner is reflected in it. The reason why most “spirit communications” are of an astral nature and very few are of a heavenly nature is that most people communicate with spirits through their own anima bruta; the few pure ones, however, through their anima divina, and like attracts like.
Neschamah is comparable to the sun; Ruach is its planet. A single anima divina can have as many personifications of its previous self in the astral light as a person can have clothes. When the celestial soul has become perfect and is ready to enter the highest state, it reabsorbs the memories of all these previous “selves,” but only that part which is memorable or worth absorbing and does not disturb its eternal rest. During its sojourn in the “planets,” i.e., in its incarnations, the soul forgets; in the “sun,” it retains its memory. “In memoria aeterna erit justus.” [Latin, The righteous will be in eternal memory.] Not everything belonging to the Ruach returns to Neschamah on that “Day of Judgment.”[2] Only the good memories ascend there; the bad ones sink into the deepest regions of the astral light, as it were, into the lumber room of the memory of the world soul, where they meet their destruction. Nothing enters the heavenly soul that could disturb its bliss. Only those sensations and thoughts are absorbed by it that are worthy of it and have sufficiently penetrated the earthly mind to reach the heavenly part and become an essential part of the heavenly person in “Paradise.”
As long as a person has not attained consciousness of the anima divina within him, he can know nothing of her previous reincarnations. Only when he has become one with her in his consciousness through spiritual rebirth, and thereby become a son of God [the Father in Heaven, the Monad], can he attain through her a clear memory of his earlier periods of life. It may well happen that memories of previous earthly lives emerge in a person on the path of spiritual progress; But these are, as it were, reflections of emanations from a higher region and, as a rule, concern only principles and attitudes. When such memories refer to actual events, they are usually dreamlike and vague, and reflections from the astral light, produced by the overshadowing of remnants of previous incarnations; for these former “selves,” which are the abandoned temples of the anima divina, surround it, especially on certain occasions, and the glow thus created brings light into the darkroom of the mind and reflects images from the past on its memory tablet.
Notes:
[1] Life in the “afterlife” and communication with spirits. (According to the Kabbalah.) Franz Hartmann, M.D. [Das Leben im „Jenseits“ und der Verkehr mit den Geistern. Nach der Kabbala] Lotusblüten 16, no. 98 (November 1900), 757-769 [Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025]
[2] [R. H.—Dr. Hartmann does not refer to this from the Bible, but the most esoteric meaning is millions of years into the future when there is a great battle on the mental plane.]