A member of our esoteric school, Maria Strauch-Spettini, died today. We have a special relation to her that doesn’t end at death. For us death is the transition to another life. The pain that some people feel at the death of a beloved person often has an egotistical character, because the loss of the person affects them. But such feelings don’t help the deceased personality upwards. On the contrary, they take away some of the feathers of the garment that must bear the soul upwards. If we send feelings of unselfish love after the personality we thereby weave feathers into the garment. So when a personality dies we should suppress feelings of pain coming from the loss. Maria Strauch took in theosophical teachings well and her soul became weightier.
Source: Rudolf Steiner – GA 266-III – ESOTERIC LESSONS: Lesson 35 – Berlin, 28 December 1904
Maria Strauch-Spettini (1847 – 1904)