In the physical body we experience thoughts by drawing them up from within us. After death, we experience thoughts by looking at them as we look at the stars, or as we look out at the world and the mountains, and they make an impression upon us; we take up this impression and experience it in our astral body and our Ego. Thus we see that just the opposite thing takes place: Whereas here on Earth we look upon thoughts as something within us, we must consider them as being something external, after death. Our life then dissolves in the world, flows out in the world.
It is important for us to bear this in mind and not to adopt the idea that the world after death is like a fine, thin repetition of the physical world here — an idea which is often accepted in spiritist circles. It is in fact something entirely different. And it is different, for the reason that our thoughts are Beings outside of us.
Source: Rudolf Steiner – GA 168 – RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE LIVING AND THE DEAD – Hamburg, 16 February 1916
Translator unknown
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