Hereditary sin was a consequence of the original Fall of Man.
The sin or wrong-doing lay in the over-cultivation of the intellect, associated with which was the
voluntary chaining of man to space and time, and the then resulting additional effectsfrom purely
intellectual activity, such as love of gain, imposing upon others, oppression, etc., which again brought
many other, in fact all, evils in their train.
This process naturally had an ever-increasing influence on the forming of the physical body of those
people who developed themselves in a purely intellectual way. Through being continually exerted, the
frontal brain which produces the intellect became disproportionately enlarged. It was therefore quite
natural that this change in structure expressed itself in the procreation of the physical body, and that at
birth children entered the world with an increasingly developed and stronger frontal brain.
This contained, and still today contains, a predisposition or tendency towards an intellectual power
dominating all else, which harbors the danger that the bearer of such a brain, on awakening it fully, not
only chains himself to space and time, but also to everything that is earthly and gross material. He then
becomesincapableof grasping anythingthat is ethereal or Purespiritual,and in additionentangles
himself in all sorts of evil, which is inevitable where the intellect dominates.
It is the coming into the world with this voluntarily over-cultivated frontal brain, containing the
danger of a mere intellectual domination with its inevitable evil manifestations, which is the hereditary
sin!
It is the physical inheritance of this part, called on account of its excessive artificial cultivation the
cerebrum, which exposes man from birth to the danger of too easily entangling himself in evil.
This, however, does not free him from responsibility. He retains it, for he inherits only the danger not
the sin itself. He is in no wise compelled to allow his intellect to rule unconditionally and thus submit
himself to it. On the contrary, he can wield the great power of his intellect like a sharp sword to clear his
path in the daily bustle of life, as directed by his intuitive perception, which is also called the Inner Voice.
But if through education and training a child’s intellect is brought to the point where it completely
dominates, then the child is absolved of part of the guilt, or better, of part of the reactions brought about
by the Law of Reciprocal Action, because that part will then fall upon the educator or teacher who caused
it. From this moment onward he is tied to the child till the latter is freed from this mistake and its
consequences, even if this takes hundreds or thousands of years.
What a child so educated does after it has had a serious opportunity to consider and retrace its steps,
would then react upon it alone. Such opportunities arise through the spoken or written word, through
emotional shocks in life or similar happenings, which forcibly bring about a moment of deep intuitive
feeling. Such opportunities are bound to come.
It would be useless to say more on this subject or to multiply examples, which would only be a
repetition and lead to the same conclusion. He who reflects upon the matter will soon find a veil lifted
from before his eyes. He will then have solved many questions within himself.