Download or read book Anthroposophy A Fragment written by Rudolf Steiner and published by SteinerBooks. This book was released on 1996-04 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published in 1904 (CW 10) "Not everyone can immediately achieve spiritual vision; but the discoveries of those who have it can be health-giving life nourishment for all. The results of supersensible knowledge, when properly employed in life, prove to be not impractical, but rather, practical in the highest sense.... The acquisition of higher knowledge is not the end, but the means to an end; the end consists in the attainment, thanks to this knowledge, of greater and truer self-confidence, a higher degree of courage, and a magnanimity and perseverance such as cannot, as a rule, be acquired in the lower world." This is the classic account of the modern Western esoteric path of initiation made public by Steiner in 1904. He begins with the premise that "the capacities by which we can gain insights into the higher worlds lie dormant within each one of us." Steiner carefully and precisely leads the reader from the cultivation of the fundamental soul attitudes of reverence and inner tranquility to the development of inner life through the stages of preparation, illumination, and initiation. Steiner provides practical exercises of inner and outer observation and moral development. By patiently and persistently following his guidelines, new "organs" of soul and spirit begin to form, which reveal the contours of the higher worlds thus far concealed from us. Steiner in this important work becomes a teacher, a counselor, and a friend whose advice is practical, clear, and effective. The challenges we face in life require increasingly deeper levels of understanding, and Steiner's text helps readers to cultivate the capacities for such insights and places them at the service of humanity. This is Steiner's most essential guide to the modern path of initiation he advocated throughout his life. It has been translated into many languages and has inspired hundreds of thousands of readers around the world. How to Know Higher Worlds has been admired by some of the most brilliant minds of our time. "The methods by which a student is prepared for the reception of higher knowledge are minutely prescribed. The direction he is to take is traced with unfading, everlasting letters in the worlds of the spirit where the initiates guard the higher secrets. In ancient times, anterior to our history, the temples of the spirit were also outwardly visible; today, because our life has become so unspiritual, they are not to be found in the world visible to external sight; yet they are present spiritually everywhere, and all who seek may find them." Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment is a translation from German of the written work Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten? (GA 10).
Download or read book Rudolf Steiner Fragment of a Spiritual Biography written by Sergei O. Prokofieff and published by Temple Lodge Publishing. This book was released on 2020-11-16 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Underlying Sergei O. Prokofieff’s life’s work was a fundamental research-theme to which he returned to repeatedly: the individuality of Rudolf Steiner as manifested through his past incarnations on Earth. Beginning in 1982, inspired by a visit to an exhibition on The Epic of Gilgamesh, Prokofieff planned a full-scale spiritual biography with the intention of finding an answer to the question: Who is Rudolf Steiner? In a sequence of five past incarnations – as indicated by Steiner himself – and culminating in the life of Rudolf Steiner, Prokofieff searched for the inner thread between the six stages of this great, all-encompassing life. His intention was to find not only the outer connections in this sequence but also the deeper, more esoteric stream that offers the key to the unique significance of this individuality. In 1984, Prokofieff began to write the first chapter about Rudolf Steiner’s incarnation as Enkidu in Sumer. Sadly, many obstacles in his path were to prevent him finalising the project. However, the author returned to the book in his final months, preparing a Preface that outlines its conception together with a summary chapter on Rudolf Steiner’s evolutionary journey. This precious ‘fragment’ of a biography features valuable additional material, including: a full introduction to the relationship of the anthroposophical movement to other occult streams of esoteric Christianity and their Masters; a detailed spiritual-scientific interpretation of the Epic of Gilgamesh that establishes Rudolf Steiner’s connection with the being of Jesus of Nazareth, and an exploration of Steiner’s relationship to the Nathan soul, the Luke Jesus child. Serious students of anthroposophy will welcome these final writings from the pen of one of Rudolf Steiner’s most faithful and insightful disciples.
Download or read book Anthroposophy and the Natural Sciences written by Rudolf Steiner and published by SteinerBooks. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 5 public lectures and an evening discussion, various cities, June 17, 1920 - May 11, 1922 (CW 75) This previously untranslated volume in The Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner showcases Rudolf Steiner presenting the key concepts and methods of spiritual science to more or less skeptical academic audiences in the early 1920s. Step by step, he presented to his listeners the fundamentals of the anthroposophic path of knowledge. Steiner was less concerned with presenting results from his spiritual-scientific research than with leading his academic audience to an objective understanding of spiritual science in a propaedeutic, conceptually transparent way. The central questions of his approach were: What are the tools and instruments required to orient oneself in the world of the soul and the spirit? How can we know that the spiritual world is an objective world and not merely a psychic projection? What authorizes the spiritual researcher to acknowledge what he has experienced "on the other side" as a reality that is independent of him? Rudolf Steiner addresses these and other questions in such a structured and readily comprehensible way that the volume as a whole is well suited, both as an introductory text and as a means for anyone to deepen their understanding of how anthroposophy relates to and builds upon the natural sciences. At the time these presentations were given, serious voices had been raised denying Steiner's scientific credibility and denouncing his methods as unsound. Partly in response to such criticisms, Steiner here describes a means by which human beings can gain, through methodical and rigorous training, a direct experience of the spiritual dimension of life. He lays out the methodology of spiritual science, which is rooted in the scientific approach, outlining the three stages of higher knowledge --imagination, inspiration, and intuition --and describing the inner processes that lead from intellectual thinking to these higher modes of cognition. Ultimately, what Steiner proposes is not a deviation from the natural sciences but their expansion and development beyond unnecessary boundaries --that is, the establishment of anthroposophical spiritual science as a recognized method and practice of scientific research. This book is a translation from German of Das Verhältnis der Anthroposophie zur Naturwissenschaft, 1st edition (GA 75, Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach, Switzerland, 2010).
Download or read book What Is Anthroposophy written by Rudolf Steiner and published by SteinerBooks. This book was released on 2002-06 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "My life changed dramatically, drastically, and irrevocably on November 17, 2005. That was my death day and re-birthday. The external event was surgical removal of a glioblastoma multiforme tumor phase iv from the left occipital-parietal lobe of my cranium. Though I was unconscious during surgery, what I experienced was transcendent, like being turned inside out and hovering in timelessness, between this world and the life after life, and returning to here and now -- changed forever. What sounds like a cliché describes literally what I felt." (from the foreword) This generous, courageous, and wise book offers a selfless glimpse behind the curtain of a journey with cancer, from shock to inner rebirth and the gradual discovery of light in the darkness William Ward has written a personal account of his life following a fateful diagnosis of a brain tumor: gliablastoma multiforme Phase IV cancer. With no trace of self-pity and rising above sentimentality, he describes the landscape of his outer path through hospitals, surgeons, pain, powerful drugs, and the support of family, friends, and community. At the same time, with fearless honesty he invites the reader to accompany him on the inner path of inevitable regrets, self-examination, fears, and hopes in the face of a potentially terminal illness. Until it happens to us, we can never know for sure how we would respond as individuals to a catastrophic event in our lives, but by telling the most personal of all stories, William Ward shows us a way forward that goes well beyond our personal differences. With compassion and humor, Ward bears witness to the presence of living light in the darkest of human experiences, demonstrating how, if we face it, the Dark Night of the Soul necessarily leads to awaking in the light of a new dawn. Fierce hope shines through the final words of Traveling Light: "As we part, here at the edge of Death Valley, I feel like an old prospector handing over a weather-stained chart. "You take this map, sonny. Where I'm goin' I won't be needin' it no more. But while you're here on the earthly plane, I want you to know there is water, the water of life, deep down, right here. Yonder, atop Solomon's knob, is the Mother Lode--pay dirt, pure gold, the sun's tears. The way up is steep. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Up on top you can see forever. Goodbye, God bless, and good luck!" Cover Image by Claire Ward Miesmer
Download or read book The AIMS OF ANTHROPOSOPHY written by Rudolf Steiner and published by Rudolf Steiner Press. This book was released on 2020-06-26 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his final lectures to the general public, Rudolf Steiner speaks with great clarity and purpose about the inner and outer necessity of the anthroposophical impulse in modern times. Following the fire that destroyed the first Goetheanum building in Dornach, Switzerland, Steiner had focused his efforts on rebuilding and reorganizing the Anthroposophical Society. But he also continued to travel and speak to the public – in Prague, Vienna and Basel – to explain the purpose of the Goetheanum and to elucidate the broader aims of his spiritual work. These lectures, including a semi-public series in Dornach, are gathered here and published in English for the first time, together with an introduction, notes and index.The volume features the following lectures: 'The Purpose of the Goetheanum and the Aims of Anthroposophy'; 'Enhancing Human Powers of Perception to Develop Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition'; 'Human Soul Life and the Development of Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition'; 'Experience and Perception of the Activities of Thinking and Speech'; 'The Physical World and Moral-Spiritual Impulses': 'Four Stages of Inner Experience'; 'Perceiving the Etheric World'; 'Soul's Eternity in the Light of Anthroposophy'; 'Human Development and Education in the Light of Anthroposophy'; 'Supersensible Perception, Anthroposophy as a Contemporary Need'; 'Anthroposophy and the Ethical and Religious Life'; 'How Do We Gain Knowledge of the Supersensible World?'
Download or read book The Mysteries of initiation written by Rudolf Steiner and published by Rudolf Steiner Press. This book was released on 2021-10-14 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a concise study, Rudolf Steiner presents an inspirational sketch of the evolution of the Mysteries – from ancient Persia through Egypt and Greece, to the Christian era and the present day. He traces the line of initiates from Egyptian divinities Isis and Osiris to Moses, King Arthur's Round Table and the Holy Grail in the twelfth century. Steiner focuses on the process of initiation as a historical topic: how initiation worked in ancient Egypt and in the late Middle Ages. But his presentation is also inspirational, leading to the question: How can we advance to initiation now? He underscores the potential for achieving enlightenment today without a teacher in the flesh, and explains the four stages of the process towards initiation. He also highlights the need for strenuous efforts to overcome the subtle power of evil – in the form of Lucifer and Ahriman – through selfless work.The four lectures collected here form an important landmark in Rudolf Steiner's biography: the first being delivered on 3 February 1913 – the very day that the Anthroposophical Society was founded. First published in English under the title The Mysteries of the East and of Christianity and unavailable for many years, this edition has been re-edited by Professor Frederick Amrine and features appendices, an index as well as an introduction by Robert McDermott.
Download or read book Introducing Anthroposophical Medicine written by Rudolf Steiner and published by SteinerBooks. This book was released on 1999 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These lectures -- the first on medicine by Rudolf Steiner -- outline the foundation for an anthroposophical approach to health and illness. Steiner begins with a discussion of various contemporary views of illness and pathology. He goes on to explore illnesses in relation to the whole human being, looking at the various processes and organs in relation to the human threefold organization. Homeopathy, naturopathy, and allopathy are discussed in the light of the spiritual nature of the human being and in terms of the ways various planets and the cosmos influence healing substances. On the whole, Steiner's approach rests on the long tradition of Western medicine without negating its roots. Perhaps more than anywhere else, Steiner's enthusiasm and familiarity with the subject is in evidence here. Steiner describes many specific illnesses and their treatments and how doctors must develop their ability to diagnose illnesses and prescribe treatments based on their own inner capacities.
Download or read book The Christian Mystery written by Rudolf Steiner and published by SteinerBooks. This book was released on 1998-12 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this major collection, Rudolf Steiner affirms the reality of esoteric Christianity and unveils many of its secret teachings. His lectures are on the significance of the Mystery of Golgotha and of the Blood that flowed on the Cross; the relationship of Christ and Lucifer (or Love and Knowledge); the various paths of initiation, including the Christian-Gnostic and Rosicrucian Paths; and Steiner's early interpretations of St. John's gospel and the sermon on the mount. All of Steiner's lectures on the Lord's Prayer are also included, as well as the version of the prayer that Steiner himself prayed throughout his life. This is an excellent book for all those who want to deepen their understanding of the Western stream of Christian esotericism and Rudolf Steiner's approach to Christianity as a spiritual practice.
Download or read book Faculty Meetings with Rudolf Steiner written by Rudolf Steiner and published by SteinerBooks. This book was released on 1998-09 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 8 lectures, Stuttgart, June 12-19, 1921 (CW 302) In these eight talks on education for teenaged young people, Steiner addressed the teachers of the first Waldorf school two years after it was first opened. A high school was needed, and Steiner wanted to provide a foundation for study and a guide for teachers already familiar with his approach to the human being, child development, and education based on spiritual science. Steiner's education affirms the being of every child within the world of spirit. This approach works within the context of the child's gradual entry into earthly life, aided by spiritual forces, and children's need for an education that cooperates with those forces. Some of Steiner's remarks may be controversial, but unbiased study will lead to an appreciation of the profound thought and wisdom behind what is presented here. German source: Menschenerkenntnis und Unterrichtsgestaltung (GA 302).
Download or read book Eurythmy as Speech Made Visible written by Rudolf Steiner and published by Rudolf Steiner Press. This book was released on 2024-06-20 with total page 548 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With these fundamental lectures on speech eurythmy – given just months after his course entitled ‘Eurythmy as Visible Singing’ – Rudolf Steiner completed the foundations of the new art of movement. In connecting to the centuries-old esoteric and exoteric Western traditions of ‘the Word’ – the creative power in the sounds of the divine-human alphabet – he gave it concrete form and expression in the performing arts, education and therapy. Although aimed primarily at the professional concerns of eurythmists who perform, teach or work as therapists, the lectures offer a wealth of suggestions and insights to anyone interested in the arts. For this new edition – freshly translated by Matthew Barton and introduced by Coralee Frederickson – the original shorthand transcripts have been compared exhaustively with typed records and the notes of course participants. These notes included numerous sketches of movements, gestures and choreographies, many of which have been reproduced here to complement the text. Also featured is an appendix comprising facsimiles and transcripts of Rudolf Steiner’s preparatory notes, programmes of the eurythmy performances given during the course, and accounts by Steiner published in the Society Newsletter. Finally, there are recollections by course participants, additional sketches of forms and movements, Marie Steiner’s original foreword, and 30 pages of colour plates featuring blackboard drawings and eurythmy forms. New revised and expanded edition; Trans. by M. Barton; Intro. by C. Frederickson (Fifteen lectures, Dornach, Jun.-July 1924, GA 279); 512pp + 32pp colour plates; 23.5 x 15.5 cm
Download or read book Mystics After Modernism written by Rudolf Steiner and published by SteinerBooks. This book was released on 2000 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The mystics Steiner writes about in this book were early giants in the modern art of illumined self-knowledge. Their ways of seeing the world, God, and themselves foreshadowed all that we practice now in the best of meditation, both East and West. Here, you can read about their essential passion for unity, their practice of intensification of perception, and their ever-fresh insights into the process of knowing itself. Contents: Foreword by Christopher Bamford Preface to the 1923 Edition Introduction: Mystics, Natural Science, and the Modern World (by Rudolf Steiner) Meister Eckhart The Friendship with God: Johannes Tauler Cardinal Nicolas of Cusa Agrippa of Nettesheim & Theophrastus Paracelsus Valentin Weigel & Jacob Boehme Giordano Bruno & Angelus Silesius Epilogue Afterword: About the Author, the People, and the Background of This Book (by Paul M. Allen) Preface to First Edition 1901 Steiner immerses us in the evolving stream of these eleven mystics who appeared in central Europe between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries. They managed to resolve the conflict between inner perceptions and the new seeds of modern science and human individuality. Based on the lives of those mystics and on his own spiritual insight, Steiner shows how their ideas can illuminate and preserve our true human nature today. Rudolf Steiner ends his book with a quotation from the Cherubinic Wanderer, a collection of sayings gathered by Angelus Silesius: "Dear Friend, this is enough for now. If you wish to read more, go and become the writing and the essence yourself." A previous edition was titled Mysticism at the dawn of the Modern Age.
Download or read book The Anthroposophic Movement written by Rudolf Steiner and published by Rudolf Steiner Press. This book was released on 2022-11-18 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This course of lectures was given at a pivotal point in the development of the anthroposophic movement. Just months before, an act of arson had caused the destruction of the first Goetheanum, and its darkened ruins appeared to reflect the fragmentations within the Anthroposophical Society. Divisions were appearing amongst members and friends, with individual energies increasingly routed to external initiatives and practical projects. It became apparent that a new impetus was needed. In this turbulent context, Steiner delivers these lectures in a calm, lively and informal style. In the last decades of the nineteenth century, he says, a yearning for spiritual nourishment arose within Western culture, and organizations such as the Theosophical Society gained in popularity. Despite his direct involvement in these events, Steiner describes in dispassionate tones how the spiritual movements behind theosophy and anthroposophy were able to work together harmoniously, before an unavoidable separation took place. Steiner’s expansive review of the anthroposophic movement is an important narrative account of the developing Western spiritual tradition and the history of the Mysteries. These lectures also offer rare perceptions of the life and philosophy of Rudolf Steiner. Those who identify with the movement he founded will discover revelatory insights to its background and possibilities for its future development within the broader evolution of humankind.
Download or read book Understanding Healing written by Rudolf Steiner and published by Rudolf Steiner Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 13 lectures, Dornach, Jan. 2-Apr. 25, 1924 (CW 316) Steiner's third lecture course to physicians has a character completely different from previous presentations. Delivered in response to a group of young doctors, it offers unique, groundbreaking insights into the practice and art of healing. Steiner speaks about the influence of cosmic and earthly forces--the periphery and center--on the human being. Proper understanding of these processes enables the physician to comprehend the actions of plants and minerals used in anthroposophic medicines, and thus to prescribe appropriate and individually specific remedies. Steiner paints a picture of the human being as a complex confluence of the forces of heredity, forces from the cosmos, and an individual's unique spiritual nature. The physician has to understand these relationships in order to be able to help effectively when they are out of balance. Steiner stresses the importance of personal development for physicians, and offers plentiful instructions for a meditative practice intrinsic to their work. Among a wealth of other topics, Steiner addresses inflammation and excessive growth; the scarlet fever and measles; the importance of a child's food and breast milk; the functions of the liver, heart, head, and skeleton; the incarnation process; karma as a guide for the physician; morality as a force flowing in from the cosmos; the cosmic trinity of Saturn, Sun, and Moon in healthy and sick people; and the human heart's involvement in thinking. Included here are Steiner's answers to questions and the first newsletter from the Medical Section, with a key meditation for physicians. This volume also features 18 full-color plates of Steiner's blackboard drawings, a comprehensive introduction, index and notes. READ A REVIEW OF THIS BOOK BY BOBBY MATHERNE This volume is a translation from German of Meditative Betrachtungen und Anleitungen zur Vertiefung der Heilkunst (GA 316). Eight of the lectures in this volume were previously translated and published as Course for Young Doctors.
Download or read book Disease Karma and Healing written by Rudolf Steiner and published by Rudolf Steiner Press. This book was released on 2013-11-21 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today, illness is almost universally regarded as either a nuisance or a grave misfortune. In contrast to this conventional thinking, Rudolf Steiner places the suffering caused by disease in a broad vista that includes an understanding of karma and personal metamorphosis. Illness comes to expression in the physical body, but mostly does not originate in it, says Steiner, and thus a key part of the physician’s work involves gaining insight into the whole nature of an individual – his essential core being. From this perspective, illness offers us the opportunity for deeper healing. Throughout this volume Rudolf Steiner draws our attention to the greater scope of the smallest phenomena – even a seemingly insignificant headache. He casts vivid light on things we normally take for granted, such as the human capacity to laugh or cry, and in the process broadens our vision of human existence. The apparently mundane human experiences of forgetting and remembering are intrinsic to our humanity, for example, and have unsuspected moral and spiritual dimensions. Steiner’s insights are never merely ‘lofty’ or nebulously ‘spiritual’ but time and again connect with the minutest realities of everyday life. In these 18 lectures, delivered on a weekly basis as part of an ongoing course covering ‘the whole field of spiritual science’, Steiner elaborates in detail on the diverse interplay of the human being’s constituting aspects (physical body, etheric body, astral body and ego or ‘I’) in relation to rhythmic processes, developing consciousness, the history of human evolution, and our connection with the cosmos. Within this broad canvas, some of his themes acquire a very distinctive focus – such as vivid accounts of the ‘intimate history’ of Christianity, ‘creating out of nothing’, the interior of the earth, and health and illness. Other topics include: the nature of pain, suffering, pleasure and bliss; the four human group souls of lion, bull, eagle and man; the significance of the Ten Commandments; the nature of original sin; the deed of Christ and the adversary powers of Lucifer, Ahriman and the Asuras; evolution and involution; the Atlantean period – and even Friedrich Nietzsche’s madness!
Download or read book TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF THE CHRIST written by Rudolf Steiner and published by Rudolf Steiner Press. This book was released on 2015-06-15 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘All existence is spirit. Just as ice is water, so matter is also spirit. Mineral, vegetable, animal or human – all are a condensed form of spirit.’ – Rudolf Steiner In the two lecture courses featured in this volume, Rudolf Steiner presents a radical new paradigm. Tackling the central dilemma of modern civilization – the polarisation of science and spirituality – he seeks to broaden natural science through a comprehensive spiritual science. Rather than harking back to old spiritual forms or religions, Steiner’s approach is based on a conscious and systematic intensification of thinking and perception. Rudolf Steiner approaches this spiritual-scientific task from two perspectives. In Kassel, Germany, he deepens insight into theosophy and Rosicrucianism, showing their relationship to science and religion. Although presented as an ‘introduction’, Steiner was never interested in simply providing information – not even in the form of new revelations – and his insights are from fresh angles and with new illustrative examples. These lectures deepen and develop key elements found in his fundamental works Occult Science, An Outline and Theosophy. Also featured are the fascinating question-and-answer sessions from the Kassel lectures. In Basel, Switzerland, Rudolf Steiner discusses that most esoteric of the accounts of the life of Christ: the Gospel of John. Whilst the focus is on the gospel, basic tenets of spiritual science, human existence and world evolution are considered, as is the concept of karma and the true nature of Christianity. In both sets of lectures Steiner dwells on the Prologue to the Gospel of John (given in his own translation), which offers a meditative approach to gaining insight into both the gospel and Christianity as a whole. Rather than distancing us from life, each of the lectures in this volume brings us closer to reality. As Rudolf Steiner states: ‘Rosicrucian theosophy... does not make us into eccentrics, outsiders, but into friends of existence, for it doesn’t look down on everyday life, alienating us from our mission on earth; it brings us closer.’
Download or read book Human Evolution written by RUDOLF STEINER and published by Rudolf Steiner Press. This book was released on 2014 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Anyone who takes hold of what we call spiritual science, not with purely abstract thoughts but with his whole being, will see that this spiritual science goes right into the dexterity of the hands, that it makes a person more capable and enables him to extend his interest over wider areas and his will over a wider world.’ – Rudolf Steiner Returning from travels in war-torn Europe, Rudolf Steiner gives a stark impression of the disastrous conditions of the time, encouraging deeper esoteric work as a counter to the world-situation. Speaking under the broad theme of human development in the light of anthroposophy, he analyses the gulf between contemporary culture and science – which he says are characterized by ‘narrow-mindedness, philistinism and ineptitude’ – and a scientific approach to the spirit. At the same time, Steiner is clear-sighted about the shortcomings of his followers, mentioning past failures and a continuing tendency towards sectarianism and dogmatic judgements. Rudolf Steiner discusses how we experience a state of separateness with the world through our physical form, whilst our aura – or soul-spiritual being – is already living actively in cosmic surroundings. A conscious crossing of the threshold into the spiritual world is urgent and necessary today, although Steiner warns of the dangers inherent in certain eastern and western approaches. The tendency of initiates of the Orient is to abandon the human race, whilst the American impulse is immersed too strongly in physical, bodily nature. And a potential demonic influence works through technology. However, a spiritual-scientific path of knowledge and development can allow us to navigate through these challenges. Other themes featured include: the threefold Sun Mystery of ancient times; the Mystery of Christ Jesus and the threefold being of man; the human limbs as thoughts of the higher hierarchies; the loss of the spiritual knowledge of the old Mysteries; the gulf between idealism and realism; the formation of language from Cosmic Intelligence; the Pythagorean School and the mendacity of the world at that time; the disintegration of words after death; the twelve senses; the spiritual impact of old people’s death on the physical Earth; and the impulse of socialism. The wealth of spiritual thoughts and knowledge presented in these lectures remain as relevant today as they did when they were first delivered.
Download or read book PATHS AND GOALS OF THE SPIRITUAL HUMAN BEING written by RUDOLF STEINER and published by Rudolf Steiner Press. This book was released on 2015-06-29 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Speaking to audiences in Denmark, Germany and France, Rudolf Steiner discusses a wide range of topics: from positive and negative human soul capacities, true self-knowledge and karma, to changes in human consciousness, from ancient times to the modern era – all in the context of the incarnation of Christ on earth. The lectures illustrate the diversity of Steiner’s approach when speaking to different audiences. Reflecting on the polymath Novalis, for example, he is urgent about the responsibility of spiritual science to help humanity awaken to the new age. A few months later, talking of Hegel and deploring the fact that an interest in spiritual matters often fails to be accompanied by an equal interest in logical thought, Steiner uses a dispassionate, philosophical tone. But throughout the lectures he is consistent in his view that spiritual science does not reject conventional science. Trained philosophical thinking leads to different conclusions than materialism, he says, but there is nothing in the field of spiritual science that need be rejected by rigorous scientific thought. Although the lectures were given to a variety of audiences, ideas recur from different perspectives and in different contexts, with strong thematic links binding them together. These include the relationship between philosophy and science; the nature of clairvoyance; Christ’s presence in the etheric realm; reincarnation and karma; the mystery drama The Portal of Initiation; Christmas and its symbols; and the transformation of consciousness that occurred when Christ incarnated physically on earth. In the final lectures, Rudolf Steiner speaks inspiringly about the Christmas festival, contrasting the feeling of inwardness that people used to experience with the hectic cultural environment of modern cities. However, this does not lead Steiner to be nostalgic about the past. Rather, he states, we should seek to recreate a mood of inwardness in a new way, appropriate to our modern age and consciousness. These lectures give us the tools to bring such a contemporary spiritual approach to our lives.
