Download or read book The Esoteric Significance of Spiritual Work in Anthroposophical Groups written by Sergei O. Prokofieff and published by Temple Lodge Publishing. This book was released on 2007 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The anthroposophical community seeks to lift human souls into supersensible realms so that they may enter the company of angels." --Rudolf Steiner Sergei Prokofieff traces the three stages of heavenly preparation of Anthroposophy--the "spiritual thunderstorm," the Michael School in the Sun sphere, and the "imagination-based cultus" in the spiritual word nearest the Earth. These events involved the nine spiritual hierarchies, associating them with the karma of the anthroposophic movement. The author goes on to elaborate the tasks of the Anthroposophical Society and indicates how these are connected with the spiritual hierarchies, the Michael movement, the Grail mysteries, the work of new group souls, and the "Foundation Stone Meditation." He shows that, in an esoteric sense, the General Anthroposophical Society was created so that people could learn to work with the gods. This is a vital booklet for all those who care deeply about the future of the Anthroposophical Society and the proper evolution of humanity.

Download or read book The Esoteric Significance of Spiritual Work in Anthroposophical Groups and the Future of the Anthroposophical Society written by Sergej O. Prokofʹev and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book An Outline of Esoteric Science written by Rudolf Steiner and published by SteinerBooks. This book was released on 1997-10 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Contemplative practice means, among other things, becoming practiced in solitude. This does not mean brooding or self-indulgent musing, but instead practicing a special form of recollection of the past, mindfulness for the present, and envisioning of the future in a manner that is enlivening, clear, and insightful. We learn to be properly solitary, and to carry the depth of our solitude into the world with grace and selflessness." -- Arthur Zajonc When we turn to meditation, we are turning toward renewal, peace, and insight. Initially, we may take up contemplative practice as a means of tapping into the abundant resources of the mind and heart that bring serenity, but the meditative journey leads further--to the place where wisdom and love unite. In Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry, Arthur Zajonc offers an overview of the meditative life, weaving practical instruction together with the guidance and inspiration of the world's great teachers, from Rudolf Steiner to Rumi, and from Goethe to the sages of Asia. Zajonc reminds us that an ethic of humility grounds all practice, and that care of the soul is the basis for sound spiritual reflection and understanding. The author carefully describes each stage of the path and includes many recommended practices. Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry is the fruit of many years of personal practice and teaching. Arthur Zajonc developed his orientation toward meditation through working with hundreds of university students and professors, as well as with contemplative groups in the U.S., Europe, and Australia.

Download or read book Approaches to Anthroposophy written by Rudolf Steiner and published by Rudolf Steiner Press. This book was released on 1992 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These lectures provide an excellent introduction to some of the leading themes of anthroposophy. Steiner carefully corrects certain misunderstandings that had arisen regarding his spiritual-scientific research and demonstrates how anthroposophy has nothing whatever to do with mysticism or spiritualism; nor is it simply a revival of ancient esoteric teachings. Rather, it is a genuinely modern spiritual teaching for Western humanity that builds upon the achievements of science and develops its exact methodology further into the investigation of spiritual realities through the awakening of higher organs of perception.

Download or read book Foundations of Esotericism written by Rudolf Steiner and published by Rudolf Steiner Press. This book was released on 2019-04-25 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘It is a cosmic law that what has once taken place can never vanish, but must reappear later in a metamorphosed form. Every thought, feeling and action brought about by man does not only affect the world around him but will reappear in the future…’ (From the Preface) This course of lectures was originally offered as private, strictly verbal instruction to a select group of esoteric pupils. In an atmosphere of earnest study, Rudolf Steiner ‘translated’ from the Akashic Script valuable concepts of human and cosmic knowledge into words of earthly language – content that is often not to be found in his later lectures. Although working within the Theosophical Society, Steiner was an independent spiritual teacher: ‘… I would only bring forward the results of what I beheld in my own spiritual research.’ The manifold, exact and detailed descriptions of the events of evolution in these lectures form a background to the evolving figure of the human being. The mighty event of the moon leaving the Earth, vividly described, took place – according to Rudolf Steiner – in order to provide an environment suited to human progress. The wonderful moment when the higher being of man descended in a bell-like form and enveloped the lower human body, still on a level with the animals, depicts what eventually provided human beings with a body suited to the development of the self or ‘I’. Spiritual beings and the great initiates led humanity along the path it was destined to tread. Rudolf Steiner presents a sweep of occult knowledge, including the phases of planetary evolution, various myths and symbols, human physical and spiritual organs, illness, reincarnation, and much more. Also included are unexpected insights into specific phenomena such as dinosaurs, bacteria, radiation, black and white magic, the Sphinx and Freemasonry.

Download or read book The Whitsun Impulse and Christ s Activity in Social Life written by Sergei O. Prokofʹieff and published by Temple Lodge Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is Whitsun, or Pentecost, and how can its impulse be furthered for the future of society? How can social life become the bearer of the Christ impulse, and how can Christ himself enter social life directly? In this small booklet, Sergei Prokofieff discusses the significance of spiritual work conducted in a social setting and its crucial role in preparing for the future epoch of the spirit-self. The spiritual and social tasks before us, he tells us, can be achieved only "through mutual efforts with one another." Moreover, for such social activity, the General Anthroposophical Society, "with all of its different groups and branches, which unite all anthroposophists in the world," plays a fundamental role. Thus, the spiritual tasks of the General Anthroposophical Society gradually unite with the tasks of all humankind. This booklet, consisting of the report of a lecture and supplemented with an essay, is an important companion to another publication by this author, The Esoteric Significance of Spiritual Work in Anthroposophical Groups.

Download or read book The Karma of Anthroposophy written by Rudolf Steiner and published by Rudolf Steiner Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "If such authentic souls, such honest anthroposophists can be found...then an upward movement and dynamic will arise. If such souls do not appear, then decadence will take its inexorable downward course.... Today humanity stands before a great crisis: either it will see all civilization collapsing into the abyss, or else spirituality will raise civilization up by the power of the Michael impetus, through which the Christ impetus works, thus continuing, enriching and sustaining it." During 1924, the last full year of Rudolf Steiner's life, he gave a series of urgent, sometimes impassioned, talks to members of the Anthroposophical Society about their karma and its relationship to contemporary culture, referring in particular to the vital task of renewing civilization and preserving it from the threat of decline. Steiner's words reveal a great gathering of forces to do spiritual battle for the soul of humanity. He presents a striking panorama in which anthroposophists are compelled to broaden their vision--to see true esoteric and exoteric anthroposophic work as a living yeast that can leaven all culture. To awaken members of the Anthroposophical Society to the significance of their task, Steiner could see that it was essential for them to understand the various karmic threads that form the fabric of the anthroposophic movement. Such recognition--of both difference and unity--offers strength of diversity, which easily leads to division if it remains unconscious and unrecognized. In the lectures and excerpts in The Karma of Anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner speaks of an unprecedented convergence of two specific groups of souls with the anthroposophic movement: the Platonists and the Aristotelians. Thus, a conflict of approaches forms the karmic background, whereas today's task calls for unity based on love and knowledge--to work with the Archangel Michael and Christ in the face of Ahriman, materialism, and the possibility of social collapse and decadence. Given the challenges we face today, it is urgent for those who embrace spiritual science to study, absorb, and take to heart the substance of this critically important material.

Download or read book Developing the Self written by Lisa Romero and published by SteinerBooks. This book was released on 2015-11-01 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the foundation of Western esoteric studies is an understanding of the evolution of consciousness. Anthroposophically based esoteric training focuses on strengthening the human soul. Ancient and modern practices are reenlivened to meet humanity’s evolving needs and to fulfill our present task of cultivating freedom and love to its highest degree. Individual efforts toward developing the higher self is essential for genuine progress on the inner work path. The clear insights and exercises outlined in this book reveal the meaning and necessity of this essential effort in the present age of the consciousness soul, contributing to simultaneously enlivening both our inner and outer work. The path of developing the self and our work in the world are not separated but united through our practices and their results.

Download or read book An Outline of Occult Science written by Rudolf Steiner and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2022-09-16 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "An Outline of Occult Science" by Rudolf Steiner. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Download or read book Rudolf Steiner s Path of Initiation and the Mystery of the Ego written by Rudolf Steiner and published by Temple Lodge Publishing. This book was released on 2013 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2 lectures by Sergei O. Prokofieff, Bologna, March 31 & April 8, 2011 A special conference took place in Bologna in spring 2011, marking the hundredth anniversary of a unique lecture Steiner delivered to a philosophically trained audience in the same city. In his key exposition, Steiner had given a concise description of the spiritual-scientific theory of knowledge as well as a brief outline of the anthroposophic path of training. In his contribution to the 2011 congress, Prokofieff tackles two principal aspects. On the one hand, he describes how Steiner's Bologna lecture contained the essential foundations for a new "science of the human ego" (the human "I"). On the other hand, Prokofieff states that Steiner was the first person to transform this theory into a practical path of knowledge, following it to its very conclusion. Thus, the words of Steiner's lecture were based entirely on personal experience. Together with a transcript of Steiner's full Bologna lecture, Prokofieff's lecture is reproduced here in an expanded version. In addition, this volume features Steiner's important "summaries of essential points," in which he develops and connects some of his key thoughts with further aspects of Anthroposophy, especially in relation to their Christological foundations.

Download or read book Friedrich Schiller and the Future of Freedom written by Sergei O. Prokofieff and published by Temple Lodge Publishing. This book was released on 2023-06-09 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘The primary task of this book is to build a bridge to a deeper understanding of Schiller himself who, along with Goethe and Novalis, was one of the great spiritual forerunners and trailblazers of anthroposophy.’ – Sergei O. Prokofieff Planned as the second volume in a trilogy on Novalis, Schiller and Goethe, Friedrich Schiller and the Future of Freedom is much more than a conventional biography. Prokofieff shines new light on Schiller’s character and destiny, helping to establish his position as a crucial antecedent to Rudolf Steiner in the spiritual history of humanity. He also defines Schiller’s task in the context of the achievements of Goethe and Novalis at the end of the eighteenth century, an extraordinary period that saw a seminal transformation in the philosophical and artistic landscape. Following the recent publication of The Riddle of Dmitri – which explores Schiller’s unfinished drama Demetrius – Prokofieff returns here to the theme in the framework of Schiller’s life and extensive body of work. In timely fashion, he conveys Schiller’s mediating role between Central and Eastern Europe, indicating how he came ‘near to the soul of the Russian people through an idealism imbued with his entirely self-created moral power and his fiery enthusiasm for everything in the world that is true, beautiful and good’.

Download or read book Anthroposophy and the Philosophy of Freedom written by Sergei O. Prokofieff and published by Temple Lodge Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I asked Rudolf Steiner, 'What will remain of your work thousands of years from now?' He replied, 'Nothing but The Philosophy of Freedom. But everything else is contained in it. If one realizes the act of freedom described there, one can discover the whole content of Anthroposophy.'" -- Walter Johannes Stein Some people's path to Anthroposophy leads them directly to Rudolf Steiner's early work Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path: A Philosophy of Freedom, which becomes the philosophical basis for further exploration. Steiner referred to this as a "safe" approach. However, the destiny of many leads them directly to Anthroposophy itself, perhaps through one of its practical initiatives such as Waldorf education or biodynamics, sometimes making it difficult to relate to the cognitive basis of Anthroposophy. In this unique study, Prokofieff offers a fresh approach to Steiner's crucial book, Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path. He shows why the book is so important to Anthroposophy as the work in which Steiner lays a foundation for his method of spiritual research. In Steiner's own words, "One who is willing can indeed find the basic principles of Anthroposophy in my Philosophy of Freedom." Prokofieff discusses the Christian nature of the anthroposophic means of cognition and how it is integral to freedom and love. This in turn reveals the deeply Christian roots of Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path and its importance for modern Christian esoteric work. In considering its multifaceted cosmic and human dimension, Prokofieff discusses Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path in relation to the mystery of the Resurrection, the work of the hierarchies, the being Anthroposophia, the "Fifth Gospel," Steiner's path of initiation, the Rosicrucian and Michaelic impulses, the life between death and rebirth, the Foundation Stone, the Christian mysteries of karma, and the science of the Grail.

Download or read book Rudolf Steiner s Research Into Karma and the Mission of the Anthroposophical Society written by Sergei O. Prokofieff and published by Temple Lodge Publishing. This book was released on 2010-10-15 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Research into the sphere of karma...forms the basis of the modern spiritual science of Anthroposophy. For only by learning to understand these laws can the human being realize how spiritual forces work simultaneously in man and the cosmos, and link the two into a higher unity." In this inspiring lecture, addressed primarily to followers of the anthroposophic movement, Prokofieff gives an overview of how the spiritual hierarchies and Christ, the Lord of Karma, work in the ordering of human karma. We are led to the karma and mission of the Anthroposophical Society, with indications as to what needs to happen before that karmic mission can be fulfilled. Prokofieff explains why true modern Christian research into karma does not arise from intellectual speculation, curiosity, or nebulous mystical experiences. The process of karmic research, based on spiritual science, should lead to a fundamental transformation of human nature and lead to a full experience of the cosmos.

Download or read book May Human Beings Hear It written by Sergei O. Prokofieff and published by Temple Lodge Publishing. This book was released on 2014-03-12 with total page 938 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Christmas period of 1923-4, Rudolf Steiner refounded the Anthroposophical Society at its headquarters in Dornach, Switzerland. This important event, which has come to be known as the Christmas Conference, can be studied on many levels, and its many mysteries have been central to Sergei O. Prokofieff's anthroposophical research over the years. His beginning point has been an enduring question: What did Rudolf Steiner mean when he called the Christmas Conference the ‘start of a World-Turning-point of Time’? In this far-reaching work, the author – working from several different viewpoints - guides the reader towards an answer. Prokofieff suggests that the impulse of the Christmas Conference can only be reenlivened today through conscious action by individuals to experience its spiritual essence. Rather than offering dogmatic conclusions, he opens up paths of approaching this goal by throwing light on different aspects of the Conference and what lies at its heart: the Foundation Stone and its Meditation. In particular, Prokofieff explores three key perspectives: the connection of the Christmas Conference with humanity’s evolution; the inner relationship of each individual anthroposophist to the Christmas Conference; and the significance of the Conference to Rudolf Steiner himself. Although this is major work of some length, the individual chapters of May Human Beings Hear It! are complete in themselves, and can therefore be studied independently of each other.

Download or read book Riddle of the Human I written by Sergei O. Prokofieff and published by Temple Lodge Publishing. This book was released on 2017-04-24 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Anyone who embarks upon the study of anthroposophy will soon recognise that the mystery of the human ego lies at its very heart. This mystery is one of the central questions of anthroposophical Christology and at the same time forms one of the most difficult cognitive challenges presented by anthroposophy.’ – Sergei O. Prokofieff The question of the true nature of the human ‘I’ or individuality is one of the key issues of our time, but it is also one of the most complex riddles of existence. This booklet doesn’t give simple answers but adds perspectives that deepen the theme, offering a picture of its manifold mysteries. In three great panoramas, the author develops central aspects of the topic, beginning with the threefold nature of human individuality, followed by an illumination of the cosmic dimension of the ego, and finally an encapsulation of the significance of the earthly ego. With his usual thoroughness and clarity, Sergei O. Prokofieff throws light on one of the fundamental questions of our time.

Download or read book The Cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation written by Sergei O. Prokofieff and published by Temple Lodge Publishing. This book was released on 2014-03-12 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In ancient times humanity possessed an innate knowledge of the spiritual foundations of existence. Such knowledge could be acquired through inwardly accompanying the cycle of the year and its connected great seasonal festivals. But this instinctive knowledge had to be lost in order for human beings to discover individual freedom. In our time, as Sergei O. Prokofieff demonstrates in this comprehensive work, ‘... this knowledge must be found anew through the free, light-filled consciousness of the fully developed human personality’. Tracing the spiritual path of the yearly cycle, Prokofieff penetrates to the deeper esoteric realities of the seven Christian festivals of Michaelmas, Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension, Whitsun and St John’s Tide. Basing his research on the work of the twentieth-century initiate Rudolf Steiner, he reveals how these festivals are spiritual facts that exist independently of religious traditions and cultural customs. Working with the festivals in an esoteric sense can provide a true path of initiation, ultimately enabling an experience of the Being of the Earth, Christ. The journey of study through this book can thus lead the reader to an experience of the modern Christian-Rosicrucian path, along which ‘... it is possible to take the first steps towards life in partnership with the course of cosmic existence’.

Download or read book The Mystery of the Resurrection in the Light of Anthroposophy written by Sergei O. Prokofieff and published by Temple Lodge Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "We live today at a time when the full mystery of the Resurrection body can become manifest to human beings out of the inspirations of Michael.... This was accomplished by Rudolf Steiner not just in a theoretical sense but also practically, and came about through the establishing of a path, accessible to all human beings, which leads to a union with the forces of the Resurrection body." Sergei Prokofieff approaches the deepest mysteries of the Turning Point of Time (the Christ event) through Rudolf Steiner's spiritual research. At its heart stands the question of the restoration of the "phantom" of the physical body and its transformation into the resurrected body of Christ through the Mystery of Golgotha. The author draws a broad and differentiated picture of the tasks and possibilities that the Easter event--as well as Ascension and Pentecost--present, both for the individual and humanity. The final chapter considers the mystery of Easter Saturday, through which the two polar aspects of the Mystery of Golgotha--death and resurrection--interconnect, also explaining the relationship between the Earth Spirit and the interior of the Earth. An appendix tackles the phenomenon of stigmatization from a spiritual-scientific perspective.