Author: Ernst Katz
Publisher: Steiner Books
ISBN: 9780880107228
Category : Anthroposophy
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Ernst Katz was one of the foremost teachers of Anthroposophy in America during the second half of the twentieth century. He was professor of physics at the University of Michigan and, quite likely, the only professor in the country who taught courses in both natural science and spiritual science at the university level. Core Anthroposophy makes available Dr. Katzs carefully constructed teaching essays. It offers present and future students of Anthroposophy with a valuable and accessible resource for better understanding the esoteric teachings of Rudolf Steiner.
Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 9780880105064
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 100
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Book Description
3 selected lectures by Rudolf Steiner This is one of those books that can change your life. Radical, thought-provoking, and indeed mind-boggling, it leads to a completely new way of looking at what it means to be human--a spiritual being in a universe that itself is not just physical, but psychic and spiritual as well. These three previously untranslated lectures are a masterly introduction to what Rudolf Steiner means by "Anthroposophy." They explain why Steiner describes this path--which means literally "the wisdom of the human being"--as one that "unites what is spiritual in the human being with what is spiritual in the universe." Steiner begins by describing what happens when we die. He shows the relationship between our physical life on Earth and the etheric, astral, and spiritual life of the cosmos. He also explains how physical lives are completely interwoven with cosmic existence, and how the "miss-ing links" in evolution are spiritual in nature. Steiner then demonstrates what he calls the "dilettantism" and "soullessness" of mainstream psychology. He points out that, since the second half of the nineteenth century, the idea of the soul has been lost and that, consequently, understanding of our inner lives is without a sure foundation. A very different view emerges, however, from a truly spiritual perspective. In the third lec-ture, Steiner takes as his guide our three states of being--waking, dreaming, and sleeping. He describes in detail what happens in these three states and how each is bound up with our lives as physical, psychic, and spiritual beings. With the profound insights in this book, the world becomes a much larger, richer, and more exciting place to live.
Author: T. H. Meyer
Publisher: Temple Lodge Publishing
ISBN: 1906999104
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 217
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Book Description
Rudolf Steiner's core mission--repeatedly delayed owing to the a lack of capacity in his colleagues--was to pursue contemporary spiritual-scientific research into the phenomena of reincarnation and karma. This stimulating book describes the winding biographical path of that mission. It focuses in particular on the mystery of Steiner's connection with the influential medieval philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas. Using numerous archival sources and publications, Thomas Meyer reveals many facts related to the core of Steiner's mission, showing the critical roles played by Wilhelm Anton Neumann and Karl Julius Schröer in its genesis and development. Meyer examines how Rudolf Steiner's students responded to his understanding of karma, placing this "most intrinsic mission" in the context of current divisions in the anthroposophic movement. He highlights especially the place of spiritual science in culture and history and shows how Steiner further developed the great scientific ideas of evolution propounded by Darwin by raising them to the plane of individual soul and spiritual development. As Steiner stated in 1903, "Scientific researchers explain the skull forms of higher animals as a transformation of a lower type of skull. In the same way one should explain a soul's biography through the soul biography which the former evolved from."
Author: Fred Paddock
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 0880109238
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 216
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Book Description
Librarian Fred Paddock of the Rudolf Steiner Library initiated this book, because he had long felt the need to make available some of the cutting-edge writings of European anthroposophists. Judaism and Anthroposophy examines the relationship between anthroposophy and religion, between Christian and Jewish esotericism, and between Kabbalah and anthroposophy. It also focuses on Jewish lives in anthroposophy, including those of Martin Buber, Hugo Bergman, Shimon Levy, and Ernst Müller. Also, three leading anthroposophic thinkers explore the question of anti-Semitism. This is an important contribution to the understanding of anthroposophy and its historical and contemporary interface with Judaism. THE CONTRIBUTORS: Johannes Schneider: "Christianity and Other Religions" Günther Röschert: "On Judaism" Ruth Windolf: "The Hebrew Experience of Reality as Contrasted with the Greek" Schmuel Hugo Bergman: "The Blessing" Shimon Levy: "What Is the Contribution of Judaism to the Life of Anthroposophy?" Rolf Umbach: "The Kabbalah, an Esoteric Bridge to Christianity?" David Schweitzer: "Spiritual Background: The Cosmic Christ in Judaism" Hans Jürgen Bracker: "The Individual and Unity of Humankind--An Account of the Zionist and Anthroposophist Ernst Müller" Gerhard Wehr: "Between Martin Buber and Rudolf Steiner: Hugo Bergman in Martin Buber's Biography" Rudi Lissau: "Chosen Destiny" Samuel Ichmann: "What God Is--or Isn't: A Jewish Waldorf Teacher's View" Ralf Sonnenberg: "The Dark Side of the Enlightenment--The Eighteenth Century, changing Perception of the World, and Anti-Semitism in the Early Modern Age János Darvas: "François Joseph Molitor's Philosophy of History--Judaism As the Miniature Reflection of Humanity" Dirk Lorenz: "Against a Return to Normality--Accusations of Anti-Semitism As an Occasion for Self-Examination"
Author: Peter Selg
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 1621482731
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 276
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Book Description
"No longer should the blood that runs through the ancestors be of sole account. From this point onward, what every single person achieves in one's soul shall count. Every single human being shall be of value during their incarnation..." -- Rudolf Steiner The original subtitle of Rudolf Steiner's Philosophy of Freedom (1894) --"the basis for a modern worldview" --points to the lifelong project with which he was engaged: laying the basic groundwork for modern (contemporary) human beings to be able to comprehend the world in which we live, beginning with ourselves as individual, utterly unique embodiments of humanity. It's a spiritual worldview born of the essence of the modern scientific reckoning with knowledge. But its detractors, critics, and outright opponents, speaking from the standpoint of other worldviews and denying the validity of this one, from the early 1900s to today, have continued to portray it in a very different light. One such critic, typical of others, writing in 2019, deemed it "dogmatic, irrational, anti-Enlightenment, racist . . ." Those with even a passing knowledge of this worldview and the fruits of its application to life may wonder how such a modern, innovative, universally inclusive, and rational approach --one that has led to such positive and beneficial results in the world --could be so distorted and defamed. What is the substance of these accusations and are they at all well-founded? With this book, out of his comprehensive grasp of Steiner's work (its history, background, and subsequent development), together with the contextual background of twentieth-century European totalitarianism and the contemporary landscape, Peter Selg addresses these and other related questions head on.
Author: Peter Selg
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 0880108266
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 98
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Book Description
Although the fruits of Anthroposophy --Waldorf education, biodynamic agriculture, Camphill, anthroposophic medicine, and so on --are relatively well known and moderately successful, their relationship to Anthroposophy and its vehicle for transmission, the General Anthroposophical Society, and the School for Spiritual Science, remains mysterious and unclear; sadly, the same is true of the meaning and purpose of those institutions. Related to this is the fact that, though these offshoots of Anthroposophy are well known, eighty-five years after his death and eighty-seven years after the re-formation of the Anthroposophical Society, what Rudolf Steiner brought into the world, what entered the world through him and what he sought to accomplish --that is, what spiritual science and spiritual-scientific research are and how one practices them --remain virtually unknown. In other words, something essential has been forgotten. Written both in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner's birth and in the context of the long-standing, episodically erupting, and ongoing confusion surrounding the mission and task of the Anthroposophical Society, Peter Selg seeks to recover what has perhaps been forgotten or overlooked in Rudolf Steiner's own words and life. He does so by describing, clearly and objectively, the historical background of Steiner's vision of the "civilizational task" of Anthroposophy and how he had hoped it might be accomplished. This book has two parts. First, the author offers a lucid description of the development and gradual sharpening --in the face of the crisis of Western culture epitomized by World War I and its aftermath --of the vision of spiritual science as a truly Michaelic task for the Michael Age. In part two, Peter Selg takes up the events following Rudolf Steiner's death, outlining deftly and subtly the struggles and developments that ensued, commenting tactfully on the questions and perspectives that arose and continue to arise. Rudolf Steiner's Intentions for the Anthroposophical Society is for all those who care about the reality and future of Anthroposophy. Originally published in German as Der Vorstand, die Sektionen und die Gesellschaft. Welche Hochschule wollte Rudolf Steiner? by Ita Wegman Institute for Basic Research into Anthroposophy.
Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 0880109564
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 194
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Book Description
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).
Author: RUDOLF STEINER
Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
ISBN: 1855844192
Category : Anthroposophy
Languages : en
Pages : 402
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Book Description
These authoritative lectures, delivered during a period of deep crisis and conflict in world history, present a comprehensive spiritual teaching for contemporary humanity. Despite the raging world war, Rudolf Steiner was still actively touring Central Europe whilst simultaneously completing work on his architectural masterpiece, the first Goetheanum, in neutral Switzerland. The building of the Goetheanum – undertaken by a community of people from seventeen nations at war – forms a thematic backdrop to the lectures. In speaking of the walls in the new building, for example, Rudolf Steiner describes how their forms are not confining, but rather express an openness to the surrounding cosmos. Likewise, the carved motifs on the architraves of the wooden pillars are not fixed ‘symbols’ but are alive and continually metamorphosing . These observations are reflected in Steiner’s broader discussions. He speaks of extending and deepening our connection with the world and the cosmos, going beyond our usual narrow limits and definitions to engage in ‘community with the realities of existence’. We can do this, for example, with the so-called ‘dead’, who find it difficult to relate to sense-bound thinking. Rudolf Steiner explains how we can connect with them, greatly enriching our lives and ‘making an enormous difference to their souls’. The distinction between fixed symbols and living motifs takes us to the core of anthroposophy, striving never to rest in inert forms of thought. In the field of education, Steiner thus warns about ‘external measuring’ of pupils and linear models of cognitive learning. Throughout the three lecture courses included here – which together form a kind of compendium of anthroposophy at the time – Steiner touches upon a wealth of absorbing themes, including the ‘discovery’ of America, the contrast between East and West, the qualities of European ‘folk souls’, Valentin Andreae’s Chymical Wedding, and Darwinism. Regardless of his topic, however, Steiner consistently makes the urgent appeal that we ‘grasp reality’, looking further than abstract schemes of all kinds – such as social and political ‘programmes’ – to participate in the cosmos as conscious and fully human co-creators.
Author: T.H. Meyer
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 1621481174
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 202
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Book Description
This volume begins with Thomas Meyer's assessment of Anthroposophy's evolution since Rudolf Steiner’s death and its future prospects. He offers an overview of the eighty-seven years of the development of the anthroposophic movement and the Anthroposophical Society, the worldwide organization headquartered in Dornach, Switzerland, since the death of its founder. The Society went through a very difficult and controversial period in the ten years following Steiner’s death, which culminated at its Annual Meeting in 1935. The result was the expulsion from the Society of two members appointed by Rudolf Steiner to its Executive Board (Vorstand)—Ita Wegman and Elizabeth Vreede—as well as the British and Dutch branches of the Society and many important anthroposophists who opposed the expulsions. Meyer—whose many books include Rudolf Steiner's Core Mission—reveals the extraordinary concordance of four November 17 dates highly significant in the development of Anthroposophy. On November 17, 1901, the anniversary of the founding of the Theosophical Society in 1875, Marie von Sivers asked Rudolf Steiner to create an esoteric path suited to the Western mind, which set Steiner on his mission. On November 17, 1923, Ita Wegman urged Steiner to establish a new Society, with Steiner himself joining as both a member and its president. Twelve years later, on November 17, 1935, the remaining three individuals of the Executive Board wrote to Adolf Hitler to plea for the Society's continued existence in Germany after being banned in Germany by the Nazi regime. Profound connections underlie these events. Four appendices supplement the present volume. Appendix 1 presents a Chronology that denotes, by year and day, significant episodes in Steiner’s life and in the development of Anthroposophy. The remaining appendices feature, for the first time in English in one volume, significant documents pertinent to the Anthroposophical Society’s Easter 1935 Annual Meeting. Appendix 2 contains the “Memorandum,” written by supporters of Marie Steiner, setting forth a list of grievances in support of the expulsion motions adopted at the 1935 Annual Meeting. Appendix 3 records Ludwig Polzer-Hoditz’s address in response to the 1935 Annual Meeting, counseling against the expulsion measures. Appendix 4 contains the letter (in English and German) written by the Society’s Executive Board to Adolf Hitler. This important book offers profound insights into the struggles for individual freedom and voice during the early years of the Anthroposophical Society. Seeing the dynamics of that struggle can help us today to overcome differences to work toward common purpose, both in the context of our everyday lives and within a spiritually oriented community.
Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
ISBN: 1855846365
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 204
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Book Description
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.
