Crisis in the Anthroposophical Society

Crisis in the Anthroposophical Society PDF Author: Sergei O Prokofieff
Publisher: Temple Lodge Publishing
ISBN: 1906999430
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 137

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Book Description
More than 100 years after its founding, the Anthroposophical Society faces serious questions--some of an existential nature--regarding its purpose and tasks today. On March 30, 2012, at the Society's Annual General Meeting in Dornach, Sergei Prokofieff and Peter Selg gave lectures in which they addressed difficult issues related to the General Anthroposophical Society and its global headquarters, the Goetheanum in Switzerland. Their lectures were met with a mixture of enthusiastic support and stern disapproval. They are reproduced here in full, together with supplementary material that helps broaden and deepen their themes, so that every interested individual has access to them.

Crisis in the Anthroposophical Society

Crisis in the Anthroposophical Society PDF Author: Sergei O Prokofieff
Publisher: Temple Lodge Publishing
ISBN: 1906999430
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 137

Get Book Here

Book Description
More than 100 years after its founding, the Anthroposophical Society faces serious questions--some of an existential nature--regarding its purpose and tasks today. On March 30, 2012, at the Society's Annual General Meeting in Dornach, Sergei Prokofieff and Peter Selg gave lectures in which they addressed difficult issues related to the General Anthroposophical Society and its global headquarters, the Goetheanum in Switzerland. Their lectures were met with a mixture of enthusiastic support and stern disapproval. They are reproduced here in full, together with supplementary material that helps broaden and deepen their themes, so that every interested individual has access to them.

Community Life, Inner Development, Sexuality, and the Spiritual Teacher

Community Life, Inner Development, Sexuality, and the Spiritual Teacher PDF Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 9780880103541
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
This collection of lectures contains Steiner's strongest statements on the issues of human relationships within a spiritual community. Occasioned by a scandal involving people influenced by psychoanalysis, these lectures are Steiner's comprehensive assessment of Freud's work and psychoanalysis as a whole. Steiner shows, our physical life, including human sexuality, has spiritual roots; and that looking to sexuality for the explanation of human behavior is therefore looking in the wrong direction. He also makes clear that becoming part of a spiritual community, such as the Anthroposophical Society, entails special responsibilities and a new way of being.

Supersensible Impulses

Supersensible Impulses PDF Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
ISBN: 1855846497
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description
'When you perform a ritual, it is an appeal to the spiritual powers of the universe, an appeal to the powers that are meant to connect with the earth precisely through what people do...' – Rudolf SteinerWith rituals or cultic forms as his central motif, Rudolf Steiner refers extensively to Indian, Persian and in particular Egyptian initiation rites, and how these enabled people of antiquity to connect with specific spiritual beings. He explains the practical purpose of mummification for the religious life of ancient Egypt, and of the use of ritual in certain secret societies or brotherhoods today as, in turn, a mummification of Egyptian rites. But he also points to the future, describing how truly-formulated rituals have a positive effect on human development. Whilst inhalation exercises were relevant to cultures of the past, the principle of 'exhalation' is important for future evolution.On the one hand, these extraordinary lectures relate to Rudolf Steiner's ceremonial work in the Esoteric School of 1906-1914, but more significantly they were given in parallel to the founding of the Christian Community, for which Rudolf Steiner mediated its sacraments. Today, he states, Christ must be sought through a new access to the spiritual world, and any remaining traditional ritualistic forms should be permeated with the power of the Mystery of Golgotha. The lectures are accompanied with an introduction by Dale Brunsvold, editorial notes and an index. Eight lectures, Dornach, Sept.-Oct. 1922, GA 216

The Anthroposophic Movement

The Anthroposophic Movement PDF 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.

Human and Cosmic Thought

Human and Cosmic Thought PDF Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
ISBN: 1855846500
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
What convinces us of the truth of a point of view? Why do we find it difficult to understand or accept differing perspectives? What are the inner foundations of our knowledge? In these concentrated and aphoristic lectures, Rudolf Steiner speaks of twelve main philosophical standpoints, and the importance of comprehending each one of them. Appreciating the variety of world-views not only sharpens our thinking and makes it more flexible, but helps us to overcome a narrow-minded one sidedness, promoting tolerance of other people and their opinions. The future of philosophy rests not upon defending one single perspective and refuting all others, but in learning to experience the validity of all points of view. Steiner goes on to explain how each philosophical standpoint is coloured by a particular 'soul mood', which influences the way we pursue knowledge as individuals. He characterizes the work of several thinkers in this way, throwing light on their unique contributions to human culture. Through such insights into the true nature of human thinking, we are led to understand the quality of cosmic thought, and how the human being is a 'thought which is thought by the Hierarchies of the cosmos'. This revised translation is complemented with an introduction by Robert McDermott, editorial notes and appendices by Frederick Amrine and an index. Four lectures, Berlin, Jan. 1914, GA 151

Eco-Alchemy

Eco-Alchemy PDF Author: Dan McKanan
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520290054
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
For nearly a century, the worldwide anthroposophical movement has been a catalyst for environmental activism, helping to bring to life many modern ecological practices such as organic farming, community-supported agriculture, and green banking. Yet the spiritual practice of anthroposophy remains unknown to most environmentalists. A historical and ethnographic study of the environmental movement, Eco-Alchemy uncovers for the first time the profound influences of anthroposophy and its founder, Rudolf Steiner, whose holistic worldview, rooted in esoteric spirituality, inspired the movement. Dan McKanan shows that environmentalism is itself a complex ecosystem and that it would not be as diverse or transformative without the contributions of anthroposophy.

Eco-Alchemy

Eco-Alchemy PDF Author: Dan McKanan
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520290062
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
For nearly a century, the worldwide anthroposophical movement has been a catalyst for environmental activism, helping to bring to life many modern ecological practices such as organic farming, community-supported agriculture, and green banking. Yet the spiritual practice of anthroposophy remains unknown to most environmentalists. A historical and ethnographic study of the environmental movement, Eco-Alchemy uncovers for the first time the profound influences of anthroposophy and its founder, Rudolf Steiner, whose holistic worldview, rooted in esoteric spirituality, inspired the movement. Dan McKanan shows that environmentalism is itself a complex ecosystem and that it would not be as diverse or transformative without the contributions of anthroposophy.

Europe Between East and West

Europe Between East and West PDF Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
ISBN: 1855846624
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
In a broad-ranging series of lectures, Rudolf Steiner shines new light on the spiritual background to the outbreak of the Great War in Europe. Spiritual entities stand behind the various peoples of the world, he says. He describes how these beings – Folk Souls – relate to the cultural diversity of Europe, America and the East, and speaks of their individual tasks and destinies in relation to the deeper causes of the catastrophic war. Central Europe has the particular mission of mediating between the Western world, the Slavic countries and by extension the East. Steiner alleges that Western secret societies consciously suppressed the spiritual life of this central cultural region through malign activities. These same brotherhoods exploited H. P. Blavatsky’s occult faculties for their own ends. Given in Munich between the years 1914 and 1918 – and appearing in English for the first time – Rudolf Steiner addresses an array of topics in these lectures, including the potential elimination of the soul through specific medicines; intelligence testing as an expression of an ahrimanic trend; the stunted state of inner growth of many people after the age of 27; the effects in the spiritual world of those who die young; how war is an educator of selflessness; and the significance of Michael for the appearance of Christ in the etheric. The volume also features an introduction by Terry Boardman, editorial notes and an index. Trans. by C. Bryan; Intro. by T. Boardman (Twelve lectures, Munich, Dec. 1914–May 1918, GA 174a); 312pp; 23.5 x 15.5 cm

Alchymy

Alchymy PDF Author: Hermann Beckh
Publisher: Temple Lodge Publishing
ISBN: 1912230356
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
As a practising Christian priest, Hermann Beckh was profoundly aware that the mystery of substance – its transmutation in the cosmos and the human being – was a mystical fact to be approached with the greatest reverence, requiring at once ever-deepening scholarship and meditation. He viewed chemistry as a worthy but materialistic science devoid of spirit, while the fullness of spiritual-physical nature could be approached by what he preferred to call ‘chymistry’ or ‘alchymy’, thereby taking in millennia of spiritual tradition. In consequence, Beckh’s Alchymy, The Mystery of the Material World is not limited to the conventional workings of Western alchemy, nor to what can be found in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation – although he does unveil hidden riches there. Neither should Beckh be considered only as a learned Professor with impeccable academic qualifications and European-wide recognition. Beckh writes about such topics as ‘Isis’, ‘the Golden Fleece’, traditional fairy-stories and Wagner’s Parsifal in a way that enables the reader to catch glimpses of the Mystery of Substance; to share the writer’s authentic experience of the divine substantia – the living reality – of Christ in the world. Beckh’s Alchymy set an entirely new standard, and went on to become his most popular publication. This is the first time that it has been translated into English, along with updated footnotes, making his ideas and insights accessible to a wide readership. In addition, this edition features translations of Beckh’s ‘The New Jerusalem’, where theology could best be expressed in verse; his exemplary essay on ‘Snow-white’; observations on ‘Allerleirauh’, and a substantial excerpt from Gundhild Kačer-Bock’s biography of Beckh.

CONSCIOUS SOCIETY

CONSCIOUS SOCIETY PDF Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
ISBN: 1855845431
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
Delivered in the context of post-war cultural and social chaos, these lectures form part of Rudolf Steiner’s energetic efforts to cultivate social understanding and renew culture through his innovative ideas based on ‘threefolding’. Steiner develops a subtle and discerning perception of how social dynamics could change and heal if they were founded on real insight into our threefold nature as individuals, social beings and economic participants in the world. He doesn’t offer a programmatic agenda for change, but a real foundation from which change can organically grow. Social forms and reforms, says Steiner, are ‘created together’, not imposed by lone geniuses. Nevertheless, the detail of some of the thoughts and ideas he presents here as a possible model – down to the economic specifics of commodity, labour, taxation, ground rent and capitalism itself – are staggering in their clarity and originality. This is no mystic effusion but a heartfelt plea, backed by profound insights, to change our thinking and the world we live in. As he points out, thoughts create reality, and so it is vital how and what we think. Among the many contemporary and highly-relevant topics Steiner discusses here are: the nature of money and capital; taxation and the state; free enterprise and initiative; capitalism and Marxism; the relationship between employer and employee; ‘added value’ theory and the concept of commodity; and ‘class consciousness’, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.