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What is true happiness? This perennial question preoccupies many experts, including biologists, psychologists, sociologists and theologians, but their findings usually confirm what we already knew: that happiness is one of the most sought-after but elusive commodities.Rudolf Steiners liberating view of happiness opens up new vistas and perspectives. Happiness, he says, depends on the human spirit, whose continuing evolution draws sustenance from the totality of lifes experiences. We develop and learn in equal measure from both good fortune and misfortune, success and disappointment. Steiner urges inner equilibrium, emphasizing the transience of outward happiness. Inward happiness, however, can never be taken from us, depending as it does on, whatever we ourselves make of our outward fortunes.This rich and inspiring booklet gathers all Rudolf Steiners statements on the theme and features two complete lectures on happiness and spiritual knowledge. It also includes an insightful introductory essay by Daniel Baumgartner.

Rudolf Steiner, the often undervalued, multifaceted genius of modern times, contributed much to the regeneration of culture. In addition to his philosophical teachings, he provided ideas for the development of many practical activities, including education - both general and special - agriculture, medicine, economics, architecture, science, religion and the arts. Steiners original contribution to human knowledge was based on his ability to conduct spiritual research, the investigation of metaphysical dimensions of existence. With his scientific and philosophical training, he brought a new systematic discipline to the field, allowing for conscious methods and comprehensive results. A natural seer from childhood, he cultivated his spiritual vision to a high degree, enabling him to speak with authority on previously veiled mysteries of life. Samples of Steiners work are to be found in this introductory reader in which Matthew Barton brings together excerpts from Steiners many talks and writings on Michaelmas. The volume also features an editorial introduction, afterword, commentary and notes. Chapters: Sinking Earth, Rising Spirit; Michael and the Dragon; Michael, Spirit of Our Age; Towards a Michael Festival.

Selected from material given by Rudolf Steiner to members of his Esoteric School (1904-14), this volume features exercises, meditations and practices for spiritual self-development. In contrast to oriental methods of spiritual training, they derive from the western, Rosicrucian stream and are fully adapted to modern consciousness.Various exercises are given - for morning and evening, for the days of the week and the months of the year. In addition, there is much explanatory material to deepen and enhance meditative work, including several articles on the path of inner development and the obstacles to be faced on the way to attaining true consciousness of the self.This enlarged edition contains further clarification of the exercises, descriptions of the future evolution of the world and humanity, plus later advice given by Steiner on the nature of breathing exercises and ancient and modern methods of initiation.

During 1924, before his last address in September, Rudolf Steiner gave over eighty lectures on the subject of karma to members of the Anthroposophical Society. These profoundly esoteric commentaries examine the underlying laws of reincarnation and karma, and explore in detail the incarnations of specific historical figures. In Rudolf Steiners words, the study of karma is ... a matter of penetrating into the most profound mysteries of existence, for within the sphere of karma and the course it takes lie those processes which are the basis of the other phenomena of world existence... In this eighth and final volume of the series, Rudolf Steiner offers insights on a variety of subjects, including Cosmic Christianity, the Michael impulse, the Arthur and Grail streams of wisdom, as well as the individualities of Gregory VII, Haeckel, Swedenborg, Loyola, Haroun al Raschid, Byron, Voltaire and others.

Rudolf Steiner, the often undervalued, multifaceted genius of modern times, contributed much to the regeneration of culture. In addition to his philosophical teachings, he provided ideas for the development of many practical activities, including education - both general and special - agriculture, medicine, economics, architecture, science, religion and the arts. Steiners original contribution to human knowledge was based on his ability to conduct spiritual research, the investigation of metaphysical dimensions of existence. With his scientific and philosophical training, he brought a new systematic discipline to the field, allowing for conscious methods and comprehensive results. A natural seer from childhood, he cultivated his spiritual vision to a high degree, enabling him to speak with authority on previously veiled mysteries of life. Samples of Steiners work are to be found in this introductory reader in which Matthew Barton brings together excerpts from Steiners many talks and writings on Christmas. The volume also features an editorial introduction, afterword, commentary and notes. Chapters: Christmas in a Grevious Age; Christmas and the Earth; Delving to the Core; The Child and the Tree; Towards a New Christmas.

Be a person of initiative, and take care that the hindrances of your own body, or hindrances that otherwise confront you, do not prevent you from finding the centre of your being, where the source of your initiative lies. Likewise, you will find that all joy and sorrow, all happiness and pain, depend on finding or not finding your own individual initiative. Rudolf Steiner, Dornach, 4 August 1924Rudolf Steiner urges those who feel the calling of the Archangel Michael to become people of initiative. The anthroposophist should be aware that, initiative lies in his karma, and much of what meets him in this life will depend on the extent to which he can become willingly, actively conscious of it. In the second half of this inspiring lecture, Steiner describes how the being of Ahriman is able to work through the personal intellect of human beings today. As a consequence, we are called upon to be inwardly awake and vigilant at all times.

Psychological cognition; The social question; The social question and theosophy; Memoranda of 1917; The metamorphosis of intelligence; Culture, law and economy; Central Europe between East and West.

In one of his most popular lecture courses - formerly published as Man as Symphony of the Creative Word - Rudolf Steiner presents an extraordinary panorama of spiritual knowledge centring on the human being. We are the harmony of creation - a microcosm - containing within us all the laws and secrets of the world.Steiner begins by speaking about our inner relationship to three ancient and sacred representatives of the animal kingdom - eagle, lion and bull - and to the forces of the cosmos that form them. He goes on to deepen these themes by approaching the plant and animal worlds in the context of planetary and cosmic evolution. A new category is then introduced: the elemental nature spirits - the metaphysical beings who work with plants and animals. Steiner gives a unique and intimate description of them and describes the cooperation they offer to mankind. Finally, the human being - the harmony of the Creative Word - is placed at the heart of this spiritual celebration of life.

The personality who received the Christ Being into himself in his thirtieth year is a complex entelechy. Only on the basis of the Akashic Record can an accurate view be gained as to why the life of Jesus is so diversely presented in the various Gospels Rudolf SteinerPreviously untranslated, this collection of twelve lectures represents a middle point in Rudolf Steiners unique exposition of the Christian gospels his momentous courses on St John and St Luke had already been delivered, whilst his lectures on the Matthew and Mark gospels were yet to follow. Here, he examines the varying depictions of Christ in the gospels, explaining that they represent four different but complementary perspectives. Steiners unparalleled insights are based on his firsthand ability to research the spiritual Akashic Record the universal compendium of all events, thoughts, emotions and intentions.The twelve lectures include: The Gospels, Buddha and the two Jesus children; Four varying depictions of Christ in the four Gospels; The Mission of the ancient Hebrew people; Preparations for an understanding of the Christ Event; On the right attitude to Anthroposophy; The Gospel of Matthew and the Christ conundrum; Group souls and Individuality; God within and the God in outer manifestation; The Christmas tree as a symbol; and A Christmas mood. Translated by Christiana Bryan, this volume features an introduction by Tom Ravetz as well as notes and an index.

Although these lectures were given to teachers as preparatory material, they are by no means concerned only with education. Study of Man is Steiners most succinct presentation of his human-centred spiritual psychology, accessible to anyone interested in the riddles of human existence. His approach is unique in that it takes account not only of influences working into humanity from the past, but also of future states of consciousness and being.Reprinted here in the original classic Harwood/Fox translation, the lectures were delivered in 1919 to the teachers of the Waldorf school in Stuttgart, the first to be founded on the work of Rudolf Steiner. Over the years, since the exponential growth of Steiner education around the world, this volume has become the basic study text for teachers in Steiner schools. But as well as providing a grounding for the work of educators, Study of Man will be of keen interest to parents, counsellors, psychologists, and students of Steiners philosophy. For the latter, this volume provides a fundamental picture of the human being according to the anthroposophical understanding of the world.

From his clairvoyant reading of the supersensible Akashic Record - the cosmic memory of all events, actions and thoughts - Rudolf Steiner was able to speak of aspects of the life of Jesus Christ which are not contained in the four biblical Gospels. Such research, in that it is not based on historical records or extant documents, can be spoken of as a Fifth Gospel.Steiner speaks, for example, of Jesus life in the community of the Essenes, the temptation of Christ in the wilderness, and of a significant conversation between Jesus and Mary.

The mission of our age is not to reproduce an ancient wisdom, but to engender a new one a wisdom that points not only to the past but that works prophetically into the future. Rudolf SteinerBeginning with ancient Egypt, the pyramids and sphinxes and a comparison of that epoch with our own Rudolf Steiner surveys a vast spiritual landscape of human development. In symphonic style, he describes the conquest of the physical plane in post-Atlantean civilizations, the relationships between the various cultural epochs, the human beings connections with the kingdoms of nature and the different planetary bodies, and the relationship of animal forms to the physiognomy of human passions. Through this panoramic vision, we discover how the changed conditions of human consciousness call for a new spiritual understanding today.In her Introduction, Marie Steiner relates the special experience of being a member of Rudolf Steiners audience for this timeless series of lectures: Enormous cosmic pictures were unfolded before the spiritual gaze of the listeners; insights were of such depths of ancient wisdom, views of distant futures of human and world development, that deepest devotion flowed through their hearts This new edition features a revised translation, introduction, notes and an index.

Rudolf Steiner found the spiritual science of anthroposophy and the many practical disciplines that arose from it. Eventually, he would write his Autobiography, although its composition would be interrupted by his unexpected death. This volume is an essential complement to Steiners unfinished autobiography. It gathers a wealth of personal testimonies, lectures, resumes, notebook entries, a questionnaire, and biographical notes written for Edouard Schure - much of which has not been previously published in English.

Mental and emotional disorders have reached epidemic levels in Western societies. Self-doubt, panic-attacks, anxiety disorders and personal fears of all kinds present major challenges to contemporary medical science. Rudolf Steiners spiritual research offers a startlingly original and complementary contribution to the problem. True insight into psychological issues requires knowledge of the influences of spiritual beings, he suggests. In everyday life we are all confronted with metaphysical entities that can hinder or progress our development. Many forms of anxiety and self-doubt derive from such meetings on the border or threshold of our consciousness. Further, these threshold experiences are exacerbated today by a general loosening of the subtle bodies and components of the human soul.As these constitutional changes persist, says Rudolf Steiner, a condition of dissociation becomes increasingly common. A healthy emotional life will only be possible if individuals engage in a conscious practice of personal growth, strengthening their constitution through the action of the I or self. The expertly selected and collated texts in Self-Doubt offer numerous cognitive and practical ideas for the improvement of everyday mental and emotional health.Chapters include: The origin of error, fear, and nervousness; Crossing the threshold in the development of humanity and the individual; The polarity of shame and fear; The polarity of doubt and terrifying disorientation; The polarity of scepticism and claustrophobia, astraphobia, and agoraphobia; The origin of panic; Anxiety; The multi-layered nature of terrifying disorientation; Healing aspects of the anthroposophical path of training; The spiritual-scientific qualities of fear compared with standardized diagnostic terms and as a basis for therapy.

"The being whom we call Christ once walked the earth in flesh and blood at the beginning of our era. He will never again return in a physical body, for that was a unique event and will not be repeated. But He will come again in an etheric form in the period I have mentioned. People will learn to perceive Christ by virtue of growing towards him through this etheric perception." Many contemporaries were unaware of Christs incarnation on earth at the beginning of the modern era. And today, says Rudolf Steiner, many remain ignorant of the most important event of our time: the appearance of Christ in the etheric - or life - realm of the earth. Fundamentalist and millennial groups await a second physical incarnation, while atheists and materialists deny spirit altogether. Nevertheless, an incisive transformation is taking place in the human soul that will lead to an emerging clairvoyance. Just as Paul perceived Christ at Damascus, so may every human being experience Him today.

If we can bring nothing up out of ourselves except fear of the illnesses which surround us at the seat of an epidemic, and if we go to sleep at night filled with nothing but thoughts of this fear, then we create unconscious replicas, imaginations, which are drenched in fear. And this is an excellent method for nurturing bacteria... - Rudolf Steiner. Based on brief, pithy quotations from Rudolf Steiners collected works, the spiritual perspectives in this volume present core concepts on the subject of epidemics. These brief extracts do not claim to provide exhaustive treatment of the subject, but open up approaches to the complexity of Steiners extraordinary world of ideas. Some readers will find these fragments sufficient stimulus in themselves, whilst others will use the source references as signposts towards deeper study and understanding.

The concepts of thinking with the heart or emotional intelligence are often used today, usually in contrast to intellectual thought. When Rudolf Steiner used the phrase heart thinking, however, he meant it in a very specific sense. Drawn primarily from his lectures, the compiled texts in this anthology illuminate his perspective that heart thinking is intimately related to the spiritual faculty of Inspiration. The heart, he says, can become a new organ of thinking through the practice of exercises that work towards the transformation of feeling, shedding its personal and subjective character.The exercise sequences presented here call for two fundamental gestures. Firstly, renunciation, which extends from an extinguishing of images engendered in meditation, through inner silence, to a conscious suppression of sense perception. The second gesture involves the development of new feelings towards natural phenomena as well as to the reports of spiritual-scientific research. By practising these methods, we can attain a kind of thinking that is in harmony with the true nature and reality of what we seek to know.Rudolf Steiners texts are collected together by Martina Maria Sam, who contributes a lucid introduction and notes.

Our contemporaries who wish to keep to a narrow-minded and superficial outlook, are annoyed to find that spiritual science continually seeks the whole picture that it has to create a bridge between the body and the soul, and truly explores how the psyche becomes corporeal and the body becomes psychological. How do the soul and the spirit live in human physical bodies? In our materialistic age, in which the very existence of the metaphysical is widely rejected, such questions are rarely posed let alone addressed. In this exceptional series of lectures, Rudolf Steiner speaks in scientific detail about the connection of the subtle aspects of human nature our soul and spirit to our physical constitution. At the heart of this course are the well-loved Bridge lectures, which appear in English for the first time in their wider context. Steiner discusses the solid, fluid, air and warmth bodies, and how these are connected with the various ethers, the I and human blood. He goes on to describe how ideals and ideas impact the various aspects of the human constitution how morality is a source of world creativity with moral thinking imbuing life into substance and will. Moral ideas have a positive effect, he says, whereas theoretical ones have a negative impact. In the realm of the moral, a new natural world comes into being, and thus the moral order and the natural order are intertwined. This volume also features Steiners classic lecture on the Isis legend and its renewal today as divine wisdom Sophia. Other themes include the mystery of Christ as the connection between the spiritual and physical sun; the permeation of the life of thought with will (love) and permeation of the life of will with thoughts (wisdom); the path to freedom and love and their importance in the universe; the metamorphosis of head and limbs through successive lives on earth; the threefold nature of the human form (head, thorax, limbs), the threefold nature of the soul (thinking, feeling, will) and the threefold nature of the spirit (waking, dreaming, sleeping).

While we know of Ahriman from Persian mythology, Rudolf Steiner spoke of him as an actual, living spiritual entity. This being, he said, works to embed people firmly into physicality, encouraging dull, materialistic attitudes and a philistine, dry intellect. In these extraordinary lectures Steiner, in rare prophetic mode, talks about an actual incarnation of Ahriman on the earth and the potential consequences. Just as Christ incarnated in a physical body, so would Ahriman incarnate in the Western world - before a part of the third millennium had passed. Steiner places this incarnation in the context of a cosmic triad - Lucifer, Christ and Ahriman. Ahriman will incarnate as a counterpoint to the physical incarnation of Lucifer in the East in the third millennium BC, with the incarnation of Jesus Christ in Palestine as the balancing point between the two. Over the period during which Steiner developed anthroposophy - a speaking career that spanned two decades and more than six thousand lectures - he referred to the idea of Ahrimans incarnation only six times. These six lectures, together with an additional supporting excerpt, are reproduced in their entirety, and under one cover, for the first time.

Anthroposophy is a path of knowledge, to guide the Spiritual in the human being to the Spiritual in the universe. (From the first Leading Thought.) This key volume contains Rudolf Steiners so-called Leading thoughts and Letters written for members of the Anthroposophical Society. In brief paragraphs, they succinctly present Rudolf Steiners science of the spirit, Anthroposophy, as a modern path of knowledge. Invaluable as clear summaries of Rudolf Steiners fundamental lines of thought, they are intended not as doctrine, but as a stimulus and focus for study and discussion. Their intention, as Rudolf Steiner states, is to contribute to a unity and organic wholeness of the work of the Society without there being any question of constraint