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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 Easter. The volume also features an editorial introduction, afterword, commentary and notes. Chapters: Can we Celebrate Easter?; The Earth and the Cosmos; Rising Sun: Nature and Resurrection; Golgotha, the Central Deed of Evolution; Easter, a Festival for the Future.

In 1924, Rudolf Steiner gave a series of urgent, impassioned, talks to members of the Anthroposophical Society regarding their karma and its relationship to the culture of the time. Steiners words characterize vividly a spiritual battle, of forces gathering to fight for the soul of humanity itself. Given the challenges faced by humanity today, it has, perhaps, never been more urgent for those who ally themselves with Rudolf Steiners work to study, absorb and take to heart the contents of this critically important material.

...This will generate a struggle covering the face of the whole earth. The one and only remedy for this nonsense being made of human evolution will be the path that can lead humanity to the spirit the path of Michael, which finds its continuation in the path of Christ. Rudolf Steiner. Speaking in the aftermath of the Great War, Rudolf Steiner presents a series of extraordinary lectures on the power and mission of the Archangel Michael. He paints on a broad canvas in the context of cosmic and human evolution revealing Michaels tasks in the past, present and future. Originally the countenance of Yahweh, Michael has metamorphosed from a night spirit to a day spirit. As the Countenance of Christ, Michael helps us find a balance between luciferic and ahrimanic tendencies. The old dualism (such as good versus evil), says Steiner, needs to be replaced by the trinity of Lucifer-Christ-Ahriman. Filling our heart with the Christ Impulse creates an equilibrium between the luciferic influence that imbues our head and the ahrimanic influence at work in our limbs. Rudolf Steiner describes how humanity faces three dangers in the social sphere: spiritual life could flow into the pit of mendacity ruled by Ahriman, individual rights might descend into the pit of selfishness (Lucifer), and economics into cultural sickness and death (Asuras). In order to prevent European-American culture from perishing, it will be necessary to turn towards contemporary threefold social ideas. Steiner also speaks about the principle of metamorphosis in connection with evolution and devolution, as evident in the design of the pillars in the newly-built Goetheanum. Architectural styles are an expression of human evolution, as can be seen in Greek temples, gothic Cathedrals, the Grail temple and the building at Dornach. Amidst many other themes, Rudolf Steiner addresses the problem of natural necessity and freedom, and the abolition of the trichotomy of body, soul and spirit at the Council of Constantinople in AD 869.

The Lords Prayer stands at the heart of Christianity. Over the past two millennia it has been spoken millions of times by millions of people around the world. Rudolf Steiner affirms the power of this prayer, given by Jesus Christ himself, and encourages us to begin to understand it at deeper levels. Such an understanding, he explains, is now necessary for humanitys further development. In the four lectures he gave on this subject, collected here under one cover, Rudolf Steiner penetrates the esoteric meanings of the Lords Prayer, relating its seven petitions to the seven spiritual and physical bodies of the human being. He also discusses the difference between prayer and meditation, and shows how true prayer is selfless in nature. This volume features an introduction by Judith von Halle, whose work is valued for her experiential knowledge of the Lords Prayer and the events of Christs life.

For hundreds of years ordinary folk in the small Austrian village of Oberufer on the Danube gathered in the local tavern at Christmas time to perform these plays to their neighbours. With their roots lost in medieval times, the plays gradually evolved to incorporate a unique mixture of broad peasant humour and deep reverence in their celebration of the birth of the baby Jesus. The Paradise Play serves as a Preface, presenting the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise, but with the promise of future salvation through Christ. The Shepherds Play follows with its portrayal of the birth of Jesus in a stable where he is sought out by a group of simple shepherds. The Kings Play, the final in the trilogy, depicts the visit of three wise Kings to the birthplace of the King of Humanity, and the murderous measures taken by Herod to try and thwart Jesuss mission. This revised edition of the plays - eminently suitable for amateur and professional companies alike - offers a clear layout of the texts, greatly elaborated directors and make-up indications, stage and lighting directions, and detailed costume designs illustrated in colour.

Large temptations will emanate from these machine-animals, produced by people themselves, and it will be the task of a spiritual science that explores the cosmos to ensure all these temptations do not exert any damaging influence on human beings.In an increasingly digitised world, where both work and play are more and more taking place online and via screens, Rudolf Steiners dramatic statements from 1917 appear prophetic. Speaking of intelligent machines that would appear in the future, Steiner presents a broad context that illustrates the multitude of challenges human beings will face. If humanity and the Earth are to continue to evolve together with the cosmos, and not be cut off from it entirely, we will need to work consciously and spiritually to create a counterweight to such phenomena.In the lectures gathered here, edited with commentary and notes by Andreas Neider, Rudolf Steiner addresses a topic that he was never to speak of again: the secret of the geographical or the ahrimanic doppelganger. The human nervous system houses an entity that does not belong to its constitution, he states. This is an ahrimanic being which enters the body shortly before birth and leaves at death, providing the basis for all electrical currents that are needed to process and coordinate sense perceptions and react to them.Based on his spiritual research, Rudolf Steiner discusses this doppelganger or double in the wider context of historic occult events relating to spirits of darkness. Specific brotherhoods seek to keep such knowledge to themselves in order to exert power and spread materialism. But this knowledge is critical, says Steiner, if the geographical doppelganger and its challenges are to be understood.

"It is not always right to send someone to the chemist for some medicine when hes ill. Instead we should organize our lives in a way that renders us less susceptible to illness, or alleviates its impact. Disorders will impinge on us less severely if we strengthen the egos influence on the astral body, the astral bodys influence on the etheric and the etheric on the physical."Nervousness, anxiety and agitation are all common symptoms of our increasingly stressed and pressured society. They manifest in the everyday form that many people experience, or sometimes as serious mental or psychological disorders. In this classic lecture, Rudolf Steiner offers practical advice and spiritual insight for those who wish to heal these proliferating ailments of modern life. He describes simple exercises that strengthen the inner self, with the goal of achieving the calm and centredness necessary to lead a purposeful and healthy life.

These profound studies of the cosmic forces behind the four great festivals of the year provide a wealth of material for fruitful meditation. Rudolf Steiner presents great imaginative pictures which unite the heavens and the earth through a portrayal of the activities of the archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel. In the course of the lectures he offers spiritual wisdom on subjects which include the alchemical processes of sulphur, mercury and salt in the cosmos, man and the plant, spiritual combustion processes, crystals, clouds, meteors, the movement of elemental beings in nature, and the conflicting efforts of the two great adversaries to divert the earth from its true goal.

As a spiritual teacher Rudolf Steiner wrote many beautifully formed and inspired verses. Often they were given in relation to specific situations or in response to individual requests; sometimes they were created for general use in assisting the process of meditation. Regardless of their origins, they are uniformly powerful in their ability to connect the meditant with spiritual archetypes and realities, and are valuable tools for developing experience and knowledge of other dimensions. Matthew Barton has delicately translated these meditations into English, many for the first time, and arranged them thematically in this outstanding new series. In this collection of meditations for maintaining a connection to those who have died, Rudolf Steiner offers hope and consolation to the bereaved. The first section features words of wisdom on death and its deeper, spiritual meaning; the second part consists of verses which stress the continued links between the living and the dead, indicating how our thoughts can help those who have departed earthly life; and the third section is devoted to poems which express something of what those who have died experience in their new existence.

In Hindu tradition, the concept of kundalini refers to a form of primal energy located at the base of the spine. Through traditional Eastern methods, efforts were made to awaken the kundalini in order to achieve transformed consciousness. Rudolf Steiner offers an entirely new perspective, integrating the kundalini idea into his spiritual philosophy. This anthology contains all relevant comments and notes by Steiner on the theme, highlighting how his thinking evolved. At the same time, it accentuates the differences and similarities between Western and Eastern spiritual paths, and in the process reveals what is new and original about Steiners esoteric teachings.In contrast to most yoga traditions which cultivate the energy rising from the lower life centre the Western path of esoteric schooling starts in our upper centre of consciousness, in thinking and the I. From there, the centre of experience is shifted downward, from the head to the heart. After development of the new heart centre, as Rudolf Steiner describes it, forces can be guided consciously and, through specific exercises, the kundalini snake can be fully awoken. In his detailed introduction, editor Andreas Meyer distils the perspectives and instructions from Steiners complete works, presenting a valuable synopsis for our understanding and practice of meditation today.Chapters include: The Meaning of Meditation, and the Six Exercises; Developing and Cleansing the Lotus Flowers; The Snake Symbol; The Kundalini Fire; The Kundalini Light; Developing the New Heart Organ; The Reversal in Thinking and Will; Specific Aspects of Kundalini Schooling; Transforming Physical Love and the Division of the Sexes; Breathing, the Light-Soul Process, and the New Yoga Will; The Polarity of Light and Love and Transforming the Kundalini Fire into Fraternity.

Many will be familiar with the notion that a person at the point of death sees their life flash before them. Rudolf Steiner describes that when the spiritual bodies separate from the physical body, the etheric body of the dying person is revealed, giving a panoramic overview of their earthly life. This etheric body contains everything we have experienced in our consciousness and kept in memory. The etheric not only generates and sustains all life, but encompasses the life forces out of which we shape our existence. Although the revelation of the life tableau belongs to the early period after death, it can also emerge as a result of meditation. Rudolf Steiner speaks of this through the first level of spiritual experience known as imagination as a conscious self-perception of the soul, taking place in the world of images. Here we are confronted with the harrowing knowledge of our doppelganger but we also experience the cosmic forces of childhood that are present in all our life processes. These same forces are described in psychology as the inner child. In this highly-original anthology of Steiners work we are led to a therapeutic, meditative approach that through working with the imaginative life tableau can strengthen and heal body, soul and spirit. Chapters include: Experiencing the Inner Child as the Starting Point for a New Philosophy; Experiencing Life before Birth; Pain and Sadness When Reliving the Life Tableau; Intensive Backward Thinking; Feelings of Happiness When Experiencing the Life Tableau; Re-experiencing the Inner Child; Through the Forces of Childhood to the Higher Self and the Christ Experience.

Rudolf Steiner draws a clear distinction between the spiritual meaning of the word Intuition and its ordinary definition. As the highest form of spiritual perception, Intuition has an existential significance for our process of knowledge. Through systematic schooling, thinking can be developed into an intuitive organ by means of which the spiritual can consciously be understood and penetrated. Intuition can reveal the essence of the spirit, the processes through which human beings and the world came into existence, and the events in our life after death. In his later works, Steiner spoke of Intuition as a form of supersensible knowledge that could provide direct insight into practical life, as exemplified here in his commentary on geometry, architecture, education, medicine, eurythmy, painting and the social organism.The concept of Intuition is fundamental to Rudolf Steiners spiritual philosophy. It denotes a clear, pure mode of comprehension akin to a mathematical concept. We meet it in his earliest writings on Goethe, in the development of his philosophical ideas and in his many lectures and addresses. Ably compiled and introduced by Edward de Boer, this volume clarifies a concept that evolved in Steiners thinking. By following the idea of Intuition in its gradual transformation and amplification throughout Steiners writing and lecturing career, the book offers not only inspiring paths to spiritual knowledge, but also insights into how anthroposophy developed.Chapters include: The Perceptive Power of Judgement Goethes Intuition; Moral Intuition Experiencing Thinking; The Human Being Intuition as a Bridge to the Spirit; The Schooling Path Spiritual Development and the Power of Intuition; Intuition Exercises; Three Stages of Consciousness Intuition in Relation to Imagination and Inspiration; Knowledge of Destiny Intuition and Repeated Earth Lives; Intuition in Practice Examples from Various Specialist Fields.

Truth is simple only for those who first wrestle their way through multiplicity. It is like a thread of many pearls. Rudolf SteinerLike pearls in the oyster, pearls of thought are easily overlooked. Lying hidden in texts, they keep their light under a bushel, serving the greater framework and context. But if we draw them out they begin to shine, revealing their translucent facets and intrinsic harmony.In this meditative treasure, the editor has harvested and threaded together such pearls from Rudolf Steiners books, creating new textures and striking panoramas. Dynamic constellations of thought arise, allowing us unusual and surprising access to Steiners spiritual and philosophical thinking. In contrast to the prevailing view that meaning arises only in context, these self-sufficient verbal universes show us that the opposite can also be true. The pearls of thought in this compact pocket book acquire enhanced meaning in isolation, mysteriously becoming independent of the thoughts and phrases that precede or follow them.This collection of quotations, free of jargon or technical terminology, is accessible to all readers interested in developing a meaningful understanding of the human beings place in the world and cosmos.

The ancient mystery saying called on the human being to Know Yourself! Rudolf Steiner explains that this maxim is not asking us to study subjectively our own personal character, but rather to come to a knowledge of our true, archetypal human nature - and with it the position we occupy in the universe. In these eloquent lectures - formerly published as Man, Hieroglyph of the Universe - Rudolf Steiner speaks of the human being as the model of creation, the primary focus of the cosmos. In an extensive exposition he talks of the constellation of cosmic forces, zodiac and planets amongst which we find ourselves situated. Only a true knowledge of our human nature and the spiritual forces which surround us - the microcosm within the greater macrocosm - can enable humanity to progress, he says. This book is an important contribution to that goal: the development of a contemporary spiritual science of the human being.

Are we free, whether we know it or not? Or is our sense of freedom merely an illusion? Rudolf Steiner tackles this age-old problem in a new way. He shows that by taking account of our own activity of thinking, we can know the reasons for our actions. And if these reasons are taken from our world of ideals, then our actions are free, because we alone determine them. But this freedom cannot be settled for us by philosophical argument. It is not simply granted to us. If we want to become free, we have to strive through our own inner activity to overcome our unconscious urges and habits of thought. In order to do this we must reach a point of view that recognises no limits to knowledge, sees through all illusions, and opens the door to an experience of the reality of the spiritual world. Then we can achieve the highest level of evolution. We can recognise ourselves as free spirits. This special reprint, featuring the acclaimed translation by Michael Wilson, is being made available in response to public demand.

The review exercises bring the experiences of our daily lives to full awareness. By directing our attentive gaze to what has happened - whether in a single day or in whole phases of life - we kindle light in our will. Undertaking such a review backwards, in reverse sequence, or from an external perspective, requires a huge inner effort as we establish distance between ourselves and our daily experiences.In this essential handbook the editor has drawn together virtually all Rudolf Steiners statements on the review exercises, supporting them with commentary and notes. Described from different perspectives and approaches, there are a surprising range of suggestions for carrying them out. Individual chapters focus on reviewing the day (transforming the power of memory); reviewing events in your life (awakening the higher self); reviewing the others perspective (awakening social impulses); exercises in thinking backwards (illuminating the will); and more.

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 Steiners 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 Andreaes 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.

If one is unable to conceive of the Christ mystery as a true reality, one also cannot develop any ideas and concepts relating to the rest of world existence that are imbued with reality, which really penetrate to the truth . Rudolf SteinerIn a series of 17 lectures, Rudolf Steiner throws new light on the historical background and esoteric meaning of what he refers to as the central event of human and earthly history: the Christ mystery or the Mystery of Golgotha. Basing his commentaries on personal spiritual research, Steiner emphasizes the key nature of the Mystery of Golgotha, through which ...something was accomplished which has to do not with the moral order alone but with the whole world-order in its entirety. This relates to a transformation of the spiritual environment of the earth and a potentially radical change in human consciousness.Building on the core themes of this course, Steiner presents a variety of fascinating topics, including: original sin and the idea of resurrection; faith and knowledge; the nature of sleep and the riddle of fatigue; the violation of the mysteries by the Roman Emperors; the teachings of Mani and Augustine; our relationship to the dead in spiritualistic seances; and the correspondence between the Platonic year, a day in a persons life and a human life-time.Although first delivered to audiences a century ago, these lectures have lost none of their resonance; indeed, their essential message is perhaps more relevant than ever. They are published here in a new translation and for the first time in a complete English edition.So let us endeavour to make spiritual science our own not merely as a teaching but as a language, and then wait until we find the questions in this language that we may address to Christ. He will answer, yes He will answer!

In an absorbing series of lectures, Rudolf Steiner discloses factors in a persons life on Earth that will influence their experiences in the spiritual world after their death and conversely, factors in the spiritual world that will affect their next life on Earth. Steiner focuses on the period in the afterlife when the individual has been through kamaloka the purgatorial place where the soul is purified. Once the soul has been cleansed of its astral sheath, it becomes open to cosmic influences, expanding into the planetary sphere. Now it can begin preparation for reincarnation for a new human life on Earth. Steiner addresses the vital relationship of the living to the dead in particular, how those on Earth can influence the souls of the dead. He also speaks on themes of Sleep and death, The seven-year life cycles of man, and offers a Christmas gift in the form of a lecture on Christian Rosenkreutz and Gautama Buddha. He ends with a mighty picture of the Mystery of Golgotha: Jesus Christs death on the cross was only seemingly a death; in reality it enabled the momentous birth of the Earth-Soul.Long out-of-print, the freshly-revised text of the ten lectures in this new edition is complemented with an introduction, notes and appendices by Professor Frederick Amrine, and also features an index.

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 the festivals of Whitsun and Ascension. The volume also features an editorial introduction, afterword, commentary and notes. Chapters: Rising to the Clouds, Tethered to Earth; Sufferings Open Door; All One to Alone to One in All; Human Freedom and the Word.