Bøker av Rudolf Steiner

In these lectures, given just days after the end of World War I, Steiner describes the new developments in mechanics, politics, and economy, as well as new capacities and methods in the West and the East. He reveals their fruitful potentials, but also the dangers of their abuse. He discusses social and antisocial instincts, specters of the Old Testament in the nationalism of the present, and the innate capacities of various nations.

"e;The two streams in the human being combine to produce what is commonly known as a person's temperament. Our inner self and our inherited traits co-mingle in it. Temperament is an intermediary between what connects us to an ancestral line and what we bring with us... Temperament strikes a balance between the eternal and the ephemeral..."e; From personal spiritual insight, Rudolf Steiner renews and broadens the ancient teaching of the four temperaments. He explains how each person's combination of temperaments - with one usually uppermost - is shaped. Steiner gives lively descriptions of the passive, comfort-seeking phlegmatic, the fickle, flitting sanguine, the pained, gloomy melancholic and the fiery, assertive choleric. He also offers practical suggestions aimed at teachers and parents for addressing the various manifestations of the temperaments in children, as well as advice intended for adults' personal development.

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. Steiner's 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 Steiner's work to study, absorb and take to heart the contents of this critically important material.

7 lectures in various cities, December 3, 1906 - March 16, 1923 (CW 283)"A tone is at the foundation of everything in the physical world."This is one of many astonishing statements made by Rudolf Steiner in this collection of seven lectures on the inner realities of music. These lectures are an unusual treasure, since they are the only two groups of lectures that Steiner gave primarily on music, other than the lecture cycle for the tone eurythmy course, Eurythmy as Visible Music.In the first group of three lectures, given in 1906, Steiner explains why music affects the human soul so powerfully. Music has always held a special position among the arts because it is the only art form whose archetype, or source, lies not in the physical world, as with architecture, sculpture, and painting, but purely in the spiritual world-the soul's true home. Music thus directly expresses through tones the innermost essence of the cosmos, and our sense of wellbeing when we hear music comes from a recognition of our soul's experience in the spiritual world.In the remaining lectures, given in 1922 and 1923, Steiner discusses our experience of musical intervals and shows how it has undergone profound changes during the course of evolution. The religious effects of music in ancient times and the union of music with speech are considered, as well as the origin of musical instruments out of imaginations that accompanied singing. New insights are offered on the nature of the major and minor modes and on future directions of musical development."Major and minor keys, this strange bond between music and human subjectivity, the actual inner life of feeling--insofar as this life of feeling is bound to the earthly corporeality--came into being only in the course of the fourth post-Atlantean epoch and are related to the experience of the third. The difference between major and minor keys appears; the subjective soul element relates itself to the musical element." -- Rudolf Steiner (lect. 5)This volume is a translation of 7 lectures (of 8) in Das Wesen des Musikalischen und das Tonerlebnis im Menschen, published by Rudolf Steiner-Nachlaftverwaltung, Dornach, 1969 (GA 283).

These two lecture courses, given just after the beginning of World War I, stand as a kind of unexpected gift. A few months later, once the war became a reality, the possibilities for esoteric work would change and it would become more difficult to do spiritual research. But in the short interval before the true horror of the conflict unfolded, Rudolf Steiner was able to give these lectures, which lay out in the clearest fashion the path of anthroposophic meditation, and its assumptions, language, and consequences.

6 lectures in Ulm, Berlin, and Stuttgart, May 26-December 30, 1919 (CW 333)Freedom of Thought and Societal Forces offers a broad overview of Steiner's fresh thinking on what he called the "threefold social order." He acknowledged that the demand for social change derives above all from the working class, whom industrialization had forced into a kind of indentured life dominated by economics. From Steiner's perspective, the underlying issue is not just economic, however, but also spiritual or cultural--culture and the cultured classes have become estranged from real life. Society needed a "free" culture that includes all classes. It also needs to shift labor into the legal sphere of rights, the only place where workers can find real freedom in society. Capital, too, needs to be liberated from egotism and allowed, like goods, to circulate freely. Above all, Steiner understood that social realities cannot be separated from the spiritual realities of human existence.From this perspective, we lack knowledge of ourselves as spiritual beings, and thinking has become abstract. To remedy this, we must first acknowledge it and then develop modesty and humility. Next we must increase our capacity to love one another and the world. Approaching this reality from another side, we see that what ordinary individual thinking afflicts culture in general, which becomes removed from reality. Culture, like thinking, must become alive and universally human. This is impossible, however, unless we develop what Steiner calls "freedom of thought." Authentic freedom of thought is always ethical and overcomes egotism. Indeed, a more general exercise of freedom in thought, as Steiner conceives it, provides a way through the twin dangers of materialism and abstraction--that is, through ahrimanic and luciferic worldviews--which together threaten society in both the narrow sense through nationalism and globally through geopolitics.Freedom of Thought and Societal Forces is the first English translation from German of «Gedankenfreiheit und soziale Kräfte» (GA 333).

Topics include: The Three States of Night Consciousness ? The Changing Experience of Breathing in the Course of History ? The Inquiry and Formulation of the Cosmic Word in Breathing In and Out ? The teaching of the Risen One ?  The Threefold Sun and the Risen Christ ? and more.

The Lord's 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 humanity's further development. In the four lectures he gave on this subject, collected here under one cover, Rudolf Steiner penetrates the esoteric meanings of the Lord's 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 Lord's Prayer and the events of Christ's life.

Translated from the German by Roland Everett and edited by Rhona Everett.

A rare glimpse into intimate aspects of the esoteric teacher's inner life, outer relationships, and significant events.

Speaking to the teachers at the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart, Steiner asserts that the unfortunate presence of dishonesty and alienation in society today cannot be addressed without a completely renewed and holistic education. He states fact that successful teaching requires a living synthesis of the "spiritual gymnast," the "ensouled rhetorician," and the "intellectual professor." Of these, the formative effect of the rhetorician's cultivation of artistic speech is the most important. "It's impossible for true teaching to be boring," declares Steiner, and he offers several examples of how teachers can observe a natural phenomenon so intimately that its creative life can flow into the children through a teacher's own words in the classroom. He also describes, in spiritual scientific depth, how the actions of teachers directly affect the physiological chemistry of their students. From this perspective, education is really therapy, transformed to a higher level, and should be seen as closely related to the healing arts. Steiner also shows how the perception of hidden relationships between education and the processes of human development can kindle a heartfelt enthusiasm and a sense of responsibility in teachers for the far-reaching health effects that educational activities can produce.

Addresses, Essays, Discussions, and Reports, 1920 -1924 (CW 217a) "Young people today turn away from older people not because the latter have grown old but because they have remained young--that is, because they don't understand how to grow old in the right way. Older people today lack this self-knowledge. Growing old in the right way means allowing the spirit to unfold in our souls as befits an aging body. When we do this, we show young people not only what time has done to the body, but also what eternity reveals through the spirit. Young people will find their way to older people who seriously attempt to experience spirit. To say that we must act young when we are with young people is just an empty phrase. As older people, we must understand--and demonstrate to young people--how to be old in the right way." --Rudolf Steiner (Mar. 9, 1924)Youth and the Etheric Heart, which comes to twenty-first-century readers in the somewhat deceptive wrapping of a historical document of Rudolf Stiener's addresses to young people during 1920 to 1924, is (at least for those concerned with the future of Anthroposophy or with the future of spiritual life in general) one of the most extraordinary and prophetic volumes in the collected works.This book is intended by its editors to be supplementary to the central turning point of the movement, the 1922 "Pedagogical Youth Course," published as Becoming the Archangel Michael's Companions.Together, they present Steiner's vision for Anthroposophy as he hoped it would permeate culture through young people able to take it up as a spiritual, intellectual, and socially transforming path.The task, which underlies the whole volume and to which we, too, are called by service to the Archangel Michael, is to open to the etheric heart in humanity. This becomes clear in Rudolf Steiner's final address to the young people attending a teachers' conference in Arnheim on July 20, 1924: "What is needed is not thinking about what should happen. People should feel that the spirit outside of us speaks in the flames of nature. The sunrise has changed. But also our heart has changed; we no longer bear the same heart in our chest. Our physical heart has grown harder, and our etheric heart more mobile. We must find access to our suprasensory hearts. This is the way we must understand spiritual science."In this respect, young people have hearts ideally suited to feeling when something is right. It simply requires courage to really think it. It is in the light of "our suprasensory heart" that we should approach this volume, and indeed Anthroposophy as a whole.Youth and the Etheric Heart is a great companion volume to Becoming the Archangel Michael's Companions (CW> 217). During the early 1920s, following the disaster of World War I, the youth of Europe faced many hardships and questions about their destiny in the world. The situation today is certainly different, but the questions are no less urgent.This volume is the first complete English translation from the German of 'Die Erkenntnis-Aufgabe der Jugend' (GA 217a).

14 lectures, Stuttgart, August 22 to September 4, 1906 (CW 95)These lectures offer a fine introduction to the whole of Steiner's teaching. He speaks of the fundamental nature of the human being in relation to the cosmos, the evolution of the Earth, the journey of the soul after death, reincarnation and karma, good and evil, the modern path of meditative training, as well as giving answers to individual questions.Throughout the text, Steiner emphasizes the scientific exposition of spiritual phenomena. As he says in his final lecture, "The highest knowledge of mundane things is thoroughly compatible with the highest knowledge of spiritual truths."This volume is a translation from German of Vor dem Tore der Theosophie GA 95). Previous translation: At the Gates of Spiritual Science

The main purpose of these lectures was to outline Steiners Christ-centered spiritual science in contrast to the more Eastern orientation of Theosophy. He carefully connected the essence of spiritual science to the role of the Christ in human evolution, as well as to the Rosicrucian and Christian mystery traditions, the primary carriers of the esoteric Christian stream. To accomplish this, Steiner presented the roots of Christianity in the ancient mysteries and in the evolution of the whole universe itself.

Features three plays: "The Paradise Play" - presents the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise, but with the promise of salvation through Christ; "The Shepherds Play" - portrays the birth of Jesus in a stable; and "The Kings Play" - depicts the visit of three wise Kings to the birthplace of the 'King of Humanity'.

In our long human journey, individual and collective, the journey that science calls evolution, many indeed are the turning points. But they are not so much turning points in outer, material manifestation in the fossils of paleontology, for those fossils are only the shed garments worn by humans in an earlier age, vestments designed by providence to meet the need of a changing human consciousness moving through time. Where the real evolution occurs, for which the necessary outer garments are tailored over time, is in the realm of consciousness as it transitions from spirit to matter and back to spirit. -EDWARD REAUGH SMITH, from the Introduction RUDOLF STEINER gave the six lectures in Turning Points in Spiritual History during the year of January 1911 to January 1912. Realizing their importance for understanding the evolution of consciousness and the central role of the Christ event within it, Marie Steiner collected them under the present title soon after Steiner's death in March 1925, as a signal and enduring element of his spiritual legacy. Since the crucible of cosmic evolution for Steiner is the Earth, and the evolution of the Earth is accomplished through humanity, each of the five turning points-or critical, transformative moments-leading up to the climax of the Incarnation of Christ through the Mystery of Golgotha is exemplified by an individuality: namely, in chronological order, Zarathustra, Hermes, Moses, Elijah and Buddha. In these lectures, each of which deals in turn with one of these great individualities, Rudolf Steiner provides us with astonishing insights into esoteric history and demonstrates the remarkable ways in which the spiritual world guided and nurtured spiritual evolution in preparation for the coming of the Christ.

"This edition has been edited by Marcia Merryman Means, who also wrote the short introductions before each lecture"--T.p. verso.

According to the initiate-research of Rudolf Steiner, humanity is in a continual process of transformation and evolution. Modern-day consciousness, based as it is on sense perception and abstract logic, differs considerably from the consciousness of ancient humanity. At that time, says Steiner, the human being was seen to be a microcosm, a concentration of the laws and activities of the cosmos. The loss of such knowledge today has led to the existential quest for meaning, and even the cul-de-sac of atheism.In these comprehensive lectures, delivered to an English audience, Rudolf Steiner indicates how it is possible for people to rediscover their connection to the cosmos. He describes how one develops higher faculties of consciousness - what he calls Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition - and gives a vivid description of life after death and the individual's progress through the planetary spheres. It is in these spheres, he explains, where tasks and goals for future incarnations are prepared in cooperation with the spiritual beings of the heavenly hierarchies.The lectures culminate in a call for mankind to take its own destiny in hand through conscious and free development of spiritual capacities.The edition of this fundamental work features a revised translation as well as previously-unavailable addresses and question-and-answer sessions.

Modern science can speak with authority regarding only a tiniest fraction of the earth's interior. We have, quite literally, scratched just the surface of our planet. Can we truly know what lies beneath our feet, in the unimaginably deep depths of the earth? Can the phenomenon of spiritual investigation add to this question?In this comprehensive volume, with notes and an introduction, Rudolf Steiner's utterances on this theme have been brought together for the first time under one cover. His unique overview gives a picture of the nine layers of the earth as they become visible via the research of the spiritual scientist. The layers range from the familiar 'mineral' on which we live, to the innermost core which Steiner connects to human and animal powers of reproduction. In between are layers such as the 'Mirror Earth', which represents qualities of extreme evil, and the 'Fire Earth', which is connected to natural catastrophes.The information Steiner conveys is never abstract or theoretical, but intimately related to the human being. The Fire Earth, for example, is acutely affected by people's will. When the human will is chaotic and untutored, says Steiner, it acts magnetically on this layer and disrupts it, leading to volcanic eruptions. He also describes other natural catastrophes - such as extreme weather and earthquakes - in connection to the interior of the earth and karma.

John's Book of Revelation -- the Apocalypse -- has been subjected to countless interpretations by theologians over the years, mostly based on theory and speculation. In contrast, Rudolf Steiner spoke from his own direct experience and knowledge of the spiritual truths contained in St. Johns mysterious pictures.Although he had previously presented his insights tin the Book of Revelation a number of times, in 1924 Steiner ventured to give a completely new perspective -- in response to requests by priests of the Christian Community -- by relating the subject closely to the work of the modern priest.These priests felt the need to achieve a closer relationship with the Book of Revelation, he wrote later:

The wisdom contained in this book is not derived via the usual methods of scholarly and historical research, and neither is it based on theory or speculation. Rudolf Steiner acquired his original contribution to human knowledge from metaphysical dimensions of reality which are hidden to most people - but visible to anybody who is prepared to develop spiritual means of perception. With his philosophical and scientific training, Steiner brought a new systematic discipline to the field of spiritual research, allowing for fully conscious methods and comprehensive results. A natural seer, he cultivated his spiritual vision to a high degree, enabling him to speak with authority on previously veiled mysteries. Samples of his work is to be found in this book of edited texts, which brings together excerpts from his many talks and writings on the subject of Atlantis. This volume also features an editorial introduction, commentary and notes by Dr Andrew Welburn. Chapters: The Continent of Atlantis; The Moving Continents; The History of Atlantis; The Earliest Civilizations; The Beginnings of Thought; Etheric Technology - Atlantean 'Magic' Powers; Twilight of the Magicians; The Divine Messengers; Atlantean Secret Knowledge - it's Betrayal and Subsequent Fate; The Origins of the Mysteries; Atlantis and Spiritual Evolution.

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.

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 Ahriman's 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.

Presenting a key series of lectures on personal development, this book explains that the central mission of spiritual science is to enable people to ascend, in full consciousness, to a knowledge of spiritual realities. It also clarifies the differences between Buddhism and Christianity, and makes some esoteric observations about the moon.