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"Every page contains thought at a high level." -British Weekly Rudolf Steiner begins these three lectures by depicting the background of early Christian thought, from which scholastic philosophers arose. He focuses on the "unanswered question" of the scholastic movement: How can human thinking be made Christlike and develop toward a vision of the spiritual world? A study of subsequent European thought, especially that of Kant, leads to the possibility of deepening into spiritual perception the scientific thinking that arose from scholasticism. Steiner explains that, since the beginning of the twentieth century, this is true Christianity.

Beginning at the turn of the century, Rudolf Steiner began to express a passionate interest in Christianity. For him, the event he called the "Mystery of Golgotha" is more than the central event of Christianity; it is, in fact, the turning point in time for all human and earthly evolution. In his Autobiography, Steiner clarified his views on Christianity: "Some of what I said and wrote during that period [1890s] seems to contradict the way I described Christianity later on. This is because, when I wrote the word Christianity, I was referring to the teachings of a "world beyond" that was active in all Christian doctrines at the time. The whole meaning of religious experiences pointed to a world of spirit, one that was supposed to be unattainable by human intellect. Whatever religion might have to say and whatever precepts for moral life it might offer arise from what is revealed to human beings from outside. My own direct, inner perception of spirit objected to this; it wanted to experience the worlds of both spirit and the physical in perceptions of the human being and nature. And my ethical individualism objected to this. It rejected the external support of commandments for morality; such support came instead as the result of spiritual soul development within the human being, where divinity lives. That was a trying time for my soul as I looked at Christianity. This period lasted from the time I left the Weimar work until I wrote my book Christianity as Mystical Fact. These kinds of tests are obstacles, placed in one's path by destiny (or karma), and they must be overcome through spiritual development. In these talks, Rudolf Steiner offers his profound insights into the essential truths behind the Christ event, as well as the historic and prehistoric events-on Earth and in the spiritual worlds-leading up to the turning point in time. He shows that the ancient mysteries of the East, the Persians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the streams behind those impulses-going back to Atlantis and Lemuria-all lead to the event of Christ's incarnation and the Mystery of Golgotha, through which the Earth became the body of Christ. Further, Steiner talks about what those events mean for the future of humanity and the Earth." The Gospel of St. John and Its Relation to the Other Gospels is an essential document in the literature of Christology and for understanding the central place of esoteric Christianity in Anthroposophy.

Rudolf Steiner shows the need to "expand the horizon of life into the breadth of the world" in order to overcome today's hermitlike existence. He shows that the path to becoming true citizens of the cosmos is through the forces of the Archangel Michael, who is always present and prepared to help us.

Written both in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Rudolf Steiners 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 Steiners own words and life. He does so by describing, clearly and objectively, the historical background of Steiners vision of the civilizational task of Anthroposophy and how he had hoped it might be accomplished.

The book points to the historic importance of the first Goetheanum. Steiners lecture on October 25, 1914, and his lecture on the paintings of the small cupola on January 25, 1920, appear in English here for the first, along with color photographs from 1922. Also included are the little-known colored etchings of the Goetheanum window motifs made by Assya Turgenieff with Rudolf Steiner, as well as other centrally important contributions to an understanding of this new direction in art.

Torin Finser takes on some of our contemporary challenges and proposes new solutions. Rather than simply "kicking the can down the road," as often happens with issues such as sovereign debts, Middle East conflicts, and environmental issues, Finser calls for individual initiative. Drawing on a variety of rich cultural and spiritual traditions, he makes the case for social change that begins within. To do so, one must first access resources that support initiative and innovation. Key questions discussed in this book include: How is it possible to live a spiritual life in our materialistic age? Can an individual person still make a difference? How can we use a whole-systems approach to innovation? How can planetary wisdom help us find appropriate leadership styles? What are the inner conditions needed to work with the transcendent Self? In the swirl of multi-tasking, how can we find moments of solitude and reflection?

In this book, given as a course on language to teachers in the first Waldorf School, Rudolf Steiner demonstrates how history and psychology combine to form different languages and how the language-forming power has dwindled, but how the inmost kernel of language -- the penetration of sense into sound -- can be accessed today. From the Foundations of Waldorf Education series.

19 lectures, Dornach, April 10, 1921 and September 5-23, 1924 (CW 282)This course was designed for students and professionals in the stage arts and given in the Section for the Arts of Speech and Music School of Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum. Rudolf Steiner begins with a fundamental and spiritually-rooted appreciation of human speech and what actually takes place during human communication. Speech is a spiritual activity as well as an art form, lending itself to real interaction with both higher spiritual worlds and the human world of social conversation.Steiner shows that speech is a powerful tool for any serious dramatist in conveying the reality of worlds, whether visible or invisible, to the individual souls in the audience.This is an essential book for anyone involved in speech work, communication arts, and many kinds of therapies.This volume is a translation from German of Sprachgestaltung und Dramatische Kunst (GA 282).

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.

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).

Rudolf Steiners extraordinary ability to perceive the inner nature and development of children provided insights at many levels and areas of the creative learning process. He spoke of this ability as a precondition for all forms of healthy childhood educationincluding special educationand suggested that teachers should develop such a capacity within themselves., Dr. Peter Selg discusses Steiners views on childhood development, how teachers can look at children, and ways that these approaches can be used to develop lessons and classroom activities to deal with behavioral extremes and learning challenges.

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.

n this sequel to the bestselling "Meditations on the Signs of the Zodiac," Beredene Jocelyn sheds valuable new light on the cosmic meaning of existence by charting life's passages in concert with planetary laws. With compassion, authority, and a deep knowledge of spiritual science, the author explores in clear detail such subjects as life's year-by-year unfolding through the stages of child development and adult life, as well as thanatology (the science of death and dying) and the process of passing through the journey from death to rebirth. Beredene Jocelyn presents a far-reaching, holistic perspective on the place of human beings in the universal order-a major effort that recalls the immense achievement in the spiritual research of Rudolf Steiner. "Citizens of the Cosmos" meets the growing urgent need for spiritual wisdom and individual responsibility. It will appeal not only to general readers, regardless of occupation or life status, but will be especially relevant for all those interested in spiritual values and our human place in the cosmos.

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).