"We are separated from the spiritual worlds only by states of consciousness, not by spatial circumstances. States of consciousness are what separate us." --Rudolf SteinerRudolf Steiner saw relationships with the dead as the "religious attitude of the future" in the highest sense. Becoming comfortable with thinking and speaking of the dead as concretely as we speak of the living will profoundly affect human activity. To Steiner, the "enliv...

Rudolf Steiner received The Fifth Gospel--unrecorded events from the so-called lost years of the life of Jesus, obtained by grace and by spiritual research into the akashic record--as a "sacred obligation" to which he experienced a deep sense of responsibility. However, he never finished the project of unveiling it. Had he done so, not only Anthroposophy but also Christianity would have received an enormous spiritual gift: a concrete, soul-filled description of the Mystery of Golg...

6 lectures, Berlin, March 24-June 7, 1905;2 lectures, Nov. 7, 1905 & Oct. 22, 1908;Questions & Answers, 1904-1922 (CW 324)The point, line, plane and solid objects represent the first three dimensions, but a kind of reversal of space is involved in the ascent to a fourth dimension. Steiner leads us to the brink of this new perspective--as nearly as it can be done with words, diagrams, analogies, and examples of many kinds. In doing so, he continues his...

Written in 1909 (CW 13)"Esoteric science is the science of what takes place esoterically, in the sense that it is perceived not outside in nature but where one's soul turns when it directs its inner being toward the spirit. Esoteric science is the opposite and counterpart of natural science." -- Rudolf SteinerThis masterwork of esotericism places humankind at the very heart of the vast, invisible processes of cosm...

10 lectures, Basel, September 15-26, 1909 (CW 114)Rudolf Steiner was born with clairvoyant capacities, but it was not until he was forty that he could connect his inner experiences with Jesus Christ. After that "solemn festival of knowledge," as he described it in his Autobiography, Steiner received ceaseless revelations about the significance of the Christ's incarnation. For the next twenty years, he spoke of the hidden background to all four gospels, the...

12 lectures, Berne, September 1-12, 1910 (CW 123)"If we read [Steiner's] lectures with an open and attentive inner eye, we may be able to see the Christ mystery, not as a collection of dogmas or facts, but as a spiritual impulse that stretches far beyond the limits of Christ's own time and even of the lifespan of Christianity itself. We may even catch a glimpse of the high powers that govern the life of civilizations and of the great entity known as th...

The soul's immortality and its repeated earthly births are not new ideas in Western thought. They are implicit in the Pythagorean and Platonic traditions, as well as in some branches of esoteric Judaism and Cabbala. But it was not until the early years of this century that the West was given a detailed, modern, evolutionary philosophy of human life based on the reality of reincarnation and karma.This turning point occurred when Rudolf Steiner began to make public the results of his...

"He listened extremely attentively, apparently not looking at me at all, but totally devoted to my words." --Franz Kafka"The only love that you can show me is to call me anytime, day or night, when you need me." --Rudolf Steiner (to Friedrich Rittelmeyer)For Peter Selg, if Anthroposophy to be a living reality, we must learn to know and love Rudolf Steiner as he appeared to those who knew and loved him: namely, as ...

What does it mean to be human? Human development unfolds in a twofold way. On the one hand, there is an ever-more profound incarnation, or "inhabitation," of the physical body. On the other hand, there is the increasing discrimination of the individual objects of the world.Difficulties and obstacles along this path can lead to so-called disabilities. König's approach to curative education allows us to see these disabilities as meaningful ways of coping with or resolving the various...

Written in 1904 (CW 9)Theosophy is a key work for gaining a solid footing in spiritual reality as described by Rudolf Steiner. It is organized into four parts. First, Steiner builds a comprehensive understanding of human nature: physical bodily nature; soul qualities; spirit being, or "I"-being; and the higher spiritual aspects. This leads us to Steiner's description of the human being as sevenfold:• Material, physical body• Eth...

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...

12 lectures in various cities, March 21 - July 11, 1922 (CW 211)"We must understand that if we relate only to dead matter, we ourselves become dead and ahrimanic, but if we have sufficient courage and love for all the beings around us to relate to them directly (not to our dead ideas about them), we discover the Christ in everything and victorious spirit everywhere. When this happens, we may need to speak in ways that seem paradoxical to our contempora...