In nineteenth-century Europe and North America, an organized vegetarian movement began warning of the health risks and ethical problems of meat eating. Presenting a vegetarian diet as a cure for the social ills brought on by industrialization and urbanization, this movement idealized South Asia as a model. In colonial India, where diets were far more varied than Western admirers realized, new motives for avoiding meat also took hold. Hindu nationalists claimed that vegetarianism would clea...

In nineteenth-century Europe and North America, an organized vegetarian movement began warning of the health risks and ethical problems of meat eating. Presenting a vegetarian diet as a cure for the social ills brought on by industrialization and urbanization, this movement idealized South Asia as a model. In colonial India, where diets were far more varied than Western admirers realized, new motives for avoiding meat also took hold. Hindu nationalists claimed that vegetarianism would clea...

"A dense and scholarly book about . . . the relationship between the Nazi party and the occult . . . reveals stranger-than-fiction truths on every page."— Daily TelegraphThe Nazi fascination with the occult is legendary, yet today it is often dismissed as Himmler's personal obsession or wildly overstated for its novelty. Preposterous though it was, however, supernatural thinking was inextricable from the Nazi project. The regime enlisted astrology and the p...

"It is a simple but essential principle: education aims at the future, at a time that we as educators do not yet know and cannot foresee. The challenges that will confront the children in the future are not those of the past--of our past, of our life story and our horizon. Times change, so do the realities of life, and in our times they change quickly and dramatically. Education aims at the future and that puts us as educators in a difficult situation: this future is not--or i...

The first truly popular biography of the influential twentieth-century mystic and educator who-while widely known for founding the Waldorf schools and other educational and humanitarian movements-remains a mystery to many who benefit from his ideas.People everywhere have heard of Waldorf schools, Biodynamic farming, Camphill Villages, and other innovations of the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). Indeed, Steiner—as an architect, artist, teacher, and agriculturalist—r...

There is the possibility of a comparatively quick maturing of insight into karmic relationships if, for a considerable time, we try patiently, and with inner energy, to picture with greater and greater consciousness an experience which would otherwise simply take its course, without being properly grasped, and fade away in the course of life...In this unique lecture, Rudolf Steiner presents a practical exercise for gaining insight into karma. He draws our attention to the ordinary events o...

This accessible introduction by the world's leading expert explains why the study of esotericism is not a marginal pursuit but belongs at the center of modern research in the humanities. Reflecting updates in the field since the foundational publication Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed (2013), Wouter J. Hanegraaff demonstrates that the exclusion of “rejected knowledge” from normative accounts of Western civilization is the reflection of a narrow Euro...

"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 ...

The disconcerting reappearance of fascism in many parts of the Western world since the late twentieth century has prompted a re-evaluation of previous political assumptions. One of the more controversial facets of this process centers on the role of ecological ideas and practices within fascist circles, historically as well as today. The effort by fascist ideologists and groups to appropriate ecology for reactionary purposes has long historical roots in Germany, an aspect of the past that ...

In a series of vibrant and lively essays, Steffen Hartmann focuses on a little-known but critically important theme relating to the teachings of Rudolf Steiner. Steiner described the collaboration between human souls connected to the Platonic and Aristotelian 'schools' or groupings – both here on Earth and in the spiritual world. These groupings of souls work within a wider metaphysical collective known as the 'Michael School', led by the ruling Spirit of our age, Michael. Prior to their b...

Rudolf Steiner's legacy is remarkable. Around the world, thousands of initiatives have been built up around his inspiration and thought, including Steiner Waldorf schools, special education establishments, medical clinics, biodynamic farms, cultural centres, and much more. At the core of this outer work stands the scientific and spiritual path which Steiner called anthroposophy - a philosophy and method which he expounded and developed throughout his life. Hemleben's concise yet informativ...

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...