Encountering Rudolf Steiner
Encountering Rudolf Steiner

Author: Christopher Bamford

Publisher: SteinerBooks

Published: 2022-04-12

Total Pages: 403

ISBN-13: 1621482782

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"The deep aim, or intention, of an introduction (understood esoterically) is a 'living understanding,' or, as the poet William Blake put it, the ability 'to catch the bird in flight and fly with it.' If successful, this makes it possible for any reader to hear or translate, into his or her own understanding, what Rudolf Steiner is offering, within and beyond his words, in these texts of The Collected Works." --Christopher Bamford Rudolf Steiner's writings and lectures comprise a collection of more than 350 volumes, which can overwhelm anyone hoping to gain an understanding of the vast range of their content. Beginning in the 1990s, as editor in chief of Anthroposophic Press (SteinerBooks), Christopher Bamford wrote introductions to more than fifty books in the English translations, each one offering readers significant context and keys to open up many areas of Steiner's works. This volume presents fifteen of those introductions to some of Steiner's most essential books and lectures on anthroposophic practices, Western esoteric streams, religious renewal, and inner development, as well as practical applications of anthroposophic principles for a threefold society and contributions to modern holistic medicine. Taken together, these introductions provide one of the best possible means of encountering Rudolf Steiner by revealing the background, significance, and relevance of his philosophy and insights for humanity today and in the future. This book is for anyone seeking a way into Steiner's worldview, as well as for those who are already familiar with the work of Rudolf Steiner and wish to delve more deeply into the many aspects of the anthroposophic path of knowledge.

Anthroposophy in Everyday Life
Anthroposophy in Everyday Life

Author: Rudolf Steiner

Publisher: SteinerBooks

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 100

ISBN-13: 9780880104272

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Four of Rudolf Steiner's best-loved lectures are collected in this book. They are some of the most accessible presentations of the anthroposophic approach to life available in English. Included are: Practical Training in Thought Overcoming Nervousness Facing Karma The Four Temperaments The first lecture concerns the fundamental human activity of thinking. Everything we do, we do through thinking. The first task, then, is to realize the reality of thinking. To help us do this, Steiner gives exercises that will allow us to experience the cognitive, even clairvoyant, power of thinking. In "Overcoming Nervousness," Steiner shows us how exercises in thinking also give us the calm centered sense needed to lead purposeful, healthy lives. "Facing Karma" takes us to the heart of life, where we experience suffering and happiness. The law of karma that determines life's experiences and encounters also helps us develop the self-knowledge required for self-transformation. Finally, "The Four Temperaments" show us how the union of hereditary factors and our own inner spiritual nature shape our psychology. The guide here is the ancient classifications of sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, and melancholic. Renewed understanding of these allows us to develop a truly modern spiritual psychology, which is the basis of all real inner development. With its many practical exercises, mantras, and meditations, this book is a fundamental introduction for anyone beginning or needing encouragement along the path of inner development.

Start Now!
Start Now!

Author: Rudolf Steiner

Publisher: SteinerBooks

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 9780880105262

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Start Now! offers an extensive and representative sample of Steiner's spiritual instructions and meditative practices, including meditation instructions; mantric verses; daily, weekly and monthly practices for the development of soul qualities; karmic exercises and meditations for working with the dead, the angelic hierarchies and our guardian angel.

What is Anthroposophy?
What is Anthroposophy?

Author: Rudolf Steiner

Publisher: SteinerBooks

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 100

ISBN-13: 9780880105064

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3 selected lectures by Rudolf Steiner This is one of those books that can change your life. Radical, thought-provoking, and indeed mind-boggling, it leads to a completely new way of looking at what it means to be human--a spiritual being in a universe that itself is not just physical, but psychic and spiritual as well. These three previously untranslated lectures are a masterly introduction to what Rudolf Steiner means by "Anthroposophy." They explain why Steiner describes this path--which means literally "the wisdom of the human being"--as one that "unites what is spiritual in the human being with what is spiritual in the universe." Steiner begins by describing what happens when we die. He shows the relationship between our physical life on Earth and the etheric, astral, and spiritual life of the cosmos. He also explains how physical lives are completely interwoven with cosmic existence, and how the "miss-ing links" in evolution are spiritual in nature. Steiner then demonstrates what he calls the "dilettantism" and "soullessness" of mainstream psychology. He points out that, since the second half of the nineteenth century, the idea of the soul has been lost and that, consequently, understanding of our inner lives is without a sure foundation. A very different view emerges, however, from a truly spiritual perspective. In the third lec-ture, Steiner takes as his guide our three states of being--waking, dreaming, and sleeping. He describes in detail what happens in these three states and how each is bound up with our lives as physical, psychic, and spiritual beings. With the profound insights in this book, the world becomes a much larger, richer, and more exciting place to live.

The Christian Mystery
The Christian Mystery

Author: Rudolf Steiner

Publisher: SteinerBooks

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 9780880104197

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In this major collection, Rudolf Steiner affirms the reality of esoteric Christianity and unveils many of its secret teachings. His lectures are on the significance of the Mystery of Golgotha and of the Blood that flowed on the Cross; the relationship of Christ and Lucifer (or Love and Knowledge); the various paths of initiation, including the Christian-Gnostic and Rosicrucian Paths; and Steiner's early interpretations of St. John's gospel and the sermon on the mount. All of Steiner's lectures on the Lord's Prayer are also included, as well as the version of the prayer that Steiner himself prayed throughout his life. This is an excellent book for all those who want to deepen their understanding of the Western stream of Christian esotericism and Rudolf Steiner's approach to Christianity as a spiritual practice.

NATURE SPIRITS
NATURE SPIRITS

Author: RUDOLF STEINER

Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press

Published: 2016-09-05

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 185584530X

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Based on knowledge attained through his highly-trained clairvoyance, Rudolf Steiner contends that folk traditions regarding nature spirits are based on spiritual reality. He describes how people possessed a natural spiritual vision in ancient times, enabling them to commune with nature spirits. These entities - which are also referred to as elemental beings - became immortalised as fairies and gnomes in myth, legend and children's stories. Today, says Steiner, the instinctive understanding that humanity once had for these elemental beings should be transformed into clear scientific knowledge. He even asserts that humanity will not be able to reconnect with the spiritual world if it cannot develop a new relationship to the elementals. The nature spirits themselves want to be of great assistance to us, acting as 'emissaries of higher divine spiritual beings'.

Staying Connected
Staying Connected

Author: Rudolf Steiner

Publisher: SteinerBooks

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780880104623

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The idea of maintaining, continuing, and enhancing our relationships with those who have died was a fundamental part of Rudolf Steiner's work. This volume collects a rich harvest of Steiner's thoughts on this subject gathered over many years. Steiner speaks from his own experiences, providing some of the meditation practices and verses that worked for him. We learn of the value of reading to the dead; of using verbs (rather than nouns) when talking with them; of the importance of the sacred moments while falling asleep and awaking for asking questions and receiving answers; of the way our memories of the dead are like art to them; and of key moods we must develop -- community with the world, gratitude, confidence in the current of life.

A Way of Self-Knowledge
A Way of Self-Knowledge

Author: Rudolf Steiner

Publisher: SteinerBooks

Published: 1999-05

Total Pages: 189

ISBN-13: 0880108509

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Ever since her early days at the Findhorn Community in Scotland, Dorothy Maclean has been helping people attune to nature and connect with their inner divinity. Now, in Choices of Love, she discusses the nature of divine love and how each of us can avail ourselves of its power to enrich any aspect of our lives. The immensity of divine love, how to contact it, the nature of the Divine, blocks to understanding, the nature of good and evil, and the angelic world of nature and of human groupings such as cities, states, and nations, are among the topics Dorothy Maclean addresses. Choices of Love will leave you with a clearer understanding of yourself and of the universal love in which we all participate.

Autobiography
Autobiography

Author: Rudolf Steiner

Publisher: SteinerBooks

Published: 2006-05

Total Pages: 623

ISBN-13: 0880109017

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4 lectures, Dornach, June 28 - July 18, 1923 (CW 350) "Truth and striving for truth must taste good to you; and lies, once you are conscious of them, must taste bitter and poisonous. You must not only know that human judgments have color, but also that printer's ink nowadays is mostly deadly nightshade juice. You must be able to experience this in all honesty and rectitude, and once you can do so, you will be in a state of spiritual transformation" (Rudolf Steiner). What is the relationship between coming to see the secrets of the universe and one's own view of the world? How far must one go before finding the higher worlds on the path of natural science? Do cosmic forces influence all of humanity? What connection do plants have with the human being and the human body? In answering these questions, Steiner covers a wide range of topics, from the development of independent thinking and the ability to think backward to the uses of what seems boring and the reversal of thinking between the physical and spiritual worlds, and from the "physiology" of dreams to living into nature and the spiritual dimension of various foods we eat. As always in his lectures to the workers, Steiner's style is clear, direct, and accessible. This volume is a translation from German of four lectures from Rhythmen im Kosmos und im Menschenwesen: Wie kommt man zum Schauen der geistigen Welt? (GA 350).

Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Steiner

Author: Christoph Lindenberg

Publisher: Steiner Books

Published: 2017-09-15

Total Pages: 816

ISBN-13: 9781621482062

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"This biography should contribute to a greater understanding of Rudolf Steiner. Whoever follows his life will get the impression that, from a certain point on, his constant attempt was to awake, in numerous ways, an active, working understanding for Anthroposophy. Steiner used creative imagination to treat particular themes and tasks, ever anew, and in many forms. If we observe the variations of those presentations, we see in them the intentions that guided his whole life. A biography that shows Steiner's intentions and efforts in the context of the times and his life circumstances will not only relate what happened, but also why. His work does not, as in many modern biographies, disappear behind the life story. A student of Rudolf Steiner during the late 1890s observed: "I never again had a teacher like him. He was gaunt, shabbily dressed. He always wore an old coat; his trousers looked like corkscrews, much too short and worn out. At first he sported a van Dyke, then a mustache, then he was clean shaven.... Everyone loved him dearly, and I would have, as would most of the others, gone through fire for him.... He was loving and concerned in a way that I have never again discovered in another person. Funny--I often asked my fianc e whether he was really as poor as he seemed to be; during breaks he always took a dry roll out of his pocket and ate it with visible enjoyment. But if you think that they left him in peace during the break, you are way off base. The whole group gathered around him and the questions were endless." This is the most comprehensive biography of Rudolf Steiner available, tracing his life and development through an in-depth look at his life and work, which encompassed numerous areas, including his Goethean research, philosophy, esoteric work, pedagogy, medicine, sociology, agriculture, architecture, painting, movement arts, and poetry. This biography, which tracks his divergent activities, shows how Rudolf Steiner was most concerned with bringing a new approach to knowledge through Spiritual Science and to revitalizing the most important areas of human culture and society.