Art and Anthroposophy
Art and Anthroposophy

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 9780967456225

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Steiner's idea of art included the renewal of society in general and more particularly certain human endeavors such as science, economy, and religion. He was convinced that his approach would in turn lead to a fundamental renewal of contemporary art. In his introduction, Mattke writes "to the extent that we humans adopt a modern mindset, the more we will be divided from the reality that surrounds us." In response to this profoundly challenging situation, Steiner recommends that we do not assume a New Age paradigm, or a "back-to-nature" attitude such as Rousseau advocated. Rather, according to Steiner and anthroposophy, contemporary humanity needs to develop and practice new ways of thinking, feeling, and willing in order to reconnect to the spiritual character of human life and of the cosmos in a conscious way. Steiner's conception of art is one of the ways to effect this reconnection. Today's art calls for an individual encounter from ego to ego, for conscious work to meet the artist's intentions and foremost for intense work on one's own habitual thought systems and so called "normal" feelings. Losing the crutches of trained intellectual conclusions as well as the comfortable wellness of one's familiar feelings is surely an intense learning process, a real threshold experience. Art & Anthroposophy includes articles ranging from a very personal account of conversations between Margarita Woloschin and Rudolf Steiner; the significance of the First Goetheanum; an article by David Adams on Joseph Beuys; and a tribute to Beppe Assenza by Arthur Zajonc.

Living a Spiritual Year
Living a Spiritual Year

Author: Adrian Anderson

Publisher: Threshold Publishing

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 9780646102856

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Living a Spiritual Year, first published in 1992, is a tour de force in the understanding of Rudolf Steiner's teachings about the spiritual energies and spirit beings in the seasonal cycle of the year, and the spiritual benefits for people, in either hemisphere, of being attuned to this. This can lead to a new cycle of festivals, for each hemisphere. Being attuned to the spiritual reality behind the yearly cycle is uplifting for communities, and inspiring for the individual. Anderson integrates ancient traditions with Steiner's teachings including his esoteric Christianity, and refers to scientific research where relevant. This new, expanded edition answers the objections from critics, and has coloured graphics that help the reader visualize more clearly the wonderful influences that make the seasonal cycle so spiritually significant. Topics include: - The four ether layers in the upper atmosphere. - The springtime descent into matter and the Passover festival and how there is an esoteric 'Easter' event - the Eostre festival of the Celts - in the spring equinox of both hemispheres. - The Yuletide or 13 Holy Nights festival occurs in June in the south, and December in the northern hemisphere. - The role of shooting stars in the autumn 'Michaelmas' festival. - The spiritual influences active in summertime. - How in each season, an Archangel is the regent of the nature sprites for that hemisphere. - How to use the Soul Calendar to meditate upon each week of the year, following the seasonal cycle, in either hemisphere. About the author: Adrian Anderson, Ph.D.(2005), is an Australian born best-selling author in the ideas of Rudolf Steiner. His Doctoral Thesis is a pioneering assessment of Rudolf Steiner's spiritual philosophy, for the academic reader. He has a knowledge of many languages including Attic and Hellenistic Greek, old Icelandic and modern and medieval German, and an extensive background of research into a wide variety of subjects.

Chronicle of the Living Christ
Chronicle of the Living Christ

Author: Robert A. Powell

Publisher: SteinerBooks

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 502

ISBN-13: 9780880104074

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This pioneering, monumental work utilizes the visionary legacy of Anne Catherine Emmerich and the spiritual scientific discoveries of Rudolf Steiner concerning various hidden facts of Christ's incarnation. Powell has established the dates and daily events of Jesus Christ on Earth. Further, he indicates their significance for our future. In part one, Powell gives a historical overview. Then, using esoteric sources and his own knowledge of sidereal astrology, he offers startling insights into the circumstances of the Christmas event and the incarnation. In part two, Powell offers a daily chronicle of the three-and-a-half-year ministry of Jesus Christ on Earth, dating the events with an unprecedented accuracy. Also, Powell correlates significant events in Christ's life with upcoming dates in the history of humankind and indicates that the living presence of the Christ is increasingly accessible to us.

Eternal Individuality
Eternal Individuality

Author: Sergei O. Prokofieff

Publisher: Temple Lodge Publishing

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 9780904693393

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Prokofieff develops and expands Rudolf Steiner's occult research, leading the reader to an understanding of Novalis's crucial future mission amongst humanity, and indicating how this mission receives its form from the roots of its rich karmic past.

How the Spiritual World Projects Into Physical Existence
How the Spiritual World Projects Into Physical Existence

Author: Rudolf Steiner

Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 1855844044

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

‘By cultivating spiritual thoughts here on earth we can provide nourishment for the dead... When fields lie fallow they produce no crops to feed humanity and people may die of starvation. The dead cannot die of starvation, of course; all they can do is suffer when spiritual life lies fallow on earth.’ – Rudolf Steiner The founding of the Anthroposophical Society in 1913 marked a major change in Rudolf Steiner’s work. Although Steiner had always been an independent spiritual researcher, the break with the theosophists removed all constraints, allowing for a full flowering of anthroposophy. These lectures, presented to audiences in Germany, France and Sweden, are filled with a freshness and vitality that reflect this new beginning, providing intriguing glimpses of great themes that Steiner was to develop in the years ahead. A predominant topic here is that of death. Rudolf Steiner seeks to explain how people on earth can reach the dead in a non-mediumistic way, and how such interaction between ‘living’ and ‘dead’ is mutually beneficial. Startlingly, he states that people who do not recognize the being of Lucifer during their earthly life – who have not ‘already got to intuit and know the luciferic impulses in the human soul properly whilst here in life’ – will be ‘vampirized’ by this being after death. Rudolf Steiner also elaborates on the activities of the adversary beings in present-day civilization – spiritual powers that play a necessary role in Earth evolution – and how we can counteract them. The longer someone can stay alive, for example, is a victory over Ahriman’s activity. Even the losing of teeth has beneficial aspects, allowing us to ‘... gain certain impulses and these overcome Ahriman’. Steiner relates the actions of such spiritual entities to child development too, indicating the various influences in the seven-year cycles of growth. Also included are lectures on the Christian festivals and various artworks, including ‘The Triumph of Death’ in the Composanto cemetery at Pisa, which reveals great secrets of humanity’s evolution. Whatever the subject addressed, it soon becomes apparent that these lectures were not just relevant to Steiner’s audience in 1913, but also speak to contemporary souls around the world seeking spiritual orientation and understanding.

Passion of the Western Mind
Passion of the Western Mind

Author: Richard Tarnas

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2011-10-19

Total Pages: 560

ISBN-13: 0307804526

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"[This] magnificent critical survey, with its inherent respect for both the 'Westt's mainstream high culture' and the 'radically changing world' of the 1990s, offers a new breakthrough for lay and scholarly readers alike....Allows readers to grasp the big picture of Western culture for the first time." SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE Here are the great minds of Western civilization and their pivotal ideas, from Plato to Hegel, from Augustine to Nietzsche, from Copernicus to Freud. Richard Tarnas performs the near-miracle of describing profound philosophical concepts simply but without simplifying them. Ten years in the making and already hailed as a classic, THE PASSION OF THE WESERN MIND is truly a complete liberal education in a single volume.

Good and Evil Spirits
Good and Evil Spirits

Author: Rudolf Steiner

Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press

Published: 2014-09-04

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1855844443

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

'We learn gradually to raise our eyes not only to material existence; instead we discover spiritual entities and their actions wherever we look in the universe... We get to know the deeds of these spirits. We are alive and active and we are within the spiritual entities and their activities.' – Rudolf Steiner. >This classic series of lectures presents systematic knowledge on many different spiritual entities, ranging from the higher hierarchies of angels down to hindering demons. Basing his presentation on spiritual-scientific research, Rudolf Steiner intends to awaken us to the existence of these beings and how they interact with all aspects of our lives. Steiner describes how animals, plants and minerals have group souls – with even an inert stone having a spiritual counterpart in the invisible world. The various planets in the cosmos are connected to great spiritual beings and hierarchies too, as is the zodiac, which is not a static band of fixed stars but is also evolving. Steiner gives a remarkable picture of how Christ relates to the zodiacal constellations and to our own higher aspects. Spiritual entities are associated with the evolution of earth and the previous stages of its existence – and here Steiner elaborates relevant chapters of his book Occult Science, An Outline, explaining how our task on earth is ultimately to develop love rather than wisdom (which was the goal of earth's previous stage). From cosmic considerations, Steiner leads to the spirits of the kingdoms of nature – the elemental beings, with their four classes connecting to the four elements – gnomes, undines, sylphs and salamanders, or earth, water, air and fire spirits. He describes how elemental beings are created by human activities – with coercion of the views of others leading to 'demons', lying leading to 'phantoms', and bad social systems to 'spectres'. Spirits are also created in the association of humans and animals, whilst other spiritual entities connect us with the arts. Steiner emphasises the importance of developing and appreciating the arts – such as music, sculpture, architecture, painting and poetry – for the sake of humanity's future evolution.

Who is This King of Glory?
Who is This King of Glory?

Author: Alvin Boyd Kuhn

Publisher: Book Tree

Published: 2007-09

Total Pages: 513

ISBN-13: 1585093181

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book reveals that much of Christianity and its beliefs had originated in ancient Egypt rather than the Middle East. The author presents us with how, where and why many spiritual Egyptian beliefs were adopted into Christian form and accepted as "history", as opposed to being carried over in their original mythological form. Kuhn states, "The gospels are not and never were histories. They are now proven to have been cryptic dramas of the spiritual evolution of humanity and of the history of the human soul in its earthly tabernacle of flesh." For Christianity to be expressed in the way it was first intended, as experienced during the first two centuries of its existence, one must first acknowledge its pagan roots. This is too much of a leap for most people, but they have not read this book. The author reveals how things were altered in the third century by the existing priesthood and why.

Gnosis
Gnosis

Author: Daniel Merkur

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 1993-01-01

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 9780791416198

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Traces the use of powerful gnostic visionary techniques from Hellenistic Gnosticism and Jewish merkabah mysticism, through Muhammad, the Ismaeilis, and theosophical Sufism to medieval neoplatonism, and renaissance alchemy.

Reverse Ritual
Reverse Ritual

Author: Rudolf Steiner

Publisher: SteinerBooks

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 9780880104876

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Religious ritual is often seen as a way of bringing divine influences down into the material world. In this profound and stimulating work, Rudolf Steiner and Friedrich Benesch introduce the idea of "reverse ritual"--a way that each of us can raise our souls to the spiritual realm. In this process, the everyday world becomes a portal through which we can enter the dimension of the sacred. Here, each of us can be a "priest," and each of our actions can be a cosmic, ritual act. This stimulating collection of writings on spiritual communion of humanity includes two further lectures by Steiner that show how this process can engage our social lives. Also included are two additional essays as appendices: "Sacramental and Spiritual Communion" by Dietrich Asten and "Human Encounters and Karma" by Athys Floride. The introduction by Christopher Schaefer brings these ideas into focus for modern seekers. Contents: Part One: "The Spiritual Communion of Humanity" (5 lectures from GA 219) Part Two: "Preparing for the Sixth Epoch" Part Three: Commentaries by Friedrich Benesch Appendices: Selections from Dietrich Asten: "Spiritual and Sacramental Communion" & Athys Floride: "Human Encounters and Karma."