Crisis in the Anthroposophical Society PDF Download

Author: Sergei O Prokofieff
Publisher: Temple Lodge Publishing
ISBN: 1906999430
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 137

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Book Description
More than 100 years after its founding, the Anthroposophical Society faces serious questions--some of an existential nature--regarding its purpose and tasks today. On March 30, 2012, at the Society's Annual General Meeting in Dornach, Sergei Prokofieff and Peter Selg gave lectures in which they addressed difficult issues related to the General Anthroposophical Society and its global headquarters, the Goetheanum in Switzerland. Their lectures were met with a mixture of enthusiastic support and stern disapproval. They are reproduced here in full, together with supplementary material that helps broaden and deepen their themes, so that every interested individual has access to them.

Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 9780880103541
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
This collection of lectures contains Steiner's strongest statements on the issues of human relationships within a spiritual community. Occasioned by a scandal involving people influenced by psychoanalysis, these lectures are Steiner's comprehensive assessment of Freud's work and psychoanalysis as a whole. Steiner shows, our physical life, including human sexuality, has spiritual roots; and that looking to sexuality for the explanation of human behavior is therefore looking in the wrong direction. He also makes clear that becoming part of a spiritual community, such as the Anthroposophical Society, entails special responsibilities and a new way of being.

Author: Dan McKanan
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520290062
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
For nearly a century, the worldwide anthroposophical movement has been a catalyst for environmental activism, helping to bring to life many modern ecological practices such as organic farming, community-supported agriculture, and green banking. Yet the spiritual practice of anthroposophy remains unknown to most environmentalists. A historical and ethnographic study of the environmental movement, Eco-Alchemy uncovers for the first time the profound influences of anthroposophy and its founder, Rudolf Steiner, whose holistic worldview, rooted in esoteric spirituality, inspired the movement. Dan McKanan shows that environmentalism is itself a complex ecosystem and that it would not be as diverse or transformative without the contributions of anthroposophy.

Author: Peter Selg
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 0880108266
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 98

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Book Description
Although the fruits of Anthroposophy --Waldorf education, biodynamic agriculture, Camphill, anthroposophic medicine, and so on --are relatively well known and moderately successful, their relationship to Anthroposophy and its vehicle for transmission, the General Anthroposophical Society, and the School for Spiritual Science, remains mysterious and unclear; sadly, the same is true of the meaning and purpose of those institutions. Related to this is the fact that, though these offshoots of Anthroposophy are well known, eighty-five years after his death and eighty-seven years after the re-formation of the Anthroposophical Society, what Rudolf Steiner brought into the world, what entered the world through him and what he sought to accomplish --that is, what spiritual science and spiritual-scientific research are and how one practices them --remain virtually unknown. In other words, something essential has been forgotten. Written both in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner's 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 Steiner's own words and life. He does so by describing, clearly and objectively, the historical background of Steiner's vision of the "civilizational task" of Anthroposophy and how he had hoped it might be accomplished. This book has two parts. First, the author offers a lucid description of the development and gradual sharpening --in the face of the crisis of Western culture epitomized by World War I and its aftermath --of the vision of spiritual science as a truly Michaelic task for the Michael Age. In part two, Peter Selg takes up the events following Rudolf Steiner's death, outlining deftly and subtly the struggles and developments that ensued, commenting tactfully on the questions and perspectives that arose and continue to arise. Rudolf Steiner's Intentions for the Anthroposophical Society is for all those who care about the reality and future of Anthroposophy. Originally published in German as Der Vorstand, die Sektionen und die Gesellschaft. Welche Hochschule wollte Rudolf Steiner? by Ita Wegman Institute for Basic Research into Anthroposophy.

Author: Sevak Gulbekian
Publisher: Temple Lodge Publishing
ISBN: 9781902636092
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
Rudolf Steiner spoke at various times of a period that encompasses the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the new millennium. He described it as a time of great spiritual struggle in which forces of destruction would wage war on benevolent forces, and how the future of culture and civilization would depend on the outcome. In his many statements on this matter, Steiner warned, in particular, members of the Anthroposophical Society and movement - that they would be called on to develop vital spiritual capacities that are becoming increasingly critical for human progress. In these eighteen essays, contributors offer their thoughts on the question of where anthroposophy in its earthly manifestation now stands and to what extent it is fulfilling its tasks. This commentary on the challenges ahead offers us all a chance to reassess, prepare, and wake up. This compilation features eighteen essays by Jesaiah ben-Aharon, Mario Betti, Terry Boardman, Peter Bridgmont, Gilbert Childs, Dor Deverell, Michaela Gl ckler, Sevak Gulbekian, Brien Masters, Thomas Meyer, Bernard Nesfield-Cookson, Sergei O. Prokofieff, Richard Seddon, Nick Thomas, Peter Tradowsky, Hans-peter van Manen, Edward Warren, and Olive Whicher.

Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
ISBN: 1855843803
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
‘The intention is to take a practical subject and show how our spiritual science with anthroposophical orientation truly can play an effective role in everyday life.’ – Rudolf Steiner Following his first major lecture course for medical practitioners, Rudolf Steiner sought to elaborate and deepen his ‘extension’ of the art of healing from a spiritual-scientific perspective. In this collection of addresses, discussions, question-and-answer sessions and lectures – running parallel to his major medical cycles – Steiner comments on contemporary medicine’s emphasis on experimental, materially-based research and its subsequent lack of attention to therapy. Steiner’s intention is not to detract from developments in medical science but to build on them with spiritual science – not quackery but a true art of medicine. The medical practitioner has an important task: diseases must be cured, and it is wrong not to intervene and simply to allow ‘karma to take its course’. Speaking to audiences ranging from members of the general public to small groups of medical professionals, Steiner offers new insights into our understanding of human organs such as the brain, kidneys and liver, as well as the efficacy of healing substances including arsenic, sulphur, arnica and essential plant oils. He studies a broad range of specific medical conditions, giving advice on cancer, hysteria, rheumatism, gout, skin eruptions, typhoid, diabetes, haemophilia, syphilis, gonorrhoea, asthma, glaucoma, leukaemia, smallpox, insomnia, and childhood diseases such as measles. His commentaries on a raft of contrasting subjects – such as psychiatry, sexual maturity, memory, poisoning and detoxification – present challenging perspectives for patients and medical practitioners. Steiner’s surprisingly non-dogmatic advice on vaccination, for example, gives a refreshingly balanced, and perhaps unexpected, point of view. This volume also includes a lecture on eurythmy therapy, a comprehensive introduction, index and notes, and nine full colour plates of Rudolf Steiner’s blackboard drawings.

Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
ISBN: 1855844451
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
'When we consider the plant world in all its greenery, or the stars with their golden glory; when we look at all this without forming any judgement from within ourselves but instead permit the things to reveal themselves to us... then all things are transformed from what they were in the world of the senses into something entirely different – something for which no word exists other than one which is taken from our very life of soul...' – Rudolf Steiner. One of Rudolf Steiner's most fundamental objectives was to show how the spiritual world connects to and penetrates the material world. In doing so, he was pioneering a modern form of Rosicrucianism – countering traditional religious conceptions (that spirit and matter are polar opposites) as well as contemporary materialistic science (that ignores the existence of spiritual phenomena altogether). In this concise series of lectures, Rudolf Steiner shows how the human senses reveal the mysterious world of the will, which is at once a spiritual and physical phenomenon. The senses act as a portal connecting our physical and etheric bodies with what Steiner refers to as worlds of 'all-pervading will' and 'all-pervading wisdom'. He elaborates this theme, giving some unexpected and delightful insights into the senses of hearing and sight, and in particular how we experience colour. Steiner suggests that divine spiritual beings had different intentions for the formation of physical human beings, but that adversary powers caused disruption, leading to a more materialized constitution. He describes disorders in the connections between the human physical, etheric, astral and ego bodies, and the ill effects of one aspect overpowering the others. He gives insight into human glandular secretions, and why we need to eat and digest – also connected to the intervention of adversary beings. Among the many other themes tackled here, Rudolf Steiner describes the transformation of the human senses and organs, giving special consideration to the function of the larynx, which in future times will develop a special kind of reproductive power.

Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
ISBN: 1855843986
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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In this exceptional series of lectures, Rudolf Steiner speaks in scientific detail about the connection of the subtle aspects of human nature - our soul and spirit - to our physical constitution. At the heart of this course are the well-loved 'Bridge' lectures, which appear in English for the first time in their wider context. Steiner discusses the solid, fluid, air and warmth bodies, and how these are connected with the various ethers, the 'I' and human blood. He goes on to describe how ideals and ideas impact the various aspects of the human constitution - how morality is a source of 'world creativity' - with moral thinking imbuing life into substance and will.

Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
ISBN: 1855844478
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Fundamentally, all of spiritual science ultimately aims to understand human beings in their essence, in their tasks and endeavours – in their necessary endeavours in the course of development.' – Rudolf Steiner. In the midst of the division and destruction of the Great War, Rudolf Steiner speaks of the spiritual unification of all human beings. Rather than preaching a traditional morality, however, he states esoteric facts as he perceives them, based on spiritual-scientific research. These observations relate to the powerful universal impulse of Christ – a healing spiritual force that works through the various nations and races, irrespective of creed or colour – as a source of potential unity. Rudolf Steiner describes this impulse as the central core of human evolution. It allows for a conscious and newly-acquired connection between all human beings, in the context of the continuing diversification and fragmentation of the human race. The central motif in these lectures relates to the appearance of Christ on earth – knowledge of his historical incarnation, as well as Christ's manifestation in the present and future periods of human development. Rudolf Steiner creates an arc from the pre-Christian mysteries through Gnosticism and the older studies of the early Church Fathers, to Scholasticism and neo-Scholasticism. After ancient faculties of clairvoyance had began to fade, he explains, human beings could no longer see beyond the world of outer appearances, and direct perceptions of Christ were therefore no longer possible. And so the question arose as to how limitations on human knowledge could be overcome – a question which remains pertinent in our time. Steiner asserts that only a transformation of thinking, enabling a living and conscious inner conceptual life, can allow for a true understanding of the relationship between the earthly Jesus and the cosmic Christ. Such living thinking leads in turn to direct experience. Other topics in this volume include the birth date of the 'two Jesus children'; the wisdom of Gnostic teachings; the provenance of the Cross; the mysteries of the Christmas festival; insights into ancient Christmas plays, and reflections on individual consciousness of karma in the future.

Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
ISBN: 1855844435
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
'An external view of states of health and sickness must be augmented by what we can also know about the inner, spiritual reality within the human being.' – Rudolf Steiner. In a series of nine lectures to doctors, pharmacists and students, Rudolf Steiner presents a wealth of medical ideas with numerous therapeutic and diagnostic insights. As with his first series of lectures on medicine held a year previously (Introducing Anthroposophical Medicine), the range, depth and scope of Steiner's subject-matter is breathtaking. Speaking at the international centre of anthroposophy, the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, Rudolf Steiner begins by describing the interplay of physical and metaphysical aspects of the human being, presenting a paradigm in which the four bodies – physical, etheric, astral and ego or 'I' – interrelate in contrasting ways with the threefold human organism of head, thorax and metabolism, and with our capacities for thinking, feeling and will. These challenging but enlightening concepts unlock a wonderful diagnostic tool for the appraisal and understanding of patients. Steiner considers the medicinal actions of various substances – including silica, phosphorus, sulphur, arsenic, antimony and mercury. Among numerous other subjects, Rudolf Steiner discusses the methodology of medical examination; the treatment of developmental irregularities; the four types of ether; raw food diets; the I and assimilation of food; metal therapy and the actions of lead, magnesium, tin, iron, copper, gold, mercury and silver; the use of root and herbaceous parts and flowers in medicine; the rhythmic balancing process between the action of salutogenic and pathological forces; and the nature of death. This volume also features Rudolf Steiner's answers to questions, an introductory lecture to eurythmy therapy, a comprehensive introduction, notes and index, colour plates of Steiner's blackboard drawings, and facsimiles and translations of his notes for the lectures.