Cosmic and Human Metamorphosis
7 lectures in Berlin, February 6, 1917 – March 20, 1917 (CW 175)
“As microcosms we are actually part of, and subject to, the same laws that cosmic beings are, just as the breath we draw is subject to our own human nature…. If our hearts are sensitive to the secrets of cosmic existence and not merely blocks of wood, the words we have been placed into the universe will no longer be an abstract statement. We will be fully alive to this fact. Knowledge and a feeling will spring up within us, the fruits of which will be born in our will impulses, and our whole being will live in unison with the great life, divine cosmic existence.” —Rudolf Steiner
In this important series of lectures, Rudolf Steiner lays out for Society members right and wrong ways of establishing connections with those who have died. Rather than following the materialistic desire to draw those who have died back into the physical realm, Steiner presents a means toward true spiritual union through strengthening one’s forces of consciousness. He also showed how help is provided from the sphere of Christ’s activity as a balance for our time.
Steiner states,
“One who sees into the deeper meaning intended by our spiritual science recognizes in it not merely theoretical knowledge about all sorts of human problems, the members of the human being, reincarnation and karma, but one looks in it for an entirely different language, a way to express oneself in regard to spiritual matters. The fact that we learn through spiritual science to speak inwardly in our thoughts with the spiritual world is far more important than acquiring theoretical ideas. The Christ is with us even until the end of the world. It is his language that we must learn.”
C O N T E N T S:
1. Materialism and Spirituality—Life and Death
2. Metamorphoses of the Soul Forces
3. The Human Soul and the Universe, Part 1
4. Morality as a Germinating Force
5. The Human Soul and the Universe, Part 2
6. Humankind and the Supraearthly
7. Errors and the Truth
References and Related Reading
This book is a fully revised edition of a classic translation of 7 (of 17) lectures from Bausteine zu einer Erkenntnis des Mysteriums von Golgatha. Kosmische und menschliche Metamorphose (Building blocks for an understanding of the mystery of Calvary. Cosmic and human metamorphosis), GA 175. The text of all 17 lectures is contained in Building Stones for an Understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha: Human Life in a Cosmic Context.
About the Author
Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) was born in the small village of Kraljevec, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Croatia), where he grew up (see right). As a young man, he lived in Weimar and Berlin, where he became a well-published scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar, known especially for his work with Goethe’s scientific writings. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he began to develop his early philosophical principles into an approach to systematic research into psychological and spiritual phenomena. Formally beginning his spiritual teaching career under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, Steiner came to use the term Anthroposophy (and spiritual science) for his philosophy, spiritual research, and findings. The influence of Steiner’s multifaceted genius has led to innovative and holistic approaches in medicine, various therapies, philosophy, religious renewal, Waldorf education, education for special needs, threefold economics, biodynamic agriculture, Goethean science, architecture, and the arts of drama, speech, and eurythmy. In 1924, Rudolf Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world. He died in Dornach, Switzerland.
William Michael (Jens) Jensen has worked with SteinerBooks since 1995, beginning as a copyeditor, a job that quickly included putting together and maintaining our first website. In 2001, he moved to Montreal and worked long-distance for SteinerBooks there for fourteen years, assuming the additional tasks of designing books, covers, and catalogs. He currently lives and works in western Massachusetts.
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