The Grail and the Development of Conscience

The Grail and the Development of Conscience: St. Paul and Parsifal

Karl König often gave lectures based on the Christian festivals, and the selections in this book were first presented at Eastertime. The central theme is the development of conscience and memory, which raises questions about individual freedom and spirituality, particularly in the context of community-building.

Running parallel with the main theme, König discusses a number of subjects close to his heart, including the search for the Grail, Parsifal and St. Paul, connecting his subjects in surprising and challenging ways.

C O N T E N T S:

Introduction by Guy Cornish

St. Paul and the Grail
1. the School of Athens
2. The Mithras Mysteries, Eleusis, and the Rosicrucians
3. The Sixth Century
4. Central Europe, Threefolding, and the Grail
5. The Path of Wisdom through History
6. King Arthur and the New Organ of Consciousness
7. Three Stages of Consciousness

The Holy Grail
1. Exoteric and Esoteric Christianity
2. The Holy Grail and the Consciousness Soul

Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Karl König (1902–1966) was born in Vienna, in Austria-Hungary, the only son of a Jewish shoemaker. He studied medicine at the University of Vienna and graduated in 1927, with a special interest in embryology. After graduating, he was invited by Ita Wegman to work in her Klinisch-Therapeutisches Institute, a clinic in Arlesheim, Switzerland for people with special needs. He married Mathilde Maasberg in 1929. Dr. König was appointed pediatrician at the Rudolf Steiner-inspired Schloß Pilgrimshain institute in Strzegom, where he worked until 1936, when he returned to Vienna and established a successful medical practice. Owing to Hitler’s invasion of Austria, he was forced to flee Vienna to Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1938. Dr. König was interned briefly at the beginning of World War II, but on his release in 1940 he set up the first Camphill Community for Children in Need of Special Care at Camphill on the outskirts of Aberdeen. From the mid-1950s, König began more communities, including one in North Yorkshire, the first to care for those beyond school age with special needs. In 1964, König moved to Brachenreuthe near Überlingen on Lake Constance, Germany, where he set up another community, where he died in 1966.