Original Impulses for the Science of the Spirit (CW 96)

Original Impulses for the Science of the Spirit — Christian Esotericism in the Light of New Spiritual Insights

Summaries based on notes taken by members of the audience of twenty lectures given in Berlin between January 29, 1906, and June 12, 1907 (CW 96).

The lectures in this volume belong to the upbuilding phase of Rudolf Steiner’s work within the context of the Theosophical Society. As he later stated, the anthroposophical movement — which eventually blossomed into a host of worldwide initiatives in the arts, sciences, education, and agriculture — had its first earthly home within the Theosophical Society, despite the fact that in many ways anthroposophy was at odds with certain spiritual trends in the theosophical movement.

These differences of approach were acknowledged early on by the then leader of the Society, Annie Besant, who wrote in a letter to a theosophical colleague: “Dr. Steiner’s occult training is very different from ours. . . . He & I work in thorough friendship & harmony, but along different lines.”

During these years, Rudolf Steiner traveled widely throughout Europe, giving lectures to a small but enthusiastic circle of people who recognized that he was bringing a unique, Western path of esoteric schooling. In between his travels he would return to Berlin, where he lived, and continue his lectures for the local group of theosophists. These Berlin lectures cover a wide range of subjects, including health, education, planetary evolution, the Rosicrucian way of initiation, the modern science of the spirit, the Lord’s Prayer, the blood that flowed on Golgotha, and karmic law.

In these pages one finds echoes of the more philosophically oriented works that Rudolf Steiner had published in the 1890s, but the central motif lies in his completely new approach to the science of the spirit. Theosophy was at that time mainly concerned with cultivating the old wisdom; Rudolf Steiner — particularly in his new teaching of karma and reincarnation and in his emphasis on the Christ Mystery — was looking toward the future. As he states in the lecture of October 15, 1906: “Karmic law must above all throw light on our future. We should not think so much of the past, but more of the future.”

This volume is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the foundations that underlie the mature work of Rudolf Steiner’s later years.

About the Author

Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) was an Austrian philosopher, scientist, and esotericist whose work gave rise to anthroposophy — a path of knowledge seeking to unite spiritual insight with the rigor of natural science. Out of his teaching grew practical initiatives that continue worldwide, including Waldorf education, biodynamic agriculture, anthroposophic medicine, and the arts of eurythmy and speech. He gave more than six thousand lectures across Europe between 1900 and 1925, the written record of which forms his Collected Works.

About the Translator

Anna R. Meuss has translated many of Rudolf Steiner’s lecture courses and other anthroposophical works from the original German into English.

A Note on This Edition

This book is a translation of Ursprungsimpulse der Geisteswissenschaft: Christliche Esoterik im Lichte neuer Geist-Erkenntnis (2nd edition), published by Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach, Switzerland, 1989.