Social Issues (eBook)

Social Issues: Meditative Thinking & the Threefold Social Order

5 lectures, Basel and Zurich, January 5-March 18, 1920 (CW 334)

Transforming society requires a transformation of thinking!

In these relevant timely lectures for today, Rudolf Steiner shows that modern political, economic, and social problems are symptoms of our faulty thinking. His convincing analysis of economic crises, unemployment, and political uprisings unmasks such problems as signs of our desperate need for new thinking. In a very accessible way, Steiner describes how spiritual science and the kind of thinking it fosters can lead to a renewal of society and to true freedom for individuals.

In view of the current condition of our economy and the seeming chaos of international politics, Steiner’s insights come as a fresh breeze that awakens us to responsibility and renewed hope. In passionate, lucid language, Steiner presents his vision of the threefold social order, a system based on free will and spiritual insight.

This volume is a translation of 5 of the 11 lectures in Vom Einheitsstaat zum dreigliedrigen sozialen Organismus, vol. 334 in the Complete Works.

C O N T E N T S:

Foreword by Sabine H. Seiler
Introduction by Gary Lamb

1. Methods and Goals of Spiritual Science
2. The Foundation of Physical and Mental Health in Spiritual Science
3. Ethical and Religious Forces in the Light of Spiritual Science
4. The Spirit and the Demonic in the Present and in the Future
5. Spiritual Forces in National Life and in Education

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. 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.