Spiritual Relations in the Human Organism

Spiritual Relations in the Human Organism: Three lectures by Rudolf Steiner

Dornach, October 20, 22, and 23, 1922 (GA 218)

We know that digestion is the destruction and re-enlivening of matter for sustaining the body, but are we aware of the interconnectedness of this process to our normal soul life?

Subjects in these lectures include the Parsifal motif and its relation to subtle changes within the human organism; the evolution of medicine; healing through the etheric and through the physical; and health and illness in relation to dead and living light.

This volume is a translation from German of three lectures from Geistige Zusammenhänge in der Gestaltung des menschlichen Organismus (GA 218).

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.