| Inner Reading and Inner Hearing: And How to Achieve Existence in the World of Ideas (Cw 156) Contributor(s): Steiner, Rudolf (Author), Bamford, Christopher (Introduction by), Miller, Michael (Translator) |
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ISBN: 0880106190 ISBN-13: 9780880106191 Publisher: Steiner Books OUR PRICE: $18.00 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: November 2008 Annotation: These two lecture courses, given just after the beginning of World War I, stand as a kind of unexpected gift. A few months later, once the war became a reality, the possibilities for esoteric work would change and it would become more difficult to do spiritual research. But in the short interval before the true horror of the conflict unfolded, Rudolf Steiner was able to give these lectures, which lay out in the clearest fashion the path of anthroposophic meditation, and its assumptions, language, and consequences. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Body, Mind & Spirit | Mindfulness & Meditation |
| Dewey: 299.935 |
| LCCN: 2008038737 |
| Physical Information: 0.8" H x 5.9" W x 9.1" (0.85 lbs) 248 pages |
| Themes: - Topical - New Age |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: 2 lecture courses & 2 Christmas lectures, Dornach, Oct. 3-7 & Dec. 12-20, 1914; Dornach, Dec. 26 and Basel, Dec. 27, 1914 (CW 156) These two lecture courses, given just after the beginning of World War I, stand as a kind of unexpected gift. A few months later, once the war became a reality, the possibilities for esoteric work would change and it would become more difficult to do spiritual research. But in the short interval before the true horror of the conflict unfolded, Rudolf Steiner--almost by the way--was able to give these lectures, which lay out in the clearest fashion the path of anthroposophic meditation, and its assumptions, language, and consequences. The first lectures expand on the idea of inner "reading" and "hearing" as the path to spiritual knowing. The spiritual world gives something and we, as spiritual researchers, receive and then read or interpret it. Spiritual knowledge is not a matter of will, desire, or intention on our part, but a gift from the spiritual world for which we must prepare ourselves by silencing our desires, emptying ourselves, and presenting ourselves in humility and devotion to the spiritual world. Then we become aware of the reality that the spiritual world is nowhere else but here, all around us; and if we dissolve the sense of being skin-bound, we can become open to it, reflect its images in our astral bodies, and then learn to read them by identification. Steiner describes this complex, subtle, existential and living process, in which ultimately we can become one with the universe, in a masterful way from which anyone who meditates, or wishes to begin to meditate, will gain a great deal. The second lecture cycle, "How to Achieve Existence in the World of Ideas," deepens the themes developed in the first cycle, so that the two together provide a useful guide to the processes underlying meditation or learning to know the spiritual world. At the same time, because work was just beginning on the building that would become the Goetheanum, Steiner connects the esoteric principles of its design with the overall theme of the suprasensory human being in relation to meditation and spiritual knowing. The volume closes with two wonderful lectures in celebration of Christmas. Here Steiner has a threefold emphasis: Christ, supraearthly, glorious, and divine, fully united with humanity and the Earth and born in each human heart. To celebrate Christmas truly means that we recognize all three of these as one in the spiritual world, in the earthly world, and in ourselves. CONTENTS: Introduction by Christopher Bamford PART I: Inner Reading and Inner Hearing 1. The Human Being in Relationship to the World PART II: How to Achieve Existence in the World of Ideas 6. The Human Organization, Memory, and Inner Reading PART III: The Celebration of Christmas 10. Toward a New Understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha This volume is a translation from German of Okkultes Lesen und okkultes H ren (GA 156). |
Contributor Bio(s): Bamford, Christopher: - Christopher Bamford is Editor in Chief for SteinerBooks and its imprints. A Fellow of the Lindisfarne Association, he has lectured, taught, and written widely on Western spiritual and esoteric traditions. He is the author of The Voice of the Eagle: The Heart of Celtic Christianity (1990) and An Endless Trace: The Passionate Pursuit of Wisdom in the West (2003). He has also translated and edited numerous books, including Celtic Christianity: Ecology and Holiness (1982); Homage to Pythagoras: Rediscovering Sacred Science; and The Noble Traveller: The Life and Writings of O. V. de L. Milosz (all published by Lindisfarne Books). HarperSanFrancisco included an essay by Mr. Bamford in its anthology Best Spiritual Writing 2000.Steiner, Rudolf: - 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. |