1 lecture, Berlin on March 4, 1909 (CW 57)

"The two streams in the human being combine to produce what is commonly known as a person's temperament. Our inner self and our inherited traits comingle in it. Temperament is an intermediary between what connects us to an ancestral line and what we bring with us.... Temperament strikes a balance between the eternal and the ephemeral."
--Rudolf Steiner

From personal spiritual insight, Rudolf Steiner renews and broadens the ancient teaching of the four temperaments. He explains how each person's mixture of...

In 1904, in the magazine Lucifer-Gnosis, Rudolf Steiner published some of his earliest articles on self-development, which became his classic How to Know Higher Worlds: A Modern Path of Initiation. Steiner continued his articles as "The Stages of Higher Development." He wrote of his intention in 1914: "A second part of How to Know Higher Worlds] is to be added to this first part, bringing further explanations of the frame of mind that can lead to the experience of higher worlds." Though Steiner never found time to publish those articles as a book, they are collected in...

Created in 1911, eurythmy was developed for years as an artistic and educational discipline. Although Rudolf Steiner pointed out its healing aspects from the very beginning, it was not until 1921 that he gave a course of lectures describing a vital new application of eurythmy. To the assembled eurythmists and doctors, he presented what one participant described as "a complete and detailed method of eurythmy therapy in which we could directly experience that, even today, the creative and therapeutic power of the word...is still at work."

Steiner's comprehensive lecture course, republished...

In the Middle Ages, astronomia--one of the seven liberal arts--was as much about astrology as it was astronomy. Indeed, the two disciplines did not part company until the seventeenth century, when the materialistic worldview began to gain greater prominence. Where human destiny was once connected with the stars and planets, and spiritual, or soul, qualities were associated with the natural world, the cosmos began to be seen as merely a matter of gases, fire, and dead rocks.

Steiner brings a spiritual perspective to our study of the heavens. While criticizing the superficial...

"Truth and striving for truth must taste good to you; and lies, once you are conscious of them, must taste bitter and poisonous. You must not only know that human judgments have color, but also that printer's ink nowadays is mostly deadly nightshade juice. You must be able to experience this in all honesty and rectitude, and once you can do so, you will be in a state of spiritual transformation." --Rudolf Steiner

Listen to an audio excerpt from this book.

• What is the relationship between coming to see the secrets of the universe and one's own...

14 lectures, Stuttgart, August 21-September 5, 1919 (CW 294)

How do Waldorf teachers put their educational ideals into practice in the classroom? How does a teacher connect geography and art and language in a way that enlivens the souls of children? What does a child's respect for the teacher mean for later life? These are only a few practical aspects of this initial course for Waldorf teachers.

During an intensive two weeks, Rudolf Steiner gave three simultaneous educational courses to those who would be the first teachers of the original Waldorf school. One course provided...

4 lectures, Vienna, September 27-October 1, 1923 (from CW 223)

Steiner shows the need to "expand the horizon of life into the breadth of the world" in order to overcome today's hermit-like existence. He shows that the path to becoming true citizens of the cosmos is through the forces of the Archangel Michael, who is always present and prepared to help us.

Synopses:

• September 27 -- How shall man, the earth citizen, once more become a citizen of the cosmos? The expansion of life's horizon into cosmic reaches. Philosophic aspects and impulses...

11 lectures, Dornach, July 1 - August 8 1924 (CW 237)

"The Karmic Relationships of the Anthroposophic Movement"

In 1924, before his last address in September, Rudolf Steiner gave more than eighty lectures on karma to members of the Anthroposophical Society. These profoundly esoteric lectures examine the laws behind reincarnation and karma and offer a detailed exploration of the incarnations of specific historical individuals. In Steiner's words, the study of karma is "a matter of penetrating into the most profound mysteries of existence, for within the sphere of...

11 lectures, various cities, January-May, 1909 (CW 109)

These talks reveal a particular aspect of how humankind have been guided spiritually throughout history--by the life forces and astral bodies of the great initiates and avatars that were preserved, duplicated, and interwoven with the leading personalities of history. Steiner gives numerous examples of this process, but he says that such inspired people are rare today. Nevertheless, we have the possibility of elevating ourselves in the future to the point where we can receive into ourselves the "I-being" of the Christ, which is...

Rudolf Steiner characterizes the relationship between inner and outer realities. In a sense deeper than normally recognized, the mind/body split is the result of a fear to penetrate the mind, the inner human being. This lack of inner courage rebounds on society and civilization producing the terrible conditions modern humanity finds itself surrounded by. Healing will come only when we summon the courage to penetrate the hidden mysteries within.

These themes and many more are explored in these insightful lectures. "The modern, materialistic world conception is a product of fear and...