Several lectures deal primarily with aspects of life after death. The first describes the three realms after earthly life: that of intense, surging sensation (sympathy and antipathy); that of the ebb and flow of will impulses that stream into the human sphere, affecting in increasingly wider circles human life on earth (karmic relationships, animal existence); and that of the spiritual hierarchies. The following lectures amplify this mission in different ways, explicitly and implicitly.

Lachman brings us an in-depth look at Blavatsky, objectively exploring her unique and singular contributions toward introducing Eastern and esoteric spiritual ideas to the West during the 19th century, as well as the controversies that continue to colour the discussions of her life and work.

Now what kind of approach by the reader did THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY count on? It had to assume a special way of reading. It expected the reader, as he read, to undergo the sort of inner experience that, in an external sense, is really just waking up out of sleep in the morning. The feeling one should have about it is such as to make one say, "My relationship to the world in passive thoughts was, on a higher level, that of a person who lies asleep. Now I am waking up." It is like knowing, at the moment of awakening, that one has been lying passively in bed, letting nature have her way with one's body. But then one begins to be inwardly active. One relates one's senses actively to what is going on in the color permeated, sounding world about one. One links one's own bodily activity to one's intentions. The reader of The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity should experience something very like this waking moment of transition from passivity to activity, though of course on a higher level. He should be able to say, "Yes, I have certainly thought thoughts before. But my thinking took the form of just letting thoughts flow and carry me along. Now, little by little, I am beginning to be inwardly active in them." - from Rudolf Steiner's AWAKENING TO COMMUNITY

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 indeed our greatest goal--"not I but Christ in me." Contents: * The Principle of Spiritual Economy in Connection with Questions of Reincarnation * Christianity in Human Evolution, Leading Individualities, and Avatar Beings * More Intimate Aspects of Reincarnation * Results of Spiritual Scientific Investigations of the Evolution of Humanity * On the Occasion of the Dedication of the Francis of Assisi Branch * The Macrocosmic and Microcosmic Fire: The Spiritualization of Breath and Blood * The Event of Golgotha -- The Brotherhood of the Holy Grail * Ancient Revelations and Learning: How to Ask Modern Questions * The God of the Alpha and the God of the Omega * From Buddha to Christ

In these four lectures Rudolf Steiner addresses the evolutionary task facing contemporary humanity, particularly with regard to issues of race and racial conflict. He describes the origins of racial diversity among human beings and vividly describes the dangers of the ever-widening chasm separating different peoples. To avert this threat of the fragmentation of our species, we must strive for an awareness of ourselves and others as spiritual beings with unique and individual karma. In the past, human souls felt a strong connection, even union, with the "group soul" - the race or nation - to which they belonged. Today, all such group soul characteristics must be stripped off. Therefore, as Steiner writes, "it is necessary that the anthroposophical movement, in preparing for the sixth epoch, should shed the character of race and seek to unite people of all 'races' and nations.'" That such an inward, spiritual uniting of all human beings in their common humanity can now come about is the fruit of the cosmic sacrifice of the Mystery of Golgotha - which made possible a universal human community of I-beings. From this point of view, as Steiner makes clear in the last lecture, Christ's deed was for the renewal of the common spiritual humanity of all peoples and races, divided in the course of human evolution by the work of Lucifer and Ahriman.