`It is a cosmic law that what has once taken place can never vanish, but must reappear later in a metamorphosed form. Every thought, feeling and action brought about by man does not only affect the world around him but will re-appear in the future...' (From the Preface) This course of lectures was originally offered as private, strictly verbal instruction to a select group of esoteric pupils. In an atmosphere of earnest study, Rudolf Steiner `translated' from the Akashic Script valuable concepts of human and cosmic knowledge into words of earthly language - content that is often not to be found in his later lectures. Although working within the Theosophical Society, Steiner was an independent spiritual teacher: `... I would only bring forward the results of what I beheld in my own spiritual research.' The manifold, exact and detailed descriptions of the events of evolution in these lectures form a background to the evolving figure of the human being. The mighty event of the moon leaving the Earth, vividly described, took place - according to Rudolf Steiner - in order to provide an environment suited to human progress. The wonderful moment when the higher being of man descended in a bell-like form and enveloped the lower human body, still on a level with the animals, depicts what eventually provided human beings with a body suited to the development of the self or `I'. Spiritual beings and the great initiates led humanity along the path it was destined to tread. Rudolf Steiner presents a sweep of occult knowledge, including the phases of planetary evolution, various myths and symbols, human physical and spiritual organs, illness, reincarnation, and much more. Also included are unexpected insights into specific phenomena such as dinosaurs, bacteria, radiation, black and white magic, the Sphinx and Freemasonry.

Building on her fundamental texts The Art of Acting and The Art of Speech, Dawn Langman shows how the great dramas of Western heritage illuminate the evolution of human consciousness - from the past and into the future - thus providing a context in which actors can consciously evolve their art. Having laid her foundation by exploring the Eleusis Mysteries - the seed point of Western drama - she moves to the end of the nineteenth century, when drama and performance practice prepared for its next great evolutionary leap. She explores the connection of this leap to the evolutionary threshold facing human beings at the end of what occult history calls Kali Yuga. Weaving back and forth between future, past and present - guided by the great cyclic themes of human soul and spiritual development - Langman shows how the inspiration of our greatest artists springs from a source of knowing that encompasses the high calling of the human being to mature beyond its biological inheritance, and to become a conscious co-creator with the macrocosmic powers that serve the evolution of the universe. In doing so, she clarifies the specific function drama has in our contemporary development within the spectrum of the arts.

Civil Society has become a major power in the world. The stunning defeat of the controversial and secretive Multilateral Agreement on Investments, the massive worldwide WTO protests and the yearly meetings of the World Social Forum are testimony to its coming of age. From these significant victories, civil society continued to catch world attention with the Arab Spring, the grassroots movement that helped elect former US President Barack Obama and the significant gains of the anti-fracking campaign. With tens of millions of citizens and over a trillion dollars involved in advancing its agenda, civil society now joins the state and the market as the third key institution shaping globalization. However, it cannot fully mobilize its resources and power as it currently lacks clear understanding of its identity. Shaping Globalization argues that global civil society is a cultural institution wielding cultural power, and shows how - through the use of this distinct power - it can advance its agenda in the political and economic realms of society without compromising its identity. Nicanor Perlas outlines the strategic implications for civil society, both locally and globally, and explains that civil society's key task is to inaugurate `threefolding': the forging of strategic partnerships between civil society, government and business. Such authentic tri-sector partnerships are essential for advancing new ways for nations to develop, and for charting a different, sustainable type of globalization. Using the model of the Philippine Agenda 21, we are shown how civil society and progressive individuals and agencies in government and business are demonstrating the effectiveness of this new understanding to ensure that globalization benefits the environment, the poor and society as a whole. This reprinted edition includes a new Afterword.

Today's orthodox notions of science--which is to say, of knowing--are exceedingly narrow; they posit, implicitly or otherwise, that the only knowledge possible, if any, is that of the physical world. But the skeleton key to unlocking the door, behind which lies the root of the problems and difficulties of our age, and thus their solution, is to be able to fully answer this question: What is it to know something? This question lies at the foundation of spiritual science. Rudolf Steiner had first to solve it for himself, pointing the way for others to do the same (in, for example, his Philosophy of Freedom), long before he could give such lectures as these. Rudolf Steiner's work and words, still largely undiscovered as compared to their value for humanity, continue to point the way toward a different path--a way of knowing that encompasses the fullness, the breadth and depth of life and the worlds we inhabit. This knowing--which is to say, science--does not ignore or even contradict the narrower physical sciences of technologists and other specialists, but offers an expansive understanding of reality that also includes a deeper engagement with those aspects of our experience that we are told are beyond the ken of science. But is truth not accessible through art? Are poetry and literature, indeed the beauty and wisdom of each human language, not portals through which we can glimpse truths, every bit as real (though of a different order) than those we might grasp through a microscope? These thirteen lectures were given in Dornach, Switzerland, from January to May 1915, between the fifth and ninth month of World War I. Given the interrupted, fragmented nature of this sequence, one might assume that the lectures could not possibly present a tight, coherent whole. This is not the case. Rudolf Steiner lays down the framework for the series in a concise but detailed manner in the first two lectures, and then goes on to demonstrate in lecture after lecture how, on this basis, many aspects of life reveal the hidden presence and activities of the realities--and the approach--he has established in the framework. In fact, it is humbling to witness Rudolf Steiner's powers of attention and presence of mind: to see how, after a significant interval, in the same tone of voice and with seamless continuity, he can pick up and further develop and interweave his announced intention: namely, to provide "a detailed look at things we have been considering for years."

The ancient and dramatic headland of Tintagel and its ruins, on the windswept north Cornish coast, have been linked to the legends of Merlin, King Arthur and his Knights since ancient times. In this well-researched, illustrated book, Richard Seddon reveals the inner spiritual meaning of Tintagel as a centre for the pre-Christian Mysteries. For many centuries its enigmatic site was integral to the evolution of human consciousness as a centre for esoteric wisdom - for the linking of the physical and spiritual worlds, art and religion. Richard Seddon offers new insights into the roles of Arthur, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table, and looks in detail at how they are linked to the metaphysical truths to be found in the works of Taliesin, the Mabinogion and the legends of Parsifal and the Holy Grail. He brings to light the unifying spiritual tradition that stretches beyond Arthur and Tintagel to the mysteries of modern times, as elucidated by the Austrian-born initiate Rudolf Steiner. Readers of this work will discover many new dimensions to the Arthurian and Celtic legends as well as the historical site at Tintagel.

As a spiritual teacher, Rudolf Steiner wrote many inspired and beautifully-crafted verses. Often they were given in relation to specific situations or in response to individual requests; sometimes they were offered to assist generally in the process of meditation. Regardless of their origins, they are uniformly powerful in their ability to connect the meditating individual with spiritual archetypes. Thus, the meditations provide valuable tools for developing experience and knowledge of subtle dimensions of reality. Matthew Barton has translated and selected Steiner's verses, sensitively arranging them by theme. In this collection - to promote harmony and healing - Rudolf Steiner helps us discover a renewed sense of our true place in the world. The verses show how we can learn to know ourselves by looking outwards to the substances and processes at work in the cosmos, and in contrast to know the world by looking inwards to the microcosmic depths of the human self. By integrating spirit and matter within, we heal divisions in our relationships with others. For modern people, increasingly divorced from a living relationship with nature, these verses help to unfold a world of interconnections.