Prolegomena to a History of Islamicate Manichaeism provides an annotated anthology of primary sources highlighting Manichaeism, a dualist religion emerging in Mesopotamia in the third century and which spread rapidly throughout the Roman and Sasanian empires until it was violently suppressed by both polities. It nevertheless continued to flourish - largely clandestinely - in the Near East, Central Asia, and China until it finally disappeared at the beginning of the seventeenth century. This book translates and assesses the importance of a number of Arabic, Persian, Syriac, and even Hebrew language testimonies for a better understanding of the cultural importance of what many scholars characterize as the first 'world religion'.

The healthy social life is found When in the mirror of each human being The whole community finds its reflection And when in the community The virtue of each one is living. From the beginning of his public work, Rudolf Steiner saw his spiritual mission as civilizational. He understood that individual spiritual development means little unless, spreading through a community of practitioners, it leads to larger societal and cultural transformation. As always, his views were radical. He realized that a healthy social life would depend, above all, on the transformation of work from a commodity into a gift. As he said in 1905: Evolution is moving towards totally uncompensated work. No one rejects the idea and no one can change it. Whereas Greek workers performed their work in bondage to their master and modern workers are compelled to work for pay, in the future all work will be performed freely. Work and income will be completely separated. That is the healthy state of social conditions in the future. That same year, he formulated what he called "the fundamental social law" The wellbeing of an entire group of individuals who work together becomes greater the less individuals claim the income resulting from their own accomplishments for themselves-that is, the more they contribute this income to their fellow workers, and the more their own needs are met not through their own efforts but through the efforts of others. In this important book, Peter Selg shows us a different Rudolf Steiner. Here, the emphasis of his teaching is mostly on the need to cultivate selflessness and readiness to sacrifice. Selg first describes the context in which Steiner expressed these ideas, how much they meant to him, and how, when they fell on barren ground, he selflessly laid them aside while holding them in his heart in the hope of a more opportune moment. He goes on to show how this moment came after World War I, when Rudolf Steiner dedicated himself tirelessly to the Threefold Social Organism, lecturing extensively on economics and social policy. Finally, in a last, extraordinarily moving chapter, Selg shows the essential Christ- and Gospel-inspired nature of these ideas: As long as you feel pain That passes me by, The Christ works unrecognized... Weak is the spirit That can feel suffering Only in its own body. Anyone interested in a just, equitable, healthy, and spirit-based social future should read this important book

The remarkable discussions in these two volumes took place between Rudolf Steiner and workers at the Goetheanum, Switzerland, who chose the varied subject matter. The astonishing nature of his responses the questions--their insight, knowledge, and spiritual depth--is testimony to his outstanding ability as a spiritual initiate and teacher. Accessible and stimulating, the records of these sessions are both entertaining and profound. In From Crystals to Crocodiles, Steiner discusses speech and languages; lefthandedness; dinosaurs; Lemuria; turtles and crocodiles; oxygen and carbon; ancient giant oysters; the moon, sun, and earth; the Old Testament; the real nature of Adam; breathing and brain activity; dreams; sugar; the liver and perception; brain cells and thinking; illnesses such as cancer and its origin, migraines, and diabetes; the eyes of animals; Paracelsus; alcohol, and more.

A second, wiser self guides us through life. Without it we would not go far, for it is what makes us human. In the first years of life -- before memory and ego -- it guides us to stand upright and to learn to speak and think. Then we exchange this wisdom, which is still connected to the spiritual hierarchies, for our ego-consciousness. Yet it remains ever-present, and through meditation we can consciously connect to it.