`We must draw the slumbering soul away from the darkness of sleep so that it no longer vanishes from its own scrutiny but stands before itself as a being of pure spirit which, in volition, is creatively active through - yet also beyond - the body.' - Rudolf Steiner. According to Rudolf Steiner's independent research, the soul or psyche has a relationship to both the body and the spirit. Psychologists and psychotherapists can only work in a truly healing way, he says, if they take this spiritual fact into account. This expertly-compiled anthology explores the nature of the soul as elaborated by Steiner in his writings and lectures. However, the book comprises more than an account of the psyche and life of the soul, but deals equally with the methodology for comprehending it - the scientific, and above all spiritual-scientific, means of doing so. Steiner questions methods and thought structures that are fundamental to contemporary psychology. Rather than looking backwards to conditions that influence how we are today, he focuses on our further development as beings that think, feel and act with intentionality. Given the soul's close affinity with pictorial images, he elaborates a therapeutically-innovative meditative schooling of the faculty of imagination. As Steiner states here, his methods, `...do not draw only on the rules of the ordinary mind but first prepare in the human soul another kind of consciousness, another state of awareness, with which we then enquire into the psyche... to approach and penetrate realities of the soul.'

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.

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.