"What is the nature of matter?"Within conventional science, the reductionist, materialist view asserts that matter is solely physical. Hauschka shows that open-minded study, based on qualitative observation and quantitative research, can overcome this now standardized view. Without denying the laws of matter, he shows the limitations of a science restricted by them, and points to new research that indicates the primal nature of spirit. This classic work, reprinted in its original form, is the result of Dr Hauschka's many years' research at the Ita Wegman Clinic in Arlesheim, Switzerland. Through decades of experimentation he came to radical conclusions that suggested potential new directions for science. This book includes the detailed results of Hauschka's experiments although his approach is not restricted to measurement and outer observation. Based on the work of Goethe and Steiner, he encourages a method of seeing nature that has an artistic quality, and calls for direct experience rather than intellectual theorizing. "The Nature of Substance" is generally accessible. The author deliberately avoids technical terms and academic style in favor of vivid descriptions and lively discussions. His fascinating study takes in many substances, with chapters on plants, animals, oils, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, metals, carbon, oxygen, poisons, high dilutions, and much more. This book is a companion volume to the author s other work, "Nutrition."

'The present age needs to understand that human beings must hold the balance between the two extremes, between the ahrimanic and the luciferic poles. People always tend to go in one direction... The Christ stands in the middle, holding the balance.' - Rudolf Steiner These eleven lectures were given in post-war Stuttgart against a backdrop of struggle and uncertainty - not only within society at large but also within the anthroposophical movement. Rudolf Steiner and his supporters were working to introduce 'threefold' social ideas and - given Steiner's public profile - were coming under increasing personal and sometimes physical attack. Steiner responds to this turbulent situation by revealing the spiritual background to the forces of decline working in contemporary civilization. He speaks of retrogressive powers - spiritual beings referred to as luciferic or ahrimanic - that work directly into human culture, manifesting, for example, in what he refers to as the 'initiation streams' of Western secret societies, the Church-allied impulse of Jesuitism and the Bolshevik force of Leninism. The spiritual agents of adversity also encourage polarised thinking and false opposites such as East verses West, materialism and mysticism, or knowledge and belief. Only the threefold principle - represented by Christ - allows us to create a balance in the midst of these existential conflicts. This freshly-reworked translation is complemented with notes, an index and an introduction by Matthew Barton.

In addition to the outer manifestation of Christianity as we know it from history, there exists a second, hidden stream of Christian thought and development, sometimes referred to as Esoteric Christianity or Rosicrucian Christianity. Displaying an intimate knowledge of his subject, Rudolf Steiner throws light on this once secret spiritual movement. But rather than relying on historical tradition or teaching, he presents wisdom and insight directly from the original metaphysical sources of esoteric Christian inspiration.

In these dynamic lectures, Steiner describes the influence of Christ's power throughout history, the workings of karma, the role of the Buddha and the Bodhisattvas, as well as the vital work of Christian Rosenkreutz and other historical figures such as Jeshu ben Pandira. This new edition -- indispensable for serious students of esotericism -- contains for the first time all 23 lectures and addresses of the original German collection. It features previously scattered, classic lectures such as "The Etherisation of the Blood", "Faith, Love, Hope" and "Cosmic Ego and Human Ego".

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."

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.

"Occult events that took place between the Christ and the community of his disciples form a significant part not only of the four Gospels but also of the Christ Mystery or Golgotha Mystery itself. Today, many human souls are still moved by this apostolic community, by how the disciples accompanied Christ Jesus, by their place in history (as an esoteric circle charged with an exoteric task), by their failures, and by the great new dawn that showed them the way after Pentecost...For three years, they were close to Christ, shared his life, and received a great deal of instruction from him, often in their own intimate circle away from public view. They were there when Christ performed healings and even when he prayed.... "Rudolf Steiner once said that we in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries must live with the 'etheric Christ' in the Earth's aura in the same way that 'the disciples once lived with Christ Jesus on the physical plane.' If this is so, it is essential for us to focus on the community of Christ's disciples. Rudolf Steiner himself made major contributions to illuminating the depths of the disciples' relationship and life with the Christ, both during the three years of his earthly life and after the Resurrection. An essential element of Steiner's life work was to apply 'anthroposophically oriented cognition' to events of the beginning of the Christian era in order to 'bring the Gospels' deeper content to the light of day.' He spoke in detail about the Christ's community of disciples in many lecture cycles, and, in his lectures on the Fifth Gospel, he shed light on this community from the perspective of the processes of human consciousness that were intimately involved in events at the beginning of the new era and inscribed in the chronicle of evolution.... "In his lectures on the Fifth Gospel and elsewhere, Rudolf Steiner opened up many perspectives that help us understand what took place between Christ and his disciples. This book's purpose is to make those perspectives available and accessible. Although all of Steiner's statements have been published, they are widely scattered among his lectures and remain unknown to many individuals deeply committed to the community of Christ's disciples and to anthroposophical Christology. In view of the challenges to consciousness we face in modern times-including those that deal with Christianity and the Christ Event itself-it seems urgently important to present details of the positive and often illuminating results of Rudolf Steiner's research." As is true of other works by Peter Selg, Christ and the Disciples is one of those books that sharpens the reader's mind to cut through the myriad of representation (and misrepresentations) of Rudolf Steiner's teachings, clarifying many otherwise-knotty issues.