These authoritative lectures, delivered during a period of deep
crisis and conflict in world history, present a comprehensive
spiritual teaching for contemporary humanity. Despite the raging
world war, Rudolf Steiner was still actively touring Central Europe
whilst simultaneously completing work on his architectural
masterpiece, the first Goetheanum, in neutral Switzerland. The
building of the Goetheanum - undertaken by a community of people
from seventeen nations at war - forms a thematic backdrop to the
lectures. In speaking of the walls in the new building, for
example, Rudolf Steiner describes how their forms are not
confining, but rather express an openness to the surrounding
cosmos. Likewise, the carved motifs on the architraves of the
wooden pillars are not fixed 'symbols' but are alive and
continually metamorphosing . These observations are reflected in
Steiner's broader discussions. He speaks of extending and deepening
our connection with the world and the cosmos, going beyond our
usual narrow limits and definitions to engage in 'community with
the realities of existence'. We can do this, for example, with the
so-called 'dead', who find it difficult to relate to sense-bound
thinking. Rudolf Steiner explains how we can connect with them,
greatly enriching our lives and 'making an enormous difference to
their souls'. The distinction between fixed symbols and living
motifs takes us to the core of anthroposophy, striving never to
rest in inert forms of thought. In the field of education, Steiner
thus warns about 'external measuring' of pupils and linear models
of cognitive learning. Throughout the three lecture courses
included here - which together form a kind of compendium of
anthroposophy at the time - Steiner touches upon a wealth of
absorbing themes, including the 'discovery' of America, the
contrast between East and West, the qualities of European 'folk
souls', Valentin Andreae's Chymical Wedding, and Darwinism.
Regardless of his topic, however, Steiner consistently makes the
urgent appeal that we 'grasp reality', looking further than
abstract schemes of all kinds - such as social and political
'programmes' - to participate in the cosmos as conscious and fully
human co-creators.
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