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The unique scholarship and artistic sensitivity of Prof. Dr Hermann
Beckh (1875-1937) is in the process of being rediscovered. The
great linguist, Orientalist and Christian priest - an active
music-lover who also composed - penned pioneer works on our musical
system that are respected by musicians and musicologists. This
volume brings together two revised versions of his best-loved
books. The Essence of Tonality is written '...for musicians and
music-lovers who, because of their particular musicality experience
something spiritual - and for spiritual seekers and sensitive
people who, because of their particular spirituality, have
experienced a connection with music.' Beckh believed a spiritual
view of tonality would ensure music's, and humanity's, future. The
author elucidates the correspondence of the circle of fifths (the
keys) to the zodiac. Research should be directed towards the twelve
vital, spiritual key-centres, as expressing the cosmic rhythms in
which we all live, rather than the abstract twelve chromatic notes
of atonality. In The Parsifal Christ-Experience, Beckh's original
insights throw new and powerful light on the search for meaning in
our age, for a knowledge of the heart. In the poetic libretto and
remarkable music of his final creation, Wagner - acknowledged by
Bruckner as 'the Master' - presents the Grail legend and its
imagery. The psychological drama and its ultimate solution provide
insights to anyone who is prepared to reflect on inner experience.
Through Beckh's references to Wagner's own letters, as well as a
remarkable letter from Nietzsche, the reader gains knowledge of the
true nature of Wagner and his work.
'These Letters ... aim to make John's Gospel accessible to people
today as their own gospel, both as a whole and in the details; to
illuminate it with the spiritual knowledge of the age and to make
it fruitful for life, not only for meditation but also for
practical ordering of destiny.' - Friedrich Rittelmeyer. --- A
revitalized Johannine Christianity stands at the heart of the work
of Christian renewal that was led by Rudolf Steiner in the early
twentieth century. Friedrich Rittelmeyer, a Lutheran minister and
theologian who helped found The Christian Community in 1922, was a
leading figure within this new Johannine movement. Rittelmeyer
described John's Gospel as encapsulating '...an indescribable glory
of revelation of love. This glory has such purity, delicacy and
spiritual power that in it one has the material with which a
marvellous new world may be built.' --- Without doubt his most
powerful work, Rittelmeyer's Letters on John's Gospel first
appeared in a series of publications by the Stuttgart seminary of
The Christian Community between 1930 and 1932. Whilst these Letters
were originally written with students and local congregations in
mind, they provide manifold insights for anyone seeking to glimpse
the majesty of John's Gospel. Margaret Mitchell's translation from
1937 has never before been published in book form. Revised here and
expanded by editors Alan Stott and Neil Franklin, this volume
features additional contributions by Rudolf Frieling and Emil Bock.
That there is a living stream of Johannine Christianity can no
longer be doubted. There is now an abundant literature from
Rosicrucian and esoteric traditions - from the deepest prayer and
meditation - that addresses the exalted nature of John the
Evangelist as expressed through his Gospel, Letters and the Book of
Revelation. Yet it fell to Hermann Beckh to elucidate clearly how
the individual known as 'John' became the source of such undying
love and wisdom in Christ. According to Rudolf Steiner, John was
the ailing Lazarus, called from death to a new life as 'the
disciple Jesus loved'. Beckh demonstrates how John's invaluable
writings were based on personal spiritual knowledge and experience,
expressing the divine work of the Cosmic Christ on human nature and
on the Earth, leading far into the future. Whilst Beckh's
authorship originated within the context of the emerging Christian
Community founded in 1922, his profoundly original books could not
be confined to its framework. Not only could Beckh tackle original
texts in Tibetan, Sanskrit and Avestan, but - through his
independent vision - he was able to establish new links with
philosophical Alchemy, Jakob Boehme, Goethe, Nietzsche and Novalis.
He thereby stands with these figures as a co-worker in a greater
community. Having prepared the way with his Mark's Gospel of 1928,
John's Gospel could be described as the capstone of Beckh's
writings - as a triumphant announcement that theology and the study
of John's Gospel have finally come of age. Appearing here in a
freshly revised translation by Alan Stott, the current volume is
enhanced by a series of valuable addenda that shed further light on
Beckh's significant achievements.
Hermann Beckh's lectures on language - published here in English
for the first time - offer a unique and penetrating discussion of
the origins and evolution of speech. Based on his professional
knowledge of Tibetan, Sanskrit and Pali - and complete fluency in
at least six other ancient languages, not to count nine modern
languages - and accompanied by a heartfelt understanding of
anthroposophy, the lectures comprise an unparalleled marriage of
academic and meditative insights. Further, they give a valuable
introduction to the author's later works on music, the stars and
the Gospels of Mark and John. The Source of Speech features Beckh's
complete series of articles on the subject that were developed
during the early, 'seeding' period of his life and work. These
include: 'Rudolf Steiner and the East', an unprecedented study of
Steiner's relationship to Sanskrit and Buddhist spirituality; 'Let
There be Light', Beckh's exploration of the six Hebrew words
forming Genesis 1:3; articles devoted to the origins of language,
Indian philosophies and the names of the Divine in sacred texts;
and essays published in Das Goetheanum which examine speech sounds,
especially those of Sanskrit and Classical Hebrew. Also included
are contemporaneous reviews of Beckh's articles by Albert Steffen
and Eugen Kolisko and a lecture on academia, materialism and the
undisciplined enthusiasm for Indian spirituality, held at the
University of Berlin. Nearly one hundred years on, Beckh's
perspectives and themes remain as exciting, relevant and fresh as
ever.
Lost for decades, the manuscript of Hermann Beckh's final lectures
on the subject of music present fundamentally new insights into its
cosmic origins. Beckh characterises the qualities of musical
development, examines select musical works (that represent for him
the peak of human ingenuity), and throws new light on the nature
and source of human creativity and inspiration. Published here for
the first time, the lectures demonstrate a distinctive approach
founded on the raw material of musical perception. Beckh discusses
the whistling wind, the billowing wave, the song of the birds and
particularly the theme of longing. Never losing the ground from
under his feet, he penetrates perennial themes: from the yearning
for real spontaneity and the 'Mystery background' uniting heaven
and earth, to spiritual knowledge that can meet the demands of the
twenty-first century. Out of the cosmic context, Beckh writes to
the individual situation. From there, he seeks again the re-won
cosmic context. He does not write as a musical specialist and then
turn to universal human concerns; rather, Beckh writes from
universal human concerns and reveals music as of special concern to
everyone. In addition to the transcripts of fifteen lectures, this
book contains a valuable introduction and editorial footnotes. It
also features appendices including Beckh's essay 'The Mystery of
the Night in Wagner and Novalis'; reminiscences of Beckh by August
Pauli and Harro Ruckner; Donald Francis Tovey's 'Wagnerian harmony
and the evolution of the Tristan-chord', and several
contemporaneous reviews of Beckh's published works.
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Eurythmy Therapy (Paperback)
Rudolf Steiner; Translated by Alan Stott
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R440
R397
Discovery Miles 3 970
Save R43 (10%)
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Created in 1911, eurythmy was developed for years as an artistic
and educational discipline. Although Rudolf Steiner pointed out its
healing aspects from the very beginning, it was only in 1921 that
he gave a course of lectures that gave the art of eurythmy a vital
new application. To the assembled eurythmists and doctors, he
presented what one participant described as '...a complete and
detailed method of eurythmy therapy, in which we could directly
experience that even today the creative and therapeutic power of
the word ...is still at work'. Steiner's comprehensive lectures,
republished here in a thoroughly revised translation, describe the
principles of therapeutic eurythmy, giving many specific exercises.
Primarily intended for practising eurythmists, these lectures also
contain much material of particular interest. Steiner reveals the
intricacies of rhythmic interplay between human physiology and the
life-forces in the world around us. He describes the qualities of
language and the dynamism contained in the individual vowels and
consonants, elucidating their relationship with eurythmical
movements and human experience. Through such movements, individuals
are able to access the healing etheric forces. The exercises,
referred to by Steiner as 'inner gymnastics', contain enormous
potential for psychological and physiological well-being. Gaining
ever-wider recognition today, they complement conventional
medicine, offering a therapeutic process concerned with mind, soul
and body. This new edition of these important lectures - previously
published under the title Curative Eurythmy - includes an appendix
with reminiscences by early eurythmists, as well as additional
commentary from Dr Walter Kugler.
The two contradicting genealogies of Jesus in the Gospels have long
puzzled biblical scholars. Rudolf Steiner's spiritual research led
him to the controversial theological conclusion that historically
there existed two Jesus boys, born of two holy families. These two
boys, he said, were necessary as part of the spiritual preparation
of forming a suitable human body for the incarnation of Christ into
the earthly realm. Both apocryphal texts and the writings of the
Essenes - as discovered at Qumran by the Dead Sea - now appear to
support this conception, with references to Messianic figures from
both royal and priestly lines. Various authors have developed
Rudolf Steiner's observations - first presented in the early
twentieth century - although much of this literature has lacked the
rigour of accurate and broad scholarship. The Two Jesus Boys is not
simply a derivative rehash of these previous publications. Rather,
it offers a fresh investigation of primary sources, coupled with an
objective determination to allow the facts to speak for themselves.
Christoph Rau thus comes to the unavoidable conclusion that
Steiner's presentation of the chronology of the two births needs
revision; furthermore, the most recent discoveries and
interpretations of Essene scrolls reveal that the Jewish sect
expected not one but three Messiahs. Rau quotes from and analyses
numerous documents from the landscape of early Christianity and
Judaism. His findings provide a secure foundation for the
historical existence of two Jesus boys in the prelude to Christ's
incarnation on earth, as well as a revelation of the Essenes' long
expectation of three Messiahs.
As a practising Christian priest, Hermann Beckh was profoundly
aware that the mystery of substance - its transmutation in the
cosmos and the human being - was a mystical fact to be approached
with the greatest reverence, requiring at once ever-deepening
scholarship and meditation. He viewed chemistry as a worthy but
materialistic science devoid of spirit, while the fullness of
spiritual-physical nature could be approached by what he preferred
to call 'chymistry' or 'alchymy', thereby taking in millennia of
spiritual tradition. In consequence, Beckh's Alchymy, The Mystery
of the Material World is not limited to the conventional workings
of Western alchemy, nor to what can be found in the Bible from
Genesis to Revelation - although he does unveil hidden riches
there. Neither should Beckh be considered only as a learned
Professor with impeccable academic qualifications and European-wide
recognition. Beckh writes about such topics as 'Isis', 'the Golden
Fleece', traditional fairy-stories and Wagner's Parsifal in a way
that enables the reader to catch glimpses of the Mystery of
Substance; to share the writer's authentic experience of the divine
substantia - the living reality - of Christ in the world. Beckh's
Alchymy set an entirely new standard, and went on to become his
most popular publication. This is the first time that it has been
translated into English, along with updated footnotes, making his
ideas and insights accessible to a wide readership. In addition,
this edition features translations of Beckh's 'The New Jerusalem',
where theology could best be expressed in verse; his exemplary
essay on 'Snow-white'; observations on 'Allerleirauh', and a
substantial excerpt from Gundhild Kacer-Bock's biography of Beckh.
In our hurried, everyday lives, time of day and even seasons can
blur together, leaving us distanced from the natural world and
spiritual rhythms. This book is a visionary and practical
exploration of thoughts and meditations which can help us engage
with the changing moods of the year. Rittelmeyer's descriptive
sketches of the Christian festivals and subjects from the New
Testament are offered as helpful spiritual signposts along the path
of the year. The meditations can be used as devotions to help us
deepen our own insight, and to stimulate creative and meaningful
religious celebrations.
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