In a series of short studies enlivened with colour illustrations, Henk van Oort takes the reader on a spiritual journey through a variety of topics relating to everyday experience. With chapters as diverse as ‘The Human Will’, ‘Quantum Physics’ and ‘Good and Evil’, the book’s common theme is the dynamic nature of human consciousness. This unique spiritual ‘travel guide’ opens up surprising new vistas to the ever-changing reality in which we live, helping us understand who we really are as human beings. The author demonstrates how our knowledge of the world is in a constant process of evolution. Tying together the disparate elements of the book is the inexhaustible spiritual source from which we receive inspiration and energy for life. Van Oort shows that our familiar material world finds its origins in the world of spirit. With a focus on Rudolf Steiner’s insights supplemented with the work of many other thinkers, Your Spiritual Journey reveals new pathways to our life’s earthly adventure. HENK VAN OORT, born in 1943, trained as a primary teacher before taking a Masters degree in English at the Amsterdam University. He has taught for more than 40 years in primary and secondary education, including class teaching in a Steiner school, teaching English and running educational courses and seminars for teachers and parents. His interest in literature and poetry led to appearances at storytelling and poetry seminars, and his introductory courses to anthroposophy continue to be highly successful. Based in Bergen N.H. in the Netherlands, Henk van Oort is married and the father of three grown-up children. He is the author of Anthroposophy, A Concise Introduction, A-Z Anthroposophy, The Inner Rainbow and Challenging Children.

Featuring more than 50 colour images, The Inner Rainbow takes the reader on an journey through time, from Ancient India to the present day. This is the journey of human consciousness - the story of an eternal, metamorphic process. As the author suggests, consciousness is not a self-contained, unchangeable faculty. The way we perceive the surrounding world today - with the potential for sophisticated and exact observation of natural phenomena - has evolved over thousands of years. What was once a blurred and fragmentary perception in the time of Ancient India has evolved to a clear awareness of everyday reality. Using pictures as his starting point, Henk van Oort outlines a remarkable narrative, beginning with the age-old myth of Noah's Ark, in which a rainbow is presented to the survivors of the Biblical flood. This rainbow in nature, with its seven colours, is mirrored in the ancient teaching of the seven human chakras, also with seven colours. Through a gradual process of change over centuries, this outer rainbow has been internalised into an inner rainbow, shaping a bridge between body, soul and spirit. With its ever-changing consciousness, this inner rainbow is a wonderful sense organ, in process of reaching a new peak of development. Understanding our past - the progressive stages we have passed through - is a prerequisite for optimal use of our consciousness now. Ultimately, then, this book can be seen as a guide for working with your own inner rainbow: to expand, deepen and enliven your picture of the world and your true self.

Rudolf Steiner's work is recognized today largely due to the prominence of the international Steiner school movement, biodynamic agriculture, anthroposophical (holistic) medicine, and so on. However, the comprehensive spiritual philosophy that stands behind these practical initiatives is not so well known. In this concise presentation, based on years of giving introductory courses on the subject, van Oort presents an overview of key aspects of Steiner's thought. He deals with concepts such as body, soul and spirit, the relationship between man and animal, and the evolution of consciousness. The latter subject opens up panoramic vistas of human development in the form of successive cultural periods extending over thousands of years.

Rudolf Steiner's spiritual philosophy is the inspiration for many successful initiatives in the world today, from the international Steiner Waldorf school movement to biodynamic agriculture and its increasingly popular produce. Steiner developed his philosophy in dozens of books and many thousands of lectures. His teaching contains dozens of new concepts and ideas, and as a result he had often to create his own vocabulary. In this practical volume - a companion to his Anthroposophy, A Concise Introduction - Henk van Oort gives concise definitions of many terms and concepts in Steiner's worldview, from the most commonplace to the more obscure. Anthroposophy A-Z can be used as a reference guide, but also as a gateway into Rudolf Steiner's manifold world of spiritual ideas and concepts. Anthroposophy can be seen to be a new language - a language that can lead to the world of the spirit. It was with this awareness that Henk van Oort took the initiative to write this glossary. Ultimately, he has written the sort of inspiring handbook that he wished had existed when he first became acquainted with anthroposophy over 40 years ago.