How can the West rediscover its authentic spirit? Exploring the period from 1899 to 1945 – from the end of the US frontier and the writing of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to the conclusion of World War II and the dropping of the atom bomb – Luigi Morelli traces the events that led the United States to become the world’s dominating imperial force. America, he demonstrates, is deeply connected to Britain, Germany and Eastern Europe, particularly Russia. Yet despite their tragic collective histories, there is hope for the future – if only America can claim its true task. --- Searching for the Spirit of the West challenges many of the falsehoods that pass for mainstream history. Utilizing a wealth of documented evidence from the research of overlooked historians, economists, social and spiritual thinkers, the author takes a symptomatic view of the past, revealing hidden, longer-term trends. This approach offers a new understanding of events such as the rise of Nazism, the Great Depression, the new Deal, and even the roles of banking and clandestine ‘brotherhoods’ in world history. Morelli also appraises The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in parallel with America’s cultural achievements. Through imagination, L. Frank Baum’s contemporary fairy-tale enables us to intuit the true mission of the West and its potential contribution to world culture, now and in the future.

Legends & Stories for a Compassionate America The American dream has been abused, neglected, and nearly completely discredited. It is now turning into a nightmare: witness the extreme and still-growing social disparity, and the aspirations to world empire that consume precious resources in war efforts around the world. Yet this is the nature of a dream-to hover between potential and reality, advance and retreat. The legends and stories in this book begin with our Native American heritage and continue with historical turning points and biographies of important individuals at the time of the American Revolution and up to modern times. The first part of the book concerns the birth of the nation; the second records periodic efforts to revive the original founding impulses. Through the biographies of important individuals, the role of national holidays and determining events, the book allows the American soul to reveal itself. When these phenomena appear in their fullest light, the American dream appears as a whole that is more than the sum of its parts (the stories and legends); moreover, it is a whole that is universal. The book speaks with relevance and urgency to all who want to renew hope in the future of our nation and of the world. Luigi Morelli is also the author of A Revolution of Hope: Spirituality, Culture and Social Change

This volume follows the blueprint of its North American counterpart, Spiritual Turning Points of North American History. Whereas that volume follows the foundation of the Popol Vuh, this one retraces Andean myths from the Titicaca region and from later Inca tradition. Myth and history are placed side by side in an approach both scientific and imaginative that documents the correlation between prehistorical and historical periods, as well as the spiritual events that ushered them in as narrated in Andean myths and legends. Myth and historical records reinforce each other, contrary to commonly held assumptions that tend to devalue indigenous myths. All of this is placed within the perspective that the more modern spiritual-scientific research of Rudolf Steiner has brought to light, particularly in relation to the events that took place in Central America two thousand years ago, about which he alone has spoken. The first part of this research looks at events that closely accompany the turn of our era. The second part of the work addresses the cultural revolution undertaken by the Incas a century before the Spanish conquest. The overall result shows a thread of spiritual continuity that continues to play an important role in South American culture.

Este trabajo se ha realizado teniendo como fundamento el Popol Vuh, el documento que desanda en lenguaje m tico las cuatro eras o fases de la civilizaci n, que en alguna medida ha sufrido toda Am rica. Por tanto ste trabajo se desplaza desde el Popol Vuh hasta posteriores tiempos a trav?'s de los mitos y leyendas de los Aztecas e Iroqueses.

El mito y la historia van uno al lado del otro en un enfoque cient fico e imaginativo que documenta la correlaci n entre los per odos prehist rico e hist rico y los eventos espirituales que los preceden, seg n narran los mitos y leyendas de Norteam rica.

Finalmente, todo lo anterior es colocado en la perspectiva que la moderna investigaci n cient fica espiritual de Rudolf Steiner a sacado a la luz, particularmente en relaci n a los eventos que tuvieron lugar en Am rica Central dos mil a os atr s, del que s lo l ha hablado. La segunda parte del trabajo investiga el surgimiento de nuevas influencias espirituales alrededor del tiempo anterior al descubrimiento de Am rica por Col n. Al extremo del espectro encontramos la visi n del mundo Azteca e Iroquesa. Ambas cosmolog as tienen v nculos - discretos u obvios - con el contenido del Popol Vuh, o contin an o reinterpretan su mensaje original. Esta polaridad acarrea trascendentales consecuencias para la tendencia social global en la historia moderna del mundo.

Este trabajo se ha realizado teniendo como fundamento el Popol Vuh, el documento que desanda en lenguaje m tico las cuatro eras o fases de la civilizaci n, que en alguna medida ha sufrido toda Am rica. Por tanto ste trabajo se desplaza desde el Popol Vuh hasta posteriores tiempos a trav?'s de los mitos y leyendas de los Aztecas e Iroqueses.

El mito y la historia van uno al lado del otro en un enfoque cient fico e imaginativo que documenta la correlaci n entre los per odos prehist rico e hist rico y los eventos espirituales que los preceden, seg n narran los mitos y leyendas de Norteam rica.

Finalmente, todo lo anterior es colocado en la perspectiva que la moderna investigaci n cient fica espiritual de Rudolf Steiner a sacado a la luz, particularmente en relaci n a los eventos que tuvieron lugar en Am rica Central dos mil a os atr s, del que s lo l ha hablado. La segunda parte del trabajo investiga el surgimiento de nuevas influencias espirituales alrededor del tiempo anterior al descubrimiento de Am rica por Col n. Al extremo del espectro encontramos la visi n del mundo Azteca e Iroquesa. Ambas cosmolog as tienen v nculos - discretos u obvios - con el contenido del Popol Vuh, o contin an o reinterpretan su mensaje original. Esta polaridad acarrea trascendentales consecuencias para la tendencia social global en la historia moderna del mundo.

This work builds on the foundation of the Popol Vuh, the document that retraces in mythical language the four ages, or stages of civilization, that all of America has undergone to some degree. It also moves from the Popol Vuh into later times through myths and legends of the Aztec and Iroquois.Myth and history are placed side by side in a scientific and imaginative approach that documents the correlation between pre-historical and historical periods and the spiritual events that ushered them in, as narrated in the myths and legends of North America. This approach reconciles Western analytical consciousness with the Native American language of myths and legends.All of this is placed first in the perspective of Maya spiritual tradition, and then from the perspective that the twentieth-century research of Rudolf Steiner brought to light, especially in relation to the events that took place in Central America two thousand years ago, about which only Rudolf Steiner has spoken.The first part of the work explores events of 2,000 years ago and their consequences in the onset of Maya civilization. The second part researches the rise of new spiritual influences around the time just before the arrival of Columbus in America. At the extremes of the spectrum, we find Aztec and Iroquois worldviews. Both cosmologies have links, subtle or obvious, with the Popol Vuh, whether continuing or reinterpreting its original message. This polarity carries momentous consequences for global social trends in modern world history.Spiritual Turning Points of North American History brings a fresh perspective to North American history and the meeting of European and First Nations worldviews.