"This biography does not aim for completeness, but focuses on Rudolf Steiner's being, intentions, and journey-aspects that must not be obliterated by the many events, foundations, and people involved with Anthroposophy.... It wants to convey (to quote Emil Leinhas) 'the immense greatness and unique significance of this individuality who radiates out over the centuries.'" -Peter Selg (from the introduction) To acknowledge and understand Rudolf Steiner's unique achievement and life's work, one must be able to accept that the founder and spiritual researcher of Anthroposophy was "a citizen of two worlds" the spiritual and the physical. Anthroposophy teaches that this duality, rather than being a quality reserved for special individualities, is inherent to human nature. According to Rudolf Steiner, it is a central aspect of being human, even in times when the suprasensory aspect of humanity is eclipsed (for ordinary day consciousness) and almost eliminated by certain civilizations. The interest in Rudolf Steiner's person and essence, in his attitude toward life and work, will continue to grow in the decades and centuries that lie ahead, both within and outside the anthroposophical movement. It will take hold of entirely different groups of people, including those who come with spiritual questions or discover them in times of need. Rudolf Steiner's work grew to be "one unique effort of bringing courage to human beings" (Michael Bauer). This is the first of seven comprehensive volumes on Rudolf Steiner's "being, intentions, and journey." It presents Rudolf Steiner from childhood and youth through his doctorate degree and up to the time of his work for the Goethe Archives as editor of Goethe's scientific writings. By considering his formative years in depth, we come to understand better the roots and development of Rudolf Steiner's later spiritual research and teachings.

Karl Koenig, the founder of Camphill, was a prolific lecturer and writer on a wide range of subjects from anthroposophy and Christology through social questions and curative education to science and history. The Karl Koenig Archive are working on a programme of publishing these works over the coming years. This is the fourth book to be published in the series. In this remarkable collection of Karl Koenig's letters and essays, Koenig considers and discusses the fundamentals of special needs education. He shows that there are three core aspects to a successful holistic education and healing approach: firstly, a positive social environment, which in the context of Camphill is achieved through small family units of carers and children; secondly, that carers' work is based on an insightful understanding of the nature and potential of each individual child and disability; and thirdly that medical treatment is imbued with courage to keep believing that the impossible is possible.

This book follows Karl Koenig's spiritual journey from his early years to the end of his life. Through the words of his diaries, in which his battles with health and his impatient temperament are recorded with merciless honesty, we can follow his inner path that led to profound insights into the nature of children with special needs. His personal wrestlings and innate spirituality laid the foundation for his work in the Camphill Schools and Villages. Includes facsimile reproductions of some of Koenig's original diary pages. About the Karl Koenig Archive: Karl Koenig, the founder of Camphill, was a prolific lecturer and writer on a wide range of subjects from anthroposophy and Christology through social questions and curative education to science and history. The Karl Koenig Archive are working on a programme of publishing these works over the coming years.

The relationship between The Christian Community and the Anthroposophical Society is complex and often misunderstood. Christian Community priests work out of an understanding of anthroposophy, and it was undoubtedly Steiner's theological lecture courses which led to the formation of the movement. Nonetheless questions remain, which Peter Selg examines closely in this unique book. -- Steiner's work emphasises the importance of finding the spiritual in everyday life. So why did he help found a 'Sunday church'? -- In his lectures, Steiner spoke about a 'spiritual communion' without physical matter. So why is there any need for a sacramental communion with real bread and wine, as practiced in The Christian Community? -- In a much-quoted lecture after the founding of The Christian Community, Steiner said that anthroposophists should have no need of the new religious movement. But on another occasion he said he wished greatly that the movement should succeed. How can these be understood and reconciled? This long-overdue book is a significant exploration of Steiner's legacy which should have far-reaching implications for mutual understanding and cooperation between The Christian Community and the wider anthroposophical world.

'Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.' Rudolf Steiner once called the Lord's Prayer the 'greatest initiation prayer', and he spoke about it many times, also referring to it as the central prayer of Christian experience. This book is, however, the first time that all of Steiner's comments, accounts and perspectives have been brought together in one place, presenting the full scope and depth of his ideas. Along the way, Peter Selg reveals some surprising insights into the spiritual history and mission of Christianity.

Unlike other Christian creeds, the creed of The Christian Community is not a statement of belief, but rather a series of assertions that act as a path to a deeper understanding of Christianity. Peter Selg offers an insightful and informative overview of how, in the time leading up to the founding of The Christian Community nearly one hundred years ago, Rudolf Steiner formulated both the creed itself and its founding principles. He also examines the history of Christian creeds including the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed and compares them to each other. Finally, he explores the ongoing significance of the creed for The Christian Community today.

Since 2006, specialists, doctors, psychologists, and therapists of Parzival-Zentrum Karlsruhe have taken part in emergency education crisis interventions, carried out by the organization Friends of Friends of Waldorf Education. They work with psychologically traumatized children and young people in war zones and disaster areas, including Lebanon, China, the Gaza Strip, Indonesia, Haiti, Kyrgyzstan, and most recently in Japan following the tsunami there and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Bernd Ruf, who heads these operations, describes in his book in various ways the basics of anthroposophically extended "emergency education," including the anthroposophic understanding of trauma itself. In addition, he describes processes and experiences, focusing on recent experiences in Japan at the center of his descriptions. Educating Traumatized Children offers much-needed insight into this little-known area of education and healing for traumatized children and young people. This book will be valuable not only for those working in areas of disaster and armed conflict, but also for any teacher or parent who is teaching or caring for a traumatized child.

Ita Wegman, born in 1876 to a Dutch family living in Indonesia, first met Rudolf Steiner in Berlin in 1902 when she was 26 years old. She studied medicine at the University of Zurich and in 1917, following Steiner's indications, developed a treatment for cancer using mistletoe. In 1921 she founded the first anthroposophical medical clinic, in Arlesheim, Switzerland, followed in 1922 by the Sonnenhof home for children with special needs. Karl Koenig first met Wegman in 1927, and she quickly recognized his great potential, as well as his weaknesses. She invited him to work at the Arlesheim clinic as her assistant, and encouraged and advised him in his medical work. This book includes the complete correspondence between Koenig and Wegman.

Kaspar Hauser was a young man who appeared on the streets of Nuremberg in Germany in the early nineteenth century. His innocence and mysterious background captured the hearts of many at the time. 2012 marks the 200th anniversary of Kaspar Hauser's birth. This timely book draws together Karl Koenig's thoughts on the enigma of Kaspar Hauser, as well as exploring Koenig's deep connection to the young man. The book includes Koenig's essay 'The Story of Kaspar Hauser', as well as essays from Peter Selg on 'Koenig, Wegman and Kaspar Hauser' and Richard Steel on how Koenig spoke of Kaspar Hauser in his diaries, notes and letters.

Why is it so difficult actually to understand and implement the "intentions of the Christmas Conference" (in Rudolf Steiner's words), which represent a very concrete answer to the Anthroposophical Society's identity crisis'? - Peter Selg More than 100 years after its founding, the Anthroposophical Society faces serious questions - some of an existential nature - regarding its purpose and tasks in the present day. On 30 March 2012, in the course of the Society's Annual General Meeting in Dornach, both Sergei Prokofieff and Peter Selg gave lectures in which they addressed difficult issues relating to the General Anthroposophical Society and its global headquarters, the Goetheanum in Switzerland. These lectures were met with a mixture of enthusiastic support and stern disapproval. They are reproduced here in full - together with supplementary material that helps broaden and deepen their themes - in order for each and every interested individual to have access to them. 'The intention of my lecture was to draw attention to the fact that the recent development of the Goetheanum is no longer heading in the right direction; rather, it is heading in a direction that can be considered neither in the spirit intended by Rudolf Steiner, nor of service to anthroposophy. Before it is too late, this direction must be altered...Otherwise, the Goetheanum is in danger of being degraded to spiritual "insignificance", and of becoming a mere combination of museum and conference centre.' - Sergei O. Prokofieff

From 2009 to 2010, Sergei Prokofiev and Peter Selg-two leading authorities and spiritual researchers into the life and work of Rudolf Steiner-gave a series of conferences on the Christological foundations of Anthroposophy. Their aim was to show the power of anthroposophic Christology. Consequently, they focused on key turning points in Rudolf Steiner's exposition: his major work, An Outline of Esoteric Science; the first Goetheanum; the Reappearance of Christ in the etheric realm and the relationship of this event to Rudolf Steiner's lectures on the Fifth Gospel; and the Christmas Conference (1923-24) and the founding of the New Mysteries. The lectures from the conferences (published as four booklets in German) are collected here in a single volume. The Creative Power of Anthroposophical Christology is essential reading for all those who are interested in the true meaning and depth of Rudolf Steiner's experience and understanding of Christ's deed on Golgotha and his continuing presence among us and within Anthroposophy.

Rudolf Steiner entrusted the Esoteric Section and the Mathematics and Astronomy Section at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, to Elisabeth Vreede (1879-1943) because of her special abilities. He commented, "Miss. Vreede is one of the people who best understands my lectures." Elisabeth Vreede was recognized as the "esoterically educated" member of Steiner's governing body. Nevertheless, in 1935 she was stripped of all her positions at the Goetheanum in Dornach and prevented from resuming them. Lili Kolisko wrote of her, "Dr. Elisabeth Vreede was a member of the Executive Council whose opinion was considered of very little or--one could almost say--no importance." Herbert Hahn wrote to Elisabeth Vreede, "I feel we must thank your loyal custodial task and your unfailing enthusiasm for all of Anthroposophy for much, much more than we can grasp at this time." This book--employing numerous, previously unpublished documents dealing with tragic misunderstandings in the anthroposophical movement--offers testimony to the greatness of this singular individual. C O N T E N T S Foreword 1. "All of Heaven seemed to be called down" (1879-1913): The Way to Rudolf Steiner 2. "Dr. Steiner was very pleased with my lectures" (1914-1923) Dornach 3. "Tested to the ultimate degree" (1924-1925): The Christmas Conference and the Esoteric Executive Council 4. "Executive Council's Idylls" (1925-1935): The Decade after Rudolf Steiner's Death 5. "May soul live in this house" (1935-1943): The Final Years Appendices: Elisabeth Vreede: The Christmas and Michael Impulses: Lecture at the Opening of the Second Goetheanum, 1928 Elisabeth Vreede: Isis-Sophia, Christmas Essay, 1928 This book was originally published in German as Elisabeth Vreede: 1879-1943 (Verlag des Ita Wegman Instituts, 2009).

This thought-, feeling-, and will-provoking book of reflections by Peter Selg and Sergei Prokofieff on the soul-spiritual, ethical, and medicaltherapeutic issues surrounding physician-assisted suicide (and suicide as such) takes its inspiration from both Rudolf Steiner and the ancient Greek Hippocratic Oath. Peter Selg begins by showing how, for Rudolf Steiner, the principle of life-as immanent spirit and the living medium of the "I" or individuality-is inviolable and wise beyond our reckoning. It is the sacred task of healing always to attend to, honor, and serve life in this sense: to affirm, enhance, and strengthen the life-forces of the sick. As Rudolf Steiner puts it: "The will to heal must always function as therapeutically as possible... even when one thinks the sick person is incurable." Though these words were spoken before the full consummation of materialist, technologically-enhanced medicine, Rudolf Steiner, as Peter Selg demonstrates, was well aware of the dangers of where medicine was heading. Sergei Prokofieff links the initiatory origins of Hippocratic medicine in the Mysteries with the return of the Mystery origin of medicine and healing in Anthroposophical medicine. Turning to Rudolf Steiner's spiritual research, he considers suicide as an "illness" of our time and examines the spiritual consequences of suicide for the after-death experiences of those who have taken their own life: namely, that suicide results in the soul's profound disorientation. He then goes on to show how suicide makes the after-death experience of Christ infinitely more difficult, as it does the "resurrection of the spirit" and the relation to the spiritual world. Far from being a "free" act, he concludes, suicide is quite the opposite. Anyone seeking insight into suicide will find here a profound and esoteric introduction to the problem.

"Following Rudolf Steiner's death, the mysteries cannot be revealed further at the present time, but we must continue to cultivate a living, not only rational but also ritual, continuity of the mystery contents he has given, passing them to people who did not know Rudolf Steiner and yet seek to connect with him esoterically and not just intellectually." -Ludwig Count Polzer-Hoditz Since Rudolf Steiner's death in 1925, little has been written about the "First Class" of the School for Spiritual Science in Dornach. The Class continues as an esoteric institution in the hearts of its disciples and in the mantras and meditations. This meditative work is hidden from view, yet, behind the scenes, it lives on in the inner striving for development of soul and spirit that is part of any mystery school. Rudolf Steiner himself guarded the content of the Class Lessons strictly, only intimating to members of the General Society that his esoteric school existed and how it worked. In this book, Peter Selg provides a context for the "reading" of the Class Lessons, the School for Spiritual Science itself, as well as for Rudolf Steiner's intentions for such an esoteric undertaking. The School for Spiritual Science was the work of an initiate, and through the esoteric collaboration of Rudolf Steiner and those who worked with him a Christian mystery center began to unfold. But Steiner's aim has not yet been achieved. Intense work is still needed for its realization-unwavering efforts with awareness of the foundations Rudolf Steiner laid down and consciousness of the mystery dimension of the endeavor. As an aspect of that wider mystery dimension, Peter Selg also looks back to Ita Wegman as Rudolf Steiner's "helper" in the First Class. He seeks to leave behind the conflicts of the 1920s and 1930s as Ita Wegman herself left them behind her. As Ita Wegman said, "For me the matter is settled. There are so many misunderstandings that I consider it better to leave things well alone. We all thought we were doing the right thing. Looking forward is more important now than looking back." In its exploration of the First Class, Rudolf Steiner and the School for Spiritual Science provides a much-needed perspective on what ought to be at the very heart of Anthroposophy and the movement for Spiritual Science that Rudolf Steiner brought into the world.

"We must become selfless-that is the task of culture today for the future. Human beings must become more and more selfless. Therein lies the future of right moral life actions, the future of all acts of love that can occur through earthly humanity." -Rudolf Steiner (Approaching the Mystery of Golgotha) In a lecture eight weeks before the outbreak of World War I, Rudolf Steiner, conscious of developments to come, coined the phrase "culture of selflessness" to describe the culture that would develop in the future. The far-reaching social implications of his primarily Christological lectures on the Fifth Gospel, given in 1913/14 under the same political circumstances, were foreign to many of Steiner's contemporary audiences, who largely failed to understand his dramatic accounts drawn from the Fifth Gospel (or that gospel itself) as a "source of comfort" for the future, or (as Rudolf Steiner said of them) as "needed" for future work. The subsequent catastrophes of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, however, have sensitized us to Steiner's central themes and contents of 1913/14. He spoke of spiritual development and self-preservation in the face of great suffering; of truly participating in the misfortunes of others; and of acquiring "true selflessness" that takes the human "I" fully into account. During the 1930s, during the National Socialist reign of violence, a few of Rudolf Steiner's pupils took this path of moral resistance and all-embracing therapeutic action. One example is described in the second chapter of this volume. Many other destinies are less well-known; by now, they can no longer be saved completely from oblivion. They include the great life work of Maria Krehbiel-Darmstadter, an anthroposophist of Jewish origin who was murdered in Auschwitz in January 1943. However, both now and in the future, in a world that must find humane ways to endure continued calamities of tremendous magnitude, the task Rudolf Steiner described remains relevant in all cultures and all parts of the globe. "A single great community covers the earth. Its name is suffering and strength."

Karl Koenig: My Task is an inspiring introduction to Koenig's remarkable life and work. This book combines Koenig's autobiographical fragment and an essay by Peter Selg with two selected reminiscences written by Koenig's colleagues Anke Weihs and Hans-Heinrich Engel. Born in 1902 into a Jewish family, Karl Koenig grew up in Vienna in the last years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He studied medicine and during this time came across the work of Rudolf Steiner. Soon after graduating he worked with Ita Wegman in Switzerland, where he also met his wife, Tilla. He was a pioneer in the early days of Pilgramshain, a home for children with special needs in Silesia, Germany. However, in 1936 under political pressure he left Germany for Austria. Here he had a large medical practice as well as being the focus of a group of young people interested in Steiner's work. Following the annexation of Austria by the Nazis, Koenig and many of the young people around him came to Britain as refugees. The ideal of working together as a community was put into practice with the founding of Camphill in 1939. Koenig was the driving force behind the expansion of the Camphill movement across the British Isles, into Europe, South Africa and North America. He died in 1966.

From 1933 to 1935, Ita Wegman was confronted by both Nazi fascism and internal crises in the General Anthroposophical Society. During those years, she traveled to Palestine in the fall of 1934 following a grave illness that nearly ended with her death. Her correspondence during this period, as well as her notes on the trip, reveal the great biographical importance to her of these travels and indeed the whole scope of her spiritual experiences in 1934. Ita Wegman had unambiguous perspectives and a uniquely clear view of both the political threat and her social-spiritual task during this period. There was, however, a radical change in her inner stance toward the opposition, aggression, and defamation she encountered within anthroposophic contexts in reaction to her intense, purely motivated efforts. She tried to live and work in true accord with her inner impulses and, ultimately, with Rudolf Steiner's legacy, especially within the anthroposophic movement. Doing so, she increasingly found her way to her own distinctive and uncompromising path. The author reveals the general nature of those three years-a period whose distinctive spiritual and Christological task and dramatic dangers Rudolf Steiner had foreseen in 1923: "If these men the Nazis] gain government power, I will no longer be able to set foot on German soil." Ita Wegman's efforts in 1933 to confront the dark powers of National Socialism and the convulsions in Dornach, which she experienced firsthand, as well as her subsequent illness and the clarity of her "Christological conversion" in 1934 to '35, reveal a very specific, intrinsically comprehensible and forward-looking quality whose spiritual signature is clearly prefigured in Rudolf Steiner's spiritual-scientific predictions. In this book, Peter Selg focuses exclusively on Ita Wegman, her development, and her words, simply presenting the processes she went through and, implicitly, their extraordinary spiritual nature, without any attempt at interpretation. This focus arises from the governing premise that the mysteries of a great life such as that of Ita Wegman reveal themselves in the details. Tracing the subtle steps in her life allow us deeper insight into Ita Wegman's being. She herself wrote, "In general meetings or gatherings, people always understood me poorly because I lacked a smooth way of expressing myself. But people of goodwill always understood what I meant." This book was originally published in German as Geistiger Widerstand und Uberwindung. Ita Wegman 1933-1935 by Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland, 2005.