The Rudolf Steiner Archive

An Introduction to the Supersensible Knowledge of the World and the Destination of Man

Theosophy begins by describing the threefold nature of the human being: the body, or sense-world; the soul, or inner world; and the spirit, or universal world of cosmic archetypes. A profound discussion of reincarnation and karma follows, concluding with a description of the soul's journey through regions of the supersensible world after death. The book closes with an outline of the path to higher knowledge.

Translated by Henry B. Monges
and revised for this edition by Gilbert Church, Ph.D.

• From the Prefaces to the First, Second, and Third Editions
• Preface to the Revised English Edition
• Introduction

1. The Essential Nature of Man
• The Corporeal Nature of Man
• The Soul Nature of Man
• The Spiritual Nature of Man
• Body, Soul and Spirit
2. Re-embodiment of the Spirit and Destiny
3. The Three Worlds
• The Soul World
• The Soul in the Soul World After Death
• The Spiritland
• The Spirit in Spiritland After Death
• The Physical World and its Connection with the Soul and Spiritland
• Thought Forms and the Human Aura
4. The Path of Knowledge
• Addenda