The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Introductory Remarks

[ 1 ] The aim of this work is to provide spiritual-scientific insights into the nature of man. It is presented in such a way that the reader may grow into what is presented, so that in the course of reading it becomes a kind of soliloquy. If this soliloquy takes shape in such a way that previously hidden powers are revealed, which can be awakened in every soul, then reading leads to a real inner work of the soul. And this work can gradually lead to the transmigration of the soul, which can truly lead to seeing the spiritual world. That is why what has been shared has been given in the form of eight meditations that can really be practiced. If this happens, they can be suitable for conveying to the soul, through its own inner deepening, what is spoken of in them.

[ 2 ] The aim has been, on the one hand, to give something to the reader who has already familiarized himself more thoroughly with the literature and the work in the field of the supernatural, as it is meant here. Thus the connoisseur of the supersensible life will perhaps find something here which may appear important to him through the nature of what is presented, through the communication directly connected with the soul experience. And on the other hand, some may find that this presentation can also be of use to those who are still distant from the results of spiritual science.

[ 3 ] This is intended to supplement and expand my other writings in the field of the humanities. But it should also be able to be read on its own.

[ 4 ] In my "Theosophy" and in my "Outline of a Secret Science", I have endeavored to present things as they are revealed by observation of the spiritual. The presentation in these writings is a descriptive one, the progression of which was prescribed by the lawfulness that reveals itself from things. - In this "Path to Man's Self-Knowledge" the description is different. It tells us what a soul can experience when it embarks on the path to the spirit in a certain way. The writing can therefore be regarded as the reproduction of soul experiences. It must only be noted that the experiences which can be made in such a way as they are described here, must take on an individual form with an individual soul, according to its particular peculiarity. It has been attempted to do justice to this fact, so that one can also imagine that what is described has been lived through by a particular soul exactly as it is described. (The title is therefore: "A path to self-knowledge.") It is precisely for this reason that the writing can serve to help other souls to rub themselves into what has been described and reach corresponding goals. Thus, this writing is also a supplement and extension of what can be found in my book "How to gain knowledge of the higher worlds".

[ 5 ] Only individual basic spiritual-scientific experiences are presented. The communication of further areas of "spiritual science" in this form has been dispensed with for the time being.

Munich, August 1912
Rudolf Steiner