Christ and the Spiritual World - The Search for the Holy Grail
GA 149
Steiner examines the historical pattern of humanity's thoughts and spiritual development in its search for the meaning of existence. He discusses the Sibyls, Zarathustra, astrology in Egypt, the poets and philosophers in Greece and Rome, and the Hebrew prophets. These lectures culminate in the esoteric background to the Parsival story and the Holy Grail, and a discussion of how to behold the picture of the Holy Grail by reading the stellar script in the sky at Easter.
The original texts of the lectures are contained in the series of 6 lectures entitled Christ and the Spiritual World. Concerning the Search for the Holy Grail, in German, Christus und die geistige Welt — Von der Suche nach dem heiligen Gral.
| Lecture I | December 28, 1913 | |
| Difficulties of understanding the Christ-Jesus-Being. The thoughts of the Gnostics. | ||
| Lecture II | December 29, 1913 | |
| The Sibyls as symptoms of one side of human soul-life. The contrast between them and the Prophets. Paul and the olive-tree. | ||
| Lecture III | December 30, 1913 | |
| The three permeations of a Being of the higher Hierarchies by the Christ. Reflections of this cosmic fact in Greek mythology. The four stages of harmonisation. | ||
| Lecture IV | December 31, 1913 | |
| After-effects in post-Atlantean times of the three-fold Christ-Event. Chronology in the world-outlook of Zarathustra; Astrology in the Egyptian and Chaldean Mysteries; Meteorology in Graeco-Roman times. The geological element in the Hebrew Prophets. | ||
| Lecture V | January 1, 1914 | |
| The working of the Christ Impulse in the depths of the soul. The emergence of the Grail-Idea. The re-emergence of the stellar script in the secret of Parsifal. Ganganda greida, the viaticum. | ||
| Lecture VI | January 2, 1914 | |
| The permeation of spiritual revelations by the Christ Impulse. Reading the stellar script with the powers of the innocent human soul. The concord between human history and the stellar script. The heavenly aspect and the human aspect of the Holy Grail. | ||
| Note on Ganganda Greida | ||