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The Rudolf Steiner Archive

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Search results 651 through 660 of 1683

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168. The Connection Between the Living and the Dead: The Great Lie of Contemporary Civilization 26 Oct 1916, St. Gallen

Rudolf Steiner
Many of you will notice that even today, when you immerse yourself in spiritual science or anthroposophy, you still face many difficulties. Isn't it true that you first find your way into spiritual science through the needs of your soul, in that the soul must ask questions about the most important riddles of life?
With regard to what we want to achieve through spiritual science or anthroposophy and what we want to achieve not only for ourselves but for the world - and we must once bring this before our soul as one of these clear thoughts before our soul, today's civilized humanity lives in a terrible, more or less conscious or unconscious lie, and the effect of this lie within civilized humanity is tremendous.
And so we live in a world that, above all, our own soul, when we are seized by spiritual science or anthroposophy, must encounter with radically different thoughts and feelings. We live, as it were, in an atmosphere that demands of us a strong display of strength, a strong sense of self-preservation.
343. Lectures on Christian Religious Work II: Twenty-first Lecture 06 Oct 1921, Dornach

Rudolf Steiner
Man will then be in contact with the earth in a much more spiritual form, then there will be direct practical activity, and then a separation between religion and anthroposophy is no longer conceivable. For as long as there is no practical activity, but only the mere dissemination of impulses and so on – or at most the dissemination of impulses such as threefolding, which of course works entirely through the ordinary channels – as long as anthroposophy must work as it does today, there is no difficulty from this side.
If you follow the whole polemic and the whole fight against anthroposophy, one might almost say that one could become a naughty boy when one looks at all this; one always wants to say: but I didn't start it, never.
Yes, the future of the churches truly does not depend on anthroposophy, and, I am convinced, it does not depend on what is founded here either, but on their own crisis of disintegration.
319. Polarities in Health, Illness and Therapy 28 Aug 1924, London
Tr. Gerald Karnow

Rudolf Steiner
The reason for this confusion is that the connection between any object of nature and its effect upon illness cannot be understood if, by virtue of a specific point of view which one has about natural science, one actually excludes the human being from scientific considerations. Since anthroposophy strives to know the human being comprehensively—insofar as he is a super-sensible as well as a material being—it is also possible that anthroposophy can yield knowledge concerning the treatment of illnesses with various natural substances.
I can only indicate this, Those methods which are based on the foundation of anthroposophy certainly do not exclude therapeutic soul-spiritual influences; rather, they include them. You have evidence of this in the Clinical Therapeutic Institute in Arlesheim-Dornach.
It was so-to-speak demanded by contemporary civilization. Anthroposophy has only given the answers to questions which were posed to it. I really could only present the principles aphoristically to you today.
287. The Building at Dornach: Lecture III 24 Oct 1914, Dornach
Tr. Dorothy S. Osmond

Rudolf Steiner
What follows after this point—the brief outline of Anthroposophy—was written actually during the war. I tried to give an objective picture of the philosophy of Boutroux and of Bergson.
When we contemplate the events of today we can say that Anthroposophy is something from which European humanity in the present epoch is as remote as it ought to be near, is something that it should long for with every fibre of its being. For if Spiritual Science penetrates our hearts in a way that could at the moment only be indicated in interpreting the forms of the columns and architraves, then the souls of European humanity will stand in the right relationship to each other. If Anthroposophy—and for our immediate present this is still more important—if Anthroposophy fulfils its task in the human soul in having a clarifying effect in the thoughts of men, bringing real clarity into them, permeating and rectifying them, then a very great deal will have been achieved for the immediate future.
192. Social Basis For Primary and Secondary Education: Lecture I 11 May 1919, Stuttgart
Tr. Unknown

Rudolf Steiner
We know, some of us at least could know, that what we carry on here and call spiritual science, or anthroposophy, we have for some time considered to be the true spiritual foundation of what today is on the ascent.
I have often been surprised how distorted my lectures on anthroposophy have been by my audience; for if they had taken them in a positive way they could have said: we won't bother about the anthroposophy in these lectures, but what is said about natural science, which receives great praise when coming from the ordinary natural philosopher—that is enough for us.
No, and if they have not, they merely gossip. What here we pursue as anthroposophy is something that can change all knowledge of nature, and even of history, so that everyone will be able to understand them.
150. The World of the Spirit and Its Impact on Physical Existence: Freedom of the Soul in the Light of Anthroposophical Knowledge 10 Jun 1913, Stockholm

Rudolf Steiner
In this sense, we are in a completely new epoch of human development. Those who today are drawn to anthroposophy and the anthroposophical movement as if by instinct feel what is written in the signs of the times.
And here we touch on something that shows how anthroposophy can rise to a level where the highest sense of truth can unite with the noblest moral motives.
But man can see this as an ideal for the future, that he can develop in such a way towards freedom and recognize truths in a free way, as set out here. Much could be said about anthroposophy, but it would be difficult to find anything more intimately connected with our need for freedom than the above statement about free truth.
319. Anthroposophical Medical Theory and Human Knowledge: First Lecture 28 Aug 1923, Penmaenmawr

Rudolf Steiner
On the other hand, in the field of actual therapy – not in my opinion, but precisely in the opinion of those doctors who have become aware of all this – there is great confusion because one cannot see the connection between any natural thing and its effect on the disease if one actually excludes the human being from scientific observation due to one's particular view of natural science. Now, since anthroposophy is based precisely on getting to know the human being in his innermost being, both insofar as he is a supersensible being and insofar as he is a sensual being, knowledge can also be gained from anthroposophy about treating people with these or those natural remedies in the event of illness.
And it can be continued by applying the aspects of anthroposophy to it. If phosphorus is now added to the organism, these abilities to inhibit the organic combustion processes are supported.
It has been demanded, so to speak, by present-day civilization. Anthroposophy has basically only given the answers to questions that were put to it. Today I have only been able to give you an aphoristic account of the principles; more is not possible in this already all too long time.
115. Wisdom of Man, of the Soul, and of the Spirit: Truth and Error in the Light of the Spiritual World 13 Dec 1911, Berlin
Tr. Samuel P. Lockwood, Loni Lockwood

Rudolf Steiner
Another objection could be made that anthroposophists often face the obligation to intercede for anthroposophy, to refute objections, produce evidence and substantiations, but it is only possible to a slight degree to convince our opponents by means of any proofs whatsoever.
This path leads to no proof, however, and it furnishes anthroposophists the opportunity of perceiving how difficult it is to prove anthroposophy as such. Truth per se and taken alone does not necessarily prove anything with regard to the spirit.
All who approach it honestly will meet with great difficulties. One of the tasks of anthroposophy is to become acquainted with these problems that face those who, steeped in the occidental cultural life, would achieve recognition of the spirit as it is represented by spiritual science in general and pneumatosophy in particular.
236. Karmic Relationships II: The Esoteric Trend in the Anthroposophical Movement 12 Apr 1924, Dornach
Tr. George Adams, Mabel Cotterell, Charles Davy, Dorothy S. Osmond

Rudolf Steiner
Nothing has annoyed our opponents more than the fact that our members have tried to speak on the same subjects as they themselves do, and in the same manner, only—as these our members often used to say—“letting a little Anthroposophy flow into it.” It was precisely this which called forth our opponents in such overwhelming numbers. Again, we offend most strongly against the life-conditions of Anthroposophy if we give ourselves up to the illusion that we can win over the adherents of various religious communities by saying the same or similar things as they, only once more “letting Anthroposophy flow into it.” But now, since the Christmas Foundation Meeting, an entirely new element must come into all that is being done in the field of Anthroposophy. Those of you who have observed the way Anthroposophy is now being presented here, or the way it was presented at Prague and again at Stuttgart, will have observed that impulses are now at work which call forth something altogether new, even where our opponents are concerned.
236. Karmic Relationships II: The Study of History and the Observation of Man 23 Apr 1924, Dornach
Tr. George Adams, Mabel Cotterell, Charles Davy, Dorothy S. Osmond

Rudolf Steiner
The recognition of his place in universal existence invariably calls forth humility, never arrogance. All genuine study pursued in Anthroposophy has its ethical side, carries with it an ethical impulse. Unlike modern materialism, Anthroposophy will not lead to a conception of life in which ethics and morality are a mere adjunct; ethics and morality emerge, as if inwardly impelled, from all genuine anthroposophical study.
For this we shall need, above all, deep earnestness. Our life in Anthroposophy must be filled with earnestness. And this earnestness will grow in the Anthroposophical Society if those who really want to do something in the Society give more and more thought to the contents of the News Sheet that is sent out every week into all circles of Anthroposophists as a supplement to the weekly periodical, Das Goetheanum.
The Anthroposophical Society must make the whole cause of Anthroposophy its own. And it is true to say that if once this ‘thinking in common’ is an active reality, then it can also become the bearer of comprehensive, far-reaching spiritual knowledge.

Results 651 through 660 of 1683

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