Donate books to help fund our work. Learn more→

The Rudolf Steiner Archive

a project of Steiner Online Library, a public charity

Search results 2051 through 2060 of 6551

˂ 1 ... 204 205 206 207 208 ... 656 ˃
153. The Inner Nature of Man and Life Between Death and Rebirth II: The Task and Goal of Spiritual Science and Spiritual Searching in the Present Day 06 Apr 1914, Vienna

And from this point of view, in order to make ourselves understood, I will say the following by way of comparison: when we have water before us, this water has certain properties.
But it would be sad if the only pictures a person who could paint could understand were those that had to do with the world of nature. Of course, only the painter can paint it; but when the picture stands before man, it is the case that the human soul has the very natural powers within itself to understand the picture, even if it is not able to paint it.
But I would also like to characterize the quest of our time, which cannot yet be understood in terms of another. A man who deserves a certain amount of esteem as a philosopher has written a curious essay in a widely read journal.
153. The Inner Nature of Man and Life Between Death and Rebirth II: What Does Spiritual Science Have to Say About the Life, Death and Immortality of the Human Soul? 08 Apr 1914, Vienna

And the spiritual that organizes the body is the soul that has been transformed and flows into the body. And so we understand the life we are currently living by understanding what happened outside of life beyond death. What is at work in a person in earthly life has appropriated his powers between death and a new birth.
Someone who dies at an early stage of life, let us say, through an illness, who undergoes much through this illness, prepares his soul through this illness in such a way that his powers of will can be strengthened.
Spiritual science shows us that we have life in the body through the life outside the body, so that no one can understand the life between birth and death who does not understand the life outside the body, in the spiritual firmament.
153. The Inner Nature of Man and Life Between Death and Rebirth II: About the Johannesbau in Dornach 14 Apr 1914, Vienna

This construction project is, of course, giving us more work than one would usually imagine, and you will therefore understand that personal meetings have had to be canceled for a certain period of time. For our dear Austrian friends, it has certainly not been easy in many respects to come to terms with the idea that the Johannesbau is so far away.
And in this matter the willingness to make sacrifices on the part of some of our friends was so accommodating that we can say: this willingness to make sacrifices is, in a certain respect, a symbol of the way in which our spiritual movement has penetrated the understanding of souls. I only wished to mention this, so that you may take this structure to your hearts, and feel it as a central point of our movement, so that you may think of yourselves as united with it, and may grant it your personal presence, as much as will be possible in the future, after the opening.
154. The Presence of the Dead on the Spiritual Path: Faith and Knowledge 17 Apr 1914, Prague
Translated by Christoph von Arnim

The farmer would understand it much better than the so-called educated person if only the way were not blocked by social conventions.
We can see from this that understanding and knowledge are dependent on the physical and etheric bodies, which are affected only by the impressions of the physical world.
Literally: “A change is to take place, a transformation of such magnitude that even if angels came down and announce it, we would understand it as little as an infant would understand what we told it about the world in our language,” in Leben und Religion (“Life and Religion”), Stuttgart, n.y.
154. The Presence of the Dead on the Spiritual Path: Robert Hamerling: Poet and Thinker 26 Apr 1914, Berlin
Translated by Christoph von Arnim

The only thing he could tell himself was: “Well, I cannot really tell them what I want to be, because they would not understand. For when I am asked what I want to be, I want to answer: I want to become a human being!” So sometimes he said he wanted to be a philologist or an astronomer or something like that. People could understand that. But they would not have understood that someone who had finished his studies might intend to become a human being.
In the form of a three-part novel, Aspasia became a wonderful poem about cultural history. Robert Hamerling was not understood, as I learned when I met a man in a godforsaken place whose eyes burned with resentment and whose mouth had an ugly expression.
154. The Presence of the Dead on the Spiritual Path: Awakening Spiritual Thoughts 05 May 1914, Basel
Translated by Christoph von Arnim

And if you doubt that this is useful, since the deceased is in the spiritual world anyway, just think that we can be surrounded by things and beings in the physical world, yet may not understand them. The understanding has to be acquired. Thus, although the deceased is in the spiritual world, thoughts from earth have to flow to him.
Everything is different now from the way it was in the times our souls passed through in previous incarnations. And we have to understand the nature of our current task just as we understood what we had to do in our earlier incarnations when we were guided by spiritual luminaries.
We must try to immerse ourselves in these ideas so that they stimulate within us what our souls need in the future. What spiritual science offers can be understood by everyone. Those who claim one cannot understand the contents of spiritual science, but must believe it, speak without knowing how these things really are.
154. The Presence of the Dead on the Spiritual Path: The Presence of the Dead in our Life 25 May 1914, Paris
Translated by Christoph von Arnim

Of course, this has nothing to do with the fact that every unbiased person can understand what I say about the higher worlds; in other words, we do not merely have to believe these descriptions, but we can understand them if we approach them without preconceived ideas.
So we can also describe phenomena of the spiritual world with what we understand on the physical plane. However, we cannot understand the higher worlds with our everyday concepts and ideas, but need to acquire others and expand our thinking.
But I ask only that you make a real effort to understand this humble beginning from the perspective and significance of our spiritual science. Try to understand what this simple beginning, paid for with considerable sacrifices, is aiming at.
154. The Presence of the Dead on the Spiritual Path: The Blessing of the Dead 26 May 1914, Paris
Translated by Christoph von Arnim

Now you will easily understand that I could gain deeper insight into the soul-spiritual being of our dead friend because she stood before my soul as a spiritual being.
Careful and thorough study of spiritual science will gradually silence the objection that the spiritual researcher's reports of the realm of the spirit can only be believed because they cannot really be understood. People will see that human intelligence is indeed able to understand information from the spiritual world, but only if it is the result of true spiritual experiences and true spiritual research.
A proper perspective on our future cultural development reveals that in trying to understand the world in its entirety, people will strive not for a one-sided exploration of the natural world, as many now assume.
155. Anthroposophical Ethics: Lecture I 28 May 1912, Norrköping
Translated by Harry Collison

For this reason, he who understands these words of St. John ought to draw from them quite a different conclusion from that usually drawn.
His father's home was well known for its lavish hospitality and wastefulness—for that reason his father could understand his son's extravagance, but he could not understand him after the radical change he had undergone, when he laid aside his best clothes and even his necessities and gave them to those in need.
These things his father did not understand. I need not describe the discussions which then took place; I need only point out that in them were concentrated all the moral impulses of Francis of Assisi.
155. Anthroposophical Ethics: Lecture II 29 May 1912, Norrköping
Translated by Harry Collison

We shall have to look more deeply if we want to understand what was active in the soul of this outstanding human being. Let us go back to the ancient civilisation of India.
As we are not gathered together to study external science, but to understand human morality from its spiritual and occult foundations, we must examine a few occult or spiritual truths.
One only wished to point out by means of a striking example, how moral power enters man, whence it can spring and how it must be understood as something quite special, something that was originally present in man. But from the whole spirit of what I have said up to now you may gather one thing with regard to other forces in human evolution, namely, that humanity has first gone through a descent and has now undertaken an ascent again.

Results 2051 through 2060 of 6551

˂ 1 ... 204 205 206 207 208 ... 656 ˃