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The Rudolf Steiner Archive

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Search results 4021 through 4030 of 6548

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68a. The Essence of Christianity: The Wisdom Teachings of Christianity 21 Feb 1906, Leipzig

Translated literally, it means “spiritual self”. Everyone reflects and seeks to understand the world around them, in their own way. I don't just mean the scholars, but everyone; the farmer behind the plough has his ideas and mental images.
For Tauler, the life of Christ was not a theory; for him, these facts were real. In order to understand these facts, one must first have experienced the inner Christ. Angelus Silesius expressed this most beautifully.
68a. The Essence of Christianity: Germanic and Indian Secret Doctrine 22 Apr 1906, Munich

The profound spiritual basis reveals to us that a secret primordial revelation underlies all these religions. To many, this truth seems incredible, but only because of unfamiliarity with the facts, which appear to be imperfect because the great leaders can only give them such an expression as will be understood.
Therefore, we do not need any Indian terminology in Europe, we only need to understand and revive what is original in Europe. We can get to the bottom of a great European secret doctrine and will get there.
The speaker then expressed the view that the Theosophical Society in Europe had the primary task of working for an understanding of the great truths and beauties of the Germanic world of legends, as well as for a deeper understanding of the symbols of Christianity, since the forms of the Orient cannot be transferred to Europe without further ado.
68a. The Essence of Christianity: Germanic and Indian Secret Doctrine 24 Apr 1906, Leipzig

The Germanic peoples had a very special expression for it. To understand how the ancient Germans arrived at their ideas, one must delve deeper into their way of thinking.
German scholarship could have provided a good basis for a correct understanding. There is a work that presents a thorough study of legends: Das Rätsel der Sphinx (The Riddle of the Sphinx) by Ludwig Laistner.
This treasure will be unearthed; then we will understand in a unique way what our European ancestors have to say to their descendants. Theosophy is intended to create a brotherhood across all of humanity, causing people to carry into the future what they understand from the past.
68a. The Essence of Christianity: On Lucifer 09 Nov 1906, Leipzig

Higher beings play a role in human life. Lucifer is also understood to be among the guiding personalities, the leading or seducing ones. Here we must be clear about dualism – duality – which plays a role in all areas of life.
We have to go much deeper into the development of the human soul to see what reality underlies the Lucifer principle. In more recent times, views on this have undergone changes. These were already evident in the old Faust saga.
So it is not something destructive, but rather a power is evoked that is not opposed to the deity. If we want to understand this power, we must realize how man fits into the world around him. Man forms one of the kingdoms; alongside him we have the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom and the animal kingdom.
68a. The Essence of Christianity: The Children of Lucifer 14 Dec 1906, Leipzig

The Bible contains theosophical truths. If we want to understand the task that fell to these Elohim, we must first realize that there are initially three types of activity.
If you can visualize these structures, you will understand the dual nature of man: the outer shell and the divine. The seven Elohim work here, and Jehovah has the task of transforming the dual-sex nature into a single-sex one.
Plato gave a solid form to the formless ideas of the initiated Moses. If we are broad-minded enough to understand them, wisdom and love breathe towards us in Hellenic culture and present themselves in the god Dionysus.
68a. The Essence of Christianity: The Bible and Wisdom 17 Jan 1907, Stuttgart

The scholars of late Judaism applied all their ingenuity and all their mental power to understanding this book. And so it was in those times that the highest knowledge was applied to achieve understanding.
We see regularities and monstrosities in nature, we know that it would be nonsense to criticize nature, we do not do that, we seek to understand it. Understanding is the basic attitude we must have; we must pursue everything in the spiritual life with understanding, pursue everything with love, not with the yardstick of sympathy and antipathy.
Theosophy will offer an explanation of the Bible, an understanding of it again. Even something like the splitting of the creation account will bring it closer to human understanding again.
68a. The Essence of Christianity: The Origin of Evil 18 Jan 1907, Stuttgart

And for those who deny the Divine, the existence of evil is easily one of the reasons for such denial. They say: How can one imagine a world under divine guidance where evil reigns in the most diverse forms? In any case, this question of evil intrudes mysteriously and disconcertingly into our lives.
This is an explanation of the concept that seems to shed light on our understanding. In modern times, the question of good and evil seems to be playing a role again, for example in the work of someone who has impressed many, many people, Nietzsche.
What a whole group is in the animal, man has for himself alone. To understand this, we need only consider the fact that a person has a biography, whereas an animal does not.
68a. The Essence of Christianity: Theosophy, Buddhism and Christianity 07 Mar 1907, Düsseldorf

Even more powerful are the impulses that affect the student in the secret schools who is undergoing spiritual training. It becomes completely clear to the person undergoing this spiritual training that there is what is called a spiritual core of being.
Thus Hermes gave the Egyptian people an image of the original wisdom, and the Rishis taught in a way that the ancient Indians could understand. This original wisdom was made understandable by Zarathustra for the Persian people, and it was Pythagoras who did the same for the Greeks.
That is why Theosophy is not a sect, but an instrument, a servant that leads to an understanding of the highest spiritual existence. That is why it is not unscientific, and precisely because Theosophy shows the common essence in Buddhism and Christianity and all other major religions, it is not a religious community at all, but an instrument for understanding every religion.
68a. The Essence of Christianity: The Parable of the Unjust Steward. Luke 16 09 Apr 1907, Munich

Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and he who marries a widow commits adultery. (Luke 16:1-18) To understand this parable, it is first necessary to see where it is found; it is found in the Gospel of Luke.
The son who always stayed at home is less favored by the father than the “prodigal” son who has undergone the test, who has returned to the fatherland, who has been resurrected. This is a perfect expression of what grace means, which paves the way from a loving heart to another loving heart.
“Old times - new times.” It is now understandable that the Pharisees mocked, of whom it says, “They were greedy.” (Luke 16:14) The translation is not quite correct; it would be better to say, “They had a mammonistic attitude.”
68a. The Essence of Christianity: The Bible and Wisdom 25 Apr 1907, Berlin

When the patriarchs are spoken of and their age is given in huge numbers, then we have to understand that these so-called patriarchs must be seen as representatives of tribes. The Bible students had been doing this for a long time, but they did not know what was actually behind it.
It had to be clothed in images for humanity at that time, because if the great spiritual leaders of humanity had expressed these truths in the form in which they are expressed today, they would not have been understood; they had to speak in images. Everything, absolutely everything, is in a state of development, including consciousness!
If we compare the meaning of the first three gospels, we find that a certain mood underlies them all. The Gospel of Luke points to the initiation school of the Essenes and therapists, which is why we find a certain social character in his parables.

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