Broken Vessels: The Spiritual Structure of Human Frailty (CW 318) (Foundations of Anthroposophical Medicine) - Softcover

Steiner, Rudolf

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0880105038 ISBN 13: 9780880105033

Publisher: SteinerBooks, 2002

Synopsis

11 lectures in Dornach, September 8-19, 1924 (CW 318)

Today we hear a great deal about holistic medicine―an approach to healing that integrates body, mind, and spirit. For Rudolf Steiner, healing is not possible unless it takes into account all the dimensions that make up a human being-both visible and invisible. Unless we begin to understand these dimensions of ourselves, real health will always be hard to attain.

To meet inner frailty with truly adequate concepts, Steiner describes specific inner structures of both healthy and unhealthy states that escape ordinary perception. Addressing topics ranging from sleepwalking to “hyperliteracy” to the visions of St. Teresa of Avila, he suggests how to approach the misalignments of nonstandard inner structures and other psychic difficulties with what he calls “pastoral medicine”―a truly holistic healing that can bring body and soul together and help them function in the most effective and powerful way.

Dr. Michael Lipson’s foreword provides background for Steiner’s lectures and brings them into the context of modern psychology.


“You can see that one must recognize the spirit in nature, the spirit that is in the mineral and plant kingdoms of the world. It is the spirit, not the substance, that one must know, because in reality one heals the human being through the spirit that is in the mineral and in the plant.” ―Rudolf Steiner

“Rudolf Steiner reveals something about the invisible structure of health and illness as they are seen with the second sight of spiritual research.... His comments about the opening to spiritual worlds that can accompany severe mental retardation or illness foreshadow some of the most important alternative psychiatry of our own times. He anticipates elements in the work of R.D. Laing, the Windhorse movement of Povall, and also the new practice of ‘facilitated communication,’ whereby some autistic patients have been aided in expressing a full and conscious inner life to which their bizarre outward behavior gives no clue.” ―Michael Lipson

READ A REVIEW OF THIS BOOK BY BOBBY MATHERNE

This work is a translation of Das Zusammenwirken von Ärzten und Seelsorgern (CW 318). A previous edition was published as Pastoral Medicine: The Collegial Working of Doctors and Priests.

About this title

About the Author

Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) was born in the small village of Kraljevec, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Croatia), where he grew up (see right). As a young man, he lived in Weimar and Berlin, where he became a well-published scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar, known especially for his work with Goethe’s scientific writings. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he began to develop his early philosophical principles into an approach to systematic research into psychological and spiritual phenomena. Formally beginning his spiritual teaching career under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, Steiner came to use the term Anthroposophy (and spiritual science) for his philosophy, spiritual research, and findings. The influence of Steiner’s multifaceted genius has led to innovative and holistic approaches in medicine, various therapies, philosophy, religious renewal, Waldorf education, education for special needs, threefold economics, biodynamic agriculture, Goethean science, architecture, and the arts of drama, speech, and eurythmy. In 1924, Rudolf Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world. He died in Dornach, Switzerland.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"In this volume, Rudolf Steiner attempts to reveal something about the invisible structure of health and illness as they are seen with the second sight of spiritual research.... Steiner's comments about the opening to spiritual worlds that can accompany severe mental retardation or illness foreshadow some of the most important alternative psychiatry of our own times. He anticipates elements in the work of R.D. Laing, the Windhorse movement of Povall, and also the new practice of 'facilitated communication,' whereby some autistic patients have been aided in expressing a full and conscious inner life to which their bizarre outward behavior gives no clue" (from the foreword by Michael Lipson).

About this edition

• Publisher: SteinerBooks
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0880105038
• ISBN 13: 9780880105033
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176