Esoteric Development: Lectures and Writings - Softcover

Steiner, Rudolf

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0880105240 ISBN 13: 9780880105248

Publisher: SteinerBooks, 2003

Synopsis

This completely revised edition provides an ordered sequence of statements by Steiner on the development of higher, suprasensory knowing―Imagination, Inspiration, and Intuition.

Nine chapters take the reader from the idea of inner development, through the cultural and evolutionary need for higher knowing, and then to examples of the practices and inner gestures required by this work. Steiner describes the necessary steps and stages, always insisting on the free, individual, and cognitive character of anthroposophic spiritual research.

CONTENTS:

• Introduction by Stephen E. Usher
• Esoteric Development
• The Psychological Basis of Spiritual Science
• Suprasensory Knowledge
• The Attainment of Spiritual Knowledge
• General Requirements for Esoteric Development: Guidance in Esoteric Training
• The Great Initiates
• The Rosicrucian Spiritual Path
• Imagination Knowledge and Artistic Imagination
• Three Decisions on the Path of Imagination Knowledge: Loneliness, Fear, and Dread

This essential inner guide is for anyone on a path of true spiritual development.

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.

Stephen E. Usher, Ph.D., is an economist with expertise in money, banking, and financial markets. He received his doctorate from the University of Michigan and served as a staff economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1978 to 1980. His tenure overlapped with Paul Volcker, president of the NY Fed until President Carter appointed him Fed Chairman in August 1979. After heading Anthroposophic Press from 1980 to 1988, Mr. Usher joined a premiere international firm of consulting economists (NERA) and specialized in securities and financial markets. Mr. Usher established his own economic consulting business in 1999. He has lectured hundreds of times in business, cultural, and academic settings and taught introductory economics courses at Rockland Community College in New York and principles of money, banking and financial markets at SUNY as adjunct faculty. Mr. Usher has published numerous books.

Review

“You should not have any mystical ideas about meditation, nor should you think it is easy. Meditation must be completely clear, in the modern sense. Patience and inner soul energy are needed, and, above all, it depends on an act that no one else can do for you: it requires an inner resolve that you stick to. When you begin to meditate, you are performing the only completely free activity there is in human life.” ―Rudolf Steiner

Edition details

• Publisher: SteinerBooks
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0880105240
• ISBN 13: 9780880105248
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 208