Towards Imagination: Culture and the Individual

7 lectures in Berlin, June 6 – July 18, 1916 (CW 169)

Given in 1916, when Europe was in the throes of World War I, these seven lectures present Rudolf Steiner's trenchant analysis of the malaise of our time. With wit and compassion, he vividly confronts us with the dead end to which materialism has brought modern civilization.

Starting with a new look at the festival of Pentecost, Steiner shows how the chaos of his time―and our own―can be transcended through a shift or transformation of our consciousness. 

Ranging over a wide range of topics, Steiner moves from a description of balance in life to a discussion of the twelve senses and their relationship to the cosmos, psychology, and art. In the process, he reveals the central importance of the development of Imagination.

This volume is a translation from German of Weltwesen und Ichheit (GA 169).

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was born in the small village of Kraljevec, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Croatia), where he grew up. 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.