Karmic Relationships: 4: Esoteric Studies

11 lectures, Dornach, September 5–24, 1924; final address (CW 238)

At the end of his life, Rudolf Steiner assumed a task that was his special destiny―to bring knowledge of reincarnation and karma to the West. To do this, he gave more than eighty lectures in 1924 in which he explicitly and concretely revealed the destinies of various individuals from one life to the next in order to show how the general laws of karma operate in individual cases. He also revealed many details of the karmic streams of the members of the Anthroposophical Society.

These eight volumes in the Karmic Relationships series constitute an immeasurable contribution to the understanding of reincarnation and karma, and the tasks of the Anthroposophical Society in connection with the Archangel Michael.

In these lectures, Steiner discusses the karmic groups of souls connected to Aristotelianism and Platonism, the karma of the anthroposophical movement, as well as the individual incarnations of Ernst Haeckel, Vladimir Soloviov, and others.

Also includes in this volume is Rudolf Steiner's final address.

Karmic Relationships 4 is a translation from German of Esoterische Betrachtungen karmischer Zusammenhänge, in 6 Bdn., Bd.4, Das geistige Leben der Gegenwart im Zusammenhang mit der anthroposophischen Bewegung (GA 238).

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.