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The Rudolf Steiner Archive

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Search results 361 through 370 of 6552

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94. Popular Occultism: Effects of the Law of Karma 04 Jul 1906, Leipzig
Translator Unknown

Religious documents may be viewed from four aspects. 1) By taking them naïvely and literally. 2) From the standpoint of science which considers itself far cleverer than the authors of these documents. 3) From the standpoint of an allegorical-symbolic interpretation (which may be very clever, but is in many cases quite arbitrary). 4) From the occult standpoint, by taking the things described in the characteristic language of such documents again in their exact meaning, thus reaching again a literal understanding of the words. For example, Noah's rainbow, it's not a symbol, but it expresses the fact that a rainbow could only arise after the descent of Atlantis and the receding of the mists.
Here we may apply the sentence: “With the growth of knowledge and understanding, you will feel that the critic in you becomes a mere apprentice.” There is a deep meaning and ancient truths in legends and fairy-tales.
94. Popular Occultism: Evolution of Man and Solar System 05 Jul 1906, Leipzig
Translator Unknown

Typical for Lemuria is the manifold change in Nature, in the forms and in life. The single forms and species underwent a rapid transformation. The Atlantean soul-characteristics were in the case of the Lemurians, still more strongly marked, especially the will, which also had the greatest influence on the form of the physical body.
For this purpose he had a special organ in his bodily cavity, a kind of swimming bladder. The lungs developed out of this bladder, under the influence of the soul that soared above the body. The soul entered the human body in the same measure in which man began to breathe through his lungs.
94. The Gospel of St. John: Lecture I 19 Feb 1906, Berlin
Translator Unknown

Those who have gotten to know the realities of the astral world which lies behind our sense world, and of the devachanic (or mental world) which lies even deeper, will come to a new and higher understanding of religious sources. It is impossible to understand the John Gospel without rising to such higher worlds.
He has healed the sick, he has gone through everything from death to resurrection. It is impossible to understand these things with the ordinary intellect. Here on earth there is no science or learning by which one could really understand what occurred.
His own higher ego appears before Him—his own higher ego, which in its fullness represents the Christ. When you know this you will be able to understand certain hints and truths in the John Gospel. You will be able to understand certain things quite well with the help of what I said up to now.
94. The Gospel of St. John: Lecture II 26 Feb 1906, Berlin
Translator Unknown

The pupil of the Christian initiation has to undergo seven trials. They were not only physical but spiritual experiences. Those who had undergone them knew that real experiences are possible outside of the body.
He who takes it as an account of an external happening does not understand it. It can only be comprehended if one has lived through it inwardly. This is what Angelus Silesius means, when he says: When thou dost rise above thyself and let God hold his sway: Then present in thy spirit is the ascension, for ever and for aye. Angelus Silesius, “The Cherubinic Wanderer” As no creature can see the sunlight unless its eyes are opened so no one can understand the mystery of Golgotha, if they have not inwardly experienced it. Once one has come to such an inner experience, one can appreciate why the reckoning of time is divided into before and after Christ.
94. The Gospel of St. John: Lecture III 05 Mar 1906, Berlin
Translator Unknown

These were initiates who felt their higher self to the extent that they understood sayings such as one finds in the second part of “Light on the Path”.1 Only an initiate of the third grade can understand such sayings.
He who had reached this point is said to have sat under the Tree of Life. Thus Buddha sat under the Bodhi Tree and Nathanael under the Fig Tree. These are terms for the picture on the astral plane.
Nathanael is addressed as one who knows. It is implied: We understand each other. “Jesus said unto him, ‘Before that, Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.’”
The Gospel of St. John: Introduction
Translator Unknown

John as a Document Describing Initiation”, which are published in Volume 97 of the complete edition of the works of Rudolf Steiner in the original German under the title of “Das Christliche Mysterium”. A few days later in Berlin he also spoke about the John Gospel.
95. At the Gates of Spiritual Science: The Being of Man 22 Aug 1906, Stuttgart
Translated by Charles Davy, E. H. Goddard

For this reason, too, all those who were to be instructed in theosophical teachings were obliged to undergo severe tests and trials to prove their worthiness; and then they were initiated step by step, and led upwards quite slowly.
Such theories have found their way into theosophical literature because in the beginning the people who wrote the books did not understand clearly what they were writing about. This kind of writing may indeed be very useful for curiosity-addicts; but Theosophy must be carried into real life.
A very definite form of higher perception is needed to understand this principle of life, growth, nutrition and propagation. The example of hypnotism can help us to show what this means.
95. At the Gates of Spiritual Science: The Three Worlds 23 Aug 1906, Stuttgart
Translated by Charles Davy, E. H. Goddard

The same law applies also to higher things—in the field of morality, for instance. People do not at first understand this. It may happen that they see themselves surrounded by black, malignant forms which threaten and terrify them—this happens with very many people and they mostly have no idea what it signifies.
** When we enter the devachanic world the astral world remains fully present; we hear the devachanic, and we see the astral, but under a changed aspect, offering us a remarkable spectacle. We see everything in the negative, as though on a photographic plate.
He wrote articles for the journal, The Theosophist, which were later collected and published under the title, Esoteric Writings, second edition, 1931, Adyar, Madras.10.
95. At the Gates of Spiritual Science: Life of the Soul in Kamaloka 24 Aug 1906, Stuttgart
Translated by Charles Davy, E. H. Goddard

In the case of ordinary men, then, we have two corpses, of the physical and etheric bodies; we are left with the astral body and the Ego. If we are to understand this condition we must realise that in his earthly life a man's consciousness depends entirely on his senses.
Hence he feels the lack of physical body as one of his worst deprivations. We can thus understand the terrible destiny and the horrible torments which have to be endured by the unfortunates who end their lives through suicide.
It is not for a Theosophist to criticise what goes on in the world around him, but he can well understand how it is that modern men have come to actions of this kind. In the Middle Ages no one would have ever dreamt of destroying life in order to understand it, and in ancient times any doctor would have looked on this as the height of madness.
95. At the Gates of Spiritual Science: Devachan 25 Aug 1906, Stuttgart
Translated by Charles Davy, E. H. Goddard

But for the materialism of our time no such understanding is possible. What was it, then, that people saw in this process? The ancients saw it as an embodiment of the forces of nature.
It will then have had all the experiences available to it under the conditions of that period; and the person will have had the possibility and opportunity to add a new page to his Book of Life.
He sees all this as it were objectively; he learns to understand it, and to observe it as he observes physical things on Earth; and he gathers all his experiences into the life of his soul.

Results 361 through 370 of 6552

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