Easter E-Book

Rudolf Steiner

• Herausgeber: Rudolf Steiner Press
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Rudolf Steiner, the often undervalued, multifaceted genius of modern times, contributed much to the regeneration of culture. In addition to his philosophical teachings, he provided ideas for the development of many practical activities, including education - both general and special - agriculture, medicine, economics, architecture, science, religion and the arts.Steiner's original contribution to human knowledge was based on his ability to conduct 'spiritual research', the investigation of metaphysical dimensions of existence. With his scientific and philosophical training, he brought a new systematic discipline to the field, allowing for conscious methods and comprehensive results. A natural seer from childhood, he cultivated his spiritual vision to a high degree, enabling him to speak with authority on previously veiled mysteries of life.Samples of Steiner's work are to be found in this introductory reader in which Matthew Barton brings together excerpts from Steiner's many talks and writings on Easter. The volume also features an editorial introduction, afterword, commentary and notes. Chapters: Can we Celebrate Easter?; The Earth and the Cosmos; Rising Sun: Nature and Resurrection; Golgotha, the Central Deed of Evolution; Easter, a Festival for the Future.

Leseprobe

RUDOLF STEINER (1861–1925) called his spiritual philosophy ‘anthroposophy’, meaning ‘wisdom of the human being’. As a highly developed seer, he based his work on direct knowledge and perception of spiritual dimensions. He initiated a modern and universal ‘science of spirit’, accessible to anyone willing to exercise clear and unprejudiced thinking.

From his spiritual investigations Steiner provided suggestions for the renewal of many activities, including education (both general and special), agriculture, medicine, economics, architecture, science, philosophy, religion and the arts. Today there are thousands of schools, clinics, farms and other organizations involved in practical work based on his principles. His many published works feature his research into the spiritual nature of the human being, the evolution of the world and humanity, and methods of personal development. Steiner wrote some 30 books and delivered over 6000 lectures across Europe. In 1924 he founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world.

Into human souls I’ll guide

sense of spirit, to willingly

waken in hearts the Easter word;

with human spirits I will think

warmth of soul, that powerfully

they may feel the risen one;

brightly in death’s apparent face

shines spirit understanding’s earthly flame;

and self becomes the eye and ear of worlds.

EASTER

Also available:

(Festivals)

Christmas

Michaelmas

St John’s

Whitsun

(Practical Applications)

Agriculture

Architecture

Art

Education

Eurythmy

Medicine

Religion

Science

Social and Political Science

(Esoteric)

Alchemy

Atlantis

Christian Rozenkreutz

The Druids

The Goddess

The Holy Grail

RUDOLF STEINER

EASTER

An Introductory Reader

Compiled with an introduction, commentary and notes by Matthew Barton

Sophia Books

Sophia Books An imprint of Rudolf Steiner Press Hillside House, The Square Forest Row, RH18 5ES

www.rudolfsteinerpress.com

Published by Rudolf Steiner Press 2012

For earlier English publications of individual selections please see Sources

The material by Rudolf Steiner was originally published in German in various volumes of the ‘GA’ (Rudolf Steiner Gesamtausgabe or Collected Works) by Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach. This authorized volume is published by permission of the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach (for further information see Note Regarding Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures)

All translations revised by Matthew Barton

Matthew Barton would like to thank Margaret Jonas, librarian at Rudolf Steiner House, for her invaluable help in locating volumes used in compiling this book

This selection and translation © Rudolf Steiner Press 2007

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 85584 334 9

Cover by Andrew Morgan Typeset by DP Photosetting, Neath, West Glamorgan

CONTENTS

Introduction by Matthew Barton

CAN WE CELEBRATE EASTER?

1. Easter in a Time of Catastrophe

2. Looking Beyond the Ties of Blood

3. Tuning to the Cosmos

THE EARTH AND THE COSMOS

4. The Breathing Earth

5. The Year’s Rhythmic Cycle: Merging and Sundering

6. Spring and Autumn

7. Necessity and Freedom

8. Moon Versus Sun

RISING SUN: NATURE AND RESURRECTION

9. Earth’s Rebirth or Spirit’s Resurrection?

10. Beyond Death

11. The Resurrection of Letters and Ideas

12. Physical and Etheric

13. The Etheric Christ

14. Harmony from Chaos

GOLGOTHA, THE CENTRAL DEED OF EVOLUTION

15. Descending to Ascend

16. From Christmas to Easter

17. The Reality of Christ’s Deed

18. The Heaviest Guilt and the Greatest Good Fortune

19. Freeing the Soul from the Destiny of the Body

EASTER, A FESTIVAL FOR THE FUTURE

20. The Grave of Matter

21. Receiving Christ

22. The Message of the Easter Bells

Afterword

Notes

Sources

Further Reading

Note Regarding Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures

Introduction

In George Herbert’s poem ‘Easter Wings’, written during the second half of the seventeenth century, he arranges words on the page in the shape of contracting and then expanding patterns. Here is the first verse:

As one can see, the words reflect this narrowing and enlarging dynamic, so that form and content are perfectly matched; and at the point where the first direction changes to the second, resolving one, is a space. This is an extremely active space, I would say, the place where the radical change in direction occurs. It may not be too far-fetched, either, to find in the rhyme words a tighter, narrower feeling in the first part of the verse and a widening, rising feeling in the second, taking flight finally in the winging ‘I’ sounds of the last line. One could also perhaps imagine the pattern, looking down on it from above, as a descending and then rising slope, the space between the two halves forming the deepest part of a valley. In the poem, of course, what is imagined but left unuttered in the space between the two halves—perhaps because it is unutterable—is the event at Golgotha which we celebrate at Easter.

In terms of individual experience one might also see this space as a void in the soul, the place of emptiness but also receptivity we can reach when our powers have failed us, when, for whatever reason, we have reached rock bottom. An empty space, whether of the soul or of a physical kind, can act as a vacuum, drawing in forces that did not previously exist there. A process that continues in us all the time illustrates this rather well, that of breathing. Once we have breathed out all the air within us, our lungs naturally open to receive a new influx, a new impetus. Transferred to the non-material realm, the same process gives us a picture of inspiration, a word which of course relates both to the breath and the spirit.

In these lecture extracts, Steiner interweaves many strands of human experience to show that what he calls the Mystery of Golgotha was the radical influx into human life and evolution of an impetus that is, at the same time, both unique and all-pervasive. He places Easter into a multitude of interpenetrating contexts: from the whole sweep of human evolution, through the breathing rhythm of each year’s changing seasons, to the free choice of every individual—which one might call ‘poise’—in establishing a balance in their lives and outlook between matter and spirit.

It would be a simple step to superimpose on George Herbert’s word pattern a lemniscate or figure of eight, which, if we imagine it in movement, has a wonderfully dynamic and continuous quality, embodied for instance in the human circulation, the interpenetration of oxygen and blood. It is surely no accident that the space in the first pattern corresponds to the crossing point of the second, and indeed one can get a sense that this crossing point of the lemniscate is a moment of ‘space’ between contraction and expansion, the place where the onward impetus is renewed. In the human circulation, of course, this place is occupied by the heart, which lives between the expansion and contraction of systole and diastole, but at the same time forms an organ of mediation and balance between different influences, both in a physical and a non-physical sense. In terms of the year’s breathing rhythm, as Steiner describes it, two festivals occupy this crossing point: Easter in spring, and the autumn festival of Michaelmas. The first is the gateway into physical growth, flourishing and fertility, while the second is a door into nature’s decay and winter’s dark. Steiner has much to say about the relationship between these two festivals, which in different ways both celebrate resurrection.