Theosophy E-Book

Rudolf Steiner

• Herausgeber: Edizioni Aurora Boreale
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was an Austrian architect, philosopher, initiate, esotericist, and clairvoyant. He is considered one of the greatest and most influential spiritual masters of the twentieth century.
Theosophy: An Introduction to the Supersensible Knowledge of the World and the Destination of Man, published in 1904, is one of Rudolf Steiner's foundational texts. In this essay, Steiner does not merely present the principles of Theosophy as he had learned them, but he also lays the groundwork for what would become his own Anthroposophy.
The text is structured into four main parts, in which Steiner presents his vision of the human being and the cosmos.
In summary, Theosophy is a crucial work for anyone who wants to understand Steiner's thought. It is not just a treatise on Theosophy, but a manifesto of his spiritual science, which seeks to unite the scientific knowledge of the physical world with the spiritual knowledge of the supersensible world. The work is a bridge between the traditional esoteric view and a more systematic and rational approach that would characterize Anthroposophy throughout its subsequent evolution.

Leseprobe

SYMBOLS & MYTHS

RUDOLF STEINER

THEOSOPHY

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SUPERSENSIBLE

KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORLD AND THE

DESTINATION OF MAN

Edizioni Aurora Boreale

Title:Theosophy.

An Introduction to the Supersensible Knowledge of the World and the Destination of Man

Author: Rudolf Steiner

Publishing series: Symbols & Myths

Translated into English by Elizabeth Douglas Shields

Editing and cover by Nicola Bizzi

ISBN e-book edition: 979-12-5504-644-8

Cover image: Detail of the Stele of Dedia with Osiris Isis and Horus, from Abydos. New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, reign of Seti I, ca. 1290-1279 BC. (Paris, Louvre Museum)

Edizioni Aurora Boreale

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INTRODUCTION BY THE PUBLISHER

Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (1861-1925) was an Austrian architect, social reformer, philosopher, initiate, esotericist, occultist, and clairvoyant.

Born in Murakirály (now Donji Kraljevec, Croatia) on February 25 1861, Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a literary critic and published several works including The Philosophy of Freedom. At the beginning of the twentieth century, influenced by Christian Gnosticism, he founded an esoteric spiritual movement, Anthroposophy, with roots in German idealist philosophy and Theosophy.

In the first, more philosophically oriented phase of this movement, Steiner attempted to find a synthesis between science and spirituality. His philosophical work of these years, which he termed "spiritual science", sought to apply what he saw as the clarity of thinking characteristic of Western philosophy to spiritual questions, differentiating this approach from what he considered to be vaguer approaches to mysticism. In a second phase, beginning around 1907, he began working collaboratively in a variety of artistic media, including drama, dance and architecture, culminating in the building of the Goetheanum, a cultural centre to house all the arts. In the third phase of his work, beginning after World War I, Steiner worked on various ostensibly applied projects, including Waldorf education, biodynamic agriculture, and anthroposophical medicine. He advocated a form of ethical individualism, to which he later brought a more explicitly spiritual approach. He based his epistemology on Johann Wolfgang Goethe's world view in which «thinking is no more and no less an organ of perception than the eye or ear. Just as the eye perceives colours and the ear sounds, so thinking perceives ideas». A consistent thread that runs through his work is the goal of demonstrating that there are no limits to human knowledge.

Steiner died in Dornach, Switzerland, on 30 March 1925, aged 64. He is considered one of the greatest and most influential spiritual masters of the twentieth century.

Theosophy: An Introduction to the Supersensible Knowledge of the World and the Destination of Man, published in 1904, is one of Rudolf Steiner's foundational texts. In this essay, Steiner does not merely present the principles of Theosophy as he had learned them, but he also lays the groundwork for what would become his own Anthroposophy.

The text is structured into four main parts, in which Steiner presents his vision of the human being and the cosmos:

The Nature of the Human Being: Steiner describes the human being not just as a physical entity, but as a complex organization composed of different bodies or "members". In addition to the physical body, Steiner introduces the etheric body (the carrier of vital forces), the astral body (the carrier of feelings and desires), and the Ego (the true spiritual core of the individual). This distinction is fundamental to understanding his view of life and death.

Reincarnation and Karma: In this section, Steiner explains how the evolution of the human soul is not limited to a single lifetime. Every individual is reborn, and each incarnation is the result of actions (karma) performed in previous lives. Karma is not viewed as a punishment, but as the cosmic law that guides the spiritual development of the human being, offering opportunities for growth and the resolution of past experiences.

The Spiritual World: Steiner describes the existence of a supersensible world, which cannot be perceived with normal physical senses. This world is the realm from which human beings come before birth and to which they return after death. He outlines the structure of this world, populated by different types of spiritual beings and organized into various planes of existence.

The Path of Knowledge: Steiner emphasizes that knowledge of the spiritual world is not reserved for a select few. Through a path of inner discipline, meditation, and specific exercises (which he would describe in other essays), every individual can develop their supersensible faculties and directly perceive spiritual realities. The goal is not blind faith, but an inner experience that leads to true knowledge.

In summary, Theosophy is a crucial work for anyone who wants to understand Steiner's thought. It is not just a treatise on Theosophy, but a manifesto of his spiritual science, which seeks to unite the scientific knowledge of the physical world with the spiritual knowledge of the supersensible world. The work is a bridge between the traditional esoteric view and a more systematic and rational approach that would characterize Anthroposophy throughout its subsequent evolution.

Nicola Bizzi

Florence, August 14, 2025.

Rudolf Steiner

TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD

It is significant of the movement of thought in our time that, although the previous works of Rudolf Steiner, Ph.D. Vienna, such as his penetrating and suggestive "Erkenntniss Theorie" (Theory of Knowledge), his works in the field of philosophy such as "Wahrheit and Wissenschaft" (Truth and Science), and his volumes on the natural science of Goethe, are well known in Germany, it is another class of books by him, "Die Mystik" (Mysticism), "Das Christentum als Mystische Tatsache" (Christianity as a Fact in Mysticism), and his distinctively theosophic writings, which are the first to be called for by foreign readers in their own language.

This work, though now appearing for the first time in English dress, has not only passed into three editions in Germany, but has been translated into Russian, Swedish, Dutch, Czechish, and Italian, while a French translation is being prepared.

*          *          *

It were perhaps well to mention that in this work the words "know" and "knowledge", when used in reference to the supersensible worlds, involve actual experience of them gained by man through his higher organs of perception.

The names chosen by the author to describe the higher bodies of man, and other theosophic facts, have been, as far as possible, retained here. Readers will find that they revert with primitive strength to the ancient power of names, and are word pictures and also mnemonics of what they represent. They thus constitute distinct forces too valuable to be withheld from the English reading public.

Grateful acknowledgment must be expressed here to I. M. M. for her chivalrous help—which indeed made this translation possible—and to others who have rendered invaluable and willing assistance.

Elizabeth Douglas Shields.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

This book will give a description of some of the regions of the supersensible world. The reader who is willing to admit the existence of the sensible world only will regard this delineation as a mere unreal production of the imagination. He, however, who looks for paths that lead beyond this world of the senses will soon learn to understand that human life only gains in worth and significance through sight into another world. Such a man will not, as many fear, be estranged from the "real" world through this new power of vision. For only through it does he learn to stand fast and firm in this life. He learns to know the causes of life, while without it he gropes like a blind man through their effects. Only through the understanding of the supersensible does the sensible "real" acquire meaning. One therefore becomes more, and not less, fit for life through this understanding. Only he who understands life can become a truly practical man.

The author of this book describes nothing to which he cannot bear witness from experience, that kind of experience which one has in these regions. Only that which in this sense has been personally experienced will be dealt with.

One cannot read this book as one is accustomed ordinarily to read books at the present day. In certain respects every page, and even many a sentence, will have to be worked out by the reader. This has been intentionally aimed at. For only in this way can the book become to the reader what it ought to become. He who merely reads it through will not have read it at all. Its truths must be experienced, lived. Only in this sense has theosophy any value.

The book cannot be judged from the standpoint of science if the point of view adopted in forming such a judgment is not gained from the book itself. If the critic will adopt this point of view, he will certainly see that the presentation of the facts given in this book will in no way conflict with the truly scientific methods. The author is satisfied that he has been on the alert not to come into conflict with his own scientific scrupulousness, even by a single word.

Those who feel more drawn to another method of searching after the truths here set forth will find one in my "Philosophie der Freiheit" (Philosophy of Freedom), Berlin, 1892. The lines of thought taken in these two books, though different, lead to the same goal. For the understanding of the one the other is by no means necessary, although undoubtedly helpful for some persons.

He who looks for "ultimate" truths in this book will, perhaps, lay it aside unsatisfied. The primary intention of the author has been to give the fundamental truths underlying the whole domain of theosophy. It lies in the very nature of man to ask at once about the beginning and the end of the world, the purpose of existence, and the nature and being of God. Anyone, however, who looks, not for mere phrases and concepts for the intellect, but for a real understanding of life, knows that in a work which' deals with the elements of wisdom, things may not be said which belong to the higher stages of wisdom. It is, indeed, only through a comprehension of these elements that it becomes clear how higher questions should be asked. In another work forming a continuation of this one, namely, in the author's "Die Geheimwissenschaft im Umriss" (An Outline of Occult Science), further particulars on the subject here dealt with will be found.

Rudolf Steiner.

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

On the appearance of the second edition of this book occasion was taken to preface a few remarks which may also be said with regard to this third edition. "Amplifications and extensions", which seem to me important for the more exact description of what is being presented, have again been inserted; but in no case have essential alterations of what was contained in the first and second editions seemed necessary. What was said on the first appearance of the book regarding its aim, and what was added to this in the second edition, also require, at present, no alteration. In the preface to the second edition the following supplementary remarks were inserted.