In a previously-unavailable series of talks to the general public,
Rudolf Steiner builds systematically, lecture by lecture, on the
fundamentals of spiritual science – from the nature of spiritual
knowledge and its relationship to conventional science, the path of
personal development and the task of metaphysical research, to
specific questions on the mystery of death, the meaning of fairytales,
the significance of morality and the roles of individual figures
in human evolution, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Jacob
Boehme.
At the time of these presentations, Steiner had already worked in
Berlin for many years, and thus, ‘…could reckon with a regularly
returning audience to whom what mattered was to enter ever more
deeply into the areas of knowledge that were newly opening up to
them’ (Marie Steiner). As a consequence – and through ‘a series of
inter-connecting lectures whose themes are entwined with one
another’ – he was able to communicate a coherent and challenging
spiritual perception of reality, based on his personal research.
Presented here with notes, an index and an introduction by Simon
Blaxland-de Lange, the 14 lectures include: ‘How is Spiritual
Science Refuted?’; ‘On What Foundation is Spiritual Science
Based’; ‘The Tasks of Spiritual Research for both Present and
Future’; ‘Errors of Spiritual Research’; ‘Results of Spiritual
Research for Vital Questions and the Riddle of Death’; The World-
Conception of a Cultural Researcher of the Present, Herman
Grimm’ and ‘The Legacy of the Nineteenth Century’.
