Epiphany 2018
And when I am in spirit depths,In the foundations of the soul– Coming from the love-worlds of the heart –The vain peculiarities of the self is filledWith the fire-forces of the World-Word. A more literal version:And when I am in spirit depths,The vain delusion of the peculiarities of the selfIs filled in the foundations of […]
Twelve days
A quote from Rudolf Steiner, from the first lecture in ‘Mysterienwahrheiten und Weihnachtsimpulse, Alte Mythen und ihre Bedeutung’ GA 180. ‘The meaning of Christmas, which shines through the ages, is associated with the words, “Et incarnatus est de spiritu sancto ex Maria virgine”. ‘Most of the people of modern humanity seem to attach just as […]
Christmas 2017
A well-known story that I told to the (grand)children on Christmas Eve. Once upon a time, very long ago, a miracle happened in a country far away from here. There lived the most beautiful, lovely and sweetest girl on earth. She was so beautiful that even if her dress was plain, it seemed to be […]
Thirteen holy nights
Although the tumult in the outer world goes on and on, we can ‘hear’ an oncoming silence too. ‘To bring spiritual light into world-winter-night aims blissfully my heart’s desire, That soul-seeds radiantRoot into foundations of the world,And divine Word in the darkness of the sensesSounds transfiguring through all being.’ (Rudolf Steiner, Calendar of the soul) […]
Conclusion of Rudolf Steiner in his essay of 1882 about atomistic concepts
‘Hence we must subject these two concepts to a discussion. The mechanistic explanation of nature needs for the assumption of its world of atoms, besides the atoms in motion absolute space as well, that is, an empty vacuum, and an absolute time, that is, an unalterable measure of the One-After-Another. But what is space? Absolute […]
The true face of the atom
The clear thinking of the young Rudolf Steiner identifies the relevant elements from a mass of thoughts about atomistic concepts and finds (in 1882) that the atom is seen as the only principle of reality. It underlies all material and sensual qualities, but has no qualities itself. It is not spatial and is undefined; it […]
Continuation of the essay about the atomistic concepts by Rudolf Steiner
‘However opinions may diverge in the detail, atomism ultimately amounts to regarding all sensory qualities, such as: tone, warmth, light, scent, and so on, indeed, if one considers the way thermodynamics derives Boyle’s law, even pressure, as mere semblance, mere function of the world of atoms. Only the atom counts as ultimate factor of reality. […]
Only Possible Critique of the Atomistic Concepts. Discussion part three
If we compare these sentences with those from Rudolf Steiner’s later life, the sentences that bear the title: Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts, we find the alteration, the remodeling, the spiritual meaning of this early essay by Rudolf Steiner. We then see how the sensual-perceptible world is an image, just the work, of the divine being, a […]
Discussion of the article ‘Only Possible Critique of the Atomistic Concepts’ of Rudolf Steiner from 1882. Part two
In the next piece of text taken from the article ‘Only possible critique of the atomistic concepts’ by Rudolf Steiner, the principle of knowledge based on experience is formulated once again in very clear sentences. In this article of the still very young Steiner the wonderful musicality of the composition is already there. He preludes […]
The reversal of the position in knowing
In this article the reversal of the relationship between sensual perception and concepts has been described. In one of his first books, Rudolf Steiner points again to this reversal. It is in ‘The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe’s World Conception with Specific Reference to Schiller’, GA 2. I quote the passages that are concerning […]