Aristotle, completed by Fichte

In the essay ‘Philosophy and Anthroposophy’ by Rudolf Steiner, we can find the following text: ‘Fichte may at this point supplement Aristotle. A formula along Aristotelian lines may be reached to the effect that everything about us, including all things belonging to the invisible worlds, necessarily call for a material reality to correspond with form-reality. […]

The Matter of Spirit

From the lecture in GA 216, given on 1922 – 9 – 23 by Rudolf Steiner:‘Since those days humanity has entered upon a quite different phase of evolution, the characteristics of which I have described from many points of view. Since the fifteenth century, mankind has been laid hold of by the intellectualism which now […]

Performance of thinking

Thoughts are reflections, they ‘fall into consciousness’, they are not performed. When an actor learns his role by heart, he has a great deal of thoughts in his mind. But then the rehearsals start and what were thoughts before have to be performed now. We have to become actors in the world of thinking itself, […]

Thinking and time

It is import to differentiate between bringing on thoughts with will, and bringing the will into the thoughts. Here is a pair of meditations coming from Rudolf Steiner. In the morning, immediately after waking: Imagine a blue circular area with a red surrounding. Then change the colours: Imagine a red circular area with blue surrounding. […]

Abstract thinking

So it is time to wake up in our thoughts. Of course we ‘see’ them; we know what we are thinking. But we see them as images that have much to do with us, but that also seem to be outside of our will. And when we really start to think, when we conceive thoughts, […]

Reading with willpower

First I will continue the quote from the GA 221, p. 37. Next week I will write about my own experiences of and thoughts about the metamorphosis of thinking. Rudolf Steiner:‘People read anthroposophy in their habitual way, with passive thinking. One can understand the texts if ones understanding is healthy, one doesn’t need any faith. […]

Thoughts and thinking

Thoughts come and go, they fill up our consciousness all day. If we try to gain knowledge, a little bit of concentration, attention and willpower enters our thinking. But true thinking is something else. Gaining knowledge, studying, is made by intellectual thinking. In our western culture we seem to be born and educated to become […]

Metamorphosis of thinking – II

It can become a tragic experience in life to discover how passive we modern human beings are in our inner lives. The body can be passive too, but it is nothing compared to the passivity of the inner life. There is a joke that Rudolf Steiner told about this passivity; he told it to the […]

The metamorphosis of thinking

The central point of the spiritual science that is called ‘anthroposophy’ is the metamorphosis of thinking. In public lectures Rudolf Steiner often gave a foundation for his scientific work. He then described the natural thinking capacities of the human being, going on to describe the points that can be found in it to develop a […]

In earlier times…

Thinking of thinking is not a modern invention. It has already been described in Greek philosophy by Aristotle and in scholasticism by Thomas Aquinas. Aristotle (Metaphysica) “And thinking in itself deals with that which is best in itself, and that which is thinking in the fullest sense with that which is best in the fullest […]