What do you think?
Rate this book
Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner #CW 177
The Fall of the Spirits of Darkness by Rudolf Steiner
Speaking at a time of intense war in Europe, Rudolf Steiner reveals the spiritual roots of the crises of our times and the means by which we can surmount them. Since 1879, he says, human minds have been influenced by backward angels - 'the spirits of darkness' - who were forced out of the heavens and made their abode on earth following their defeat in a 40-year battle with the Archangel Michael. It is now possible for human beings to awaken more consciously to the truth of these profound changes, and thus inwardly counter the fallen spirits' influences. We can come to the realization that definite spiritual causes lie behind earthly events in our rapidly changing times.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
7 people are currently reading
204 people want to read
About the author
Rudolf Steiner
4,285 books1,087 followersAuthor also wrote under the name Rudolph Steiner.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a literary critic and published works including The Philosophy of Freedom. At the beginning of the twentieth century he founded an esoteric spiritual movement, anthroposophy, with roots in German idealist philosophy and theosophy. His teachings are influenced by Christian Gnosticism or neognosticism. Many of his ideas are pseudoscientific. He was also prone to pseudohistory.
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.
Steiner advocated a form of ethical individualism, to which he later brought a more explicitly spiritual approach. He based his epistemology on Johann Wolfgang von 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.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a literary critic and published works including The Philosophy of Freedom. At the beginning of the twentieth century he founded an esoteric spiritual movement, anthroposophy, with roots in German idealist philosophy and theosophy. His teachings are influenced by Christian Gnosticism or neognosticism. Many of his ideas are pseudoscientific. He was also prone to pseudohistory.
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.
Steiner advocated a form of ethical individualism, to which he later brought a more explicitly spiritual approach. He based his epistemology on Johann Wolfgang von 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 9, 2022
A fascinating series of lectures by Rudolf Steiner from Oct 1917, which revolve around events from the second half of the 19th century and the First World War but in fact cover so much more. Steiner describes how both the spirits of darkness and the spirits of light, have been impacting human history and evolution. He discusses human evolution in regards to the current 5th post-Atlantean age and future ages, but also the practice and use of history, science and politics. Steiner is very clear, that without an understanding of spiritual science or spiritual impulses, disciplines such as history and science will fall far short in delivering a positive outcome or progressing human evolution. And I feel this is the essence of these lectures, that without a foundation of understanding in spiritual science, we cannot get a proper grasp of reality.
October 9, 2021
Lots of information during the lecture, plan to do back and listen to it again. Missing certain things during the first go around. I love how poetic his words were and I could understand in simple terms what he was explain during his lectures.
April 28, 2022
Audiobook.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews