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Anthroposophy in Everyday Life: Practical Training in Thought - Overcoming Nervousness - Facing Karma - The Four Temperaments
Four of Steiner's most popular lectures are collected in this book. They may be the most accessible presentations of the anthroposophic approach to life available in English. With its many practical exercises, mantras, and meditations, this is a fundamental introduction for anyone beginning or needing encouragement along the path of inner development.
The first lecture concerns the fundamental human activity of thinking. Everything we do, we do through thinking. The first task, then, is to realize the reality of thinking. To help us do this, Steiner gives exercises that will allow us to experience the cognitive, even clairvoyant, power of thinking.
In "Overcoming Nervousness," Steiner shows us how exercises in thinking also give us the calm centered sense needed to lead purposeful, healthy lives.
"Facing Karma" takes us to the heart of life, where we experience suffering and happiness. The law of karma that determines life's experiences and encounters also helps us develop the self-knowledge required for self-transformation.
Finally, "The Four Temperaments" show us how the union of hereditary factors and our own inner spiritual nature shape our psychology. The guide here is the ancient classifications of sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, and melancholic. Renewed understanding of these allows us to develop a truly modern spiritual psychology, which is the basis of all real inner development. With its many practical exercises, mantras, and meditations, this book is a fundamental introduction for anyone beginning or needing encouragement along the path of inner development.
The first lecture concerns the fundamental human activity of thinking. Everything we do, we do through thinking. The first task, then, is to realize the reality of thinking. To help us do this, Steiner gives exercises that will allow us to experience the cognitive, even clairvoyant, power of thinking.
In "Overcoming Nervousness," Steiner shows us how exercises in thinking also give us the calm centered sense needed to lead purposeful, healthy lives.
"Facing Karma" takes us to the heart of life, where we experience suffering and happiness. The law of karma that determines life's experiences and encounters also helps us develop the self-knowledge required for self-transformation.
Finally, "The Four Temperaments" show us how the union of hereditary factors and our own inner spiritual nature shape our psychology. The guide here is the ancient classifications of sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, and melancholic. Renewed understanding of these allows us to develop a truly modern spiritual psychology, which is the basis of all real inner development. With its many practical exercises, mantras, and meditations, this book is a fundamental introduction for anyone beginning or needing encouragement along the path of inner development.
96 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1912
66 people are currently reading
574 people want to read
About the author
Rudolf Steiner
4,345 books1,100 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.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 3, 2010
Not an easy read, however enlightening. Lectures that motivate you and make you think. Wondrous!
March 7, 2016
This is a good collection of lectures that focus on the practical applications of anthroposophical ideas on the individual level. A basic understanding of Anthroposophy is required, but these lectures aren't anything terribly difficult to pick up, read through, and experiment with in the day-to-day. As brief as they are, they're quite full of ideas: I've had to re-read and skim through them once or twice again to feel like I got the gist.
December 13, 2020
The talks on practical thinking and healing neurosis are striking and perhaps promising experimental proposals in contemplative self-transformation. The chapter on harms is a meagre but kindly consolation. But the chapter on temperaments is dreadfully lacking in the light of modern personality study, little more than astrology.
April 14, 2021
One of the easier-read of Steiner's collections of lectures. These four lectures are great for dipping one's toes in anthroposophy. These four lectures are easy to understand in that Steiner doesn't make continuous references to the subjects discussed at length in Theosophy, Esoteric Science or the Study of Man.
I particularly loved the introduction essay written by Christopher Bamford: he discusses the inner light and community-purpose of the church before secularization. Spirituality was/is "a heavy burden to bear for individuals who had not only to create a spiritual life for themselves, but increasingly had to do so in opposition to the very quarters from which help might have been expected".
Lectures Practical Training in Thought and Overcoming Nervousness provide specific guidance on how to use your experience of the world to enliven yourself to it. His directions are something that every person can easily do every day with commitment.
Fantastic.
I particularly loved the introduction essay written by Christopher Bamford: he discusses the inner light and community-purpose of the church before secularization. Spirituality was/is "a heavy burden to bear for individuals who had not only to create a spiritual life for themselves, but increasingly had to do so in opposition to the very quarters from which help might have been expected".
Lectures Practical Training in Thought and Overcoming Nervousness provide specific guidance on how to use your experience of the world to enliven yourself to it. His directions are something that every person can easily do every day with commitment.
Fantastic.
April 17, 2021
This little book was gifted to me by a very special friend.
I love the ideas behind anthroposophy and these shorter essays do make it more accessible than some of Steiner's works. However, the language and ideas are still very difficult to grasp and take a lot of thinking about so I wouldn't say it's a "read for pleasure". If you want an introduction to anthroposophy, I think this is probably as good a place to start as any!
I love the ideas behind anthroposophy and these shorter essays do make it more accessible than some of Steiner's works. However, the language and ideas are still very difficult to grasp and take a lot of thinking about so I wouldn't say it's a "read for pleasure". If you want an introduction to anthroposophy, I think this is probably as good a place to start as any!
May 5, 2018
Short but provoking
I love his philosophy and found a few great ideas that offered great insight on my quest for greater understanding. I just wish he had gone into more detail and offered more examples. That's the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars. I am happy with what I got out of reading it though. Definitely worth the price and time.
I love his philosophy and found a few great ideas that offered great insight on my quest for greater understanding. I just wish he had gone into more detail and offered more examples. That's the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars. I am happy with what I got out of reading it though. Definitely worth the price and time.
May 15, 2019
Not the easiest read, but very thought provoking. I needed to take notes and underline in order to go back and get the gist of salient points. In some ways it required translating into more modern concepts such as 'nervousness' being the equivalent of neurosis. The concepts of the ancient 'four temperaments' in particular requires a second read and digestion.
September 15, 2017
The book was hard to read (this is honestly more attributed to it resonating with me, not the author), but some parts had some very interesting points, and these are the sections where my interest peaked.
September 2, 2017
hard to read, as it is based on notes on lectures so hard to fully understand the concepts
May 10, 2019
Deep and sometimes difficult to follow but enlightening. Exactly what I was hoping for.
April 16, 2008
Overall the jury is still out; however some of the main ideas are sound. Close observation of the world leads to improved memory of what you observe; Close observation of personal habits can lead to improvements of those behaviors; Close observation of the world, and repeated observations of the same thing can lead to intuitive understanding of the patterns involved in those things. Sensible, I would even say clearly written despite the mystic silliness (ether bodies and whatnot). What I'm left pondering is the application of these ideas with a neuroscience bend. This book was enough to encourage me to read more on the topic.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews