Esoteric Lessons 1910-1912
From the Esoteric School, vol. 2
"Many who enter esoteric training are very disappointed and say that they had imagined the exercises to be much more energetic and the effects of the exercises to be far more drastic. Those who tell this to themselves should quickly consider the possibility that they are caught in a great error, and that they should make the greatest efforts to correct this error as soon as possible. It is not the exercises that lack enough energy, but rather the individual. It is not the exercises that are ineffective, but rather the person who is not making them effective. By living an esoteric life, the student should become an entirely different person. One must add something new to the old." - Rudolf Steiner
This second volume of the Esoteric Lessons covers the three years from January 1910 and December 1912. It includes all the lessons Rudolf Steiner gave to members of the Esoteric School as he traveled, lecturing, from city to city.
The focus of the lessons is inner work, praxis. They present us with a holy seriousness and the possibility of intimacy with the spiritual worlds: we learn to enter ourselves and to unite with the universal spirit. To do so, we are taught that two things are needed: first, we must trust patiently and with inner truthfulness in the process; second, we must learn to transform the attitudes that threaten our worthiness - doubt, superstition, and egoism. As for the ways of overcoming egoism, Rudolf Steiner turns repeatedly to the deeper meanings of Christ's teachings and the practice of the Rosicrucian meditation.
While deeply esoteric, the teachings Steiner gives here return to basics. Such psychological and ethic groundwork is important today because (as Steiner says) esotericists often place themselves "outside the usual and customary framework of contemporary consciousness," losing "the support that is given by conventions and traditions." However, because it is addressed to the heart, we can such find such support in the Christian Testament. An esoteric saying states, "All paths into the spiritual world go through the heart." In other words, the root, growth, and fruit of our path - whatever our meditation - relies on selflessness and love. As Steiner repeats, "Love your neighbour as yourself; develop pure love of human beings."
Anyone interested in inner work will be abundantly enriched by Rudolf Steiner's Esoteric Lessons.
This volume is the English translation of «Aus den Inhalten der esoterischen Stunden, Gedächtnisaufzeichnungen von Teilnehmern. Band.2, 1910-1912» (GA 266/2).
Jan 2013;
Trans. James H. Hindes;
520pp;
250 x 150 mm;
Publisher: Steiner Books
Format: Paperback
