The philosophy of spiritual activity : basic features of a modern world view : results of soul observation arrived at by the scientific method

Written in 1894 (CW 4)Of all of his works, The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity is the one that Steiner himself believed would have the longest life and the greatest spiritual and cultural consequences. It was written as a phenomenological account of the "results of observing the human soul according to the methods of natural science.This seminal work asserts that free spiritual activity--understood as the human ability to think and act independently of physical nature--is the suitable path for human beings today to gain true knowledge of themselves and of the universe. This is not merely a philosophical volume, but rather a warm, heart-oriented guide to the practice and experience of living thinking.Readers will not find abstract philosophy here, but a step-by-step account of how a person may come to experience living, intuitive thinking--"the conscious experience of a purely spiritual content."During the past hundred years since it was written, many have tried to discover this "new thinking" that could help us understand the various spiritual, ecological, social, political, and philosophical issues facing us. But only Rudolf Steiner laid out a path that leads from ordinary thinking to the level of pure spiritual activity--intuitive thinking--in which we become co-creators and co-redeemers of the world.This volume is arguably the most essential of Steiner's works. The thoughts in this book establish the foundation for all of Anthroposophy. Now what kind of approach by the reader did THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY count on? It had to assume a special way of reading. It expected the reader, as he read, to undergo the sort of inner experience that, in an external sense, is really just waking up out of sleep in the morning. The feeling one should have about it is such as to make one say, ''My relationship to the world in passive thoughts was, on a higher level, that of a person who lies asleep. Now I am waking up.'' It is like knowing, at the moment of awakening, that one has been lying passively in bed, letting nature have her way with one's body. But then one begins to be inwardly active. One relates one's senses actively to what is going on in the color permeated, sounding world about one. One links one's own bodily activity to one's intentions. The reader of The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity should experience something very like this waking moment of transition from passivity to activity, though of course on a higher level. He should be able to say, ''Yes, I have certainly thought thoughts before. But my thinking took the form of just letting thoughts flow and carry me along. Now, little by little, I am beginning to be inwardly active in them.'' - from Rudolf Steiner's AWAKENING TO COMMUNITY This seminal work asserts that free spiritual activity—understood as the human ability to think and act independently of one's physical nature—is the most appropriate path today for inner development and true self-knowledge. This is not simply a volume of philosophy, but also a friendly guide to practice and the experience of living thinking. Rudolf Steiner provides a step-by-step account of how we can come to experience living, intuitive thinking, the conscious experience of pure spirit. Since this book was written more than a century ago, many have tried to discover the kind of new thinking that can help us better understand the spiritual, ecological, social, political, and philosophical issues that face us. Steiner showed a path that leads from ordinary thinking to the level of pure spiritual activity—true inner freedom.

1922. A Modern Philosophy Of Life Developed By Scientific Methods, Being An Enlarged And Revised Edition Of The Philosophy Of Freedom Together With The Original Thesis On Truth And Science. Contents: Theory Of Freedom; Reality Of Freedom; Ultimate Questions; Truth And Science.