Cosmic New Year: Lecture 1 of 5

This lecture is part of the collection "Cosmic New Year" by Rudolf Steiner. Steiner (1861-1925) was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher. At the beginning of the 20th century, he founded a spiritual movement, Anthroposophy. He is considered the father of Waldorf education, biodynamic agriculture, anthroposophical medicine and spiritual science. The three streams of cultural life: The Mysteries of The Light, of the Human Being, and of the Earth. 1) Origin in the old Eastern spiritual life. Social impact of the old initiation. The scientific path from above to below. Increasing filtration in ancient Greece to the abstraction of our time. Represented in the social sphere by aristocracy and feudalism. 2) Origin of the rights life in the Egyptian mysteries. Its development in Roman times. Legalization of Christianity in the Roman Catholic Church. Represented in social life by the bourgeoisie. 3) Origin of the economic life in the Nordic mysteries. Festivals related to the economic life. The way upward from below. Examples: Newton, Darwin, Mill, Spencer, Hume. The three streams rolled up together in the cultural chaos of today. Goethe, Wilhelm von Humboldt. The Russian revolutionaries. Opponents of Anthroposophy: Domkapitular, Ferrière. The entire Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner are available from SteinerBooks.