This page offers access to books written around the general theme of cultural renewal. A great part of this, and the central one, looks at the Michaelic streams, which can contribute to this cultural renewal—the Platonists and the Aristotelians....Read More/Read Less...

Aristotelians and Platonists

The following three books are concerned with the world missions of Karl Julius Schröer and Rudolf Steiner and the karmic streams they represented, those of Platonists and Aristotelians.

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Fantasy Works of the West

The following books look at major imaginations produced by the spirit of the West, particularly the British Isles. They are works of art that speak to the mission of the West and the challenges it poses globally.

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Meditation Studies and Spirit Recollection

The following works are derived from experience in working with meditative material or from the specifics of the path of Spirit Recollection.

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Miscellaneous

The following books look at major imaginations produced by the spirit of the West, particularly the British Isles. They are works of art that speak to the mission of the West and the challenges it poses globally.

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This work explores themes as they emerge in the Calendar of the Soul, first in relation to the two halves of the year—spring/summer and fall/winter—secondly in relation to the mid-season quadrants, formed by the verses of so-called cross 7, which divide the year in four equal parts, centered around the times of the equinoxes and solstices.

One of the main threads continues the exploration of the polarity thinking/boding as it emerges from the work of Karl König, and places it in relation to other ones, such as the expressions of feeling, memory, will, cosmic thinking and cosmic Word and their relationship to the human being.

During spring and summer we follow the ascent of cosmic life, cosmic light, cosmic warmth and cosmic Word as gifts bestowed upon the human being by the cosmos. During the cold time of the year these are inwardly elaborated by the human being—conscious of her place in Earth evolution and of her relationship to the Christ impulse—and given back to the cosmos.

The calendar exemplifies how the human being is both connected to the movements of the seasons, but also partly independent in having to exert inner initiative that counters natural tendencies. In addition it shows movements of ebbing and flowing and a cyclical enhancement.

Appendices not included in the book

The present Covid 19 epidemic places us in front of epochal choices, chief among them the choice between two antipodal views of science. Are we to believe solely a science mostly based on indirect observations (through microscope, chemical/physical lab measurements, etc.), whose theories go from being working hypothesis to becoming established truths, forgetting that they often dramatically evolve and change? Or is it possible to turn to a phenomenological experience of illness itself based on the observation of the symptoms of illness, individual physical/soul make-up and biographical turning points that lead to illness? The first approach is mostly based on statistical correlations that completely exclude the factor of consciousness. The second one shows that the whole human being is involved in the phenomenon of illness. Are we to forego phenomena we can strive to understand and experience in the name of theories that most of the time we cannot prove, solely based on the comfort of external authority, or can we develop inner competence in matters that concern us as directly as health and illness do? Granted, the holistic approach takes a good amount of work. It can only be acquired and internalized over time.

There is a lot of conversation and good written work about how Covid-19 has come into being, about the science of viruses, about aggravating factors (e.g., 5G) about the socio-political background of this crisis. This book addresses another aspect of it: a phenomenological approach to illness, including the personal experience of it available to all of us, that will lead you to challenge common and pervasive assumptions....Read More/Read Less...

Tolkien, Mythology, Imagination and Spiritual Insight:
The Enduring Power of The Lord of the Rings

The book looks at Tolkien’s biography on one side and only at The Lord of the Rings on the other; not the whole of Tolkien’s output, other than indirectly. It offers a new understanding of Tolkien’s personality, and what can be called his spiritual experiences. These come to light from an in depth look at his letters, but also from unpublished time-travel books that are largely autobiographic. In those, Tolkien exhibits not only unique spiritual insight and discipline, but also offers inklings that explain how his work could achieve such universal appeal.

In looking at The Lord of the Rings the work goes in depth through Tolkien’s imaginations and lets them speak for themselves before showing how these confirm what is known to spiritual traditions of all time. This explains why the trilogy has such an enduring universal appeal.

J. R. R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield and the Cosmic Christ

The book will introduce the readers to new aspects of Barfield’s legacy. It focuses on the significance of his two works of fiction, The Silver Trumpet and The Rose on the Ash-Heap, about which little has been said. It does the same in relation to his most autobiographical books (This Ever Diverse Pair, Unancestral Voice). What emerges from both lines of research is the great coherence of Barfield’s work. On one hand his early fiction announces the themes he explores and develops later in life. On the other hand the two autobiographical books illustrate how Barfield himself attained the step from ordinary to imaginative consciousness, with the resulting deep inner transformation which is the core of his message.

Additionally the book explores the work of Tolkien and the importance of The Lord of the Rings much more in depth than in Tolkien, Mythology, Imagination and Spiritual Insight. It shows how The Lord of the Rings is both an expression of the Christ event and a prefiguration of events to come.

Tolkien and Barfield show us two aspects of the Christ Mystery in our time. Tolkien instinctively went from the historical Christ to the cosmic Christ; his The Lord of the Rings gives an expression of the Christ event, placed between macrocosm and microcosm. Barfield, taking his departure from the cosmic Christ in the expression of macrocosmic polarities, shows us his connection to the historical Christ. Together both authors point to the cosmic Christ in our time. Their overall work forms a literary culmination in our time.

Aristotelians and Platonists: A Convergence
of the Michaelic Streams in Our Time

The book's goal is the understanding of the impulses of Aristotelianism and Platonism in modern times. To reach this goal it is important to follow the developments of Aristotelianism and Platonism from their genesis in Greece to the present. Part III of the book looks at what would help the culmination of the Michaelic movement in the third millennium.

The book explores:

• Ancient Greece: Plato and Aristotle and the influence of their worldviews in the previous Michael Age
• The Middle Ages: Chartres, the Cistercian Order and Scholasticism; Alain de Lille and Thomas Aquinas
• The 19th-20th centuries: Karl Julius Schröer and Rudolf Steiner (remove period)
• The new millennium: Aristotelians and Platonists in psychology, natural sciences and social sciences
• Thoughts on the convergence of the Michaelic streams

It is the hope of the author that the two books above will encourage discussion about:

• Understanding the karma of the General Anthroposophical Society and how it has affected the outlook on the "culmination"
• Bridging the gaps between Aristotelians and Platonists
• Building bridges between genuine impulses of renewal (not bound to tradition, dogma or national cultures)

Karl Julius Schröer and Rudolf Steiner:
Anthroposophy and the Teachings of Karma and Reincarnation

Rudolf Steiner's core life task of furthering the spiritual understanding of karma and reincarnation is paired with Steiner's revelations about Karl Julius Schröer's task of laying the foundations for anthroposophy itself. The book explores:

• Steiner's relationship to the Cistercians and its connection to Steiner's core task
• "Steiner's spiritual testament," Karmic Relationships, Volume 4, the last cycle of lectures ever given by Steiner. What does it reveal about his attempt to introduce the teachings of karma and reincarnation?
• Karma and reincarnation in relation to what Steiner calls "Spirit Recollection" in the Foundation Stone Meditation
• Exploration of the spiritual scientific impulse of karma and reincarnation, and the breadth of its applications

Why this essay?

The Foundation Stone Meditation: The Seven Rhythms and the Three Practices; A Call to Integrate and Transform

This book preceded the two books above, and was written for a larger public at a time in which I could sense the reality of Aristotelian and Platonic impulses without being able to trace them to their historical origins, or to the history of the General Anthroposophical Society. The work is purely phenomenological, not spiritual-scientific. The conclusions are parallel to what is said in Aristotelians and Platonists: A Convergence of the Michaelic Streams in Our Times.

The book explores:

• What globalization is at present, at the time of what Steiner called "the death of culture"
• The new threshold of consciousness as it presents itself in experiences after death, before birth and in relation to awareness of reincarnation
• The new Christ event in the twentieth century and how it manifests at present; its influence on the renewal of culture
• The role of spiritual science in elucidating the above
• The new experiential spirituality of Alcoholics Anonymous, Nonviolent Communication, Hospice, Hellinger's systemic psychotherapy, Theory U, etc. and their contributions to cultural renewal What globalization could look like from the perspective of cultural renewal

WJ Stein once said: "Two forces hold sway in [Steiner's] life. On the one hand, there is all that he took on as his destiny by accepting Schröer's unsolved task as his own. On the other, there is everything that was included in his own destiny. Whoever reads the descriptions in his Autobiography with an awareness of this duality will frequently find references to it."

This essay explores the second strand mentioned by Stein, and the relationship between Steiner's revelations about karma and reincarnation and his work on social threefolding. Both teachings had a central role in Steiner's core life task, and his biography becomes more understandable when they are fully taken into account. So do central events in his life, such as:

• Steiner's complete dedication to teaching at Workers' University of Berlin from 1899 to 1905
• Steiner's temptation to use the ideas developed in The Philosophy of Freedom as the basis for Mackay's political platforms, which he later called "the temptation to turn the esoteric into the exoteric"
• His unsparing personal investment in spreading the ideas of threefolding, and ensuring their realization to whatever extent possible

Joan Grant and the Gift of Far Memory

"During the last twenty years," writes Joan Grant in her autobiography, "seven books of mine have been published as historical novels, which to me are biographies of previous lives I have known." This essay traces the evolution of the soul during the successive incarnations and the short ones that are mentioned by Joan in passing in her books or in her autobiography.

PDF

The Journey of Spirit Recollection
A Handbook for the Practice of Steiner’s Karmic Exercises

The Journey of Spirit Recollection Handbook and its Exercise forms, here accessible, is based on Steiner’s karma exercises. It is open and accessible to everyone who is interested in taking it up personally, or in groups of 2 or 3 people. It is freely accessible since it is no more, no less than an elaboration of the karma exercises that Steiner has offered in the years 1918 to 1924. As a helper on the inner journey, it is purely phenomenological, based on observations of ourselves, events in our lives, and recollections of other people. I invite you to use it as you see fit and spread it to anybody interested.

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Libros en castellano

Aristotélicos y Platónicos:
Confluencia de las Corrientes Micaélicas en Nuestro Tiempo

La meta del libro es la comprensión de los impulsos del Aristotelismo y del Platonismo en los tiempos modernos. Para alcanzar esta meta es importante seguir los desarrollos del Aristotelismo y del Platonismo desde su génesis en Grecia hasta el presente. La Parte III del libro examina lo que ayudaría a la culminación del movimiento Micaélico en el tercer milenio.

El libro explora:

• Grecia antigua: Platón y Aristóteles y la influencia de sus visiones del mundo en la anterior era de Micaél
• Edad Media: Chartres, la Orden Cisterciense y el Escolasticismo; Alain de Lille y Tomás de Aquino
• Siglos XIX y XX: Karl Julius Schröer y Rudolf Steiner
• El nuevo milenio: Aristotélicos y Platónicos en la psicología, las ciencias naturales y la ciencia social
• Pensamientos sobre la convergencia de las corrientes Micaélicas

Es la esperanza del autor que este libro promueva la discusión sobre:

• Entendimiento del karma de la Sociedad Antroposófica General y cómo ha afectado la perspectiva sobre la "culminación"
• Hacer un puente entre las diferencias entre Aristotélicos y Platónicos
• Construir puentes entre los genuinos impulsos de renovación (no vinculados a la tradición, dogmas o culturas nacionales)