By Rudolf Steiner

Eleven lectures given at Torquay, England
Translated by A. H. Parker
Bn 243, GA 243, CW 243

Differences of Consciousness in Ancient and modern Times — Spiritual Knowledge important for purposes of Healing — Metals and their Effects upon Consciousness — Differentiation of the Historical Epochs and their Spiritual Background — Life-periods as Organs of Cognition — The School of Chartres — Potential Aberrations in Spiritual Investigation, e.g. Mediumship — Elementary Beings — Influences of the Sun and Moon — Dream Life and Somnambulism — The Metamorphosis of Consciousness — Revelation of the Divine through Art

Steiner delineates the different states of consciousness experienced by people in past ages and their methods of initiation. He discusses in depth the relationship of the seven metals to the different states of consciousness. Today, because we are constituted differently, we can develop higher perception only through purely spiritual forces. Many other spiritual facts are detailed in these absorbing esoteric studies.

Eleven lectures given in August of 1924 at Torquay, England from the lecture series entitled, The Consciousness of the Initiate. Published in German as, Das Initiatenbewusstsein. Die wahren und die falschen Wege der geistigen Forschung. This volume is presented here with the kind permission of the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach, Switzerland. From Bn 243, GA 243, CW 243.