By Rudolf Steiner

Translated by Peter Mollenhauer
Bn 109.1, GA 109

These talks reveal a particular aspect of how humankind has been guided spiritually throughout history — by the life forces and astral bodies of the great initiates and avatars that were preserved, duplicated, and interwoven with the leading personalities of history. Steiner gives numerous examples of this process, but he says that such inspired people are rare today. Nevertheless, we have the possibility of elevating ourselves in the future to the point where we can receive into ourselves the ‘I-being’ of the Christ, which is indeed our greatest goal — ‘not I but Christ in me.’

They reveal one aspect of how humanity has been guided spiritually throughout history: the etheric and astral bodies of great Initiates and avatars were preserved, duplicated, and woven into leading personalities of history. Steiner gives numerous examples of this process but says that such inspired people are now a rarity. We have, however, the possibility to elevate ourselves in future times to where we can receive into ourselves the Christ-Ego. This, indeed, is humanity's greatest goal.

The eleven lectures presented here were given between January and May of 1909. In the Collected edition of Rudolf Steiner's works, the German text is called Das Prinzip der spirituellen Okonomie im Zusammenhang mit Wiederverkorperungsfragen. This volume, along with Rosicrucian Esotericism, completes the bulk of the German volume GA 109. It is presented here with the kind permission of the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach, Switzerland. From Bn 109.1, GA 109.