Macrocosm and Microcosm

THE following lectures were given by Rudolf Steiner to an audience familiar with the general background of his anthroposophical teachings. He constantly emphasised the distinction between his written works on the one hand, and, on the other, reports of lectures which were given as oral communications and were not originally intended for print. It should also be remembered that certain premises were taken for granted when the words were spoken. ‘These premises,’ Rudolf Steiner writes in his autobiography, ‘include at the very least the anthroposophical knowledge of Man and of the Cosmos in its spiritual essence; also of what may be called “anthroposophical history”, told as an outcome of research into the spiritual world.’

In an Introduction to the first German edition (1933) of this Lecture Course, Frau Marie Steiner wrote: “There are truths which must be spoken before they are fully understood by the contemporary world, in order that the power inherent in them may itself create the spiritual soil in which they will one day be able to come to fruition. They rest in the souls of men like seeds, unfolding as a living organism in the unconscious and then coming to life as a conscious faculty of the soul when the time is ripe.” This passage is applicable to much of the essential substance of the lectures and is an indication that the reading and study of their contents demand care and concentration.

In Lectures Six and Seven the terminology employed for the super-sensible regions or states of consciousness of which Rudolf Steiner was speaking differed somewhat from that with which the audience was more familiar and a brief survey of these designations is included at the end of the texts.

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A list of publications in English translation suggested for study in connection with the following lectures will be found at the end of the present volume.