The
following lecture-course was given by Rudolf Steiner to an
audience familiar with the general background and terminology
of his anthroposophical teaching. In his autobiography, The
Course of my Life, he emphasizes the distinction between
his written works on the one hand and, on the other, reports
(not revised by him) of lectures which were given as oral
communications and were not originally intended for print. For
an intelligent appreciation of the lectures it should be borne
in mind that certain premises were taken for granted when the
words were spoken. ‘These premises,’ Rudolf Steiner writes,
‘include, at the very least, the anthroposophical knowledge of
Man and of the Cosmos ir1 its spiritual essence; also what may
be called “anthroposophical history”, told as an
outcome of research into the spiritual world.’
* * *
A
list of publications in English translation recommended for
reading in connection with the following lectures, and a
summarised plan of the Complete Edition of Rudolf Steiner's
works in the original German will be found at the end of the
present volume.
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