The following lectures were given by Rudolf Steiner to audiences
familiar with the general background of his anthroposophical
teaching. It should be remembered that in his autobiography,
The Course of My Life,
he emphasises 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. 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 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.”
A list of publications in English translation relevant to the theme of
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 this volume.