By Rudolf Steiner

Translated by M. Cotterell and V. E. Watkin
Bn 55.B, GA 55

The highest elements in the consciousness of humanity are linked to suffering. There is a connection between pain and suffering, illness and death, and the highest a human being can attain: the fruit of pain is knowledge.

Translated from shorthand reports unrevised by the lecturer and at certain places, missing sentences and words, by M. Cotterell. (lectures 1–2) and V. E. Watkin (lecture 3).

The original German texts of these lectures are published under the title: Die Erkenntnis des Ubersinnlichen in unserer Zeit und deren Bedeutung für das heutige Leben. (Vol. 55 in the Bibliographical Survey, 1961.)

Cover Picture: William Blake, The Book of Job. (So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown).

This lecture series is presented here with the kind permission of the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach, Switzerland. From Bn 55.B, GA 55.