Human and Cosmic Thought

By Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner demonstrates that there are twelve main philosophical standpoints, and that the future of philosophy rests not upon defending one and refuting the others, but in learning to experience the validity of them all.What convinces us of the truth of a certain point of view? Why do we find it difficult to comprehend viewpoints that differ from our own? What are the inner foundations of our knowledge? In these concentrated and aphoristic lectures, Steiner speaks of twelve main philosophical standpoints, and the importance of understanding each of them. An appreciation of the variety of possible world views not only sharpens and makes more flexible our own powers of thinking, but helps us to overcome a narrow-minded one-sidedness, promoting tolerance of other people and their opinions.Steiner goes on to explain how each standpoint is also coloured by a particular 'soul mood', which influences the way we actively pursue knowledge. Several philosophers and their works are characterised in this manner, throwing light on their contributions to human culture. Through such insight into the true nature of human thinking, we are led to understand the quality of cosmic thought and how, in Rudolf Steiner's words, the human being can be seen as a 'thought which is thought by the Hierarchies of the cosmos'.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
• Release date: Jun 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9781855844698

Rudolf Steiner

During the last two decades of the nineteenth century the Austrian-born Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) became a respected and well-published scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar, particularly known for his work on Goethe's scientific writings. After the turn of the century, he began to develop his earlier philosophical principles into an approach to methodical research of psychological and spiritual phenomena. His multi-faceted genius has led to innovative and holistic approaches in medicine, science, education (Waldorf schools), special education, philosophy, religion, economics, agriculture, (Bio-Dynamic method), architecture, drama, the new art of eurythmy, and other fields. In 1924 he founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world.

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RUDOLF STEINER (1861–1925) called his spiritual philosophy ‘anthroposophy’, meaning ‘wisdom of the human being’. As a highly developed seer, he based his work on direct knowledge and perception of spiritual dimensions. He initiated a modern and universal ‘science of spirit’, accessible to anyone willing to exercise clear and unprejudiced thinking.

From his spiritual investigations Steiner provided suggestions for the renewal of many activities, including education (both general and special), agriculture, medicine, economics, architecture, science, philosophy, religion and the arts. Today there are thousands of schools, clinics, farms and other organizations involved in practical work based on his principles. His many published works feature his research into the spiritual nature of the human being, the evolution of the world and humanity, and methods of personal development. Steiner wrote some 30 books and delivered over 6000 lectures across Europe. In 1924 he founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world.

RUDOLF STEINER

HUMAN and COSMIC THOUGHT

Four lectures given in Berlin

from 20 to 23 January, 1914

during the Second General Meeting

of the Anthroposophical Society

Translation revised by Charles Davy

RUDOLF STEINER PRESS

Rudolf Steiner Press

Hillside House, The Square

Forest Row, RH18 5ES

www.rudolfsteinerpress.com

First published by Rudolf Steiner Press 1961

Reprinted 1991, 2015

Originally published in German under the title Der menschliche und der kosmische Gedanke (volume 151 in the Rudolf Steiner Gesamtausgabe or Collected Works) by Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach. Based on shorthand reports unrevised by the speaker. This authorized translation is based on the fourth edition, 1961

Published by permission of the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach

© Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach, Rudolf Steiner Verlag 1961

This translation © Rudolf Steiner Press 1961

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Inquiries should be addressed to the Publishers

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 85584 469 8

Cover by Morgan Creative

Typeset by DP Photosetting, Neath, West Glamorgan

The following lectures were given by Rudolf Steiner to an audience familiar with the background and fundamental principles of his anthroposophical teaching. 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 (not personally 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—and especially in the case of those printed here—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 in its spiritual essence, also what may be called ‘anthroposophical history’, told as an outcome of research into the spiritual world.

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CONTENTS

Lecture One

Petrified Concepts and Concepts brought into Movement as an Advance from the Realm of the Spirits of Form to that of the Spirits of Movement.

20 January, 1914

Lecture Two

The Possibility of contemplating the World from twelve different Standpoints through twelve equally justified World-Outlooks.

21 January, 1914

Lecture Three

Relations of the seven World-Outlook-Moods (Planets) to the twelve Shades of World-Outlook (Zodiac). The threefold Tone in World-Outlooks (Sun, Moon and Earth). The special case of Anthropomorphism (Earth).

22 January, 1914

Lecture Four

Man's Place within the spiritual Cosmos from the Standpoint of spiritual Astrology. Man as a Thought of the Hierarchies.

23 January, 1914

LECTURE ONE

IN THESE four lectures which I am giving in the course of our General Meeting, I should like to speak from a particular standpoint about the connection between Man and the Cosmos. I will first indicate what this standpoint is.

Man experiences within himself what we may call thought, and in thought he can feel himself directly active, able to exercise his activity. When we observe anything external, e.g. a rose or a stone, and picture it to ourselves, someone may rightly say: You can never know how much of the stone or the rose you have really got hold of when you imagine it. You see the rose, its external red colour, its form, and how it is divided into single petals; you see the stone with its colour, with its several corners, but you must always say to yourself that hidden within it there may be something else which does not appear to you externally. You do not know how much of the rose or of the stone your mental picture of it embraces.

But when someone has a thought, then it is he himself who makes the thought. One might say that he is within every fibre of his thought, a complete participator in its activity. He knows: Everything that is in the thought I have thought into it, and what 1 have not thought into it cannot be within it. I survey the thought. Nobody can say, when I set a thought before my mind, that there may still be something more in the thought, as there may be in the rose and in the stone, for I have myself engendered the thought and am present in it, and so I know what is in it.

In truth, thought is most completely our possession. If we can find the relation of thought to the Cosmos, to the Universe, we shall find the relation to the Cosmos of what is most completely ours. This can assure us that we have here a fruitful standpoint from which to observe the relation of man to the universe. We will therefore embark on this course; it will lead us to significant heights of anthroposophical observation.

In the present lecture we shall have to prepare a groundwork which may perhaps appear to many of you as somewhat abstract. But later on we shall see that we need this groundwork and that without it we could approach only with a certain superficiality the high goals we shall be striving to attain.

We can thus start from the conviction that when man holds to that which he possesses in his thought, he can find an intimate relation of his being to the Cosmos. But in starting from this point of view we do encounter a difficulty, a great difficulty—not for our understanding but in practice. For it is indeed true that a man lives within every fibre of his thought, and therefore must be able to know his thought more intimately than he can know any perceptual image, but—yes—most people have no thoughts! And as a rule this is not thoroughly realised, for the simple reason that one must have thoughts