{"product_id":"dying-earth-and-living-cosmos-the-living-gifts-of-anthroposophy-the-need-for-new-forms-of-consciousness","title":"DYING EARTH AND LIVING COSMOS The Living Gifts of Anthroposophy – The Need for New Forms of Consciousness","description":"\u003cp\u003e \t\t\t\t\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese  authoritative lectures, delivered during a period of deep crisis and  conflict in world history, present a comprehensive spiritual teaching  for contemporary humanity. Despite the raging world war, Rudolf Steiner  was still actively touring  Central Europe whilst simultaneously  completing work on his architectural masterpiece, the first Goetheanum,  in neutral Switzerland.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe  building of the Goetheanum – undertaken by a community of people from  seventeen nations at war – forms a thematic backdrop to the lectures. In  speaking of the walls in the new building, for example, Rudolf Steiner  describes how their forms are not confining, but rather express an  openness to the surrounding cosmos. Likewise, the carved motifs on the  architraves of the wooden pillars are not fixed ‘symbols’ but are alive  and continually metamorphosing . These observations are reflected in  Steiner’s broader discussions. He speaks of extending and deepening our  connection with the world and the cosmos, going beyond our usual narrow  limits and definitions to engage in ‘community with the realities of  existence’. We can do this, for example, with the so-called ‘dead’, who  find it difficult to relate to sense-bound thinking. Rudolf Steiner  explains how we can connect with them, greatly enriching our lives and  ‘making an enormous difference to their souls’. The distinction between  fixed symbols and living motifs takes us to the core of anthroposophy,  striving never to rest in inert forms of thought. In the field of  education, Steiner thus warns about ‘external measuring’ of pupils and  linear models of cognitive learning.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThroughout  the three lecture courses included here – which together form a kind of  compendium of anthroposophy at the time – Steiner touches upon a wealth  of absorbing themes, including the ‘discovery’ of America, the contrast  between East and West, the qualities of European ‘folk souls’, Valentin  Andreae’s Chymical Wedding, and Darwinism. Regardless of his topic,  however, Steiner consistently makes the urgent appeal that we ‘grasp  reality’, looking further than abstract schemes of all kinds – such as  social and political ‘programmes’ – to participate in the cosmos as  conscious and fully human co-creators.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Outliers Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52965431083319,"sku":null,"price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0998\/3633\/0295\/files\/20912013482848.jpg?v=1788925805","url":"https:\/\/outliersbooks.shop\/products\/dying-earth-and-living-cosmos-the-living-gifts-of-anthroposophy-the-need-for-new-forms-of-consciousness","provider":"Outliers Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}