A Way of Self-Knowledge: And the Threshold of the Spiritual World: Meditation and the Soul's Path to Spiritual Experience

2 written works, 1912 & 1913 (CW 16/17)Part one, “A Way of Self-Knowledge”: Eight meditations that take the reader on a journey through human experience. Beginning with ordinary experience, Steiner offers ways to imagine and understand the physical body, the elemental (or etheric) body, the elemental world, the Guardian of the Threshold, the astral body, the “I”-body (or thought body), the nature of experience in suprasensory worlds, and ways of perceiving previous earthly lives. Part two, “The Threshold of the Spiritual World”: Sixteen short chapters in which Steiner provides aphoristic thoughts on trusting one’s thinking, cognition of the spiritual world, karma and reincarnation, the astral body and luciferic beings, how to recognize suprasensory consciousness, the true nature of love, and more. These two complete books together represent Steiner’s most personal statements about his own spiritual path. He speaks directly from experiences of cognitive research and explorations. Each of the meditations and aphorisms arises from his spiritual research and demonstrates how such spiritual research is to be undertaken. The “content” is Steiner’s own, but readers can discover their own “content.” Steiner’s method of awareness―his path of attention to one’s own experience―is universal and truly human. A Way of Self-Knowledge is a true sequel and complement to the classic of inner development, How to Know Higher Worlds. It lays out in a way that is accessible to anyone the road to self-knowledge and to the world of spirit. CONTENTS:Introduction by Christopher BamfordPreface by Friedemann SchwarzkopfPART ONE: A WAY OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE: MEDITATIONS1. The Physical Body 2. The Elemental (or Etheric) Body 3. Clairvoyant Cognition of the Elemental World 4. The “Guardian of the Threshold” 5. The Astral Body6. The “I”-Body or Thought-Body 7. The Nature of Experience in Suprasensory Worlds 8. Beholding Your Previous Earthly LivesPART TWO: THE THRESHOLD OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD: APHORISMS1. Trust in Thinking. The Nature of the Thinking Soul2. Cognizing the Spiritual World 3. The Human Etheric Body and the Elemental World4. Repeated Earthly Lives and Karma5. The Astral Body and Luciferic Beings.6. The “Guardian of the Threshold.”7. “I”-Feeling, the Human Soul’s Capacity to Love, and Their Relationship to the Elemental World8. The Boundary between the Sensory and the Supersensory Worlds9. On the Nature of the Spiritual Worlds10. Cosmic Beings of the Spiritual Worlds11. On the First Rudiments of the Physical Body12. The True “I” of the Human BeingA Way of Self-Knowledge: And the Threshold of the Spiritual Worldis a translation of «Ein Weg zur Selbsterkenntnis des Menschen: In acht Meditationen» (GA 16) and «Die Schwelle dre geistigen Welt: Aphoristische Ausführungen» (GA 17). Read more