Golden Blade Evil and the Future of Man Rudolf Steiner a Lecture Given at Dornach on October 26, 1918
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AN APPROACH TO CONTEMPORARY QUESTIONS IN THE LIGHT OF ANTHROPOSOPHY The Golden Blade Evil and the Future of Man Rudolf Steiner A Lecture given at Dornach on October 26, 1918. Christopher Fry and the Riddle of Evil Adam Bittleston The Etheric Body in Idea and Action Hermann Poppelbaum Cosmic Rhythms and their Healing Powers Ernst Lehrs Samuel Hahnemann Ko7ug, m.d. E a r l y M e m o r i e s o f R u d o l f S t e i n e r We g m a n ITA Wegman J. Kriick v. Poturzyn Martingale Brasses Erading The Art of the Caves and its Meaning Richard Kroth The Time-Philosophy of Rudolf Steiner Owen Barfield T h e B e a r e r s J ° y M a n s f i e l d Book Reviews include: The Mescalin Experience Michael Wilson Spiritual Healing Eittleston Edited by Arnold Freeman and Charles Waterman 195 5 PUBLISHED ANNUALLY SEVEN AND SIX The Golden Blade The Golden Blade Copies of the previous issues are available in limited numbers 1955 The contents include ;— 1949 1950 The Threshold in Nature and in Spiritual Knowledge: A Way Man Rudolf Steiner of Life Rudolf Steiner Evil and the Future of Man .... Rudolf Steincr 1 Tendencies to a Threefold Order Experience of Birth and Death A Lecture given at Dornach A. C. Harwood in Childhood Karl Konig, M.D on October 26, 1918. Goethe and the Science of the W h a t i s a F a r m ? Future George Adams C. A. Mier Christopher Fry and the Riddle of Evil Adam Bittleston 12 W h a t i s a H e a l t h y S o c i e t y ? Meditation and Time C h a r l e s W a t e r m a n A d a m B i t t l e s t o n The Etheric Body in Idea and Action Hermann Poppelbaum 23 C o s m i c R h y t h m s a n d t h e i r H e a l i n g P o w e r s E r n s t L e h r s 3 9 1951 1952 S.AMUEL Hahnemann .... Karl Konig, m.d. 46 The Cosmic Word and Individual The Coming Experience of Christ Man Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Steiner Early Memories of Rudolf Steiner . Ita Wegman 58 The Heavenly Hierarchies Heaven and Ascension Emil Bock A d a m B i t t l e s t o n Ita Wegman M.J. Kruck v. Poturzyn 61 Evolution and Creation The Endocrine Glands Karl Konig, M.D. E. L. Grant Watson Martingale Brasses .... H. E. Brading 67 Form in Art and in Society Rudolf Steiner and the Theatre Owen Barfield 1 A r n o l d F r e e m a n 1 The Art of the Caves and its Meaning . Richard Kroth 68 The Time-Philosophy OF Rudolf Steiner . Owen Barfield 74 1953 1954 T h e B e a r e r s J o y M a n s fi e l d 8 7 From Philosophy to Anthro- Spiritual Emptiness and Social Life Rudolf Steiner posophy Rudolf Steiner B O O K R E V I E W S The Writing of the Gospels The Threefold Structure of the A d a m B i t t l e s t o n The Mescalin Experience . Michael Wilson 90 World George Adams Michael and St. George (II) Spiritual Healing Kalmia Bittleston 92 Michael and St. George (I) Isabel Wyatt Isabel Wyatt S h o r t e r N o t i c e s 9 4 The Art of Eurhythmy "Going Through the Mill" Maurice Wood j Owen Barfield Orders, enclosing 7/10 (or 1 dol. 20) for each copy, post free, Edited by Arnold Freeman and Charles Waterman should be sent to— Price IjQ (7/10 post free) from the Rudolf The Rudolf Steiner Bookshop, 35, Park Road, N.W.I., or the Steiner Bookshop, 35, Park Road, London, Rudolf Steiner Book Centre, 54, Bloomsbury Street, W.C.I. Af.I'F.l. or the Rudolf Steiner Book Centre, 54, Bloomsbury Street, London, W.C.I. E V I L A N D T H E F U T U R E O F M A N Rudolf Steiner ! A Lecture given at Dornach on October 26, 1918* we in the fifth Post-Atlantean period of civilisation - this period ^ of the EvenSpiritual within Soult the limitsin inwhich which we it is are permissible living to- speakcannot to-day,refer without deep emotion to those things which concern the mystery of evil. For in so doing we touch upon one of the deepest secrets of this fifth Post-Atlantean period, and any discussion of it comes up against the immaturity of human faculties : the right powers of feeUng for such things are as yet little developed in prespt-day A^ ofmankind. the mystery It is of true evil, thatand ofin thatthe otherpast mysterycertain hintswhich or is connectedindications with it - the mystery of death - were attempted again and again Anthroposophy, a way of thought rather than in picture form. But these pictorial, imaginative descriptions a body of dogma, springs from the work and teaching have been taken very little in earnest, especially during the last of Rudolf Steiner (1861—1925). He spoke of it as J decades - since the last third of the nineteenth century. Or else "a path of knowledge, to guide the spiritual in the they have been cultivated in the way of which I spoke here nearly two years ago, in relation to very important events of the present human being to the spiritual in the universe". time. What I said then had also a deeper motive, for anyone who I has knowledge will be well aware what untold depths of the human The purpose of this Annual is to publish writings being must be sounded when one begins to speak of these things. I Alas, many signs have shewn how little real good-will there is even which bring the outlook of Anthroposophy to bear I now for an understanding of such things. The will to understand on questions and activities of the present time. will come in time, and we must see that it does come. In every possible way we must see that it does come. In speaking of these matters, we cannot always avoid the appear- The title derives from a reference by Rudolf Steiner t ance of wishing to pass criticism on the present time in one way or to an old Persian legend. "Djemjdid was a king another. Even what I lately said about the configuration of who led his people from the north towards Iran, philosophical strivings within the bourgeoisie or middle class, especially since the last third of the nineteenth century (though it also applies and who received from the God, whom he called to a considerably longer time) - even this may be regarded as mere Ahura Mazdao, a golden dagger, by means of which criticism by those who wish to take it superficially. Nevertheless, he was to fulfil his mission on earth It ^ all that I bring forward here is intended not as mere criticism, but I as a simple characterisation, so that human beings may see what represents a force given to man whereby he can act ' kind of forces and impulses have been holding sway. From a certain upon and transform external nature". point of view, they were after all inevitable. One could even prove that it was necessary for the middle classes of the civilised world to 1 *From a shorthand report, unrevised by the lecturer. Published by kind permission of the Rudolf Steiner-Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach, Switzerland, and in agreement with the Rudolf Steiner Publishing Company. ^Bewusstseinsseele^ sometimes translated also as Consciousness Soul. 1 What then is the proper task of the forces that bring death to sleep through the period from the eighteen-forties to the end of the man ? It is this : To endow man with the full facility of the Spirituetl eighteen-seventies. This cultural sleep of the bourgeoisie could Soul. You see, therefore, how intimately the m^ery of death is indeed be presented as a world-historic necessity. Nevertheless, connected with the fifth Post-Atlantean age, and how important it a candid recognition of the fact should have some positive effect is that in this fifth Post-Atlantean age the. mystery of death should upon us, kindling certain impulses in knowledge and in will - true be quite generally unveUed. For the proper function of the very impulses towsirds the future. forces which - as a by-product of their working - bring death to man, Two mysteries (as I said, we can speak of these things only within is this: To instil, to implant into his evolution the faculty for the certain limits) - two mysteries are of special importance for the Spiritual Soul. I say once more, the faculty for the Spiritual Soul - evolution of mankind during the epoch of the Spiritual Soul, in not the Spiritual Soul itself. which we have been living since the beginning of the fifteenth century. This wiU not only lead you towards an understanding of the They are the mystery of death and the mystery of evil. For the mystery of death ; it will also show you what it is to think exactly present epoch, the mystery of death is closely connected, from a on these important matters.