Artistic Sensitivity as a Spiritual Approach to Knowing Life and the World, Steiner Rudolf

This series of lectures provides the basis for an entirely new psychology. The first four lectures give a precise, dynamic understanding of the human soul in relation to the activity of the senses and to the subtle processes that make up the human being on Earth. The next four lectures focus on what we can know of the human soul based on direct observation alone. No theorizing takes place. To show what we can know of soul life through the immediacy of engaged observation of oneself and others, Rudolf Steiner refrains from using his own higher capacities of clairvoyance to form a picture of our soul life. The concluding lectures portray the relationship of soul life to spirit life, showing us how to awaken individual spirit life and how to distinguish between illusory and genuine spiritual experiences.

Presented more than a century ago, we might be tempted to think that, insofar as psychology is concerned, the content of these lectures are outdated. It is also tempting to think that, because Steiner is not usually associated with the founders of modern psychology, his efforts must be considered, at best, an interesting aside. On the contrary, these lectures are actually a wellspring for the true stream of psychology, as the term itself means "soul study."

A Psychology of Body, Soul, and Spirit should be read by anyone interested in psychology as well as by those interested in inner development. Whether we are involved in education, medicine, art, drama, economics, or business, the perspectives contained in this book have the potential to restore the frequently missing element of soul in psychology today.

Robert Sardello's in-depth introduction places Steiner's lectures in the context of modern life and psychology and provides insights into how to read and use this text for inner development and a deeper understanding of spiritual science.

Contents:

• Introduction by Robert Sardello
• Part 1 -- "Anthroposophy"
• The Human being and the Senses
• Supersensible Processes in the Human Senses
• The Higher Senses, inner Forces, and Creative Principles in the Human Organism
• Supersensible Currents, Group Soul, and the I in Human Beings and Animals
• Part 2 -- "Psychosophy"
• Aspects of Soul Life
• The Activities of Human Soul Forces
• The Senses, Feeling, and Aesthetic Judging
• Consciousness and Soul Life
• Part 3 -- "Pneumatosophy"
• Franz Brentano and Aristotle's Doctrine of the Spirit
• Truth and Error in Light of the Spiritual World
• Imagination-Imagination; Inspiration-Self-Fulfillment; Intuition-Conscience
• Nature, the Evolution of Consciousness, and Reincarnation

"Steiner does not talk about soul; he speaks from soul. That is the entire method. There is, however, an entrance fee for doing psychology. The fee is that you need to leave behind your well-known-to-you self-identity. You must suffer the experience of leaving behind not only what you know, but also what you think you know of yourself. This requirement qualifies psychology as integral to the work of initiation. --Robert Sardello, from his introduction

A previous translation of these lectures were published as Anthroposophy, Psychosophy, Pneumatosophy and as Wisdom of Man, of the Soul, and of the Spirit. This volume is a translation from German of Anthroposophie, Psychosophie, Pneumatosophie (GA 115)

Three and a half years after the founding of the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart, Germany, these talks were given to an audience of Swiss school teachers, most having little knowledge of Anthroposophy. This is the context of these lectures, which are among Rudolf Steiner's most accessible talks on education.

A teacher who attended the lectures wrote in the Berne School Paper "Every morning, as we listened anew to Dr. Steiner, we felt we had come closer to him and understood better what he had to say and how he had to say it. Daily, we newcomers gathered, asking ourselves: Why are more of our colleagues not here? It is untrue that anthroposophy limits a person, develops blinkers, or avoids real life.... Step by step, Dr. Steiner shows its application to life...illumining the details and disclosing their connection with profound questions of life and existence. I came to the conference to stimulate my school work. I found benefit in abundance. But also, I unexpectedly received a greater richness for heart and soul--and, from this in turn shall stream richness for my classes."

In other words, these lectures are ideal for anyone who is approaching Waldorf education for the first time. Using language that any teacher or parent can understand, Steiner goes into the essentials of his educational philosophy, providing many examples and anecdotes to convey his meaning. In this way, against the background of the developing child, he allows the curriculum and the method of teaching to emerge as the commonsense conclusion of practical experience.

German source: Die p dagogisch Praxis vom Geichtspunkte geisteswissenschaftlicher Menschenerkenntnis (GA 306).