Peter Selg

Rudolf Steiner spoke the Foundation Stone meditation at the Christmas Conference of the General Anthroposophical Society in 1923, giving it to the Society's members for the strengthening of their forces. The meditation's words contain, to quote Sergei O. Prokofieff, 'the quintessence of the whole of anthroposophy'. Thus, Steiner was bestowing on the members the potential to deal resolutely with the specific tasks awaiting them. In this short but potent volume, Peter Selg suggests further that the Foundation Stone meditation represents the concerns of every individual of the modern age, allowing each of us to maintain our humanity in the face of the challenges and catastrophes of the present and future. Rudolf Steiner said that one could hear the words of the meditation 'sounding' in one's heart. This process of 'hearing' will acquire even more significance and reality in future, and can be of enormous help to anyone who opens themselves to it. It is against this background that Selg has written this introductory book: to promote awareness of the meditation, understanding of its historic place in the catastrophic twentieth century, and its critical but latent contribution to the future.

Sergei O. Prokofieff and Peter Selg, two leading authorities and spiritual researchers into the life and work of Rudolf Steiner, gave a series of conferences from 2009 to 2010 on the Christological foundations of Anthroposophy. Their aim was to show the power of anthroposophic Christology. Thus, they focused on key turning points in Steiner's exposition--his major work, An Outline of Esoteric Science; the first Goetheanum; the reappearance of Christ in the etheric realm and its relationship to Rudolf Steiner's lectures on the Fifth Gospel; and the Christmas Conference of 1923/1924 and the founding of the New Mysteries. The lectures from these conferences, published as four booklets in German, are collected here in a single volume. The Creative Power of Anthroposophical Christology will prove to be an important work for anyone interested in the true meaning and depth of Rudolf Steiner's experience and understanding of Christ's act on Golgotha and his continuing presence among us and within Anthroposophy.

Biodynamic agriculture, which has consistently increased in popularity over the years, was born from a single course of eight lectures delivered by Rudolf Steiner in Koberwitz (now in Poland) in June 1924. In The Agriculture Course Peter Selg presents an unprecedented study of the context within which the lectures took place, conveying a tangible sense of the celebratory mood and atmosphere of those Whitsun events. He highlights Steiner's intentions for the course - as well as the parallel lectures he gave in Breslau - by drawing widely on the available literature and numerous archive materials. Recognizing that chemical manipulation of agriculture was neither desirable nor sustainable, Rudolf Steiner helped launch an agricultural movement with a truly pioneering outlook. As Selg describes, Steiner saw that '...what was needed instead was new, conscious insight into life forces and laws, into the nature of organisms, into the diverse realms of nature, and the determining factors of both earth and cosmos that influence them.' The vivid picture painted here reveals the importance Rudolf Steiner placed on launching this work, and the extent to which his initiative offered an answer to the emerging forces of cultural and political destruction that would lead to the Second World War.

Rudolf Steiner referred to the wooden 'group' sculpture of the figure of Christ surrounded by adversary spiritual beings as the centre of the first Goetheanum. Steiner even told the architect of the second Goetheanum that the sculpture he made with Edith Maryon should occupy the same central position 'as in the first building'. What was Rudolf Steiner's essential aim for the sculptural group within the Mystery building he conceived, and why did he regard it as the crown of the building? What were Steiner's intentions - and, specifically, what were the spiritual aims behind this remarkable depiction of Christ? Rudolf Steiner described the core task of anthroposophical spiritual science as preparing for Christ's reappearance in the etheric realm. The Christ he sculpted was not the possession of a specific community with a religious world view, but rather a being active throughout humanity, and thus 'a figure of the future'. In this focused and powerful short book, Peter Selg engages with these highly-contemporary issues, providing thoughtful insights and answers that point to mysteries of the future involving humanity's further development and the transforming of evil.

Erstmals wird hier der Landwirtschaftliche Kurs im Kontext seiner Entstehung und Durchführung betrachtet. Es zeigt sich, welche Bedeutung für Rudolf Steiner die Inaugurierung einer neuen Landwirtschaft besass und in welchem Ausmass die Initiative zur Pfingstzeit des Jahres 1924 als Antwort auf die sich zunehmend abzeichnenden Kräfte der Zerstörung zu verstehen war.

Ita Wegman, born in 1876 to a Dutch family living in Indonesia, first met Rudolf Steiner in Berlin in 1902 when she was 26 years old. She studied medicine at the University of Zurich and in 1917, following Steiner's indications, developed a treatment for cancer using mistletoe. In 1921 she founded the first anthroposophical medical clinic, in Arlesheim, Switzerland, followed in 1922 by the Sonnenhof home for children with special needs. Karl König first met Wegman in 1927, and she quickly recognized his great potential, as well as his weaknesses. She invited him to work at the Arlesheim clinic as her assistant, and encouraged and advised him in his medical work. This book includes the complete correspondence between König and Wegman.

This book follows Karl König's spiritual journey from his early years to the end of his life. Through the words of his diaries, in which his battles with health and his impatient temperament are recorded with merciless honesty, we can follow his inner path that led to profound insights into the nature of children with special needs. His personal wrestlings and innate spirituality laid the foundation for his work in the Camphill Schools and Villages. Includes facsimile reproductions of some of König's original diary pages. About the Karl König Archive: Karl König, the founder of Camphill, was a prolific lecturer and writer on a wide range of subjects from anthroposophy and Christology through social questions and curative education to science and history. The Karl König Archive are working on a programme of publishing these works over the coming years.

Rainer Maria Rilke und Franz Kafka blieben von den Schrecken des Ersten Weltkriegs nahezu unberührt, und doch spiegelte ihr individuelles Schicksal die Tragik des beginnenden 20. Jahrhunderts in Form einer tödlich verlaufenden Krankheit. Während ihre Hoffnung auf körperliche Genesung zunehmend schwand, wurde die Krankheitserfahrung von beiden als existenzielle Aufforderung begriffen, bei weitgehender Ablehnung medizinisch-therapeutischer Hilfsmittel innere Heilungs- und Verwandlungskräfte zu aktivieren. In seinen biographischen Betrachtungen verbindet Peter Selg den jeweiligen Lebensweg und den individuellen Krankheitsverlauf - von Kafka als ? Sichtbarwerden der verborgenen Wunden? erlebt - zu einem Wesensbild beider Künstler, das überraschende Züge und unbekannte Schattierungen hervortreten lässt. Selbsterfahrungen und -zeugnisse von Rilke und Kafka an entscheidenden Wendepunkten ihres Lebens dokumentieren den Umgang mit biografischen Hindernissen, Krisen und Gefahren, der auf jeweils eigene Weise die geistigen Konturen ihrer Persönlichkeit schärfte und in ihrem Werk einen schöpferischen Ausdruck fand.