Steffen Hartmann

Over the course of the last decades, there has been an increasing demand by people for spiritual experience – whether it involves elemental beings, past incarnations or encounters with angels. But how should we distinguish between reality and illusion in such perceptions, particularly when efforts are often focused on instantaneous experience? Is it really possible to build a scientific foundation for metaphysics today? And what role might thinking play in such a truly contemporary spirituality? There is a tradition, traceable to Aristotle and leading to Rudolf Steiner, that seeks to establish metaphysics as a science. Connecting with this noetic practise, Steffen Hartmann argues that the sure path of personal development begins with pure thought and meditation. Only then, under the right conditions, does it lead to spiritual experience. Through developing our mental faculties to the point where we can properly evaluate such experience, we build a new foundation for understanding the I, our essential core. Self-awareness of the I – in pure thinking – is the eye of the needle through which we should pass. In thought, we can even unite with the essence of the angels. By enriching our thinking, we can access – as conscious, mindful individuals – the realm of angelic beings.

In a series of vibrant and lively essays, Steffen Hartmann focuses on a little-known but critically important theme relating to the teachings of Rudolf Steiner. Steiner described the collaboration between human souls connected to the Platonic and Aristotelian ‘schools’ or groupings – both here on Earth and in the spiritual world. These groupings of souls work within a wider metaphysical collective known as the ‘Michael School’, led by the ruling Spirit of our age, Michael. Prior to their births, millions of human souls were prepared within this School to help them face the challenges of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We may have forgotten these pre-existence experiences, but they can be reawakened within us, says Hartmann. Indeed, it is possible consciously to reconnect to our earlier incarnations and to perceive our karma. The book begins with this theme and leads to Rudolf Steiner’s ‘Michael Prophecy’ of 1924 – to his vision of the millennium and the era in which we now live, especially the crucial period between 2012 and 2033. Dealing with the ‘anthroposophical block’ in the emerging holistic building of humanity, the author contextualizes the topic with reference to direct personal experiences. The sharing of such considered experiences can help to stimulate self-reflection in the anthroposophical movement and contribute real spiritual substance to contemporary culture. This little book provides stimulation to spiritual seekers who carry within them deeper questions about life in the modern world.