Böcker av Peter Selg

In a lecture eight weeks before the outbreak of World War I, Rudolf Steiner, conscious of developments to come, coined the phrase "culture of selflessness" to describe the culture that would develop in the future. The far-reaching social implications of his primarily Christological lectures on the Fifth Gospel, given in 1913/14 under the same political circumstances, were foreign to many of Steiners contemporary audiences, who largely failed to understand his dramatic accounts drawn from the Fifth Gospel (or that gospel itself) as a "source of comfort" for the future, or (as Rudolf Steiner said of them) as "needed" for future work.

Maria Krehbiel-Darmstdter (18921943), who was killed at Auschwitz, was a highly gifted pupil of Rudolf Steiner and a member of The Christian Community. Born into a Jewish family in Mannheim, she was deported to Gurs camp in the Pyrnes on October 22, 1940, where she survived harsh conditions and helped many of her fellow inmates. Following temporary sick-leave (under police supervision) in Limonest near Lyon, and a failed attempt to flee to Switzerland, she was brought to Drancy transit camp near Paris before being taken to Auschwitz. This book offers unique testimony of an individual rooted in esoteric Christianity and Spiritual Science who found sources of inner resistance during one of historys darkest periods. As the portrait of a highly ethical and sorely tried woman amid catastrophic conditions, it describes her existential efforts to summon powers of concentration, meditation, and dedication to others, showing how these continued to inform her outlook and actions to the very end. Polish Jews in Drancy referred to Maria Krehbiel-Darmstdter as Mre Maria. They experienced her distinctive spirituality and personal qualities and a profound religiosity that retained an inner connection with the Christian sacramental world, even in the most desolate circumstances.

"Originally published in German 2009 by Verlag des Ita Wegman Instituts as Der geistige Kern der Waldorfschule"--Title page verso.

The author describes the context in which Rudolf Steiner expressed his idea of "the fundamental social law" and how much it meant to him, and how, when his ideas fell on barren ground, he selflessly laid them aside, while holding them in his heart in hope of a more opportune moment. He goes on to show how this moment came after World War I, when Steiner dedicated himself tirelessly to his proposed idea of the Threefold Social Organism, lecturing extensively on economics and social policy. Finally, in the final, extraordinarily moving chapter, Selg shows the essential Christ- (and Gospel-) inspired nature of Steiners ideas.

Originally published in German as: "Ich bin fur Fortschreiten": Ita Wegman und die Medizinische Sektion. Natur Verlag im Verlag am Goetheanum. c2002.

Rudolf Steiner said that one could hear the words of the meditation sounding in ones 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.

"Only in our time has it become possible once again to unlock the sources of Rosicrucian wisdom and allow them to flow into the whole of culture... Christian Rosenkreutz has always lived among us and he is with us today too as the guide of spiritual life.... "The spiritual stream related to Christian Rosenkreutz offers the most potent assistance to those who strive to understand the Christ impulse." --Rudolf SteinerRudolf Steiner spoke often of the relationship of Anthroposophy or Spiritual Science to Rosicrucianism, but he spoke less of the being of Christian Rosenkreutz himself. As he said, "To speak of Christian Rosenkreutz presumes a profound trust in the mysteries of the life of the spirit--a trust or faith not in the person of Christian Rosenkreutz, but in the mysteries of spiritual life."For Steiner, Christian Rosenkreutz was active in at least three ways. First, as one of the "great leaders of humanity," he worked to bring esoteric spirituality into the modern world and to lead it into the future. Second, as "the greatest teacher of Christianity" he worked to bring to humanity true "heart knowledge" of Christ through the continued unveiling of the Mystery of Golgotha in the etheric. Third, as a concrete, particular individual being, Steiner had a living, actual, personal relationship with him. As such, because of our failure to understand, Steiner called him "a noble martyr...who, through his way of working, endured, and will in future endure, more than any other person. I say 'person, ' for the suffering of Christ was the suffering of a god."In the first part of this inspiring book--a work of devotion both to Rudolf Steiner and to Christian Rosenkreutz--Peter Selg, as "The Great Servant of Christ Jesus," gives a detailed, chronological, and fascinating account of Steiner's portrayal and, as much as possible, experiences of Christian Rosenkreutz. He shows how Steiner had essentially two teachers: the Master Jesus (Zoroaster) and Christian Rosenkreutz. Moreover, Selg shows how these two, with Rudolf Steiner, unfolded spiritual science for our time. In the second part, he shows how all this culminates, astonishingly and miraculously, in the Michael School as it manifested in the First Class. Rudolf Steiner and Christian Rosenkreutz concludes with an appendix containing the text of the original (1614) Fama, or "Announcement of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood."All those interested in the esoteric foundations of Anthroposophy or in the true meaning of Rosicrucianism will be find this book of great value.

"Following Rudolf Steiner's death, the mysteries cannot be revealed further at the present time, but we must continue to cultivate a living, not only rational but also ritual, continuity of the mystery contents he has given, passing them to people who did not know Rudolf Steiner and yet seek to connect with him esoterically and not just intellectually." -- Ludwig Count Polzer-HoditzSince Rudolf Steiner's death in 1925, little has been written about the "First Class" of the School for Spiritual Science in Dornach. The Class continues as an esoteric institution in the hearts of its disciples and in the mantras and meditations. This meditative work is hidden from view, yet, behind the scenes, it lives on in the inner striving for development of soul and spirit that is part of any mystery school. Rudolf Steiner himself guarded the content of the Class Lessons strictly, only intimating to members of the General Society that his esoteric school existed and how it worked.In this book, Peter Selg provides a context for the "reading" of the Class Lessons, the School for Spiritual Science itself, as well as for Rudolf Steiner's intentions for such an esoteric undertaking. The School for Spiritual Science was the work of an initiate, and through the esoteric collaboration of Rudolf Steiner and those who worked with him a Christian mystery center began to unfold. But Steiner's aim has not yet been achieved. Intense work is still needed for its realization--unwavering efforts with awareness of the foundations Rudolf Steiner laid down and consciousness of the mystery dimension of the endeavor.As an aspect of that wider mystery dimension, Peter Selg also looks back to Ita Wegman as Rudolf Steiner's "helper" in the First Class. He seeks to leave behind the conflicts of the 1920s and 1930s as Ita Wegman herself left them behind her. As Ita Wegman said, "For me the matter is settled. There are so many misunderstandings that I consider it better to leave things well alone. We all thought we were doing the right thing. Looking forward is more important now than looking back."In its exploration of the First Class, Rudolf Steiner and the School for Spiritual Science provides a much-needed perspective on what ought to be at the very heart of Anthroposophy and the movement for Spiritual Science that Rudolf Steiner brought into the world.

"Originally published in German by Verlag am Goetheanum 2003 as Mysterium cordis: Von der Mysterienst'atte des Menschenherzens Studien zur sakramentalen Physiologie des Herzorgans, Aristoleles, Thomas von Aquin, Rudolf Steiner. Second edition in German, Verlag am Goetheanum 2006, Dornach, Switzerland"--T.p verso.

More than 100 years after its founding, the Anthroposophical Society faces serious questions--some of an existential nature--regarding its purpose and tasks today. On March 30, 2012, at the Society's Annual General Meeting in Dornach, Sergei Prokofieff and Peter Selg gave lectures in which they addressed difficult issues related to the General Anthroposophical Society and its global headquarters, the Goetheanum in Switzerland. Their lectures were met with a mixture of enthusiastic support and stern disapproval. They are reproduced here in full, together with supplementary material that helps broaden and deepen their themes, so that every interested individual has access to them.

Ita Wegman spent the last three years of her life in Tessin, in the Casa Andrea Cristoforo. In this secluded province, largely protected from the destructive events of those years and imbued with certain forces, she developed a great work for the future, gathering, leading, and nurturing people both therapeutically and spiritually, preparing for the wars end with the full intensity of her being. This book contributes to documenting the final phase of Ita Wegmans life, focusing on the forces of the future that emerged in her. It draws on her notebooks from her time in Ascona, as well as from her extensive correspondence and memories of those who lived and worked at Casa Andrea Cristoforo. She remained upstanding, free, and positive with an esoteric Christian orientation and felt that she was obligated only to her conscience and to the spiritual world for which Rudolf Steiner stood and that she served.

"We are separated from the spiritual worlds only by states of consciousness, not by spatial circumstances. States of consciousness are what separate us." --Rudolf SteinerRudolf Steiner saw relationships with the dead as the "religious attitude of the future" in the highest sense. Becoming comfortable with thinking and speaking of the dead as concretely as we speak of the living will profoundly affect human activity. To Steiner, the "enlivening" and even the "sanctification" of earthly existence are not merely connected directly with our relationship to death and to the deceased; in fact, that relationship deepens these qualities and makes them possible. Steiner spoke frequently about death and the human soul's continued existence, as well as about the importance of establishing a new kind of community that unites spiritually active human souls that endure beyond death.The Path of the Soul after Death shows how Rudolf Steiner commemorated the dead, the words he chose to use, and his descriptions--sometimes in great detail--of the inner processes involved. What becomes clear is the extent to which his connections to the deceased shaped his addresses and related to their new stage of existence. Inasmuch as his words were in harmony with human soul development after death, they not only recapitulated a biography but also assisted the deceased individual along the path after death.We cannot understand the true depth and meaning of Steiner's words about those who have died except against the background of an anthropological study of the period immediately after death. The second part of the book, therefore, is a stunningly clear and detailed account of anthroposophic research into the process of dying and the soul's path after death. He tells us: "The phenomenon of death sets in like this: In the moment of death, the connection of the etheric and astral bodies to the physical bodies dissolves--specifically, in the heart. The heart is illuminated, so to speak, and then the ether body, astral body, and 'I' rise above the head."Rudolf Steiner described this "moment of having died" as the "consummate event." During the individual's time away from Earth, this moment is constantly in view. It is filled with beauty, grandeur, and sunny-bright warmth related to Christ. It is essential to developing and dynamically maintain self-awareness adapted specifically to the spiritual world. In this connection, Rudolf Steiner said: "Throughout human life between death and a new birth, it is possible to look back on the moment of death, and therefore that moment provides our consciousness after death. We know that we have laid aside our physical body. Knowing this and having it constantly before us gives us our self-awareness after death, just as we derive self-awareness here in the physical world from actually having a physical body. "When we are outside of the physical body with our astral body and I, between falling asleep and waking up again, we have no consciousness of the physical world. When awakening, we must re-occupy these bodies so that 'I'-consciousness can blossom again. After death, whenever we look back on the moment of dying, whenever that whole event--which is so grand and beautiful from the perspective of the other side--stands before our soul, consciousness is rekindled. Consciousness after death depends entirely on repeated viewing of this moment." (Kassel, February 18, 1916) The Path of the Soul after Death is an important addition to the body of anthroposophic literature on our relationship on Earth to those who have died. Peter Selg does a great service in gathering and amplifying much of what Steiner had to say on the subject.This book is a translation from German of Rudolf Steiners Toten-Gedenken: Die Verstorbenen, der Dornacher Bau und die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft (Verlag Ita Wegman Institut, 2009).

Biodynamic agriculture, which has consistently increased in popularity over the years, was born from a single course of 8 lectures delivered by Rudolf Steiner in Poland in June 1924. Peter Selg presents a study of the context within which the lectures took place.

Written both in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Rudolf Steiners birth and in the context of the long-standing, episodically erupting, and ongoing confusion surrounding the mission and task of the Anthroposophical Society, Peter Selg seeks to recover what has perhaps been forgotten or overlooked in Rudolf Steiners own words and life. He does so by describing, clearly and objectively, the historical background of Steiners vision of the civilizational task of Anthroposophy and how he had hoped it might be accomplished.

Includes the complete correspondence between Wegman and Koenig.

"Yes, that is the Christ. This is how my spiritual eye perceived him in Palestine."--Rudolf Steiner (speaking of his sculpture, The Representative of Humanity)Rudolf Steiner referred to The Representative of Humanity--the wooden "group" sculpture of the figure of Christ surrounded by adversary spiritual beings--as the center 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 it did in the first building.What was Steiner's essential purpose for the sculptural group within the mystery building he conceived, and why did he regard it as the "crown" of the building? What were his intentions--specifically, what were the spiritual aims behind Steiner's remarkable depiction of Christ?Steiner described the core purpose of Anthroposophy to be a preparation for Christ's etheric reappearance. The Christ he sculpted was not the possession of a specific community with a religious worldview, but a being active in all of 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 and humanity's development and the transformation of evil."It was my task in Dornach to place within this building of the School of Spiritual Science the central group, which depicts the Representative of Humanity between luciferic and ahrimanic powers." --Rudolf SteinerThis volume was originally published in German as Die Gestalt Christi (Verlag des Ita Wegman Instituts, 2008).

Rudolf Steiners extraordinary ability to perceive the inner nature and development of children provided insights at many levels and areas of the creative learning process. He spoke of this ability as a precondition for all forms of healthy childhood educationincluding special educationand suggested that teachers should develop such a capacity within themselves., Dr. Peter Selg discusses Steiners views on childhood development, how teachers can look at children, and ways that these approaches can be used to develop lessons and classroom activities to deal with behavioral extremes and learning challenges.

Follows Karl Koenig's spiritual journey from his early years to the end of his life, through the words of his diaries.

"Occult events that took place between the Christ and the community of his disciples form a significant part not only of the four Gospels but also of the Christ Mystery or Golgotha Mystery itself. Today, many human souls are still moved by this apostolic community, by how the disciples accompanied Christ Jesus, by their place in history (as an esoteric circle charged with an exoteric task), by their failures, and by the great new dawn that showed them the way after Pentecost...For three years, they were close to Christ, shared his life, and received a great deal of instruction from him, often in their own intimate circle away from public view. They were there when Christ performed healings and even when he prayed.... "Rudolf Steiner once said that we in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries must live with the 'etheric Christ' in the Earth's aura in the same way that 'the disciples once lived with Christ Jesus on the physical plane.' If this is so, it is essential for us to focus on the community of Christ's disciples. Rudolf Steiner himself made major contributions to illuminating the depths of the disciples' relationship and life with the Christ, both during the three years of his earthly life and after the Resurrection. An essential element of Steiner's life work was to apply 'anthroposophically oriented cognition' to events of the beginning of the Christian era in order to 'bring the Gospels' deeper content to the light of day.' He spoke in detail about the Christ's community of disciples in many lecture cycles, and, in his lectures on the Fifth Gospel, he shed light on this community from the perspective of the processes of human consciousness that were intimately involved in events at the beginning of the new era and inscribed in the chronicle of evolution.... "In his lectures on the Fifth Gospel and elsewhere, Rudolf Steiner opened up many perspectives that help us understand what took place between Christ and his disciples. This book's purpose is to make those perspectives available and accessible. Although all of Steiner's statements have been published, they are widely scattered among his lectures and remain unknown to many individuals deeply committed to the community of Christ's disciples and to anthroposophical Christology. In view of the challenges to consciousness we face in modern times-including those that deal with Christianity and the Christ Event itself-it seems urgently important to present details of the positive and often illuminating results of Rudolf Steiner's research." As is true of other works by Peter Selg, Christ and the Disciples is one of those books that sharpens the reader's mind to cut through the myriad of representation (and misrepresentations) of Rudolf Steiner's teachings, clarifying many otherwise-knotty issues.