Imagination: Enhancing the Powers of Thinking

Rudolf Steiner differentiated clearly between the spiritual concept of Imagination and our everyday understanding of the word. As living, pictorial thinking, Imagination is a primary aspect of the contemporary path of inner schooling - the first of three levels of initiate knowledge and cognition. Imagination leads us into a world of flowing, living pictures: a realm of soul and spirit in which everything is in continual movement. This anthology offers a survey of the diverse aspects of imagination and imaginative cognition. As the thematically re-ordered texts reveal, Rudolf Steiner's spiritual philosophy - anthroposophy - is itself often pictorial and imaginative in nature, Many of its fundamental concepts, such as the evolution of the world and the human being, were formulated by Steiner in vivid, living pictures. However, whilst imaginative perception leads us to the threshold of the spiritual world, we can also fall prey there to illusions, visions and hallucinations. This volume, expertly assembled by Edward de Boer, draws on the entirety of Rudolf Steiner's collected works - from his earliest writings to passages from his many lectures. It is conceived as a stimulus to readers to practise, deepen and extend their own imaginative consciousness. Steiner's commentary on 'exemplary Imaginations', in particular, encourages further study, contemplation and schooling of our own pictorial thinking. Chapters include 'Imagination as Supersensible Cognition'; 'The Rosicrucian Path of Schooling'; 'Exercises to Develop imagination'; 'Understanding Imagination Through Inspiration and Intuition'; 'Illusions, Hallucinations and Visions'; 'imaginative Perception as the Threshold to the Etheric World'; 'Goethe's Worldview' and 'Exemplary imaginations' (including commentary on 'The Fairy-tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily', The Mystery Plays; The Great initiates; the 'Apocalyptic Seals'; The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz and the 'Michael Imagination').

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Imagination: Enhancing the Powers of Thinking

Rudolf Steiner differentiated clearly between the spiritual concept of Imagination and our everyday understanding of the word. As living, pictorial thinking, Imagination is a primary aspect of the contemporary path of inner schooling - the first of three levels of initiate knowledge and cognition. Imagination leads us into a world of flowing, living pictures: a realm of soul and spirit in which everything is in continual movement. This anthology offers a survey of the diverse aspects of imagination and imaginative cognition. As the thematically re-ordered texts reveal, Rudolf Steiner's spiritual philosophy - anthroposophy - is itself often pictorial and imaginative in nature, Many of its fundamental concepts, such as the evolution of the world and the human being, were formulated by Steiner in vivid, living pictures. However, whilst imaginative perception leads us to the threshold of the spiritual world, we can also fall prey there to illusions, visions and hallucinations. This volume, expertly assembled by Edward de Boer, draws on the entirety of Rudolf Steiner's collected works - from his earliest writings to passages from his many lectures. It is conceived as a stimulus to readers to practise, deepen and extend their own imaginative consciousness. Steiner's commentary on 'exemplary Imaginations', in particular, encourages further study, contemplation and schooling of our own pictorial thinking. Chapters include 'Imagination as Supersensible Cognition'; 'The Rosicrucian Path of Schooling'; 'Exercises to Develop imagination'; 'Understanding Imagination Through Inspiration and Intuition'; 'Illusions, Hallucinations and Visions'; 'imaginative Perception as the Threshold to the Etheric World'; 'Goethe's Worldview' and 'Exemplary imaginations' (including commentary on 'The Fairy-tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily', The Mystery Plays; The Great initiates; the 'Apocalyptic Seals'; The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz and the 'Michael Imagination').

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Imagination: Enhancing the Powers of Thinking

Imagination: Enhancing the Powers of Thinking

Imagination: Enhancing the Powers of Thinking

Imagination: Enhancing the Powers of Thinking

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Overview

Rudolf Steiner differentiated clearly between the spiritual concept of Imagination and our everyday understanding of the word. As living, pictorial thinking, Imagination is a primary aspect of the contemporary path of inner schooling - the first of three levels of initiate knowledge and cognition. Imagination leads us into a world of flowing, living pictures: a realm of soul and spirit in which everything is in continual movement. This anthology offers a survey of the diverse aspects of imagination and imaginative cognition. As the thematically re-ordered texts reveal, Rudolf Steiner's spiritual philosophy - anthroposophy - is itself often pictorial and imaginative in nature, Many of its fundamental concepts, such as the evolution of the world and the human being, were formulated by Steiner in vivid, living pictures. However, whilst imaginative perception leads us to the threshold of the spiritual world, we can also fall prey there to illusions, visions and hallucinations. This volume, expertly assembled by Edward de Boer, draws on the entirety of Rudolf Steiner's collected works - from his earliest writings to passages from his many lectures. It is conceived as a stimulus to readers to practise, deepen and extend their own imaginative consciousness. Steiner's commentary on 'exemplary Imaginations', in particular, encourages further study, contemplation and schooling of our own pictorial thinking. Chapters include 'Imagination as Supersensible Cognition'; 'The Rosicrucian Path of Schooling'; 'Exercises to Develop imagination'; 'Understanding Imagination Through Inspiration and Intuition'; 'Illusions, Hallucinations and Visions'; 'imaginative Perception as the Threshold to the Etheric World'; 'Goethe's Worldview' and 'Exemplary imaginations' (including commentary on 'The Fairy-tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily', The Mystery Plays; The Great initiates; the 'Apocalyptic Seals'; The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz and the 'Michael Imagination').


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781855845565
Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
Publication date: 05/01/2019
Pages: 174
Product dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Rudolf Steiner (b. Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner, 1861-1925) was born in the small village of Kraljevec, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Croatia), where he grew up. As a young man, he lived in Weimar and Berlin, where he became a well-published scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar, known especially for his work with Goethe's scientific writings. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he began to develop his early philosophical principles into an approach to systematic research into psychological and spiritual phenomena. Formally beginning his spiritual teaching career under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, Steiner came to use the term Anthroposophy (and spiritual science) for his philosophy, spiritual research, and findings. The influence of Steiner's multifaceted genius has led to innovative and holistic approaches in medicine, various therapies, philosophy, religious renewal, Waldorf education, education for special needs, threefold economics, biodynamic agriculture, Goethean science, architecture, and the arts of drama, speech, and eurythmy. In 1924, Rudolf Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world. He died in Dornach, Switzerland.

Matthew Barton is a translator, editor, teacher, and poet, and taught kindergarten for many years at the Bristol Waldorf School. His first collection of poems was Learning To Row (1999). He has won numerous prizes for his work, including an Arts Council Writer's Award and a Hawthornden Fellowship.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Imagination as Supersensible Cognition 7

2 The Rosicrucian Path of Schooling 28

3 Exercises to Develop Imagination 56

The Preparatory Stage of Sense-free Thinking 56

Developing Independent Pictorial Thinking 64

4 Understanding Imagination Through Inspiration and Intuition 84

5 Illusions, Hallucinations and Visions 97

6 Imaginative Perception as the Threshold to the Etheric World 106

7 Goethe's Worldview 116

8 Exemplary Imaginations 130

The Fairy-tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily 130

The Mystery Plays 136

The Great Initiates 140

The Apocalyptic Seals 141

The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz 148

Michael Imagination 154

Notes 161

Sources 166

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