Spiritual Guidance of Mankind
GA 15
This short book consists of three sections. Each section was originally a lecture (6, 7, and 8 June 2024), but was subsequently reworked by Steiner and cast into the form of an essay. These lectures, and those in The Mission of the Folk-Souls, are the only lectures reworked by Steiner for the public. It has been published in English under 4 separate titles, all translated from the same German text, Die Geistige Führung des Menschen und der Menschheit, Geistes wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse ueber die Menschheits-Entwickelung.
The Spiritual Guidance of Mankind (1921)
A First Edition English translation of this book, we present the Authorized English Translation by Harry Collison, published by the Anthroposophical Society of Great Britain in 1921. This translation was also published by the Anthroposophic Press in 1925.
The Spiritual Guidance of the Individual and Humanity (1992)
A second, wiser self guides us through life. Without it we would not go far, for it is what makes us human. In the first years of life — before memory and ego — it guides us to stand upright and to learn to speak and think. Then we exchange this wisdom, which is still connected to the spiritual hierarchies, for our ego-consciousness. Yet it remains ever-present and through meditation we can consciously connect to it. What or who is this wisdom? It is the same higher self of humanity that lived in Jesus during the years between the Baptism and the Crucifixion. This mind-bending book constitutes an important contribution to our understanding of the working of the Christ impulse in humanity. Translated by Samuel Desch, this book has an extended Appendix and Notes.
Die geistige Führung des Menschen und der Menschheit
In diesem schmalen, aber inhaltlich äußerst gewichtigen Bändchen stellt Steiner u.a. zum ersten Mal öffentlich die Erkenntnis von den zwei Jesusknaben dar und schildert den Weg vom Jesus von Nazareth zum Christus. Zugleich werden in diesem Werk die Götter und Helden der Mythologie, die Engel und luziferischen Wesenheiten in ihrer Bedeutung für die Entwicklung der Menschheit dargestellt. So erscheint auch die Theodizee-Frage nach dem Sinn des Bösen in einem anderen Licht.