An Outline of Esoteric Science: (Cw 13)

by Rudolf Steiner

Book Overview

Written in 1909 (CW 13)

"Esoteric science is the science of what takes place esoterically, in the sense that it is perceived not outside in nature but where one's soul turns when it directs its inner being toward the spirit. Esoteric science is the opposite and counterpart of natural science." -- Rudolf Steiner

This masterwork of esotericism places humankind at the very heart of the vast, invisible processes of cosmic evolution...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0880104090
• ISBN13: 9780880104098
• Release Date: October 1997
• Publisher: Steiner Books
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

The Anthroposophic Silmarillion

The thing about Rudolf Steiner is that his lectures are far more interesting than his written publications. People who have never read him and would like an introduction very often sit down with one of his written books like "Theosophy" or "The Philosophy of Freedom" and then give up halfway through because they are so dull. And it is true. Those books are dull. The lectures, however, are a different matter: they are filled with teeming, squirming beings out of ancient myth battling for possession of the human soul as they create the cosmos. Indeed, Steiner's cosmogonies read more like Tolkien's "Silmarillion" or Hesiod's "Theogony" than anything else. This is why they are the Great Secret amongst Steinerians. Of all his writen books, however, this one is probably his most interesting, and it is the closest thing he ever wrote to an equivalent of an Anthroposophic Bible. It is an overview of his cosmogony in which angelic beings sacrifice their own bodies to create the human being long before the physical world ever emerges. Steiner divides the phases of cosmic evolution into at least four parts: Old Saturn, Old Sun, Old Moon and Old Earth (there are three more future phases for a total of seven before the solar system dies and the process moves elsewhere in the unvierse). These phases, however, should not be understood in any material sense, for they are pictorial images of what took place in the spiritual realm while the solar system was coming into being. During Old Saturn, for instance, the human physical body was created as angelic beings poured forth their own substance to create little eggs of warmth that hatched to become human bodies. At the end of Old Saturn, there came a pralaya and the cosmos disappeared again. This period was called Old Saturn because it would have been about as far across as to the orbit of where Saturn would eventually be. Then there comes a contraction and Old Sun comes into being. During this period beings of light create a spiritual sun and the archetypes of the animal forms come into being. Then comes Old Moon: it is during this epoch that certain beings split away from the earth (because it is densifying and creating water, which is too heavy a substance for these beings to handle) to create a world of light around which a dark heavy world with strange plant-like beings is revolving. Then comes Old Earth, with its Polarean, Lemurian and Atlantean epochs. Gradually, the human being learns to become a separate entity from all these other cosmic beings and in doing so, slowly loses the ability to communicate with the spirit world. Steiner's tale is a variation of the myth of the Gnostic Fall, in which the human spirit is created and gradually attains to more and more independence until it reaches the point during Roman civilization of utter materialism in which it is so far distant from the spiritual world that an avatar is needed to come down from the sun (i.e. Christ) and respiritualize the fallen earth.

Good Intro to Anthroposophy.

I am currently reading this in a Waldorf Teacher training class. I am finding it easier to read then some of his other books like "Theosophy". If your interested in learning more about Anthroposophy I highly recommend this book.

An Outlien of Esoteric Science

A difficult but fascinating introduction to human development from the Akashic Record.

Occult History!

They say that this is Steiner's major work, his Magnum Opus. Outline of Esoteric Science offers the reader a cosmic view of creation and evolution, completely contrary to Darwin, Haeckel and all futile and materialistic modern anthropologists. Steiner peers into the terrifying lost nights of the ages with bright clarity, equivalent to a high powered flashlight in a pitch black gloomy forest. What he looked into was the memory of nature otherwise known as the "Akasic Records". He did this with a superior faculty in the brain related to sight called "clairvoyance". He tells us of The Polar race, The Hyperborean race, The Lemurian race, The Atlantian race and the Post-Atlantian races (us today).He also talks about spiritual beings that have helped in the creation of the world and in the movements of the planetary races. The last section of the book deals with those who wish to find out more about the spiritual worlds and what they need to do to train themselves to reach higher states and develop superior faculties latent within. This book is a marvel. It will benefit scientists very well to know about this book and it content. And there are others that have talked about occult history, for example Madamme Blavatsky in her 2nd Volume of The Secret Doctrine called Anthropogenesis, Max Heindel in his book The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, and Samael Aun Weor in his books: Gnostic Anthropology, The Revolution of Beelzebub, and The Revolution of the Dialectic. If you are serious about knowing Who We Are, Where We Are Coming From and Where We Are Going then this book will help you realize those things that have been a gigantic mystery and a terrible plague on modern minds for generations!

Tough to work through but worth it!

You get a basic outline of spiritual science. For me, there were certain areas that are difficult to understand (eg the evolution chapter). This book introduces you to think in a way that you are not used to. Sometimes you feel like saying, this guy is crazy - but he's not. So read this book - it gives you a good general introduction to spiritual science.