"All we can do is try to gain a clear picture of the situation and really live with that knowledge. We must remember that thoughts are actual, dynamic forces. All we can do now is think matters through clearly. Living with these true thoughts for just two days before being drawn in again by the black magic of journalism will make a difference. And the time might come when we can use this to bring something about or get someone else to do something." --Rudolf Steiner, Jan. 13, 1917

In volume 4, Peter Selg's exploration into Rudolf Steiner's life and work focuses on the period of World War I. Steiner saw that dark time as largely the result of mounting economic tensions between England and Germany, marked by unsustainable materialistic and nationalistic thinking. In his view, the prevalent social concepts resisted evolution toward a form of society that would enable a long-term future peace; he would soon propose his alternative in the form of the "threefold nature of the social organism" to maintain societal health, sovereign and mutually interdependent relations among the three principal domains of social life: the political, economic, and cultural-spiritual realms.

This volume describes a dramatic period during which Rudolf Steiner showed competence and devotion in his attempts to communicate and implement a long-term path to peaceful relations in Europe. His lectures during this time focused heavily on themes of inwardly accompanying those who have died; caring for the wounded; the importance of selflessly experiencing the full tragic reality of world events; and the vital importance of truthfulness in journalism. He regarded the deficiency of truthful reporting to be so dire that he considered founding a news organization in Switzerland.

Steiner's deep concern for the tragedy that had befallen Europe, for the many lives violently cut short, and for the political exploitation attempted in the aftermath of the war led him to imbue his anthroposophic activity with a fundamentally new gesture, focusing on practical contributions to society in a way never before attempted in the anthroposophical movement.

"The soul passes through the nations: when we look at the higher self the concept of nationality becomes meaningless. Because everything that is an expression of our nationality we will leave behind when we cross the threshold of death. We must therefore be aware as seriously striving human beings that--in our consecutive incarnations--we do not belong to one nationality but to various nationalities and that all that connects us with each of these nationalities is left behind in the moment of death." -- Rudolf Steiner (Oct. 31, 1914)

Rudolf Steiner, Life and Work, Seven Volumes

Vol. 1. (1861-1890): Childhood, Youth, and Study Years
(ISBN: 9781621480822 Pbk - ISBN: 9781621480839 Hbk)

Vol. 2. (1890-1900): Weimar and Berlin
(ISBN: 9781621480853 Pbk - ISBN: 9781621480860 Hbk)

Vol. 3. (1900-1914): Spiritual Science and Spiritual Community
(ISBN: 9781621480884 Pbk - ISBN: 9781621480891 Hbk)

Vol. 4. (1914-1918): The Years of World War I
(ISBN: 9781621481577 Pbk - ISBN: 9781621481584 Hbk)

Vol. 5. (1919-1922): Social Threefolding and the Waldorf School
(ISBN: 9781621481935 Pbk - ISBN: 9781621481942 Hbk)

Vol. 6. (1923): The Burning of the Goetheanum
(ISBN: 9781621482192 Pbk - ISBN: 9781621482208 Hbk)

Vol. 7. (1924-1925): The Anthroposophical Society and the School for Spiritual Science
(ISBN: 9781621482321 Pbk - ISBN: 9781621482338 Hbk)

Author: Peter Selg
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Steiner Books
Published: 07/01/2016
Series: Rudolf Steiner, Life and Work #4
Pages: 394
Weight: 1.64lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9781621481584

About the Author
Selg, Peter: -

Born 1963, Stuttgart.

1986-1993 Study of human medicine at the University of Witten/Herdecke, in Berlin and Zurich. Doctoral thesis: Attempt to systematize Rudolf Steiner's human physiological ideas. An analysis of the entire lecture and written work (Witten/Herdecke 1995).

1993-2000 Further training as a specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy. Senior physician in the psychiatric department for adolescents and young adults at the Herdecke Community Hospital.

2000-2002 Research associate at the Institute for Applied Epistemology and Medical Methodology (Freiburg).

2002-2006 Head physician at the Ita Wegman Clinic Arlesheim (adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy); since 2006 establishment and management of the Ita Wegman Institute for Basic Anthroposophical Research

Since 2007 professorship for medical anthropology and ethics at the Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences (Alfter near Bonn); teaching in the Studium fundamentale and in the accompanying studies in anthroposophic medicine at the University/Witten-Herdecke

Since 2020, co-leader of the Executive Council of the General Anthroposophical Section of the School of Spiritual Science (Goetheanum)