Mystics after Modernism:
Discovering the Seeds of a New Science in the Renaissance
Rudolf Steiner (written 1901, GA 7)
Foreword by Christopher Bamford
Afterword by Paul M. Allen
Translated by Karl E. Zimmer (revised)

The mystics Rudolf Steiner writes about in this book were early giants in the modern art of illumined self-knowledge. Their ways of seeing the world, God, and themselves foreshadowed all that we practice now in the best of meditation, both East and West. Here, you can read about their essential passion for unity, their practice of intensification of perception, and their ever-fresh insights into the process of knowing itself.

The mystics:

-Meister Eckhart
-Johannes Tauler
-Heinrich Suso
-Jan van Ruysbroeck
-Nicholas of Cusa
-Agrippa of Nettesheim
-Paracelsus
-Valentin Weigel
-Jakob Böhme
-Giordano Bruno
-Angelus Silesius

Steiner immerses us in the evolving stream of these eleven mystics, who appeared in central Europe from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century. These men managed to resolved the conflict between their inner perceptions and the new seeds of modern science and human individuality. Based on the lives of those mystics and on his own spiritual insight, Steiner shows how their ideas can illuminate and preserve our true human nature today. This is a completely revised edition of the translation previously published as Mysticism At The Dawn Of The Modern Age.

Anthroposophic Press
208 pages, paperback
ISBN: 0 88010 470 8
 

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) called his spiritual philosophy 'anthroposophy', which he defined as 'the consciousness of one's humanity', and the disciplined methods of studying this he termed ‘spiritual science’.  As a highly developed clairvoyant and spiritual initiate, he spoke from his direct cognition of the spiritual world. However, he did not see his work as religious or sectarian, but rather sought to found a universal 'science of the spirit'.

His many published works (written books and lectures) - which include his research into the spiritual nature of the human being, the evolution of the world and humanity, and methods of personal development - invite readers to develop their own spiritual faculties.  He also provided indications for the renewal of many human activities, including education - both general and special - agriculture, medicine, economics, architecture, science, philosophy, religion and the arts. He wrote some 30 books and delivered over 6000 lectures across Europe, and in 1924 founded the General Anthroposophical Society which today has branches throughout the world.