To see the good
Father of all! in every age,
In every clime adored,
By saint, by savage, and by sage,
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord!
Thou great First Cause, least understood,
Who all my sense confined
To know but this, that thou art good,
And that myself am blind;
Yet gave me, in this dark estate,
To see the good from ill;
And, binding nature fast in fate,
Left free the human will:
What conscience dictates to be done,
Or warns me not to do,
This, teach me more than hell to shun,
That, more than heaven pursue.
What blessings thy free bounty gives
Let me not cast away;
For God is paid when man receives,
To enjoy is to obey.
—Alexander Pope, from “The Universal Prayer”
***
~ Featured Titles ~
The Redemption of the Animals
Their Evolution, Their Inner Life, and Our Future Together
Douglas Sloan
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As human beings, what is our true relationship to the animals on earth? What is our responsibility to our fellow creatures? Douglas Sloan explores these and other questions in this important book on the human-animal connection. His explorations are based on personal experience and wide-ranging research into the work of Rudolf Steiner and others, including scientist students of the inner life of animals and committed defenders of animal wellbeing. READ MORE
Seeing the Animal Whole
And Why It Matters
Craig Holdrege
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Every animal on earth has its own unique character—the slow sloth, the burrowing mole, the towering giraffe, the huge but flexible elephant. In vivid portrayals of nine different animals, Craig Holdrege shows how all of an animal’s features are interconnected and reveal the animal as a whole. Moreover, every animal intersects with and influences the larger environment in dynamic ways. This book presents an integrative view of animals and nature that you won’t find elsewhere. The author presents a different way of seeing and relating to nature, leading to a groundbreaking understanding of animal development and evolution as creative processes with the animals as active participants. READ MORE
Man and Animal
Their Essential Difference
Hermann Poppelbaum
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Drawing a bold and clear delineation between the fundamental nature of human beings and that of animals, Poppelbaum tells us that we are not an accidental outcome of animal development, but the hidden source of evolution itself. He discusses the true relationship of both human and animal to their environment and develops a critique of contemporary theories regarding human and animal evolution. He asserts that, rather than a simple reflex of the nervous system, the human spirit is a microcosmic reflection of the spiritual macrocosm, and that our individual consciousness is a crucial seed for future evolution. READ MORE
Threefoldness in Humans and Mammals
Toward a Biology of Form
Wolfgang Schad
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The result of over 50 years of research, Threefoldness in Humans and Mammals is the beautiful, authorized edition of Wolfgang Schad’s life’s work. In chapter after chapter of this monumental two-volume work, Schad demonstrates in detail how the dynamic concept of the threefold organism—first described by Rudolf Steiner a century ago—sheds new light on aspects of mammals, including size, form, coloration, physiology, embryonic development, behavior, and habitat. Indeed, he shows how the threefoldness of the organism—comprised of the polarity of nerve-sense and metabolic-limb systems and the mediating circulatory-respiratory system—is a key to understanding the extraordinary diversity of our closest animal relatives. READ MORE
From The Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner
The Karma of Materialism
Aspects of Human Evolution
17 lectures, Berlin, May 29 – September 25, 1917 (CW 176)
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“When faced with the way events are depicted in history, we should sense how necessary it is to rethink them. We should sense that today’s difficult time, which has brought such misery upon humanity, is the karmic effect of distorted, superficial thinking. We should sense that the painful experiences we are going through are in many respects the karma of materialism.” —Rudolf Steiner
Is it possible to view the events of our times—pandemics, war, political upheaval, etc.—not as the result of the random, blind working of mechanistically conceived causes and effects but as symptoms of an underlying disease, karmic consequences of humanity’s fall into materialism? In these lectures, given in the midst of World War I, Rudolf Steiner addresses this question with insight, nuance, and a deep love for humanity and the collective spiritual mission of our Earth. READ MORE