Are There People Without a Self?

“. . . in our times a kind of supernumerary person is appearing who is egoless, who in reality is not a human being. This is a terrible truth.”
—Rudolf Steiner

Are there people on earth today who do not have a self—a human ego, or “I”? The phenomenon of “egolessness”—absence of a human core—was discussed by the spiritual teacher Rudolf Steiner in lectures and personal conversations. An egoless individual, he intimated, is an empty sheath through which other spiritual entities could operate. Erdmuth J. Grosse gathers numerous little-known quotations from Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual research and supports them with a wealth of disquieting reports, testimonies, and examples from literature and politics. He places these insights in the broader context of the mystery of the human “I,” illumining the spiritual development of the individual and humanity as a whole.

In this thought-provoking study, Grosse also discusses the role of comets, the effects of cyanide on the human constitution—especially in the light of the Holocaust—and the hidden effects of ceremonial magic, occult lodges, cults, and sects. He concludes with positive solutions to our present human predicament by describing the healing impulses of social threefolding, invisible spiritual beings seeking to help humanity, the role of the gods, the Christ impulse, and the true goals of human evolution.