num_pages: 240
description: 10 lectures in Dsseldorf April 1218 1909;participants' notes from Q&amp;A sessions (CW 110) Ever since nature and consciousness were separated during the late Middle Agesgiving rise to scientific thinking that considers only the physical world and views the mind as merely an epiphenomenon of neural chemistrythe spiritual beings who are the universe have felt abandoned and unable to complete their work which depends on human collaboration for its success. Human beings have likewise felt abandoned and alienated. In these remarkable lectures Rudolf Steiner reestablishes the human being as a participant in an evolving dynamic universe of living spiritual a living universe whole and divine. He does so in concrete images capable of being grasped by human consciousness as if from within. How is this possible? Implicit in Rudolf Steiner's view is the fact that essentially the universe consists of consciousness. Everything else is illusion. Hence to understand the evolution of the cosmos and humanity in any terms other than consciousness is also an illusion. Whenever we are dealing with grand cosmic facts we are dealing with states of consciousness. But states of consciousness never exist apart from the beings who embody them. Therefore the only true realities are beings in various states of consciousness. In this sense Steiner's spiritual science is a science of states of consciousness and the beings who embody them. Indeed any sciencephysics chemistry botany psychologyis a science of beings. And the sensory perception or physical trace is simply the outer vestment of the activity of beings in various states of consciousness. To describe these beings Steiner uses the names made familiar by the wisdom traditions of the West. He speaks of the evolutionary states of Saturn Sun Moon and so on; the nine choirs of angels; elemental beings and nature spirits; and the elements of fire earth air and water. The Spiritual Hierarchies and the Physical Zodiac Planets &amp; Cosmos is a translation from German of  Geistige Hiearchien und ihre Wiederspiegelung in der physischen Welt. Tierkreis Planeten Kosmos  (GA 110). The Spiritual Hierarchies and the Physical Reality and Illusion (1996) contained a previous edition of this lecture course.
language: English
title: The Spiritual Hierarchies and the Physical World: Zodiac, Planets & Cosmos (CW 110)
publisher: SteinerBooks