Beauty

Beauty is, according to spiritual science, the revelation of a spiritual entity in the outer sensual appearance.

„The beautiful is a manifestation of secret laws of nature, which would have remained eternally hidden from us without its appearance.“

– Johann Wolfgang Goethe: Maximen und Reflexionen

This is especially true for human beings themselves. To strive for beauty is therefore one of the three fundamental virtues of the initiate, along with wisdom and goodness. The expression of one's facial features, the gracefulness of one's movements, one's posture and one's entire outer conduct of life should thereby become more and more the expression of one's own inner being.

The cosmic origin of beauty

Beauty appears in the highest degree where the whole cosmos, the archetype of all beauty, is imaged in an earthly being with the help of the formative powers of the etheric body.

„But because a being is formed from the periphery of the universe, that which, according to the original meaning of this word, is the essence of "beauty", is imprinted upon it. Beauty is namely the imprint of the cosmos, with the help of the etheric body, in a physical earth being.“ (Lit.:GA 82, p. 57)

Cosmically, beauty has its origin on the Old Moon and will find its perfection on the New Venus.

„On the Moon then begins that which contains the aesthetic sphere. That will be completed on Venus. We can draw it something like this: Moon, Venus completed; so here we have the development of beauty. You see, this overlaps.“ (Lit.:GA 170, p. 88f)

Literature

• Michael Hauskeller: Was das Schöne sei. Klassische Texte von Platon bis Adorno, dtv-Taschenbuch 1999, ISBN 3423301503
• Rudolf Steiner: Damit der Mensch ganz Mensch werde, GA 82 (1994) English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Ursprungsimpulse der Geisteswissenschaft, GA 96 (1989), ISBN 3-7274-0961-4 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Die Geheimnisse der biblischen Schöpfungsgeschichte, GA 122 (1984) English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Das Rätsel des Menschen. Die geistigen Hintergründe der menschlichen Geschichte, GA 170 (1992), ISBN 3-7274-1700-5 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Menschliche und menschheitliche Entwicklungswahrheiten, GA 176 (1982) English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Das Verhältnis der Sternenwelt zum Menschen und des Menschen zur Sternenwelt. Die geistige Kommunion der Menschheit., GA 219 (1994), ISBN 3-7274-2190-8 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Initiationswissenschaft und Sternenerkenntnis, GA 228 (2002), ISBN 3-7274-2280-7 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Kunst und Kunsterkenntnis, GA 271 (1985) English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Das Künstlerische in seiner Weltmission, GA 276 (2002), ISBN 3-7274-2760-4 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated. Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com. Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English. Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA) Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.