Spiritualism

Spiritualism (from the Latin spiritus "spirit, breath" or spiro "I breathe" - as in Greek ψύχω psyche "breath, breath") is generally understood as a worldview that sees the true foundation of the world in the spiritual. Spiritualism, which Rudolf Steiner counts among the twelve fundamental worldviews, is thus diametrically opposed to materialism. In the zodiac, spiritualism corresponds to the sign of Capricorn.

„There may be other people who, through a certain inwardness, are predisposed from the outset to see in everything material only the revelation of the spiritual. They know, of course, as well as the materialists, that externally material things exist; but they say: The material is only the revelation, the manifestation of the underlying spiritual. Such people may not be particularly interested in the material world and its laws. They perhaps go through the world, moving within themselves everything that can give them ideas of the spiritual, with the consciousness: The true, the high, that with which one should occupy oneself, that which really has reality, is after all only the spirit; matter is after all only deception, is only an outer phantasmagoria. That would be an extreme point of view, but it can exist, and it can lead to a complete denial of material life. We would have to say of such people: they fully recognise what is indeed the most real thing, the spirit; but they are one-sided, they deny the significance of the material and its laws. A great deal of ingenuity can be mustered to represent the world-view of such people. Let us call the world-view of such people spiritualism. Can we say that the spiritualists are right? As far as the spirit is concerned, their assertions will be extraordinarily correct, but as far as the material and its laws are concerned, they will perhaps be able to unearth little of significance. Can we say that the materialists are right in their assertions? Yes, about matter and its laws they may be able to bring to light extraordinarily useful and valuable things; but when they speak about the spirit, they may only bring out foolishness. We must therefore say: for their fields the confessors of these world views are right.“ (Lit.:GA 151, p. 35f)

Literature

• Lars Jaeger: Wissenschaft und Spiritualität. Universum, Leben, Geist – Zwei Wege zu den großen Geheimnissen, Springer Verlag 2017, ISBN 978-3-662-50283-9, eBook ISBN 978-3-662-50284-6
• Rupert Sheldrake, Horst Kappen: Die Wiederentdeckung der Spiritualität: 7 Praktiken im Fokus der Wissenschaft, O.W. Barth Verlag 2018, ISBN 978-3426292884, eBook ASIN B07BW8YTVD
• Rudolf Steiner: Der menschliche und der kosmische Gedanke, GA 151 (1990), ISBN 3-7274-1510-X 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.