‘Suppose you have seen an event, have formed an idea about it, and you
say something that is not true – in other words, something that is a lie.
Then what flows from the object is correct and what flows from you is false
and this collision is a terrible explosion; and each time you do this, you
attach a gruesome being to your karma which you cannot get rid of again
until you have made good what you lied about.’ – Rudolf Steiner
In a previously-untranslated volume of lectures, Rudolf Steiner
presents shattering insights regarding the interaction of human and
spiritual beings. He speaks, for example, about how perfumes can
give certain spirits access to people on earth, or how phantoms,
spectres and demons can be created through human deficiencies –
or even how the arts of architecture, sculpture, painting and music
allow ‘good’ or ‘hideous’ entities to enter our world. As he states:
‘Learning about the effects of spiritual beings is of much greater
help than moral preaching. A future humanity will know what it is
creating through lies, hypocrisy and slander.’
The lectures are divided into two broad thematic groups: the first
relating to the inner path of knowledge and its relation to the yearly
festivals, and the second focusing on the work of elemental beings
in our everyday world. The 18 lectures are complemented with
notes, an index and an introduction by Christian von Arnim.
