Rudolf Steiner Audio CW 200 The New Spirituality and the Experience of Christ: Lecture 5: The change in the soul-constitution of humanity since the fifteenth century. (29 October, 1920) by Rudolf Steiner
Oct 8, 2021
A historical turning point around the 15th century reshaped European soul-constitution and the rise of intellect. The fading of clairvoyant faculties and the call for imaginative perception to reconnect with the spiritual are explored. Shifts from theocracy to legal systems and industrial economics are traced, along with warnings about spiritual dangers in machines and social life.
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Intellect Replaced Ancient Clairvoyant Knowing
- Modern European soul-constitution shifted after the 15th century toward an intensified intellect that replaced earlier clairvoyant faculties.
- Steiner contrasts pre-15th-century longing for knowledge, which perceived spirit in nature, with later cold intellectualism that severs spirit from nature.
Imagination Complements Intellect For True Knowledge
- Steiner argues pure intellect cannot grasp supersensible realities and must be joined with imaginative faculties for true knowledge.
- He proposes imagination, inspiration, and intuition as capacities that will let humans access spiritual beings and then relate them back to nature.
Closure To The Orient Launched A Machine Age
- Western development closed access to Oriental spiritual perception, ushering a technology-driven era where nature appears spiritless.
- Machines and industrial technology became the dominant force shaping economic and social life in the fifth post-Atlantean epoch.