Books by Peter Selg

Biodynamic agriculture, which has consistently increased in popularity over the years, was born from a single course of 8 lectures delivered by Rudolf Steiner in Poland in June 1924. Peter Selg presents a study of the context within which the lectures took place.

Written both in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Rudolf Steiners birth and in the context of the long-standing, episodically erupting, and ongoing confusion surrounding the mission and task of the Anthroposophical Society, Peter Selg seeks to recover what has perhaps been forgotten or overlooked in Rudolf Steiners own words and life. He does so by describing, clearly and objectively, the historical background of Steiners vision of the civilizational task of Anthroposophy and how he had hoped it might be accomplished.

Includes the complete correspondence between Wegman and Koenig.

"Yes, that is the Christ. This is how my spiritual eye perceived him in Palestine."--Rudolf Steiner (speaking of his sculpture, The Representative of Humanity)Rudolf Steiner referred to The Representative of Humanity--the wooden "group" sculpture of the figure of Christ surrounded by adversary spiritual beings--as the center of the first Goetheanum. Steiner even told the architect of the second Goetheanum that the sculpture he made with Edith Maryon should occupy the same central position it did in the first building.What was Steiner's essential purpose for the sculptural group within the mystery building he conceived, and why did he regard it as the "crown" of the building? What were his intentions--specifically, what were the spiritual aims behind Steiner's remarkable depiction of Christ?Steiner described the core purpose of Anthroposophy to be a preparation for Christ's etheric reappearance. The Christ he sculpted was not the possession of a specific community with a religious worldview, but a being active in all of humanity and, thus, "a figure of the future."In this focused and powerful short book, Peter Selg engages with these highly contemporary issues, providing thoughtful insights and answers that point to mysteries of the future and humanity's development and the transformation of evil."It was my task in Dornach to place within this building of the School of Spiritual Science the central group, which depicts the Representative of Humanity between luciferic and ahrimanic powers." --Rudolf SteinerThis volume was originally published in German as Die Gestalt Christi (Verlag des Ita Wegman Instituts, 2008).

"A tumultuous situation arises in the relationship between the adolescent...and the world. This tumultuous situation is necessary, and as teachers, we need to have it in mind during the years leading up to it. Overly sensitive teachers might get the idea that it would be better to spare young people this upheaval. However, in so doing, they would make themselves the worst enemy of youth."--Rudolf SteinerAdolescence is the period during which we first sense, as human beings, our responsibility for earthly existence, and, inevitably, it is a time of turbulent transition and inner turmoil. During the first two seven-year periods of life, our soul, spiritual being gradually incarnates. With puberty, it takes hold of our whole being and turns outward to befriend the Earth and the forces of life and death.Steiner calls this profound inner transformation "a grand metamorphosis." As parents and teachers and as individuals who still bear its fruits and wounds, we all know the contours of the upheaval. However, educational and parenting practices too often ignore it, unaware that the great changes in our children call for equally great changes in us. To remedy this, Dr. Peter Selg proposes, "Use Rudolf Steiner's work to highlight the fundamental structure of the crisis of adolescence and the pedagogical challenges that emerge as a result."As a psychiatrist who has worked intensively with adolescents in crisis, and who carries a deep existential and thorough scholarly knowledge of Steiner's teachings, Dr. Selg highlights the radical nature of Steiner's approach, which demands that teachers and parents change as their children change. Drawing on Steiner's practical admonitions during lectures and teacher's meetings, Selg reminds us that the ideal of Waldorf teachers is "to educate by behaving in such a manner that, through their behavior, children can educate themselves."This is especially true once children reach sexual maturity, when teachers must not teach young people so much as welcome them as independent, equal individuals, able to transform the gift of sympathies and antipathies into a new moral orientation out of their own essential nature. Teachers must therefore be able to speak directly and authentically about the world. Abstractions and generalities have no place in the dialog; young people want to know the real causes of things and want to be addressed as equals. Selg also points out that teachers must be aware of the growing difference between the sexes and the way each carries a different secret life inwardly.Steiner's indications provide a timeless method of meeting students in the right way. The detailed spiritual-scientific indications in this book help parents and teachers to become well equipped with deeper understanding for the challenge of adolescence.The appendix includes speeches by a graduate of the first Waldorf school and one of the first teachers, as well as a letter by Dr. Ita Wegman, each of which reveals an intimate reflection on the life of the Waldorf school during its earliest years and an earnest hope for the future growth of this approach to education. "In a way, a teacher has to be a prophet...dealing with what will live in the future generation, not in the present."Dr. Selg also provides copious notes that offer practical wisdom and many avenues for readers to take up their own research.This volume is a translation from German of «Eine grandiose Metamorphose: Zur geisteswissenschaftlichen Anthropologie und Pädagogik des Jugendalters».

Rudolf Steiners extraordinary ability to perceive the inner nature and development of children provided insights at many levels and areas of the creative learning process. He spoke of this ability as a precondition for all forms of healthy childhood educationincluding special educationand suggested that teachers should develop such a capacity within themselves., Dr. Peter Selg discusses Steiners views on childhood development, how teachers can look at children, and ways that these approaches can be used to develop lessons and classroom activities to deal with behavioral extremes and learning challenges.

Follows Karl Koenig's spiritual journey from his early years to the end of his life, through the words of his diaries.

"Occult events that took place between the Christ and the community of his disciples form a significant part not only of the four Gospels but also of the Christ Mystery or Golgotha Mystery itself. Today, many human souls are still moved by this apostolic community, by how the disciples accompanied Christ Jesus, by their place in history (as an esoteric circle charged with an exoteric task), by their failures, and by the great new dawn that showed them the way after Pentecost...For three years, they were close to Christ, shared his life, and received a great deal of instruction from him, often in their own intimate circle away from public view. They were there when Christ performed healings and even when he prayed.... "Rudolf Steiner once said that we in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries must live with the 'etheric Christ' in the Earth's aura in the same way that 'the disciples once lived with Christ Jesus on the physical plane.' If this is so, it is essential for us to focus on the community of Christ's disciples. Rudolf Steiner himself made major contributions to illuminating the depths of the disciples' relationship and life with the Christ, both during the three years of his earthly life and after the Resurrection. An essential element of Steiner's life work was to apply 'anthroposophically oriented cognition' to events of the beginning of the Christian era in order to 'bring the Gospels' deeper content to the light of day.' He spoke in detail about the Christ's community of disciples in many lecture cycles, and, in his lectures on the Fifth Gospel, he shed light on this community from the perspective of the processes of human consciousness that were intimately involved in events at the beginning of the new era and inscribed in the chronicle of evolution.... "In his lectures on the Fifth Gospel and elsewhere, Rudolf Steiner opened up many perspectives that help us understand what took place between Christ and his disciples. This book's purpose is to make those perspectives available and accessible. Although all of Steiner's statements have been published, they are widely scattered among his lectures and remain unknown to many individuals deeply committed to the community of Christ's disciples and to anthroposophical Christology. In view of the challenges to consciousness we face in modern times-including those that deal with Christianity and the Christ Event itself-it seems urgently important to present details of the positive and often illuminating results of Rudolf Steiner's research." As is true of other works by Peter Selg, Christ and the Disciples is one of those books that sharpens the reader's mind to cut through the myriad of representation (and misrepresentations) of Rudolf Steiner's teachings, clarifying many otherwise-knotty issues.