Frail the white rose and frail are
Her hands that gave,
Whose soul is sere and paler
Than time's wan wave.

Rose-frail and fair—yet frailest
A wonder wild
In gentle eyes thou veilest,
My blue-veined child.

—James Joyce, “A Flower Given to My Daughter”

***

Wishing good cheer and steadfastness to all the fathers and sons and daughters of fathers. In thankfulness, John-Scott

New in the Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner

The Language of the Cosmos
Cosmic Influences and the Spiritual Task of Northern Europe
11 lectures in Oslo, Berlin, Dornach & Basel, Nov. 24–Dec. 31, 1921 (CW 209)

This previously untranslated volume in The Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner comprises eleven lectures given to members of the Anthroposophical Society in Norway, Germany, and Switzerland in November and December of 1921. In Rudolf Steiner’s biography, 1921 was a year of many trials. These lectures stand between the earth-shattering years of the First World War and the tragic destruction of the First Goetheanum.

Though separated geographically, the lectures share a common thematic thread: the need for modern humanity, freely and out of inner initiative, to learn once again the language of the cosmos. Abounding with penetrating insights, inspirations, and profound wisdom, this book speaks to all who seek a new understanding of humanity’s place in the universe.

“Today, everything depends on the awareness that the spirit, which lies hidden in European and American culture, is the important thing—the spirit from which people flee, which they would prefer to avoid for the sake of ease, but which alone can guide humanity to forces of ascent. But people like to build up foggy notions by preferring to repeat again and again that things will improve of themselves. They will not; the hour of a great decision has struck. Either human beings will resolve to elevate the spirituality of which I have spoken, or the decline of the West is inevitable. No hope, no fatalistic longing for things to right themselves will be of any help in this regard. Humanity has, after all, entered a time in which human forces are used in freedom; and it is essential that humanity actually apply these forces out of free will—in other words, it must now decide for itself whether it wants to have this spirituality or not. If the decision is affirmative, then progress will be possible; if negative . . .”
—Rudolf Steiner, lecture of November 24, 1921