Cosmic and Human Metamorphosis—7 Lectures in Berlin, February 6, 1917 to March 20, 1917

"As microcosms we are actually part of, and subject to, the same laws that cosmic beings are, just as the breath we draw is subject to our own human nature.... If our hearts are sensitive to the secrets of cosmic existence and not merely blocks of wood, the words we have been placed into the universe will no longer be an abstract statement. We will be fully alive to this fact. Knowledge and a feeling will spring up within us, the fruits of which will be born in our will impulses, and our whole being will live in unison with the great life, divine cosmic existence." -Rudolf SteinerIn this important series of lectures, Rudolf Steiner lays out for Society members right and wrong ways of establishing connections with those who have died. Rather than following the materialistic desire to draw those who have died back into the physical realm, Steiner presents a means toward true spiritual union through strengthening one's forces of consciousness. He also showed how help is provided from the sphere of Christ's activity as a balance for our time. Steiner stated: "One who sees into the deeper meaning intended by our spiritual science recognizes in it not merely theoretical knowledge about all sorts of human problems, the members of the human being, reincarnation and karma, but one looks in it for an entirely different language, a way to express oneself in regard to spiritual matters. The fact that we learn through spiritual science to speak inwardly in our thoughts with the spiritual world is far more important than acquiring theoretical ideas. The Christ is with us even until the end of the world. It is his language that we must learn."This book is a translation (translator unknown) of 7 lectures from Bausteine zu einer Erkenntnis des Mysteriums von Golgatha. Kosmische und menschliche Metamorphose ("Building Blocks for an Understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha: Cosmic and Human Metamorphoses") 17 lectures, GA 175.