Necessity and Freedom

5 lectures in Berlin, January 25 – February 8, 1916 (CW 166)

Abounding in lively anecdotes and fresh insights, these lectures draw the reader into a rich contemplation on the nature of necessity and freedom in human life and in the world. Rudolf Steiner weaves together seemingly disparate elements while resolving contradictions into a higher unity, showing us that, far from being mutually exclusive, necessity and freedom are intimately interwoven in the intricate tapestry of life.

Every external event has a counterpart in the spiritual world, and what is true on the physical plane often appears very different on the spiritual plane. There, spiritual beings are active in the unfolding of destiny. Thus, an event might intervene in the course of earthly life with the iron law of necessity and, at the same time on a higher level, create a possibility for free action. A tragedy on the physical plane—for example, deaths of a group of people in a car accident—might be experienced by the souls of the victims as a source of great joy across the threshold, because they have received a new and important task in the spiritual world.

Steiner expands on his central theme with a fascinating account of three teachers with different attitudes to life—one ahrimanic, another luciferic, and a third who takes the path of progressive development. The third, instead of dwelling on past mistakes or successes, seeks to meet the children as they are now in the present before him. By meeting what isand not what was, we open the door to freedom.

Nature was once a free deed of the gods, and the past thoughts of the gods appear to us as necessity. Similarly, our present life of thought will become the future world of outer nature. In the future, the world will look bleaker and the will have less strength. Spiritual science will then reawaken consciousness of the human aura, bring about a strengthening of will, and enable a valid understanding of past lives. Spiritual science is necessary now as an evolutionary development, and yet we can take it up only in freedom.

Other subjects covered in the lectures include: the legend of the astronomical clock in Prague; the activities of Ahriman and Lucifer; Faust as an evolutionary factor independent of Goethe; the historic conflict of the Roman world and the Teutonic tribes; and the importance of viewing historical events in light of intentions rather than results. 

An incisive study of the mysteries of existence, this book is sure to inspire all who explore its pages.

This volume is a translation from German of Notwendigkeit und Freiheit im Weltengeschehen und im menschlichen Handeln (GA 166).