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The Guardian of the Threshold and The Philosophy of Freedom
On the Relationship of The Philosophy of Freedom to The Fifth Gospel
Paperback
May 2011
9781906999247
More details
- Publisher
Temple Lodge Publishing - Published
1st May 2011 - ISBN 9781906999247
- Language English
- Pages 120 pp.
$30.00
“The mystery of the Guardian, and the Threshold he protects, belong among the central most significant themes on the path of modern initiation. For, without the encounter with the Guardian, the Threshold to the spiritual world can never be crossed in full consciousness. The consequence would then be that for all the experiences in the realm on the other side of the Threshold there can be no certainty as to the truth of their contents.” (from the preface)
Just as an entire plant is contained in seminal form in its seed, the whole of Anthroposophy can be discovered in Rudolf Steiner’s central work, The Philosophy of Freedom (Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path), a book that lays the foundation for a modern scientific path to the spiritual world. Given the centrality of the Guardian of the Threshold to modern initiation, one may ask where this theme can be found in The Philosophy of Freedom. Sergei Prokofieff presents his insights to this little-researched question in the first part of this volume. In the second part, he investigates the connection of The Philosophy of Freedom to the content of Rudolf Steiner’s research into to what he called “The Fifth Gospel.”
Prokofieff's thoughtful commentary sheds new light on the connection between Rudolf Steiner’s early work and what he developed later in life. Study of the relevant texts reveals that the roots of Steiner’s early work lie in the same spiritual reality—the Christ impulse—as that of the later Anthroposophy he would develop.
C O N T E N T S:
Preface
Part One: The Guardian of the Threshold and The Philosophy of Freedom
1. Two Books that Lead to the Threshold
2. The Exceptional State as Threshold Experience
3. The Lesser Guardian in The Philosophy of Freedom
4. The Greater guardian in The Philosophy of Freedom
5. The Secret of Death and the Lesser Guardian of the Threshold
6. The Secret of Evil and the Greater Guardian of the Threshold
7. The Whitsun Experience of Modern Man
8. The Guardian of the Threshold and the Unconditionality of Cognition
9. The Philosophy of Freedom and the Earthly Life of Christ
10. The Philosophy of Freedom and the Sources of Spiritual Communion
Epilogue
Part Two: The Philosophy of Freedom and the Fifth Gospel
Introduction
1. Concerning the Relationship of The Philosophy of Freedom the Fifth Gospel
2. The Inner Tragedy of Spirit Research and Its Archetype in the Events of the Turning Point of Time
Postscript
Sergei O. Prokofieff
Sergei O. Prokofieff (1954-2014) was born in Moscow, where he studied fine arts and painting at the Moscow School of Art. At an early age he encountered the work of Rudolf Steiner and quickly realized that his life would be dedicated to the Christian path of esoteric knowledge. He wrote his first book, Rudolf Steiner and the Founding of the New Mysteries, while living in Soviet Russia, and it was published in English in 1994. After the fall of Communism, he helped establish the Anthroposophical Society in Russia. In 2001, he became a member of the Executive Council of the General Anthroposophical Society at the Goetheanum in Switzerland. More than 30 of his books have been translated into English. Sergei Prokofieff passed away in Dornach, Switzerland.
