We will start a separate thread for each section of the book. Here is a link to the table of contents on the Rudolf Steiner Archive:

http://wn.rsarchive.org/Books/GA009/Eng ... index.html

This archive is supported by readers, so please make a donation if you can possibly afford to. Thanks.

How this study will work:

I'll wait until Wednesday so everyone who is interested in participating can sign in. Please post saying that you want to participate. Active participants will take turns summarizing paragraphs. Watching participants will read along and are free to post questions or comments. Please put question or comment into the subject line, so we can tell at a glance that it isn't a paragraph summary. And replies to questions or comments should make sure that they indicate this in the subject line too.

The active participants will each do one paragraph, summarizing it and adding any comments or thoughts that arise for them. At the end of their bit they'll put in the first few words of the next paragraph of the book (from the online translation, please), so there is no confusion as to what is to be summarized next (we may not all be working from the same translation and paragraphs can differ). We are aiming for a rate of one paragraph per day so it shouldn't be too frightening even for those new to the study of Steiner.

Any questions? Please sign on by Wednesday, so we know who is here!
Thanks in advance for your involvement in this challenging (no, it will be fun) study.

Hi,

I haven't been active in this board but once in a while I've been looking in on you. Why does there have to be so much to do on this blasted computer!?!

In any case I'm in, if you'll have me. I'd like to participate as a watching participant if that's alright.

Marianne

We are happy to have you Marianne, it is always nice to have somebody else chime in from time to time!

Forgot to say that I will be an active participant and thank you for posting the link Deborah!
As I do not know the material I had a bit of difficulty finding the starting thread by myself on the RSA.

Deborah, thank you very much for setting this up, and creating these clear guidelines. I will be an active participant.

I'll be at work all day and home late on Wednesday, so it would be nice if one of you would do the first paragraph to launch the study. I'll be able to do the second one on Thursday or the third on Friday. The introduction is short so we'll be starting the first chapter in a few days.

Naturally, Deborah we will do so!

I'll start us off (great distraction from some work I don't feel like doing )

Steiner describes how Fichte, in his Introduction to the Science of Knowledge, stated that if we are talking about supersensible truths, we must have an entirely new "inner sense organ" to reveal them. They will be incomprehensible if we only use conceptions from our ordinary senses. It would be like trying to describe colors or light to a person who was born blind and only perceives objects through touch.

Next paragraph: "Now those who speak about such things as Fichte does in this instance..."

I have a newer translation which includes this footnote:

Johann Gottlieb Fichte, 1762-1814. From "Introductory Lectures on the Theory of Science, Transcendental Logic and the Facts of Consciousness," given at the University of Berlin, 1812-13. Published posthumously by I.H. Fichte in 1834.

Something about Fichte:


from: http://www.iep.utm.edu/f/fichtejg.htm

The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

This introduction was written by Fichte for Steiner's book, ...right?

Second paragraph:

It is important for us to believe in every man's desire to acquire this inner- sense organ and never "cease talking in vain" as otherwise we would give up in humanity itself. We should never doubt any persons longing to to open his eyes and understanding to such things.
Any person who has developed this inner sense-instrument knows about the true nature of man, which throughout history has been called the hidden wisdom, these people need no proof of the existence of such a wisdom, they know it exists.

"It is not, however, only to researcher into the spiritual world..."

No, Steiner was quoting something that Fichte produced much earlier, lectures given in 1812-1814 in Berlin.

Ahhh, thank you!

An individual who is capable of spiritual research should try to share it, not just with other such researchers, but with all human beings. Every human being has the capacity to understand, eventually, the results of spritual research and out of this understanding new organs will begin to develop.

Next para begins "Erudition and scientific training are not prerequisite conditions..."

An educated as well as an uneducated person can develop this understanding. Whereby an educated person might encounter problems to attain this awareness through his own authoritative human knowledge and therefore may produce prejudices that keep him from attaining the higher realities.

Man set himself limits derived through science that goes so far as if research shows them to be outside of those limits it must be regarded as impossible and even shameless. Due to these attitudes this presents a problem for the human to think outside of his own set boundaries, therefore he must make every effort to overcome this type of thinking so he can develop entirely within the realm of higher knowledge.

Next paragraph:
"One point in this connection must not be...."