This book collects Rudolf Steiner's memorial, funeral, and cremation addresses, as well as, a sampling of prayers and meditations for the dead. Here his primary concerns founded in spiritual-scientific research, and even in some cases the actual living expression of it'in real time, are ethical and existential, ceremonial and communal. Rudolf Steiner stands as spokesperson before and for the living—relations, friends, community members—and the dead the one who has died and also, in a way, the greater "cloud" of all the dead. Moving seamlessly between the sensory-physical, embodied world and the suprasensory, discarnate one, and speaking in an intimate, personal manner to both worlds, Steiner unites the living and the dead with words that are both practical and healing.
We meet Rudolf Steiner-differently in this book than we usually do. Here the substance of what he communicates lies less in what he says thin in how he says it, his emphases, and, above all, the tenderness and compassion with which he unites both with the souls of the departed and with the souls of those grieving on earth. By his example, embodied in his feeling-filled words, a bridge is revealed on which we too may cross.
We witness Rudolf Steiner's love for humanity—how he loved his students and those he worked with, seeing the best in them as he lovingly crafted their biographies; and how behind this lay his love for every human being as a unique individual and the whole of humanity as a single being.
Those who seek comfort and guidance with regard to loved ones who have died; those who seek ways of entering into relationship with the dead and those Who seek to understand how the dead might influence our lives — all will find here irreplaceable substance for meditation, thought, and practice.