~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Introduction to the First Class of the School of Spiritual Science.

For at least the last 20 years of his life, Steiner ran trainings for people to learn to see what he saw of the spiritual world.  In his last two years, he ran a course which has come to be called the first class of the school of spiritual science.  

This course introduces participants to:

• Mantras on which they can meditate;
• What a person experiences as they begin to enter consciously into the spiritual world.

Traditionally, anyone who was a member of the General Anthroposophical Society for more than 2 years could apply to join the First Class.  The course is 19 lessons long.  An appointed reader of the Society reads one lesson per month to members of the class in the Anthroposophical centre.  It used to be that the class was completely secret, but for the last few years, the lectures have been published and are thus in the public domain.  Because it is no longer secret, I have given an introduction twice in the last few years to anyone who wanted to attend.

To do that, we would meet, usually in Taikura School Library, for 30 minutes on Wednesday mornings from 7.30 am to 8 am on 19 occasions, and in those sessions I would read and explain some of the content of those lessons, including the mantras.

Anyone interested in participating, please contact me (David Urieli  06-878 6028 or <davidurieli@gmail.com>) so that I can answer any questions you may have, and that you can decide whether you want to take part in these sessions.  If you want to talk to someone who has participated in these lessons, the last time I ran them, I can suggest someone to you.

... 

We will begin our introduction to the First Class on Wednesday 11th March. 

We will start at 7:30 am in the library at Taikura and run until 8 am.  The times will be the same every Wednesday during term times.

To find the library enter through the front gate on Nelson Street at the end of the zebra crossing opposite the Anthro Centre.  Walk past the office and Hall building with it on your left.  Follow the road more or less straight on passing the water flow form on your left and the entrance to the Edwin Ayre building on your right.  Then as the road turns hard left to go to Taikura House (the tower block) follow the pathway straight on to the door of the library.  The whole walk is more or less straight. from the gate. See you then. 

Cheers - David 

David Urieli

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tread lightly 

Tread lightly when you meet another.
At first, he is an enigma to you,
just as once you were an enigma to yourself.

You do not know what is living in his soul –
deeper than surface vision can show.
You do not know the quest he is on
or the foes that he is fighting.

All you know is that karma has placed you here
together at this moment. And you hope there will be
something good that will arise from this encounter
for the betterment of all who tread God’s Earth.

When he speaks, listen
beyond his words’ first meaning.
It’s a game that human beings must play
while they’re dressed in costumes of flesh and blood.

You both are spiritual beings, yet you can’t truly see
and must tread carefully till clues reveal
to each of you who the other really is.

Or else you can meet him like Parsifal met Feirefiz –
the two clashing swords, ferocity of will-opposing-will.
In the tumult of hostility, they came to know each other
and learned that each had almost killed his brother.

Poem by Michael Burton

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is only actual experience that gives knowledge.

"It is only actual experience that gives knowledge; no theory ever does. 
Every theory starts from some special domain and then proceeds to generalize. True knowledge can only be acquired when we start from life and from experience. 
We must not therefore consider the laws of gravity by themselves, or the laws of plant life, or the laws of animal instinct, or the laws of mental coercion, because if we do, we think only of their details, generalize them, and then arrive at entirely false conclusions."

Source: Rudolf Steiner – GA 219 – Man and the World of Stars: III: From Man’s Living Together with the Course of Cosmic Existence Arises the Cosmic Cult. – Dornach, December 29, 1922

https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA219/English/AP1963/19221229p01.html

ROOM BOOKINGS

For any sequence of 3 or more bookings please contact  the Treasurer [ treas@anthrohb.nz ]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~