6/19/41 Talk by Ralph Courtney before the A.R.E. Tenth
Annual Congress, Virginia Beach, Virginia. [See also
294-202, Par. R3 for Thomas Sugrue's address; also
254-108, Par. R3.]
REBIRTH AND THE TEACHINGS OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (A society founded
for the study and publication of Rudolf Steiner's works)
At the beginning of this Century there lived a man whose
works deserve to be studied by all those who are interested
in re-birth and in man's relationships to the spiritual and
material cosmos. They should particularly appeal to the
members of the ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH AND ENLIGHTENMENT,
since there is a certain parallelism between them and the
Information given through Mr. Edgar Cayce. These works
describe in detail the different spheres, planetary and
otherwise, which man passes through between death and a new
birth and are, notably, in agreement with the Information
of Mr. Cayce in regard to the role played by Zarathustra in
earthly development.
This man, Dr. Rudolf Steiner, was born in Austria in the
latter part of the last Century and died in 1925. He was the
author of numerous books, many of which have been translated
into English. From his early youth he had the ability to
see things spiritual, an ability which he developed later to
something which he called "exact clairvoyance." Anyone, he
said, who developed this faculty could observe the spiritual
world with the same exactitude as is attained in the
scientific observation of the physical world. As a Doctor
of Philosophy and the principal expert in Goethe's scientific
writings, Rudolf Steiner had a great respect for the
achievements of natural science and refrained from making
public his spiritual observations until he could harmonize
them with that which he considered to be right or wrong in
the sciences and philosophies of the day.
Aside from his philosophical works, Steiner first wrote
a book called "Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its
Attainment" in which he gave all the needed directions for
those who wished to develop exact clairvoyance. Although the
so-called Kaliyuga, or Dark Age, had for many centuries cut
man off from direct vision of the spiritual world, this Dark
Age, so Steiner said, had come to an end with the beginning
of this Century. The gates of the Spiritual World are now
open again to anyone who has the will to train himself to
perceive them.
As a result of his exact clairvoyance, Steiner was able
to follow every stage of the soul's life between death and
re-birth, as well as to give practical indications about the
solution of problems which are at present beyond the reach
of external knowledge. In the fields of sociology, medicine,
agriculture, education, architecture and other branches of
the sciences and the arts, Steiner laid the foundations for
and pointed the way to new developments.
Members of the Association for Research and Enlightenment
will be interested to find that Steiner, as does Mr. Cayce's
Information, combines the teaching about re-birth and Karma
with the acceptance of the profound truth of Christianity,
whereas most other religions or spiritual movements reject
either one of these or the other. In Zarathustra, Dr.
Steiner also recognizes a previous incarnation of Jesus
of Nazareth.
A society known as the Anthroposophical Society was founded
for the study and publication of Dr. Steiner's works,
with groups in the United States as well as in many other
countries. Its leading Center is in Dornach, near Basel in
Switzerland, where a School of Spiritual Science known as
the "Goetheanum" was founded by Dr. Steiner. There are
today about 20,000 Anthroposophists.
Ralph Courtney, 318 West 56th Street, New York, N.Y.; Also,
Threefold Farm, Spring Valley, N.Y.
3/59 HLC's note [re 3976-24, Par. 8]: Grammatical confusion
and peculiar selection of words and phrases frequently
obscure the meaning of passages in Mr. Cayce's psychic
readings. At the present time we are not prepared to make a
complete explanation of this difficulty. We believe that
during any reading the point of view is beyond three
dimensions. Converting observations made through this
expanded consciousness into three dimensional terms must at
times cause some vagueness. To a great extent the language
of the readings is confined to Mr. Cayce's conscious
knowledge of words and phrases.
In the reading which precedes this note [3976-24] we find
one passage that is especially vague: "Ye are to have a
division in thine own land before there is the second of the
Presidents that next will not live through his office - a mob
rule."
Many of those who heard this reading assumed that this
indicated that the second President would not live through
office, thus dating the outbreak of violence in this country.
A careful reading will show that this statement may refer to
some distant date when the time of the second President who
does not live through office arrives. A question would have
cleared this at the end of the reading. We leave it for you
to make your own interpretation.
5/29/75 GD's note: We were told that Mr. Ralph Courtney had
been a War Correspondent during World War I and had met Dr.
Rudolf Steiner in Europe. He became vitally interested and
later joined those who were promoting the Steiner movement,
through the Anthroposophical Society. When we first met
Mr. Courtney he was active in the Three-fold farm in Spring
Valley, N.Y. and also the Threefold Restaurant in N.Y. where
the foods were served that were grown on the Threefold Farm.
I heard him lecture at Threefold Farm on some of Steiner's
works that had not yet been translated, or published. Edgar
Cayce was the guest of Ralph Courtney at Threefold Farm
on several occasions. Also Ralph Courtney visited Edgar
Cayce in Virginia Beach several times and referred quite
a few people for readings. He was present for the 3976-24
reading on World Affairs and submitted questions relating to
Steiner's threefold plan for social reform.
