The Principle of Spiritual Economy

In the lecture series, The Principle of Spiritual Economy, Rudolf Steiner describes a spiritual process whereby the qualities and faculties acquired by initiates and developed individualities who have made significant contributions to spiritual and cultural development are not lost but are preserved and used again by later humanity. The etheric bodies or astral bodies of key individuals are preserved by the spiritual Powers who guide humanity, rather than being allowed to disperse in the normal course of events following death. These are then fused with the etheric or astral bodies of souls who incarnate later, souls whose destiny it is to bring further forwarding impulses into human evolution. Many examples are given from ancient pre-history up to recent history. Such figures as Shem (eldest son of Noah, the founding father of the Semitic peoples), Melchizadek, Zarathustra, Hermes (founder of the ancient Egyptian culture), Moses, Jesus, St. Augustine, Elizabeth of Th�ringen, Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas, Nicholas of Cusa, Galileo, and others, are described to illustrate this evolutionary phenomenon. Tarnslation: P. Mollenhauer (11 lectures, various cities, 1909, GA109); Content: 162 pages;