'That in our times a kind of supernumerary person is appearing who is egoless, who in reality is not a human being, is a terrible truth.' - Rudolf Steiner -- Are there people on earth today who do not have a self - a human ego or 'I'? The phenomenon of 'egolessness' - the absence of a human being's core - was discussed by the spiritual teacher Rudolf Steiner in lectures and personal conversations. An egoless individual, he intimated, is an empty sheath through which other spiritual entities could operate. Erdmuth J. Grosse brings together many little-known quotations from Rudolf Steiner's spiritual research and supports them with a wealth of disquieting reports, testimonies and examples from literature and politics. He places these insights within the broader context of the riddle of the human self, throwing light on the spiritual development of the individual and humanity as a whole. In this thought-provoking study, Grosse goes on to discuss the role of comets, the effects of cyanide on the human constitution - especially in the light of the Holocaust - and the hidden effects of ceremonial magic, occult lodges, cults and sects. In conclusion, he offers positive solutions to humanity's present predicament by describing the healing impulses of social threefolding, the invisible spiritual beings seeking to help humanity, the role of the gods, the Christ impulse and the true goals of human evolution.
ERDMUTH JOHANNES GROSSE, son of Rudolf and Lucia Grosse, was born in Basel in 1928. He studied eurythmy and education at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. After working as a eurythmist for a number of years on the Goetheanum stage, he taught eurythmy in Waldorf schools in Germany and Denmark, and later worked as a class teacher and an upper school history, art history and eurythmy teacher in the Rudolf Steiner School in Basel. He then studied industrial psychology at the Institute for Applied Psychology in Zurich, where he was later employed. He was involved in various training programmes for leaders in industry and commerce, as well as in state institutions. Grosse later worked as a freelance management consultant and a lecturer in anthroposophy in Switzerland, Germany and Denmark. He died in 2012.
Translator's note - Foreword - Introduction: The Ego and its sheaths - Are there people without an Ego? - Dementia and the Ego - Demonic beings - What is the nature of the Ego? - The sense of Ego - An egoless girl discussed by Rudolf Steiner at a teachers' meeting of the Waldorf School - The question of egoless individuals in Rudolf Steiner's discussions with the priests of the Christian Community - The effect of cyanide on bodily processes involved with the will - The task and effect of comets - Sorat - The situation prior to the First World War - Ceremonial magic-the technique of occult Lodges - An American sect - A brief description of the threefold social order as an aid to understanding the following chapters - The different nature of peoples in the West, in the Centre, and in the East, and the emergence of egoless individuals - What is a destiny motif? - Death by potassium cyanide and its effect on the Ego - A dream described by Ernst Lehrs - A conversation with Rudolf Steiner about potassium cyanide - The human Ego and spiritual economy in its development - The task of the gods - The Christ impulse - The goal of human evolution - Conclusion: Invisible spiritual beings helping humanity develop spiritual science
