Rudolf Steiner, Emanuel Swedenborg, and Johannes Thomasius Spiritual Science and “Waking-Dreaming” (Hypnagogia)

ONLINE PRESENTATION BY RICHARD RAMSBOTHAM, UK

Parallels are sometimes drawn today between the spiritual scientist Rudolf Steiner and the
the scientist and spiritualist Emanuel Swedenborg (1688 – 1772). The relationship of Blake,
Goethe, and Emerson to Swedenborg is of great interest. There are indeed some parallels
between Swedenborg and Steiner, but there are also great and significant differences. As
more and more people have spiritual experiences today, these differences can be very
instructive regarding the true possibilities of spiritual knowledge and its potentially
transformative role in society – vis-à-vis an approach to the spirit more akin to “waking-
dreaming” that is less able to bring about renewal and real change. The character Johannes
Thomasius in Rudolf Steiner’s Mystery Dramas provides a living example, at times, of a
“Swedenborgian” approach as well as clearly showing how the potential illusions and dangers
connected with this may be overcome.

The event is organized by the program committee of Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch. For more information, please contact Andrei Onegin at aonegin@rschicago.org.

The lecture is free.
$15 suggested donation will help to support this program and provide for a speaker honorarium.
Please type “R. Ramsbotham” on the first line of your payment application.
To make your payment, please, follow the link http://www.rschicago.org/donate

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Richard Ramsbotham was born in 1962 and lives in Stroud, UK. He is a writer and theatre director and the co-founder of Fourfold Living Arts (which brings together the exploration of themes and current events with the performing arts.) He is the author of Who Wrote Bacon? (Temple Lodge, 2004), many articles in New View magazine on contemporary themes, and his translations of Rudolf Steiner’s Four Modern Mystery Dramas were published recently (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2022).