From the Mysteries: Genesis – Zarathustra

About the Author\nHermann Beckh (1875–1937) studied Law and later Sanskrit, becoming Professor of Oriental Studies at the University of Berlin. A master of ancient and modern languages, he wrote extensively on religious and philosophical subjects, including Buddhism, Indology, Christianity, alchemy, and music. In 1911, he heard a lecture by Rudolf Steiner and was inspired to join the Anthroposophical Society, where he became a valued coworker. In 1922, he helped found The Christian Community, a movement for religious renewal. His many books are gradually being translated from the original German and published in English.\nDuring the early part of the twentieth century, Professor Hermann Beckh began a search to discover the truth about the mystery wisdom of antiquity. As a recognized specialist in the field of Buddhist texts, he knew that complete knowledge of such mysteries could not be found within the limitations of ordinary daily consciousness, sensory perception, and logic.
Beckh was well aware that Gautama Buddha had indicated the stages of higher knowledge, and his studies of Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophic teachings revealed that such knowledge could be experienced directly with the help of disciplined meditation. Clairvoyant cognition includes the conscious penetration of sleep consciousness, the dream state, and an experience of prenatal consciousness. He concluded that the mysteries and Rudolf Steiner’s written works are both based on the same perceptions.
Hermann Beckh―a world-renown authority on Tibetan, Sanskrit, Pali, and Avestan texts―quickly became disenchanted with Madame Blavatsky’s Theosophy, since it displays little precise academic knowledge of primary records. Moreover, universities showed scant understanding the texts they analyzed through philology and sociology. Thus, based on his comprehensive studies and personal experience, Beckh resolved to present his own perceptions and vision to the public.
This volume collects for the first time in English three ground-breaking publications: Our Origin in the Light (Genesis 1–9) (1924); Zarathustra (1927) and From the World of the Mysteries (1927), as well as five of articles by Beckh from contemporary periodicals.