MYSTICS OF THE RENAISSANCE

INTRODUCTION

THERE are certain magical formulas original: "formulæ." Steiner uses this term to describe potent, concentrated ideas or maxims that act as "keys" to unlocking spiritual understanding across different eras. which operate throughout the centuries of humanity’s mental history in ever new ways. In Greece, one such formula was regarded as an oracle of the god Apollo. It runs: “Know Thyself.” original Greek: "Gnothi Seauton." This famous inscription from the Temple of Delphi serves as the starting point for Steiner's investigation into how the soul relates to the wider world. Such sentences seem to conceal within them an unending life. One comes upon them when following the most diverse roads in mental life. The further one advances, the more one penetrates into the knowledge of things, the deeper appears the significance of these formulas. In many a moment of our brooding and thinking, they flash