The Being of the Arts

In what was announced as a lecture Rudolf Steiner tells instead an extraordinary tale. It begins with two women standing in a stark and frozen landscape: one experiences the bitter cold, the other the extraordinary beauty. Both fall asleep, but while one falls into a sleep on the verge of death, the other is approached out of the sunset by a youth who says: 'You are art'. She then undergoes a powerful set of experiences. Today we might call them vivid dreams, but that would be too passive. They are more than dreams; she performs deeds and becomes the bearer of mighty, creative impulses for the future.

This tale, told in 1909, has lost none of its originality and vividness. It is as relevant and powerful as when it was first told. It presents the reader with a series of images and beings drawn directly from the spiritual world, but in such a way that, through art, a bridge is built between the spiritual and earthly worlds.

This edition is freshly translated, with a foreword and endnotes containing illustrations and photographs of subjects and works of art mentioned in the course of the tale.