The ancient mystery saying called on the human being to 'Know Yourself!' Rudolf Steiner explains that this maxim is not asking us to study subjectively our own personal character, but rather to come to a knowledge of our true, archetypal human nature - and with it the position we occupy in the universe.

In these eloquent lectures - formerly published as Man, Hieroglyph of the Universe - Rudolf Steiner speaks of the human being as the model of creation, the primary focus of the cosmos. In an extensive exposition he talks of the constellation of cosmic forces, zodiac and planets amongst which we find ourselves situated.

Only a true knowledge of our human nature and the spiritual forces which surround us - the microcosm within the greater macrocosm - can enable humanity to progress, he says. This book is an important contribution to that goal: the development of a contemporary spiritual science of the human being.

June 2001; Trans: revised by M. Barton (16 lectures, Dornach, 9 Apr to 16 May 1920; GA201); RSP; 240pp; 21.5 x 13.5 cm; pb;