The overpowering influence on our thinking by a purely mechanistic science in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has created a troubling disparity between the inner experience of human consciousness on the one hand, and the scientific conclusions about the world, and life itself, on the other. These two viewpoints conflict perpetually in our daily consciousness, though most of us may pay little heed to the disparity.

Increasing efforts are expended by governments and their advisors to solve society’s problems and to manage society on scientifically sound principles; yet, as Nobel prize­winning author Saul Bellow states in his lucid foreword, “the scientific method . . . is powerless to explain the consciousness that directs it,” – and without truly understanding the nature of human consciousness – in its many aspects – and its relationship to the surrounding world, such efforts invariably bring further strife.

 For this crucial dilemma Rudolf Steiner suggests a solution beyond the “boundaries of natural science.” Steiner argues for a twofold extension of consciousness. The first involves mental disciplines leading to a pure, sense-free thought activity. The second requires the mind to learn how to set aside thinking and give itself over to pure perception. Both exercises can lead to the development of higher cognitive faculties that enable us to grasp the vital connections between the inner and outer realms.