Good
The good (Greek: τὸ ἀγαθόν to agathón, from ἀγαθός agathós "good"; Latin: bonum; Hebrew: טוֹב tow (tob); "good, beautiful") appears to that extent in the world in which it becomes the perfect expression of the creative spiritual forces that shape it, whereby God - as the absolute source of these creative forces - is attributed perfect all-goodness. To the same degree that goodness is realised, the world also shines in beauty.
The Good and the Beautiful
According to Plato, the "idea of the good" is ontologically superior to all other ideas of the world of ideas as their one and only source, as he presents it, for example, in the Parable of the Sun in his Politeia. It gives all things their being and is at the same time the light that makes them recognisable.
„You will concede, I think, that the sun lends to sensually visible objects not only the faculty of being seen, but also becoming, growing, and nourishing, without itself being a becoming?
It is not!
And so then, too, admit that the things that can be recognised by reason are not only granted recognition by the actual good, but that being and reality also come to them from it, without the highest good being reality: rather, it towers above reality in majesty and power.“
Plato particularly emphasises the order-creating function of the idea of the good, through which the cosmos shines in beauty. Everything that is beautiful, true and good owes this to its participation in the idea of the good.
Literature
- Rudolf Steiner: Die Geheimnisse der biblischen Schöpfungsgeschichte, GA 122 (1984), ISBN 3-7274-1220-8 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
- Rudolf Steiner: Christus und die menschliche Seele, GA 155 (1994), ISBN 3-7274-1550-9 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
- Rudolf Steiner: Das Verhältnis der Sternenwelt zum Menschen und des Menschen zur Sternenwelt. Die geistige Kommunion der Menschheit., GA 219 (1994), ISBN 3-7274-2190-8 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
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References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com. Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English. Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA) Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF. |
