Book excerpt: 4 lectures, Dornach, April 19-22, 1924 (CW 233a) "The original idea of any sacred festival is to make the human being look upward from his dependence on earthly things to those things that transcend the Earth." (from lecture 2) Rudolf Steiner leads us to an understanding of the true meaning of Easter by tracing its history from the pre-Christian era to our time. He shows that it is ultimately through knowing the true significance of Easter that we come to understand our relationship to spiritual reality. This book is a translation from German of Die Weltgeschichte in anthroposophischer Beleuchtung und als Grundlage der Erkenntnis des Menschengeistes (GA 233a).