In his general practice as a doctor, Albert Smit observed numerous psychological issues in his patients - issues that often caused an existential crisis for the individual concerned. These experiences led Smit to change his career and to begin a path of research to discover how genuine inner healing could be achieved. In this succinct and inspiring study, the author offers a clear way forward that allows for individual and social transformation. Smit points to a statement by Rudolf Steiner, that human relationships could become something of a social art. We can begin on this work today, through free and conscious choice. Engaging the forces of the heart, we can meet our fellow human beings as true individuals - as equals - and ultimately as brothers and sisters. Such work could help to heal the individual alienation and social divisions of our time. Eventually, human encounter could evolve into a spiritual event - even a sacramental act! Towards Spiritual Encounter is a valuable text for meditation and reflection. 'The basis for all free religious feeling that will unfold in humanity in the future will be the acknowledgement - not merely in theory but in actual practice - that every human being is made in the likeness of the Godhead. ... For then every meeting between one person and another will of itself be in the nature of a religious rite, a sacrament.' - Rudolf Steiner

ALBERT SMIT (l940-2020) was an anthroposophical doctor, teacher and biographical counsellor. He began his working life as a tropical physician in Zambia and subsequently worked in The Netherlands as a general practitioner. In the second half of his life he changed his career to become a counsellor and teacher of the human condition at a number of professional training insti­tutes (including in the United Kingdom). The rea­son for this change was his observation of the pain in the souls of human beings of the present. He wanted to make a positive contribution to this through the aid of anthroposophical insights and true human encounter.