Read&Write

In 1924, in one of his last works, Rudolf Steiner defined anthroposophy as ‘a path of cognition, to guide the spiritual in the human being to the spiritual in the universe.’

Anthroposophy is at its core a study of the human being – our nature, development and purpose. We are spiritual beings living a physical existence. Anthroposophy is the tangible path of inner development and a spiritual-scientific lifelong study seeking to explore where we come from, where we are going, and what we need to do to live.

“Anthroposophy is a spiritual philosophy and spiritual science that speaks to the deep questions of humanity, to our basic needs and the need to develop a relation to the world in complete freedom. It strives to develop not only natural scientific, but also spiritual scientific research and to bridge the divisions between the sciences, the arts and the spiritual strivings of man as the three main areas of human culture.

“Anthroposophy is also an impulse movement to nurture and honour the life of the soul in the individual and in society and is active in the world as applied or practical anthroposophy in various initiatives such as: Waldorf education, Biodynamic farming, Medicine, Curative education Eurythmy, The Christian Community, Architecture, etc.

“The term ‘anthroposophy’ predates Rudolf Steiner. The word ‘anthroposophy’ comes from the Greek (anthropos meaning ‘human’ and sophia meaning ‘wisdom’). It can also be translated as ‘wisdom of the human being’ or understood as ‘consciousness of one’s humanity’.

Anthroposophy is a spiritual philosophy; not a religion. It is a pathway to developing a conscious awareness of one’s humanity. It recognizes the inherent ‘wisdom of the human being’ to support a lifelong quest for spiritual self-development.”

Source: Sydney Rudolf Steiner College

How should one approach Anthroposophy, or, the science of the spirit?

Admittedly, this material presents a drastic “new view” of life and the world around us. One for whom this material (information / knowledge) is entirely new, the initial tendency is often to recoil from such teachings. This is “normal”. However, there is one prerequisite for approaching this material in order to (begin to) understand what it teaches. That prerequisite is desire, a thirst that becomes, over time, unquenchable. It becomes unquenchable because this journey is life-long, even many-lives-long. Studying what is here follows the maxim, ‘the more I learn, the less I know’. This is because there is so much to learn. This knowledge does not fit in a box that can be carried around. One should not expect simple answers to questions regarding the secrets of either the macrocosm (the universe) or the microcosm (human beings).

To paraphrase Richard Smoley in his introduction to the book containing Rudolf Steiner’s cycle of lectures (given in 1910) The Gospel of Matthew [SteinerBooks; Revised edition (February 1, 2002)]:

How, in the end, are we to deal with Steiner’s vision? Are we to accept it on blind faith, repudiate it because the “experts” disagree, or launch our own independent spiritual-scientific investigations (via personal clairvoyance)? However, all three approaches are beset with problems and challenges. But there is another way of looking at Steiner’s teachings that offer an alternative.

The conventional mind is trapped in dualities. Everything must be yes/no, good/bad, either/or. Although this form of intellect can accomplish a great deal, it is not particularly high or sophisticated: a computer, which operates entirely with dualistic sequences of zeros and ones, “thinks” in much the same way. Esoteric texts like Steiner’s call for another approach. It is quite simply this: to read his ideas, not as so many theories and opinions to be agreed with or rejected, but as possibilities to be contemplated and meditated upon. If we are able to step back from the critical, evaluative mind — which serves us so well in some respects while causing us such misery in others — we may find we are able to enjoy and appreciate what Steiner has brought to our time in a new and beneficial way. Liberated from the necessity to take all of Steiner’s words at face value (a perspective Steiner himself warned against), we become more able to see the truth in what he is trying to convey to today’s humanity.

In an exercise in one of his most important books, How to Know Higher Worlds, Steiner suggests contemplating a seed and cultivating a vivid awareness of its different life stages, so that one eventually senses, “Within the seed already lies concealed what — as the force of the whole plant — later grows out of it.” The cultivation of the vision of spiritual science is to see clearly and distinctly not only what is to come, but what already lies in an object as its past and its origin. It is this vision Rudolf Steiner sought to share. He did so with utter humility and a deep, sincere desire for mankind to [finally] “know thyself.”

“Anthroposophy is a path of cognition, to guide the spiritual in the human being to the spiritual in the universe. It arises in people as a need of the heart and feeling life. Anthroposophy can be justified only to the degree that it satisfies this inner need. It may be acknowledged only by those who find within it what they themselves feel the need to seek. Therefore, Anthroposophists are those who experience, as an essential need of life, certain questions on the nature of the human being and the universe, just as one experiences hunger and thirst.”

Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts, 1924

Often when the difficulty and incomprehensibility of anthroposophy is spoken of, it is not because the understanding itself is so difficult, but because the modern world of thought feels alienated by what is said by the anthroposophists. And then the listeners or readers don’t say that these things are unusual for them, but they simply say: we don’t understand this. Not pre-education, but open-mindedness is what is often lacking in this respect. For anthroposophy says nothing that is not in fact deeply inscribed in every human soul. And to bring that out, it is not scholarship that is needed, but goodwill above all.

It is through spiritual science that human knowledge becomes serious, and people shy away from it. They also want spiritual science only as something that ripples on the surface of existence. That it goes to the core and essence of the human being, that is what people fear. That is why they do not want to accept spiritual science. If they were to accept spiritual science, then many things in social life, in historical life, would have to change in the very near future, then people would have to think differently in their most everyday life. And that is what matters.

That is why it is possible to take up other sciences, but one remains the same throughout life, one only becomes richer in knowledge. Spiritual science should not be absorbed without transforming you, and it cannot be absorbed without transforming you. It slowly and gradually makes you a different person. You have to be patient, but it makes you a different person, because it appeals to quite different human tasks, and it appeals to quite different things in human nature.

Source (German): Rudolf Steiner – GA 182 – Der Tod als Lebenswandlung – Heidenheim, 29 April 1918 (page 58)

 

If you are at all interested in learning more, there is a suggested starting point offered on the “start here” page.

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