Rudolf Steiner the founder of Anthroposophy

Steiner's father, Johann, had left his position as huntsman in the service of Count Hoyos in Geras to marry (the Count had refused his permission). He became a telegraph operator on the Southern Austrian Railway, at the time of Rudolf's birth stationed in Murakirály in the Muraköz region, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (present-day Donji Kraljevec, northernmost Croatia). Steiner's mother's maternal name was Franziska Blie. In the first two years of his life the family moved twice, first to Mödling, near Vienna, and then, through the promotion of his father to stationmaster, to Pottschach, located in the foothills of the eastern Austrian Alps in present-day Burgenland.

From 1879 to 1883 Steiner attended and then graduated from the Technische Hochschule (Technical University) in Vienna, where he studied mathematics, physics, and philosophy. In 1882, one of Steiner's teachers at the university in Vienna, Karl Julius Schröer, suggested Steiner's name to Professor Joseph Kürschner, editor of a new edition of Goethe's works. Steiner was then asked to become the edition's scientific editor.

In his autobiography, Steiner related that at 21, on the train between his home village and Vienna, he met a simple herb gatherer, Felix Kogutski, who spoke about the spiritual world "as someone who had his own experiences of it...." This herb gatherer introduced Steiner to a person that Steiner only identified as a "master", and who had a great influence on Steiner's subsequent development, in particular directing him to study Fichte's philosophy.

In 1891 Steiner earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Rostock in Germany with a thesis based upon Fichte's concept of the ego, later published in expanded form as Truth and Knowledge.

(source: wikipedia)

A turning point came in 1899, when Steiner decided to publish an article in the Magazin für Literatur, titled "Goethe's Secret Revelation", on the esoteric nature of Goethe's fairy tale, The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily. This article led to an invitation by the Count and Countess Brockdorff to speak to a gathering of Theosophists on the subject of Nietzsche in 1900. Steiner continued speaking regularly to the members of the Theosophical Society, becoming the head of its newly constituted German section in 1902. It was within this society that Steiner met and worked with Marie von Sievers, who eventually became his second wife (1914).

By 1904, Steiner was appointed by Annie Besant to be leader of the Esoteric Society for Germany and Austria. The German Section of the Theosophical Society grew rapidly under Steiner's leadership as he lectured throughout much of Europe on his spiritual science. During this period Steiner maintained an original approach, replacing Madame Blavatsky's terminology with his own, and basing his spiritual research and teachings upon the Western esoteric and philosophical tradition. This and other differences, in particular the pronouncement by C. W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant that Jiddu Krishnamurti was the vehicle of a new world teacher, and the reincarnation of Christ, claims Steiner publicly rejected, led to a formal split in 1913.

It wasn't a problem for the Theosophical Society that Steiner rejected the claims that Krishnamurti was a world teacher. A major issue however was that he did not accept members of the Order of the Star into his German section of the Theosophical Society. This went against the undogmatic nature of the Theosophical Society.

Before his break with the Theosophical Society, he said positive things about that organisation.
Rudolf Steiner quotes on the Theosophical Society

Dates checked against this chronology

Steiner had a wide breadth of activities. He founded the Waldorf education school movement, and the Biodynamic agriculture he founded has contributed significantly to the modern organic farming movement. Anthroposophic medicine has created a broad range of anthroposophical medicines; in addition, a wide range of supportive therapies - both artistic and biographical - have arisen out of Steiner's work. The homes for the handicapped based on his work (the Camphill movement) are widely spread. His paintings and drawings have been exhibited in museums and galleries, and the list of people influenced by him includes Joseph Beuys and other significant modern artists. His two Goetheanum buildings are generally accepted to be masterpieces of modern architecture, and other anthroposophical architects have contributed thousands of buildings to the modern scene. One of first institutions to practice ethical banking was an anthroposophical bank working out of Steiner's ideas.

Steiner's literary estate is correspondingly broad. Steiner's writings are published in about forty volumes, including books, essays, plays ('mystery dramas'), mantric verse and an autobiography. His collected lectures make up another approximately 300 volumes, and nearly every imaginable theme is covered somewhere here. Steiner's drawings are collected in a separate series of 28 volumes. Many publications have covered his architectural legacy and sculptural work.

(source: wikipedia)

"When we as human beings confront a simple fact, we can rigorously attempt to form a mental picture that exactly corresponds to this fact. This mental picture is then true. Or, we can-whether due to inexactness, lassitude, or even an aversion to truth, that is, out of falseness-form a mental picture that is not connected with the fact, that does not fit the fact.... If we want to develop inner truthfulness, we must never go further than facts of the outer world speak to us. And we must, strictly speaking, attempt to formulate our words in such a way that we only confirm the facts of the outer sensory world.... When we feel an obligation to test the things we say and to find the boundaries within which what we say has validity, then we are contributing to a real inner consolidation of our human feeling for existence."

Rudolf Steiner, lectures from Jan 19 and 20, 1923; German Bibl. Nr: 220; translation CH

from a collection of Rudolf Steiner quotes

The most famous result of the teachings of Rudolf Steiner has to be Waldorf education. Anthroposophical education is the main form of alternative education that is embedded in the 'New Age' milieu.

I have to admit being negatively biased on this one. I'm a teacher myself and the excesses in Waldorf education may include the following:

• Not teaching a kid to learn to read, even if it wants to


• Avoiding mathematics in school

[These excesses may or may not be present. A lot depends on the specific school and the specific teacher in the classroom]

That said, in a moderate Waldorf school there are certainly advantages such as:

• A lot of focus on language skills: including foreign language, writing skills, play acting etc.


• Philosophy education for all high school kids. That is: not just the very smart ones.


• Clear school rules and guidelines for students


• Students will not be stimulated only in the mind, but in their emotional and physical lives as well. This is a good thing: our culture does stress mental development a bit much


• Last but not least: artistic development. There will be a lot of clay, water colors, paints, crafts etc. in your kids life. This is good for self-development and spacial intelligence.

To truly know the world, look deeply within your own being; to truly know yourself, take real interest in the world.

Verses and Meditations

from a collection of Rudolf Steiner quotes

Steiner has six basic preconditions for spiritual and esoteric progress:

1. Concentration: practice controlling thought for a few minutes every day
   
2. Will: Perform one positive but relatively insignificant task the same time of the day, every day.
   
3. Equanimity: learn to stabilize fluctuations of pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow.
   
4. Positivity: Seek the positive in all things and events; resist criticizing as a habit.
   
5. Openness: practice being open to new experiences and ideas.
   
6. Rinse and repeat the above

Robert McDermott in 'Modern Esoteric Spirituality, p. 304

Anthroposophy is based on the idea that nature is fully alive. This includes a belief in nature-spirits (elves, cobolts etc.) as well as the necessity of balancing the elements (fire, water, air, earth).

What makes bio-dynamic farming truly interesting though is that it is a fully natural type of farming. Organic farming has become big now - with the interest in conserving the environment on the rise. Bio-organic farming has been around since the time of Steiner: the 1920's.

Bio-organic farming has the following principles:

1. small, mixed farms


2. no pesticides


3. care for the soil


4. work with the rhythm of nature: moon, stars


5. listen to nature


6. no soil additives


7. special methods in preparing compost

source

Ideally the food Anthroposophists eat has been produced organically, or even by the standards of bio-dynamic farming.

Beyond that the main points are:

1. Eat a lot of grains, whole grains to be exact


2. Eat vegetables and beans(preferably local ones)


3. Avoid processed and refined foods


4. Chew food well before swallowing


5. Not necessarily vegetarian, contrary to some online sources. Most Anthroposophists do eat meat, though they will prefer meat that has been raised according to the methods of bio-organic farming.

The below links go to Amazon.co.uk. So if you are from the UK you can find the books about and by Steiner they have in stock.

How to Know Higher Worlds:
A Modern Path of Initiation
(Classics in Anthroposophy)

Rudolf Steiner:
An Introduction to His Life and Work

Theosophy:
An Introduction to the Spiritual Processes in Human Life and in the Cosmos
(Classics in Anthroposophy)