Anthroposophy is a human oriented spiritual philosophy that reflects and speaks to the basic deep spiritual questions of humanity, to our basic artistic needs, to the need to relate to the world out of a scientific attitude of mind, and to the need to develop a relation to the world in complete freedom and based on completely individual judgments and decisions.
Rudolf Steiner on Anthroposophy
At the end of his life, during 1924-25, having worked intensely to develop anthroposophy, especially during the last 23 years of his life, Rudolf Steiner formulated a number of "leading thoughts", trying to summarize anthroposophy as in an extract. From this perspective, he expressed:
"Anthroposophy is a path of knowledge, to guide the Spiritual in the human being to the Spiritual in the universe. It arises in man as a need of the heart, of the life of feeling; and it can be justified only inasmuch as it can satisfy this inner need. He alone can acknowledge anthroposophy, who finds in it what he himself in his own inner life feels impelled to seek. Hence only they can be anthroposophists who feel certain questions on the nature of man and the universe as an elemental need of life, just as one feels hunger and thirst."
[Steiner, Rudolf. Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts,
As the editor of Goethe’s scientific writings during the 1880s, Rudolf Steiner became immersed in a worldview
that paralleled and amplified his own views in relation to epistemology, the interface between science and philosophy,
the theory of how we know the world and ourselves. At the time, like much of the thinking today and the foundation of
modern natural science, the predominant theories held that individual knowledge is limited to thinking that reflects objective,
sensory perception. Steiner’s view was eventually distilled in his Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts in 1924:
There are those who believe that, with the limits of knowledge derived from sensory perception, the limits of all insight are given.
Yet if they would carefully observe how they become conscious of these limits, they would find in the very consciousness of the
limits the faculties to transcend them. In this concise volume, Steiner lays out his argument for this view and, moreover, begins his explication of how one goes beyond
thinking to the observation of thinking itself.
Goethe's Theory of Knowledge is valuable reading for a fundamental understanding of Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy.
A Theory of Knowledge is a translation from the German of Grundlinien einer Erkenntnistheorie der Goetheschen Weltanschauung,
What is to become of the family? What is to become of the home, which has been the foundation of society for centuries?
Will it disintegrate - or can it be refounded in a new way?
In recent years the role of homemaking has been derided and diminished, particularly in relation to careers outside the home.
Rather than being encouraged to nurture home and family, parents are urged to return to the workplace as quickly as possible following childbirth.
Their place is taken by growing numbers of day-care centres, childcare workers and nannies.
The author argues for a refounding of the homemaker's role; revitalizing the traditions of the past with real spiritual knowledge.
The homemaker can begin to work consciously with the metaphysical aspects of the household, its etheric, astral and spiritual qualities,
as well as the various entities connected to the home. He emphasizes the need for an individual forming of the role, as well as the importance
of personal development, culture and rhythm.
This inspiring and original book provides help, advice and ideas to those seeking to provide a strong foundation for a happy and healthy family and home.
MANFRED SCHMIDT-BRABANT was born in Berlin, Germany. He became a member of the Executive Council of the General Anthroposophical
Society at the Goetheanum in 1975 and served as Chair of the Council from 1984 until his death in 2001. His service during those years included
leadership of the Social Science Section of the School of Spiritual Science, and lecturing around the world on many subjects.
This remarkable short guide to meditation is the fruit of many years of meditative experience as well as thirty years of teaching meditation. Through exercises and meditation sentences it delineates an accessible, systematic process of inner work by which a person can come to experience both the “I,” or Self, and the miraculous nature of that Light that, as inner Light, we call attention.
Beginning with simple meditation sentences that illuminate the role of attention in perception, the person wishing to take this path is led gradually to the reality and experience of form-free attention.
Kühlewind offers step by step concentration exercises, sentence meditations, visualizations (image or symbol meditations), and perceptual meditations for guidance on the path. He also offers advice and help with the difficulties and problems that can arise.
Each stage of the path—in itself and in relation to the whole sequence—is presented in a way to be understood through meditative thinking. Deepened in this way, it becomes, as well, a work of philosophy—but philosophy understood as a transformative way of life, an inner path
“This concise little book summarizes forty years of research on the nature and power of human attention. In a direct style, as though thinking out loud, Kühlewind shares a sequence of original exercises of his own devising and offers practical tips on technique, embedding it all in characteristically succinct epistemological remarks. I recommend this generous, instructive book to anyone who wants to begin meditating and also to those who want to refresh their existing practice.” —Gertrude Reif Hughes Professor Emerita of English and Women's Studies at Wesleyan University, author of Emerson's Demanding Optimism, a lifelong student of Anthroposophy, and a meditation teacher
“Georg Kühlewind has and continues to be a central formative being in the work of spiritual psychology and my own individual meditative practices as well. The work of our school relies centrally on developing inner attentiveness. His practices for developing capacities for doing so are, in my estimation, Kühlewind’s most important contribution. You can never go wrong with Kühlewind. The other major contribution that I utilize in all meditative work is his understanding and very helpful practices concerning the “soft will.” No one better, anywhere.” —Robert Sardello, Co-director of The School of Spiritual Psychology and author of Love and the World and Silence
“This intriguing book is quite suitable for general interest readers. It will appeal to anyone attempting to more fully understand and appreciate the underlying symbolism and cultural significance of Ice Age cave art. In addition to providing a theoretical framework within which to interpret such art, this book reflects the lifelong odyssey of one rock art researcher’s own journey to discover humanity’s distant origins. In this regard, it is both a scientific treatise and a personal narrative. Recommended. All levels/libraries.” -Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Vol. 46, No. 09, May 2009.
This acclaimed guide to children’s physical, psychological and spiritual development is now available in a third revised edition.
Combining medical advice with issues of upbringing and education, this is a definitive guide for parents.
This book outlines the connection between education and healing, with all that this implies for the upbringing and good health
of children. Medical, educational and religious questions often overlap, and in the search for the meaning of illness it is necessary
to study the child as a whole -- as body, soul and spirit.
The authors based their theory and practice on 17 years’ experience in the children’s out-patient department of the Herdecke
Hospital in Germany, which is run along anthroposophical lines.
The first section covers childhood ailments and home-nursing. The second part looks at the healthy development of the child and how
to create the best conditions for it. The authors go on to examine issues of upbringing and education, and their consequences for later life. Throughout, the book is extremely practical, with example situations of conflict and crisis presented, along with possible
solutions. This new edition also includes medical and health practices in North America, Southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
