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Throughout evolution and history, human beings have endeavoured to understand themselves and their relationship to the earth and the universe. In each phase of development this quest has taken different forms depending on the reciprocal and changing situation between humankind's state of consciousness and the physical and spiritual environment. During this evolution there have emerged various cultures and epochs. In earlier times the world was perceived by people as being animated by spiritual beings and they felt subjected to their power without much will to interfere or change the order of things. More recently humankind has awakened in its power of reasoning and thought and has come to a more inner experience of the world. This has gradually placed emphasis on the human being's own inner response to the world, thus creating the many religious world views providing ultimate answers concerning God and the world.
Today the time of religious and intellectual absolutism is no longer so relevant and, since the 1960's, people have endeavoured to extend their consciousness beyond the purely personal inner experience to a consciousness which is thought-filled, scientifically-based and relates to the world around as well as within, thus overcoming the increasing duality between the inner and outer, spirit and body, religion and science.
Since the constitution of each person is diverse, each individual has a different starting point for development. One person may begin from a materialistic conception, another from a religious, and still another from a psychological viewpoint. Modern people no longer simply go to a complete and finished world conception for solutions. It is no longer possible to have full confidence in philosophical, scientific or religious solutions to the world's problems. Gone are the days of collective ideology; now every individual wants to find his or her own way of discovering the spirit. The world and the human being and their inter-relationships are too complex to be understood with one world view, and the serious traveller on the road to self-knowledge and world-knowledge realises that first an inner path and methodology will have to be discovered for this questing.
Through Anthroposophy, humankind can find a philosophical, spiritual-scientific path on which individuals can seek their own relationship between themselves and the world without adhering to one single ideology or solution. Anthroposophy helps an individual to find the spirit, a new relationship to nature and technology, and most of all, to fellow human beings, in a conscious way. It is not a religion to which one refers or a thought system into which one can fit everything, nor does it provide the answers to all personal problems.
Anthroposophy does open doors to the world, to humanity and the spirit for each individual, and yet points all the time towards the universal connections. ‘Anthroposophy' means 'wisdom of the human being', and was conceptually conceived and formulated in a discerning and universal way by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). He was a philosopher, scientist and spiritual researcher. Since then Anthroposophy has been further elaborated and applied in scientific, social, artistic and practical spheres of life.
Karl Kaltenbach.
Last updated on 08 June, 2002