Welcome,

You have discovered a website of those striving for the realization of Rudolf Steiner’s Philosophy of Freedom, whose fundamental maxim of free human beings is "To live in love of action, and to let live in understanding of the others will." Freedom is understood as arising from the individual spirit.

"Therefore today we need above all a view of the world based on Freiheit -- one can use this word in German, but here in England one must put it differently because the word 'freedom' has a different meaning -- one must say a view of the world based on spiritual activity, on action, on thinking and feeling that arise from the individual human spirit." -Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner's

    Path For Our Age




World In Crisis
How will we attain the “new” thinking and “empowered” community activism required to understand and transform the various spiritual, ecological, social, and political crisis confronting us today? How can an Anthroposophical Society that clings to the past be renewed in a way to move it to the forefront of illuminating the way for change?¹

When asked which of his works (40 books, over 6000 lectures) he would most want to see rescued if catastrophe should come upon the world, Rudolf Steiner replied without hesitation: "The Philosophy of Freedom". Rudolf Steiner, in his Philosophy of Freedom, has laid out a path appropriate for our modern age leading from ordinary thinking and action to an intuitive thinking and moral activism free from the typical unconscious habitual ruts of thought and behavior that endanger our survival today. This thinking is not cold and abstract but filled with warmth, illumination, and penetrating depth to grasp world phenomena---all brought about by the power of love flowing through the thinking itself. "When a human being attains to the reality of thinking within themselves they attain to the divine within themselves."

1. "The trouble is the Philosophy of Freedom has not been read in the different way I have been describing. That is the point, and a point that must be sharply stressed if the development of the Anthroposophical Society is not to fall far behind anthroposophy itself. If it does fall behind, anthroposophy's conveyance through the society will result in its being completely misunderstood, and its only fruit will be endless conflict!"  -Rudolf Steiner, Stuttgard, Feb. 6, 1923, Awakening To Community, p45

Development Through Self Awareness and The Practice Of Study
Many would agree before anything changes we must change ourselves and our communities. The Philosophy of Freedom is not mere philosophy but a path of awakened self awareness, a step-by-step description of the inner experiences through which Steiner had actually passed on his path to freedom. In addition, the book was written and the thoughts organized in such a way that to rethink the thoughts is a thought training for the development of pure thinking and achieving the capacity for moral intuition, moral imagination, and moral technique.

The Lost Path
Steiner’s repeated attempts to encourage others to take up this path were mostly unsuccessful. Why? The book appears to have been ahead of its time 100 years ago when it was first published. Steiner was involved with Theosophists who were more interested in listening to lectures of his clairvoyant readings. Since then the scientific outlook, of which The Philosophy of Freedom is best suited, has firmly established itself in the world while interest in Theosophy has disappeared. Steiner gave several paths. The Philosophy of Freedom is his path for those who want to know rather than believe, those who seek truth.

It is not meant to give “the only possible” path to the truth, but is meant to describe the path taken by one for whom truth is the main concern. --Rudolf Steiner

But still today little information has been made available about the unusual nature of this book and how to properly study it. These questions should first be examined.

What is “special” about the book's thoughts and thought structure?
”For in the case of a book like this, the important thing is so to organize the thoughts it contains that they take effect. With many other books it doesn’t make a great deal of difference if one shifts the sequence, putting this thing first and that later. But in the case of  "The Philosophy of Freedom" that is impossible.”

“Within this book thinking is experienced in a way that makes it impossible for a person involved in it to have any other impression, when he is living in thought, he is living in the cosmos. This relatedness to cosmic mysteries is the red thread running through the book.”

What is the "proper" way to study this book?
”Now what kind of reader approach did The Philosophy of Freedom count on? It had to assume a special way of reading. It expected the reader, as they read, to undergo the sort of inner experience that, in an external sense, is really like waking up out of sleep in the morning.”

“That is the reason why it is not exactly popular with people who read a book for information only. It was intended to involve the reader, page by page, in the actual activity of thinking, to serve merely as a score read with inner thought activity as the reader advances on his own from thought to thought.”

“The primary purpose of my book is to serve as thought training, training in the sense that the special way of both thinking and entertaining these thoughts is such as to bring the soul life of the reader into motion in somewhat the way that gymnastics exercise their limbs.”

What results can be expected from study?
”The book is a structured organism, and to work one’s way through the thoughts it contains is to undergo an inner training. A person to who this has not happened as a result of study need not conclude what I am saying is incorrect, but rather he has not read it correctly or worked hard and thoroughly enough.”

“Catharsis is an ancient term for the purification of the astral body by means of meditation and concentration exercises. If a reader takes this book as it was meant and relates to it in the way a virtuoso playing a composition on the piano relates to its composer, reproducing the whole piece out of himself, the books organically evolved thought sequence will bring about a high degree of catharsis.”

The Philosophy of Freedom and Ancient Paths Renewed by Steiner
Today we are all scientists with a scientific view ---except at the fringes--- in the sense that we expect whatever happens to have been brought about by causes (laws). In The Boundaries of Natural Science VIII Steiner explains how The Philosophy of Freedom is the modern "path into the spiritual world that conforms to the needs of Western civilization" and is particularly suited to develop a new spirituality out of the scientific path taken by humanity. Steiner's Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment ---along with various Eastern or religious paths of development--- are paths that are best suited for those who are not engaged in modern scientific life.

Steiner gave the "proper" study of The Philosophy of Freedom as the new spiritual training exercise appropriate for today but in addition he also responded to requests to improve various other paths from the past for those who needed them. An example of this are the exercises in Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment. Also the daily and monthly exercises from Guidance In Esoteric Training that were originally put together by Steiner for Theosophists when he was a member of the Theosophical Society. They were later released by Marie Steiner as a counter to a growing interest in "decadent" Indian and Tibetan Eastern methods.

The Difference Between Clairvoyant Communications of Spiritual Science and Steiner's Fundamental Philosophy
There exists confusion between Steiner's controversial clairvoyant research and his fundamental philosophy. Belief in Steiner's clairvoyant communications in which he directly perceives occult realities such as the Theosophist's Akashic Record ---the cosmic memory of all events, have come under ridicule in modern times by critics (often ill-intentioned ones). While Steiner's clairvoyant communications have often met with skepticism Steiner's actual philosophy is the result of introspective observation following the scientific method. It involves ethical individualism, intuitive thinking, moral imagination, rising above bias, and reaching for your highest ideal. These are principles that inspire rather than provoke justifiable skepticism.

To work with his Philosophy of Freedom does not require belief in his clairvoyant communications. The Philosophy of Freedom is a path of self-knowledge, to "Know Thyself", to experience the depths of our own inner being. The only knowledge which satisfies us springs from our own inner life rather than one that requires belief in a guru or teacher. Self-knowledge is capable of being the foundation on which can be built all knowledge and all science. This is another reason why The Philosophy of Freedom, of all Steiner's works, is most suited for today because the experiences described can be verified through self-observation.

Freedom and Ethical Individualism
By developing the capacity for moral intuition our impulse to act originates from the realm of our highest ideals. Only action that springs from intuition can be considered free and individual. To express these ideals in life is ethical individualism.

Building Free Communities
Community building (and here,  here) without the rule of past traditions or the control of leaders is possible through a group experience of intuition by way of contemplative conversation. Applying the Philosophy of Freedom to building a community out of group insight rather than authoritarian leaders or self appointed councils results in real relationship between person and person with a powerful impulse to joint activism.

Who is Involved
This website is independent of any other group, society or authoritative organization. It is a loosely organized effort of volunteers. Early developers were Tom Last, illustrator; Lori Perry; organic farmer; Jay Harms, anthroposophical physician; and webmaster Luke Last. Despite the widespread tendency to conform to group stereotypes and submit to top-down leadership, this website is dedicated to those who strive to orient their life and community in the direction suggested in The Philosophy of Freedom.

What Does This Website Offer
Rudolf Steiner has been recognized by many as "the initiate of our age" and the Philosophy of Freedom has been called a "modern temple where self-knowledge may be found", yet it is largely unknown, has been ignored or misunderstood. To change that several projects have been started:

• Online Community
• New English translation of The Philosophy of Freedom
• Production of Videos
• Philosophy of Freedom Study Course
• Online Study Group
• Online Live Voice Study Group (Skype)
• Local In-person Study Groups

How Can I Get Involved

• Train your mind and empower your will by studying The Philosophy of Freedom
• Register to the website.
• Get involved in current projects
• Contribute work by producing videos, writing Journals, opening an Art Gallery, or organizing a study group.
• Become a featured writer with regular Journals about POF.
• Report corrections or website malfunctions
• Propose a website staff position for yourself
• Spread the word to your friends or by posting links on other websites
• Make A Donation
• Use the “contact” email to discuss your activist ideas or post them to the site.

The Mission of Rudolf Steiner

However, one can ask: Did Rudolf Steiner ever actually state what he considered to be his mission? In his autobiography he describes eloquently and sensitively all the people he met and what they felt as their mission, but nothing about his own mission. Of course, his autobiography covers the period only up to 1907, and most of his esoteric work came later. But once, on his sickbed, only a couple of weeks before he died, he wrote a poem that tells what he felt as his mission. Unlike many other poems he wrote during his creative life (which start typically with “The light of the sun,” or “The sphere of spirit is the soul's true home”) this last verse is a declaration of his Will, what he wanted to accomplish against the odds of the forces that want to degrade the human being to the level of being merely a thing, a thing that can be fashioned to specifications, that is bound by external rules, and can be discarded after being used. The human thing. This verse starts with the words “I want ...” (Ich möchte ...):

I want with cosmic spirit
To enthuse each human being
That a flame they may become
And fiery will unfold
The essence of their being.

The other ones, they strive
To take from cosmic waters
What will extinguish flames
And pour paralysis
Into all inner being.

O joy, when human being's flame
Is blazing, even when at rest.
O bitter pain, when the human thing
Is put in bonds, when it wants to stir.
-Rudolf Steiner

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