My admiration and respect for Rudolf Steiner and what he had invested as Anthroposophy is what inspired me to write this short biography for the PoF Anthroposophia page. Most of what Rudolf Steiner wrote or communicated as Spiritual Science through his lectures and books is nearly 100 years old or older. These books and lectures are still read, studied and cherished by people worldwide (perhaps hundreds of thousands over the years*).
Rudolf Steiner came into the world from very humble parentage. His father, a former game-keeper for a Count Hoyos in Austria, had married one of the count’s housemaids, Franziska Blie from an old family in Horn, in 1860. The couple would move to Kraljevic (then in Austria, now Croatia), after their marriage, where the father had now become a telegraphist and signalman for the Austrian Southern Railway. This was where Rudolf Steiner was born on February 27, 1861. Because the new child was sickly, he was taken quickly for an emergency baptism in the neighboring village of Draskovec as he was not really expected to live long. The entry there can still be read as of one Rudolfus Josephus Laurentius Steiner. Nearly losing this, her first child, no doubt made Franziska hold her son dearly.
Thinking of his mother Franziska, I imagine her (from the photo I’ve seen) as being a very sensitive lady and with little formal education, living in her imaginative and intuitive powers in a quiet way. I imagine that having a son with clairvoyant gifts, which she must have known, made her relationship with her son a very special one. Rudolf Steiner never really spoke about his relationship with family, even in his autobiography, but I’ve no doubt he was greatly influenced, not only by his father, but also by the quiet devotion of his mother.
As a young boy Rudolf was already having spiritual visions. Writing about his experiences in his youth, he said, "The reality of the spiritual world was as certain to me as that of the physical.” His childhood was spent in the Austrian countryside where he attended the local Catholic Church with his mother (sister and brother), participating in the Mass as a server and choir member. His father, Johann Steiner, who considered himself a free thinker did not have much to do with the church, although he was friends with several priests who use to visit the home. His father, later working as stationmaster, recognized the child’s ability for mathematics, through the young boy’s love of geometry and with the help of their Priest, sent him to the Realschule at Wiener Neustadt, and later to the Technical University in Vienna. Being of humble background, as a student, Steiner supported himself, by means of scholarships and tutoring. He studied and mastered many more subjects than were in his curriculum, but it was the problem of knowledge itself that was of the most interest to him. He stated at that time that he felt the need for a sort of justification for the certainty he experienced of the reality of the spiritual world.
As any young man wanting to know the world, during those years he took part in all the social activities going on around him in the arts, the sciences, and politics, including the enjoyment of wine with friends in restaurants and cafes, and many social evenings in coffee bars. Later in life he would disavow alcohol and coffee, but as a young man searching for his identity, he enjoyed socializing with friends in Weimar and Vienna where wine and coffee were a natural part of the cultural socializing life. He wrote that "much more vital at that time was the need to find an answer to the question: How far is it possible to prove that in human thinking real spirit is the agent?" He states in his biography that The Philosophy of Freedom (published in 1894) was very much the result of the problems he dealt with in his own spiritual struggle to understand the phenomena of the world he lived in, its spiritual and materialistic aspects. At this time one of Rudolf Steiner’s closest and most respected friends was Rosa Mayreder, a feminist of her day. Steiner would be assisted in his struggle to write the Philosophy of Freedom by his friend Rosa, to whom he would send his early writings of PoF to garner the opinion of this most respected friend. In the Philosophy of Freedom, Steiner would ardently express his support for the emancipation of women and full respect for them as individual beings in their own right. No doubt this was the result of his clairvoyant understanding into the spiritual world, but also the influence of Franziska and Rosa (Chapter XIV, Individuality and Genus).
He made a deep study of philosophy, particularly the writings of Kant, but could not find in Kant’s writings an understanding of thinking that could be carried as far as a perception of the spiritual world. In this struggle, Steiner was led to develop a theory of knowledge out of his own striving after truth, one which took its start from his direct experience of the spiritual nature of thinking. This study of knowledge would result in 1891 in his Ph.D thesis at Rostock University, of which the content later evolved further into the The Philosophy of Freedom (1894).
As a student and young man, Steiner's reputation for editing journals and scientific ability, led to him being asked to edit Goethe's writings on nature (1887). In Goethe he recognized one who had been able to perceive the spiritual in nature and Steiner developed a new understanding for Goethe’s scientific work and his insight into the perception of nature. Through this experience he would write “The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe’s World Conception.” In the year 1888 he met Eduard von Hartmann, with whom he had already a long correspondence while writing PoF. This philosopher of pessimism denied that thinking could ever reach reality, but must forever deal with illusions. Steiner was already clear in his thinking how such obstacles were to be overcome. Steiner carried his ideas from the realm of knowledge into the field of ethics, thus dealing with the problem of human freedom. Through The Philosophy of Freedom he showed that morality could be given a sure foundation without basing it upon imposed rules of conduct.
He became a member of the Theosophical Society in Germany (1902 to 1907), which allowed him to follow his spiritual interests even though he did not agree with everything that came out of the Theosophical Society. During this time he published one of his most important works, “Theosophy” (1904). He became one of the main lecturers of the Theosophical Society while a member and head of the German division. Through the assistance of friends, he would later split from The Theosophical Society over spiritual/philosophical differences and would found what would be “The Anthroposophical Society,” in 1913 (the word anthroposophy being the wisdom of the human being).
His lecture content and books are impressive and the lecture cycles massive. For those new to Anthroposophy and would wish to read some of Steiner’s works, I would suggest starting with Theosophy, then going on the Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, and perhaps then on to The Philosophy of Freedom. These books can be found on the internet through Steiner Books, or other publishers. When in 1894 The Philosophy of Freedom was first published. It did not receive its proper understanding, as it was way ahead of its time. But for all that, The Philosophy of Freedom summed up the ideas he had formed to deal with the riddles of existence that had so far dominated his life and his struggle to find the right form of ideas to express the spiritual world itself.
When Steiner was lecturing in Munich, Walter Aberdroth, composer, would go to hear him speak and described Steiner as thus: Rudolf Steiner’s personality gave the immediate impression of standing before an extraordinary being, one absolutely singular in our time. There emanated from him a radiance of intellectual power and truthfulness, integrity and goodness. This translated into immediate trust on the part of the recipient of his attention. The man would have immediately stood out of any crowd for anyone with the least intuition for the unusual. His well-modulated, warm baritone made him a pleasure to listen to. But even more there was the indescribable feeling of unity between the physical and the spiritual in the man, coupled with a complete absence of self-promotion. Sadly, after Steiner’s death in 1925, Aberdroth would leave the Anthroposophical Society because he could not tolerate the fighting amongst the members. This was going on when Rudolf Steiner was alive and one can only imagine how he must have suffered behind it. Before his death Steiner, after much soul and spiritual searching, trying to save the society, renewed the then Anthroposophical Society to become the General Anthroposophical Society (GAS), at a Christmas conference he arranged for 1923/24, in which he gave numerous wonderful lectures, the most beautiful and important for me being the Christmas Eve lecture of 1923.
I will stop here as I just wanted to present a little about the man who was Rudolf Steiner. His autobiography is well worth reading and can be found through Steiner Books or other publishing sources, plus there are numerous other biographies out there.
*(Although there are only approximately 50,000 members of the GAS as of 2007, my imagination takes into account those who were members of the GAS who have passed over, those involved in anthroposophy through the Christian Community, the Camphill movement, biodynamic farming, and other anthroposophical endeavors with participants who may not necessarily be members of the GAS. Plus if you take into account Steiner's books and lectures published all over the world since 1894, many Steiner works have been read by people who are not involved in anthroposophy in any fashion, thus my imagination of hundreds of thousands).
Cheers and best regards,
Patri Beckett