What is Anthroposophy? in the words of Rudolf Steiner... Anthroposophical
ideas are vessels fashioned by love, and man's being is spiritually summoned
by the spiritual world to partake of their content. Anthroposophy must
bring the light of true humanness to shine out in thoughts that bear love's
imprint; knowledge is only the form in which man reflects the possibility
of receiving in his heart the light of the world spirit that has come
to dwell there and from that heart illumine human thought. Since anthroposophy
cannot really be grasped except by the power of love, it is love-engendering
when human beings take it in a way true to its own nature. That is why
a place where love reigned could be built in Dornach in the very midst
of raging hatreds. Words expressing anthroposophical truths are not like
words spoken elsewhere today; rightly conceived, they are all really reverential
pleas that the spirit make itself known to men. - from Awakening to
Community, Lecture I, Stuttgart, January 23, 1923
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 it in 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. - from Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts
(Letters to Members, 1924)
Useful Links
Rudolf Steiner Archive is a site full of information and even full-text versions of Steiner books and lectures in English translation.
The Anthroposophical Society in America
Los Angeles Branch Page with Calendar of Events
Anthroposophical Society world headquarters in Dornach, Switzerland.
A documentary on Steiner's life and work
Camphill Village, Copake, NY - one of many Camphill Villages worldwide where people work with the developmentally disabled in an anthroposophical setting.
