Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was born in Austria. As a young man he was concerned with the question of how spiritual cognition, vision and experience can be achieved by the same rigorous scientific method that has brought about our extensive knowledge of the physical world acquired through the senses. How can our perception of the phenomena beyond the senses become equally reliable and quicken every aspect of daily life so as to restore the dignity of the human being and lead to a renewal of human life and culture?

Steiner recognized that capacities for conscious spiritual perception lie dormant within every human being and can be awakened through exercises in concentration and meditation. He showed that the first step of this process is to intensify thinking through disciplined inner activity. It is on this newly enlivened thinking that Anthroposophy is based, a thinking that quickens and harmonizes the feeling life and gives new meaning and focus to our deeds on earth. Steiner described Anthroposophy as a science of the spirit, and a path of knowledge that can lead the spiritual in the human being to the spiritual in the universe. Fundamental to all of his work is the view that the human being is composed of body, soul and spirit, and that the Christ event is key to the unfolding of human history and the achievement of human freedom.

A university student of mathematics, science and philosophy in Vienna, he later earned a doctorate from the University of Rostock. He edited the scientific writings of Goethe, whose approach, based on intensified, selfless observation of nature, became a source of inspiration for his own work. Steiner's doctoral dissertation dealing with Fichte's theory of knowledge was later expanded and published as Truth and Science. In 1894, he published The Philosophy of Freedom, which he felt to be his most important philosophical work.

Author of more than forty books, Steiner also gave approximately 6000 lectures on a wide range of subjects including education, medicine, agriculture, social issues, science and the arts. He initiated Waldorf education, biodynamic farming and gardening, an approach to the care and education of the handicapped, anthroposophical medical work, and an art of movement called eurythmy.

He designed the extraordinary first and second Goetheanum buildings (above) in Switzerland, inspiring many architects in Europe and America to this day. His original and sometimes revolutionary ideas have borne fruit throughout the world. Sounding through these ideas is the central importance of spiritual development as the foundation for healthy social, artistic and scientific initiative

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