Anthroposophist

Anthroposophists are the followers and representatives of the anthroposophical spiritual science developed by Rudolf Steiner. Together, as a spiritual community of free individuals, they form the worldwide anthroposophical movement, which is organised partly in a variety of free initiatives, but above all within the framework of the Anthroposophical Society on the basis of associational law. The striving for spiritual knowledge and a way of life based on it is an inner heartfelt need for anthroposophists. The anthroposophical movement is sociologically and ideologically-religiously very heterogeneous, and the interpretation of Steiner's work is not uniform due to the volume of content and mass (28 writings and about 5900 lectures on the most diverse areas of life). Anthroposophists, as Rudolf Steiner emphasised in the first of his Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts, "... can therefore only be people who feel certain questions about the nature of the human being and the world to be necessities of life in the same way as one feels hunger and thirst". (Lit.:GA 26, p. 14)

Out of this inner need they devote themselves to the study of anthroposophy and try to make it fruitful for all areas of life. Of very special importance for life is the knowledge of reincarnation and karma in a form appropriate to our present age of consciousness soul, which is based on the spiritual freedom of the individual.

„Certainly, we learn many things through Anthroposophy. We learn about the development of humanity, we learn about the development of our Earth and our planetary system. All these things belong to the foundations of the anthroposophical striving. But what is meant here, what is particularly significant for the anthroposophist of the present day, is the attainment of a conviction in regard to the questions of reincarnation and karma. And the way in which people will acquire this conviction of reincarnation and karma, the way in which they will find the possibility of transferring the thought of reincarnation and karma into general life, will essentially reshape this modern life from the present into the future. It will create entirely new forms of life, an entirely new human coexistence; such a coexistence, however, as is necessary if the culture of mankind is not to fall into decline, but is really to rise, to go forward.“ (Lit.:GA 135, p. 85)

Literature

• Rudolf Steiner: Anthroposophische Leitsätze, GA 26 (1998), ISBN 3-7274-0260-1 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Wiederverkörperung und Karma und ihre Bedeutung für die Kultur der Gegenwart, GA 135 (1990), ISBN 3-7274-1352-2 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated. Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com. Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English. Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA) Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.