Steiner made easy

“Founding a science of the spirit” is a collection of 14 lectures given by Rudolf Steiner in 1906. They are surprisingly easy to read (Steiner is otherwise notorious for his impenetrable style) and could be read as a general introduction to Steiner's spiritual system, known as Anthroposophy.

The book covers pretty much the same ground as “Rosicrucian Wisdom” (which contains lectures given in 1907), so much that I originally assumed it was the same book. Steiner discusses the etheric and astral bodies of man, survival of the soul after physical death, reincarnation, karma and the spiritual evolution of man. There are also two chapters on “initiation”. In 1906, Steiner was still a member of the Theosophical Society Adyar, and his lectures therefore to some extent sound “Theosophical” rather than Anthroposophical. He uses Sanskrit terminology, regards Indian yoga as a legitimate initiatory path, and dwells at length on the (bizarre) Theosophical cosmogony with its “rounds” and “root-races” (albeit somewhat reinterpreted).

Conversely, there is very little about the Mystery of Golgotha, Lucifer and Ahriman, or Michael – all key concepts in later Anthroposophy. Perhaps Steiner had to tread carefully. In the end, most German Theosophists followed him when he formed the Anthroposophical Society in 1913 on a more “Christian” or Rosicrucian basis, albeit still with strong traits of Blavatsky's spiritual-cosmic-evolutionary worldview.

The rest, as they say, is history. Or at least one of the Post-Atlantean cultural epochs...