The Purpose of Anthroposophy
03 May 2008
Sebastian ParsonsAnthroposophy is a science which can be turned to use in helping people to transform and develop in their lives. It is a science that sets out to grapple with the deeper, perhaps more mysterious aspects of being a human being – non-physical aspects such as consciousness, feelings, thoughts, and that vital spark – life itself.
Just as with a material science like physics for instance, Anthroposophy, also known as spiritual science, divides in to pure research and applied science. In terms of the development of the pure science Rudolf Steiner contribution towers over all others so far. That said, this is a very young science with Steiner its founder having died less than 100 years ago. However, other students of Anthroposophy have been able to deepen and add to Steiner’s work. For example Bernard Lievegoed, Karl Koenig and Maria Thun.
The laws of physics are often revealed through the work of a genius such as Newton or Einstein, and in a similar fashion Steiner has outlined a number of “laws” of spiritual science. These laws can and have been tested in the “spiritual laboratory” and once their usefulness has been established by an individual they can be brought to practical use in the world.
The “spiritual laboratory” differs from the physics laboratory in one crucial respect. Matters of the spirit can only be researched within the realm of the spirit, which means for us human beings, that it can only be researched within our own being. Wherein lies the critical difference – our experience is individual and can not be experienced directly by another. The instruments of the physics lab can be simultaneously witnessed by many people at once. The instruments of the spirit lab are our own feelings and thoughts and these are not directly recordable by any instrument yet invented.
This means that Anthroposophy must be taken up by the individual, tested by the individual, and then worked with out of the individuals own and self generated conviction. In this regard spiritual science appears rather more subjective than material science. Such challenges are not faced by Anthroposophy alone. Psychology, for example, observes human behaviour and asks questions in order to gather evidence.
The theorems of mathematics, the laws of quantum physics, the formulae of chemistry are not widely accessible. They are available to anyone who has the ability, the time and access to the necessary facilities – but otherwise the vast majority of people actually take the observations of scientists as truths, accepting that we cannot ourselves test them.
Anthroposophy however can be tested to our own satisfaction by anyone. The spiritual science laboratory is our own consciousness in which we think and contemplate, consider and reflect. We can test out different ways of using our spiritual faculties (thinking, feeling and willing) and use the evidence gained in developing our own relationship to the science of Anthroposophy.
The laws and proofs of spiritual science can be tested by anyone as the only requirement is to be a human being. In reality though, the development of ones feelings, thinking and willing to be able to follow and test Steiner’s work for oneself does require ability, desire and determination. Consequently, many of those who work with the fruits of spiritual science do so because the feel right, they take these laws as truth without knowing the proof, just as we do with normal material science.
This highly practical approach is vindicated by the most common place activities. For example, when driving along in a modern car we are actually making use of the fruits of physics, chemistry and geology cultivated over several hundred years. The fact that we are driving in the car is in a sense living proof of the understanding developed in the science that lies behind the car.
Similarly, to work in an environment that has been created using the fruits of Anthroposophy is to experience the living proof of spiritual science. The technology developed out of Anthroposophy tends to be related to the life processes of society, for example: education, health, nutrition and business.
Which leads us to the question of the purpose of Anthroposophy. What is the purpose of this spiritual science? Edward de Bono, the writer and psychologist said “The purpose of science is not to analyse or describe but to make useful models of the world. A model is useful if it allows us to get use out of it.” That’s not to say that science doesn’t analyse or describe, but rather, that it does these things in order to provide an understanding that we can make use of in our lives.
I feel very comfortable with thinking of the purpose of Anthroposophy in these terms also. Anthroposophy provides understanding that is found to be useful by people in living their lives. Whilst not apparently useful in the same way as a car, applied spiritual science is very helpful in creating all sorts of functional, supportive and productive human environments. It is rather as if Anthroposophy kicks in when a task must be done but there is no way in which a machine could be made to do it.
A factory has the latest machinery but productivity is lower than it should be – Anthroposophy provides understanding about how human beings work together which can be applied to this situation to bring about the desired increase in productivity.
Children are learning in a classroom, but the we want to achieve more than filling them up with knowledge. We want them to discover themselves during their school days so that they can join society as motivated, self reliant and caring adults. Anthroposophy understanding about the development of the child has much to contribute to achieving this aim.
People become ill and sometimes it really seems as if their illness is the consequence of their lives. A colleague has a cold and you catch it, or maybe you don’t. It seems to depend on… what? How stressed you are? How tired you are? How, deep down, the one thing you really need is a day in bed? Anthroposophy has much to support the individual in using their illness to provide insights in to their wider health, and also as a springboard for personal growth and transformation.
But what was Steiner’s view of the purpose of Anthroposophy? At a lecture in Zurich on the 29th of October, 1919, Steiner said “We shall now speak of these three regions of culture, art, science, and religion. For it is the mission of Anthroposophy or spiritual science to build up a new structure in these three regions of culture.” This very practical statement reveals how this spiritual science can be used in the areas of life that are separated from material science by a huge abyss.
Modern scientists would probably be deeply insulted to be put in the same category as art and religion! A vociferous part of the material science community strives to present science to society as of primary importance, with art a valid but secondary part of life and religion an illusionary crutch for the weak minded.
However, Steiner’s view is clear that science, art and religion are equally important parts of our cultural life. He sees how Anthroposophy can support art in providing spiritual inspiration, how religion can be reinvigorated to provide spiritual nourishment, and science expanded to bring Nature and the Human Being in to a more holistic harmony.
It is interesting to consider this idea that spiritual science can also offer something to material science. A great deal of progress has been made by material science through the breaking apart of material substance in order to reduce it to a more fundamental level and in so doing reach a more fundamental understanding. This reductionist approach has served us well, but great things are also possible from focussing on a wider or more holistic view.
Medicine and products can be created out of this holistic science, for example, the Dr.Hauschka skin care range which has a huge global reputation as a highly effective product. This range was created out of understanding how the human being works and interacts with the environment and so is able to correctly identify and prepare the fruits of nature such as plants and minerals that are needed for good skin health.
At another lecture on the meaning of life given in Copenhagen in 1912, Steiner said “This must not be taken as a kind of moral sermon, but as the representation of a fact. It is a fact that productions springing from ambition and desire for renown give rise in our souls to such seeds as bring deformities to birth in the spiritual world. To suppress these and also gradually to transform them is a fruitful task for the far future. It is the mission of Anthroposophy to accomplish this task…”
The spiritual world is the world of non-matter. It is the world of all our thinking, feeling and willing, and it is the world of spirit that lies beyond us. This is traditional territory of religion, and it is when Steiner goes in to this territory that he is both at his deepest, spiritually speaking, and yet in a sense, at his most remote from the everyday life of our modern society.
Steiner is here describing the way in which our thinking and feeling life impacts on the whole spiritual realm. The tools of Anthroposophy strengthen and develop our inner life – our spiritual life. In so doing they will help us to become the Human Beings that the far future will need us to be.
There is much that the human being experiences that is in common with every other human being, and in this we are happy to share our experiences with each other. Yet there are also many aspect of our being that feel very individual and which we are inclined to ignore and keep hidden. Rudolf Steiner’s research in to spiritual science took him beyond the everyday experience that all human beings share of thinking, feeling and willing; body, soul and spirit.
His investigations categorised the layers of our living being, our daily consciousness, and below and above our daily consciousness. He charted how our thinking and feeling can be developed in to sensitive organs of spiritual perception. These matters go beyond our commonplace everyday experience, but they are of helpful in understanding some of the exceptional circumstances that we encounter.
Those times when we act on the spur of the moment and change the course of our whole lives. Those times when we experience or witness things that we know are impossible and yet which we know happened – super-human strength in the midst of disaster for instance, or the experience many people have of looking down on themselves from outside of their own body. Those transcendent moments when we know that there is a dimension to our being the surface of which is barely scratched by our everyday reality.
Anthroposophy has a very long way to go – as the human being evolves as a social being, so too will the science of the spirit. Anthroposophy will now travel with mankind for the rest of time. The work of Rudolf Steiner will provide a resource and reference point for scientists of the spirit today and in the future. His huge written and spoken output provides a research resource – as a mine of information, and as a checkpoint for spiritual scientists as they develop their skills.
Applied spiritual science which offers so much to the modern person grappling with modern life is also only in its infancy. Along with us, it has a future of transformation and development as it supports us human beings as we face the ultimate challenge – being human.
I would like to conclude with a very practical statement of the purpose of Anthroposophy. The purpose of Anthroposophy is to support human beings in living more fulfilled lives. At a deeper a level, by so doing, it supports our evolution and transformation. Perhaps the biggest evolutionary challenge the human being is facing at the moment is our burgeoning freedom. More and more the social rules and laws of the past are falling away. The church no longer has the power to control and social conventions are being thrown off willy-nilly.
No matter how much people may long for some long gone world of regulation and conformity, we could not turn back the clock, even if that world existed. The challenge is to find a way to act as individuals so that we experience and create a society of trust and support for each other. Perhaps the most fundamental purpose of Anthroposophy is to give us the tools we need to take hold of our new found freedom and so “Lead ourselves” in our own meaningful and fulfilled lives.
