Spirit Man

Abstract

From his childhood, Steiner already possessed the ability to perceive the supersensible-to see the reality of the spiritual world with the same clarity and certainty as he saw the physical. As he matured, he felt a profound need to bring a discipline to his supersensible discoveries-to develop a methodology equal to what the natural science of his day demanded. While earning degrees in mathematics, physics and chemistry at the Technical University in Vienna, he began developing an approach to a systematic research of psychological and spiritual phenomena. His doctoral thesis "Truth and Knowledge" was followed, in 1894, by "The Philosophy of Freedom", a seminal work in which Steiner established a firm foundation for a science of the supersensible.

Most of us, I believe, view our day to day world through the perspective sliver of a single lifetime. Some may view it from the wider window provided by written or oral history, while still others may approach their reality through the broader boundaries defined by archeology. My guess, though, is that few view their personal world through the cosmic expanse that encompasses the beginning and end of time. If you are new to what Steiner presented to the world in his books, essays and hundreds of lectures on the nature of humanity, be prepared to make stupendous leaps to the far distant past and far distant future, and into completely different dimensions of being. And though you may find the material ponderous, or hard to accept, you can be sure that it will not leave you unaffected. You may find instead that the mundane in the world begins to reveal the miraculous.