steiner.fyi

Info on Rudolf Steiner's Spiritual Science

An open glossary on the work of Rudolf Steiner

This glossary is an open introduction to the life, work, and ideas of Rudolf Steiner and the wider anthroposophical movement. It was created to make often difficult or unfamiliar concepts more understandable for modern readers, without assuming previous knowledge or agreement. Here you will find plain-English explanations of anthroposophy, Waldorf education, biodynamic agriculture, spiritual philosophy, social ideas, meditation, art, medicine, and related subjects.

Philosophy

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  • Freedom

    Freedom is one of Steiner’s central philosophical themes.

  • Living Thinking

    Living thinking is thought that stays connected to movement, relationship, growth, and reality.

  • Occult

    Occult means hidden. Historically, it referred to areas such as esoteric philosophy, alchemy, astrology, and spiritual knowledge.

  • Philosophy

    Philosophy was central to Rudolf Steiner’s life and work.

  • Sources of Anthroposophy

    The sources of anthroposophy include philosophy, Christianity, Goethean science, German idealism, Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Western esotericism.

  • Rudolf Steiner

    Rudolf Steiner was an Austrian-born philosopher, spiritual teacher, writer, lecturer, and reformer who founded anthroposophy.

Biodynamics

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  • Demeter

    Demeter is the best-known certification and brand name for biodynamic farms and products.

  • Elemental Beings

    Elemental beings are spiritual beings or presences connected with nature.

  • Goetheanism

    Goetheanism is a way of studying nature inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

  • Biodynamic Preparations

    This media nickname refers to biodynamic preparations, especially the use of cow horns filled with manure and buried before later field application.

  • Etheric Body

    The etheric body is Steiner’s term for the life-forming and organising side of a living being.

  • Biodynamic Agriculture

    Biodynamic agriculture is a farming approach inspired by Steiner’s 1924 agriculture lectures.

Spirituality

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  • Lucifer

    Lucifer is the name Steiner used for a spiritual tendency toward pride, fantasy, inflation, escapism, and flight from earthly responsibility.

  • Rudolf Steiner

    Rudolf Steiner was an Austrian-born philosopher, spiritual teacher, writer, lecturer, and reformer who founded anthroposophy.

  • Waldorf Education

    Waldorf education is the educational approach developed from Steiner’s ideas, beginning with the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart in 1919.

  • Astral Body

    The astral body is the member of the human being connected with feeling, desire, sensation, mood, and inward experience.

History

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  • Christ

    For Steiner, Christ is the central spiritual being of human evolution and the deepest source of human renewal.

  • Angels

    Angels are spiritual beings connected with human life, guidance, and development.

  • Esotericism

    Esotericism means inner spiritual knowledge or practice. The word originally referred to teachings intended for deeper study.

  • Cultural Epochs

    Cultural epochs are Steiner’s way of describing large periods in the evolution of human consciousness and civilisation.

  • Theosophy

    Theosophy was the spiritual movement Steiner first worked within before founding anthroposophy as a separate path.

  • Akashic Record

    The Akashic Record is the idea of a spiritual memory of the world, containing the deeper traces of events and development.