Scientist, artist, editor, and founder of anthroposophy a spiritual movement that is the basis for much of the New Age thinking in Europe and North America today. Adherents believe that there is a spiritual world of pure thought that exists detached from the human brain, yet is accessible to those who have been trained to use their very highest faculties of mental awareness. Current New Age writers stress the supersensible,” “psychic,” or otherwise mystical realms that are available to the initiated and, they believe, superior to the material world of our five senses.
As a young man, Steiner was attracted to the works of J. W. von Goethe and edited both his scientific work and the standard edition of his complete works. During this period, Steiner wrote The Philosophy of Freedom (1894), a book about the necessity to raise philosophy that is free from the clamors of everyday existence into the realm of pure thought. He then moved to Berlin to edit a literary1 journal and in 1902 became acquainted with the Theosophical Society, a mystical religious group concerned with esoteric doctrine, occult phenomena, monism, and the affinity of Western thought with Asian religions. Gradually, he came to the belief that spiritual perception was independent of the senses, and he felt the need to break away from Theosophy. Consequently in 1912 he founded his own organization—The Anthroposophical Society.