Meaning and purpose

A book on the meaning and purpose of the School of Spiritual Science discusses the public effectiveness that Rudolf Steiner envisaged for the School.

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The Anthroposophical Society in Switzerland dedicates its annual conferences to the «understanding and future effectiveness of the Christmas Conference of 1922/1923». With the exception of a few Class Lessons, the 2017 annual conference was open to the general public. The organizers hoped to demonstrate how important the cooperation of Class members is for the effectiveness of the work that is being done within the School of Spiritual Science.

Serving all of humanity

It was Rudolf Steiner’s wish that the work of the School of Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum should serve the cultural life of humanity as a whole. He even thought that it would contribute considerably to its salvation. By establishing the First Class he created the School’s esoteric centre; its path of inner development was for him an absolute condition for its effectiveness. While there are particular conditions for becoming a First Class member, membership is open to anyone who is prepared to take responsibility for anthroposophy on earth and decides freely and consciously that they want to belong to the Michael community. The contributions to the conference, which are included in this book, illustrate how Rudolf Steiner founded the School of Spiritual Science with the intention of creating «a solid foundation for the effectiveness of anthroposophy».

Why must the fruits of the path of inner development not be restricted to the purposes of a small inner circle? Why must, and can, they be made available for the development of all of humanity? These are important and highly relevant questions that this publication addresses.

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