Biography Work
Anthroposophy, as the “Living Practice of Knowledge of Humanity,” provides contemporary human beings with a modern path of self-training that meets the needs of today's reality on the physical, soul, and spiritual levels.
Biography Work based on this “Living Practice of Knowledge of Humanity” has been developed over the last decades and has proven itself to be an effective instrument for working with life issues and personal development.
Consciousness Soul Development
The consciousness of the human being is developing towards every human being challenged individually to take responsibility for the next steps in their biographies, and to determine themselves how they relate to their fellow human beings and the world. Thereby we are being challenged to discover and gain an understanding of that which is universal to being human and to develop this in the best possible way, to contribute to the further development of the world.
Biography Work serves the process of becoming a human being. This kind of challenge is a new development for humanity, one in which one can experience oneself as a modern human being.
The Michael School
Biography Work is anchored in the department of Karma and Reincarnation in the General Anthroposophical Section of the School of Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum. Like the Michael School itself, the knowledge of biographical development serves all sections of the school.
Study of the books and lectures by Rudolf Steiner, particularly his esoteric legacy "The Path of Meditation in the Michael School," form the preconditions and necessary consciousness for an understanding of karma and reincarnation which is essential to Biography Work.
Biography Work as a Vocation
Biography Work encompasses a fundamentally new approach to recognising the contemporary human being, by making its task that of placing their complete biography at the centre of interest. During recent decades it has evolved into an independent discipline.
During the 1980s and 1990s, various training initiatives around the world promoted Biography Work as an independent profession. In the meantime, a whole range of Training and Further Training Programmes with comprehensive curricula and professional certification are now being offered. New training initiatives continue to be developed worldwide.
Since 2003 an international training collegiate: the International Trainers Forum meets annually. This organ within the General Anthroposophical Section of the School of Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum is responsible for specialised collegial exchange, and also for an intervention based evaluation and recognition of the certification and accreditation of professional trainings for Biography Work based on anthroposophy.
To serve the need to establish this vocation in society, a growing number of professional associations for Biography Work based on anthroposophy have emerged in many countries over the years.
Conferences and Networking
Between 1990 to 1998 the “International Biography Conference” was organised annually in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Germany. Since 2001 the Worldwide Biography Conference is held biennially, through which colleagues from all over the world strengthen international networking and share their research and development of Biography Work with one another.
The Worldwide Biography Conference is developing, in collaboration with the General Anthroposophical Section of the School of Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum, into the international organ of an open collegial community, for those who are striving to create a spiritual ecology which promotes the impulse of Biography Work in the spirit of ʻfreedomʼ, ʻequalityʼ and ʻhumanityʼ.