Rudolf Steiner and the Theosophical Society
Encyclopedia
The relationship between Rudolf Steiner
and the Theosophical Society
founded by H.P. Blavatsky was a complex and changing one.
In 1899, Steiner decided to publish an article in the Magazin für Literatur, titled "Goethe's
Secret Revelation", on the esoteric nature of Goethe's fairy tale, The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily
. This article led to an invitation by the Count and Countess Brockdorff to speak to a gathering of Theosophists on the subject of Friedrich Nietzsche
. This invitation was followed by a second, the occasion of his first fully 'esoteric' lecture, once again on the topic of Goethe's fairy tale.
Steiner continued speaking regularly to the members of the Theosophical Society, becoming the head of its newly constituted German section in 1902. The German Section of the Theosophical Society grew rapidly under Steiner's leadership as he lectured throughout much of Europe on his spiritual science. Through his lecturing to Theosophists, Steiner met Marie von Sievers, owner of the Theosophical headquarters in Berlin, who was to become his spiritual partner and second wife. From the end of 1903 Steiner and von Sievers became the inseparable centre of Berlin Theosophy.
By 1904, Steiner was appointed by Annie Besant
to be leader of an Esoteric School for Germany and Austria. Steiner made it clear that this school would teach a Western spiritual path harmonious with, but differing fundamentally in approach from, other Theosophical paths. These and other differences with Besant became particularly pronounced at the Theosophical Congress in Munich in 1907—organized by Steiner—its focus on artistic expression was a sharp departure from the Blavatsky tradition.
Further dividing these groups—Steiner's lecture cycles from 1909 onwards—gave emphasis to his positive researches into Christianity, toward which Mme. Blavatsky had been notably hostile. Thus, the tensions grew between the main society and the German section, finally coming to a head over the question of Jiddu Krishnamurti
, a young Indian boy to whom the Theosophical leaders Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater attributed messianic status. The majority of German-speaking Theosophists broke away to found a new Anthroposophical Society at the end of 1912. Shortly thereafter, Besant revoked the German section's membership in the Theosophical Society on the grounds of the national section's refusal to allow admission to adherents of the organization Star of the East, established to support the mission of Krishnamurti.
The relationship between the Theosophical Society centered in Adyar, India
and its German section became increasingly strained as the new strains of Steiner's teaching became apparent. The breaking point came when C. W. Leadbeater, followed by Annie Besant, claimed that a young Indian boy, Jiddu Krishnamurti
, was the new World Teacher, an incarnation of the Lord Maitreya
. Steiner quickly denied this attribution of messianic
status to Krishnamurti, claiming that Christ's earthly incarnation
in Jesus was a unique event. Steiner held that though the human being generally goes through a series of repeated earth lives, the spiritual being Christ incarnated only once in a physical body. Christ, he said, would reappear in "the etheric
" — the realm that lives between people and in community life — not as a physical individual.
The German Theosophical Society refused membership to members of the Order of the Star in the East
, an organization founded by Leadbeater and Besant to support Krishnamurti's supposed mission as the new World Teacher. The World Teacher concept was unpopular with many theosophists, and was repudiated by Krishnamurti himself in 1929, leading to a crisis in the Theosophical Society. It was, however, a basic principle of the Theosophical Society that adherents of all religions were admitted.
Anthroposophists were offended when Besant falsely claimed that Steiner had been educated by Jesuits
.
Steiner's popularity as a lecturer spread far beyond the borders of Germany: he was active in Switzerland
, Holland, Norway
, Austria
and other countries. Besant tried to restrict him to lecturing in Germany itself, but this contravened both Theosophical Society statutes as well as a statement of Besant's greeting this broadening lecture activity, issued some months before.
As a result of the conflict, two steps followed in rapid succession:
Steiner later claimed that he never had considered himself to be part of the Theosophical movement. Even while the leader of the German section of the movement, he made a great point of his complete independence of philosophical thought and esoteric teachings from the Theosophical Society's esoteric path. His reaction to the above events was: "I myself experience what has happened — apart from what has been sobering and painful — as a great liberation from the oppressive narrowness that has characterized the life of the Theosophical Society for years."
The basic structural skeletons of Steiner's cosmology
and of his description of the human being as composed of various physical and spiritual aspects are based on Blavatsky's schema, to whom he acknowledged his debt. Steiner's elaborations of these (in his Theosophy and Outline of Esoteric Science) diverge from other theosophical presentations both in style and in substance, however.
Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...
and the Theosophical Society
Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society is an organization formed in 1875 to advance the spiritual principles and search for Truth known as Theosophy. The original organization, after splits and realignments has several successors...
founded by H.P. Blavatsky was a complex and changing one.
In 1899, Steiner decided to publish an article in the Magazin für Literatur, titled "Goethe's
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
Secret Revelation", on the esoteric nature of Goethe's fairy tale, The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily
The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily
The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily is a fairy tale by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published in 1795 in Friedrich Schiller's German magazine Die Horen . It portrays in imaginative form Goethe's impressions of Schiller's On the Aesthetic Education of Man in a series of Letters...
. This article led to an invitation by the Count and Countess Brockdorff to speak to a gathering of Theosophists on the subject of Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
. This invitation was followed by a second, the occasion of his first fully 'esoteric' lecture, once again on the topic of Goethe's fairy tale.
Steiner continued speaking regularly to the members of the Theosophical Society, becoming the head of its newly constituted German section in 1902. The German Section of the Theosophical Society grew rapidly under Steiner's leadership as he lectured throughout much of Europe on his spiritual science. Through his lecturing to Theosophists, Steiner met Marie von Sievers, owner of the Theosophical headquarters in Berlin, who was to become his spiritual partner and second wife. From the end of 1903 Steiner and von Sievers became the inseparable centre of Berlin Theosophy.
By 1904, Steiner was appointed by Annie Besant
Annie Besant
Annie Besant was a prominent British Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self rule.She was married at 19 to Frank Besant but separated from him over religious differences. She then became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society ...
to be leader of an Esoteric School for Germany and Austria. Steiner made it clear that this school would teach a Western spiritual path harmonious with, but differing fundamentally in approach from, other Theosophical paths. These and other differences with Besant became particularly pronounced at the Theosophical Congress in Munich in 1907—organized by Steiner—its focus on artistic expression was a sharp departure from the Blavatsky tradition.
Further dividing these groups—Steiner's lecture cycles from 1909 onwards—gave emphasis to his positive researches into Christianity, toward which Mme. Blavatsky had been notably hostile. Thus, the tensions grew between the main society and the German section, finally coming to a head over the question of Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti or J. Krishnamurti or , was a renowned writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual subjects. His subject matter included: psychological revolution, the nature of the mind, meditation, human relationships, and bringing about positive change in society...
, a young Indian boy to whom the Theosophical leaders Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater attributed messianic status. The majority of German-speaking Theosophists broke away to found a new Anthroposophical Society at the end of 1912. Shortly thereafter, Besant revoked the German section's membership in the Theosophical Society on the grounds of the national section's refusal to allow admission to adherents of the organization Star of the East, established to support the mission of Krishnamurti.
The relationship between the Theosophical Society centered in Adyar, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and its German section became increasingly strained as the new strains of Steiner's teaching became apparent. The breaking point came when C. W. Leadbeater, followed by Annie Besant, claimed that a young Indian boy, Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti or J. Krishnamurti or , was a renowned writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual subjects. His subject matter included: psychological revolution, the nature of the mind, meditation, human relationships, and bringing about positive change in society...
, was the new World Teacher, an incarnation of the Lord Maitreya
Maitreya
Maitreya , Metteyya , or Jampa , is foretold as a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. In some Buddhist literature, such as the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, he or she is referred to as Ajita Bodhisattva.Maitreya is a bodhisattva who in the Buddhist tradition is to appear on...
. Steiner quickly denied this attribution of messianic
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
status to Krishnamurti, claiming that Christ's earthly incarnation
Incarnation
Incarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. It refers to the conception and birth of a sentient creature who is the material manifestation of an entity, god or force whose original nature is immaterial....
in Jesus was a unique event. Steiner held that though the human being generally goes through a series of repeated earth lives, the spiritual being Christ incarnated only once in a physical body. Christ, he said, would reappear in "the etheric
Etheric body
The etheric body, ether-body, æther body, a name given by neo-Theosophy to a supposed vital body or subtle body propounded in esoteric philosophies as the first or lowest layer in the "human energy field" or aura...
" — the realm that lives between people and in community life — not as a physical individual.
The German Theosophical Society refused membership to members of the Order of the Star in the East
Order of the Star in the East
The Order of the Star in the East was an organization established by the leadership of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, India, from 1911 to 1927...
, an organization founded by Leadbeater and Besant to support Krishnamurti's supposed mission as the new World Teacher. The World Teacher concept was unpopular with many theosophists, and was repudiated by Krishnamurti himself in 1929, leading to a crisis in the Theosophical Society. It was, however, a basic principle of the Theosophical Society that adherents of all religions were admitted.
Anthroposophists were offended when Besant falsely claimed that Steiner had been educated by Jesuits
Jesuitism
Jesuitism is a label given to particular casuistic approach to moral questions and problems often described by the adjective jesuitical, so called because it was promoted by some Jesuits of the 17th century rather than being the beliefs of the Society of Jesus as a religious order...
.
Steiner's popularity as a lecturer spread far beyond the borders of Germany: he was active in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Holland, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and other countries. Besant tried to restrict him to lecturing in Germany itself, but this contravened both Theosophical Society statutes as well as a statement of Besant's greeting this broadening lecture activity, issued some months before.
As a result of the conflict, two steps followed in rapid succession:
- The overwhelming majority of German-speaking theosophists followed Steiner into the new Anthroposophical SocietyAnthroposophical SocietyThe General Anthroposophical Society is an organization dedicated to supporting the community of those interested in the form of spiritual philosophy known as anthroposophy. The society was initiated during 1913 by members of the Theosophical Society in Germany, including Rudolf Steiner who was at...
, founded between August and December 1912. In a telegram sent to the Theosophical Society they justified this step by stating it was: "based upon the recognition that the President [Besant] has continually and even systematically violated this highest principle of the Theosophical Society, 'No religion higher than the truth', and has abused the presidential power in arbitrary ways, thus hindering positive work." - Steiner's exclusion of Star in the East followers was a direct contravention of Theosophical Society statutes, and duly led to the charter of the German Section being revoked.
Steiner later claimed that he never had considered himself to be part of the Theosophical movement. Even while the leader of the German section of the movement, he made a great point of his complete independence of philosophical thought and esoteric teachings from the Theosophical Society's esoteric path. His reaction to the above events was: "I myself experience what has happened — apart from what has been sobering and painful — as a great liberation from the oppressive narrowness that has characterized the life of the Theosophical Society for years."
The basic structural skeletons of Steiner's cosmology
Cosmology
Cosmology is the discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order...
and of his description of the human being as composed of various physical and spiritual aspects are based on Blavatsky's schema, to whom he acknowledged his debt. Steiner's elaborations of these (in his Theosophy and Outline of Esoteric Science) diverge from other theosophical presentations both in style and in substance, however.