Editing Rudolf Steiner (section)

== Breadth of activity ==
After the First World War, Steiner became active in a wide variety of cultural contexts. He founded a number of schools, the first of which was known as the [[Waldorf education|Waldorf school]],<ref>IN CONTEXT No. 6, Summer 1984</ref> which later evolved into a worldwide school network. He also founded a system of organic agriculture, now known as [[biodynamic agriculture]], which was one of the first forms of modern [[organic farming]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=ATTRA – National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service |url=http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/biodynamic.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526054008/http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/biodynamic.html |archive-date=26 May 2011 |access-date=23 May 2006}}</ref> His [[Anthroposophic medicine|work in medicine]] is based in [[pseudoscience]] and occult ideas. Even though his medical ideas led to the development of a broad range of complementary medications and supportive artistic and biographic therapies,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kienle |first1=Gunver Sophia |title=Anthroposophic Medicine Effectiveness, Utility, Costs, Safety |last2=Kiene |first2=Helmut |last3=Albonico |first3=Hans Ulrich |date=2006a |publisher=Schattauer |isbn=9783794524952}}</ref> they are considered ineffective by the medical community.<ref name="krit">{{Cite journal |last=Ernst |first=Edzard |year=2008 |title=Anthroposophic medicine: A critical analysis |journal=MMW Fortschritte der Medizin |volume=150 |issue=Suppl 1 |pages=1–6 |pmid=18540325}}</ref> Numerous homes for children and adults with [[developmental disabilities]] based on his work (including those of the [[Camphill movement]]) are found in Africa, Europe, and North America.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Camphill list of communities |url=https://camphillfoundation.org/communities/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220106192501/https://camphillfoundation.org/communities/ |archive-date=6 January 2022 |access-date=6 January 2022}}</ref> His paintings and drawings influenced [[Joseph Beuys]] and other modern artists. His two [[Goetheanum]] buildings are considered significant examples of [[modern architecture]],<ref>Both Goetheanum buildings are listed as among the most significant 100 buildings of modern architecture by Goulet, Patrice, ''Les Temps Modernes?'', L'Architecture D'Aujourd'hui, December 1982</ref><ref>[http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Rudolf_Steiner.html Rudolf Steiner] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924051601/http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Rudolf_Steiner.html |date=24 September 2015 }}, Great Buildings Online</ref><ref>Michael Brennan, [http://www.artnet.com/magazine_pre2000/reviews/brennan/brennan3-18-98.asp rudolf steiner], ''Artnet''</ref><ref>Hortola, Policarp. "The Aesthetics of haemotaphonomy: A study of the stylistic parallels between a science and literature and the visual arts". ''Eidos'' 2009, n.10, pp. 162-193</ref><ref>[http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/feuilleton/kunst_architektur/spirituelles-gemeinschaftswerk-1.16824897 Spirituelles Gemeinschaftswerk Das Erste Goetheanum in Dornach – eine Ausstellung im Schweizerischen Architekturmuseum Basel], ''Neue Zurcher Zeitung'' 10.5.2012</ref> and other anthroposophical architects have contributed thousands of buildings to the modern scene.<ref name="Verlag Freies Geistesleben 1982 p. ">{{Cite book |last1=Raab |first1=Rex |title=Die Waldorfschule baut: sechzig Jahre Architektur der Waldorfschulen: Schule als Entwicklungsraum menschengemässer Baugestaltung |last2=Klingborg |first2=Arne |date=1982 |publisher=Verlag Freies Geistesleben |isbn=978-3-7725-0240-8 |publication-place=Stuttgart |language=de}}</ref>

Steiner's [[literary estate]] is broad. Steiner's writings, published in about forty volumes, include books, essays, [[Rudolf Steiner's Mystery Dramas|four plays]] ('mystery dramas'), mantric verse, and an autobiography. His collected lectures, making up another approximately 300 volumes, discuss a wide range of themes. Steiner's drawings, chiefly illustrations done on blackboards during his lectures, are collected in a separate series of 28 volumes. Many publications have covered his architectural legacy and sculptural work.<ref name=Biesantz/><ref name=Kugler/>

Steiner has speculated about creating artificial life (and maybe about [[artificial intelligence]]), but such speculations were by no means a novelty.<ref name="p243">{{cite book | first=Anna | last=Cappellotto | editor-last=Calzoni | editor-first=Raul | title=Monstrous Anatomies | publisher=V&R unipress | publication-place=Göttingen | date=16 September 2015 | isbn=978-3-8471-0469-8 | doi=10.14220/9783737004695.95 | page=95 | chapter=Creating Life Artificially : Robert Hamerling’s ''Homunculus''}}</ref>

=== Education ===
[[File:Ecole Steiner-Waldorf Verrieres2.jpg|thumb|The Waldorf school in [[Verrières-le-Buisson]] (France)]]
{{main|Waldorf education}}
As a young man, Steiner was a private tutor and a lecturer on history for the Berlin ''Arbeiterbildungsschule'',<ref name="zander2007">{{Cite book |last=Zander |first=Helmut |title=Anthroposophie in Deutschland: Theosophische Weltanschauung und gesellschaftliche Praxis 1884–1945 |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |year=2007 |isbn=978-3-525-55452-4 |location=Göttingen |language=de}}</ref> an educational initiative for working class adults.<ref name="njacobs">{{Cite journal |last=Jacobs |first=Nicholas |date=Spring 1978 |title=The German Social Democratic Party School in Berlin, 1906–1914 |journal=History Workshop |volume=5 |pages=179–187 |doi=10.1093/hwj/5.1.179}}</ref> Soon thereafter, he began to articulate his ideas on education in public lectures,<ref name="Ullrich" /> culminating in a 1907 essay on ''The Education of the Child'' in which he described the major phases of child development which formed the foundation of his approach to education.<ref>The original essay was published in the journal ''Lucifer-Gnosis'' in 1907 and can be found in Steiner's collected essays, ''Lucifer-Gnosis 1903-1908'',
GA34. This essay was republished as an independent brochure in 1909; in a [https://wn.rudolfsteinerelib.org/Articles/EduChild/EduChi_note.html Prefatory note to this edition]{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Steiner refers to recent lectures on the subject. An English translation can be found in [http://waldorfcurriculum.com/FREE/THE%20EDUCATION%20of%20the%20child.pdf ''The Education of the Child: And Early Lectures on Education''] (first English edition 1927, Second English edition 1981, London and New York, 1996 edition {{ISBN|978-0-88010-414-2}})</ref> His [[Definitions of education|conception of education]] was influenced by the [[Johann Friedrich Herbart|Herbartian]] pedagogy prominent in Europe during the late nineteenth century,<ref name=zander2007/>{{rp|1362, 1390ff}}<ref name="Ullrich">{{Cite book |last=Ullrich |first=Heiner |url=https://archive.org/details/rudolfsteinercon00ullr |title=Rudolf Steiner |publisher=Continuum International Pub. Group |year=2008 |isbn=9780826484192 |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/rudolfsteinercon00ullr/page/n168 152]–154 |url-access=limited}}</ref> though Steiner criticized Herbart for not sufficiently recognizing the importance of educating the will and feelings as well as the intellect.<ref>Steiner, [http://steiner.presswarehouse.com/sites/steiner/research/archive/spirit_of_the_waldorf_school/spirit_of_the_waldorf_school.pdf ''The Spirit of the Waldorf School''], {{ISBN|9780880103947}}. pp. 15-23</ref>

In 1919, [[Emil Molt]] invited him to lecture to his workers at the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory in Stuttgart. Out of these lectures came the first Waldorf School. In 1922, Steiner presented these ideas at a conference called for this purpose in [[Oxford]] by Professor [[Millicent Mackenzie]]. He subsequently presented a teacher training course at [[Torquay]] in 1924 at an [[Anthroposophy]] Summer School organised by [[Eleanor Merry]].<ref name="Torquay">Paull, John (2018) [https://www.academia.edu/36404489/Torquay_In_the_Footsteps_of_Rudolf_Steiner Torquay: In the Footsteps of Rudolf Steiner], Journal of Biodynamics Tasmania. 125 (Mar): 26–31.</ref> The Oxford Conference and the Torquay teacher training led to the founding of the first Waldorf schools in Britain.<ref>Stewart Easton (1980), ''Rudolf Steiner: Herald of a New Epoch'', Anthroposophic Press. {{ISBN|0910142939}}. p. 267</ref> During Steiner's lifetime, schools based on his educational principles were also founded in [[Hamburg]], [[Essen]], [[The Hague]] and London; there are now more than 1000 [[Waldorf education|Waldorf schools]] worldwide.

Benjamin Lazier calls Steiner a "maverick educator".<ref name="r012">{{cite book | last=Lazier | first=Benjamin | title=God Interrupted | publisher=Princeton University Press | publication-place=Princeton (N.J.) | date=2008 | isbn=978-0-691-13670-7 | page=29 | quote=By the 1920s gnosticism (the term) had hardly a vestige of an agreed-upon meaning. That gnosticism had returned in some form was a sentiment shared by many, but what that meant was up for debate. Some, notably those on the occult scene inspired by the maverick educator Rudolf Steiner, greeted the new age with enthusiasm.}}</ref>

=== Biodynamic agriculture ===
{{Main|Biodynamic agriculture}}
In 1924, a group of farmers concerned about the future of agriculture requested Steiner's help. Steiner responded with a lecture series on an [[ecological agriculture|ecological]] and [[sustainable agriculture|sustainable]] approach to agriculture that increased soil fertility without the use of [[chemical fertilizer]]s and [[pesticide]]s.<ref name="BD1924" /> Steiner's agricultural ideas promptly spread and were put into practice internationally<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Paull |first=John |date=July 2015 |title=The Secrets of Koberwitz: The Diffusion of Rudolf Steiner's Agriculture Course and the Founding of Biodynamic Agriculture |url=http://www.jsrp.ro/content/JSRP-Nr3_PAULL/JSRPNr.3_PAUL.pdf?attredirects=0 |url-status=live |journal=Journal of Social Research & Policy |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=19–29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191125072532/https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxqcnNwb25lfGd4OjIyNjY1MWZiZGViOWFlMg |archive-date=2019-11-25 |access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref> and [[biodynamic agriculture]] is now practiced in Europe,<ref name="olympiad">{{Cite journal |last=Paull |first=John |year=2011 |title=Organics Olympiad 2011: Global Indices of Leadership in Organic Agriculture |url=http://orgprints.org/18860/1/Paull2011OlympiadJSDS.pdf |journal=Journal of Social and Development Sciences |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=144–150 |doi=10.22610/jsds.v1i4.638 |doi-access=free}}</ref> North America, South America,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Purvis |first=Andrew |date=2009-12-06 |title=Biodynamic coffee farming in Brazil |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/dec/06/biodynamic-coffee-in-brazil |access-date=2018-03-25 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> Africa,<ref>{{Cite news |title=Biodynamic Agricultural Association of Southern Africa - Green Africa Directory |url=http://www.greenafricadirectory.org/listing/biodynamic-agricultural-association-of-southern-africa/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326064109/http://www.greenafricadirectory.org/listing/biodynamic-agricultural-association-of-southern-africa/ |archive-date=26 March 2018 |access-date=2018-03-25 |work=Green Africa Directory |language=en-US}}</ref> Asia<ref name="olympiad" /> and [[Australasia]].<ref name="Koberwitz">Paull, John (2011) [http://www.organic-systems.org/journal/Vol_6(1)/pdf/6(1)-Paull-pp27-41.pdf "Biodynamic Agriculture: The Journey from Koberwitz to the World, 1924–1938"], ''Journal of Organic Systems'', 2011, 6(1):27–41.</ref><ref>[http://www.biodynamics.com/regional.html Groups in N. America], [http://demeter.net/certification/ List of Demeter certifying organizations], [http://demeter.net/certification/ Other biodynamic certifying organization], [http://demeter.net/certification/ce_presentation.php?languagechoice=en&languageadmin=0 Some farms in the world]</ref><ref>How to Save the World: One Man, One Cow, One Planet; Thomas Burstyn</ref>

"Steiner’s 'biodynamic agriculture' based on 'restoring the quasi-mystical relationship between earth and the cosmos' was widely accepted in the Third Reich (28)."<ref name="Purcell 2018 t965">{{Cite web |last=Purcell |first=Brendan |date=24 June 2018 |title=Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich |url=https://voegelinview.com/9101-2/ |access-date=28 February 2024 |website=VoegelinView}}</ref>

A central aspect of biodynamics is that the farm as a whole is seen as an organism, and therefore should be a largely self-sustaining system, producing its own [[manure]] and [[Fodder|animal feed]]. Plant or animal disease is seen as a symptom of problems in the whole organism. Steiner also suggested timing such agricultural activities as sowing, weeding, and harvesting to utilize the influences on plant growth of the [[moon]] and [[planets]]; and the application of natural materials prepared in specific ways to the [[soil]], [[composting|compost]], and crops, with the intention of engaging non-physical beings and elemental forces.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} He encouraged his listeners to verify such suggestions [[scientific method|empirically]], as he had not yet done.<ref name="Koberwitz" />

In a 2002 newspaper editorial, Peter Treue, agricultural researcher at the [[University of Kiel]], characterized biodynamics as [[pseudoscience]] and argued that similar or equal results can be obtained using standard organic farming principles. He wrote that some biodynamic preparations more resemble [[alchemy]] or [[magic (paranormal)|magic]] akin to [[geomancy]].<ref name="treue">{{Cite web |last=Treue |first=Peter |date=13 March 2002 |title=Blut und Bohnen: Der Paradigmenwechsel im Künast-Ministerium ersetzt Wissenschaft durch Okkultismus |url=http://www.nitrogen.de/bub/faz.htm#plan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030417075038/http://www.nitrogen.de/bub/faz.htm |archive-date=17 April 2003 |access-date=15 November 2011 |website=Die Gegenwart |publisher=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung |language=de}} (Translation: "Blood and Beans: The paradigm shift in the Ministry of [[Renate Künast]] replaces science with occultism")</ref>

=== Anthroposophical medicine ===
{{Main|Anthroposophical medicine}}
From the late 1910s, Steiner was working with doctors to create a [[Alternative medicine|new approach to medicine]]. In 1921, [[pharmacist]]s and physicians gathered under Steiner's guidance to create a pharmaceutical company called ''[[Weleda]]'' which now distributes naturopathic medical and beauty products worldwide. At around the same time, Dr. [[Ita Wegman]] founded a first anthroposophic medical clinic (now the Ita Wegman Clinic) in [[Arlesheim]]. Anthroposophic medicine is practiced in some 80 countries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kienle |first1=Gunver S. |last2=Albonico |first2=Hans-Ulrich |last3=Baars |first3=Erik |last4=Hamre |first4=Harald J. |last5=Zimmermann |first5=Peter |last6=Kiene |first6=Helmut |date=November 2013 |title=Anthroposophic Medicine: An Integrative Medical System Originating in Europe |journal=Global Advances in Health and Medicine |volume=2 |issue=6 |pages=20–31 |doi=10.7453/gahmj.2012.087 |pmc=3865373 |pmid=24416705}}</ref> It is a form of [[alternative medicine]] based on [[pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]] and [[occult]] notions.<ref name="teils">{{Cite journal |last1=Kienle |first1=Gunver S. |last2=Kiene |first2=Helmut |last3=Albonico |first3=Hans Ulrich |year=2006b |title=Anthroposophische Medizin: Health Technology Assessment Bericht – Kurzfassung |journal=Forschende Komplementärmedizin |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=7–18 |doi=10.1159/000093481 |pmid=16883076 |s2cid=72253140 |quote=teils ergänzend und teils ersetzend zur konventionellen Medizin}} ''Cited in'' {{cite journal|pmid=18540325|year=2008|last1=Ernst|first1=Edzard|title=Anthroposophic medicine: A critical analysis|volume=150|pages=1–6|journal=MMW Fortschritte der Medizin|issue=Suppl 1 }}</ref>

=== Social reform===
{{main|Threefold Social Order}}
For a period after World War I, Steiner was active as a lecturer on social reform. A petition expressing his basic social ideas was widely circulated and signed by many cultural figures of the day, including [[Hermann Hesse]].

In Steiner's chief book on [[social reform]], ''Toward Social Renewal'', he suggested that the cultural, political and economic spheres of society need to work together as consciously cooperating yet independent entities, each with a particular task: political institutions should be democratic, establish [[Equality before the law|political equality]] and protect [[human rights]]; cultural institutions should nurture the free and unhindered development of science, art, education and religion; and economic institutions should enable producers, distributors, and consumers to cooperate voluntarily to provide efficiently for society's needs.<ref name="Essential">{{Cite book |last=Steiner |first=Rudolf |title=The essential Steiner : basic writings of Rudolf Steiner |date=1984 |publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=0-06-065345-0 |editor-last=McDermott |editor-first=Robert |edition=1st |location=San Francisco}}</ref> He saw this division of responsibility as a vital task which would take up consciously the historical trend toward the mutual independence of these three realms. Steiner also gave suggestions for many specific social reforms.

Steiner proposed that societal well-being fundamentally depends upon a relationship of mutuality between the individuals and the community as a whole:

{{Blockquote|The well-being of a community of people working together will be the greater, the less the individual claims for himself the proceeds of his work, i.e. the more of these proceeds he makes over to his fellow-workers, the more his own needs are satisfied, not out of his own work but out of the work done by others.|Steiner|The Fundamental Social Law<ref name="Fundamental" />}}

He expressed another aspect of this in the following motto:
{{Blockquote|The healthy social life is found <br />When in the mirror of each human soul <br />The whole community finds its reflection, <br />And when in the community <br /> The virtue of each one is living.|Steiner|The Fundamental Social Law<ref name="Fundamental">Steiner (1917), [http://wn.rsarchive.org/Articles/FuSoLa_index.html "The Fundamental Social Law"], translated in ''Selected writings of Rudolf Steiner'' (1993), Richard Seddon (Ed.), Rudolf Steiner Press, Bristol. {{ISBN|1 85584 005 7}}</ref>}}

According to Cees Leijenhorst, "Steiner outlined his vision of a new political and social philosophy that avoids the two extremes of capitalism and socialism."<ref name="Hanegraaff Faivre van den Broek Brach 2005 p. 1090">{{Cite book |last=Leijenhorst |first=Cees |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HCUOAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1090 |title=Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism: I |publisher=Brill |year=2005 |isbn=978-90-04-14187-2 |editor-last=Hanegraaff |editor-first=Wouter J. |page=1090 |quote=Steiner outlined his vision of a new political and social philosophy that avoids the two extremes of capitalism and socialism. |access-date=2 January 2024 |editor-last2=Faivre |editor-first2=Antoine |editor-last3=Broek |editor-first3=Roelof van den |editor-last4=Brach |editor-first4=Jean-Pierre}}</ref>

According to Egil Asprem, "Steiner’s teachings had a clear authoritarian ring, and developed a rather crass polemic against 'materialism', 'liberalism', and cultural 'degeneration'. [...] For example, anthroposophical medicine was developed to contrast with the 'materialistic' (and hence 'degenerate') medicine of the establishment."{{sfn|Asprem|2018|p=494}}

=== Architecture and visual arts ===
{{gallery|align=right
|File:First Goetheanum.jpg|[[First Goetheanum]]
|File:Dornach - Goetheanum1a.jpg|[[Second Goetheanum]]
|File:Representative of humanity.gif|Detail of ''The Representative of Humanity''
}}
[[File:Edith Maryon.jpg|thumb|left|upright|English sculptor [[Edith Maryon]] belonged to the innermost circle of founders of anthroposophy and was appointed to head the Section of Sculptural Arts at the Goetheanum.]]

Steiner designed 17 buildings, including the [[Goetheanum|First and Second Goetheanums]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Terranova |first1=Charissa N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=klPUDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT144 |title=The Routledge Companion to Biology in Art and Architecture |last2=Tromble |first2=Meredith |date=2016-08-12 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-41950-1 |language=en}}</ref> These two buildings, built in Dornach, Switzerland, were intended to house significant theater spaces as well as a "school for spiritual science".<ref>Sokolina, Anna. Architecture and Anthroposophy. [Arkhitektura i Antroposofiia.] Editor, co-author, transl., photogr. 2 editions. 268p. 348 ills. Moscow: KMK, 2001 {{ISBN|5873170746}}; 2010 {{ISBN|5873176604}}. (In Russian with the summary in English) [www.iartforum.com]</ref> Three of Steiner's buildings have been listed amongst the most significant works of modern architecture.<ref>Goulet, P: "Les Temps Modernes?", ''L'Architecture D'Aujourd'hui'', December 1982, pp. 8–17.</ref><ref>Sokolina, Anna. "Modernist Topologies: The Goetheanum in Building." In ''Modernity and Construction of Sacred Space'', edited by Aaron French and Katharina Waldner, 149–168. Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2024. ISBN 9783111061382 and 9783111062624. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111062624-008.</ref>

His primary sculptural work is ''The Representative of Humanity'' (1922), a nine-meter high wood sculpture executed as a joint project with the sculptor [[Edith Maryon]]. This was intended to be placed in the first Goetheanum. It shows a central human figure, the "Representative of Humanity," holding a balance between opposing tendencies of expansion and contraction personified as the beings of [[Lucifer]] and [[Ahriman]].<ref>''Art as Spiritual Activity: Rudolf Steiner's Contribution to the Visual Arts''. (1998) Intro. Michael Howard, p.50. {{ISBN|0 88010 396 5}}</ref><ref>''The Representative of Humanity Between Lucifer and Ahriman, The Wooden Model at the Goetheanum'', Judith von Halle, John Wilkes (2010) {{ISBN|9781855842397}} from the German ''Die Holzplastik des Goetheanum'' (2008) [http://www.rudolfsteinerpress.com/pages/viewbook.php?isbn_in=9781855842397] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502235547/http://www.rudolfsteinerpress.com/pages/viewbook.php?isbn_in=9781855842397|date=2 May 2014}}</ref><ref>Rudolf Steiner ''Christ in Relation to Lucifer and Ahriman'', lecture May, 1915 [http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/19150518p01.html]</ref> It was intended to show, in conscious contrast to Michelangelo's ''[[The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)|Last Judgment]]'', Christ as mute and impersonal such that the beings that approach him must judge themselves.<ref>Rudolf Steiner, ''The Etheric Body as a Reflexion of the Universe'' lecture, June 1915 [http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/19150613p01.html]</ref> The sculpture is now on permanent display at the Goetheanum.

Steiner's blackboard drawings were unique at the time and almost certainly not originally intended as art works.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Thought-Pictures - Rudolf Steiner's Blackboard Drawings |url=http://www.anthromedia.net/en/themes/anthroposophy/rudolf-steiner-life-and-work/black-board-drawings/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504002748/http://www.anthromedia.net/en/themes/anthroposophy/rudolf-steiner-life-and-work/black-board-drawings/ |archive-date=4 May 2014}}</ref> [[Joseph Beuys]]' work, itself heavily influenced by Steiner, has led to the modern understanding of Steiner's drawings as artistic objects.<ref>Lawrence Rinder, [http://antroposofi.org/blackboard/steineressay.html Rudolf Steiner: An Aesthetic Perspective] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828133012/http://antroposofi.org/blackboard/steineressay.html |date=28 August 2008 }}</ref>

=== Performing arts ===
{{See also|Eurythmy}}
Steiner wrote four [[mystery plays]] between 1909 and 1913: ''The Portal of Initiation'', ''The Souls' Probation'', ''The Guardian of the Threshold'' and ''The Soul's Awakening'', modeled on the esoteric dramas of [[Edouard Schuré]], [[Maurice Maeterlinck]], and [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]].<ref>[[Ehrenfried Pfeiffer]] 'On Rudolf Steiner's Mystery Dramas, Four Lectures Given in Spring Valley, 1948' {{ISBN|0-936132-93-0}}</ref> Steiner's plays continue to be performed by anthroposophical groups in various countries, most notably (in the original German) in Dornach, Switzerland and (in English translation) in Spring Valley, New York and in Stroud and Stourbridge in the U.K.

In collaboration with Marie von Sivers, Steiner also founded a new approach to acting, storytelling, and the recitation of poetry. His last public lecture course, given in 1924, was on speech and drama. The Russian actor, director, and acting coach [[Michael Chekhov]] based significant aspects of his method of acting on Steiner's work.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Anderson, Neil |date=June 2011 |title=On Rudolf Steiner's Impact on the Training of the Actor |url=http://ojs-prod.library.usyd.edu.au/index.php/LA/article/viewFile/5054/5759 |journal=Literature & Aesthetics |volume=21 |number=1}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>Richard Solomon, [http://www.library.umaine.edu/theses/pdf/solomonr2002.pdf Michael Chekhov and His Approach to Acting in Contemporary Performance Training] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803154254/http://www.library.umaine.edu/theses/pdf/solomonr2002.pdf |date=3 August 2016 }}, MA thesis University of Maine, 2002</ref>

Together with [[Marie von Sivers]], Rudolf Steiner also developed the art of [[eurythmy]], sometimes referred to as "visible speech and song". According to the principles of eurythmy, there are archetypal movements or gestures that correspond to every aspect of speech – the sounds (or [[phonemes]]), the rhythms, and the grammatical function – to every "soul quality" – joy, despair, tenderness, etc. – and to every aspect of music – tones, intervals, rhythms, and harmonies.

===Esoteric schools===
{{see also|Rudolf Steiner's exercises for spiritual development}}

Steiner was founder and leader of the following: 
* His independent ''Esoteric School'' of the Theosophical Society, founded in 1904. This school continued after the break with [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|Theosophy]] but was disbanded at the start of World War I.
* A lodge called ''Mystica Aeterna'' within the [[Ancient and Primitive Rite|Masonic Order of Memphis and Mizraim]], which Steiner led from 1906 until around 1914. Steiner added to the Masonic rite a number of Rosicrucian references.<ref>Ellic Howe: ''The Magicians of the Golden Dawn'' London 1985, Routledge, pp 262 ff</ref> 
* The School of Spiritual Science of the Anthroposophical Society, founded in 1923 as a further development of his earlier Esoteric School. This was originally constituted with a general section and seven specialized sections for education, literature, performing arts, natural sciences, medicine, visual arts, and astronomy.<ref name=GoethRestruct/><ref name="wn.rsarchive.org" /><ref>[[Elisabeth Vreede]], who Steiner had nominated as the first leader of the Mathematical-Astronomical Section, was responsible for the posthumous 1926 edition of Steiner's astronomy course, concerning this branch of natural science from the point of view of Anthroposophy and spiritual science, under the title ''The Relationship of the various Natural-Scientific Subjects to Astronomy'', [http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA323/English/LR81/AstCrs_foreword.html]</ref> Steiner gave members of the School the first Lesson for guidance into the esoteric work in February 1924.{{sfn|Wachsmuth|Garber|Wannamaker|Raab|1995|p=53}} Though Steiner intended to develop three "classes" of this school, only the first of these was developed in his lifetime (and continues today). An authentic text of the written records on which the teaching of the First Class was based was published in 1992.<ref>Johannes Kiersch, ''A History of the School of Spiritual Science: The First Class'', Temple Lodge Publishing, 2006, p.xii. The detailed account is given in chapter 8</ref>