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The path of an individual human life, our biography, is a kind of mystery. Despite the abundance of published biographies and autobiographies of celebrities and historical figures, scientific study of human biography remains in its infancy, with little understanding of the inherent laws in the path of an individual’s life. Yet as Rudolf Steiner shows here, every biography—regardless of one’s place in life or a person’s perceived importance or success—is ruled by archetypal influences, patterns and laws.
This broad-ranging anthology addresses critical and still-unanswered questions: What are the effects of education—especially contrasting educational methods—on later life? How are the stages of one’s life interrelated? Do the effects of events on the individual become immediately evident, or is their true impact delayed, perhaps for decades? To what extent can we shape the stages of our individual biographies? How much freedom of choice do we have, and how much of life is predetermined?
Drawing on his capacity for higher knowledge through spiritual research, Steiner describes the human individuality as a being with a continuing existence, both before birth and beyond death. Our eternal being experiences a myriad of conditions and situations, the effects of which may be observed in one’s biography. This book addresses these and other issues such as freedom and destiny, the effects of heredity, illness, and the impact of education, offering answers based on a profound knowledge of the human being.
 Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) was born in Kraljevic, Austria, where he grew up the son of a railroad station chief. As a young man, he lived in Weimar and Berlin, where he became a respected and well-published scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar, known especially for his work with Goethe’s scientific writings. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he began to develop his earlier philosophical principles into an approach to systematic research into psychological and spiritual phenomena. Formally beginning his spiritual teaching career under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, Steiner came to use the term Anthroposophy (and spiritual science) for his philosophy, spiritual research, and its results. The influence of Steiner’s multifaceted genius has led to innovative and holistic approaches in medicine and therapies, philosophy, religious renewal, Waldorf education, education for special needs (including the Camphill Village movement), threefold economics, biodynamic agriculture, Goethean science, architecture, and the arts of drama, speech, and eurythmy. In 1924, Rudolf Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world. He died in Dornach, Switzerland.
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