Austrian-born Rudolf Steiner was a noted Goethe (see Vol. 2) scholar and private student of the occult who became involved with Theosophy in Germany in 1902, when he met Annie Besant (1847--1933), a devoted follower of Madame Helena P. Blavatsky (1831--1891). In 1912 he broke with the Theosophists because of what he regarded as their oriental bias and established a system of his own, which he called Anthroposophy (anthro meaning "man"; sophia sophia meaning "wisdom"), a "spiritual science" he hoped would restore humanism to a materialistic world. In 1923 he set up headquarters for the Society of Anthroposophy in New York City. Steiner believed that human beings had evolved to the point… where material existence had obscured spiritual capacities and that Christ had come to reverse that trend and to inaugurate an age of spiritual reintegration. He advocated that education, art, agriculture, and science be based on spiritual principles and infused with the psychic powers he believed were latent in everyone. The world center of the Anhthroposophical Society today is in Dornach, Switzerland, in a building designed by Steiner. The nonproselytizing society is noted for its schools.
Carl Hoffman is a contributing editor at National Geographic Traveler and the author of The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes , which was named one of the ten best books of 2010 by the Wall Street Journal , and Hunting Warbirds: The Obsessive Quest for the Lost Aircraft of World War II . He has won four Lowell Thomas Awards from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation and one North American Travel Journalists Association Award. A veteran journalist, Hoffman has traveled to more than seventy countries on assignment for Outside , Smithsonian , National Geographic Adventure , ESPN The Magazine , the Wall Street Journal… Magazine , Wired , and many other publications. He is a native of Washington, D.C., and the father of three children.
