14 lectures in Stuttgart, Aug. 20 – Sept. 5, 1919 (CW 293); 2 lectures in Berlin, Mar. 15 & 17, 1917 (CW 66)- Foundations of Waldorf Education series

“Although we can physically see children only after their birth, we need to be aware that birth is also a continuation. We do not want to look only at what the human being experiences after death, that is, at the spiritual continuation of the physical. We want to be aware that physical existence is a continuation of what higher beings have done without our assistance. Our form of educating can have the correct attitude only when we are aware that our work with young people is a continuation of what higher beings have done before birth.” —Rudolf Steiner

This course on education contains some of the most remarkable and significant lectures ever given by Rudolf Steiner. Because these lectures were given to teachers, however, they have suffered the misconception that they are useful only to teachers. Any teacher who wants to teach in a way that encompasses the whole child certainly needs a functional understanding of what Steiner presents here, but these lectures will also greatly benefit parents, psychologists, counselors, or anyone else involved with developing children.

Steiner gives his most concise and detailed account of human nature in these lectures, which are absolutely essential for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of Steiner's spiritual science. Those who are willing to work through this work will discover here a new, powerful, convincing, and profoundly phenomenological “anthropology” of human spiritual psychology.

In these lectures, Steiner laid out for the first time the principles that form the basis for renewing the art of teaching. The Foundations of Human Experience is the most important text for studying and understanding the human developmental and psychological basis for Waldorf education.

Translated by Robert Lathe, Nancy Whittaker
Forward by Henry Barnes
Introduction by Nancy Whittaker

Available as an eBook and in print from Steiner Books, Waldorf Books, Rudolf Steiner College Bookstore, Waldorf Education in Canada

keywords: Waldorf teaching, teacher training, adult education