Anthroposophy
Is man a free being or is he subject to outside interests at his own will, that inevitably determine his existence?
The cultural evolution of the last centuries has lead to disagreements regarding the conception of man and life, but which in a way coincides, with the response to the previous question.
On the one hand there is what we would call the “scientific vision”, according to which man is only one more link in the evolutionary chain, a simple result of natural selection and chance mutations. According to this, the behaviour of man is totally determined by genetic characteristics (by chance), and by changes of environment (parents, education, social surroundings...) producing this genetic structure.
On the other hand there is the so-called “religious” vision, according to which all that exists, and particularly human beings, is the work and creation of God. Your whole life is planned by God, and man must comply with his intentions, which have been given to us by distinct religious revelations.
As we can see, each argument, the evolutionist and creationist, reduce man to the role of a mere object of outside causes, and is therefore lacking in freedom.
However, every man carries within him a desire for freedom, and also, in a more or less conscious manner, the need to understand the meaning of life and existence.
If the evolutionary theory were correct, how can we explain the desire for life and the search for the meaning of life, and what relation does this have to the fight for survival and adaptation to one´s environment? Perhaps poetry, literature, music, and art... reveal that in man, there is a higher principle that doesn´t move by necessity. Maybe man´s ability to describe the laws of nature proves that he can understand everything? And does this not perhaps show us that there is also a creative impulse in him, maybe the same creative principle that shows itself in nature?
If it were certain that everything is just a creation by God, and that man only obeys his mandates in order to reach salvation, if man can only create and obey, and is incapable of understanding, how can we speak of a moral responsibility in man? And how can we combine the very distinct rules of different religions? With what criteria do we consider one religion correct and another incorrect?
All of these approaches have led to a dichotomy between faith and reason, between religion and science, and it is now accepted with resignation that they are two incompatible concepts. However, at the beginning of the last century, Rudolf Steiner, scientist, philosopher and artist, proclaimed in an open and precise way, that the road towards the knowledge of man and the universe was already possible for all those who wanted to follow it, and that this road leads to freedom. And not only has all of his knowledge acquired with the same rigor as science been made known, but he taught all the guidelines to everyone else, which they could discover for themselves. This road to knowledge is anthroposophy, a road which allows us to discover and experience who we are and what our relation is to the Cosmos. It is the realisation of the mandate of the ancient oracles: “Man, know yourself,". On this road, man will discover the spiritual rules that govern existence, the same as how the discovery of the law of gravity allowed man to free himself from it and fly. Also, the discovery of spiritual laws gives man the possibility for freedom in all areas of life. So, anthroposophy is a road leading to freedom.