# Draft of the Principles of an Anthroposophical Society, 1912

*Motto: Wisdom is only in truth.*

To lead a satisfying and healthy life, human nature requires the knowledge and cultivation of its own supersensible essence and the supersensible essence of the extra-human world. The scientific research of recent times cannot lead to such a goal, although within their tasks and their limits they are called upon to achieve unspeakable things for human culture. The Anthroposophical Society will pursue this goal by promoting genuine and healthy research directed towards the supersensible and by cultivating its influence on human conduct. True spiritual research and the attitude that follows from it should give the society its character, which can be expressed in the following guiding principles:

1. All those people can work together fraternally in the society who, as the basis for a loving cooperation, consider a common spiritual element in all human souls, however these may differ in terms of faith, nation, class, gender, etc.

2. The study of the supersensible hidden in all that is sensual is to be promoted and the dissemination of genuine spiritual science is to be served.

3. The recognition of the kernel of truth in the different world views of peoples and times is to be cultivated.

The first of these three guiding principles is necessary for the Anthroposophical Society because lofty spiritual goals can only be pursued together by people if a spirit of brotherhood bridges the differences that all too easily arise from what separates people in their thinking, their beliefs, and their particular interests in life. These differences will never interfere with the cooperation if the basis of the latter is the common spiritual in all human souls and therefore the differences remain untouched and fully respected in their individuality within society. In this way, society will be characterized by the attitude that is necessary for it to strive for the ideal of human coexistence, which, with complete appreciation of the thoughts and feelings of the individual, will find the soil in which mutual love and brotherhood can flourish. Society will only be able to achieve its spiritual goal if its members dedicate themselves to an ideal of life that can be a universal human ideal of conduct. The Society must have absolutely nothing to do with working for or against this or that religious belief, since it is dedicated to spiritual research, not to any particular confession. Therefore, any religious propaganda is completely alien to it. But it will also never fight against any. Likewise, all kinds of political or socio-political activity are strictly excluded from the Society's activities.

Its work is devoted to ways and means that can serve man in the sense of the development of our time, to lead the great riddles of human existence to such a solution that expands research beyond the sensual into the supersensible, without going astray, which cannot satisfy the genuine sense of truth. It will show that humanity in the present time possesses such spiritual research that it leads into the supersensible world and that its cultivation and dissemination can be just as much a task for a society as any other science.

The noblest fruits of human spiritual development, the various world views and creeds of peoples and times, are not considered by this spiritual research in terms of their confessional value, but rather in so far as they express humanity's struggle for the great spiritual questions of existence. Therefore, the basic character of society cannot be given a name that is taken from a specific confession. If, for example, the research of the Christ impulse within the development of humanity is cultivated through spiritual research, this is not done in the sense of a religious confession, but so that the adherent of any religious direction can relate to the corresponding spiritual-scientific result, just as the adherent of the Hindu religion or of Buddhism relates to Copernican astronomy, despite the fact that Copernicus is not mentioned in its religious texts. The Christ Impulse is presented as a result of research in such a way that it can be accepted by every follower of a religious creed, not just by the Christian confessor. The founding of the Society has been carried out by a committee of three individuals, namely Dr. Carl Unger, Fräulein Marie von Sivers and Michael Bauer, who have initially taken over the overall management of the Anthroposophical Society. They are supported by an executive council, which is initially considered to be the founding council.

The members of the founding committee will appoint trusted individuals who will be responsible for accepting applications from members and who will guarantee to the board the members they propose.

The appointment of a trusted person will either be made on the initiative of the founding committee or by a member being designated by seven other members or personalities seeking admission as their representatives and being recognized as such by the central committee.

Membership is acquired by notification either directly to the board or to one of the trusted individuals. Membership is only recognized by the central board of directors prior to the designation of the three founders.

The board or committee itself is responsible for co-opting new members, and proposals for this can be made at the annual general meeting.

The work of the Society is carried out in free groups that can form independently in any place in any country in the world. These groups will be able to form individually or join together, will be able to form associations or loose federations, etc., depending on the circumstances of the respective areas in which they form. The Anthroposophical Society is not an association as such; its cohesion is not based on an association organization or the like, but on the cultivation of spiritual science as such, and membership does not imply anything association-like, but for example the right to obtain certain spiritual-scientific writings that are intended only for members, and the like. In the external sense, therefore, the bond of the Anthroposophical Society will be no different than it would be, for example, for an anthropological or similar society.

Each working group forms its own statutes, etc. and elects its own board. The general membership, which must be acquired individually by each member, means that the central board recognizes an individual as belonging to the Anthroposophical Society.

The permanent seat of the Anthroposophical Society will be Berlin for the time being. The business management will be the responsibility of the members of the Central Executive Council resident in Berlin. This business management consists of nothing other than measures that can serve the spiritual goals stated above.

Each member shall pay a one-time entrance fee of five marks and an ongoing annual contribution of six marks for the administration of the Anthroposophical Society. In special cases, the annual contribution may be reduced.