Rudolf Steiner: Multiple bodies

Rudolf Steiner was a modernist esotericist and the founder of Anthroposophy, arguably the most important esoteric movement of the twentieth century. In contrast to the modernist misunderstandings of Buddhist and Hindu materials promoted by the Theosophical Society, Steiner developed his own system, one that mixed Rosicrucian elements with features of Renaissance Hermeticism, including astrology and alchemy, and elements of Indian and Buddhist esotericism as they were understood by the Theosophical Society. Steiner offers his readers projective anthropology and projective cosmosophy, which, allied to appropriate practices, have the capacity to elicit and support significant changes to their physical and psychological organization. According to Steiner, the visible physical body of the human being is only a small part of the whole, and the true nature of the human being is hidden from the ordinary senses. The fact that the bodies Steiner describes are objects to be transformed by means of practices alerts the reader to the practical character of his teaching.