Rudolf Steiner developed exercises aimed at cultivating new cognitive faculties he believed would be appropriate to contemporary individual and cultural development. According to Steiner's view of history, in earlier periods people were capable of direct spiritual perceptions, or clairvoyance, but not yet of rational thought; more recently, rationality has been developed at the cost of spiritual perception, leading to the alienation characteristic of modernity. Steiner proposed that humanity now has the task of synthesizing the rational and contemplative/spiritual components of cognition, whereby spiritual perception would be awakened through intensifying thinking. He considered this relevant not only to personal development, but as a foundation for advanced scientific research.

Moral background of spiritual development

A central principle of Steiner's proposed path to spiritual development is that self-development - inner transformation - is a necessary part of the spiritual path: "for every step in spiritual perception, three steps are to be taken in moral development." According to the spiritual philosophy Steiner founded, anthroposophy, moral development:

Meditative path

Steiner described three stages of meditative progress: imaginative cognition, inspiration and intuition. This sequence of meditative stages has the ultimate goal of the meditant experiencing his or her own karma and previous incarnations, as well as the "Akashic record" of historical events.

Preliminary requirements for embarking on a spiritual training

Steiner stresses that in order for a spiritual training to bear "healthy fruits," a person would have to attend to the following:

Supplementary exercises

Steiner suggested that certain exercises should accompany all meditational practices as a measure of protection against possible negative influences caused by the meditation in the life of the individual. These six exercises, meant to foster positive soul qualities, are: The initial three exercises are intended to enable a person to attain self-discipline in thinking, willing and feeling. The second group of three involve cultivating attitudes toward the world.

Individual exercises

Exercises developed in anthroposophy include: