Rudolf Steiner 
Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and its Attainment 

First published in 1904, ‘Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and its Attainment’ by Rudolf Steiner is the classic account of the modern Western esoteric path of initiation.

This work constitutes a fundamental guide to the anthroposophical path of cognition or knowledge. In human consciousness, faculties are sleeping that, if awakened, lead to life-giving wisdom. 

Steiner begins with the premise that “the capacities by which we can gain insights into the higher worlds lie dormant within each one of us.” Steiner carefully and precisely leads the reader from the cultivation of the fundamental soul attitudes of reverence and inner tranquillity to the development of inner life through the stages of preparation, illumination, and initiation.



With great clarity and warmth Rudolf Steiner details the exercises and moral qualities to be cultivated on the path to a conscious experience of supersensible realities. By patiently and persistently following his guidelines, new “organs” of soul and spirit begin to form, which reveal the contours of the higher worlds thus far concealed from us.



Steiner becomes a teacher, a counsellor, and a friend whose advice is practical, clear, and effective. The challenges we face in life require increasingly deeper levels of understanding, and Steiner’s text helps readers to cultivate the capacities for such insights and places them at the service of humanity.



‘Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and its Attainment’ is Steiner’s most essential guide to the modern path of initiation he advocated throughout his life. It has been translated into many languages and has inspired hundreds of thousands of readers around the world.