Studied at the Technical College, Vienna, initially with the aim of of becoming a secondary school teacher. Main subjects: mathematics, physics, botany, zoology, chemistry, and besides this literature, history and philosophy.

Awarded Dr. Phil. by Prof. Heinrich von Stein at the University of Rostock with his dissertation ‘The basic question of theory of knowledge with special reference to Fichte’s theory of knowledge; introduction to an understanding of philosophcial self-consciousness’, published in 1892 under the title ‘Truth and Knowledge; introduction to a “Philosophy of Freedom”’ dedicated to Eduard von Hartmann.

Publisher and editor of Magazin für Literatur and Dramaturgischen Blätter, the official organ of the German Stage Union. There and elsewhere, numerous articles on literary and philosophical questions, as well as theater and book reviews.

Teaches at the school for workers founded by Wilhelm Liebknecht in Berlin. From 1902 also in Spandau. Subjects: History, Speaking Practice, Literature, Science. Encounter with Kurt Eisner and Rosa Luxemburg among others.

The first volume of Welt- und Lebensanschauungen im neunzehnten Jahrhundert appears; the second follows one year later. Revised and expanded, this work appears in 1914 under the title, The Riddles of Philosophy.

Lectures in the Theosophical Library on Goethe’s Fairy Tale and Nietsche. In autumn, he begins a lecture cycle on mysticism.

First encounter with Marie von Sivers, who becomes his closest colleague from 1902 onward. She had trained in the art of recitation at a Paris conservatory and in Dramatic Art in St. Petersburg. She is translator of several works by Edouard Schuré.

Mysticism in Modern Thought appears. His second lecture cycle held in the Theosophical Library in 1901/02 also appears, adapted to book form, under the title, Christianity as a Mystical Fact.
Steiner becomes a member of the Theosophical Society and General Secretary of the German Section of the Theosophical Society from October 1902 onward.
Encounter with Annie Besant.

Teaches at an independent college founded by the Friedrichshageners Bruno Wille and Wilhelm Bölsche.

Theosophy appears, a central anthroposophical work. It is an introduction to supersensible knowledge of the world and human destination.

Directs and produces Schuré’s The Holy Drama of Eleusis, with Marie Steiner in the lead role, as part of a congress of the International Theosophical Society in Munich, organized by him. He also decorates the hall artistically in a way that reveals his future building and art impulse.