The Phenomenology of Imaginative Consciousness in Steiner

Visual experiences occurring during meditation are central to many different
religious, contemplative, and esoteric traditions. This is also true for
anthroposophy. In Rudolf Steiner’s work, meditative visual experiences, or
‘imaginations’ as they are often called, are understood as potential perceptions
of a concrete spiritual reality. Hence imaginations form the bedrock of
the anthroposophic project of cultural renewal based on spiritual perception.
The imaginative consciousness is, however, many-faceted, and sometimes
Steiner’s descriptions of it can be confusing and contradictory. This
article gives an outline of a systematic account of the phenomenology of the
imaginative consciousness in Steiner. It traces the development of the term,
presents its different aspects, and tries to resolve some conflicting statements
by introducing three different areas of imagination: sensory imagination,
imagination in the in-between area, and supersensible imagination.
This introduction lays the ground for a further systematic treatment of the
concept of imagination in Steiner.

Click here for a bilingual PDF version of the text.