The centerpiece of anthroposophical belief is spiritual advancement through karma and reincarnation, supplemented by the access to esoteric knowledge available to a privileged few. The spiritual dimension, in fact, suffuses every aspect of life. For anthroposophists every illness, physical or mental, is karmically determined and plays a role in the soul's development. Natural processes, historical events, and technological mechanisms are all explained through the action of spirits. Students in Waldorf schools are taught, for example, that good spirits live inside of candles and demons live inside of fluorescent light bulbs—an instance of the anti-technological bias that runs throughout anthroposophical thought.
While it is certainly true that a “centerpiece of anthroposophical belief is spiritual advancement through karma and reincarnation" it is also true that “access to esoteric knowledge available to a privileged few” is contrary to the very purpose of Anthroposophy. Steiner stated that one of the purposes of Anthroposophy is to make public occult knowledge that was previously secret. This is one of his constant themes from the very beginning.
"We are living in an age when supersensible knowledge can no longer remain the secret possession of a few. No, it must become the common property of all, in whom the meaning of life within this age is stirring as a very condition of their soul's existence."
Rudolf Steiner. Supersensible Knowledge. 1916. 29 Nov 2004. < http://wn.rsarchive.org/Articles/SupKno_index.html > (1916 magazine article, reprinted in GA 35)
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