Ralph Douwe Raaths was born in Lusaka, Zambia. The son of a farmer and rancher, he helped herd cattle and sheep and tended several acres of maize. After graduation from university, Ralph entered the industrial instruments process and control trade. From an early age, Ralph took an interest in evolution and related subjects. This led to an earnest quest for answers to the mysteries of life. He embarked on in-depth studies of eurythmy,* drama, astronomy, astrology, mythology, metaphysics, history, freemasonry, African traditions, mental health and storytelling.
It was Rudolf Steiner's methodology of spiritual-scientific thinking that captivated his attention most. After the completion of a four-year training, Ralph received a eurythmy diploma in Teaching and Artistic Performance at the Cape Town School of Eurythmy. He also had postgraduate training at the London School of Eurythmy.
Ralph is an accomplished lecturer, speaking on various aspects of cosmology. In 2003, he co-founded and was the program director of Viva Youth College, whose mission was the upliftment of young people diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar and other biochemically related mental disorders. He has done extensive work with adolescent, drug and dysfunction-related problems, all based on Dr. Rudolf Steiner's work.
He has studied ascended master teachings for more than twenty years and is currently the president of the International Council of The Hearts Center.
*Eurythmy, developed by Dr. Rudolf Steiner, is the art of making speech and music visible through gesture and movement. The training is mainly artistic by nature—poetry, painting, speech and music being emphasized—but firmly founded within the philosophical, psychological and therapeutic subject matter of Dr. Steiner and the Waldorf School curriculum.