Here - Anthroposophical Society in America

Evolving forNews
Members & Friends
r e s e ar c h is s ue 2010
a quar ter ly p ub l i cat i o n o f t h e an t h ro p o so p h i cal so ci et y in a m e r ic a
i ncludi ng t h e r ud o l f st ei n er l i b rar y n ewsl et t er
From the Editor
Research not Revelation
The present issue has taken some time to reach you, but we
expect it to be an annual feature, since the subject is so important. Research! A word that is so strongly associated with natural
science for the last several centuries, and secondly with the new
fields, the humanities, the human sciences, which blossomed as
disciplines in the 19th century.
Research is also at the heart of Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy. But anthroposophy does not see limits where natural
science has placed them. It takes those limits as demands for enhancing human capacities. Our sophisticated mechanical instruments provide wonderful data, but first and last anthroposophy
looks to disciplined human observation, imagination, inspiration,
intuition. So it charts new paths in research in many directions,
making much of very limited resources.
And despite the impression that anthroposophy all comes
from Rudolf Steiner himself, we find both outstanding predecessors to whom he pointed, as well as a remarkable number of
capable individuals and groups carrying on where Steiner left off.
As detailed on subsequent pages, research generally begins in
self-examination and meditation. It then evolves either in conversational settings like study groups and branches of the Anthroposophical Society, or in the very conscious activity of initiatives like Waldorf schools, biodynamic farms, Camphill villages,
medical and therapeutic practices, social finance organizations,
and countless artistic and community undertakings. And ideally
it finds its way then into the work of sections of the School of
Spiritual Science, an institution Rudolf Steiner created in 1924 for
this purpose. For over two decades the school has had a unifying
collegium in North America, and the good effects of this collaboration are being felt even with shoestring budgets.
Only a few segments of the range of anthroposophical research are represented in this one issue, but we hope it will
allow you to begin to imagine the true scope of Rudolf Steiner’s
intentions for anthroposophy: that it should seed the culture of
our times with an abundance of living and healing impulses and
thereby renew the consciousness of our humanity.
Plant the
Seed of
Imagination
Become a
Waldorf Teacher
Serve the future by teaching the
children of today with an unhurried,
age-appropriate education rich in art
and academics. Become a Waldorf
Teacher By compleTing a parT
Time program aT SunBridge
inSTiTuTe! Waldorf education, based on
the work of rudolf Steiner, is the fastestgrowing independent school movement
in the world. There is a constant need for
Waldorf teachers (K-12) with hundreds
of job openings every year for qualified
men and women.
Expanding Communications
As we cannot do justice to the scope of anthroposophy’s
research work in this one issue, so a quarterly printed magazine
cannot contain everything that friends and members want to
share. Nor is it satisfying to offer a largely one-way communication at a moment when the means for lively interchange get easier and easier. So we are beginning a policy of publishing much
more on the society’s website, anthroposophy.org, and linking to it
by way of the twice-monthly E-News communication. The many
interesting and timely reports will be published more quickly.
Comments can be shared. New and old items can be linked topically. The website will become a broader and deeper destination.
And our choice of what to include here or leave out will be made
less agonizing! So please sign up for E-News at anthroposophy.org to
keep in touch with further developments.
www.sunbridge.edu
285 Hungry Hollow Road
Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977
845.425.0055 / [email protected]
— John Beck, Editor, Evolving News for Members & Friends
Email: [email protected]
2
Evolving News
Contents
From the Editor
Letters to the Editor
What’s Happening at the Rudolf Steiner Library
Where on Earth Is Heaven? (RSL book review)
Ernst Katz, teacher of anthroposophy
Triskeles: Building the Positive Future
LA Karma Workshop: Tycho Brahe, Herzeleide, Emperor Julian
p.6
p.9
2
4
5
6
7
9
12
Feature Articles
Research–a special section
Spiritual Research in the Branch
The Section for the Social Sciences in North America
A Resurgence of Research at Threefold
The Henry Barnes Fund for Anthroposophical Research
What Shall We Do About Ahriman?
The Seven Levels of Illness & Healing - a modern fable
Metamorphosis: Evolution in Action (book review)
Conference of the Natural Science Section in Chicago
The Nature Institute: Center of Excellence in Holistic Research
The Postmodern Revolution and Anthroposophical Art
Challenges Facing Waldorf Education
13
14
15
16
17
18
21
23
24
25
27
40
p.7
p.12
News for Members
p.23
Freedom and Initiative: remarks by Torin Finser
“A New Impulse” Conference
Joan Treadaway (council member profile)
Michael Support Circle Report
Florida Groups Gather At The Spring Equinox
Stars, Stones & Mutuality: CRC Gathering
The Austin Centenary Celebration
The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric
Where on Earth is Heaven? (second book review)
42
45
46
46
46
47
48
51
59
p.27
Thresholds
p.48
Ronna McEldowney
Lorna Odegard
Members Who Have Died
New Members of the Anthroposophical Society
Have an article, news, letter? Want to propose one?
60
61
61
62
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Evolving News for Members and Friends is a publication of the
The Anthroposophical Society in America, 1923 Geddes Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Research Issue 2010
p.60
3
people at Forest Row, East Sussex. Three program areas are
active at this time: visual arts,
foundation through the visual
arts, sculpture training; biodynamic agriculture courses; and
storytelling courses. Emerson is
on the web at emerson.org.uk.
Letters to the Editor
On Elemental Beings
Regarding the letter by Jenny
Hohmann about nature spirits,
I would like to recommend Peter
and Anneli’s Journey to the Moon
published by SteinerBooks
two years ago. In the catalog’s
description major happenings
in the book were ignored: the
encounter of the children with
the Spirits of Nature. (The translated verses are a bit clumsy—I
am no poet!) The illustrations by
the famous German painter Hans
Baluschek are in themselves
worth looking at.
Marianne H. Luedeking
Note: Ms. Luedeking translated
the book in question. The original
German cover is below:
On Empathy
Because of your interest in
my article on empathy [in the
Sophia Sun newsletter], I thought
you would like to see the article
below. It’s really amazing to see
positive proof of the evolving of
human consciousness.
Kathleen Wright
Arianna Huffington’s article
from the Huffington Post, Feb. 3,
2010 was attached. It begins:
“For this month’s HuffPost
Book Club, I have chosen Jeremy
Rifkin’s The Empathic Civilization, which boldly sets out to
present nothing less than—as
Rifkin puts it—‘a new rendering
of human history.’ This alternative history focuses not on the
conflicts and power struggles
that have marked human
progress, but on ‘the empathic
evolution of the human race and
the profound ways it has shaped
our development.’ Empathy,
Rifkin explains, is not a quaint
behavior trotted out during
intermittent visits to a food bank
or during the Haiti telethon.
Instead, it lies at the very core
of human existence. Indeed, in
this time of economic hardship,
political instability, and rapid
technological change, empathy
is the one quality we most need
if we’re going to survive and
flourish in the 21st century.”
again for a conference “Finding
Balance,” February 24-26, 2011,
in the San Francisco Bay area;
bacwtt.org has details. Also, the
picture of Christof used (below)
should have been credited to
BACWTT.
Correction/Update
Summerfield Architect
In the article “Musical Instrument Building and Improvisation” mention was made of
“architect and parent Steve”—
which should have specified
“Steve Sheldon, who designed
the buildings at the Summerfield
Waldorf School where the workshop had taken place.
Notes/Notices
LA Library catalog online
Wiechert in Bay Area
From Rudolf Steiner Library
& Bookshop in Pasadena: “The
catalog of our library can now be
consulted on the website of the
Los Angeles Branch of the Anthroposophical Society – anthroposophyla.org. (On the home page
click on Library & Bookshop,
and on the following page click
on Library Catalog.) You can
search the catalog by book title,
author, translator and subject.
You can search for a specific
Steiner lecture by date and/or
place and run reports of all the
books in our collection by Rudolf
Steiner sorted by title or GA
number. Books by other authors
can be sorted by title, author or
subject section. Reports include
full particulars of a book, such
as publisher, publishing year
and GA number. At this time our
library has 860 different Steiner
titles, over 3800 Steiner lectures
and about 2000 titles by other
authors. Please direct inquiries
to Philip Mees phmees@sbcglobal.
net.”
The article “Renewal” mentioned as upcoming an appearance by Christof Wiechert at the
“New Impulse Conference” of
the Bay Area Center for Waldorf
Teacher Training in California
that was already past (see p. 45).
Christof will appear at BACWTT
Christof Wiechert will also
return to the Renewal 2011 program in Wilton, NH, “Celebrating
Rudolf Steiner’s 150th Anniversary.” One week courses run
from June 26th-July 1st and July
3rd-July 8th. Other presenters include Virginia Sease, Van James,
Christof Wiechert, Aonghus
Gordon and craftspeople, and Dr.
Tobias Tuechelmann. Email info@
centerforanthroposophy.org or call
603 654 2566.
Join us as we trace the threads of spiritual history
in the landscape and soul-scape of Scotland.
Story, song, eurythmy & informal talks will guide us into
the unique cultural climate of this beautiful and infinitely varied country.
We will visit the Neolithic stone circles of the Outer Hebrides and Orkney,
the glens and mountains of the Highlands, the sacred island of Iona,
the social initiative of Robert Owen at New Lanark, the spiritual
community of Findhorn, historic and beautiful Edinburgh, and much more.
Tour leaders are native Scots:
Gillian Schoemaker, eurythmist, Camphill Special Schools,
Pennsylvania, and Sean Gordon, Celtic scholar, storyteller and
Waldorf teacher, Aberdeen, Scotland
SCOTTISH ODYSSEY
July 16th – August 5th, 2011
Emerson College
Joann Ianniello wrote to be
sure that we were aware of
continuing life and activity at
Emerson College in the UK, in
the new context of “Emerson
Village.” No doubt a great many
people share her gratitude for
time spent with remarkable
Interested? For details of itinerary and cost,
please contact Gillian: 610 469 0864
[email protected]
4
Evolving News
What’s Happening in
the Rudolf Steiner Library
Judith Soleil, Library Director British journal Anthroposophical MoveFlying barcodes! Yes, the automation
project proceeds apace. The library’s
online public access catalog at http://
rsl.scoolaid.net now contains searchable
records for nearly 14,000 items, about half
the collection. When visiting the catalog
online, be sure to check out the “News”
section. We are posting book annotations
on the page now as well as events we host
at the library. Also check the “New Items”
page, which lists monthly acquisitions.
Call for volunteer translators! The
library subscribes to a number of Germanlanguage anthroposophical journals with
intriguing contents: Das Goetheanum,
Info3, Flensburger Heft, Der Europäer, Die
Drei, Die Christengemeinschaft. We would
love to share some of the articles from
these journals with English speakers.
Please let us know if you would like to collaborate with us on such a project; we will
provide editorial assistance.
We are looking for back issues of the
ment/News Sheet for Members of the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain, and
copies of the Rundbrief published by the
Pedagogical Section. Contact us regarding
specific dates needed.
Why books? Are books just a tired, inefficient, outdated medium (ouch!)? Digital
resources are important, particularly
in the sciences, where researchers rely
on up-to-the-minute online journals and
databases. Still, Robert Darnton, director
of Harvard’s university library, predicts
longevity for the book: http://harvardmaga-
zine.com/2010/05/gutenberg-2-0
Book Reviews
by Frederick Dennehy
In this issue we offer Keith Francis’s
review of Metamorphosis: Evolution in
Action, by Andreas Suchantke, one of the
most important books on Goethean science to appear in years. Readers of this
book (and, because it is so incisive and detailed, this review) are likely to come to a
fresh understanding
of metamorphosis as
not only a concept,
I believe that miso belongs to the highest class of medicines,
but as an imaginative
those which help prevent disease and strengthen
activity. Suchantke
emphasizes the need
the body through continued usage. . . Some people speak of
to “escape from the
miso as a condiment, but miso brings out the flavor and
idea of a fixed spatial
form” and cultivate
nutritional value in all foods and helps the body to digest
an intuition of “the
and assimilate whatever we eat. . .
inner line, or, rather,
the time-gestalt of
—Dr. Shinichiro Akizuki,
the whole of evoluDirector, St Francis Hospital, Nagasaki
tion.” In a larger
context, readers
will be challenged
to wean themselves
from the mechanistic habit of focusing
exclusively on what
Aristotle termed
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Research Issue 2010
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5
the process of change—metamorphosis—
sharply distinguishable from a grasp of the
finished world that physicists investigate.
Also in this issue is my review of Where
On Earth Is Heaven? by Jonathan Stedall,
a warm, honest, and amateur—in the best
sense—inquiry into the meaning of immortality. Readers will be intrigued (and
instructed) by Mr. Stedall’s understanding
of anthroposophy from the periphery of
the movement, and an account of Rudolf
Steiner not from the vantage point of a disciple, but from that of a sympathetic friend.
Book reviews are on p.6 and p.23.
Library Annotations
Brief descriptions of new books available from
the library; annotations this time by Judith Soleil.
Anthroposophy—Rudolf Steiner
Astronomy and Astrology: Finding a
Relationship to the Cosmos, compiled and
edited by Margaret Jonas, Rudolf Steiner
Press, 2009, 250 pgs. Includes notes and a
bibliography.
“Although Steiner rejects the simplistic
notion of the planets determining our lives
and behavior, he makes a clear connection
between the heavenly bodies and human beings…. This…anthology features excerpts of
Steiner’s work on the spiritual individualities
of the planets, the determination of human
characteristics by the constellation at birth,
the cultural epochs and the passage of the
equinox, solar and lunar eclipses…and much
more.” An excellent introduction by Margaret
Annotations continue on p. 62
Rudolf Steiner Library’s borrowing service
is free for Anthroposophical Society in
America members; non-members pay
an annual fee. Borrowers pay round-trip
postage. Requests can be made by mail
(65 Fern Hill Road Ghent, N.Y. 12075),
phone (518-672-7690), fax (518-672-5827),
or e-mail: [email protected]
Book Review / the Rudolf Steiner Library Newsletter
is simply between science and religion. Rather, the division is between
those persons who sense and seek
an intrinsic meaning and purpose in
the world, and two other groups: (1)
those who see any notions of meaning and purpose as the ephemeral
projections of needy humans, determined by a combination of biochemistry and “contingency”; and (2)
those who believe in the existence
of objective purpose and meaning
but think that these are destined to
be realized elsewhere, in a “heaven”
somewhere beyond Earth. That “somewhere” is often conceived
to be on a “thinner” or disembodied plane that is subject nonetheless to “ordinary consciousness”—the same consciousness
that regulates our experiences at ten in the morning on a not
very exciting workday.
Mr. Stedall takes his stand unmistakably on the first side of
this divide, but not as a combatant, a philosopher, or a systematizer. Instead, he reports to us as an observer of long standing
who has seen and inquired into a vast range of human experience. A significant part of that experience is closely related to
anthroposophy.
Mr. Stedall returns again and again to Rudolf Steiner, as a
philosopher, an esotericist, and the source for the creation of
Camphill therapeutic initiatives and Waldorf education. Very
little in these pages could be deemed to be “original” regarding
Steiner, and a fair portion of the commentary is overtly mediated through secondary sources. Mr. Stedall was enormously
impressed with the Camphill movement, which he encountered through his work documenting the Camphill community,
Botton Village, and the school at Camphill Aberdeen. He was
strongly influenced by his nine-month stay at Emerson College
in England, particularly by the scientific method of founder and
principal Francis Edmunds. During that same stay he boycotted all eurythmy classes. While he enrolled both his children in
a Waldorf school, he found the experience there insufficiently
flexible to accommodate the particular interests evinced by his
children when they did not conform to the time frame expected
by the teachers concerned.
But this is not a book for students of Rudolf Steiner or for
participants in the daughter movements of anthroposophy
who want to go deeper. Nor is it a book in which you will find
the struggles and hurdles encountered by a man who at long
last “finds” anthroposophy. What you will find is an intelligent,
intensely curious, and candid thinker who experiences and
digests the insights of Rudolf Steiner along with those of Carl
Jung, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and many others, albeit with
a partiality toward Steiner. You will find a man fascinated by
the human side of great thinkers and doers. And so he places
Steiner in both surprising and unsurprising company, along
with Tolstoy, Gandhi, Sir Bernard Lovell, Malcolm Muggeridge,
the poet John Betjeman, Laurens van der Post, and many
Where on Earth Is Heaven?
By Jonathan Stedall; Hawthorn Press, 2009, 566 pgs
Review by Frederick J. Dennehy
Books describing an author’s spiritual journey generally tend
toward an ending. Readers find themselves traveling along with
the author and sense in the final pages that a “destination” of
some sort will be reached.
Where on Earth Is Heaven? is not structured in that way. As
Richard Tarnas aptly notes in his foreword, Jonathan Stedall’s
book is more like a fireside chat. His account has the freshness
and honesty of a friend’s impressionistic reminiscences, as well
as the meandering and somewhat repetitious features of informal conversation.
Mr. Stedall’s original intention was to write very little about
himself, and to focus on the people whom he had come to know
and the ideas he had encountered that had influenced him spiritually. Readers
Editor’s Note: by separate routes we
of the first draft
received two reviews of this unusual book.
suggested that
Since they are relatively short and different
the book needed
in character, we are publishing both. The
to be more ausecond review, by Signe Schaefer, follows the
tobiographical;
continuation of this review, on page 59.
consequently,
Mr. Stedall, with some reluctance, extended his account to
include moments from his “own bumpy journey—the downs as
well as the ups.”
“Where on Earth is heaven?” was a question originally asked
many years ago by the author’s then seven-year-old son. This
book is Mr. Stedall’s effort, after a gap of twenty years and his
encounter with serious illness, to answer it. Each of the thirtysix chapters is connected—directly or indirectly—to the possibility and meaning of immortality. The chapters loosely follow
Mr. Stedall’s career as a BBC documentary film producer. His
employer (hard to imagine
this now!) allowed him to
travel—geographically
and spiritually—almost
wherever his most burning
questions dictated.
Mr. Stedall is not a scholar but a producer of films.
He is not a man of personal
visionary experience but a person of natural devotion and
highly focused attention. In the words of Nicolas Malebranche,
“attention is the natural prayer we make to inner truth in order
that it may be revealed in us.”
This book takes its place on one side of a cultural divide
whose fault lines have been visible for a long time and have
been widening at an ever-increasing speed. The topography
of that divide has also altered appreciably since it was delineated by C.P. Snow in The Two Cultures in 1961. The split is not
so much between the scientific method and the humanities
(Geisteswissenschaft), and it would be crude to maintain that it
Review continues on page 59
6
Evolving News
Ernst Katz, teacher of anthroposophy
Donald Melcer
understand what you present in lectures. Can you tell us what
it is that makes you different?” The students were quite correct
in their perception, for Ernst believed that every human connection was an event of destiny, and he treated each one with
respect and reverence.
Some years later, Ernst phoned the regular members of the
study group and suggested that we buy an old abandoned fraternity house. The purpose was to create a dwelling for university students interested in spiritual development so they could
have a common place to live and study. We responded, and the
Rudolf Steiner Institute of the Great Lakes Area was formed as a
non-profit corporation. The structure of the building was sound,
but the interior had to be completely renovated. Much of the
restoration work was done by local members who donated their
weekends for at least a year. A central building was created
where anthroposophical activities of all sorts could take place.
Ernst and his wife Katherine soon sold their large home on the
Huron river and bought a small house adjacent to the building
now named Rudolf Steiner House. For many years they were
overseers of the building and friends of the students and artists
who lived there. After it’s mission had been served, the building
was donated to the Anthroposophical Society in America and is
now the society’s headquarters.
The University of Michigan allowed professors to teach what
was called “Free Offerings,” full credit courses in their special
interests. Course content was carefully screened by a special
committee. Ernst applied to teach anthroposophical courses,
and after intense scrutiny, was allowed to do so. As a result, he
was one of the few university professors at that time—perhaps
the only one in North
America—who taught
courses in both natural
science and “spiritual”
science.
One of the great
blessings of a university
teaching career is that
opportunities for work
are always greater than
the time available to do
them all. Boredom is
never a problem. I saw
that Ernst accomplished
an amazing amount of
work, yet never seemed
rushed or anxious. How
did he do it? I simply
could not accomplish
everything I wanted to,
and decided to make a
special trip to Ann Arbor
to ask Ernst’s advice for
improvement. Of course
I hoped that he would
give me a few clues as to
how one accomplishes
more work in less time.
On September 3, 2009 one of the great teachers of anthroposophy crossed the threshold. Ernst Katz was 96 years old.
He joined the society when he was 16, and was fully dedicated
to anthroposophy as a way of life and for understanding man’s
purpose on Earth for all those 80 years.
I first became acquainted with Ernst in 1962 when a series of
his articles about the book The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity
was published in the new journal (now defunct) Free Deeds.
I had been reading various works of Rudolf Steiner for about
three years. Like many people, I had struggled to understand
that particular book, as well as most of Steiner’s other “basic
books.” Ernst’s articles were examples of extraordinarily clear
thinking. I felt as though I had at last found a competent guide to
the lofty ideas presented in The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity.
Every time the postman delivered a new issue of Free Deeds I
felt a rush of anticipation for Ernst’s next article.
About five years later at a summer anthroposophical conference I met a young professor of German from the University
of Michigan. Alan Cottrell told me about the Ann Arbor study
group in anthroposophy led by physics professor Ernst Katz,
and the wise guidance he provided. As a person who had studied anthroposophy mostly alone and had many unanswered
questions, I was envious of those fortunate people who had
such a teacher. Destiny responded kindly to my envy, for within
a year I was offered a position at Michigan State University, just
a fifty minute drive from Ann Arbor. I quickly broke my vow never live in a place where it snowed all winter, and we left sunny
Austin, Texas for snowy East Lansing, Michigan.
The Ann Arbor study group held its meetings in
the homes of several members. The presentation
protocol was simple. A designated person would
present a short recap of a preselected Steiner
lecture which was followed by a general discussion. Attendance was typically 25 to 30 eager
anthroposophists, and discussion was lively. I
found Ernst’s behavior interesting. There was no
doubt that he was the leader but he showed no
inclination to display his superior anthroposophical knowledge. Often he made little or no comment about a question or topic. More typically the
discussion would continue until a question arose
that no one could explain adequately. The room
would grow quiet as all eyes turned toward Ernst.
He would then say rather quietly, “Yes, well...” and
then give his thoughts on the question. We learned
to have our notebooks and pencils ready at those
moments.
Physics students at the university also recognized his extraordinary teaching skills and personal character. Once a group of students called
on him during office hours and said something to
this effect: “You know, Dr. Katz, we students gossip
about our teachers, and we have noticed something different about you. Your courses are more
alive and you seem genuinely interested that we
Research Issue 2010
7
Instead, he told me how one of his colleagues, a famous scientist
who received many requests for more information about articles he published, responded to all these inquiries—more than
he could possibly answer. Ernst said, “He ignores the first and
second request by any individual and only answers if there is a
third. He figures that if a person asks the third time, he or she
is really interested and will make good use of his reply.” That
was Ernst’s quiet answer to my question. As I drove home to
East Lansing I felt that he had not answered my question at all. I
had expected a detailed answer describing how one goes about
improving his output. After a time, the answer dawned upon me.
Ernst had said in effect, “Here is how one man does it. You will
have to develop the capacity and skills to accomplish what you
want in your life—there is no simple formula.” Thanks, Ernst.
All of Ernst’s teachings, whether given to an individual, or
published as essays for all to read, have this quality—they
did not provide a ready answer to a particular problem, but
required the person to think through the details and find his
or her own solution. Ernst knew that we learn most profoundly
through our own active thinking, and he was a master at
stimulating such thinking. No wonder that his physics students
perceived something different about him.
All his published anthroposophical essays will soon be available in a book titled Core Anthroposophy: The Teaching Essays
of Ernst Katz to be published by SteinerBooks. Jannebeth Röell,
James Lee, and I edited the book and found the work absolutely
inspiring. Ernst’s composition is exquisite. One of the last questions I asked him before his death was, “How do you write these
excellent essays?” This was not just a question of curiosity—I
wanted to improve my own writing. I was hoping again for an
answer in the form of step-by-step instruction.
His response was to mail me a copy of a letter by Sergei
Prokofieff praising Ernst for one of his essays. Prokofieff is one
of the current generation’s most respected anthroposophical
writers. Ernst’s letter thanked me for my compliments about his
writing and enclosed a copy of the Prokofieff letter. That was all.
What was he suggesting?
Ernst was too modest to be calling attention to himself, so I
knew the Prokofieff letter was not for that purpose. His response
said in effect, “You discovered something about my writing that
a writer we both highly respect also discovered.” I took that to
be a very nice personal compliment, but the real lesson was, “If
you will continue to study the essays carefully you will discover
the method of my writing.” Then, of course, what I learn will
come as my own effort in imaginative cognition, not by following
a set of instructions that would likely produce a dull imitation.
At that moment I felt deep thanks—thanks from the heart—for
Ernst’s answer to my question.
Ernst intended all of his writings to be for both the present
and coming generations. He would be pleased if you were to
select him as one of your spiritual teachers. You won’t be disappointed if you do.
centerpoint
ANTHROPOSOPHY NYC
email: [email protected]
Lectures, workshops, art exhibits, festivals, study groups.
RUDOLF STEINER BOOKSTORE
features works of Rudolf Steiner and many others on spiritual
research, Waldorf education, personal growth, Goethean science,
Biodynamic agriculture, holistic therapies, the arts, and more
Fall/Winter Highlights
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS: ANTHROPOSOPHY IN AMERICA & NYC
Nov 20, Sat, 7:30pm – Mel Shrawder
Pax Vobiscum, a full length play
Nov 21, Sun – Vivian Gladwell
The Courage to Be, An Introduction to Clowning
Conference & Workshop , 1-5:30pm; Performance, 7pm
Nov 22, Mon, 7pm – Linda Larson (eurythmy workshop)
Colors of the Rainbow (Dec 13: In the Advent Mood)
Dec 5, Sun, 5pm – Advent Garden Festival Celebration
Dec 8, Wed, 7pm – David Anderson (10-part series)
Essential Steiner: Steiner & Psychology
(Jan 19: Projective Geometry; Feb 16: Chemistry)
Dec 9, Thu, 7:30pm – Dorothy Emmerson
Acting for Non-Actors (Michael Chekhov Techniques)
Dec 18, Sat, 2-5pm – Art Exhibit Opening
Jorge Sanz Cardona: Soulscapes
Dec 26–Jan 6: The Holy Nights & Epiphany
Phoebe Alexander, Walter Alexander, Cynthia Lang,
Barbar Simpson, Keith Francis, Kevin Dann, George
Centanni, Lenard Petit, Linda Larson, Erk Ludwig,
Fred Dennehy; Jan 6 - Epiphany Dinner & Concert
FUTURE SPECIAL EVENTS
Feb 14, Mon, 7pm – Torin Finser
Freedom & Initiative:
Anthroposophy in the 21st Century
Feb 26, Sat, 7pm – Eugene Schwartz
Rudolf Steiner & the 21st Century
Mar 11-12, Fri/Sat – Steiner Books
Spiritual Research Seminar 2011
ANTHROPOSOPHY NYC
Donald Melcer, PhD, is professor emeritus at Michigan State University, a clinical psychologist, and a marriage and family therapist. He
coordinates the Anthroposophical Foundation studies at the Austin,
Texas, Waldorf School.
the New York Branch of the
Anthroposophical Society in America
138 West 15th Street, NY, NY 10011
(212) 242-8945
www.asnyc.org
8
Evolving News
Building the Positive Future
A conversation with Clemens Pietzner on Triskeles
In 2002, Clemens Pietzner and a group of colleagues and board
members created the Triskeles Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to youth, philanthropic services and community
building. From
1984 to 2002,
Clemens was executive director
of the Camphill
Foundation, a
public foundation focused on
serving communities caring for and supporting children, youth, and adults with
developmental disabilities.
And finally, the fourth theme is that of: money and intention.
Money is neutral, and it’s given value and movement through a
series of our actions and oftentimes, arbitrary agreements that
we generate collectively. A whole universe of activity emerges
from that! In fact, money gains a certain kind of value, by what
Working out of World Themes
it does. And it “does stuff” because we ask it to. So we give it
intention when we buy something or when we give a gift. It
bears something of our consciousness, and it gains movement
through that. I’ve always been really
interested in what money bears, what
is inherent in the transactions of
money and the forces connected to
money.
These four themes were central to
the formation of Triskeles. We chose
to build our programs with those four
themes in mind, because they are all
intertwined. By working with young
people, we are directly addressing a
positive future. And, we chose to work
with money and intentionality around
the issues of investment and gifts.
That was true also of the themes of
ownership and stewardship in community.
So, these ideas continue to be very
much at the core of what Triskeles
currently does even as our programs
continue to evolve, emerge, and grow.
» Evolving News — How did the Triskeles thought
and approach develop?
Clemens Pietzner — Part of this was
biographical, and some of it has to do
with how I’ve had the privilege of being
inserted into the world. Prior to Triskeles,
I had 20 years of active engagement in
various ways with Camphill. And prior to
that, government work in three different
state governments. I have always had an
interest in social action, social justice.
Some key themes have been part of
the formation of Triskeles. Those are not
personal themes; they belong to all of us;
they are world themes.
The first theme is: how do we build a
positive future? That has always been a
big question for all of us, with the emphasis on “positive.”
A second theme relates to the question
of community and individual. How can I
be my best independent self, standing free
and fully conscious, and how can I—at the
same time—be most connected and most
engaged in my community—be that with
my family, or my social organism? Connectedness and engagement are central
to the second theme.
The third theme is: stewardship and
ownership. What can I truly own in this
world? And what is it my practical and
moral obligation to be a steward of? I
don’t mean that only in terms of natural
resources. But what kinds of forces do I
need to steward, what kinds of relationships, and even how do I steward my own
world and the social contract that I make
with others?
Research Issue 2010
Thought into Actions
and Back into Thought
» EN — You’ve done some
shaping of the organization, separating
out the original foundation/philanthropic work, and you’ve certainly had a lot
of success in the youth work. Where
would you say it is going?
CP — All I can really speak to with
accuracy is maybe the next three to
five years. First of all, we are generating a lot of energy and excitement and
programmatic effectiveness around
youth employment, health, nutrition,
9
of impact and social importance, defined in a variety of ways,
continue to be more and more important. This is what we strive
for in our donor advised funding and related work in philanthropy. To be part of and helping initiate conversations on different
levels around this issue of alignment, whether that be with
financial planners or people who come at this from a very spiritual perspective and want to see how that streams into practical
life, will be a factor in our growth.
We want to continue and expand the approaches that we
have to our donor advised fund work and our philanthropic
work. We definitely see our “Food for Thought” and our related
programs growing. And we’re looking to further develop our
green Sustainable Directions Internship Program in New York
City. We will be
adding board
members and
increasing infrastructure. We’re
interested in
youth entrepreneurship, social
entrepreneurship, and philanthropy also with
youth.
These are
directions for
further expansion. Of course, a
particular challenge is
finding resources. Can we
find the resources to meet the
demands and interests in our
activity areas?
all the issues around obesity, leadership training, social entrepreneurship, and philanthropy. Our “Food for Thought”
program is becoming in some respects our flagship
program, and it touches on all of those areas.
So, we’ll continue to focus on and build
that program.
Secondly, because we work
with young people, we are
finding a great deal of
interest in the area of
social entrepreneurship.
Young people want to
know about business,
about money, about
green projects and
operations, sustainable
organizations, and globalism in the best sense
of the word. How do
young people take those
large ideas and apply
them in their practical
lives? We will continue
to focus on the areas of social entrepreneurship for young
people and youth philanthropy. I also think this is a huge
area of opportunity for the Waldorf schools. Youth
today are really interested in those topics and
get inspired when they see people who
“walk the talk” and are doing things
that are connected to their ideals.
The third direction we are working
towards has to do with alignment. More
and more people understand the positive aspects of sustainable and socially
responsible investing and are seeing
more deeply that it’s productive to think
about investing aligned with one’s
values and aligned with one’s charitable
intent. There have been significant leaders in this field who have demonstrated
that there is, can, and should be effective
alignment between those things. That’s where
returns, not just financial returns, but returns
Engaging the Work of Triskeles
» EN — Then how can people step forward and help, work
with you, and also benefit from your experience?
CP — We are very interested in working with people who,
through philanthropy, wish to take advantage of our
donor advised fund services. We are always looking
for new, positive relationships that might manifest as
board membership or advisors, or as volunteers
on the local level. We are looking for program support. Without question, all this will help us grow.
Unfortunately, we are not always able to meet
a very, very significant demand for our youth
programs because we just don’t have the
bandwidth at times to do that. And then if
people wish to benefit from our experience, we also do advisory work for and
with small projects and not-for-profits.
We are not a grant-making organization in the traditional sense. It’s important that people understand that.
We do have resources, but the funds
that we have in the Triskeles Foundation are stewarded by us; we don’t
have discretionary gift money. The
10
Evolving News
A Working-with-the-Whole Process
» EN — It seems an unusual combination, altogether, from understanding philanthropy through actual money management to all
the human relationships. And these very specific needs of young
people and their families, both the under-served and then young
people looking to experience entrepreneurship. Is Triskeles
fairly unique in this combination?
CP — I don’t know of any youth organization that actually
provides programs that could potentially support a youngster
from kindergarten through 12th grade. More specifically, I don’t
know of other organizations that are focusing on the youth work
around food and youth entrepreneurship and then also taking
it all the way into philanthropy; not only for youth but beyond
that. I don’t know of another organization that unifies all these
pieces. In our “Food for Thought” program, for example, we’re
making products like pesto or salsa with the youth. And we’re
creating small business plans with them. Many of these youngsters are underserved kids, but Waldorf youth are important
participants in these activities as well. We are creating small
business plans around the food products that they have actually made. Then, we’re taking the products and youngsters to
local farmers’ markets and shops in their neighborhoods where
they are selling their products. From the money that we make
with the youth, we put the money into a small youth donor
advised fund. And then we guide the youth through a philanthropy process in which the young people are actually thinking,
“What are the entities in our community that we use?”
“How can we support them?”
We lead the youngsters through a process in which they
make choices
about what
local charities
they want to
support with
the money
that they’ve
earned. Some
of our board
members
have matched the youths’ gifts and sales. That is a long process. Again, I don’t know of any other group that is taking
the process that far. There are many great youth
groups around food, and there are great youth
employment groups, but we seek to
combine all of these pieces.
gifts we make are supportive of our donors’ intents. As a result,
we have to disappoint people a lot, but that’s just how it works.
Finally, we can serve smaller not-for-profits who are interested in a sustainable investment approach by working with
their endowments or reserve funds. Sometimes endowments
or reserve funds in organizations aren’t big enough
to get the attention of money managers. We’re
able to do that on their behalf. We can manage these funds in a socially-responsible,
mission-related way, and the resources
do not have to be huge. Those are a
variety of ways that people could get
engaged—and if you gave me another
ten minutes I could think of a
hundred more!
» EN — It’s real social-artistic work. I’d
ask more but you’ve given a lot of time
this morning.
CP —Triskeles has come a long way
in these seven years, and it has been a
great journey, hard sometimes, but joyful
and very rewarding.
Photos by Emilie McI. Barber.
Research Issue 2010
11
LA Karma Exercises Workshop
Tycho Brahe, Herzeleide, Emperor Julian
with Linda Connell, Jannebeth Röell,
MariJo Rogers, Lynn Stull and Joyce Muraoka
June 25– 26, 2010 in Pasadena, CA
This excellent workshop should be subtitled, “An Evolving
Method for Studying Karma.” Linda Connell, Jannebeth Röell,
and MariJo Rogers (center, right, and left in the picture at right)
shared with us the results of many months of their private
endeavors to bring karma
study to life through looking
at the lives of Tycho Brahe
(1546-1601, left), Herzeleide
(9th century, pictured below
watching a tournament) and
Emperor Julian (Julian the
Apostate, 331-363, two sculptures at lower right). They began with these three people
because Rudolf Steiner gives
a fairly lengthy description
of their connection in Karmic
Relationships, vol. 4 (lectures of 9/14 and 9/16/1924),
describing something of the
earthly life of this individuality in each incarnation as
well as life between death and rebirth.
The workshop focused on the first karma exercise, the
Saturn, Sun, and Moon exercise (Karmic Relationships, vol. 2,
5/4/1924), where you
bring before your
mind certain features
and characteristics
of a person and then
“think them away”
in order to arrive at
deeper levels in the
person’s life, and, ultimately, a picture of
the person’s karma.
Jannebeth, MariJo
and Linda had each
done extensive
research into the life
of one of the three:
Jannebeth studied
Emperor Julian,
MariJo pondered
Herzeleide, and Linda researched the life of Tycho Brahe. After
a brief introduction to the first karma exercise, each presented
an extensive biography of the person she had studied. The basic
method was to look initially at physical characteristics and
constitution, including significant illnesses (moon level). Next,
we heard about upbringing, family life, education, travels, work,
significant people met, geographic settings, and relationships;
in other words, all that the person saw and heard and accomplished or attempted in life (sun level). Finally, a deeper look
at what seemed to live as the tendency of the person’s life, the
direction of the person’s thought (saturn level).
In the final session of the workshop, Jannebeth drew a grid on
the blackboard: across the top¸ Julian, Herzeleide, and Tycho;
along the left side, from top to bottom, “spiritual world”, saturn,
sun, moon, making a grid of 12 squares. It was our turn to bring
something to the workshop. What had we noticed, what stood
out for us, what parallels might exist, what had surprised us,
made us say “Aha!”? This collaborative work was challenging
and very exciting. Among the observations: each person was
born into a noble family; there were very strong themes of the
sun in each life; there was a powerful connection between this
individuality and Mani in at least the lives of Julian and Herzeleide; and each of the people at some point were within the
same geographic areas in Europe. This was a beginning, a first
tentative penetration into the themes of this fascinating and
important personality.
We were supported in this endeavor by the nourishing
eurythmy brought by Lynn Stull. With Joyce Muraoka speaking,
they presented “The Stars Once Spoke to Man,” a verse presented by Rudolf Steiner to Marie Steiner, three times throughout
the workshop, which helped us deepen our appreciation of the
theme. We also had a eurythmy session with
Lynn, with a wonderful collaborative effort to
choreograph and perform one section of the
verse.
This workshop takes up the important
question of how we can study karma. Rudolf
Steiner gave us his karma
research as a precious legacy
and an incentive to take up
this essential work. Using his work as a scaffolding, Linda, MariJo, and Jannebeth have begun
to construct a practical method for taking up
this task. If any other branch is interested in
having this workshop, please email any of the
presenters:
Linda Connell ([email protected]);
Jannebeth Röell ( [email protected]);
MariJo Rogers ([email protected]).
Marcia Murray
Pasadena, CA
12
Evolving News
a special section
Research
Anthroposophy as developed by Rudolf Steiner a century ago is distinguished by truly holistic
breadth and by commitment to a path of objective, scientific research. It does not accept the
so-called “limits to knowledge” which still mark off the boundaries of modern natural science—
specifically the limits to our understanding of “matter” and “consciousness.” These are not real,
unsurpassable limits, Steiner insisted, but stage-markers in human development which are calling
for new techniques based in the cultivation of the potentials of human consciousness.
knows well that one must not only transform many things in
oneself...but also lay aside many habits, representations, and
concepts before one can enter the higher worlds.” (Lecture
of August 27, 1912)
So the path of anthroposophical research is at the same
time a process of personal growth and transformation. And
everyone who undertakes this challenge is immediately
faced with the rather overwhelming abilities and accomplishments of Rudolf Steiner himself. How could he know so
much, critics ask, and why has he had no equals? The first
question can be met by pointing to persons of unique gifts in
many fields. For the second, the answer lies in human evolution itself, the evolution of consciousness which is both an
individual matter and an aspect of the life of humanity. There
are many researchers following Steiner, but anthroposophy
recognized that we are all becoming, never finished. And so
the very most essential requirement for this path of research
may simply be humility. In T.S. Eliot’s phrase, “Humility is
endless.” Submitting ourselves to humility’s power, we become capable of attempting whatever needs doing.
The following pages, then, offer some aspects of the present work of research among anthroposophists today. What
we do not capture at all in this first look is the working of the
three emerging higher senses for which Rudolf Steiner used
the names Imagination, Inspiration, Intuition. He meant them
in a specially disciplined and intensified form, but imaginations and inspirations and intuitions such as we all have
give us a clue: private, intimate moments of wonder, fresh
perception, insight, realization. Experiences of that sort are
contemplated and then perhaps taken into the conversations
of study groups and branches, into the teachers’ circles of
schools and the life of all kinds of initiatives. With special
intention they are also shared in the work of the sections
of the School for Spiritual Science, established by Rudolf
Steiner in the last months of his life.
And so what is won individually and humbly is shared,
heard, pondered; and it becomes, in Michael Howard’s
phrase in an article we will publish in the next issue, vital
threads in a living fabric.
Rudolf Steiner’s own life path is filled with new approaches
and new beginnings in the search for real knowledge and
experience. Gifted in childhood with what Hollywood has
popularized as the ability to “see dead people,” Steiner
turned away from this spontaneous gift and sought to find a
path to the same and further experiences by methods appropriate to the Western scientific tradition. An early discovery
was that the true contemplation of geometric forms involves
a “sense-free thinking.” Lines without width and planes
without depth, the stuff of geometry, are no more perceptible
to the physical senses, and no more materially real, than human beings who have left their bodies at death; but they can
be known in contemplation. Steiner continued with intensive
studies in Vienna which for its time would equate to a course
at MIT or Cal Tech today. He learned to review the most uncongenial and dogmatic lectures over and over again—backwards. In that way he discovered how their hidden logical
failures could unlock more living insights.
In the years before 1900 Steiner explored many paths:
psychological phenomenology (which became essential to
20th century philosophy); the dynamic morphological and
evolutionary science of Goethe (still slowly being recognized
as fundamental to true ecological and life sciences); the
esoteric wisdom of a “simple” folk herbalist; and the popular
occult spiritualistic streams like Freemasonry and Theosophy. He engaged the most serious scientific research of a
triumphant time which had unlocked the vast force fields of
electromagnetism, unrolled the time dimension of life in biological evolution, and opened the doors of the unconscious
mind. He also immersed himself in the arts and humanities,
and in the intense social questions arising at the end of
aristocracy. Most importantly, however, he was developing
capacities for introspection, meditation, and contemplation,
until he arrived at the little understood point of “initiation.”
As he described it just short of a century ago, “We must
gradually accustom ourselves to the necessity of submitting our ideas, concepts and modes of thought to a certain
change before we are able to form correct ideas of the higher
worlds beyond the senses.... Anyone really pursuing the
practical path into the worlds opened by initiation, anyone
having actual experience of life beyond the sense world,
Research Issue 2010
— The Editor
13
Research–a special section
As it did for Rudolf Steiner, the research
process may begin with our own experiences
and insights. These will commonly be shared
first in a branch or study group.
Living with and Sharing Questions in the Twin Cities:
Spiritual Research in the Branch
by Dennis Dietzel, Roseville, MN
Branch activity in the Twin Cities has waxed and waned over
time, but in the last five years we have consistently met on the
third Wednesday of each month with ten to fourteen people.
Our current activity is largely due to the hard work of a few
people, particularly Becky Streeter, who has been our Branch
contact in recent years.
About five years ago we started following a three-part meeting format, inspired by Rene Querido:
1. some content related to anthroposophy / spiritual research,
2. branch business and reports from local initiatives,
3. current events in the light of anthroposophy.
As we have worked with this form, we have gradually moved to
a two-part meeting preceded by a social time where we share a
potluck meal.
During the first part of the meeting, we strive to build an
awareness of local anthroposophical initiatives and attempt (in
words inspired by Robert Karp) to build a vessel that weaves together the spiritual intentions of the different initiatives. We are
blessed with many anthroposophical initiatives—three Waldorf
schools, two life-sharing/CSA farms, Camphill Village Minnesota, some medical related work,—and through our shared experience we hear about the various initiatives and their activities.
We then hold them in silence for a few minutes, sending our best
thoughts for their efforts. This part of the meeting is our vesselbuilding work and takes 30-45 minutes.
The second part of the meeting is devoted to sharing the spiritual research of members. We approach this in a very humble
way, encouraging the person to share their research at whatever level they are. We keep the definition of “spiritual research”
broad enough so that people do not feel intimidated or that they
have to match up to Dr. Steiner’s standards. The format is up to
the presenter, but generally he or she speaks for 20-30 minutes
followed by conversation and questions (up to an hour). “Minnesota Nice” prevails here, so we tend to not be overly critical of
each other, striving to listen and respect each others’ opinions.
Following are some examples of recent presentations:
Albert Linderman is involved professionally as an organizational development consultant. He has studied the work of Otto
Scharmer (www.presencing.com) and taken a workshop on Theory
U, Otto’s approach to group decision making. Albert described
Theory U, which takes a group through a transformative process
of open mind/heart/ will to presencing, allowing solutions to
come from the future. Although Otto is presenting his work in
the main-stream as a lecturer at MIT, it happens that he grew
up on a biodynamic farm in Germany. He does not speak about
anthroposophy in his written work, but his work reveals many
inspirations from this fount.
John Fuller recently attended the Economics of Peace conference in California. John shared this work with us and related it
to anthroposophical principals of threefolding. After presenting
a sober picture of our current economic situation, John shared
from the many inspiring presentations of people he heard at the
conference (www.economicsofpeace.net).
Our next meeting will focus on the work of Shona Terrill, who
is working on her masters degree at Antioch College. She will
lead a session on the topic of her dissertation, which is “Moral
Education.” Shona describes her work thus:
I explore observations of past societal crises and reveal how
these relate to education through the prism of five moral pillars: sympathy, benevolence, reason, equity, and self determination. I also use these pillars to examine modern day social
and educational theory. By studying three local schools of
differing educational streams, I explore how contemporary
society puts moral education into practice.
We have found this sharing of research to be fruitful for the
group and a way for the researcher to deepen his/her own
work. It does take extra effort to put ones’ ideas in front of other
people, but the payback is the insight gained from the input of
others.
Reprinted from the Winter-Spring 2009-10 edition of The Correspondence, the newsletter of the Central Region. Dennis Dietzel
serves on the Central Regional Council and joined the General Council
of the Anthroposophical Society in America representing his region.
“Sections” of the School for Spiritual
Science founded by Rudolf Steiner serve
medicine, pedagogy, agriculture, the
social sciences, visual arts, performing
arts, literary arts and humanities, natural
science, mathematics and astronomy, and
the spiritual striving of youth.
14
Evolving News
The Section for the Social Sciences
in North America
The Life of a Research Section
In any Section of the School of
Spiritual Science, not all members
work on a single theme; rather, each
individual generally works on the issue or issues that present themselves
in life. This can allow us to research
and be active in areas that we love.
The Section for the Social Sciences, by its very
nature, includes a particularly wide range of interests: members work in and represent research
and activities touching on every realm of social
life. As described on the Goetheanum website:
The section itself consists of about 140 members. Within the
section, a Traveling Collegium meets with geographically scattered groups—generally twice a year—and sponsors a twiceyearly newsletter, providing members a forum of colleagues.
The North American section maintains a close connection
with that at the Goetheanum and was happily able to send two
Collegium members to a Section for Social Sciences meeting in
Dornach in November 2009. That year also saw cosponsorship
of a public conference in Spring Valley and a “Round Table on
Economics” at the Annual General Meeting of the Anthroposophical Society. At both the latter events younger friends were
visible and active.
The heart of the section lies in the initiative of members. In
some areas—the Northern California and Berkshire-Taconic
groups come to mind—Section members meet regularly to
study and share work-in-progress. Members who work with
youth groups, offer workshops on social threefolding, work in
social finance, provide mediation, or otherwise offer special
services, bring their section perspective to that work.
Mention of a few recent articles in the section newsletter may
give some flavor of the nature and variety of endeavor: Alexander Cameron described a “collaborative research in study,” an
epistemological study with a (non-anthroposophical) colleague;
Denis Schneider wrote of “developing community through art”
in the form of writing workshops; Meg Gorman asked “What
Shall We Do About Ahriman,” an article also published in Das
Goetheanum; Chris Schaefer offered practical advice on things
we can do relating to our very own financial institutions;
Richard Rettig has brought a three-fold perspective to such
contemporary issues as same-sex marriage and the liberal-conservative divide in politics; Stephen Usher delved into presentday world events in “The Present Crisis: The Surface Explanation and the Deep One;” Luigi Morelli described weaving the
seven life processes into nonviolent communication and social
technology modalities; Addie Bianchi described peace activities
in the Israel-Palestinian area; Carl Flygt expanded his work on
“Goethean conversation;” and so on …
A final quote from the Section at the Goetheanum may characterize a key aspect of the Section for the Social Sciences:
The Section for Social Sciences is concerned with human
relationships in the three spheres of social life: economic,
legal and cultural/spiritual. Depending on the sphere different
fundamental questions arise:
How are the basic needs of the world’s population to be met?
What responsibility does a citizen bear for the common good?
What does a human being need from the world in order to
reach his or her potential?
With such questions in mind the Section conducts research,
pursuing insight and creative forms in a range of areas including: family culture, biography work, conflict resolution/peace
studies, addiction, economic questions and the science,
practice and politics of law.
The Section for the Social Sciences in North America was
founded in June 1987; over time, eight points emerged, eight areas which, we believe, continue to indicate the Section’s scope:
1. to foster and encourage individual and collaborative
research at local, regional and national levels with a focus
on social lawfulness and the threefold nature of social life.
2. to work toward a deeper understanding of the spiritual
beings connected to social life.
3. to recognize that the sacrament of human encounter is an
essential task for this section.
4. to do what we can—humanly, socially, and spiritually—to
encourage and support the initiative and research capacities of members of this section, and to cultivate collaboration with other sections of the School for Spiritual Science.
5. to provide local support in the branches of the Anthroposophical Society.
6. to foster consciousness of world events in a spiritual
context.
7. to encourage associations of individuals and groups sharing common interests.
8. to create forums of meeting to help heal social ills and
relationships.
Of primary importance is the conversation between the various members of the section who are doing scientific research.
Today one can no longer undertake any research on the social
level in some ivory tower—exploratory conversations and
exchange with others is essential.
For further information, please contact
Shawn Sullivan, (California) 916-965-6553, [email protected]
or another Collegium member:
Meg Gorman (New Mexico), 206-325-5520, [email protected]
Kristen Puckett (Colorado), 970-689-3902, [email protected]
Bette Shertzer (New York), 212-877-1094, [email protected]
Claus Sproll (Pennsylvania), 610-469-6292, [email protected]
A mighty set of tasks! One can see how work in the Section
for the Social Sciences cannot but interweave with that of other
sections. And one can wonder: How does this set of guideposts
play out in a practical way? How does life within the Section for
the Social Sciences manifest?
Research Issue 2010
15
Research–a special section
A Resurgence of Research at Threefold:
Frank Chester, the 2010 Threefold Visiting Researcher
Bill Day
The 2010 residency has been structured in three parts:
September 19-25: Frank and his research fellows work
together at Threefold. This intensive week-long gathering
included morning lectures, work with projective geometry and
orthographic studies, geometric net development, two- and
three-dimensional drawing, perspective, form studies, basic
construction techniques, and group discussions. Frank provided instruction on his research methodology, assigned research
projects to fellows in the Apprenticeship track, and guided
fellows in the Research track as they apply the methodology to
their own research question.
September 26-October 23: Fellows work independently, on
their own projects or on the forms and elements assigned by
Frank. This independent research can be
completed anywhere – fellows can return
home or stay on at Threefold, where studio facilities are available. Each fellow will
have at least one personal phone consultation with Frank during this time to check
on progress and ask questions.
October 24-30: Frank and fellows
reconvene at Threefold. This second
group session will include presentations
of independent work and a group compilation and reporting of research findings.
An exhibition in Threefold Auditorium will
feature the work of the research fellows,
and time will also be devoted to exploring
how the research methodology might be
applied to each fellow’s own life questions
and themes.
In early November, after the Visiting
Researcher program is completed, the
Threefold community will host a research
symposium co-sponsored by Threefold
Educational Center and the Collegium of
the School of Spiritual Science. This event will include contributions from researchers of long standing, and be a fitting cap to a
season marking a resurgence of research at Threefold.
In shaping the Visiting Researcher program, we at Threefold
have worked hard to ensure that it is adequately funded and appropriately structured so that it can achieve the Christmas Conference ideal of institutionalizing spiritual-scientific research.
As we work, continuous dialog with the Collegium of the School
of Spiritual Science is intended to ensure that Threefold’s work
harmonizes with the Collegium’s efforts in the same direction.
We are striving to temper our enthusiasm and sense of urgency
with a commitment to ensuring that the 2010 Residency is the
first of many for the years to come.
Thirty years ago, Henry Barnes called on every anthroposophical institution to set aside resources to support research.
Of “the urgent need for research arising from anthroposophy,”
Henry wrote: “We must find the way to work for future values
(the purpose of all genuine research), while meeting the needs
of today, tomorrow and the next day.” Henry was inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s call at the 1924 Christmas Foundation Conference
for the establishment of research institutes that could support
and carry forward spiritual scientific research. Through the
work of these institutes, Steiner said, the insights of spiritual
science will penetrate the general culture.
Today, anthroposophy has proven
its ability to foster (for example)
beautiful schools and productive
farms that freely acknowledge Rudolf
Steiner’s spiritual research as the basis of their work. But even the most
prosperous and stable anthroposophical institutions still devote most
of their resources to simply keeping
the wheels turning, paying the bills,
and staying alive for the next school
year or planting season. Our people
are busy just doing their jobs, we say,
and there’s hardly enough money
even to meet our immediate needs.
At the same time, who can deny
that the need to discover our “future
values” feels more urgent than ever?
With that in mind, Threefold Educational Center has created a Visiting
Researcher program to bring together innovative researchers, motivated
students, and Threefold community
residents and guests.
The inaugural Threefold Visiting Researcher is artist, sculptor and geometrician Frank Chester. This fall, Frank brought
his studio to the Threefold community, where a select group of
research fellows have joined him in conducting investigations
into the properties of new geometric forms.
Fellows entered the program on one of two tracks. Those in
the Apprenticeship Track are working on projects assigned by
Frank Chester, while Fellows in the Research Track brought an
existing project or question to the Fellowship, with the aim of
applying research methodologies they are learning from Frank
Chester. Fellows in both tracks received intensive, hands-on
instruction in Frank’s methodology. They will then have the opportunity to apply those methods to previously uninvestigated
forms, with completely unpredictable results. Through their
guided experience of one researcher’s methods, fellows will
develop unrealized capacities and unexpected insights.
Bill Day is Development Coordinator at Threefold Educational
Center. For more information, contact Rafael (Ray) Manaças, Executive Director of Threefold Educational Center, at 845-352-5020 x12 or
[email protected]. Learn more about Threefold Educational Center
at www.threefold.org.
16
Evolving News
Though underfunded by any measure, the sections at the
Goetheanum, in Dornach, Switzerland, begun by Rudolf Steiner,
provide an international focus for research.
The on-going need for institutional support and funding for
research in North America is a large one. In the USA, the Threefold
Educational Center, originally the “Threefold Farm,” was already a
center in the 1930s. Ehrenfried Pfeiffer (right, with colleague Sally
Burns) had a laboratory there. The North American Collegium
of the School for Spiritual Science was glad to announce, earlier
this year, a new fund named for Henry Barnes, a leader of
anthroposophical work for many decades.
The Henry Barnes Fund for Anthroposophical Research
The North American Collegium of the School for Spiritual Science is pleased to announce the Henry Barnes Fund for Anthroposophical Research. This has been made possible through a
generous gift to the Collegium for the purpose of furthering and
supporting research in the realm of the spirit.
To foster a culture of research within the School for Spiritual
Science and the Anthroposophical Society, the Collegium will
award grants to individuals who are nominated by their peers
within the Sections of the School based on their work with
research and its methods. The completed research will be
presented through publications, exhibitions, performances and
other forms of sharing with groups who express interest.
In addition, the Fund will support events such as symposia,
lectures, conferences and workshops that focus not only on
the content of research but also on the paths of inner activity
leading to enhancement of our human capacities as described
by Rudolf Steiner.
In order to recognize and support anthroposophical research
activity beyond the scope of the original gift, we plan to cultivate an ongoing gift stream to sustain the Fund.
For the first year, beginning July 2010, a total of $25,000 will
be available for distribution as grants of varying amounts.
tion beyond conventional sensory and intellectual faculties.
Therefore grants will not be awarded for conventional academic
forms of research on spiritual matters, but rather to support
what is also known as Goethean scientific or Goethean artistic
research, as well as imaginative, inspirational and intuitive
forms of spiritual scientific research.
The Nominating Process
The Councils of the Sections of the School for Spiritual Science are invited to nominate one or two individuals active in
their Section in recognition of their anthroposophical research
and its further potential.
In nominating an individual, the Section Council—or an individual requested to act on behalf of the Section Council—will
submit a two to five page statement that expresses why they
believe the individual should be awarded a grant relative to the
criteria outlined above. This will include some history of the
nominee’s previous research activity and an outline of intentions for future research.
Part of the acceptance process will include a written agreement concerning the following: 1) Researchers will document
their research activity in an appropriate manner, such as an article, performance or exhibition. This will include a discussion
of their method and ways of developing the faculties of perception and cognition necessary to the research. 2) Researchers
will agree to present their research in 1- 3 events arranged in
collaboration with the Collegium. Honoraria for such events
would be in addition to the original awards.
The Henry Barnes Research Fund Committee will also consider applications for financial support of events such as lectures,
workshops or conferences that advance the understanding and
practice of anthroposophical research. To qualify, such events
are to be sponsored by a Section of the School, or by two or
more members of the School who consider themselves active in
the General Anthroposophical Section.
The Award Granting Committee currently consists of two
members of the Collegium, Sherry Wildfeuer and Helen Lubin.
Criteria for Awarding Grants:
a) As a rule, nominated researchers will be active members of
one or more Sections of the School for Spiritual Science in North
America (the United States and Canada).
b) Researchers are to be nominated by their peers, typically
by their Section Council.
c) Grants will be awarded on the basis of
previous research activity grounded in anthroposophy. However, a perceived potential to advance some aspect of anthroposophical research will be a deciding factor.
d) Both the need for the research
topic itself and the need for financial
support for the research will be
considered.
e) The Collegium assumes there
is a spectrum of kinds and levels of
research in the realm of the spirit.
Grants will be directed primarily
towards research that exercises
organs of perception and cogniResearch Issue 2010
Please address questions or nominations to:
Sherry Wildfeuer
PO Box 1045
Kimberton, PA 19442
[email protected]
17
or
Helen Lubin
PO Box 1384
Fair Oaks, CA 95628
[email protected]
Research–a special section
Modern social sciences rarely address whether ultimate reality is founded in “things” or in “beings.”
Religions, spirituality, and one wing of today’s ecological thinkers take for granted that humans, animals,
and plants are not the only “beings” in the cosmos. Hard sciences and rationalists disagree, and seem
uncomfortable sometimes even with the beingness of humans. So anthroposophy is challenging in
its aim to be both genuinely scientific and at the same time fundamentally concerned with beings
not perceptible to physical senses. Three “principles” who are experienced as “principals” are known
by historically familiar names of Lucifer, Christ, and Ahriman. The first two entered fully into a human
life experience in the past; the third is preparing for such an incarnation in our times, Rudolf Steiner
reported. Lucifer provided access to freedom, supports idealism, and tempts us to abandon the earth.
Christ provides the power to become a real individual, balancing other powers and serving the needs
of the earth. Ahriman brings abstracting intelligence and technical power, and is presently seeking to
dominate human beings with an ideal of mechanization. What do we do about that?
Meg Gorman
Meg Gorman presented this work to fellow members of the Section for the Social Sciences in Spring Valley in August 2009 and subsequently brought it to the Goetheanum. It was translated and published in the News from the Goetheanum.
Rudolf Steiner tells us “...there is only one book of wisdom.” The challenge of our
time is to determine whether or not this wisdom is in the hands of Ahriman or the
Christ. Dr. Steiner then says, “It cannot come into the hands of Christ unless people
fight for it.”1
How shall we do this? How can the goals of human evolution be realized in the
middle of the Ahrimanic forces pouring into our times. What can we, mere individuals, do to impede Ahriman and better serve Michael and the Christ? Dr.
Steiner tells us that there is much we can do. “People must learn from spiritual
science to find the key to life and so to be able to recognize and learn to control
the currents leading towards the incarnation of Ahriman.”2
Ahriman and Lucifer are alive and well in each of us, in the anthroposophical movement, and in the world. The more we do our work well, the more we may find ourselves attacked by negative forces. When Jesus of Nazareth received the Christ into his being at the baptism of
John, he is first recognized by Lucifer and Ahriman in the temptations in the desert. Where the Christ
is active, these forces will show up to undo our work. Thus, we are all fair game. The task is to stay
awake and identify these influences, especially in ourselves. As my colleague, Denis Klocek says, once
we can see these forces working in us, we need to tell them, “Thank you for sharing, please sit down.”
The bad news, in one sense, is that Ahriman is coming, and there is nothing we can do about it. In
addition, collective humanity is helping his incarnation and that of his henchmen. This is not new information for anthroposophists. On the other hand, there is good news: through human activity, it is
possible to help Ahriman serve humanity. We do not have to endure him only; we can work to make
Ahriman a helper of human beings. Aside from the obvious reality of materialism in our time, Rudolf
Steiner gives us many other hints on how we are preparing for Ahriman‘s activities. It is important to be conscious of these in ourselves and in our work.
>What
>Shall
>We
>Do
>About
>Ahriman
:( ?
First comes the BAD NEWS. At the risk of being superficial and overly organized, I list below some of the ways in which we make Ahriman‘s job easy.
When deeply considered, each of these can also become a tool for discernment in living the “examined life.” The following, in no
particular order, are helping Ahriman‘s incarnation:
Disregarding weightiest truths. Ignoring or discounting our
spiritual selves and our destinies in the world and in human
evolution create the greatest bridge for Ahriman.
Denying or ignoring the spiritual nature of the human being. The idea that we are only our
biology permeates much of the world today. As higher animals, some say we bear no spiritual
responsibility for one another. Ahriman delights in this.
Seeing the world as a “great mechanism” only and maintaining this scientific superstition.
1
2
The Influences of Lucifer and Ahriman 65-66
The Incarnation of Ahriman 69
18
Evolving News
economic and material needs of humanity. Providing material
needs is important, but this alone will not solve the problems
of the world. We see this everywhere as people ask things like,
“How does spiritual understanding help me to acquire stuff?
How does a Waldorf education help me to get a good job?” In
this regard, Rudolf Steiner states: “Europeans and their American appendages are devourers of the spirit.”6
Involving ourselves in half or quarter truths. These are more
harmful than total errors or outright lies. They create insecurity, fear, and confusion. They are, therefore, the marketer‘s delight. If we just drink the right beer, use the right toothpaste, and drive the right kind of car, we will be whole human
beings. We accept these lies and deceive ourselves easily in
small fractions.
Believing in fixed creeds of any kind. This includes blind anthroposophy. Concerning Christianity, if we see the world solely
through scripture or through one gospel alone, Rudolf Steiner
tells us we will be led to the “hallucination of Christ.” The rise
of religious fundamentalism worldwide from Christianity to
Islam is a case in point Any kind of religious fundamentalism
prepares a good place for Ahriman, such as the Koran only,
secular science only, denominational instruction of any kind.
An excellent BBC film on this is The Power of Nightmares which
documents the rise of the Christian right in America as Islamic
fundamentalism rises in Muslim countries.
Fostering drowsy unawareness through tedium. We find
ourselves exhausted and at a loss for energy, and then blame
the state of the world and our lives. Rudolf Steiner tells us that
a dry cash book can be as interesting as the Sistine Madonna
if we can find the right entry point of interest. “It is we, not the
world, who are at fault.” We cannot use our weariness as an
excuse to become unconscious.7
Falling into “pickle jars.” Pickle jars, Dr. Steiner tells us, are
libraries and universities filled with theses no one will ever
read. They may also be lawyer‘s dossiers, the piles of papers
of proofs, and books with little real interest in human beings.
I have my own piles of paper, my little pickle jars. Sometimes
I think Ahriman wants to bury us under paper. Steiner gives
a little quote from Ahriman to Lucifer. “It is advantageous to
make use of pickle jars….To you I will leave people‘s stomachs
if you will leave it to me to lull to sleep the awareness of their
stomachs.”8
Eating and drinking things of the physical and spiritual
worlds unconsciously. How often are we conscious of the gifts
that fill our gustatory needs? How often do we grab a sandwich
on the run, eat at our desks? How often do we quote Rudolf
Steiner out of context or without thinking things through? How
conscious are we in our lives.
Eating and drinking for cleverness. Marketing tells us that we
will be smarter and cleverer if we just eat and drink certain
products. Today in America we even have a brand of bottled
libation called Smart Water. We now have pharmaceutical solutions, from Ritalin to Prozac, to help enhance our intelligence
and deal with human issues.
Taking things in only through the heart without the head. It is
easy to get lost in our silks and felted angels, or any other stuff
that makes us feel good and brings us bliss. Here we are then
This makes science into a new religion and creates “scientific superstition as a prevailing dogma.” When we think mechanistically, we create disharmony in our waking and sleeping. We see this
today in the enormous rise in sleep disorders, especially among
our teenagers.3 Getting caught up in fears like anthrax, swine flu,
and global warming without understanding the science behind
them is a great help to Ahriman. Believing that science will save
us from ourselves is equally helpful to him.
Seeing the world as a duality of good versus evil. The American statements concerning “the axis of evil” are an excellent
example of this. Some devil is always to blame whether or
not it is Osama Bin Laden or George Bush. Adam said, “Eve
made me do it”; Eve said, “The devil made me do it.” It‘s always
someone else‘s fault. We play a dangerous game of shaming
and blaming others, of thinking in blacks and whites, of seeing
the world as a duality of good and evil. To think in this way is
a failure to see the complexity of our times and to take responsibility for them. It is a failure to seek the role of Christ as a
balance between Lucifer and Ahriman.
Organizing our lives too much. Efficiency is not a bad thing in
itself, but it needs to leave enough room for real human meeting and conversation.
Living in the superficial intellect. We often do not dig beneath
the surface of things. We Google life, and think we have it. We
put the world and its people into convenient boxes that rest on
the surface of realities. We anthroposophists can be especially guilty in this area when we say things like: “He‘s just so
phlegmatic. No one can work with someone who is so choleric.
Plastic should never touch the lips of small children.”
Proving things instead of experiencing them. We are especially good at using statistics to this end. They often put
truth beyond reach because figures can be divorced from the
qualitative aspects of life.
Sowing conflicts between groups and getting them to attack
each other. Whether in family, race, tribe, faculty meetings in
a Waldorf school, or anthroposophical groups, we are all very
busy in this area. This does not mean that conflict is bad, but
that it’s here to challenge to new perspectives, not polarize us.
Living in dogmatic one-sidedness and endorsing national
chauvinism. Any firmly held ideology can create discord. The
forming of political parties creates ideology at the expense of
human beings. We often think it is more important to be right
than to find a way to work through issues to something larger
than ourselves. “National Chauvinism, perverted patriotism
in every form, is the material from which Ahriman will build
exactly what he needs.”4
Believing in the great Ahrimanic deception that economics
drives world history and that the economist knows all. We
turn to economists today for answers. Dr. Steiner actually says
economists have replaced initiates in our times. He adds, “We
must not imagine that the rulers of our times are anything
other than economists.”5 We need only look to things like the
International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization,
or groups like the US Council on Foreign Relations to recognize
this. Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine does a lovely job of revealing this reality.
Believing that public welfare depends only on providing the
3
4
5
The Incarnation of Ahriman 20
The Incarnation of Ahriman 72
The Incarnation of Ahriman 26
Research Issue 2010
6
7
8
19
The Incarnation of Ahriman 40
The Incarnation of Ahriman 58
The Incarnation of Ahriman 45-47
Research–a special section
Develop inner strength. This comes with our daily review of
the day, the practice of the six basic exercises, and our continued struggle on the path of self development. Dr. Steiner
tells us that “Inner strength alone can enable anthroposophy
to achieve its goals.”13
Be conscious and interested in the world. We need to stay
awake. As Dr. Steiner reminds us, one of the main tasks of
humanity today is “to live towards the incarnation of Ahriman
with such alert consciousness that this incarnation can serve
to promote higher, spiritual development.”14
Know science. We need to develop an exact knowledge of science as much as we are able. We need to educate ourselves
through scientific illusion to spiritual substance. We need to
love the facts and know how to use them with common sense.
We need to guide science and technology to serve human
needs. Young people in New York are reading Rudolf Steiner in
“book slams.” A group gathers, studies and discusses a text in
a weekend. Those who live too far away to attend are present
through Skype and can take part in the process. Thus Ahriman
is foiled by his own technology.
Conduct affairs not for material ends alone but for the free
spiritual life. This is one area in which we in our movement
may be impeding Ahriman well. Working actively for Anthroposophia is, for most of us, more a labor of love than a way to
pad the packet.
Seek beyond the hallucination of Christ to the Christ within
the self and the other. This is best done where two or three
are gathered together, and we can practice finding the Christ in
one another.
Radically re-evaluate all values. Nothing is quite as it seems
in the consciousness-soul age. The Ten Commandments no
longer apply in all circumstances. For instance, if the donkey
is suffering in the ditch, we need to pull him out, no matter
the day of the week and societal prohibitions. We need to look
again and again at our values and how they are playing out in
life – from the Waldorf curriculum to our national policies.
Refrain from envy, gossip and things that drive wedges
between people. Dr. Steiner advises us as follows in this area.
“We need to leave ambition to one side, but nevertheless,
the most dire manifestations of it exist within the anthroposophical movement, and mutual envy is on the increase.”15
We have much work to do in this area.
Work against hatred, bitterness and resentment in our own
souls. This is a daily task, sometimes minute-by-minute, task,
and it takes rigorous self honesty, and the constant process of
asking these forces to sit down and behave themselves rather
than allowing them to take over our souls.
Face fear with courage. There is nothing wrong with fear as
long as we can examine it with our thinking and use it to create
the courage we need. Fear is useful in this regard. The crucial
thing is not to allow fear to bring us into a paralysis of will.
Tell the truth. It is not always so easy to speak one‘s point of
view. Instead we hold back to be nice, and then gossip later
about what another has said. In the end, this is detrimental to
our work. “What is required of us is to courageously stand up
and tell the truth as far as we are able.”16
safely asleep in the arms of Lucifer, so
Ahriman can do his work.
Taking things in only through the
head without the heart; living with
abstractions of any kind. We in
anthroposophical work can be especially guilty of this. We need the heart‘s balance.
Intellectual life without warmth leads us into the
world of pickle jars.9
Taking things in through the heart and the
head, and doing nothing with them,
otherwise known as weakness of
will. Speaking of and loving spiritual
things, but not carrying these
into the activities of everyday life creates a wonderful
working space for Ahriman. Love of anthroposophy, knowledge of anthroposophy is not
enough.
Quantifying qualitative Life. Testing in education, “No Child
Left Behind,” statistics without qualitative considerations all
fall into this category.
Allowing envy and gossip to sway our common sense. Steiner
has strong things to say about envy and gossip because they
undermine our collective work for the future. As he puts it, “We
cannot on the one hand want to take part in the processes of
the cosmos, and on the other hand make derogatory remarks
about our fellow human beings in the widespread way this happens in restaurants and clubs in this bourgeois age.”10
Fear-mongering and submitting to fear. The news media, marketing, our politicians, and to some degree some of our movement is interested in creating a kind of fear which paralyzes us.
Forgetting the widespread suffering of the earth. Writing on
Christmas, 1919, Dr. Steiner‘s words are enough clear: “We have
no right to forget the widespread suffering, the widespread
sorrow of our times….It is our duty to allow all symptoms of
decline in human civilization today to permeate our thoughts
and penetrate right through to the Christmas Tree.”11
Then there is the GOOD NEWS, the ways in which we can help
Ahriman serve humanity. These are things we can all do in our
daily lives. They are not so easy, but self-development is not a
path of ease.
Control thinking and avoid abstractions. The practice of spiritual science asks us to develop an inner discipline of thinking.
As Dr. Steiner puts it. We must “gain control over our thinking
just as we have control over our hands and legs.”12 This also
means that we need to know the difference between living
thinking and abstractions.
See the world with three-fold eyes. We need to move out of
duality and see how we can balance Lucifer and Ahriman with
the Christ. This threefoldness is everywhere, in our bones, our
education, and our beings. It is also in our interactions with
one another, and it is crucial that we begin to work with Dr.
Steiner‘s picture of the threefold nature of social life, the threefold social organism.
9
10
11
12
The Incarnation of Ahriman 109
The Incarnation of Ahriman 100
The Incarnation of Ahriman 84
Past and Future Influences in Social Events, 3 March 1919
13
14
15
16
20
The Incarnation of Ahriman 9
Past and Future Influences in Social Events, 3 March 1919
The Incarnation of Ahriman 100
The Incarnation of Ahriman 112-113
Evolving News
The
Seven
Levels
of Illness
& Healing
Research does not belong only to quiet, detached observation.
In professional life research is a recurring element in fields
like the arts or teaching or medicine. In the story at right,
Dr. Philip Incao shares the complexity of illness as seen
in anthroposophically-extended medicine.
Live life with enthusiasm for and interest in our times. We
need to stop complaining and get busy with the work that
needs to be done all around us. Then, “through our interest—
which is itself luciferic—we can wrest from Ahriman what is
his own.”17 Michael, our current Time Spirit, needs us to love
his regency. When he sees our interest and enthusiasm, he will
help us.
Widen the zone of individual comfort. We often think very narrowly and only in the range that gives us a sense of well-being.
It is so important to be able to move beyond this range, to see
through the eyes of others and to become, in the process, true
global citizens.
Practice, practice, practice. Spirit remembering, sensing and
envisioning are gifts from the Christmas Foundation Meeting.
Practicing in them makes us instruments for the good beings
of the cosmos, and weakens Ahriman.
Bear the burden of the earth with Michael and the Christ.
The times are going to be hard, there is no doubt about it, and
we need to see them with as much clarity as we can muster.
The afflictions of the world, whether in Darfur or next door,
may be there for our consciousness. May the sacrifices of the
downtrodden of the earth not be in vain. When we watch the
anguish of the world on the evening news, we need to hold that
pain in our hearts and work towards agape love, i.e. the love
that is too great for others to hurt us. Often as I think about
these things I am reminded of the Pietà. Perhaps Anthroposophia today is like the mother of Christ carrying the broken
body of her Son. If we anthroposophers can learn to carry the
sorrows of our world in our arms with as much equanimity as
Mary Sophia, we will be able to help Ahriman serve the human
being. These are the many things to consider these days, and
ponder in our hearts. There is, in fact, much we can do about
Ahriman.
17
A Modern Fable
Philip Incao
O
nce upon a time in a far-off realm, seven students of the art
of healing were gathered for their final examination. Their
mentor, who was old, wise, and greatly loved by his pupils,
led them to the bedside of a patient they had known well in
life. Alas, he had just given up the ghost, and as the students
contemplated with sadness and wonder his lifeless form, the
master posed the question. “My dear pupils, you knew him well,
and we grieve his passing. Death comes for all of us, but why
did it come for him now? Why did he die?” The students were
among the best and brightest of that realm. They pondered the
master’s question, but hesitated to speak. Finally, one student,
who had been in deep meditation, spoke.
•1•
onored teacher, you have taught me much, and I have
also learned from the wisdom which the stars speak to
me. It is clear to me that our friend and patient had lived out
his destiny. He had completed his karma for this life. He freely
chose his path and followed it to the ends of his god-given
capacities. He could make no further progress within the limits
of the soul and bodily constitution furnished to him in this life.
So he—his spirit—departed his body for higher realms, to begin
work on a new body affording his spirit and soul further progress when he returns. It was ordained by his own higher will
and of course by God’s will.” The master was silent, but another
student spoke up, a bit impatiently.
•2•
es, yes,” she said, “we know about karma and reincarnation, but there is a more proximate cause of death here,
one closer to the reality of this fellow’s life as he lived it.” The
others regarded her expectantly, as she continued, “The spark
had gone from his soul, he had lost all interest in life. He had
given up, he had lost his will to live. That’s why he died.”
“H
The Incarnation of Ahriman 57
Sources
Steiner, Rudolf. The Fall of the Spirits of Darkness. Trans. Anna
Meuss. Given in Dornach 29 September to 28 October, 1917.
Bristol, England: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1993.
Steiner, Rudolf. The Incarnation of Ahriman. Trans. Matthew
Barton. Forest Row: Rudolf Steiner Press, 2006.
Steiner, Rudolf. The Influences of Lucifer and Ahriman. Trans. D.S.
Osmond. Hudson, New York: Anthroposophic Press, 1993.
Steiner, Rudolf. Past and Future Impulses in Social Events—Lecture III & V, unpublished translation by Maria St. Goar.
“Y
GA (or CW: Complete Works) Numbers:
GA 190, Lectures 3 & 5; GA 191, Lectures 2 & 3; GA 193, Lectures
3 & 4; GA 194, Lecture 1; GA 195, Lectures 6 & 7
Research Issue 2010
21
Research–a special section
•3 •
hey pondered her words in silence. Then another student
summoned the courage to speak. He began hesitantly: “We
all know that our spirit and soul have a guiding influence on our
health in the course of our lives, but it was his body, after all,
that failed him in the end. For weeks before he died his pulses
were so weak I could barely feel them. His chi, his life forces,
were utterly exhausted, and his organs had no energy to function. His adrenals especially were shot. He was utterly stressed
out, fatally depleted of the force and energy of life.”
•4 •
ow a few students began to speak. “Yes, I agree, I agree”
said one, “but we’re neglecting the most important factor,
his lifestyle. He was a very gifted man, but he neglected his
health terribly. He ate, drank, smoked and used drugs to excess.
He would work or party at night and sleep during the day.
Women loved him and he greatly and frequently enjoyed them.
His life consisted of chaotic highs and lows, totally lacking in
any rhythm or consistency. And he never took any fresh air or
exercise. It’s no wonder he exhausted his life forces!”
•5•
ow the students became more animated. “Yes, he was
complex and very talented,” said one, “an intense and
passionate soul. We will certainly miss him. But I agree that his
lifestyle was torture for his body. I’m sure his cells and organs
were so stressed that they were unable to properly carry out
their breathing, digesting, and self-cleansing life processes. This
caused stagnation and congestion, leading to a build-up of cellular wastes and toxins. I am absolutely certain that the levels of
toxins in his blood were sky high. And that’s what killed him in
the end—he was utterly toxic. He died from his own toxicity; his
exhausted organs were unable to eliminate the poisons in his
body. He could no longer detoxify, so he died.”
•6•
he remaining students spoke at once, excitedly. The master’s eyes widened, but he remained silent. One voice broke
through, “Yes, one could see from his tongue and from his eyes
that he was toxic, but what follows toxicity as night follows day?
Why, infection of course! We all know that as garbage and manure attract flies, the toxicity and waste matter in our body will
attract the bacteria and other vermin that normally live in, on
and around us. I am sure he died of an infection. He had a very
high fever, he was septic!”
•7•
ow, all had spoken save one. The last student looked at her
colleagues with admiration, and spoke slowly and thoughtfully. “I can’t disagree with anything that has been said,” she
began, “but I have been studying the most recent research, and
it seems we have neglected the ultimate and most proximate
cause of our friend’s demise. Yes, he had an infection, and was
septic, but in the end it was his own immune system that killed
him.” The other students were incredulous. “How can that be?
That’s impossible!” they exclaimed. A faint smile crossed the
master’s face, but he remained silent.
sometimes harm us and even kill us. These agents, called cytokines, are of many different types: the interferons, the interleukins, the tumor-necrosis factors, and others. Some of these cytokines create and intensify inflammation in the body and other
cytokines inhibit and shut down inflammation when it has done
enough of its cleansing work. When our body works harmoniously, then our cytokines create just enough mild inflammation
to destroy excessive microbes and to maintain the ongoing detoxification of our bodies, without causing symptoms. But just
as the same fire that warms our home can also burn it down, so
too, when our immune system is grievously provoked by severe
imbalance, toxicity or infection, it can aberrantly unleash a “cytokine storm,” a massive outpouring of cytokines into our blood
stream. These then cause a systemic inflammation to flare up in
us and rage out of control, causing high fever, septic shock, or
generalized sepsis and a severe dysfunction or shut-down of major organs often ending in death. That is what finally killed our
dear departed friend and patient.”
T
N
T
he students were silent, alternately lost in thought and gazing at one another in wonder. Though reluctant to break the
silence, the master finally spoke, with great emotion: “My dear
pupils, your words and thoughts have warmed me to the core of
my being, and brought joy to my heart. Though I have but little
knowledge, I believe that all that has been spoken is true. Before
my wondering soul, you have unfolded a continuous chain of
causation from the heights into the inner depths of the human
body, stretching from spirit into matter. At each link of the
chain, we might discover a different way that the human spirit,
soul and life force can work together harmoniously in the body
to create health, or work in conflict with each other to create
illness in the physical body.
N
“Y
ou are now ready to go out into the world as healers.
My teaching is done, you will learn from your patients
now. But remember always the seven levels of illness you have
learned today. None of the illnesses you will encounter will have
only a single cause. Many levels work together in health and
illness, and you must never judge by one or two levels alone.
Remain aware of all levels of causation from highest to lowest,
regardless of whether you can see through them or not. That
will give you the necessary measure of humility to truly heal.”
T
T
hen the seven students, having passed their final examination, bid farewell to each other and to their beloved teacher
and went out into the world to practice the art of healing. They
were unsure in their knowledge and understanding, but their
will to heal was strong. And learning much from their patients,
they healed many, and grew in understanding.
N
Author’s note:
My little fable is loosely based on a story Michaela Glöckler
[leader of the Medical Section of the School for Spiritual Science
in Dornach, Switzerland] tells about Paracelsus, but much modified and expanded to fit in all seven levels of illness important
today, and their interconnections.
T
Philip Incao, MD, is in practice in Crestone, CO, and can be found
on the web at PhilipIncao.com.
he last student continued, “Yes, until recently the immune
system was thought to be always protective, except in
autoimmune diseases. But now science has discovered that our
immune system produces chemical agents in our body that can
22
Evolving News
Book Review / the Rudolf Steiner Library Newsletter
Metamorphosis: Evolution in Action
By Andreas Suchantke. Translated by Norman Skillen. Adonis Press, 2009, 324 pgs. Review by Keith Francis
My first impression on receiving the review copy of Metamorphosis was “What a beautiful book!” and the discovery that it
had been printed in China went some way toward erasing recent
impressions of the quality of goods from that country. It is
coffee-table sized and the pictures, most of them by the author,
are an education in themselves; but as we shall see, Metamorphosis is definitely not a coffee-table book.
Andreas Suchantke, who was born in Switzerland in 1933,
taught life sciences at the Rudolf Steiner School in Zurich and
worked extensively in teacher training.
Apart from teaching, his life’s work
has been the development of an ecological understanding of landscapes
and traditional cultures, and he has
published books on tropical South
America, South and East Africa, and Israel and Palestine. In his new book he
shows how the fundamental principles
implicit in Goethe’s scientific work,
together with the insights gained from
a lifetime of studying nature’s ways,
lead to a far-reaching understanding
of the evolution and interrelatedness
of all that lives on Earth. In so doing
he acknowledges his debt to Rudolf
Steiner, and it seems appropriate to
allow Steiner to give us a starting
point with a few words on the subject
of Goethe:
through which it has come to exist…. In nature’s own formations she gets ‘into specific forms as into a blind alley’; one
must go back to what was to have come about if the tendency
had been able to unfold without hindrance…. Not what nature
has created, but according to what principle it has created, is
the important question. And then this principle is to be worked
out as befits its own nature, not as this has occurred in the
single form subject to a thousand natural contingencies. The
artist has to ‘evolve the noble out of the common, the beautiful
out of the misshapen.’
In contemplating the forms of
plants and animals Goethe perceived
a principle of metamorphosis that
enabled him to see each organism
as a unity of interrelated parts. He
expressed his thoughts on plant and
animal morphology in such a way
as to suggest principles of growth
and being that might apply to the
whole process of nature. He saw the
development of the plant as a series
of alternating expansions and contractions: seed, leaves, calyx, corolla,
stamens and pistil, fruit, and, again,
seed. To ask for a physical cause for
the expansions and contractions is,
as Steiner pointed out, to stand the
matter on its head.
Nothing is to be presupposed which
causes the expansion and contraction;
on the contrary, everything else is the
result of this expansion and contraction. It causes a progressive metamorphosis from stage to stage. People are
simply unable to grasp the concept in its very own intuitive
form, but demand that it shall be the result of an external
process. They are able to conceive expansion and contraction
only as caused, not as causing. Goethe does not look upon expansion and contraction as if they were the results of inorganic
processes taking place within the plant, but considers them as
the manner in which the entelechy, the principle,
takes form.
For him, art and science sprang
from a single source. Whereas the
scientist immerses himself in the
depths of reality in order to be able
to express its impelling forces in the
form of thoughts, the artist seeks by imagination to embody
the same forces in his material…. ‘In the works of man, as
in those of nature, what most deserves consideration is the
intentions,’ says Goethe. Everywhere he sought, not only what
is given to the senses in the external world, but the tendency
The fruits of research appear in conversations, conferences,
and of course books. Though it is still mostly “outside the
mainstream,” anthroposophical research has a further,
hidden life, like that of runners from a plant, through a quiet
stream of fine books. Also worthy of note is the quality of
work coming from authors from whom serious research
would not be expected in the mainstream—high school
teachers, for example. Both the author of this book and the
reviewer were long-time Waldorf high school teachers.
Research Issue 2010
23
People who believe that nature consists of
nothing but particles, waves, and space feel
the need for a mechanism for such processes.
I speak with the voice of personal experience
when I say that it is very hard, even for those of
us who are intuitively drawn to Goethe’s view
of nature, to get out of the mechanistic habit.
Goethe’s way of expressing things has the cognate disadvantages of provoking facile ridicule
from the scientific intelligentsia and receiving
uncritical acceptance by the half-baked dilettan-
Research–a special section
ti. Suchantke’s book shows that a contemplative biology drawing
on the fundamental concepts of Goethean science and imbued
with reverence for the living Earth can produce a consistently
illuminating picture of life in all its amazing abundance and
multiplicity.
•
From the beginning, Suchantke emphasizes the need to escape from the idea of a fixed spatial form (space-gestalt):
Our guiding principle will be Goethe’s words to the effect
that,
when we study forms, organic ones in particular,
nowhere do we find permanence, nowhere repose or
completion.... For no
sooner has something
been formed than it is
immediately transformed, and if we wish
to achieve a living
perception of nature,
we must strive to keep
ourselves as mobile
and flexible as the
examples she herself
provides.’
We must learn to think in terms of development, to engage
in the transformation of our conceptual systems in accordance with a deeper, dynamic understanding of the sphere
of life. It was Goethe who first demonstrated that a method
seeking to unravel the secrets of living processes must not be
applied to, but rather must take its lead from its object of
study, and thus… develop organically. This process should
encompass all aspects of the development of the living organism under consideration and recreate them as fully as possible in imagination—quite a tall order! In the introduction to
his botanical studies, Goethe formulates it as follows:
What follows, therefore,
will also be concerned
with breaking through
from the organism’s sense-perceptible, external form or
space-gestalt to the process of its formation, which is an
expression of its time-gestalt. This can only be perceived when
we actively reconstruct it in our imagination: an inner process
which enables us to experience and describe its formative
movements.
In introducing a science of morphology, we must avoid
speaking in terms of what is fixed. If we use the word
Gestalt [form] at all, we ought to have in mind only an
abstract idea or concept, or something that is held
fast but for an instant.
The principles of metamorphosis apply not only to the development of the individual plant but also to the evolution of
species, in which the retention of juvenile characteristics into
adulthood (neoteny), and the changing relationships to the environment known as internalization and externalization play
important parts in generating a stream of continuous change.
In describing these and other time-gestalts, the author says,
Metamorphosis should not be read like a textbook; it asks the
reader to entertain the possibility of inner transformation in
which the imagination becomes an organ of perception, thus
giving the title a double meaning that its author undoubtedly
intended.
•
It would be impossible to convey the immense richness of
Upcoming Conference of the Natural Science Section in Chicago
The Spherical & Radial Principles in the Human & Animal Organism, with a focus on Horns & Antlers
published by Adonis Press, and lecture 4 of Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture, published by the Biodynamic Association.
For more information on the conference, contact:
The Natural Science & Mathematics/Astronomy Section
c/o John Barnes, 321 Rodman Road, Hillsdale, NY 12529
Phone 518-325-1113; Fax 518-325-1103; [email protected]
The next annual conference of the Natural Science Section
will take place at the Rudolf Steiner Center in Chicago from the
evening of Thursday, November 18 till noon on Sunday, November 21, 2010. The theme of the conference will be “The Spherical
and the Radial Principles in the Human and Animal Organism,
with a focus on Horns and Antlers.” At a time when cows are
routinely dehorned and organisms are being manipulated for
practical and commercial purposes, it is incumbent upon us to
gain a scientific understanding of their living wholeness and integrity. Such an understanding, however, requires the development of new cognitive capacities. During the conference we will
engage in Goethean observation of skeletons, horns and antlers
in an attempt to “read” them as the expression of dynamic forces and in relation to our experience of the living organisms. The
goal is to experience and understand the organisms in question
as concrete manifestations of creative forces.
Because of the importance of cow horns in biodynamic
agriculture, we are also inviting members of the Agricultural
Section to participate in the conference. As we would also like
to continue to work at the level of the Class, this conference will
again be for Class members only. Essential reading in preparation for the conference will be Metamorphosis: Evolution in
Action (especially chapters 2 and 11) by Andreas Suchantke,
Metamorphosis: Evolution in Action is available to conference
participants at a discount of 40% (for $30). There is more information on the book at the Adonis Press website: adonispress.org.
To take advantage of this offer, send a check for $30, made out
to Adonis Press, to the address above along with your reservation fee.
John Barnes also published an essay some months ago, The
Third Culture, subtitled “Participatory Science as the Basis for a
Healing Culture.” It deals with this same theme: the need for the
development of new scientific methodologies capable of insight
into living organisms and qualities. It attempts to put Goethean
science and anthroposophy into the broader context of the
development and current crisis in western culture. A review of
the book will be posted shortly at anthroposophy.org.
24
Evolving News
Suchantke’s book in the few pages of a review, so I’ll give a brief
impression of its contents and concentrate on just one aspect of
the author’s thinking.
After giving a vivid account of some of the transformatory
processes of nature he tackles the difficult question of the
functioning of the archetype in the evolutionary process. He
goes on to clarify the concepts of metamorphosis with a discussion of Goethe’s perception of the relation between the bones
of the spine and those of the skull, but he doesn’t limit himself
to the human skeleton. Salamanders, foxes, moles, bats, hummingbirds, and even cacti are drawn into the discussion, which
ends with the perception of polar tendencies that produce both
round, immobile, protective structures such as the skull, and
mobile, articulated, linear structures like the arms and legs.
Chapter 3 deals with the forms of leaves, showing their relatedness to other parts of the plant and to its functioning within
the environment. The theme of sphere and radius, already
developed in relation to the vertebral nature of the skeleton,
reappears here. “The leaf, we must agree with Goethe, is the
‘true Proteus.’ From top to bottom the plant is all leaf.” From
leaf to flower is a transformation that naturally takes us into
chapter 4, which deals with the polarity of the two structures
and the extraordinary correlations between color and form. Of
particular note is the section on the evolutionary potential of
the blossoms, in which Goethe’s ideal of intensification reaches a
high point. Chapter 5 reviews the functioning of metamorphosis
and reminds us that we, as readers, are invited to take part in a
process of transformation.
Next comes a chapter on the various forms of metamorphosis in the plant kingdom, in which the ideas of the previous
chapters are profusely illustrated and developed. In chapter
7 the principles of polarity and threefold organization are illustrated by the growth of plants from the unity of the seed into
the structure of root, leaf, and blossom, the subtlety of which
cannot altogether be conveyed by a simple spatial picture. Of
great interest is Suchantke’s commentary on the description
Rudolf Steiner gives in his autobiography of the gradual development of his perception of the threefold nature of the human
being. Chapter 8 is an extended tour de force that demonstrates
how polarity and threefoldness are expressed in different ways
throughout the animal kingdom. The photographs and drawings
are breathtaking.
Chapter 9 brings us back to the archetype. Different groups of
creatures emphasize different aspects of the threefold organization and, when viewed together at a moment in time, can be
seen as forming a gestalt, momentarily frozen in space. When
the gestalt is regarded as “only fixed for a moment” and “about
to undergo transformation” we enter “the realm of formation
and transformation, of development on the different levels of
ontogeny (development of the single individual) and phylogeny
(development of the ancestral group, evolution).” “In this way,”
Suchantke states emphatically, “the archetype comes to be understood as the initiator of evolution, which is as much as to say as
evolution itself.”
This is important enough to repeat in different words:
“The archetype may thus be construed as the prime source
of evolutionary impulses and at the same time, the inner line,
or, rather, the time-gestalt of the whole of evolution, revealing
facets of itself in the various species, genera, and families of
organisms. Its full compass is only to be revealed through contemplation of the whole or through the fact that at every stage
of evolution it inclines towards polarization and ultimately
toward clear, tri-structured order.”
The Nature Institute: a Center of Excellence in Holistic Research
The Nature Institute may be the only scientific research institute in North America dedicated to developing and practicing a
scientific methodology that can gain insight into living, organic
nature. The Institute is entering a new phase in its growth and
development at a time when the limitations of modern science
and technology in this regard are becoming increasingly clear.
John Barnes writes us that “the excellent research and educational courses occurring there are laying the groundwork for
a further development in science that will lead to a far deeper,
more living, and mutually healing relationship with nature.”
Recently The Nature Institute joined Think OutWord to sponsor a new category of the Credere grants, Goethean phenomenology. The 2010 application deadline is past, but donations to
fund grants are always welcome, at thinkoutword.org/grants.html.
Another Institute project, nontarget.org, collects reports
on “unintended effects of genetic manipulation.”
another. Putting the matter plainly: when foreign genes are
introduced into an organism, creating a transgenic organism
[GMO or GenTech organisms], the results for the organism and
its environment are almost always unpredictable. The intended
result may or may not be achieved in any given case, but the
one almost sure thing is that unintended results—nontarget
effects—will also be achieved. These facts have been, and are
being, widely reported in the scientific literature. While they
are correcting our understanding in important ways, they are
not at all controversial. And they bear directly upon the wisdom
of virtually all the current genetic engineering practices.
If there has been limited reportage of unintended effects in the
popular press, it may be because the facts are often buried in
technical scientific articles. And within genetic engineering
research itself, scientists are mainly concerned with achieving targeted effects and not with investigating beyond the
range of their own intentions and reporting unexpected
effects. But when they do investigate, there is usually
plenty to see. It is the purpose of this project to make
evidence about the wide-ranging and never wholly
predictable effects of genetic engineering readily accessible to concerned citizens, policy makers, and
scientists... [Emphasis added.]
Much of the public debate concerning genetically
modified organisms, their widespread use in animal
and human food, and their impact upon the environment could be raised to an entirely new and more
productive level if certain undisputed facts were
more widely known. The facts at issue have
to do with the unintended and systemic
consequences of genetic manipulations,
as revealed in one research report after
Research Issue 2010
Along with the searchable short reports,
natureinstitute.org has a major collection of
longer articles covering the whole field.
25
Research–a special section
It seems to me that chapter 9 is the fulcrum of the book, the
point at which the final intent becomes clear:
is often forgotten that this idea was no hard-won conclusion
of Darwin’s, but was lifted from a completely different realm of
discourse and applied to Nature. He adopted it from Thomas
Malthus, whose book An Essay on the Principle of Population attempted to address the effect of world-wide population growth.”
This is rather like saying that Niels Bohr filched the idea of
quanta from Max Planck and applied it in a different context.
Darwin never made any secret of his indebtedness to many of
his predecessors, including Malthus, and it’s worth noting that
Loren Eiseley, in his masterly Darwin’s Century, puts the matter much more fairly, seeing the gradual evolution of Darwin’s
ideas as a process—dare I say, as a time-gestalt—rather than
suggesting that he simply plucked a ripe fruit from someone
else’s tree. There are more examples of this tendency. Although
T. H. Huxley may be “notorious” among anthroposophists and
creationists, in other circles “famous” would seem more appropriate—but this is something that could easily be corrected and
there is another far deeper problem that is simply in the nature
of the enterprise.
Suchantke goes to great lengths to characterize the archetype and its all-pervasive functioning, but it remains a concept
that is very hard to get hold of, partly because, like Proteus,
it is always changing its form and partly, perhaps, because it
isn’t a concept. Proteus had been given the gift of prophecy, but
on being questioned he assumed different shapes and eluded
his questioners. The archetype does not merely “know” the
future; it brings all kinds of different futures about in constantly
changing ways and we may well be excused for feeling that
we still don’t know what it “really” is. We see what it achieves,
but something in us wants to know how it works and where it
comes from. These may be unanswerable or even meaningless
questions, but we can’t help asking them, and it may be helpful
to look at evolution from a different angle, for which the study
of Steiner’s Outline of Esoteric Science would be a good starting
point. How does Suchantke’s description of the organic development of a vehicle for human consciousness relate to Steiner’s
account of the work of the hierarchies, in which the human
being has been present from the very beginning? And if we want
to know what the driving force for evolution is, we could profitably study The Driving Force of Spiritual Powers in World History,
a course which, among many other things, gives the clue to the
emergence of the archetype in the form it took in the Middle
Ages.
As Suchantke indicates, the very idea of the archetype is
likely to promote an acute negative reaction on the part of a
modern biologist, even when it is given a new context and a new
understanding, and it will take either a catastrophe or a long
evolutionary process to change this situation. Nevertheless,
Metamorphosis has the ring of truth and will amply repay the
contemplative reader.
The environment is internalized, and that which later on lights
up as the inner content of consciousness is the inside, or spiritual
content of nature, internalized and raised to the level of consciousness. Internalization of the external world, steady gain
in inner richness and complexity—this is the leitmotiv in the
evolution of deuterostomes, the line in the animal kingdom
that leads to the human being.
Two further chapters deal with the evolutionary processes of
the endo- (inner) skeleton, characteristic of vertebrates, and the
exo- (outer) skeleton of the insect world, and finally bring us to
the embodiment of the archetype in the human being, in whom
evolution “has not only expressed itself in the physical form of
a single species, but at the same time has become conscious of
itself.”
Evolution does not stop here, however. The capacities of
consciousness can be intensified but “there is a vast discrepancy between what we actually achieve and the goals we aspire
to, goals which should in principle have been attainable. This is
a feeling that can arise in connection with any activity: it could
have been better, we should really do it again more thoroughly!
The importance of this experience cannot be overestimated because it induces the future and is an expression of the developmental potential of the Self, probably its most important attribute.
All this only makes sense… if the Self, as the bearer of this
developmental resolve, has the possibility of further existence
beyond its present life; if, indeed, what it has begun in this life
can be carried on in subsequent ones…. The continuity of the
individual spirit through a series of physical incarnations is the
precondition for the quantum leap from biological to mental/
spiritual evolution.
This is how Suchantke ends his
book, and some readers may feel
that although the evolution of human consciousness has been in his
crosshairs from the beginning, his
conclusion is rather brief and facile.
If, however, we say that the further
development of the human soul
and spirit is a subject that demands
another whole book, we must
recognize that other whole books
have already been written, notably
by Rudolf Steiner, whose intimations about the future of this
incarnation of our planet make rather uncomfortable reading.
This is not surprising since any realistic survey of the past has
the same effect.
•
Metamorphosis will undoubtedly be both a comfort and a
challenge to students of anthroposophy, and may well be a
source of inspiration to people who have never heard of Rudolf
Steiner. Whether it will have any influence within the scientific
community is a different question, one of the problems being
the rather partisan tone that the author adopts in speaking of
Darwin, his supporters, and modern biological science. Speaking of the idea of the struggle for existence, Suchantke says, “It
Keith Francis majored in physics at Cambridge University and
worked as an engineer at Bristol Aircraft before joining the teaching profession. He was on the faculty of the Rudolf Steiner School
in NY for 31 years as a teacher of physics, chemistry, mathematics,
earth science, English and music. Since his retirement he has written several novels and a history of atomic science.
26
Evolving News
The Postmodern Revolution
by David Adams
As is well known, the late 1960s marked the beginning of
a wave of social, ecological, and cultural change that swept
the world. The generation reaching adulthood in those years
protested against the existing order and sought to develop new
social and cultural forms. An alienated attitude critical of establishment values was widespread in this rebellion, which looked
for some kind of universal renewal of modern civilization.
If we look for a background to these developments in Rudolf
Steiner’s research which informs anthroposophy, we focus
first on the opening of the century. The year 1899 marked the
end of an age of spiritual darkness, Kali Yuga, which lasted five
thousand years. Now humanity could begin again to attain a
conscious awareness of spiritual phenomena. Steiner saw this
evolutionary development as a consequence of the “Mystery
of Golgotha,” the great sacrifice of the Christ. He also observed
that the 33 ¹/³ year life-rhythm of Jesus Christ continues to
influence events. Moving into the twentieth century, it brings us
to 1933, when Steiner said human beings would begin to have
experiences of the reappearance of Christ within the etheric
realm, along with counter-measures which led to the second
world war. In The Spiritual Event of the Twentieth Century Jesaiah
Ben Aharon shared his own research into the “Christ Event of
the Twentieth Century,” which developed in stages beginning in
the twelve years from 1933 to 1945.1 Ben Aharon suggests that
we look at these twelve years again after another 33 ¹/³ years,
that is, the period 1967-1979, when many deeper changes of the
Christ Event began to occur.
There were human souls in the spiritual world during the
1933-1945 events who were approaching a new birth. Born just
after the war, this generation began to reach their ego maturity
around 1966-68. These souls of the “Baby Boomer” generation
helped to lead significant social, ecological, political, cultural,
and spiritual transformations of the last third of the century,
working out of unconscious will forces and semi-conscious
heart forces.
Even without anthroposophical insights, the period 1967-1968
shows the beginning of a fundamental change in the visual arts,
the shift from modernism to postmodernism. Anthroposophists
working in the visual arts have mostly ignored this transformation in mainstream art for more than thirty years now. It is past
time to begin taking a look at it—especially if we want our art to
relate to the contemporary world and take its place within the
artistic dialogues and developments of our time.
Postmodern art is far too large a topic to cover here, but I
want to make a beginning by looking at the key period of the
late 1960s. Even this is a large topic, so I will only present the initial period of these artistic changes, symptomatically, through
the work of a single American artist. It is appropriate to focus
on an American artist, since with each of the two world wars,
America assumed a new role and responsibility for the inner
Research Issue 2010
development of western (if not global) human culture, a role in
which Europe had largely failed. First we must recall briefly the
context of that time in the artworld in New York City.
The New York Context
Abstract Expressionism, which emerged just after World War
Two in the later 1940s and 1950s, was the first major artistic
style to originate wholly within the United States—and then be
imitated in Europe. The New York School artists experimented
with the spontaneous, the indeterminate, the dynamic, the
open, and the unfinished. The development of their painting has
been classified (somewhat arbitrarily) into two main tendencies:
gesture (or “action”) painting and color-field painting.
Gesture or “action” painters such as Jackson Pollock and
Willem de Kooning spontaneously organized their canvases as
open, expressive accumulations of direct painterly ”gestures,”
forming a unified “allover” image that seemed to expand dynamically beyond the framing edge (fig. 1).
Color-field painters such as Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still,
who developed slightly later, concentrated on the overall effect of the painting as a single shape, presenting more refined,
unified, and expansive optical textures or “fields” (fig. 2). They
wanted to maximize the visual impact of specific colors and
Fig.1 - Jackson Pollock. Reflection of the Big Dipper. 1947, oil on canvas 43¼ x 16¼”.
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found that, to do so, they had to simplify or eliminate any other
figures or symbols and apply the colors in large expanses that
would saturate the eye. This was a more radical abandonment
of the familiar structural basis of existing western art – that is,
of the use of modulated dark and light values to produce the
modern era each of the arts has been impelled toward “selfdefinition,” toward what is unique and irreducible in their
particular medium. Uniquely characteristic of painting are “the
flat surface, the [rectangular] shape of the support, the properties of pigments” [i.e., color]. Most important was flatness, for
it alone is “unique and exclusive to pictorial art.” In its urge for
purity, painting was required to steadily purge itself “self-critically” of all representation and illusion, of every effect that was
not essential to the medium of painting. It was this progressive
purification that gave rise to the changes of style in modern art.2
There are some similarities to Greenberg’s idea in statements
of Rudolf Steiner. For example, in The Arts and Their Mission he
criticizes the traditional practice of using spatial (linear) perspective to create the illusion of spatial depth in painting. “This
rejects at the outset the most important material the artist has,
for he does not create in space, he creates on a flat surface, and
it is quite ridiculous to want to experience the thing spatially
when one’s basic material is a flat surface.3 He also refers to
color as the proper or fundamental element of painting.4
Greenberg was the leader of a general attack on de Kooningstyle gestural painting in the early 1960s. Loose, gestural brushwork was condemned because it denied pictorial flatness and
suggested a degree of illusionistic space and “atmosphere.” Also
forbidden was structure based on contrasts of light and dark,
which tended to create illusionistic space. Even thick-textured
paint produced more of a sculptural quality and detracted from
the purely “optical” effect of color. Greenberg urged Louis and
Noland and other painters to suppress painterly details and
treat the entire picture as an open field of flat color-shapes, using thin colors stained directly into the canvas.
Frank Stella was probably the outstanding figure of this
group. His “black-stripe” paintings seemed to use the physical
depth of the canvas as a kind of module (fig. 3). It dictated the
width of his stripes. These were separated by thin strips of bare
canvas that called attention to the physical picture surface. The
rectangular shape of the stretcher determined the concentric
and symmetrical composition of the stripes. Shape and thickness of canvas seemed to dictate the picture’s configuration, i.e.,
it seemed to refer only to itself as an object. Stella aimed to carry
to its ultimate solution the formalist view of the central problem
Fig.2 - Mark Rothko. Orange and Yellow. 1956, oil on canvas, 91 x 71”.
illusion of three-dimensional mass in space. Instead, the surface
of the painting was treated as an active ”field” with a unified
texture for an allover, “single image” effect.
A number of younger artists took up the color-field wing of
Abstract Expressionism, eventually leading it toward simpler,
flatter, and hard-edged forms. Different names were given to
these later tendencies in painting (which continued into the
1970s and beyond), of which I will use Post-Painterly Abstraction. The Post-Painterly Abstract artists used a hard edge; a
more anonymous execution; even, clear, bright colors; and often
a feeling of openness and simple clarity.
Clement Greenberg’s Art Theory
New, properly non-painterly styles first emerged outside of
the New York School: the hard-edged abstraction of Ellsworth
Kelly, Frank Stella, and Leon Polk Smith; and the stained colorfield abstractions of Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, and Jules
Olitski. Louis and Noland in Washington, DC accepted the influential critic Clement Greenberg as their advisor and promoter.
He introduced them to the work of Helen Frankenthaler, who
had thinned her paint so it soaked directly into the canvas as
a color area, helping eliminate the visual distinction between a
foreground and a background.
One of the basic ideas of Greenberg, the most important
art critic and theorist to emerge since the war, was that in the
Fig.3 - Frank Stella. The Marriage of Reason and Squalor (second version). 1959,
black enamel on canvas, 90¾ x 132¼”.
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Evolving News
of modern art – how to articulate the reality of the picture as a
flat, two-dimensional thing. His blunt black and later industrial
and metallic colors formed large, clear stripe-patterns that were
instantly perceptible, and the in-between bare-canvas lines flattened the pictorial space to an unprecedented degree, asserting
the physicality or objecthood of the canvas.
Stella’s own formalist aesthetic was based somewhat more on
the writings of painter Ad Reinhardt than Greenberg. Reinhardt
had argued the purification of painting by eliminating everything that was not of and for painting, especially extra-aesthetic
references to “life.” He wanted to purge art of everything but
art, although he had a rather materialistic idea of the art object.
He ridiculed the “transcendental nonsense, the picturing of a
‘reality behind reality’” of color field painters. Instead, he called
for “pure painting [in which there] is no degree of illustration,
distortion, illusion, allusion, or delusion.”5
seen as a distortion of the true nature of the object. Only with
the perception of objects that existed to begin with in all three
dimensions did the eye’s vision match what the mind knew to be
true from experience.
For his own art, Judd began in 1964 focusing on relief,
constructing metal boxes cantilevered off walls (fig. 4). Each
element was an isolated Specific Object, yet also part of a
mathematically-arranged pattern. Such “arrangement” avoided
traditional composition, the use of major and minor elements
ordered into a balanced, hierarchical structure. In Judd’s work
all parts were equal. Judd felt that traditional composition
reflected a larger idea of order, which diluted the immediate
concrete experience of the piece by referring to something else
exterior to the work of art as an object.
From the later sixties onward he concentrated on large floor
pieces, often with perforated surfaces, to emphasize static immobility, simplicity, openness, and clarity (fig. 5). His extreme
focus on the literal object was something new in sculpture.
In contrast to Judd’s rejection of painting, Clement Greenberg
had argued that the goal of advanced painting also was objecthood, accepting its essential qualities of flat canvas and color.
Minimalism
The new style known as Minimalism first emerged as sculpture in the one-person shows of Donald Judd and Robert Morris
in 1963. Minimal sculpture consisted of elementary geometric
volumes or symmetrical, serial sequences of modular geometric
volumes placed not on pedestals but directly on the floor or
wall. They used non-relational design, uninflected surfaces with
no signs of process, and colors that were simply those of the
substances used, especially industrial materials (or paint). The
emphasis was on literal objecthood and extreme physicality,
but the design was based on preconceived ideas. The seemingly
simple sculptures of Minimalism depended upon a lot of critical
writing, mostly by the artists themselves, to explain why they
were important.
Judd admired visual
intensity or immediate
impact in art and felt
that no painting could
hold its own visually
against this new work in
three dimensions that in
1965 he called Specific
Objects. Also, he argued
that working in actual
materials like fiberglass,
formica, plexiglas,
chrome, plastic, and
fluorescent lights had
a specificity and power
that painting lacked, especially when these new
materials were closely
related to the form of the
artwork. Because of this,
Judd announced, painting
was dead and “had to
go entirely.” This led to
a series of 1966 debates:
“Was painting dead and
at its historical end?”
Even the most minimal
Fig.4 - Donald Judd. Untitled (Ten Stacks). 1969,
painted illusionism was
anodized aluminum.
Research Issue 2010
Fig.5 - Donald Judd. Untitled. 1977, stainless steel and nickel, 4 nits, each 59 x 59 x 59”.
Robert Morris in 1966 called for a clearer distinction between
painting’s optical (color) qualities and “sculpture’s essentially
tactile nature.”6 He also believed painting was outmoded and
applied Greenberg’s goal of “reduction to essentials” to sculpture. What made sculpture unique, said Morris, was its literal,
monolithic physicality, whose (physical) properties were scale,
proportion, shape, and mass. To maximize these physical
properties, he preferred simpler forms that could be directly apprehended as constant, known shapes: mainly regular polyhedrons, such as cubes and pyramids. He called them Unitary Objects. Sculpture also should avoid segmentation, color, sensuous
surfaces, details, and inflection—anything that could be seen
as spatially illusionistic or pictorial. Not only painting, but also
pictorial sculpture was outmoded. Ironically, Greenberg didn’t
like Minimalism, feeling it was contrived, “something deduced
instead of felt or discovered.”7 For Greenberg, the experience
of modernist art was divorced from common, real, literal space
and time. But the Minimalist sculptors used Greenbergian principles to move beyond Greenberg’s own opinions.
Because Minimalist sculptures were pre-planned and prefabricated (or arranged from prefabricated materials), minimal artists avoided the improvisational process of creation associated
with Abstract Expressionism. The creative act was the artist’s
idea, not the activity of construction. Carl Andre took a further
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step beginning in 1966 by arranging bricks and squares of metal
in rectangles on the floor, aligned with the form of the room
(fig. 6). “Rather than cutting into the material, I use the material
as the cut in space,” he said.8 His use of materials blended them
into the space so that the sculpture loses much of its object-like
quality. He even invited viewers to walk on them, further emphasizing the literal presence of the material. “I severed matter
from depiction,” he claimed.
evance. It felt art should engage its specific social context and
that nothing really new was still possible in art. Viewers should
expect a “shock of recognition” when seeing familiar aspects of
their daily world used for works of art. Modernists believed a
work’s content inhered in its innovative and creative form, while
subject matter was more or less incidental. Postmodernists
emphasized subject matter or content in art.
Postmodernists initially took their cues from architecture,
which earlier had launched a sustained attack on the modernist International Style, an attack initiated by Robert Venturi’s
1967 book Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. Postmodernist architecture called for multiplicity, inclusiveness,
and eclecticism instead of the formalist uniformity and exclusiveness identified with the International Style. It repudiated
Modernism’s obsessions with the new, and it often rehabilitated
decorative motifs from premodern styles, combining them with
modernist motifs. Although this soon became primarily a kind
of appropriation and eclectic mixing of historical styles (historicism) that did not develop further, it seemed new and fresh at
the time.
Also prominent in postmodern thought was the idea that the
modernist way of carrying art to extremes to achieve the next
new, innovative style had become too commonplace in the art
world. It had become a cliché, and art had gone as far as it could
go. The avant-garde was dead. A large part of the public no longer responded in outrage to the latest novel development in art.
Modernist art had become institutionalized and “official” as well
as so popular that it could increasingly be considered another
form of mass cultural entertainment or decor.
Postmodernists also had revised attitudes toward popular
culture (or kitsch). In the second half of the twentieth century,
popular culture (including the mass media and mass consumerism with its accompanying advertising) had grown so pervasive
and powerful that it had become like the “second nature” of
modern life. Art could no longer ignore it. By the 1980s the art
of those who mixed artistic mediums, embraced diversity, and
looked for inspiration in everyday, common imagery, the mass
media, past art, and consumer commodities, seemed much
more vital than modernist art. (See for example fig. 7, which
also suggests the revival of painting that took place.)
Many young artists had ceased to believe in the futuristic
visions of progress from the modernist era and began in their
art to “quote” or recycle images and forms from past art and
the mass media. Appropriation, as this practice came to be
known, became the primary sign of postmodernist art. The new
Fig.6 - Carl Andre. Aluminum Square. 1968, 25 aluminum squares, 3/8 x 197 x 197”.
Postmodern or Postminimalist Art
In addition to his concept of a progressive “self-definition” of
each art, Greenberg asserted that the artist’s primary goal was
to create art of quality. There was an importance to “aesthetic
value and excellence for its own sake, as an end in itself.”9 Thus,
artworks were typically displayed as isolated, independent
objects surrounded by white walls in galleries and museums.
For Greenberg, the antithesis of modernist art was kitsch:
“popular, commercial art and literature”—e.g., magazine covers,
illustrations, ads, pulp fiction, comics, pop music, Hollywood
movies. There could be no compromise in the struggle between
authentic high culture and debased popular culture or entertainment. The idea that the work of art should be autonomous
and self-sufficient within its own realm is a position labeled
“formalism” and associated with modernist art. The primary
enemy for Greenberg in the 1960s was Pop Art, which broke
down the barriers between high art and kitsch, foreshadowing
postmodernism.
Actually, there were no widely agreed-upon definitions of
either modernism or postmodernism in the 1960s and 1970s – or
even once postmodern art more widely emerged in the 1980s.
At first, art historians treated postmodernism as a pluralist
bundle of styles superseding modernist ones. Then a more
sociological outlook proposed that a radical change had taken
place, from an industrial society, which had generated modernism, to a postindustrial society that also gave rise to
postmodern art.10 In philosophy postmodernism refers
to the end of an epistemologically centered philosophy based on the efforts of a knowing subject to know
truth by achieving a true mental representation of objective reality (the Cartesian subject-object dualism).
It argues (among many other things) that there is no
temporally invariant truth since human understanding
is always historically-based (or “contingent”).
Modernism in art was characterized by qualities
like autonomy, quality, and novelty. Art was felt to be
universal and transcendent within its own special
sphere (“art for art’s sake”). Viewers expected to react
to the latest formal innovations with the “shock of the
new.” By contrast, postmodernism valued social relFig.7 - David Salle. Muscular Paper. 1985, acrylic and oil on canvas and printed fabric, 98 x 187½”.
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Evolving News
art declared the end of the modernist, formalist approach and
as time and space (which can be seen to form a kind of defining
introduced an art of replication and mixing of previous styles
cross of incarnated existence). Temporary situations in actual
(often called “neo” or “retro” styles), of
space and real time dispensed with the
appropriation and simulation. Along with
conception of art-as-a-precious-object,
this was a denial of originality, experiexisting in a special, timeless “art space”
ment, innovation, and invention – even
different from ordinary space. It could
of the importance of the role of the artist
be said that the Minimalists had tried
as creator.
to reduce art to purely an object, but
Above all, postmodernists rejected
discovered they couldn’t eliminate the
modernist claims to universality. Observhuman subject, the other side of the
ing how such ideas had been used politisubject-object polarity that delimits hucally in the past to reinforce exploitative
man experience. So the postminimalists
Fig.8 - Four Directions of Postminimalist Art.
power relations, they were suspicious of
accentuated the subjective.
any kind of universal guiding principles or idealist programs.
Postmodernism generally represents an attempt to open out
They dissolved every kind of totalizing explanation and hierarthe enclosed aesthetic world of modernism to the real world
chy. They asked: Wasn’t this modernist culture just the creation
so that aesthetic experience can be reintegrated with everyday
of Western middle-class whites and heterosexual males? Inlife. Thus, the postminimalists moved their art into the world,
stead, Postmodernist artists have stressed differences in class;
outside of elite, protected gallery and museum spaces. Likewise,
gender; local, regional and national character; race and ethnicthe postminimal denial of art-as-object was joined with a growity; and history, culture, and current events—the particular and
ing revulsion against the commodification of art. Many artists,
the multicultural. They also began to analyze or “deconstruct”
disgusted by the art market, purposely made art that could
the practices and institutions of the art world itself.
not be bought or sold: piles of dirt, trenches dug in the desert,
It was especially Minimalist art that was attacked by the
conceptual art consisting only of verbal statements. However,
early postmodernists. In fact, they were called postminimalists
they eventually discovered that there was no art so extreme
at first, and some still argue that the postminimalists were just
or inaccessible that some collectors would not still pay handthe very last gasp of modernism rather than the first breath of
somely for it.
postmodernism. To become more thinglike, minimal sculpture
During the late 1960s many alienated young people and arthad eliminated all internal relations or variations that might call
ists “dropped out” of mainstream society to seek a new way of
the viewer’s attention away from simple thingness or objectlife. The counterculture arose to oppose the tradition of Western
hood. However, this led the viewer to pay attention to relationculture marked by rationality, work, duty, maturity, and success.
ships between the minimal sculpture and its surroundings. Thus,
A disgust with the past and despair for the future compelled
changes in the environment, lighting, and position of the viewer
disaffected young people to look only to the present. Thus, in
(or different viewers) were experienced as components of the
terms of social context it is not surprising that artists rejected
work. Because of this, it was pointed out that
art-as-object-for-the-ages and instead favored
the Minimalist artwork lacked self-sufficiency.
the direct, present process of art making over
Critic Michael Fried maintained in a much-dethe finished product, often using perishable
bated 1967 article “Art and Objecthood,” that,
materials or no materials at all.
because the viewer is included in the “situaThe succeeding artists of the 1970s, leadtion” of minimal sculpture, it is “theatrical,”
ing into postmodernism proper, generally
like a stage with the viewer as an actor, experesponded with more irony and with radical,
rienced in time.11 It could also be said that, as
irrational, unconventional, absurdist, or perthe art object in space grew simpler, the focus
verse experiments in art. A variety of styles
of attention began to shift more to the experiand approaches arose and are still arising, esences of the subject (viewer) in time.
pecially under the category of digital or media
The postminimalists embraced Fried’s idea
art (see fig. 9). Having progressively “purified”
of “theatricality.” If time was implicit in the
itself down to color field painting and then
way minimal sculpture was experienced, these
minimalist sculpture, modernist art passed
later artists made temporal experience and
through the “eye of the needle” around 1967-68
theatricality thoroughly explicit – in fact, the
to emerge into a new profusion or “pluralism”
only possible way of experience, especially
of “postmodern” styles and movements.12
in new forms of film, video, and performance
Robert Morris
art. Postminimalists dematerialized the object
(process art and conceptual art), spread it out
I want to introduce postminimalist or early
Fig.9 - From Modernism to Postmodernism.
into its surroundings (process art, installation,
postmodern artwork symptomatically through
and earth art); formed an idea and presented it as a work of
the creations of one artist, Robert Morris. In many ways he is
art in itself (conceptual art); and employed their own bodies in
the ultimate postminimalist artist, having gone through almost
performance (body art and performance art). (See fig. 8.)
every postminimalist mode as well as Minimalism: Performance,
The new postminimalist artists experimented in four fundaBody Art, Process Art, Earth Art, Installations, Conceptual Art,
mental directions based on polarities of mind and body as well
Sound Art, film, and, later, Neo-Expressionism.
Research Issue 2010
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He had already in 1961 been concerned with the problem of
how to get the process to show in the product. In 1961 he created Box with the Sound of Its Own Making, a walnut box containing a 3-hour tape recording of the sounds of its own fabrication.
His I-Box of 1962 clearly made the minimalist box “theatrical.”
When the chalky pink door of this large, Minimalist-looking
wooden box was opened, there was a literal “I” inside in the
form of a full-size photograph of the naked Morris with a twinkle
in his eye. That purposely trivialized the Abstract Expression-
verbal form as independent works of art. This came to be called
conceptual art, and Morris was a pioneer in this as well.
In Morris’ 1963 Card File, a series of plastic-encased cards
documented the process of compiling the file. This work anticipated both process art and conceptual art. It becomes complex
to think about the work when the work itself is its own description (as a process). This work also mocked the traditional idea
of the artwork as the sum of the intentions and actions of the
artist. In another conceptual art project in 1968, Morris sent a
telegram proposing to “re-do” the Chicago Fire of 1871.
Process Art
As he continued to explore form, Morris also turned to what
he considered its dialectical opposite, matter. He began to manipulate materials whose “forms” were flexible and open-ended,
especially soft materials that would move away from traditional
ideas of structure. Influenced by Joseph Beuys and Claes
Oldenburg, he chose gray felt for many of these works, because
he could preconceive cutting it according to geometric progressions. Once the cutting was done, however, the arrangement of
the felt was shaped by the process of gravity. The resulting form
could never be predicted or final, and it changed with time and
new installations.
In a 1968 essay Morris argued that Minimal Art was not as
physical as art could be because the ordering of its modular
or serial units was not inherent in their material. Rather, the
Fig.10 - Robert Morris. Untitled. 1966, fiberglass with light, 91 x 122 x 229 cm.
ist idea of artists inscribing or revealing their true I in their
artwork. When the case was opened, there really was nothing
inside but another outside. Morris was playing with how we
think of our “self” hidden within our body.
Morris explored a number of witty variations on the nature
of the Minimalist object. He noted that when internal, intimacyproducing relationships were taken out of a work, they were
transferred to the context in which the work was shown. Thus,
the unitary object is carefully placed into its environment
in real three-dimensional space. He created a number of his
“Unitary Objects” from off-white fiberglass that the viewer knew
to be hollow, again undermining their solid objecthood. In the
untitled sculpture shown in figure 10 the slit in the block allows
a slice of light to escape from the fluorescent-light interior, just
where one would normally expect shadow.
In the late 1960s he developed many variations to his Unitary
Objects in both form (cylinder, oval, tapered square, wedge, “L,”
and “H”) and materials (steel mesh, aluminum, wood, granite,
fiberglass, etc.). The materials chosen typically compromise the
serial units by making them more optically complex. His subversion of the object was most extreme in a 1965 piece consisting
of four plexiglas-mirror-covered wood boxes that more or less
dissolved in their reflections of the environment (fig. 11). It created a paradox and invited the viewer’s movement. Having disposed of Minimalist pretensions, Morris proceeded to explore
artwork in each of the four basic new types, also using his work
in these new forms to comment on previous notions of art.
Fig.11 - Robert Morris. Untitled. 1965, 4 mirrored boxes, each 21 x 21 x 21”
process of a work’s “making-itself” had to be emphasized.13
Thus, this new, still more literal art focused on matter and the
action of gravity upon it. Morris argued that the minimalist
unitary object was related to its surroundings in a traditional
figure-ground relationship and was thus “terminally diseased.”
The cure was to base three-dimensional art on “the conditions
of the visual field itself,” to replace the discrete object (for a discrete subject) by installed “accumulations of things or stuff.”14
In these works of “process art” accumulations of soft materials spill across
the floor into
the viewer’s
space and
colonize more
and more of
the gallery
floor space
(fig. 12). His
Fig.12 - Robert Morris. Untitled (Tangle). 1967, felt, 264 pieces.
installation
Conceptual Art
Minimal artists based their works on preconceived ideas
intended to produce the most objectlike of objects. At the end
of 1960s artist began to consider the preconceived ideas behind
Minimalist objects for their own sake and to present them in
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“Threadwaste” from 1974 filled the entire gallery floorspace with
an expansive heap of threadwaste, mirrors, asphalt, aluminum,
lead, felt, copper, and steel. Random piling, stacking, and hanging gave passing form to the material, and these installations
were sometimes called “scatter pieces.” Rather than preconceiving a clear definition, this form of sculpture depended on real
time and even on chance occurrences, requiring the viewer to
participate, to “be there and to walk around the work.” It was
essentially theatrical and soon evolved into what we refer to as
installation art today.
Earth Art
In 1968 Morris exhibited an installation titled Earthwork, composed of a pile of another disordered material: soil. From that
it was only a short step outdoors into Earth Art. Thus, two new
forms arose: outdoor earth art and indoor installation art.
Because
minimal
sculptures
lacked internal relationships and
articulated
their outer
limits so
emphatically,
they pointed
to their
Fig.13 - Robert Morris. Steam. 1971-74 (1967 original), steam outlets under surroundbed of stones outlined with wood, W. Washington Univ., Bellingham. ings beyond.
Thus, postminimalist Earth Art sculptors began to take into
account the sculpture’s site and overall “situation.” One such
change was to make work outdoors. Nature tended to be a
more appropriate site for these spreading artworks than the
contained, four-walled gallery. Like the materials of Process Art,
most substances found in nature were impermanent, indeterminate, and changeable. In a piece realized several times between
1967 and 1973, Morris worked outdoors in even more “formless”
medium – steam (fig. 13). Minimalist sculpture had still been
“commodity art” (precious objects for sale) – but how could you
sell steam? In a later, larger-scale project of 1979 in King County,
Washington,
he reclaimed
an abandoned gravel
pit, a site of
ecological
abuse, shaping concentric terraces
and slopes to
form a kind of Fig.14 - Robert Morris. Untitled. 1979, reclamation project, Johnson Pit No.
30, King County, Washington, 3.7 acres, earth, tree trunks, tar.
amphitheater
(fig. 14). From within, only the sky is visible.
Performance Art
Another new art form was body art (or, as it is more commonly known today, performance art), which carried theatricality to an extreme in “sculpture” where artists (at first) used their
Research Issue 2010
own bodies as the material of their art, performing elementary
movements whose simplicity was inspired by minimal art or
perhaps the artist’s biography or artworld issues. Morris created and
performed
in a number
of dance-like
performance
pieces.
In these
performances he did not
entirely neglect undercutting modFig.15 - Robert Morris. Site. 1964, performance with Carolee Schneeman, NYC.
ern painting
either. In his 1965 work, Site, a large white wooden cube played
the sound of a jackhammer drill as Morris entered in plain
white workman’s clothing wearing a mask of his face (made by
artist Jasper Johns). This emphasized the work and “action”
of creating art, an ironic reference to Abstract Expressionism.
Three 4 x 8’ sheets of white plywood were grasped, turned, and
shifted to reveal the reclining Carolee Schneeman, nude in white
make-up, against a fourth panel in the pose of Edouard Manet’s
1863 Olympia, a famous touchstone of early modernist painting
for its unprecedented flatness (fig. 15). But here the scene was
brought out into three actual dimensions, until Morris’s dance
with plywood sheets gradually hid her again. The performance
was an absurd acting-out of modernist cult of the flat picture
plane (which largely began with Manet). It also referenced the
“white cube” environment of typical gallery and museum exhibition spaces that reinforce the modernist idea of the work of art
as existing in self-referential isolation.
One other example of a Morris performance was Waterman’s
Switch of 1965, performed with dancers Lucinda Childs and
Yvonne Rainer (fig. 16). This presentation in four segments
lasted 17 minutes. Foam-rubber rocks were rolled on stage
and bounced around to a recording of rolling boulders. After
a blackout, Childs dragged a set of gray plywood tracks to the
center, where, as a Verdi aria played, Morris and Rainer, wearing
only mineral oil and locked in an embrace, began slowly traversing the tracks, shadowed by
Childs in an outsized man’s suit
unwinding a ball of twine over
her shoulder as she moved.
A series of similar symbolic
movements ensued, sometimes incorporating elements
of recorded sound or film, but
generally dealing with the same
themes of physical struggle,
stones and boulders, and a
labyrinthine stringing of the
twine—almost like a musical
theme-and-variations.
All of these new, postminimalist/postmodern forms of art
denied and tried to avoid fixed Fig.16 - Robert Morris. Waterman Switch. 1965,
performance with Lucinda Childs and
objecthood in art. The acts of
Yvonne Rainer, Buffalo, NY.
33
Research–a special section
conceiving and placing the pieces took precedence over the “object quality” of the work. Many other artists have worked with
these new forms in a great variety of types of expression.
supported the idea that everything can have multiple interpretations (at least twelve), although I don’t know if he would have
taken it as far as concluding that this meant the end of originality and the “death of the artist” (a postmodern catchphrase
Preliminary Anthroposophical Commentary
from Roland Barthes). In contrast to what I quoted previously
about conceptual art, Steiner said in several places that art
Where would anthroposophical art stand in relation to the
today must be created out of greater consciousness than in the
issues of modernism versus postmodernism?
past. “I believe that the significant factor in the further evolution
I mentioned that some of Rudolf Steiner’s statements seem to
of spiritual science will be that, in the process of attempting to
support the formalist, Greenbergian ideas of a focusing of each
understand the concept of art, it will itself devise an art of the
art form on its own unique, essential qualities – for example,
conceptual, in which the work and activity of ideation will be
focusing painting on flatness and color. There are also his comfulfilled with images, with reality...”23 Or: “What we must do is
ments on sculpture remaining true to the form tendencies of
bring art into our thinking...”24 He also mentioned his unfulfilled
particular materials, e.g., concave forms with wood and convex
artistic wish to some day “draw the content of the The Philosowith stone. Other comments reinforce the formalist idea of the
phy of Spiritual Activity.”25 In tune with the philosophical origins
work of art as autonomous and self-referential. For example:
of postmodernism, Steiner’s own philosophical work moved in
“In its inherent element, every art becomes both content and
a similar direction of overcoming the unknowable “things-inform.”15 Or he speaks of “the superearthly character of the
themselves” of Kantian idealism as well as the rigid Cartesian
miniature world of art.”16 Or “...the artistic impression depends
separation of subject and object in understanding human expesolely and entirely upon what confronts us in the picture, and
rience, including the experience of art. In fact, Steiner’s philomakes itself best felt when we pay no attention at all to anysophical views can be seen as a kind of postmodern philosophy
thing but what speaks from the picture itself. The inhabitant of
before its time. 26
Mars would therefore really be the best observer from a purely
These comments can seem contradictory or ambiguous in
artistic point of view.”17 In apparent opposition to the very idea
relation
to postmodernism, so it is important to consider the
of conceptual art, Steiner also said the following: “You can only
complete
context of Steiner’s remarks as well as the date. For
think afterward about artistic forms. An artist does not under18
example,
when
he said painting must be two-dimensional, he
stand them first, does not create from concepts and ideas.”
meant
using
a
“planar
color perspective” to overcome what is
However, still other Steiner statements seem to point in the
merely
spatial
and
enter
an etheric fourth dimension, which is
direction of postmodernism, although it wouldn’t really come
also
two-dimensional
in
character. Also, he seemed to speak
into being until more than forty years after his death. First, he
mainly
about
what
the
progress
of contemporary art of his time
supported liberating art from galleries and museums so that it
allowed
or
induced
him
to
speak
about. He cautioned about too
can play a role in the rest of life: “Beauty must not remain cap19
much intellectual, linguistic generalization about what is the
tive in museums. Step by step we must work for its release.” Or:
“essence of art,” rather advising us to pay atten“Art is very frequently severed nowadays from
tion to our actual experience of an art form.27
the general life of culture and civilization, and
Above all, perhaps more than any particular
treated as though it were something that lives
formal qualities, Steiner sought an expression of
apart. This, too, is wrong.”20 Steiner said that in
genuine spiritual reality in art, something that
the future the visual arts must become more of
went beyond the merely personal. “Art, indeed,
a musical experience, more like the performing
will never be able to proceed from anything else
arts, and vice versa. Do not the postminimalthan from the relation of the human being to
ist forms bring an element of time and perforthe spiritual world.”28 This is what unites these
mance to the “essential object” that was the
seemingly contradictory comments.
center of the previous modernist aesthetic – as
I feel that the development of Postmodernwell as a musical kind of “theme-and-variations”
ism
does not necessarily mean that all of
approach to composition? In the de-emphasis
Greenberg’s
modernist, formalist views were
on the art object (on its “objecthood” and
totally
wrong,
only that they may have been
formal qualities), the emphasis shifted more to
incomplete
or
too
materialistically understood.
the experience of the viewer—another change
In
art
it
may
even
be
possible to imagine a kind
Steiner predicted must increasingly enter into
of
balance
between
the
positions of Modernism
future art: “Unlike in previous times, the work of
and
Postmodernism,
or
at least a combination
art for the future is not there to make its effect
of
the
best
or
most
true
aspects from each. At
as physical painting, forms, color, spatial relaits best (especially when not overly influenced
tionships, etc., but so that the soul’s experience
by materialistic or Marxist-oriented authors),
encountering the work of art may itself become
postmodernism may be the protest against
a work of art.”21
and alternative to those aspects of the modern
Steiner also advised that, in contrast to past
Western culture that are illusory, rigidly dualisart that arose largely from a one-sided Luciferic
tic, materialistic, exploitative, and unfree. Isn’t
inspiration, in the future there must be more of
this also what anthroposophy wants to be?
an interplay between the Luciferic (the beautiFig.17 - Joseph Beuys. Art = Capital. 1980, color
While the artwork done within the anthropoful) and the Ahrimanic (the ugly) in art.22 He
photograph on aluminum with paint.
34
Evolving News
sophical movement generally has ignored for more than thirty
years these new postminimalist/postmodern developments in
mainstream art, there was one anthroposophist who tried to
work with all of these new, postmodern forms of art already
in the early 1960s—who in fact was one of the chief pioneers
in these fields in Europe and an inspiration for Robert Morris
and other leading “mainstream” postmodern artists. That was
Joseph Beuys, 1921-1986 (fig. 17).
Beuys’s “totalized concept of art” referred to the fundamental process of human form-making, whether this occurred in
artworks, thoughts, speech, or social interaction. “Every human
being is an artist” was his motto, and this expanded idea of art
was his hope to restore a socially reformative—even revolutionary—role to the cultural sphere.
After working his way through a more conventional modern
artistic training and a number of personal crises, Beuys began
participating in 1962 in the radical and often raucous art perJoseph Beuys
formances of the international
Fluxus movement. While he
The innovative sculptures,
supported the Fluxus goal
drawings, installations, and
of abolishing the traditional
performance art of German
distinction between artistic
artist Joseph Beuys from
and nonartistic practices of
the 1960s through the 1980s
creativity, he criticized their
have often been cited as
anti-individualism and lack of
the most significant expresa theory of knowledge with a
sion of avant-garde art in
clearly defined social goal. His
post-war Europe. In his
performances were generally
familiar felt hat, jeans, and
more complex, metaphorical,
air force ammunition (fisherand multi-leveled than the usuman’s) vest, Beuys became
al short, simple, outrageous,
a cult figure for hundreds of
and funny Fluxus events.
students and artists from
In anthroposophy Beuys
around the world. Through
found
both a suitably holishis own striking but enigtic
theory
of knowledge and
matic artworks as well as his
Fig.18
Joseph
Beuys.
The
Chief.
1964,
performance
in
Berlin.
clearly
articulated
social and
extensive teaching, Beuys
spiritual
ideals.
He
had
been
studying
Steiner
since
age
20 (in
influenced two generations of contemporary artists. Beyond the
1941),
and
while
the
context
of
his
artwork
was
quite
different
artworld, Beuys also played a role in European politics, higher
from Steiner’s own artistic creations, Beuys based much of his
education, environmentalism, and social reform.
artwork on anthroposophical ideas and experiences.29
Beuys is known for his ritualistic “Actions” (performances);
his provocative uses of unfamiliar artistic mediums (for exMysteries of the Natural and Human Worlds
ample, fat, honey, felt, iron, copper, horns, bones, gelatin, peat,
Much of Beuys’s work attempted to convey forces, energies,
blood, chocolate, conversation); his challenging arrangements
and mysteries of the natural and human worlds, often grasped
of objects and artwork in gallery installations and vitrines; his
at a prelinguistic level or presented in ways that helped to focus
creative blurring of the boundaries between art and life; his
viewers on their experiences rather than the art objects. “All my
articulate theoretical statements on art, human evolution, and
actions are based upon concepts of basic human energies in the
social reform; and his intense, wiry drawings.
form of images,” he remarked.30
Although Beuys adapted for his work aspects of the 1960s
For example, in The Chief,
avant-garde, postminimalist movea nine-hour meditative perments known as process, perforformance of 1964 in Berlin,
mance, installation, and concepBeuys used fat, felt-wrapped
tual art, he used them in personal
copper rods, and two dead
and unusual ways. In his perforhares (representatives of the
mances he extended his thinking
animal world) placed at the
from his own body in action to the
ends of a large hare-fur-felt
body social and politic, which he
roll with Beuys lying inside
felt could also be sculpted—and
uttering amplified primitive
healed. He stated that his artworks
sounds, especially the call of
could only be understood by an
the wild stag and other aniintuitive, spiritual awareness, not
mals (fig. 18). As the human
by linear, logical thought.
being could be said to be the
Unhappy with the social role
irresponsible “chief” within
for art represented by the isolated
Fig.19 - Joseph Beuys. Coyote. 1974, performance in New York City.
the household of nature,
“art-world ghetto,” Beuys saw the
Beuys attempted temporarily to “die” to his own species and
end of modernism in art as a transition to an expanded “social
contact animal forms of life and to remind his human viewers
art” or “social sculpture” in which everyone could be creative
of other modes of existence that could help expand restricted
and participate democratically to re-sculpt the body social.
Research Issue 2010
35
Research–a special section
human understanding. It also recalled the old “temple-sleep”
The Four Postmodern Modes
initiation death-experience as a means of self-transformation.
From the vast range of Beuys’s artistic production, I want to
This Action seems to prefigure his famous 1974 performance
point
briefly to a few of his artworks as examples of each of the
in New York, Coyote (or I Like America and America Likes Me),
four new postminimalist modes of artistic
another effort to raise questions about
expression. Many of his performance
the nature and root-problems of western
props and sculptures were either made
culture, where Beuys lived three days in the
with perishable materials, such as fat,
gallery with a wild coyote as a representachocolate, or sausages, or were made so
tive of the persecuted, unappreciated, and
that they demonstrate the process of their
misunderstood natural world and Native
making. Beuys himself pointed out, “...the
Americans (fig. 19). The Chief was also a
nature of my sculpture is not fixed and finlong-distance collaborative performance
ished. Processes continue in most of them:
with Robert Morris, who was supposed to
chemical reactions, fermentations, color
be executing the same actions as Beuys at
changes, decay, drying up. Everything is
the same time in New York City.
in a state of change.”32 So, as an example
Beuys hoped both to connect the human
of process art or installation, we could cite
being “from below with the animals, the
The Pack of 1969 (fig. 20), a Volkswagen
plants, with nature, and in the same way
bus from whose open rear door spills a
tie him with the heights with the angels or
31
number of survival sleds, each equipped
spirits.” He saw the animal kingdom as an
with a roll of felt, fat, and a flashlight. Fond
ally for the evolutionary process of broadIII/3 of 1979, consisting of nine large piles
ening and deepening human awareness.
of felt and copper, or the much larger Stag
The bee, horse, stag, elk, coyote, fox, swan,
Monument of 1982 (fig. 21), are two of many
goat, hare, moose, and wasp all appeared
sprawling installations that perhaps could
in his drawings, performances, and sculpbe labeled “scatter pieces.”
tures. Beuys felt that the essential, higher
Fig.20 - Joseph Beuys. The Pack. 1969, Volkswagen
In a sense, all of Beuys’s work is “conbus, 20 sleds with fat, felt rolls, flashlights.
being of animals gave access to forgotten
ceptual art.” Unlike most conceptual artspiritual energies now needed again by human society.
ists of the period, Beuys did not just demonstrate the possibility
Beuys also explored new approaches to visual art based
of conceptual art by exhibiting a pithy or witty verbal phrase,
more on the spiritual and even sacramental qualities of subusually related to art itself,
stances themselves than on their
but he shaped a more complex
elements of form or content
and meaningful conceptual
within a specific artwork—an
structure that he felt had the
understanding of art that might
power to change the world.
be called “alchemical.” Many of
This is not to mention his
his creations work with balancpresenting and working out of
ing polarities, related to Steiner’s
advanced potentials of human
Christic conception of “mediated
thinking to develop Imaginapolarity,” for example, between
tion and higher powers of
iron and copper (Mars and
knowledge. Probably the
Venus), or between chaotic,
clearest example of Beuys’s
expanded forms and ordered,
conceptual art are his many
contracted forms within a single
blackboard drawings, derived
medium, such as beeswax or fat.
in part from those of Steiner,
Beuys’s art questioned the belief
and used to illustrate Actions
that we can adequately underand conversations (fig. 22).
stand the inner workings of our
As for earthworks, 7000
world through normal modes of
Oaks, begun in 1982 as “an
perception. He maintained that
ecological sign” (of the differorgans of Imagination, Inspiraence between dead matter
tion, and Intuition quite different
and living plant), is still the
from ordinary logical, analytical
largest sculpture in world. It
thinking must be employed to
consisted of 7,000 oak trees
apprehend the forces at work in
matched one-to-one with 7,000
material substances, as well as
tall basalt stones gathered
in his own artworks. For Beuys,
together in Kassel, Germany,
visual art only had a real meaning
from where they were graduif it worked upon the development
Fig.21
Joseph
Beuys.
Stag
Monument.
1948-1982,
installation
at
exhibition
Zeitgeist,
ally placed in parallel installaof human consciousness.
Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin.
36
Evolving News
As one example from his more than one hundred Actions,33 we
can consider How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare of 1965.
This was a three-hour gallery Action for the opening of his art
exhibition at Galerie Schmela in Düsseldorf. In this strange but
compelling performance, Beuys sat on a stool or walked about
inside the closed gallery gesturing as he silently explained his
artworks to a dead hare he cradled in his arm or let touch the
pictures with its paw (fig. 25). Viewers could watch through an
open doorway or a window. They saw Beuys speaking to the
hare, with his head covered in honey and gold leaf, a felt sole
tied to his left shoe, an identical iron sole tied to his right shoe,
a leg of the stool wrapped in felt, and under the stool a “radio”
constructed of modern electronic parts and animal bones
connected to an
amplifier. The felt
was made of hare’s
fur and carried a
warming, insulating and/or infiltrating effect. The felt
sole was attached
to the more inner,
receptive left side
of his body, while
the sole made of
hard, masculine
iron was attached
to the more active,
outwardly-oriented right side.
The Action
raised questions
about the possibilities of adequately Fig.24 - Joseph Beuys. Tallow. 1977, working on 1 of 6 “fat castings.”
explaining art or
the world and about what capacities would be necessary for
real understanding. Beuys commented: “Using honey on my
head I am naturally doing something that is concerned with
thought. The human capacity is not to give honey, but to think
— to give ideas. In this way the deathlike character of thought
is made living again. Honey is doubtlessly a living substance.
Human thought can also be living.”34 Gold is the metal of the
sun, and Beuys was also indicating the potential for bringing a
sunlike quality into thinking, a Christ-related human potential
Steiner had spoken about. The hare, which literally digs into
matter, represented the sharpened materialistic thinking of
modern science that now needed to be filled by living intuitive
thinking. The fact that the hare was dead, recalls the deathly
qualities of modern abstract, scientific thought. Beuys spoke
to an externalized part of himself (representative of all human
beings), re-enlivening and reintegrating the dead thing that now
existed outside himself as “object.” At the same time, the hare
represented a still authentic spiritual power alive in the animal
world that human beings have largely forgotten. “The idea of
explaining to an animal conveys a sense of the secrecy of the
world and of existence that appeals to the imagination. . . . even
a dead animal preserves more powers of intuition than some
human beings with their stubborn rationality.”35
Fig.22 - Joseph Beuys. “Sun State.” 1974, blackboard drawing, Chicago.
tions all around the world (fig. 23).
Some of Beuys’s works focused on exposing “trauma points”
in modern materialistic social life and then attempting to effect
a symbolic healing. For Tallow of 1977 he chose a “sick” spot
in the town of Münster, a pedestrian underpass representing a
“wound” of an ugly corner of a rectilinear building created out
of the abstract thinking of modern city planning and architecture. He cast the “negative” form of this urban access ramp in a
huge block composed of 20 tons of animal fat, which was then
cut into 5 elements of which the largest was 78¾ x 78¾ x 118”
(fig. 24). Through the warming qualities of fat, he hoped to bring
a new warmth to the cold one-sidedness of the underpass, and
thus effect a healing of this soulless modern urban environment
by reintegrating the warm and cold poles.
Despite Beuys’s widely varied artistic production, he still is
probably best known for his imaginative performance pieces.
Fig.23 - Joseph Beuys. 7000 Oaks. 1982 onward. Partial installation in New York City
at Dia Art Center.
Research Issue 2010
37
Research–a special section
Social Sculpture
Beuys also always pursued art within the context
of Steiner’s ideas on the “threefold social organism,”
which he promoted tirelessly through both his artistic
and political activities. This is the conception of society organized into three independent areas, each with
its own fundamental principle: freedom in the culturalspiritual sphere, equality in the political-legal sphere,
and cooperation (“brotherhood”) in the economic
sphere. Beuys commented:
In the future it will be unimaginable that a conscious
person could work solely within culture, like a painter
who would make lots of paintings without paying attention to what happens in the democratic structures
and the economic activities.... It’s an element of degeneration in so-called modern art. It’s the statement of a
kind of emptiness, of an absence of meaning, in favor
of curious innovations.... The new art is concerned
with the needs of everyone to create things, not only
art....36
Fig.26 - Joseph Beuys. Plight. 1985, installation at Anthony d’Offay Gallery, London.
cial organism as a work of art.”37 His solution to the riddle of the
work of art is the end of modernism and the development of a
new concept of art as social art, where every person recognizes
him/herself as a creative being with powers of thinking, feeling,
and willing—as well as their more highly developed forms—and
participates in the reshaping of the world out of the free, selfconscious ego.
Yet Beuys’s last work, an installation in London from 1985
titled Plight, seems somewhat pessimistic (fig. 26). It can be read
as an image of the modernist isolation (by rolls of felt insulation) of culture and art (represented by the piano) from the rest
of the contemporary social world. A thermometer on the piano
records the temperature of artistic activity in relationship to the
rebalancing warmth forces so needed by modern society.
As his own original contributions to art and culture, Beuys
once cited his “totalized,” “anthropological” understanding of
art—the ideas that everyone is an artist, that one can be a formcreating artist already in thinking or in speech, that art expanded to life as ”social sculpture” is what is needed in our time, and
also that this creative intelligence of the people, this enlarged
art, is the real capital of an economy. His primary purpose was
always to stimulate social and spiritual reform, and he used new
contemporary art forms as his means for bringing this message
in ways that he hoped would reach people more deeply than
purely intellectual dialogue and hopefully motivate them to get
creatively involved in changing themselves and their world. His
example still stands as a suggestive, alternative way of working
artistically out of anthroposophical inspiration within a postmodern cultural climate.
This was part of Beuys’s radically broadened concept of art
itself, his compassionate version of postmodernism as “social
sculpture.” At times he began to speak of an “ecological Gesamtkunstwerk” (total work of art), to be created through the
democratic participation of all citizens in reconstructing “a so-
David Adams, PhD, has published and taught about art history at
various state universities and art schools for 30 years and at Sierra
College in California since 1996. He taught in Waldorf schools for nine
years and is a member of the Council of the Art Section of the School
of Spiritual Science in North America. Contact: [email protected].
Endnotes
1. Jesaiah Ben-Aharon, The Spiritual Event of the Twentieth Century: An
Imagination (London: Temple Lodge, 1993).
2. Clement Greenberg, “Modernist Painting,” Arts Yearbook 4 (1961), pp.
Fig.25 - Joseph Beuys. How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare. November 26, 1965, performance in
Düsseldorf.
38
Evolving News
Journal for Anthroposophy 77 (Spring 2007): 5-40; and sections of Andrew Welburn, Rudolf Steiner’s Philosophy and the Crisis of Contemporary Thought (Edinburgh: Floris Books, 2004) such as pp. 17-26, 35-46.
And 57-58.
27. Questions and Answers after The Inner Nature of Music, lecture of September 30, 1920.
28. “The Meaning of Art in Ancient Times and Today,” Anthroposophical
Movement (July 17, 1927): 225-32 (lecture of June 1, 1923).
29. For a more thorough treatment of Beuys’s relation to anthroposophy as
well as additional information on his artistic work, see my essay “From
Queen Bee to Social Sculpture: The Artistic Alchemy of Joseph Beuys,”
printed as an afterword in Rudolf Steiner, Bees (Hudson, NY: Anthroposophic Press, 1998), pp. 187-213; I have also drawn on this essay for parts of
this summary of Beuys’s work.
30. Joseph Beuys, in Götz Adriani, Winfried Konnertz, and Karin Thomas,
Joseph Beuys: Life and Work (Woodbury, NY: Barron’s Educational
Series, 1979), p. 257.
31. Joseph Beuys, quoted in Filiberto Menna, “Encounter with Beuys,” Nov.
1971, handout, Ronald Feldman gallery, New York, 1971, p. 7; as cited in
Sandler, Art of the Postmodern Era, p. 15.
32. Joseph Beuys (1979), in Carin Kuoni, comp., Energy Plan for the Western
Man: Joseph Beuys in America (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows,
1990). p. 19; also in Caroline Tisdall, Joseph Beuys (New York: Thames &
Hudson, 1979), p. 6.
33. These Actions are covered comprehensively in photographs and descriptions (in German) in Uwe M Schneede, Joseph Beuys: Die Aktionen
(Ostfildern-Ruit bei Stuttgart: Verlag Gert Hatje, 1994).
34. Adriani, Konnnertz, and Thomas, Joseph Beuys, p. 132.
35. Tisdall, Joseph Beuys, p. 105.
36. Interview with Jean-Pierre Van Tieghem, February 5, 1975, in Joseph
Beuys (Brussels and Paris: Galerie Isy Brachot, 1990), p. 26.
37. Quoted in Johannes Stüttgen, Zeitstau: Im Kraftfeld des erweiterten Kunstbegriffs von Joseph Beuys (Stuttgart: Urachhaus, 1988), p. 150.
103-104; as cited in Irving Sandler, Art of the Postmodern Era (Boulder,
CO: Westview Press, 1998), p. 2.
3. Rudolf Steiner, Colour, trans. John Salter and Pauline Wehrle (London:
Rudolf Steiner Press, 1992), p. 127; for a different translation see The Arts
and Their Mission, trans. Lisa D. Monges and Virginia Moore (Spring Valley, NY: Anthroposophic Press, 1964), p. 31.
4. The Sensible-Supersensible and Its Manifestation in Art (manuscript
translation; Emerson College Library, Forest Row, East Sussex), p. 20;
differently translated by Catherine E. Creeger in Michael Howard, ed. Art
as Spiritual Activity: Rudolf Steiner’s Contribution to the Visual Arts
(Hudson, NY: Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 207.
5. Ad Reinhart, in Ad Reinhart, exhibition catalog (New York: Betty Parsons
Gallery, 1947), n.p.; as cited in Sandler, Art of the Postmodern Era, p. 46.
6. Robert Morris, “Notes on Sculpture: Part I,” Artforum (February 1966): pp.
43-44.
7. Clement Greenberg, “Recentness of Sculpture,” in Maurice Tuchman, ed.,
American Sculpture of the Sixties (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County
Museum of Art, 1967), p. 25.
8. Carl Andre, quoted in Barbara Rose, “ABC Art,” Art in America (OctoberNovember 1965): 67.
9. Clement Greenberg, “Modern and Post-Modern,” Arts Magazine (February 1980): 65.
10. In addition to Daniel Bell’s related earlier books, The Coming of PostIndustrial Society (1973) and The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism
(1976), probably the earliest full statement of this aspect was the influential book by Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report
on Knowledge (Paris 1979; English translation: Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota, 1984).
11. Michael Fried, “Art and Objecthood,” Artforum (Summer 1967): 12-13.
12. For short overviews of the various forms postmodern visual art has taken
(at least through the early 1990s), see Charles Jencks, What Is PostModernism? (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1986) and Eleanor Heartney,
Postmodernism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002). For a
much more detailed account, see Sandler, Art of the Postmodern Era.
13. Robert Morris, “Anti-Form,” Artforum (April 1969): 30-33.
14. Robert Morris, “Notes on Sculpture, Part 4: Beyond Objects,” Artforum
(April 1969): 50-54.
15. “The Two Sources of Art: Impressionism and Expressionism,” in Howard,
ed. Art as Spiritual Activity, p. 211.
16. “Truth and Verisimilitude in a Work of Art,” Dramaturgische Blätter,”
supplement to Magazin für Literatur (August 1898); translation in The
Forerunner 3, 1 (Spring 1942): 1-6.
17. “Raphael’s ‘School of Athens’ and ‘Disputa.’” Lecture of May 5, 1909 (manuscript translation; Rudolf Steiner Library, Ghent, New York); my italics.
18. Ways to a New Style in Architecture, (New York: Anthroposophic Press,
1927), p. 9.
19. Lectures to Teachers (report by Albert Steffen of 1921 lectures; London:
Anthroposophical Publishing Co., 1931), p. 79. For more on this theme,
see my “Dissolving the Cartesian Threshold: Anthroposophical Art, Postmodernism, and the Reunion of Art and Society” in Art Section Newsletter 24 (Spring-Summer 2005): 17-24; and my five-part article, “Showing Off:
A Critical Review of the History of Exhibition of Art,” Art Section Newsletter 25 (Autumn-Winter 2005): 7-9; 26 (Spring-Summer 2006): 32-36, 41; 27
(Autumn-Winter 2006): 20-21; 28 (Spring-Summer 2007): 19-23.
20. The History of Art. Lecture IV of November 15, 1916 (manuscript translation; Rudolf Steiner Library, Ghent, New York), p. 1.
21. “Technology and Art,” Golden Blade (1959): 8;. The same thought is
expressed in The Balance in the World and Man. Lucifer and Ahriman
(North Vancouver, B.C.: Steiner Book Centre, 1977), pp. 28-29; my italics.
22. The Mission of the Archangel Michael, (New York: Anthroposophic
Press, 1961), p. 47.
23. Questions and Answers after The Inner Nature of Music and the Experience of Tone (Spring Valley, NY: Anthroposophic Press, 1983), lecture of
September 3, 1920 (manuscript translation); my italics.
24. Speech and Drama (London: Anthroposophical Publishing Company,
1960), p. 325.
25. The Being and Meaning of Illustrative Art, p. 16.
26. See my “Dissolving the Cartesian Threshold”; my ““Philosophical Similarities between Anthroposophy and Postmodernism as a Basis for a Socially
Effective Anthroposophical Art,” Jahrbuch für Schöne Wissenschaften
(Dornach: Verlag am Goetheanum, 2006), pp. 371-376; Douglas Sloan,
“Introduction” to Revisioning Society and Culture: Classics from The
Research Issue 2010
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39
Research–a special section
Challenges Facing Waldorf Education
Hague Circle Report (The Hague, Netherlands, May 12-24, 2009)
By James Pewtherer, Chairman,
Pedagogical Council of North America
school. Finally, the wish to live in a society based on individual
freedom has to balance the individual needs of the child with
the social responsibility of accommodating the needs of the
group. The wishes of the parent to make sure his/her child’s
needs are always met and always paramount need to be broadened to include all the children in the class. We know that the
class community is an essential element in our schools. So we
strive to provide an education in which every child is expected
to be in every subject so as to provide a rich basis for the individual choices in school and in life and which will come later.
The Hague Circle, active for 40 years, aims to renew itself
from time to time. The group has expanded to 37 members now
including representatives from Italy and countries as far flung
as New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, and Chile. Two new members from North America joined the Hague Circle at this writing:
Dorit Winter from California and Frances Kane from Minnesota.
Education in 21st Century Society
Holland as a study: pluralism vs. uniformity
Waldorf education is faced with challenges that go far beyond
the realm of education alone. Thinking that has produced our
global society with its endless merchandising of consumer
items, increasingly restrictive accountability standards, and
hypersensitivity to individual rights, also surrounds Waldorf
schools wherever they may be. In discussions over four days in
the Steiner School in The Hague (one of only a handful founded
during Rudolf Steiner’s lifetime), these pressures were evident.
Contributions came from more than twenty countries. The conversation turned repeatedly to the challenge of educating free
human beings in the context of our times and our culture.
Much of the appeal of Waldorf/Steiner education is based on
values that run counter to considerations that see education
as a “product” that can be purchased. If it is a product, then
product standards and testing from the world of business make
perfect sense. What happens then, when education is presented
as a process? How is accountability to be implemented without
cutting short the process itself? This is at the heart of a question that parents and governments and society as a whole are
obliged to think about in a different way if education is to be
properly supported. It is especially the case when they seek
to understand and gauge the educational practice in Waldorf
schools. Because we in Waldorf schools understand that
education is a partnership lasting many years among parents,
teachers, and society, we need to make clear that enrollment
of a child in the kindergarten is just the first step in a long-term
process that really can’t be thought about as a finished product.
In light of this, what happens in the realm of accountability?
Here, the thinking behind often well-intentioned government
mandates tries to reduce education to a common denominator
for ease of comparison, so that “no child is left behind.” Yet we
can see that measuring only a narrow band of student performance through use of standardized tests strangles an approach
to holistic learning such as the one we use in the Waldorf
The Waldorf/Steiner schools in Holland provided a point of
study for our meetings this time which illustrated some of what
is noted above. It also demonstrated an increasing tension in
deciding how to administer our schools. The Dutch government
offered to take on the support of the Steiner schools after World
War II, providing state salaries as well as school construction
and maintenance. The schools were assured that they could
teach as they had before and did so for many years. In the last
decade or so, difficulties have emerged. One challenge on the
institutional level has to do with running an effective, efficient,
transport business, accountable to the government education
ministry. The Ministry is looking for economies and decides,
for instance, that there must be only a limited number of high
schools and that these should be separated from elementary
schools. This means effectively that there are almost no 12-year
Steiner schools. Moreover, some 50% of the HS students are new
to Waldorf education at the 9th grade level. What happens to
the ideal of a 12-year education in such circumstances?
In contrast to the view which emphasizes schools as a business, others emphasize the educational process as an artistic
endeavor which meets child and class and student body with
creativity and something of a process—which is not easily
defined or measured. Tension between these two views has
been increasingly evident over the last ten years around the
world. But it seems to have hit an extreme in the Netherlands, of
all places, the country that offered sanctuary to the Pilgrims to
worship as they chose when that freedom was denied them in
England. Yet now the laws have developed to such a point that
equality has eclipsed freedom—and too often the equality has
come to mean “being the same.”
Meeting with representatives from Dutch Steiner Schools, the
difficulties with the government were made manifest. A national
Waldorf business manager association negotiates funding and
salaries with the government on behalf of some 52 schools and
1,500 faculty and staff. Yet it has little influence
because it is a small group among many other
Research is an international activity, and is nowhere more
schools which are negotiating with the governimportant than in the Waldorf schools movement, where
ment on behalf of their teachers, all of whom
large social trends conflict with core aspects of a holistic and are government employees. Moreover, the
possibility to find funding for special aspects
healing impulse. James Pewtherer kindly agreed to share
Waldorf curriculum like eurythmy under a
this report of international work some time ago, and we are of
1902 law guaranteeing free choice by parents
glad to round off our presentation of research activity with it.
40
Evolving News
has been progressively restricted under socialist governments.
All early childhood places must be connected to a school and
the elementary school is obliged to end at grade 6. Increasing
numbers of tests accompany these restrictions.
Waldorf teacher training has flourished in Zeist where 80% of
the students are in their 20’s and 30’s and the training runs four
years. It combines early childhood and elementary training for
two and a half years and then specializes for the next one and a
half years, providing a BA degree with the possibility for an MA
with additional study. There is currently no high school training, so this need has to be met by the schools themselves. Even
with the robust enrollment, there are only enough graduates in
a given year to fill about half the 66 openings in early childhood
and elementary schools. It is encouraging that so many young
people seek out this education as a career.
When Steiner Schools do not meet
government standards
The education ministry tested all schools in Holland three
years ago and found that there were 19 Steiner schools which
tested “very weak” according to their test results. In addition
to poor scores in math and language skills, these schools were
found lacking in effective leadership and record keeping. The
Steiner School Association, which is represented by delegates
from 53 of the 70 schools (many of whom are board members
from their respective schools), has decided that it will aim to
have all schools meet government expectations and then push
to have acceptance and support for the “Waldorf” requirements.
In the meantime, there are a number of faculties which feel that
their creativity and effectiveness as Steiner educators is being
bargained away and are dissatisfied.
Pedagogical Section support
Included in this volume:
Diana Hughes and John Kettle: Waldorf Education:
Radical and Relevant
John Gardner: What is a Waldorf School?
Reg Down: The Role of the Teacher-Artist Within the Waldorf School
Christy Barnes: Can Imagination be Trained?
A Crucial Question for Schools Today
M. C. Richards: Early Childhood
Eugene Schwartz: Grade One – Notes
Ruth Pusch: What to Do about Witches
Heinz Müller: Healing Forces in the Word and its Rhythms
Amos Franceschelli: Mathematics in the Classroom:
Mine Shaft and Skylight
Hans Gebert: About Goetheanistic Science
Christy Barnes: Training Capacities through the Study of Literature
Henry Barnes: Has Religion A Role in Education Today?
Rudolf Steiner: Education for Adolescents
Helmut von Kügelgen: How Important is it that
Schools are Independent Today?
Der Spiegel: Research on Waldorf School Graduates: GovernmentSponsored Study Comparing Graduates of Waldorf and State
(Public) Schools
AVAILABLE ONLINE AT anthroposophy.org (link to Store)
The Pedagogical Section has been active over the last 17
years and is working to help to think through the approach to
some of these questions. It has been especially active in working with teachers on the Study of Man, the role of reincarnation
and karma, on meditative work and lately on addressing the
child from the point of view of doctor, teacher, and priest. The
School Association provides some funding for its activities and
to support on-going exploration of educational themes.
In conclusion
The Hague Circle is an organ of the Pedagogical Section and
so is there to offer advice or suggestions when asked and not to
issue dictates. But it was clear to us that the matter of balancing
the wish to offer universal education regardless of income along
with a truly free and creative education continues to be a knotty
issue. We found it highly instructive to see what these challenges look like on the ground and expect that more wrestling with
these issues will be necessary. One of the strongest expressions
we heard from our Dutch colleagues was the solidarity they felt
from their international colleagues was crucial as they struggle
to maintain pluralism of education. As this term of pluralism is
now being written into European Union law, some colleagues
feel that this will be the principle which will win out in the end.
Research Issue 2010
Other titles in the series:
Meeting Rudolf Steiner * Anthroposophy & Imagination *
Revisioning Society & Culture * Mani & Service * Meeting
Anthroposophy * Novalis * Science & Anthroposophy
41
Freedom and Initiative
Can an individual human being still make a difference today?
Torin Finser
The following thoughts are excerpted from remarks prepared for delivery at the Third
International English Conference at the Goetheanum, at the beginning of August 2010.
The Anthroposophical Society
in America
General Council Members
Torin Finser (General Secretary)
MariJo Rogers (General Secretary)
James Lee (at large)
Virginia McWilliam (at large)
Regional Council Representatives
Ann Finucane (Eastern Region)
Dennis Dietzel (Central Region)
Joan Treadaway (Western Region)
Marian León, Director of
Administration & Membership Services
Jerry Kruse, Treasurer
Evolving News for Members &
Friends is published four times a year
by the
Anthroposophical Society in America
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Editor: John H. Beck
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Please send submissions, questions,
and comments to:
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©2010 The Anthroposophical Society in
America. The responsibility for the content of articles is the authors’.
All of us here have lived a significant part of our lives in the 20th century. Yet as we
look back, despite tremendous technological and material progress, the last hundred
years have done little to resolve some of the most fundamental issues facing humanity.
Despite wars and even revolutions fought in the name of freedom, few people today
are truly free, or even have a real conception of freedom. And as for taking initiative,
many feel hobbled by organizational structures, financial constraints and the general
hectic pace of our modern lives.
***
I would like to begin with the assertion that freedom is an inner condition that rests
upon a fertile bed of soul conditions that supports the true intentions of the human
spirit. Anthroposophy is dedicated to helping the striving human being create and
nurture the inner conditions that make freedom possible. To start let us look at the
notion of impartiality.
We need to find a balance between the opening of the senses
This battle of the
to the rich world of impressions around us and at the same time
senses, fought
reject any sort of compulsion that comes from external sources.
on a daily basis,
We want to be open to the beauty of the natural world, such
as the wonderful colors we find in flowers during the summer
is one threat to
months, while at the same time protecting our senses from the
our freedom.
onslaught that comes from the media and advertising. This
Another, much
battle of the senses, fought on a daily basis, is one threat to our
more subtle
freedom. Another, much more subtle one, is the one-sided prejuone, is the onedice that can come from deeply held convictions within. How
sided prejudice
often do we see others through the lenses we have chosen to
wear? During my recent trip to China, I was surprised at myself,
that can come
in that only when I was there did I see how varied the people
from deeply
where, depending on their province or family background,
held convictions
and all along I had carried one predominant visual image of an
within.
abstract Chinese person. How many unexamined, unintended
prejudices do we all carry around with us?
So when speaking of impartiality in The Stages of Higher Knowledge, Rudolf Steiner
said: “Freedom means not only that I am free from the compulsion of an outer authority, but above all that I am not subservient to any prejudices, opinions, sensations and
feelings of my own” (p. 19). Even with the advice of esoteric teaching, one cannot allow
blind acceptance of an external authority. Instead, one becomes free in practicing the
good advice and making it one’s own. So although there are different spiritual paths,
the Oriental or Christian, for example, it is a particular aspect of the Rosicrucian approach that there is nothing opposed to modern man’s sense of freedom.
Taking the notion of impartiality one step further, one can say that on a daily basis,
we tend to know the life of the soul from one side. Since we are immersed in it, we
tend to see the world from within out. I am here and the world around me is out there.
This tends to have us see the surface of things, and the danger as described above is
that we either look too much through our own lenses, or we let the external world of
senses rule the impressions we take into the soul life. But there is a further step that
the seeker of freedom can take. Instead of looking at the external world from outside
and experiencing himself from inside, the seeker can “slip out of his skin as it were, to
observe himself from outside” (p. 33). This objective observation of oneself is an essential part of esoteric training and a crucial step toward attaining greater freedom.
And likewise in our daily interactions with each other, we tend to see separate uni42
Evolving News
ties: I am here, you are there. Even in reading Theosophy, one
can come away with the conception of the I as kernel of the soul.
This everyday understanding of our own I is a necessary illusion
for living in our sense bound world. However, in the phrase
say a few words about freedom and those involved in spiritual movements such as anthroposophy. It is perhaps ironic,
though I hope not inevitable, that those who have achieved a
sort of spiritual certainty in their own lives can inadvertently
restrict the freedom of others. If I heard correctly, our friends
in Holland who did exit interviews of those leaving the Anthroposophical Society, reported that some gave the reason that
they wanted to re-claim their freedom. How could this be, when
the very core of anthroposophy is based upon the notion of
freedom? I took this remark, if accurate, to reflect a human failing, not a shortcoming in anthroposophy. It is a challenge to all
who are inspired, who have found certain truths, that we tend
to advocate for those selfsame truths without always inquiring
enough about the real nature of the other person. If I am certain
about something, does that give me license to expound and
explain regardless of the human condition represented in the
person across from me? In the name of freedom, we may want
to remind ourselves that there is value in entertaining questions
together, and not always jumping to a conceptual formulation of
an answer.
Know thyself and know the world;
Know the world and know thyself
one has a hint of something more. The revelation of the world
within us in the physical body entails the earthly I. The normal
understanding of the I is a projection of myself into my body.
Yet anyone who has worked with young children knows, in the
wonderful powers of imitation one has something else at work
as well, something that works in from the periphery – Know the
world and know thyself.
In his Bologna lecture of 1911, “The Psychological Basis of Spiritual Science,” Rudolf Steiner describes the transcendent I that
uses the physical body as a kind of mirror of consciousness:
The I is not in the body but outside it …. One’s physical activity represents only a living mirror that reflects the life of the I
within the transcendental.”
Just as Goethe said that the light creates the eye so the eye
can observe the light, so it is with the I that needs the physical
so it can observe its reflected image and thus become aware.
We as humans need to be sure to distinguish between the
reflected image of the I that is embedded in our everyday experience of our physical existence, and the true reality of the I,
which is free of these constraints. Anthroposophy gives us this
crossing point, this path of freedom, in which the I is transcen
transcendent and the body is physical. We, out of our
conscious intention, can move between the
It is a
everyday I and the transcendent I. This relachallenge to tionship holds throughout life, only to be disall who are solved at death, when one realizes once and
inspired, who for all this dual aspect of human existence.
***
Initiative
Just as the human soul is the starting point
for reclaiming freedom, so it also is the basis
for fostering initiative as a way forward for
the 21st century. If the considerations about
freedom (above) had a lot to do with imaginative consciousness, the next section on initiative will have to concern itself with accessing
inspiration and intuition as resources for
active deeds on the earth. Just as we need to
transform our imagination in picturing the I
and the Self, so also we need a new way of working with feelings
and willing in order to support a culture of entrepreneurship
and innovation.
One exercise is to work with what is “true” and by its side,
what is “false”. One lets the juxtaposition of the true alongside
the false work again and again to gradually develop a heightened faculty of judgment. Not only does one become more sensitive to an erroneous opinion, even experiencing an error as inward pain, but one has likewise to develop tolerance toward the
very person expressing the erroneous fact. This inner struggle,
after time can produce “quick-witted judgment and unerring
certainty of decision.” (Steiner, p. 39) Thus one learns to act and
decide more effectively when such exercises have been carried
for a while.
Ancient Chinese medicine taught that each act should
consume only the amount of energy needed for that deed, no
more, no less. We often become tired simply because we exert
too much energy for tasks that could be done with less. This
conservation of human life forces (chi) can be considered also
from the point of view of the human soul. Emotions such as
fear or anxiety also entail an expenditure of soul force. One
could say that soul force is lost when one gives way to fear and
anxiety. But if one can curtail the emotion, such as fear, the
soul force remains available for other purposes: “If he repeats
such processes often, he will build up an inner treasure of
these continually husbanded soul forces…and such economies
have found
certain truths,
that we tend
to advocate
for those
selfsame truths
without always
inquiring
enough about
the real nature
of the other
person.
***
In addition to the path of conscious selfdevelopment described in anthroposophy,
which can help school the capacities for a
new state of freedom in regard to the I and
Self, life also offers unexpected opportunities
when we can work with “awakening” moments. These awakening moments include
illness, in which an increasing number
of people have experiences that their life
was unfulfilled until illness became a wise
teacher. Many of the stories told out of experiences of illness point to the transcendent
I. There are also moments of other kinds of
crisis, earthquakes and the like, which lead to spirit awakening.
Especially in times of economic challenge, many people feel the
old material supports slipping away and, upon observing themselves, sense that life is calling for a new beginning. When realized, whether through the portal of death, illness, or economic
struggle, human beings are prompted to self observe, and even
if they do not use terms such as “transcendent I”, the activity
itself is liberating. The result is more self-aware action, which is
the bedrock of human freedom.
Before leaving the topic of freedom, despite an inadequate
time and space devoted to this topic thus far, I would like to
Research Issue 2010
Inspirations
find us
when we are
receptive.
They fire up
the human
being for
taking
initiative.
43
of feeling will…bring to expression the revelations of a higher
life.” (Steiner, p. 40) Thus if, during the course of normal living,
one practices this exercise of exposing oneself to events while
denying the emotional gratification of simply going with the flow
of feelings, gradually an inner resilience is developed that becomes the fertile ground for Inspirations. Rather than becoming
cold and un-feeling, this exercising of the soul produces a kind
of receptivity to higher forces. One has only to consider the long
preparations of the ancient mystery schools to see this soul
preparation at work. Inspirations find us when we are receptive.
And inspirations fire up the human being for taking initiative.
feelings. This can come with reflection, (as my wife would say,
more blue and less red) when one starts to look at the horizon
of things. This distancing generates perspective that lifts us
out of the feeling realm and helps us eventually form reflective
thoughts.
At each step of the four-fold journey, the exercise requires a
kind of stepping back, a letting go of the ordinary, the usual way
of working. Rather than working out of the Self as embedded in
the body/things of the world, one has to let go and work from
the periphery. This then frees the human soul for new capacities, in this case new strength, new willing, new feeling and new
cognition. This is a path of freedom that can result in released
capacities for initiative.
***
I was fascinated to find an excerpt of a lecture given by Rudolf
Steiner on June 26th, 1906 in Berlin in which he described some
common obstacles and four basic laws that accompany them
[only the concluding passage is printed here]:
***
Initiative is in fact released capacity. That which was held
within is now available to the world, that which was a seed is
now manifest in a new form. Rather than wandering along in
an evolutionary way, we are looking at involution as a basis for
initiative and innovation.
The great challenge for many of us today is finding the resources out of which to act. Rudolf Steiner ends the lecture on
the above-mentioned exercises with the image of the pentagram
and the following words:
Conclusion: A pupil of spiritual science must search
and counsel within himself his foremost task: how can
I fulfill these four sentences:
Learn to be silent and yours will be power.
Forego the power and yours will be willing.
Forego the willing and yours will be feeling.
Forego the feeling and yours will be cognition.1
If this pentagram is used, it will be a key to the spiritual world.
If you can develop a feeling for the relative strength of these
impressions and hold them together into one, then that har-
In a world of constant chatter, one has to let go of the word
and find silence. This will produce inner
We need resources of strength out of which one can
be creative. Next, one has to let go of the
to create
power, the authority, the trappings of any
leadership office in order to free the willing. Those who
roles that spend most of their day fulfilling the expechave little tations of others will not so easily be able to
managerial generate new impulses. We need to create
responsibility leadership roles that have little managerial
but maximum responsibility but maximum emphasis on
vision building and forward-moving initiaemphasis on tives.
vision building
How can one let go of willing? It is not
and forward- easy, especially for those of us who often
moving have to power our way through the day
initiatives. despite exhaustion. If we can let go, step
back and see the situation from a distance,
so to speak, then we free an inner space for true experiences of
feeling. That feeling, in turn, gives us the possibility to relate, to
connect in ways that would not have happened if we had just
powered our way through the situation. Here again we have a
reference to the peripheral I, in that the body, or in this case
the problem, can become a kind of mirror which can reflect an
image and thus help us attain new consciousness.
The final step is then to let go of the feelings so as to achieve
cognition. We all know what it is like to be immersed in feelings,
swimming as it were in deep waters. There is often a point of
emotional block when one cannot see through things clearly.
Thus one needs to again practice letting go, this time of the
1
mony of strength is brought about which exists between the
forces of the ego (circle), astral body (outer pentagon), ether
body (pentagram) and physical body (inner pentagon).
Is it not fascinating that the ego or I is portrayed in the circle,
not at the center! This image of the pentagram is thus a true picture of the four-fold human being, and the unity of expression is
the basis for creative work in the world.
Torin Finser is General Secretary of the Anthroposophical
Society in America. These remarks will be made available in
expanded form later this year.
Lerne Schweigen und dir wird die Macht.
Begib dich der Macht, und dir wird das Wollen.
Begib dich des Wollens und dir wird das Feuhlen.
Begib dich des Fuehlens und dir wird Erkenntnis.
44
Evolving News
moral relationship, for our task as Waldorf educators is not only
intellectual and emotional, but also moral and spiritual.
In order to educate in a way that respects the sanctity of the
child’s individuality, we have to develop moral techniques:
• Take each child/student as s/he is; do not label.
• With this as the starting point, find an individual way to
work with each child. Note: There is no longer such a being
as an “ideal child.” This may have existed fifty years ago, but
conditions have now changed.
• Wholeheartedly accept the child/student as s/he is.
• If the child/student is not “performing” as you would like (in
meeting standards, in behavior), look within yourself, not
at the child or student for the answer to the riddle of why. Note: No child or student wants to perform badly, and every
single one wants to learn.
Christof showed us ways to better understand the situation
of the modern child or youth. The physical body has two basic
urges: the urge toward matter (physical necessities and all that
we find in the physical world) and the striving toward organized
life, form and structure. Out of this duality there develops a
third realm: the urge to play. It is only in play (in the wider sense
of the word) that we can find freedom. This is also the realm of
imagination and initiative.
We can also look at the polarity between sensory ‘input’ and
personal, active ‘output’. When we do not find individualized
soul life developing between these two poles, we see that ‘input’
with no ‘output’ is what characterizes autism. ‘Input’ with unprocessed, immediate ‘output’ is what we find in hyperactivity.
Even more arresting is the realization that between ‘input’
and ‘output’ is the middle realm, the realm of images, stories,
metaphors, and play. This is where there is human experience.
It is just this human experience of perceiving, thinking and
speaking that the spiritual beings we work with are looking for.
Thus, our educational task takes us into a new paradigm, one
that reaches across the threshold, beyond the intellectual and
emotional to the moral and spiritual.
In 2019 we come to the 100th anniversary of Waldorf education. Christof suggested that we have some work to do before
we can celebrate with all the enthusiasm such an event should
engender in us. He mentioned the following focus points:
• Re-balance the material/organizational/structural and play/
imaginative /initiative forces in our schools.
• Eradicate from our schools habits unrelated to Study of Man.
For example: too many stories; Form Drawing in blocks;
“Circle Time” (see his research soon to be published in the
Pedagogical Section Journal); starting the day with movement
because children no longer walk to school.
He left us with several blackboard images of familiar verses
and meditations to ponder in our hearts and enliven our inner
work. He reminded us that the Second Teacher’s Meditation
(“Geistiges blicken…”/“Spirit beholding…”) was given to the
first Waldorf teachers after a crisis and was meant as an “energy
boost.” Indeed, participants felt that “A New Impulse” conference itself served as an energy boost, and the decision was
made to have Christof return next February for “A New Impulse
II.” We look forward to the opportunity to continue and deepen
our work together.
“A New Impulse” Conference
February 18-20, 2010, San Rafael, CA
I must give a new impulse .... Make no mistake, it is largely a
question of interest in the children and the young people and
a matter of enthusiasm .... We shall not get anywhere in any
direction without enthusiasm and inner mobility.... A person
certainly cannot be tired if s/he is to be spiritually alive.
Rudolf Steiner
With these words spoken at the faculty meeting of the Stuttgart Waldorf School, July 24, 1924, Rudolf Steiner ends his engagement in the original Waldorf School. Ninety years later we
might ask ourselves: Do we now also need a new impulse? How
can we balance structure and form with impulse and creativity
so that they serve a “new impulse” for Waldorf schools—an impulse that is needed as we approach the centenary of this new
educational paradigm?
These thoughts formed the “seed crystal” around which the
Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training imagined and
structured the conference. More than 200 Waldorf professionals
from six states representing more than 30 schools attended. Using references to contemporary research and autobiography, Schiller’s Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, lively
anecdotes, personal research, humor, straight talk, and insightful comparisons of familiar Waldorf verses and meditations,
Christof Wiechert brought us an utterly fresh and refreshing
way of seeing the human being, the world, our tasks as Waldorf
educators and ourselves. Head of the Pedagogical Section in
Dornach and main speaker at “A New Impulse,” Christof splendidly modeled the content of his lectures.
He reminded us that our task as educators is to ensure that
the teacher and the pupils/students always form a unity. This
unity develops out of our deep interest in our fellow human beings and out of enthusiasm born of love for everything that is in
the world around us (love every subject you teach).
Christof said one way to find unity with our pupils and students is in realizing that, perhaps surprisingly, we are not here
to educate the individualities before us. Individualities, the spiritual essences of human beings, come into physical existence
to educate themselves. We teachers are here to educate the
sheaths that are receiving those individualities. That is, Waldorf
education addresses the physical body, the senses, purposeful
movement, soul, heart, imagination, thinking, all with clarity
and rigor—but not the unique individuality itself. We learned that different capacities for judgment develop in
different seven-year periods: aesthetic, with the physical body
(1-7); intellectual, with development of the soul (7-14); idealistic,
with the longing for identity and authenticity
(14-21); personal when the full individuality is present (from 21 on).
Christof reminded us of
what Rudolf Steiner said
at the beginning of
Study of Man: Unity
that is born of interest (in each human
being) and enthusiasm (for the whole
world) begets a new
Jeanie Elliott, Santa Cruz
45
with her husband Glen. Whenever possible, she enjoys birding,
hiking, kayaking, going to great movies, reading, and being with
her grandson. She credits her joy in life, in a large part, to her
parents and three brothers, with whom she shared an archetypal childhood of strong family rhythms, laughter, and living close
to nature in rural New Jersey.
She is a board member of the Association for a Healing
Education which is involved in promoting healthful practices
in education and in therapeutic intervention through a deeper
understanding of childhood development and hindrances to
development.
Joan Treadaway
General Council Western Representative
Joan Treadaway rejoined the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America in 2009 succeeding Linda Connell, who had given devoted service and reached her term limit.
Joan is a long-time member of the Western Regional Council and
served previously on the General Council from 1994-2000. For
over 45 years she has been a consultant and mentor, and is in
private practice (Childhood Consulting Services in Prescott, Arizona) as a Waldorf Remedial Therapist. She works with children
and young adults, consults with parents, and provides support for teachers and schools. A consultant to several Waldorf
schools, she lectures widely on the challenges of children in the
21st century.
Joan has also worked extensively in administration and
community development, advising boards, parent groups, and
school administrations. She is currently working on a booklet
on effects of custodial arrangements on children of divorce.
In recent talks
in several areas
of the West Joan
shared some fundamental insights
about how children and adults—
all of us—are constantly immersed
in the media’s
reality. During the
period from birth
to seven years,
children are learning naturally by
imitation and lack
the ability to distinguish fantasy
from reality. Even
at later stages studies show that exposure to media violence is
desensitizing, and television itself affects brain function for all
viewers. Parents and teachers working together can reduce the
negative effects of the media.
Along with providing a Western perspective to the General
Council, Joan hopes to bring the strengths of “Goethean observation” to the work of council development. At her first meeting
she shared some constructive aspects of the way the Western
Regional Council works:
Michael Support Circle Report
At the depth of what has been called the Great Recession,
Ernst Katz and I took the initiative to begin a donor circle
to help ensure the financial viability of the Anthroposophical Society in America. Starting with a simple letter mailed
to a few friends, the effort continued after Ernst’s death last
year. About ten people responded immediately. We consciously decided not to do any brochures or mass mailings,
thus keeping our costs to date at less then $300. Since then
I have continued the effort, mainly through phone calls and
personal conversations at branch meetings and conferences.
Now, a little over a year later, we have 65 commitments of
$1,000 per year for five years. This means not only $65,000 of
unrestricted gifts for this year’s operating budget, but over
$300,000 in total pledges for the next five years, a tremendous
vote of confidence in our future as a Society.
One especially gratifying development over the past
months is that several participants in the Michael Support
Circle have suggested friends and acquaintances who might
be approached. This is so needed, in that one person cannot possibly reach all those who might want to support the
work. This is our Society, and it’s future is truly in our hands.
For those reading this report who have not joined this effort,
please ask yourself as well as those members and friends you
know who might be able to support this project.
If at the same time we deepen our spiritual work, individually and in groups, as well as find new ways to connect with
others who carry the same values, we can hope to ever more
fully realize the hopes and the mission of the Anthroposophical Society, not only in our country by as part of a world-wide
movement for social renewal. And as you so well know, the
world needs Anthroposophy today more than ever.
Torin M Finser, PhD
Florida Groups Gather At The
Spring Equinox
Each meeting is a building processes to bring the Western
Region alive. The WRC works, in a very real way, to attempt a
new social form in which council members are given the space
to come together and speak freely out of themselves and their
experiences, to share insights, not out of a plan, but creating
out of what is possible and out of the real contacts with groups
and branches in the region. This gets reforged and recreated
by the end of their regular weekend meetings and becomes a
direction in which to move forward.
I had the pleasure of representing the Eastern Regional Council at the sixth annual Anthroposophical/Waldorf conference in
Brooksville, Florida the weekend of March 18-20, on “The Healing Power of Anthroposophy and Waldorf Education.” Approximately 30 people were in attendance representing five active
groups, and there were several students from the University of
Southern Florida. The groups present included:
The Michael Group of Cutler Bay, near Miami. The leader
Joan graduated from Whittier College with a degree in
Psychology and Sociology, and has a MS in Waldorf Remedial
Therapy from Sunbridge College. She lives in Prescott, Arizona
46
Evolving News
of the group is Yvonne Cumming. They have been meeting for
20 years and are home to the K-5 Waldorf International School,
which will add a 6th grade next year. They are in process of
building a “totally green” new school. They have four study
groups including a Spanish-speaking one reading Parzival.
Clearwater, Florida is the site of the Steiner Circum-Study
group led by Dr. Stephen Salamone, whom I would call “the
Ernst Katz of USF,” a university professor with a large following
of students interested in Steiner’s works. Barbara Beddingfield,
coordinator of this wonderful conference, is contact person for
this group. They are currently reading Mystics after Modernism.
Nearby is the K-8 Suncoast Waldorf School in Palm Harbor.
The Sarasota Group is studying How to Attain Knowledge of
Higher Worlds and is led by Anne and Joe Savage, teachers at the
K-5 Sarasota Waldorf School. The Boynton Beach Group (near
Boca Raton) is also reading How to Attain Knowledge of Higher
Worlds. They are home to the Sea Star Initiative, an aspiring
Waldorf School currently from N-K to grade 2. The Jacksonville
Beach Group has a Waldorf initiative (N-K) and is currently
studying The Kingdom of Childhood.
the unique ways anthroposophical medicine helps cure them.
Michelle Cumming, daughter of Yvonne Cumming of the Cutler Bay group, teaches at the Waldorf School in Atlanta. She gave
a talk on the causes of learning and behavioral dysfunctions,
and how anthroposophical methods provide healing for sensory
integration issues. She gave a wealth of information for Waldorf
teachers in the classroom, and a large stack of handouts.
The final speaker was Dr. Stephen Salmone, professor at
the University of Southern Florida, whose impressive resumé
includes a degree in Classical Studies from Boston University
and others in Linguistics, Psychotherapy and Cultural History.
He has studied in Turkey and Greece and subsequently led tours
there. He has even counseled drug addicts. His talk was entitled:
“Honoring the Development of the ‘I’”. It was followed by a very
animated question and answer period.
My favorite part of every conference is the conversation and
fellowship in between the talks. I was very much impressed by
the warmth and vitality of this group of individuals. One really
“cool” thing was that Cherylynn Van Kirk did free facials for
the women attendees with her wonderful “Star Flower” organic
cosmetics. I was most elated, however, by the energy and interest expressed by the college students in attendance. One young
man named Jordan Stone is vice president of a Student Alliance
that sponsors all sorts of events for social justice, alternative
media, schools and spirituality (especially Waldorf and anthroposophy). Jordan would like to start a Steiner Group at the university. When asked if he wanted to become a Waldorf teacher,
he replied, “No, I want to become a banker—I want to support
Waldorf education!” Having left Waldorf teaching because I
could not live on the salary, I really appreciated that remark!
Finally I must mention is the beautiful and peaceful site, the
Pines Conference Center operated by the Unitarian Universal
Church. The lodging was peaceful and rustic; we were surrounded by live oaks, palm and hollies.
Conference Overview
The Conference opened with introductions and singing. The
next morning, Herbert Hagens began with a talk on the healing
nature of fairy tales. He spoke of the symbolism in Grimm’s fairy
tales and led into Goethe’s fairy tale and the fairy tales in Steiner’s mystery dramas. He humorously recommended that we
see “Happily Ever After” a Broadway play based on fairy tales
with modern themes (e.g. Peter Pan becomes a gay drag queen;
Gretel opens a bakery; and the old witch from Snow White finds
herself in a nursing home singing “Que sera, sera”).
Dr. Richard Halford spoke about the healing power of anthroposophical medicine and ingeniously wove together his talk
with Herbert’s, beginning with the myth of Prometheus and
how the eagle eating his liver represents sugar metabolism (the
anabolic and catabolic rhythm of the liver). Dr. Halford gave a
magnificent review of the major organs and illnesses, and told of
Kathleen Wright, Eastern Regional Council
(Slightly abridged from the report in the Sophia Sun.)
Stars, Stones & Mutuality: Weaving the Social Fabric of the Future
Central Regional Council and Society Members Gather in Ohio for an AGM and Retreat
About twenty people gathered from Ohio, Michigan, North
Dakota, Wisconsin, Texas, New Orleans, Kentucky, Illinois and
Minnesota for the Central Regional Council’s Annual General
Meeting and retreat held in rural Peebles, Ohio. Each day, we
sat in a circle around a candle surrounded by rainbow silks, on
which were placed stones which each participant brought from
their region, land or home. Quilted stars, created by members in
the various regions, were hung in the main meeting space. On the opening evening, the names of many Waldorf schools,
study groups, biodynamic farms, anthroposophic medical
practices, organizations and other community initiatives were
spoken in the circle as a way to bring mindfulness and inclusion
to the many anthroposophic initiatives we each represented, and
that are active throughout the central region.
The mornings began with singing, led by Marianne Fieber, and
songs were woven in throughout each day. The beautiful space
at Hope Springs Institute provided plenty of room for daily eurythmy led by Connie Michael which included “I Think Speech”
Research Issue 2010
and the “Five-Pointed Star.” Lively speech exercises were carried
by Kim Snyder-Vine, including a participatory recitation of the
Foundation Stone Meditation each evening.
We spent one day at Serpent Mound, a quarter-mile long
ancient Indian mound, in a festival atmosphere—singing, reading
poetry, meditating and doing eurythmy as we made our way
around the entire perimeter of the sacred place.
The basis of study for the weekend retreat was Steiner’s
lecture, “Brotherhood and the Fight for Survival.” (Berlin, November 23, 1905 GA 54.) Though spoken over 100 years ago, this
lecture bears striking relevance to the social issues we face today. It centers largely on community building as a practical basis
for true human progress, and as a spiritual gesture, because, by
working in conscious community, we are actually participants in the
new mystery centers. As an artistic exercise, we each drew a colored
gesture in response to the word “brotherhood.” Alternately, we drew
a colored gesture in response to the phrase “fight for survival.”
There was much to “see” by expressing the concepts of brother-
47
hood and fight for survival through color and image.
Margaret Runyon, Dennis Dietzel, Marianne Fieber, Robert Karp,
Group discussions were enriched by small breakout groups,
Lori Barian and Mary Louise Hershberger, organized a meeting
so each had the chance to share insights and everyone’s voice
with a wonderful balance of artistic activity, spiritual study and
was heard. We
fellowship—
worked through
with delicious,
concepts in the
healthy food in
lecture, and we
between. devoted time in
A special
small groups to
goodbye was
share the needs
said to longtime
and challenges
CRC members
of our respecRobert Karp
tive anthropoand Lori Barian.
sophic comRobert is now
munity work,
active as the
director of the
and then shared
Biodynamic
that which we
Farming and
thought we
Gardening
could offer to
Association,
our commuCRC members at Great Serpent Mound, near Peebles, Ohio
while Lori will
nity’s developcontinue to serve as editor for The Correspondence. ment. The days began early and ended late—there was plenty of
Christy Korrow, Burkesville, KY
work to be done, and ground to cover. The council members,
The Austin Centenary Celebration of Rudolf Steiner’s
Announcement of the Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric
By Beth & Stephen Usher
Dr. David Booth’s Projective Geometry Lesson1
Saturday morning opened with a lesson on projective geometry and the etheric by Dr. David Booth; everyone had the
opportunity to draw projective geometric constructions. David explained that “ether,” or aether, refers on the one hand to
a hypothetical medium for the waves of optical theory in late
nineteenth century physics, and on the other hand to a fact of
the clairvoyant observation of nature. He described how the
ether can be seen as interweaving streams in the atmosphere,
related to flows on the earth. These streams resemble flows
of water, but do not always go downhill. Plants appear to be
fundamentally etheric objects into which matter is lifted by
spiraling ether to produce the botanical forms of everyday,
physical observation.
Dr. Booth went on to tell how early anthroposophical scientists sought experimental evidence of this etheric action in
delicate processes, and recognized that certain mathematical
ideas are related to etheric phenomena. Projective geometry
was prominent in these studies. As the twentieth century
proceeded, however, various scientists reported a “death of
geometry.” An autopsy would identify the cause of death as
excessive formalization and algebraic abstraction. The decline of geometry was long and intergenerational; scientists,
then engineers, schoolteachers, and finally, Waldorf schoolteachers and anthroposophists were affected. Geometry will
be born again. There was a basis for renewal among anthroposophists in the 1950s and independently in the structural
topology movement in the 1970s. These two groups never got
together to form a single school of thought, however.
The Novalis Branch of Austin, Texas held a festive conference
of the centenary of Rudolf Steiner’s 1910 announcement of the
Reappearance of Christ. The event took place March 26-28, 2010
on the Austin Waldorf School campus. About seventy people
attended the celebration. The event was bathed in the art of eurythmy and brought to life through scenes from Rudolf Steiner’s
first mystery drama, The Portal of Initiation, lectures by General
Secretary MariJo Rogers, Judith Brockway, and Stephen Usher,
a projective geometry lesson with David Booth, conversation,
good food, and some real fun.
The conference opened Friday evening with eurythmy by
Austin’s Chaparral Eurythmy on Beethoven’s sixth and tenth sonatas for piano and violin. Rudolf Steiner choreographed these
forms several weeks before he died in 1925. Dr. Stephen Usher
then lectured on “The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric &
The Re-emergence of Human Awareness of the Etheric World”
[which follows this report.] He explained the basic content of
the 1910 lectures when Rudolf Steiner first spoke of the imminent reappearance of the Christ in an etheric body that would
commence in the 1930s and would develop over the next 2500
to 3000 years. Steve also noted that Ernst Katz had agreed to
speak at the conference with the caveat that he might already
be on the other side as turned out to be the case. But Ernst was
most certainly attending in his spiritual form.
After the lecture pianist Anthony Tobin performed Adagio ma
non troppo from Beethoven’s Sonata in A-flat Major, Op 110.
48
Evolving News
How is the almost vanished science of projective geometry
connected with the ether, Dr. Booth asked. Geometry involves
duality, which resembles the relationship between physical
and etheric action. In plane geometry this duality interchanges
the concepts of point and line. Everything true of points and
lines is equally true of lines and points. It is interesting to take
familiar geometrical constructions, such as those of perspective
drawing, and consider their dual configurations. The horizon
line becomes an infinitely distant point; a vanishing point on
the horizon becomes a line through that infinitely distant point.
Using this approach you can gradually become familiar with
the truths of planar duality.
In three dimensions, points
and planes are dual; lines are
self-dual. The configurations
of lines in space are symmetrically balanced between positive and negative space, and
may be applicable to those
phenomena that share physical forces and etheric action.
Parallel eurythmy lessons
followed Dr. Booth’s lesson.
After lunch, the audience reassembled for Judith Brockway’s
lecture, which was placed between solo and duo eurythmy
performances of Beethoven
sonata movements.
use of their occult capacity to use materialistically minded souls
who have crossed the threshold of death, yet are caught in the
sphere between the Earth and the Moon. These souls cannot
easily move beyond the moon sphere in the way normal to the
human soul after death, and it is their fate to be used as the
“clientele” of these brotherhoods. They cause disturbances on
earth and cultivate and further materialistic thoughts in human
beings on the earth, thereby blinding them to the true event of
the Christ in the Etheric.
The Brotherhoods of the East, Judith explained, work differently and will not place a false Christ before human beings,
but will create the situation
whereby the event of Christ in
the Etheric will be passed by.
Under certain circumstances
human etheric bodies do not
immediately dissolve after
death into the cosmic ether.
These etheric bodies can
become inhabited by demonic
beings and it is these that the
Eastern brotherhood use for
their purposes. By encouraging a kind of ancestor worship
they aim to divert human beings from having any interest
in the Etheric Christ. Both the brotherhoods
of the West and the brotherhoods of the East are well
aware that the Christ is active in the Etheric. They also know
that our becoming aware of both the Etheric Christ and their
activity will decrease their power in the situation. In connection
with these events Judith commented on the incarnation of Ahriman3, the role of comets, notably Halley’s and Biela’s comets,4 5
the Ahrimanic double6, and the battle of Michael in the Spiritual
world during the years just before 1879 when he became the
ruling Archangel.7
Judith went on to describe the task of the Fifth Post-Atlantean
Epoch that is to transform evil into good through love. It is a
Manichean task that is full of mystery. One approach to this
mystery is to immerse oneself in the description of what Rudolf
Steiner calls the second crucifixion of the Christ that occurred
in the Etheric.8 During the last third of the nineteenth century a
black sphere had formed in the etheric world. This was created
by the materialistic thoughts that human beings were carrying
over into the spiritual world when they died. This “black sphere
of materialism” caused Christ—then living in the etheric and
carried by an Angel being—to suffer extinction of his consciousness through a kind of suffocation.9 This resulted in a new resurrection. Because of this crucifixion and resurrection human
beings can now experience in their own souls a direct consciousness of the Christ. “The spiritual death by suffocation that
accompanied the dissolution of consciousness of the angelic
being is a repetition of the Mystery of Golgotha in the worlds
lying directly behind ours, so that a resurrection of the previously hidden Christ consciousness can take place in the souls
of human beings on Earth. This return to life is in the process of
becoming the clairvoyant vision in the twentieth century.”10
Judith Brockway’s Lecture: “The Occult
Resistances to Perceiving the Etheric Christ and
the New Natural Clairvoyance”
During the years of World War I, and particularly in 1917,
Rudolf Steiner spoke about occult powers and forces that were
actively working to prevent human beings from perceiving this
event.2 Judith explored the content of these lectures where
the working of certain occult brotherhoods of the West and
of the East are characterized. Steiner began the lectures with
a request that his audience examine our concept of the word,
“unconscious.” In those worlds we cannot see with our physical eyes, highly conscious beings are active. There are those
who work for progressive evolution whereby the human being
will become independent, responsible and free to co-work with
them. There are also those who have as their sole purpose the
subjugation and materialization of the human soul and spirit.
The power of the spiritual beings working against our human
evolution is enhanced when people think there is a world of unconsciousness. As soon as we begin to pursue a deeper knowledge of what lies below or above our consciousness and gain an
understanding of these pernicious beings and their intentions,
who are themselves very conscious, we have a chance of winning the battle with materialism.
Judith explained that one of the groups opposing the Etheric
Christ is designated the Brotherhoods by Rudolf Steiner. It is
their intention to blind human beings to the event of Christ’s
Return in the Etheric by eventually placing a being in physical
incarnation and identifying him as the true Christ. He will not
be the true Christ, he will be a false Christ. To do this they make
Research Issue 2010
49
Judith concluded by pointing to the Pink window in the
Goetheanum. There we can see the disciple accompanied by his
angel entering the living, creative world of the etheric. The disciple sees the Christ in the midst of this. From the two windows
below we can see and learn how
Christ approaches Lucifer on the
one side and Ahriman on the other.
It is clear that it is with independent,
freely-given, over-flowing love.11 By
contemplating such a picture we
can water the seeds now in our own
soul, for this needed future activity.
After a group conversation followed by a delicious supper, the
Austin Mystery Drama Players
presented the fruits of one year of
rehearsal: parts of scenes 1, 3, and
7 of The Portal of Initiation, which
frame Theodora’s proclamation of
the coming Reappearance.
Sunday morning, MariJo Rogers’
presentation was preceded and followed by speech eurythmy. Before
the lecture Chaparral presented “If
It Could Ascend” by N. Scott Momaday and “Great Spirits” by
John Keats. “Light’s Weaving Essence” from The Portal of Initiation followed the lecture.
vision. Otherwise, the Christ experience destined for this time
may pass humanity by and “injure Earth’s salvation,” as Rudolf
Steiner once phrased it.
Theodora’s vision and men’s actual experiences of seeing
Christ were foreshadowed by Paul’s
Damascus event. Paul had cultivated
a form of etheric vision through prolonged esoteric training, which also
taught him that when the Messiah
came, He would be seen in the atmosphere of the earth, no longer in the
Sun realm. Paul not only saw, heard,
and knew the Messiah had come,
but also realized he was filled with
His Impulse, with “Christ in me.”
The more we become accountable
to the Christ for our actions, the
more we will see how our actions
must be karmically balanced in the
future. In this way our conscience
becomes an organ for perceiving
Christ as He works today as Lord
of Karma, bringing order again into
humanity’s karma by weaving our
actions into the evolution of humanity as a whole, so that what
we do may benefit all humanity, not just our own progress.
Conscience becomes a new faculty of conscious collaboration
with Christ in the sphere of karma. The etheric body of Christian Rosenkreutz, which strengthens all work in anthroposophy,
enables the development of this new faculty.
After MariJo’s lecture a tasty taco brunch preceded the
closing plenum, where a warm conversation about the many
offerings and experiences unfolded. Beth Usher had arranged
for some serious fun at the close of the plenum. Several folks
quickly passed around baskets holding 12 dozen traditional
Mexican cascarones, Easter Egg tokens for wishing one another
good luck. The eggs are emptied, dyed, filled with confetti and
sealed with a bit of colored tissue paper. Everyone commenced
gleefully breaking eggs over the heads of their neighbors, raining confetti with peals of laughter. It was a joyous ending to an
unforgettable weekend.
MariJo Rogers Lecture: “Seeing Christ in the
Etheric: The Roles of Conscience and the Etheric
Body of Christian Rosenkreutz.”
MariJo’s lecture directed our attention to the fact that we had
entered Easter Week, as it was Palm Sunday. She explained that
Easter’s Holy Week marked the heart of the Mystery of Golgotha
and the last days that Christ walked the earth in a material,
physical body. She continued to explain that today—as Rudolf
Steiner’s Spiritual Scientific research has discovered—He walks
among us in an etheric body that can be seen with etheric
vision. “Christ will reappear,” Steiner states, “because human
beings will raise themselves to Him in the etheric.”
Rudolf Steiner not only lectured about seeing the etheric
Christ, he dramatized it in The
Portal of Initiation, first performed
in August 1910. Theodora, a
seeress, envisions that one day
she and others will see a Form in
shining light. The Form tells them
that “a drop of spirit vision” is now
theirs, that they will begin to see
and no longer need believe. “Feel
it deeply in your souls,” says the
Form, whom we understand to be
the Christ.
While such a meeting may
occur by grace and by natural
development, anthroposophy
asks us to understand all that
MariJo Rogers, General Secretary,
this reappearance involves and
Anthroposophical Society in America
signifies and to cultivate etheric
Endnotes
1. The summaries of the presentations by Dr. Booth, Judith Brockway,
and MariJo Rogers were written by the presenters and slightly edited for
integration into this report.
2. Nov. 18,19,and 25, 1917, Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric.
3. Nov. 1 and 2, 1919, Lucifer and Ahriman by Rudolf Steiner, Rudolf Steiner
Press; Lecture by Hans Peter von Manen, March 3,1966, Das Goetheanum,
Mercury Press.
4. March 5, 1910, Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric, Anthroposophic
Press.
5. September 16, 1924, Book of Revelation, Rudolf Steiner Press.
6. November 1917, Geographic Medicine, Mercury Press.
7. Nov. 18 and 19, 1917, Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric, Anthroposophic Press.
8. May 2, 1913, Occult Science and Occult Development, Christ at the Time
of the Mystery of Golgotha and Christ in the Twentieth Century Approaching the Mystery of Golgotha, Rudolf Steiner Press.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. The Coloured Window Motifs at the Goetheanum, Michaela Glöckler.
50
Evolving News
The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric
& the Re-emergence of Human Awareness of the Etheric World
Lecture given March 26, 2010, at the Austin
Reappearance Conference by Stephen E. Usher, Ph.D.
A person might see a very delicate etheric aura around other
people, animals, or plants.
And, finally, a person might experience the Christ in the form
of an etheric angel, an angel who in the moment of the experiIntroduction
ence would appear to be a physical human being.
We are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s
A person having the experience of the Etheric Christ would
announcement of Christ’s imminent Second Coming or Reapbe in difficulties of some kind. He might be very depressed and
pearance in the etheric world. The first time Rudolf Steiner
not know how to manage. Suddenly, a person will be beside him
made this announcement was on January 12, 1910 in Stockholm,
and speak a few words. These will have the effect of completely
Sweden during a lecture cycle on the John Gospel. Unfortunatechanging his perspective. His soul disposition will lift and he
ly no transcript of that lecture exists, though there is a one-page
will see how to go forward with life. Then the stranger will
note about the announcement in Marie Steiner’s handwriting.
disappear and the person will realize that this could not have
His next lecture on the Reappearance took place January
been an ordinary human being. In a lecture of 1911 titled “The
25, 1910 in Karlsruhe, Germany and a transcript of that lecture
Etherization of the Blood”3 Rudolf Steiner described this experiexists, which was published under the title “The Event of the
ence in these words:
Appearance of Christ in the Etheric World.” From Karlsruhe he
“[H]e may become aware that suddenly someone has come
continued to other German and Italian cities, lecturing on the
near to help him, to make him alert to this or that. The truth is
theme until May of 1910. In all, he delivered 17 lectures in 13
that Christ has come to him, although he believes that what he
cities during this period. He returned to the theme on many ocsees is a physical man. He will
casions during the rest of his life;
come to realize, however, that this
and a number of the important
is a supersensible being, because
lectures have been published
it immediately vanishes. Many
under the English title The Reapa human being will have this
pearance of Christ in the Etheric.1
experience when sitting silently
In August of 1910 the first
in his room, heavy-hearted and
performance of Steiner’s first
oppressed, not knowing which
Mystery Drama was produced in
way to turn. The door will open,
Munich. The drama includes the
and the etheric Christ will appear
proclamation of the Reappearand speak words of consolation
ance by the seeress, Theodora.2
to him. The Christ will become a
living comforter to men. However
Steiner’s Announcement
strange it may as yet seem, it
In a Nut Shell
is true nevertheless that many
What exactly did Rudolf Steina time when people, even in
er announce in 1910? He stated
considerable numbers, are sitting
that commencing in the 1930’s,
together not knowing what to
human beings—ordinary human
do and waiting, they will see the
beings who had not undergone
etheric Christ. He Himself will be
an esoteric training—would start
there, will confer with them, will
to have delicate experiences of
cast His word into such gatherthe etheric world. He pointed to
ings.”
these experiences:
Rudolf Steiner explained that
A person might have a vision
the Etheric Christ has the only
and discover that what he saw
etheric body that can appear as a
would come true in a few days;
physical body. Moreover, He can
in other words, a pre-vision of
appear simultaneously to 10, 100,
events to come.
1000 people all around the globe.
A person about to enact a
“[Christ has] the only etheric
deed might have a vision of the
body able to work in the physical
karmic consequences that would
world as a human physical body
Notes of Marie von Sievers (later Marie Steiner) of the Stockholm lecture.
flow from the deed; thus a kind of
works. It will differ from a physisecond chance would be offered to those about to do something
cal body in this respect only, that it can be in two, three, even a
with undesirable karmic consequences. Additionally, a person
hundred, a thousand places at the same time.”4
might have a vision of the karmic consequences of a deed just
In the 1910 lectures Rudolf Steiner stated that the Reappearenacted.
ance would start during the years from 1930 to 1940 and that
Research Issue 2010
51
it would be particularly notable in the years 1933, 1935, and
1937. From a small number of occurrences in the beginning, the
experience would come to ever more people over the course of
the next 2500 to 3000 years.
It is important to note that Christ came only once in a physical body and will never again appear in that form.
great effort he stretched out one hand towards Jesus, who took
it in both his hands while he bent forward a little. It was so indescribably beautiful that we others stood there involuntarily with
a quiet smile—the warden too. The Russian collapsed and the
unspeakably beautiful expression over the whole abused figure
vanished. Jesus softly laid the hand of the Russian back again
on the body and went out of the cellar. Forthwith everything
was as before.”
The Evidence 100 Years After Steiner’s
Announcement
A Refresher On Steiner’s Spiritual Scientific
Investigation of the Mystery of Golgotha
As 100 years have passed since Steiner’s pronouncement, we
may well ask if there is evidence that people have encountered
the Etheric Christ in the manner predicted. As a matter of fact
there are numerous accounts. When I have lectured about the
Reappearance over the last few years, it is not uncommon for a
member of the audience to tell of an experience of the Etheric
Christ, either his own or that of some acquaintance. During the
late 1970s two Swedish Researchers posted ads in newspapers,
asking for people who had experienced the Christ, to write the
experience down and send it to them. They published their
findings, which unfortunately have never been translated into
English.5
A caveat in interpreting peoples’ accounts is in order. Some
people tell, for example, how they met Christ in a dream or perhaps in a daytime vision. Such accounts are not consistent with
Steiner’s prediction for he says, specifically, that in the moment
of an awake encounter, the person will believe he is meeting a
physical human being. But then, by the way the being departs,
he realizes it could not have been an ordinary physical person.
One of the most remarkable accounts I have come across6 is
from a Danish author, Hans Heltoft, who wrote about his experiences in a Gestapo prison during the 2nd World War in the
Copenhagen newspaper Morgenbladed.
“In a musty cellar are five hundred prisoners of all nationalities busy plaiting mats. An overseer came in and for some
groundless reason cudgeled a Russian to death and went on
beating the lifeless bloody heap. Every blow was felt on our own
bodies by we prisoners … ‘It is enough’, cried a Polish prisoner,
beside himself. ‘It is enough’, we all repeated in a hollow voice.
…’ In that same moment Jesus entered the cellar. I do not belong
to the church and have never seen Jesus before. And still I
knew him and noticed also that the others recognized Him…
His whole impression simply went beyond our usual world of
understanding. The one thing that is clear to me today, is that
this Jesus was something that I cannot describe and yet at
the same time was an ordinary man. And, in spite of standing
outside the church, I must say: ‘It was the very greatest thing
that we had experienced and indeed could experience.’ And
now the following happened simultaneously with the entrance
of Jesus: The musty cellar-space was quite transformed…above
the cellar there settled a color with shades of bright red and
blue which spread out to a sphere which gave one the feeling
of peace…the space to the ceiling seemed to me to be so large
that a complete barn could have been built inside…Jesus did
not look at us…he gazed only at the battered man at his feet.
His countenance rayed out a love that cannot be expressed in
words…He bent over the Russian and gently kissed his bleeding, swollen cheeks. The man that we held for dead opened
one eye; the other was stuck together with blood. When he saw
Jesus his maltreated countenance lit up in childish joy. With a
This refresher must be brief and incomplete.7 Probably the
most important point to understand is what actually occurred
at the Baptism. Just prior to the Baptism the Ego of the great initiate, who had lived as Jesus of Nazareth and who had perfected
the body as a vessel, left the body of Jesus. This happened
during a conversation with his mother during which his ego left
on the stream of his breath. The initiate’s last deed was to give
the body—consisting of physical body, etheric body and astral
body—an impulse to walk to the river Jordan where John was
baptizing. When John baptized Jesus there resounded from the
heavens these words: “This is my beloved Son. This day have
I begotten Him.” According to Rudolf Steiner this is the correct
translation of the Greek words usually rendered “This is my
beloved son with whom I am well pleased.”
When I first read Steiner’s explanation about 37 years ago, I
was a student at the University of Michigan and I wanted corroboration. My search at the enormous graduate library turned
up an edition of the New Testament that contained a footnote
stating the passage could be rendered “This day have I begotten
Him.” So Steiner’s interpretation was supported by at least one
biblical scholar!
According to Steiner, the significance of the Baptism is this:
the great Solar God, the Logos of the Sun, or Christ took possession of the body and lived in it for 3½ years. This body had been
prepared by 6 times 7 generations of Hebrews who followed
elaborate dietary laws and migrated according to star patterns
guided by the great spirit, Jehovah, in order to perfect a blood
strong enough to withstand the presence of a macrocosmic god.
The founder of the ancient Persian civilization, the original Zarathustra, already knew of this God around 6,000 BC and named
him the Ahura Mazdao or the Great Aura. While the ellipsoidal,
microcosmic aura of a human being is about twice as high and
four times as wide as the physical body, the aura of Ahura
Mazdao was as great as the outspread light of the sun.
The 3½ years of Christ’s life in a physical body ended with his
dying on the cross at Golgotha. According to Rudolf Steiner’s
spiritual scientific research, when the blood flowed from the
wounds of Christ and permeated the earth, the entire earth
aura changed.
Death means that the etheric body, the carrier of life, which
makes organic and biochemistry possible, separates from
the physical body and the latter begins to follow the laws of
inorganic chemistry and rigor mortis and decay set in. By Easter
Sunday two things had happened. First, the earth inside the
tomb opened and the physical body of Christ was received into
the depths of the earth. Steiner’s spiritual scientific research
reveals that the earth not only opened to receive the body but it
shook in such a way as to neatly fold the burial garment. He tells
52
Evolving News
that this movement of the earth represented a rare manifestation of the working of the Father God. Second, Christ reassembled an etheric body that was specially densified and rose from
the dead. When Doubting Thomas touched the wound of Christ,
he actually felt the densifed etheric. Rudolf Steiner explained
this by observing that to heal a wound the etheric body puckers
around it. Because the etheric body had densified, Thomas was
able to feel the etheric puckering that had formed around the
lance wound in the side of Christ.8
At the Ascension, Christ lifted into the clouds and into the
earthly atmosphere where he has dwelt ever since in the etheric
form of an Angel. He appeared in this etheric form to Paul at
Damascus. And, indeed, Paul’s experience was a precursor of
the experience human beings can have in our time, the experience of Christ in the etheric that is also known as the Second
Coming of Christ.
The Second Coming, which commenced during the 1930s and
continues until about 5000 AD, can be described as the awakening of humanity to the Etheric World at the hand of Christ in His
Etheric Form.
This means transforming our understanding of the earth
itself. The generally accepted view of our planet is that of
materialistic geology and astronomy. The earth is thought to be
a dead body with an iron core around which rotates a molten
mass. Above the molten mass are the earth’s crust and the
earth’s surface upon which human, animal, and plant life run
their course. The rotation of the molten mass around the iron
core generates an electric field about the earth. According to
accepted materialistic theory the earth originated from accretion from the solar nebula about 4.54 billion years ago. This
accepted picture concerns activities in dead matter.
Rudolf Steiner argues the materialistic picture of the earth’s
origin is not correct. In the lecture “Buddhism and Pauline
Christianity”9 he claims that a new understanding of the origin
will arise that contemplates not dead material and the point centered forces known to physics, but rather the plant world and
etheric forces that are not point centered but work in planes.10
The new understanding will arrive at a picture of a primordial
etheric earth composed only of plants with pure etheric forms,
i.e. non-material. Slowly, these etheric plants condensed to
warmth and then to air forms. They directed their roots to the
earth’s center and their leaves and blossoms toward the sun.
Further condensation led to increasingly dense conditions of
materiality, that is liquid and finally solid forms. This, according
to Steiner, will become recognized science in the future. The
plants, he explains, preceded minerals just as coal was once
plant life. The plants give the earth its form and they give off
the substance from which minerals originate. When man is able
to receive the growth forces of the plant kingdom, he will be
released from the forces that now hinder him from beholding
the Christ.
etheric world and will meet the Etheric Christ. This becomes
possible because these people attain what Rudolf Steiner calls
the “New Natural Clairvoyance.”
This clairvoyance arises of itself in the course of human
evolution. Many of the 1910 lectures sketch a long horizon
of human development, describing four periods or ages: the
Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, and the Dark Age
or Kali Yuga. During the Golden and Silver ages mankind was
endowed with the old atavistic clairvoyance where, in a kind of
enhanced dream awareness, men could look into the spiritual
world. But for this old clairvoyance to function it was necessary
that people have only a dull consciousness of self. With their
limited self-awareness people could dream in a kind of ecstasy
of spiritual realities and spiritual beings. The old atavistic consciousness diminished in the Bronze Age and slowly came to an
end for most human beings around the middle of the Kali Yuga,
which lasted some 5000 years.
The receding atavistic clairvoyance coincided with a gradual
shrinking of the etheric body, particularly around the head. In
the early ages—Golden and Silver—the etheric head extended
way beyond the physical head and this made it possible for the
etheric head to be in deep connection with the etheric environment.11 As time progressed the etheric head shrank and reached
the point where it coincided with the outline of the physical
head, whereupon the old atavism was lost and the possibility of
developing wide-awake self-consciousness came about.
The last two thousand years of human history have revolved
around acquiring and stabilizing a strong sense of self in the
security of the sense world. But the Kali Yuga ended in 1899 and
a new Age of Light has begun. This means that the etheric body
is beginning to loosen again. The loosening will be a gradual
process manifesting, at first, in a small number of people. Then,
over the course of time, it will become reality for many. Some of
those who experience this loosening will awaken to the etheric
world through the New Natural Clairvoyance and will be able
to experience those phenomena, enumerated above12 that are
associated with the Second Coming.
But modern people do not have to wait for the natural loosening. It is possible to take one’s spiritual development in hand by
practicing certain exercises of soul and spirit. These exercises
are organized according to the laws that govern the germinal
potential for higher sight that lies in every human being.13
Practicing these exercises rigorously can lead to a much more
comprehensive unfolding of supersensible perception than that
of the New Natural Clairvoyance. It should be noted, however,
that the speed of such self-engendered development is dependent on a person’s individual karma.14
Rudolf Steiner explains these exercises in many books and
lectures.15 The exercises lead to enhancing consciousness to
states above that normal to human beings of our time, the consciousness of the senses and the intellect bound to the senses.
The enhanced consciousness that arises from systematic practice enables the awakened seer to perceive the etheric world
and the etheric body of living entities and much more. Rudolf
Steiner designates the first enhancement “Imaginative” consciousness, and he defines what he means by this quite precisely in a number of his works. In particular, he asks his readers
not to confuse the term with the normal dictionary meaning of
the word. In the same spirit he speaks of a second and third en-
Three Paths to Etheric Experience:
The Old Atavistic Clairvoyance,
The New Natural Clairvoyance, and
Modern Imaginative Consciousness
In the 1910 lectures on the Reappearance of Christ in the
Etheric, Steiner explained that ordinary people will begin to experience higher sight. They will begin to have perceptions of the
Research Issue 2010
53
hancement of consciousness. Above “Imaginative” is “Inspired”
The time property of the etheric also manifests in the plant.
consciousness and above that is “Intuitive” consciousness. To
As an example of this time relationship consider the simple
fully behold the etheric world and etheric body requires the
philodendron plant. Each successive leaf grows from the stem
first two enhancements.
of the one before. First, there appears a slight thickening along
A shorthand way to think of Imaginative consciousness—
the stem with a little point close to where the leaf grows out of
which is obviously an oversimplification—is as follows. It is
the stem. This thickening of the stem then breaks loose from the
possible for most people to visualize pictures in their minds, e.g.
stem and looks like a very delicate green spear. The spear then
geometric figures,
begins to unfold
images, sounds,
into a tender
smells, textures,
leaf. This new
etc. Creating a
leaf’s stem grows
clear visualizalonger so the new
tion takes strenuleaf extends beous mental effort.
yond the one out
Suppose now that
of which it grew.
a person exerts
Then a new thickall his effort to
ening appears
create a mantric
on its stem. If we
image. Next try
think—illustrato conceive that
tive purposes—of
the image, once
the new leaf
placed clearly
as the present
before the mind’s
moment then its
eye, begins to be
whole history, its
shaped by a force
past, can be seen
coming from
behind it. So we
behind the image.
can think of the
It is as if another
plant as showbeing begins
ing time spread
to take hold of
out in space. It
the image and
is interesting to
Bust of Ahriman bust by Robert Miller of the Austin Waldorf School, for the first scene of Portal of Initiation.
remold it. As this
contemplate how
happens the person suddenly merges onto the two-dimensional
long that process of unfolding leaves stretches back in time!
plane of the image that has taken on a life of its own. He is then
The Processes of Water Also Manifest the Etheric
experiencing the Imaginative enhancement of consciousness.
World
The Etheric World is Manifest in the Plants
The etheric world also manifests is activity in all the watery,
liquid conditions of the sense world. “The Etheric” says Rudolf
Steiner “is at work in the aqueous processes of earth. All in the
mighty drop of water earth—in the sea, in the rivers, the rising
mists, falling drops, cloud formations- in all this, etheric currents are working. Here weaving ether is revealed in pictures to
strengthened consciousness. Everywhere behind this weaving
water the cosmic imagination is weaving.”17
It is in the nature of the etheric to shape itself into a drop and,
as Rudolf Steiner states above, the oceans of the earth resemble
a “mighty drop.” The drop, both in the tiny sphere of rain and
the mighty ocean, are images of the etheric world itself. The
human etheric body, if it were free to follow its own tendency,
would have a drop shape too, but the forces inherent in the
physical body constrain the human etheric body to resemble
the physical body. When death severs the bond between physical and etheric bodies the etheric expands into the cosmos in
an ever-growing drop shape.
The ocean rhythms and mists also help us approach the
idea of the etheric world. Spending a few days—with sensitivity
of soul - within hearing of an ocean; listening to the relentless
rhythm of the waves and tide; being regularly enveloped by
sea mist; through all this the soul can slip into the sea mystery
With this enhanced consciousness a person can begin to experience the etheric world. But even before achieving this state
it is possible to form concepts of the etheric world by observing its manifestations in the world of the senses. Rudolf Steiner
directs us to the world of plants, which he says manifest the
etheric world in the physical world:
“[T]he physical becomes visible for us in the mineral world.
In the world of the plants the physical has already become invisible, for what we see is really the etheric made visible through
the agency of the physical. We would not, of course, see the
plants with our ordinary eyes if the invisible etheric body did
not carry within it little granules (an overly simplified and crude
expression, to be sure) of physical matter. Through the physical
the etheric form becomes visible to us; but this etheric form is
what we are really seeing. The physical is, so to speak, only the
means whereby we see the etheric.”16
In the plant we see the rhythmic character of the etheric
world as the plant goes through its cycle of contractions (e.g.
seed) and expansions (e.g. leaf) as described by Goethe in his
poem The Metamorphosis of Plants. We also see the relation
of the etheric to the Sun as the plant lives and unfolds in the
sunlight.
54
Evolving News
of the etheric. Ocean vastness and depth begin to whisper the
language of the world etheric ocean.
In ancient Finland, in the time of the Finnish epic, the Kalevala, man still possessed the old atavistic clairvoyance. Three
gulfs of the sea encroached on the Finnish land: the Gulf of Riga,
the Gulf of Finland, and the Gulf of Bothnia. The great dragon
of the sea sent his host of elemental beings through these gulfs
and over the Fins like a great sea mist. The old Fins leaned
through their atavistic clairvoyance of this dragon and learned,
thereby, the ancient wisdom:
“The sea here makes inroads into the land and forms the
Gulfs of Bothnia, Finland and Riga. But if we want to see through
to the spiritual counterpart of the physical appearance, we have
to take together what can be seen when we make as it were a
transverse section of Nature. Down below is a great mass of water; up above is air. Man breathes the air; and that world of sea
below is a great and might being that is only differently formed
from what we are accustomed to—a mighty being spreading
itself out over that entire region. With this being the men of an
earlier time had a particular and quite special connection. We
talk of Folk-spirits; but Folk-spirits have as instruments for their
work the elemental beings that manifest in countless ways. They
are organized like an army, for the purpose of working right
into the etheric body, that by forming the ether body they may
so form man in his physical body that this physical body may
become a fitting instrument for his special mission on Earth. …
[I]f we want to understand what is there in reality, let us return
to the sea-dragon that is a kind of inspirer of European humanity—pushing his way over from the Atlantic Ocean to be the inspirer of European humanity. In this dragon is contained, when
we survey the totality of his elemental beings, everything that
is spiritual in European humanity. If we were able to understand
him fully, this dragon, we would be able to give ourselves up
entirely to him, and would then all be clairvoyant.”18
Rudolf Steiner proceeds to clarify that it is not the task of
modern humanity to return to the old atavistic clairvoyance.
Rather the task was first to develop a firm self-awareness in the
sense world and second, in our time, to reawaken to the etheric
world through the New Natural Clairvoyance or Imaginative
Consciousness while retaining modern ego consciousness.
To achieve modern self awareness, the atavistic clairvoyance
had to pass away in the course of time as explained above. This
separated man from knowledge of the etheric world or world of
life. It confined him to the world of dead and shattered forms,
but it gave him the possibility to become a self-conscious being, i.e. a being that can “know that he knows” in the sense this
thought is developed in Steiner’s Philosophy of Spiritual Activity.
In the old consciousness man dreamed; dreamed of the ancient
dragon and his wisdom in the rhythmic movements of the
etheric world. Though he saw and grasped much in that ancient
time he was not self-aware. He bought self-awareness at the cost
of his awareness of the life world, the cosmic etheric ocean in
which he is still embedded unconsciously.
The new task of mankind is to reawaken to the etheric world
through the development of a modern clairvoyance, Imaginative
consciousness that can operate simultaneously with wideawake self-awareness.
Research Issue 2010
Etheric Manifestations in the Human Organism
The working of the etheric body of a human being manifests
in a number of ways in the sense world if we understand what
we perceive. One manifestation is in sweat and secretions.
Every secretion indicates the workings of the etheric body. Note
that as in outer nature these manifestations are in the watery
or liquid element. Even more striking is Rudolf Steiner’s observation that the feeling life of the soul rides on secretions, i.e.
secretions are the physiological basis of feelings. So the feeling
life of the soul has as its basis etheric activities that manifest in
secretions. This idea, of course, goes against accepted notions
that feelings—and all other aspects of soul life—are based on
the nerves.
Steiner also connects the feeling life with the blood circulation and the heart, which is a fluid system that he sees as a
manifestation of etheric activity in the body.
Here is a passage where Steiner relates bodily secretions to
activity of the etheric body and the life of feeling:
“It can become visible when a person sweats—when a person
sweats the etheric body becomes visible [manifests] outwardly…Generally speaking, then, there is very little external
expression of the etheric. Inwardly, on the other hand, it is
experienced all the more, namely in feeling. The whole life of
feeling, inwardly experienced, is what is living in the etheric
body when this body is active from within, so that one experiences it from within. The life of feeling is always accompanied
by inner secretions. To [clairvoyant] observation of the etheric
body in the human being it appears that the liver, for instance,
sweats, that the stomach sweats—that every organ sweats and
secretes. The etheric life of the human being lives in secretions.
The whole life of feeling, inwardly experienced is what is living
in the etheric body when the ether body is active within us. The
life of feeling always is accompanied by inner secretions. For the
seer: the liver sweats, the stomach sweats, every organ sweats
and secretes. The etheric life of human beings lives in process
of secretion. Around the heart, around the liver there is a cloud
of sweat, all is enveloped in mist and cloud.” 19
In this next passage Steiner indicates that the heart and circulation are an image of the etheric body:
“What really do the blood circulation and the heart mean to
us? They are the etheric world condensed; they are the densified forces of the etheric world!”20
He goes on to make the remarkable observation that the
heart with the blood circulation have densified or entered material form as far as necessary for human evolution, and that they
have already begun to dematerialize back into an etheric condition, a topic we shall discuss further.
Imaginative Perception of the Etheric World
Rudolf Steiner’s collected works—over 360 volumes—are
filled with descriptions of his experiences in Imaginative and
higher states of consciousness. In particular, he gives many
pictures of the etheric world. He explains that all living things—
plants, animals, and human beings—have an etheric body in
addition to their physical body. In his basic writings Rudolf
Steiner describes the etheric body of the human being as resembling the physical body, particularly above the waist. Below, the
etheric body merges with the etheric body of the earth. To each
55
physical organ there corresponds an etheric organ. These etheric organs have characteristic forms but at the same time are
fluid and shape shifting. The physical organs can be pictured as
condensations out of the etheric ones, like ice out of water. From
certain perspectives of enhanced consciousness, the etheric
body appears to have a color resembling young peach blossoms, though Steiner emphasizes that the actual imaginative
color is not to be found in the sense world. The etheric body is
composed of the four types of ether—warmth ether, light ether,
chemical or tone ether, and life ether. On all sides the etheric
body is linked to the surrounding etheric world and there is a
continuous exchange of currents and forces with this surrounding environment.
He speaks of “[O]ne’s own etheric organism grow[ing] together … with the etheric cosmos …the confluence of his etheric
nature with etheric weaving and pulsing of the cosmos...”21 Then
we feel our connection with cosmic space, with the planets and
the stars, just as from the consciousness of our physical body
we feel ourselves connected with quartz crystals, cabbages, and
rabbits. When a clairvoyant learns to live in her etheric body
she leaves the realm of gravity and enters the forces of lightness
or levity,22 whose activity can be observed, for example, in the
force that allows the sap to rise in trees. Levity forces are, of
course, not recognized by modern physics, but then again modern physics has no explanation of how a large, heavy volume of
sap ascends hundreds of feet in a great tree every spring.
Steiner depicts being in the etheric world in these words:
“With imagination he lives in the etheric world. He feels
himself as alive in the etheric world as otherwise he has felt
in his physical body. But he feels the etheric world more as
a sum of rhythmic processes, a vibrating in the world ether,
which, however he is certainly in a position to interpret in ideas
and concepts. Man senses events of a universal nature in the
etheric-imaginative experience; he feels supersensible, etheric
phenomena. In inspiration he feels not only such supersensible, etheric facts merging into each other, metamorphosing
and taking on all manner of possible forms, but now, through
inspiration, he senses how in this etheric, billowing world, in
this rhythmically undulating world, as if on waves of an etheric word-ocean, real beings are weaving and working. In this
way one feels something reminiscent of the sun, moon, planets
and the fixed stars, and also of things on the physical earth,
for example, the minerals and plants, and all this is bathed in
the cosmic ether. …While here in the physical sense world we
perceive only the exterior of everything, there we recognize it
in its essential, spiritual existence. We also attain a view of the
inner nature of the human organism, as well as the form of the
separate organs, lungs, heart, liver and so on. For we see now
that everything that gives form and life to the human organism
originates not only in what surrounds us and is active in the
physical cosmos, but also proceeds from the spiritual beings
within this physical cosmos.”23
From another perspective, looking into the etheric world
gives this impression:
“And what would we sense if, just as we look out into the
physical world with our physical body, we look into the etheric
world though the etheric body? What would we behold then?
We would see the past of all things spread out before our physical eyes—the actual past, from which this physical world arose.
We would see, in the spirit, the images of what was—of what
made the present possible.”24
This next description portrays in a wondrous manner the
etheric body with its light, tone, and life ethers:
“[T]he etheric body is woven of light and sound and life
and partakes not only of life on the earth but of the life of the
cosmos. The etheric body glows through the physical body.
The etheric body breathes light and it gives it out. And when it
gives light out and confers the light on us we live by means of
the light. It breathes in light. When it breathes light in, it uses
the light up and changes it to darkness, and then can receive
sound into this darkness, the sounds of the worlds that live in
the harmony of the spheres, and can receive it into the impulses
of life. As we receive physical nourishment so does the etheric
body breath light in and out. As we use up oxygen and make
CO2, so the etheric body uses up light, shooting it through with
darkness, so it appears in color. So the etheric body shows itself
to clairvoyance as waves of color. And whilst the etheric body
prepares the light for darkness and thereby carries on the inner
work of breathing, it lives in that it receives the sound of the
worlds and changes the sound into life of worlds.”25
It is worth noting that this passage is given dramatic portrayal in the seventh scene of Rudolf Steiner’s first Mystery Drama,
The Portal of Initiation. The scene takes place in the Spirit World
and the three soul forces - Philia, Astrid, and Luna- describe
light, tone and life ether in beautiful poetic language.
As we are beginning to see, the Etheric world and etheric
body of the human being are complex and multidimensional,
and can be viewed from many perspectives. At first these perspectives can be confusing. For example, at times Rudolf Steiner
describes the etheric body as if it were in space. On other occasions, he states that it actually is a “time body” extending back
in time to the point when it was formed prior to birth. Earlier we
illustrated this fact with a sense perceptible philodendron plant.
But the sense perceptible plant form is not actually a time body
because the growing point at the end of the youngest leaf is really not “the present moment” of the plant; the whole plant is in
the present moment in each moment. But from certain clairvoyant perspectives the etheric body really does show its whole
past, and time really does spread out before such beholding as
space. To spiritual perception one’s own etheric body presents
its entire growth history. Simultaneously, the seer beholds the
period of embryological development, the changing teeth, and
puberty with all its adolescent trials etc. If through a shock,
the etheric body is momentarily separated from the physical
body and the person retains consciousness, then he will see his
entire life pass before him as a great tableau. There are many
reports of seeing this tableau from people who came close to
dying.
The Development of the Human Etheric
Body From Its Formation Until the Onset of
Adolescence26: The Formation of the Etheric
Heart
To clairvoyant vision the etheric body of a small child looks
like an image of the universe.
“It is a universe in the form of an image. In its circumference
it has something like stars, and in its lower part something
reveals itself that is more or less an image of the earth. It even
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Evolving News
contains a kind of image of the sun and moon. It is extraordinarily significant that we, in our descent into earthly life, draw
together forces from the universal ether and thus take with us,
in our ether body, a kind of image of the cosmos. If one could
extract the ether body of man, at the moment when he is uniting
himself with the physical body, we should have a sphere which
is far more beautiful than any formed by mechanical means- a
sphere containing stars, zodiac, sun and moon.”
These configurations are already there in embryological development. During early childhood they fade a little but remain
to the 7th year. With the change of teeth the stars begin sending
out rays—having previously been more star like. Between 7-14
these rays shine into a center situated at the physical heart.
The star rays actually build up a center around the physical
heart. As the center takes form the stars become pale and what
has come together into a ball-like formation around the heart
becomes vivid and alive. The physical heart is suspended with
its blood vessels in the center of this etheric structure.
The stars draw inward and disappear; the etheric body itself
remains but is less differentiated at the periphery. At about
puberty the ball like etheric structure becomes the child’s own
etheric heart. Before that he had a provisional etheric heart
from heredity. Now he has his own etheric heart. This whole
process can be compared to what happens physically when the
childhood teeth are replaced with the new teeth.
Spiritually it is a very significant development because the
etheric heart is the organ of destiny.
the outside world beyond egotistical concerns.
In “Etherization of the Blood”31, Rudolf Steiner poses the
question: Does there exist a macrocosmic counterpart to the
microcosmic etherization of the blood in the human heart?
To answer this question he points to the Mystery of Golgotha
and tells how the blood that flowed from the wounds of Christ
entered the earth and etherized in the course of time. This is
the macrocosmic parallel. “This blood must not be regarded
simply as chemical substance, but by reason of all that has
been described as the nature of Jesus of Nazareth, it must be
recognized as something altogether unique. When it flowed
from His wounds and into the earth, a substance was imparted
to our earth which, in uniting with it, constituted an event of the
greatest possible significance for all future ages of the earth…”
This special blood etherized and exists in homeopathic dilution
in the etheric body of the earth. It is possible for the etherized
blood of Christ to unite with the etheric stream in the human
body that runs from heart to his head. For this to happen the individual must “unfold a true understanding of what is contained
in the Christ Impulse.”
In “Etherization of the Blood” it is stated that through slowly
assimilating the content of spiritual science the stream flowing from heart to brain will be fired and this will enable people
to understand the Second Coming, which is occurring in our
time. Apparently, this union of the Christ etheric blood stream
with the human etheric blood stream enhances our capacity
to grasp what is not an immediate egotistical concern so that
human understanding can advance from natural science to
the spiritual science of the etheric world. “[I]n our present age
it is important that man should learn to understand that the
knowledge contained in spiritual science must be received and
gradually be able so to fire the streams flowing from heart to
brain that anthroposophy can be understood. If this comes to
pass, individuals will be able to comprehend the event that has
its beginning in the twentieth century; the appearance of the
etheric Christ…” Note here the issue is not experiencing Christ
in the etheric, but of comprehending that this stupendous event
is occurring.
Etheric Streams From Heart to Head: the
Etherization of the Blood. 27
As blood passes through the heart some of it is transmuted
to etheric blood. This blood is said to be etherized. An Anthroposophical medical doctor once stated that the blood in the
heart moves in a kind of vortex and at the top of the vortex the
etherization takes place.28 This etherized blood then streams
from the heart to the head.
This streaming etheric current plays an extremely significant
role. It makes it possible for human beings to think about things
that do not concern them directly.
“Unless these streams of ether were to flow continuously
from the heart towards the head, however much we tried to
think about the world and to know about it, we should be quite
unable to make use of our brain as the instrument for thought.
As an instrument for knowledge the brain would be completely
useless if it were only to function as physical brain. We have to
resort to occultism to learn how the brain would work today
if it were left to itself. The human being would only be able to
think thoughts connected with the inner needs of his body. For
example, he would be able to think, “Now I am hungry, now I am
thirsty, now I will satisfy this or that instinct.” If he were entirely
dependent upon his physical brain man would only be able to
think thoughts connected with his own bodily needs, he would
be the perfect egotist.”29
These currents are indirectly related to the pineal gland.
“They continually lave the pineal gland, which becomes
luminous, and its movements as physical brain organ respond
in harmony with these etheric currents emanating from the
heart.”30 By way of the pineal gland the etherized blood reacts
upon the brain. This enables the brain to know something about
Research Issue 2010
The Formation of Memory and Etheric Currents:
The Light Ether Prayer of Risen Christ
The etheric current flowing from heart to the head is not only
connected with the capacity for unselfish thinking about the
world, but also with the faculty of memory. Memory formation also makes use of a second etheric current that arises not
from the heart but from the lower part of the breast, the lymph
vessels and other organs. This current collects around the
pituitary gland. The working of the two currents makes memory
possible.32 This comes about from a tremendous etheric tension arising between the pineal gland and the pituitary gland, a
tension that arises as a result of the forces in the two currents.
Steiner compares the tension to that of opposing electric fields.
This tension imprints the memory picture into the etheric body.
Speaking in the sense of Steiner’s Philosophy of Spiritual Activity,
the thinking activity links a concept with a percept resulting in
a mental picture, e.g. I see a black and white animal grazing in
the field and link the sense percept with the concept “grazing
Holstein cow.” The tension between the two currents imprints
the memory picture into the etheric body.
57
Light Ether, one of the four ethers, plays a special role in
the process of memory creation.33 Memories are carried in a
person’s light ether body, i.e. in the light ether component of the
etheric body, which Steiner designates the Light Body. The tension that arises between the two glands apparently impresses a
unique movement into Light Body, a unique movement or dance
for each mental picture. To remember means that the Light
Body re-dances the unique dance.
Rudolf Steiner explains that the Risen Christ—prior to the Ascension—taught this mystery of the Light Body to his intimate
disciples and told them that they needed to awake to awareness
in their etheric body while outside the physical body and from
there behold their own Light Body. But Satan or Ahriman works
against the possibility of such etheric vision by darkening our
consciousness when we step out of our physical body. Rudolf
Steiner points to a passage in the Pistis Sophia—one of the
few Gnostic texts that survived destruction—where the Risen
Christ teaches the disciples a prayer to help them achieve this
state of awareness:
“Oh, you powers in the Spiritual World, let me step into the
light world and behold in the Light my own Light Body. And let
not Ahriman’s power over me be so great that I am unable to
behold what takes place in my own Body of Light.”
Cornwall PL33 9EE, England.
7. For a full picture of Rudolf Steiner’s discovers regarding the life of Christ
see his lectures on each of the Gospels (one volume per gospel) and The
Fifth Gospel.
8. To add to the complexity it should be noted that Christ rose from the dead
in His densified etheric body and also in what Rudolf Steiner calls the
phantom. This is the form principle of the physical body that had been
damaged by the Fall of Man that resulted from interference in Earth evolution by Luciferic beings. One of the great deeds of Christ during his 3½
years in a physical body was to overcome the corruption and re-perfect
the human phantom. So Christ rose from the dead in both a densified
etheric body and the perfected phantom. See From Jesus to Christ by
Rudolf Steiner.
9. In Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric; one of the 1910 lectures.
10. Rudolf Steiner and his students used projective geometry to capture aspects of the workings of etheric forces. See The Plant Between Sun and
Earth and The Science of Physical and Etherial Spaces, George Adams,
Olive Whicher, Ehrenfried Pfeiffer.
11. The heads of animals still extend way beyond their physical heads. In
some lectures Steiner describes the enormous etheric extension of the
head of a horse.
12. See section titled “Steiner’s Announcement in a Nut Shell.”
13. See “The Psychological Foundations of Anthroposophy,” (lecture of April
8, 1911) in Esoteric Development, Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophic Press,
1982.
14. Steiner states that cases of the old atavism have lingered on as well, so it
takes some discernment to distinguish between old atavistic clairvoyance
and the new natural clairvoyance.
15. The primary work on this topic is Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and
Its Attainment.
16. The Mystery of the Trinity, Rudolf Steiner, July 28, 1914, GA 214.
17. Anthroposophy, an Introduction, GA 234, Feb 1. 1924.
18. Die Zusammenhang des Menschen mit der elementarischen Welt, GA
158, Lecture of November 14, 1914, available in typescript from Rudolf
Steiner Library.
19. Mystery of the Trinity, July 18, 1922.
20. Wonders of the World, August 25, 1911.
21. Philosophy, Cosmology, Religion, Sept. 7, 1922.
22. What Is Anthroposophy, July 21, 1923.
23. Philosophy, Cosmology and Religion, lecture of Sept. 8, 1922.
24. What Is Anthroposophy, July 21, 1923.
25. Lecture of Oct. 2, 1916, GA 171. Available as manuscript from the Rudolf
Steiner Library.
26. The Human Soul In Relation to World Evolution, May 26, 1922, GA 212
27. “The Etherization of the Blood,” Oct. 1, 1911, in Reappearance of Christ in
the Etheric; lecture of August 25, 1911 in Wonders of the World; lecture of
March 23, 1911 in Occult Physiology.
28. Dr. David Brill in a lecture given in the 1990s in Spring Valley, New York.
29. August 25, 1911, Wonders of the World.
30. August 25, 1911, Wonders of the World.
31. Oct.1, 1911, Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric.
32. March 23, 1911, Occult Physiology.
33. GA 165 lecture of Jan. 2, 1916. Not available in English
34. Lecture of Nov. 1, 1915, GA 254 unavailable in English. The verse is published in Verses and Meditations.
Conclusion: Christ Sees Us
We have completed a journey through some of Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual scientific research concerning the Reappearance
of Christ in the Etheric and the re-awakening of humanity to the
world of life, the etheric world. No doubt forming a connection
with these complicated thoughts is challenging. But they will
lead us to a deeper understanding of the Christ who is aware of
every single human soul at all times. To conclude let us contemplate this mantra:
“Christ knows us. To a soul that sees our Spiritual Science in
the true light, to a heart that feels it in its true significance, I can
impart no more esoteric saying: The Christ Is Seeing Us.”34
Stephen Usher holds a PhD in economics from the University of
Michigan. His professional experience includes serving as a staff
economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a number
of years as a financial and economic consultant with a leading firm
of consulting economists. Steve also spent eight years as Managing
Director of the Anthroposophic Press as well as serving on the Board
of the Threefold Educational Foundation. He and his wife Beth, a wellknown eurythmist, live in Austin, Texas, where they are both active in
the Novalis Branch of the Anthroposophical Society.
Endnotes
1. Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophic Press, Spring Valley, New York, 1983.
2. The term “Mystery Drama” refers to the “mysteries” that were places of
initiation in the ancient world. Steiner wrote four mystery dramas. The
first, The Portal of Initiation, was written and performed in 1910. Three
more plays followed in 1911, 1912, and 1913 and each was premiered during an August conference in Munich. The plays depict the lives of a group
of students of esoteric knowledge.
3. Included in Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric. (See note 1)
4. From “Etherization of the Blood,” contained in Reappearance of Christ in
the Etheric.
5. The German translation was published under the title Sie Erlebten Christus by Gunnar Hillerdal and Berndt Gustafsson, Pforte Verlag, 2002.
6. Available in English in Rudolf Steiner’s Millennium Prophecies by Heinz
Herbert Schoeffler, MD, Goulden Books, The Chapel, Treligga,Delabole,
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Evolving News
stories of the wounded and vulnerable, and of everyday people
doing quiet, often unnoticed good work.
Since his youth Jonathan kept a notebook in which he jotted
down questions or insights that occurred to him, quotations
from his reading or poems that moved him. The book is rich
with these mementos of his meandering intellect and heart. At
times it feels almost like an anthology of treasured references.
Again and again we meet the writers who played a significant
role in his inner journey, thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, C.G. Jung, and Rudolf Steiner. We follow the evolution of his thinking as it is challenged and inspired,
as his life experiences evoke ever deeper questions about life
and death, and as his searching takes him around the world and
also approaches invisible realms.
Rudolf Steiner plays a central role in Jonathan’s quest and
in the book. We meet Steiner the man, his teachings, and the
results of his spiritual research. In clear and approachable
language Jonathan presents complex ideas such as the four-fold
human being, reincarnation and karma, life phases, the Christ
being, the evolution of consciousness, and Waldorf education, to
name only some of the areas he addresses. He has had his arguments with Steiner which he expresses, but also allows to evolve
over the years. His quest is ongoing, and his gratitude is enormous. He is deeply motivated by a certainty that people today
need to meet real ideas and real pictures of what it means to be
a human being. Committed as he is to speaking the language of
everyday and avoiding exclusive terminology of any kind, it must
also be said that he is an elegant and inspiring writer.
Early in his career Jonathan met the work of the Camphill
movement, and the profound effect of his meetings with both
co-workers and villagers is movingly invoked in the book. In
1968 his film In Need of Special Care won a
British Film Academy Award. This was followed
over the years by other films about Camphill
and also about Waldorf education. It is exciting news that he is now preparing to film The
Challenge of Rudolf Steiner. His experience
documenting other great world leaders and his
lifelong work with anthroposophy make him
singularly qualified to direct this film, and we
can await it with great anticipation.
As a closing to this review, I would like to
mention that my husband and I read Where
on Earth is Heaven? aloud, over the course
of many weeks. We looked forward to this part of our evening
when we would open that big book and enter into this story of
our times. Inevitably our reading would spark rich conversations and reflections about our own lives. If you like to read with
others—one or a group—this book is a great choice. It seems
somehow appropriate to share it with others, because in a way
the book itself is a testament to the importance of relationships
and to the enduring reality of what lives between people, even
beyond death. It is all about making connections—with others,
with ideas, with history and the times we live in, with nature,
and with the spirit. Finally, whether one reads it with others or
alone, this is a book that will nourish and inspire.
Review of Where on Earth is Heaven? cont. from p.6
others, including anthroposophists like Edmunds, John Davy,
Owen Barfield, Karl Koenig, James Dyson, and Rudolf Meyer. Mr.
Stedall is nothing if not eclectic—he takes his wisdom, purpose,
and meaning where he finds them. And after his long journey, he
refuses to “fall into the trap of suddenly trying to make everything comprehensible.”
But Mr. Stedall’s journey has not been without order and
progress. In his conclusion, he is firm and confident in his
dismissal of militant atheists and acolytes of the random such
as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. He believes that
there are no limits to knowledge—one horizon always follows
the next. As for the question that engendered the book—
“Where on Earth is heaven?”—the answer is clear to him.
Heaven is a possibility that can become a reality, not as some
“thing in itself” only derivatively knowable, but here on Earth,
“amidst all the obstacles through which we learn and grow.”
Where on Earth is Heaven?
Reviewed by Signe Schaefer
Jonathan Stedall’s Where on Earth is Heaven? is a big book—in
size and even more in the breadth of its imagination. I hope no
one will be put off by its length; for from the opening of its title
question, asked many years ago by the author’s young son, the
reader is invited on an extraordinary journey through the 20th
century and beyond. This is a cultural and spiritual journey,
accompanying a man finding himself through following his questions and honoring what he calls the “awakeners” along his way.
The details of the author’s life are never the point of his writing;
this is more an inner memoir, a record of the
legacy he has received from literature, art, psychology, natural science, philosophy, anthroposophy, and most of all from other people. It is
the story of a life lived deeply and caringly; and
its telling is, in a way, a call to us all.
For me that call felt quite personal, an invitation from a friend to consider with him the
searching and the influences, the questions
and the gratitudes of a lifetime. I have known
Jonathan since the Spring Valley International
Youth Conference in 1970, and I had the good
fortune to see him often when my family lived
in England through most of the 1970’s. His keen intelligence, his
warm heart, and his ever-ready wit permeate this rich book.
Throughout his long career as a documentary filmmaker
Jonathan had the opportunity to interview many remarkable
individualities of our times: the writer Laurens van der Post,
poets John Betjeman and Ben Okri, novelist Alexander Solzenhitsyn, physicist Fritjof Capra, and economist E.F. Schumacher
to name a few. During his many years with the BBC, he also
directed films on Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Carl Gustav
Jung. Now he brings these people, and many others, into his
book, inviting us along on his different projects and introducing us to those he felt privileged to come to know. With deep
respect he explores the varieties of thought and creativity that
have shaped our modern consciousness. But Jonathan’s wide interest is not limited to the famous and influential. He also shares
Research Issue 2010
Signe Schaefer was for many years Director of Foundation Studies
at Sunbridge College. She founded and continues to direct a part-time
program in Biography and Social Art. She has had a life-long interest
in questions of human development.
59
Ronna McEldowney
ing. She traveled to many schools to observe, mentor, evaluate
and mediate difficult situations. When teachers from Germany
would call for mentoring, she could be heard speaking German
with the familiar Austrian accent—we joked with her
about it because she sounded like she was singing.
Ronna loved the parents in her classes and had
a gift for counseling. She and Robert David created
parenting workshops where they went into the
home for a week at a time to help parents. She often
counseled parents who were in conflict around child
rearing. Because of her exceptional skills, teachers
often sought her out to help mediate conflicts.
Ronna was amazingly gifted with her hands.
She had crafted exceptional table puppets, dolls,
marionettes, and tiny babies inside walnut shells.
She made soaps, lip balm, hand dyed garments and
many other creations. Entering her kindergarten, one was filled
with awe. Every detail was infused with artistry, vibrant color
and impeccable organization. She ensouled the kindergarten
with her joyful warmth and
reverent love for the young child.
Ronna was like the Pied Piper—
children followed her wherever
she went. Her “strength of being”
held the children with invisible
threads from her heart to theirs.
She had contact with many of
them once they were grown.
Ronna had an enormous capacity for work and colleagues loved
and respected her. During faculty
meetings, when different points
of view became polarized, she
always asked us to “find what
lives in the middle.” What does
the “being of the school” want?
Her intuitive wisdom often could
guide the group back to harmony.
At the same time she fiercely
adhered to her ideals and principles and took up initiatives with
a fiery choleric will, finishing whatever tasks she took up.
Playful, athletic and adventuresome, Ronna traveled the
world, hiked mountains, and kayaked. I have memories of her
laughing and dancing with Robert in our living room. She lived
life with a passion and vibrancy which touched everyone who
knew her in a deep and profound way. Unique and indescribable
Ronna, we will always love her! With gratitude,
February 27, 1953—July 8, 2010
Ronna was born in Detroit, the middle
child of three daughters. Her parents were
Russian Jews. She was part of a very colorful upbringing. Even in her early childhood years Ronna was always dynamic
and adventuresome.
I met Ronna in 1976 during the Foundation Year at the Waldorf Teacher Training Institute of Detroit. At 21 or 22, she
was the youngest person enrolled in the
Teacher Training. I remember being in
snow for the first time, having grown up
in Southern California. It was freezing,
blizzards were happening outside and I was covered head to toe
in wool and wearing boots. Ronna came breezing in dressed in
colorful embroidered clothes from Guatemala. I loved her immediately. We bonded and formed a lifetime friendship that year. Ronna completed the kindergarten training and then traveled
to Vienna to train and work with Bronja Zhaligen, a renowned
master teacher. After a few years she moved to Stuttgart, Germany, to continue with another master teacher, Freya Jaffke.
While in Germany she developed a special relationship with
Dr. Von Kugelgen who profoundly influenced her teaching. Her
desire for excellence led her to two foreign countries where
she learned German while working in the kindergarten with the
children. Joan Almon shared a wonderful story about the time
in Vienna where they met:
Bronja often told a story about Ronna’s first coming to Vienna
and helping Bronja harvest apricots at her garden in the Vienna Woods. They then had to carry the large, heavy basket filled
with fruit on the streetcar back to Bronja’s apartment at the
other end of the city. Ronna took charge of the basket. She had
lived in Mexico and was used to carrying things on her head.
She hoisted the basket to her head and walked through town to
the streetcar quite effortlessly. You can imagine how startled
the Viennese were by this sight. Bronja found it delightful.
After her extensive training in Europe, Ronna returned to the
warm tropical climate she loved and took a position as a kindergarten teacher at the Honolulu Waldorf School. It was here that
she met and married her husband Robert David McEldowney.
While teaching in Honolulu, a group of families recruited her
to create a new Waldorf school on the island of Kauai. Ronna
was first and foremost a person of initiative, a pioneer at heart.
She leapt at the chance to begin a new school. Ronna was very
happy creating a school from the ground up and these pioneer
efforts became her legacy in the Waldorf Movement. Later she
founded the Shepherd Valley Waldorf School in Boulder and the
Boulder Waldorf Kindergarten.
From Kauai, Ronna returned to California and helped to
establish the Cedar Springs Waldorf School with Nancy Poer.
Ronna taught summer courses at Rudolf Steiner College and was
a member of Gradalis with Bonnie River, Williams Bento, Thom
Schaeffer and Prairie Adams. She also taught kindergarten training courses with Dorit Winter. She delighted in teaching kindergarten children during the summers in Maine.
Teachers from all over the world contacted Ronna for mentor-
Janis Williams Janis adds that those wishing to help with medical costs can write
to The Ronna Memorial Fund, PO Box 909, East Sound, WA 98245.
Make checks out to Robert David McEldowney, noting “Ronna’s
memorial fund.”
60
Evolving News
Members Who Have Died
Judith Brewer, Short Hills NJ; died 5/1/2010
Renn Fenton, Newcastle WY;
died 6/29/2010
Thelma Hartstein, Fair Oaks CA;
died 9/10/2010
Ary King, Soquel CA; died 7/30/2010
David Lessner, Wilmington DE;
died 2/11/2010
Ronna McEldowney, Laupahoehoe HI;
died 7/8/2010
Eleanore Paul, Chestnut Ridge NY;
died 9/3/2010
Betty Peckham, Spring Valley NY;
died 8/1/2010
Maryann Perlman, Gouldsboro ME;
died 6/29/2009
Mary Shands, Louisville KY; died 8/15/2009
Janette Zuzalek, Sauk Centre MN;
died 7/30/2010
This photo from the internet of a “needle’s
eye” rock formation honors Renn Fenton,
remembered as a climber in the South
Dakota/Wyoming border region.
Lorna Odegard
mother’s china and making sure
everything was ‘just right.’ Her house
was filled to the rafters with guests
who came out for this special gathering.
Lorna was born and raised on a
farm in the Red River Valley of North
Dakota where she attended grade
school in a one room country school.
She earned her bachelor’s degree
in social work from the University
of North Dakota. Social justice was
a thread that wove throughout her
life. In her work, she was an advocate
for children, the handicapped, and
the elderly. Women’s issues were
also of great importance to her as we
experienced in her use and support
of inclusive language. In the life of
the Circle she was a voice for social
conscience.
At a memorial service that the
Circle held, we spoke of a smile that
could light up the room as well as the challenges Lorna faced in
her life. Not only did she live with a chronic illness from her 20’s
on, she also carried the pain of early life experiences that she
felt were “getting in the way”, as she would often say, of realizing
her higher aspirations. Not content to stay bound to the past,
she modeled dedication in seeking to overcome her personal
hindrances.
On occasion, she would speak about experiences that in the
past would have been quite challenging for her but that she now
navigated with more confidence and ease. In recounting these
times, Lorna would often say “I took the group with me.”
September 14, 1946–October 31, 2009
Lorna Odegard is the first from the Circle of
Friends~An Anthroposophical Fellowship, to cross
the threshold. She died at home in Fargo, North
Dakota.
Lorna was at the heart of Circle of Friends activities during the 1990’s. Her introduction to spiritual
science was through attending anthroposophic
lectures by James Ulness. She then participated in
and hosted anthroposophical study and was active
in the birthing of the Circle of Friends as a recognized group of the society. She was a member of
the society from 1994-2006. This was an especially
enlivening time for Lorna and she often spoke about
how meaningful anthroposophy was in her life and
the inspiration she received from the thoughtful and
heartfelt conversation that took place in the study
groups. She felt a warmth and acceptance in the
Circle that she had not often felt in her life.
Lorna also participated in the Circle’s anthroposophically-inspired painting workshops with Leszek
Forczek from 1995-2000. It was important to Lorna to be able
to give back to the Circle for what she felt she received and she
generously opened her home to study groups, festivals and our
monthly planning group. Upon her passing, we were surprised
to hear that she also remembered the Circle of Friends in her
will.
An event we remember well was a potluck she held at her
home where Leszek gave an advent talk. Even though the painting weekends could often be intense and tiring, especially for
someone with a chronic illness, it was very important to her
to host this event and she did it to the nines bringing out her
LuAnn Hagel for the Circle of Friends
Research Issue 2010
61
New Members
of the Anthroposophical Society in America
As recorded by the society from 2/23/2010 through 9/17/2010
Paula Alkaitis, New York NY
Alicia Allen, Santa Fe NM
Mary Baenen, Sandpoint ID
Edward Balmuth, Granbury TX
Kristin C. Barton, Hillsdale NY
Victoria Basarabescu,
Houston TX
Linda Bestor, Sturtevant WI
Rebecca Bissonnette,
Hudson NY
Hermina Booysen,
Glenmoore PA
Carolyn Briglia, Wilton NH
Tom Brunzell, New York NY
Kimberly A. Carr, Easton CT
Francisco Cavazos, Tomball TX
Ellen Cimino, Decatur GA
Mark Vincent Collins,
Friendswood TX
Kim Couder, Soquel CA
Susan Crozier, Wadsworth OH
Kristin E. Dalton, Ghent NY
Canyon Darcy, Austin TX
Francesco De Benedetto,
Fair Oaks CA
Catherine H. Decker,
Chatham NY
Jennifer Dye, San Rafael CA
Danielle Epifani, Berkeley CA
John K. Fallon, Delmar NY
John M. Finale, Brooklyn NY
Library Annotations, from p.5
Jonas, librarian at the Rudolf
Steiner Library in London, places
Steiner’s view of astrology in a
historical, cultural, and philosophical context.
Biography: Freedom and
Destiny. Enlightening the Path
of Human Life, translated by
Pauline Wehrle, Rudolf Steiner
Press, 2009, 264 pgs. Includes
notes and a bibliography.
Rudolf Steiner shows here that
every biography—regardless of
one’s place in life or a person’s
perceived importance or success—is ruled by archetypal
influences, patterns and laws. He
describes the human individuality as a being with a continuing
existence, both before birth
Janine Fron, Huntley IL
Richard Frost, Alfred ME
Laura Gabelsberg, Tucson AZ
Amy Garnsey,
Boynton Beach FL
Hazel Archer Ginsberg,
Chicago IL
Mahalath Gordon, Medford OR
Michael Gratsch,
Grosse Pointe MI
Paul M. Helfrich, Castaic CA
Angelica G. Hesse, Portland OR
Doug Horner, Lafayette CA
Gene Hutloff, Phoenix AZ
Laura Iturralde, Houston TX
Louis Kauffman, Chicago IL
Kay Kinderman, Glenmoore PA
Sylvia Lagergren,
Johnson City TN
Karin Layher, Saint Louis MO
Margaret Leary, Culpeper VA
Ashley Shea Legg, Philmont NY
Julianna Lichatz,
Carbondale CO
Daniel Lips, Hauppauge NY
Jolie Hanna Luba, Decatur GA
Jessica Mansbach,
Spring Valley NY
Anna V. Masters, La Mesa CA
Todd Matuszewicz, Denver CO
Melanie Maupin, Chapel Hill NC
Matthew Messner,
Charlottesville VA
Rick Mitchell, Lawrence KS
Megan Neale, Inverness CA
Caroline Nguyen,
San Francisco CA
Joseph Papas, Copake NY
Emilie Papas, Copake NY
Vicki Petersen, Phoenix AZ
Nattapat Phinittanont,
Glenmoore PA
Patricia A. Robertson-Russell,
Miami FL
Anthony W. Roemer,
Martinez CA
Carl St.Goar, Chattanooga TN
Susan Stern, Fair Oaks CA
Anouk Tompot, Seattle WA
Maria Celina Trzepacz,
Clifton NJ
Julia Van Vliet, Chicago IL
Forrest Ann Walsh, Tempe AZ
Casey Warner, Kirkwood MO
Mary Wildfeuer, Kimberton PA
Benjamin A. Wilson,
Marengo IL
Karl Wilson, Copake NY
Liz Woodlock, Leesburg VA
Lucy Wurtz, Portola Valley CA
This new translation of Curative Eurythmy is based on the
thoroughly revised German edition of 2003 and includes a new
appendix with reminiscences by
Anthroposophy—Medicine
Compendium for the Remedial Treatment of Children, Adolescents and Adults in Need of
Soul Care. Experiences and Indications from Anthroposophic
Therapy, Bertram von Zabern,
M.D., compiler, Mercury Press,
2009, 167 pgs.
Originally compiled in 1972
and published by Weleda, this
work is now available in English for the first time. Various
syndromes are presented with
lists of suggested remedial
indications. Rudolf Steiner’s suggestions are the keystone; other
experienced anthroposophical
doctors also contribute. The
editor stresses that this book is
meant to be used as working material and stimulus for therapists
and doctors who are active in
anthroposophic medicine. The
therapies mentioned should be
used in close collaboration with
a supervising physician.
Anthroposophy—Nutrition
and beyond death. Our eternal
being experiences a myriad of
conditions and situations, the effects of which may be observed
in one’s biography. This book
addresses these and other issues
such as freedom and destiny, the
effects of heredity, illness, and
the impact of education, among
others.
Eurythmy Therapy: Eight
Lectures Given in Dornach,
Switzerland, between 12 and
18 April 1921 and in Stuttgart,
Germany, on 28 October 1922,
translated by Alan Stott, Rudolf
Steiner Press, 2009, 159 pgs.
she says, “one should learn to
become older every day consciously….” “Steiner places two
extreme geriatric pictures before
us: a sage working out of heart
forces and a person who has rigidified into a ‘mummy’ through
their life routine.”
early eurythmists, as well as revised and expanded notes based
on those prepared for the 2003
German edition by Dr. Walter
Kugler, director of the Rudolf
Steiner Archives in Dornach,
Switzerland.
Getting Old: Excerpts from Rudolf Steiner’s Complete Works,
Gisela Gaumnitz, compiler,
Mercury Press, 2009, 289 pgs.
Originally published in German in 1987, this new translation features an introduction by
Gisela Gaumnitz, a coworker at
Johanneshaus Öschelbronn, an
anthroposophical senior residential community in Germany.
Gaumnitz emphasizes her hope
that readers will be inspired to
read Steiner’s lectures in full
after “tasting” the excerpts she
has selected. “After [age] 35,”
62
Cosmos, Earth, and Nutrition:
The Biodynamic Approach to
Agriculture, Richard Thornton
Smith, Rudolf Steiner Press,
2009, 304 pgs.
Biodynamic agriculture is
a unique development of the
organic approach that does not
focus only on agricultural techniques. A whole new way to think
about farming, nutrition, and the
world of nature, biodynamics
allows revitalized relationships
with the living soil, the elemental
world, and the cosmos. Originating from a series of eight lectures
by Rudolf Steiner in 1924, biodynamic methods broaden the
outlook of agriculture and the
science behind it, leading to a
holistic perspective that incorporates astronomical rhythms and
unique preparations for plants
and earth.
Evolving News
Richard Thornton Smith describes the foundations on which
biodynamics as well as the
more general organic movement
are based. He builds bridges
between mainstream science
and Steiner’s insights, making it
easier for the broader organic
and ecological movement to
approach biodynamic concepts
and practice.
The Waldorf Book of Breads,
collected by Marsha Post, illustrated by Jo Valens, edited and
introduced by Winslow Eliot,
SteinerBooks, 2009, 57 pgs.
“All four elements that are
essential to life are inherent in
[a] single loaf of bread.” This
book includes breads for the
daily table as well as specialty
breads for the seasons and festive occasions. There are recipes
for wheat, spelt, corn, and rye
breads, and for honey-salt bread,
“a new bread for our time.”
Anthroposophy—Waldorf
Education
Dyslexia: Learning Disorder
or Creative Gift?, Cornelia
Jantzen, Floris Books, 2008,
248 pgs.
Dyslexia has long been known
as a learning difficulty that
primarily affects literacy skills.
Increasingly, however, researchers and professionals working
with dyslexia suggest that it is
less a disorder than a sign of specially gifted persons. They often
have above average intelligence
and are highly creative, provided
they are supported and nurtured
by parents and teachers.
In this book Cornelia Jantzen
explores the basis of this radical
viewpoint. Throughout, she provides many practical examples
that explore various aspects
of dyslexia, giving parents and
teachers greater confidence
when dealing with the challenges
that dyslexia presents.
The author is a consultant on
dyslexia in Hamburg and is the
mother of two dyslexic children.
Her interest in a new approach is
based on her study of the Davis
method, Waldorf education, and
a broad overview of current
practices.
Research Issue 2010
Lessons for Middle School
Issues. Classroom Lessons
Supporting the Development
of Life Skills, Self Knowledge
and Social Grace for 13 and 14
Year Olds, Grades 8–9, Linda E.
Knodle, Coming of Age Press,
2008 [2009], 116 pgs.
their repertoires. There is also a
companion CD available for this
collection.
Four Electronic Books 2009,
Research Institute for Waldorf
Education and the Waldorf Curriculum Fund, AWSNA, 2009.
Linda Knodle, a Waldorf
teacher from the Seattle area,
continues the pioneering work
of Tamara Slayton to create a
contemporary life skills curriculum for middle school students
that reflects an anthroposophical understanding of the human
being.
Darwin (and More), David
Mitchell, editor and compiler,
AWSNA, February 2010, 107 pgs.
This is the 14th volume in the
Waldorf Journal Project series.
These publications feature essays, articles, and specialized
studies from around the world,
translated into English for the
first time. This issue, inspired by
the recent Darwin bicentennial,
centers around three substantial articles on the theme by
biologist Wolfgang Schad. Other
contents discuss school governance; Goethean observation in
literature lessons; anthroposophy and modern brain research;
ecology study in the 11th grade;
and several articles on the performing arts. These journals are
always filled with rich, contemporary ideas.
Something new! AWSNA has
just released a compact disc with
the contents of three seminal
classics for teachers: Karl Koenig’s For Teachers: Conferences
and Seminars on Arithmetic [31st
January–2nd February 1964]; For
Teachers: Conferences and Seminars on Reading and Writing; and
Embryology and World Evolution;
and Dieter Brüll’s “attempt to
penetrate to the heart of social
life,” originally published in
German in 1995, Creating Social
Sacraments.
Esoteric Christianity
The East in the Light of the
West, Parts 1–3, Sergei O.
Prokofieff, Temple Lodge, 2010,
552 pgs.
Previously available only in
German as three separate books,
with just an early version of part
1 published in English, this translation has been long awaited.
The work comprises a comprehensive study of Eastern and
Western esoteric streams and
the occult powers behind them.
In part 1, Prokofieff discusses
the spiritual movement of Agni
Yoga presented to the world by
Helena Roerich and her husband,
the painter Nicolas Roerich.
Part 2 focuses on the teachings
A Day Full of Song: Work
Songs from a Waldorf Kindergarten, Karen Lonsky, illustrated by Victoria Sander, WECAN,
February 2009, 64 pgs.
Subtitled “Forty-two Original
Songs in the Mood of the Fifth,”
this collection by a veteran earlychildhood teacher offers songs
to accompany children as they
work in the kindergarten: grinding grain, baking bread, cleaning,
building, shoveling. The author
states that songs can facilitate
children’s movements by creating form around them. “To learn
to work with joy as a young child
is a true gift for the adult that
he or she will one day become.”
Teachers and parents will be
glad to add these new songs to
63
developed by Alice Bailey, while
part 3 considers the relationship
between Eastern and Western
spiritual masters and the esoteric streams they represent.
Studies in the Gospels, vol. 1,
Emil Bock, edited by Tony
Jacobs Brown, translated by
Val Jones, Floris Books, 2010,
448 pgs.
How we welcome the publication of this much-in-demand
work by Emil Bock! The library
has long circulated the contents
of this volume in the form of
ancient typescripts, and it was
anyone’s guess how much longer
they would last.
Bringing his broad knowledge
of the history of the Gospels
and their time together with his
deep anthroposophical insights,
Bock, one of the first priests in
The Christian Community, offers
fresh views of familiar stories in
the New Testament.
Volume 1 looks in particular
at the relationship of the New
Testament to the Old, as well
as discussing Matthew and the
Sermon on the Mount, Judas,
and Peter. He concludes with a
chapter on Simon of Cyrene and
Joseph of Arimathea.
2011
What is next year saying to you?
A year off from politics.
The Mayan calendar running out.
That school you’re helping to build. The farm you want to
connect with. The training you mean to take.
That “social investment” you looked into.
Yes.
And Rudolf Steiner’s birthday—
150—that’s a big one!
A year to engage and share
his amazing vision? “A future
worthy of the human being.”
A year to learn about and honor
the forward-looking impulses all around us?
2011—a year for the future?
What is 2011 saying to you?
Share your vision
at anthroposophy.org/2011
Evolving News is a publication of the
Anthroposophical Society in America,
1923 Geddes Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48104