 ANTHROPOPERY A Brief Primer The following is excerpted from “The Goddess” — if you’ve read it there, you may not need to read it here. Understanding Anthroposophy is no simple task. I deal with Anthroposophy, its doctrines, and its effects on Waldorf schools throughout this Web site. Please look on this as merely a brief overview that is filled in by all the other essays you will find here at Waldorf Watch I. The Theory of Everything Rudolf Steiner attempted to stitch together a theory of everything. [1] Drawing heavily from others who have had a similar goal — especially Theosophists — he tried to find a coherent narrative running through all mystical and religious traditions. He claimed that all truly inspired prophets and oracles and seers throughout history had attained spiritual insights that were, at their core, the same. [2] He said that each god and goddess perceived by humans is a real being, that all myths are true, that indeed all fairy tales are true. [3] Steiner’s great intellectual achievement was to create a framework that accommodates so many mythologies, religions, and occult traditions. (Again, we need to remember that he took much of this framework from others, but he undeniably made his own contributions to the end product that he referred to as Anthroposophy.) His large assertion was that Christianity — as redefined by himself — is the culmination of all previous spiritual systems; it is the Truth that previous systems were leading us toward. [4] The great problem in all this is that Steiner had to reinterpret most of the material he incorporated into his system, in order to make it all fit. Thus, his Christ is the Sun God, who did not save us, precisely, but who provided us with the proper role model for our own spiritual development. [5] Christ is crucially important to us, Steiner said, but there are many other gods, and we will reincarnate many times on Earth, and our lives are conditioned by destiny or karma as well as by the astrological power of the stars and planets, and the Moon is a fortress harboring reclusive beings, and...  Most of this is utterly alien to orthodox Christianity and the Bible, but Steiner freely wrenched all manner of traditions into unlikely shapes. Thus, Steiner argued that Buddha was the same being as the ancient Norse god Wotan, and that at the request of the head Rosicrucian, Buddha traveled to Mars where he was crucified, as it were. Buddhists cannot recognize their teachings in this bizarre story any more than Christians can see their Savior in a Sun being who helped us manage our karma and reincarnations more wisely. [6] Steiner did this sort of thing constantly, with scores of tales and teachings: He made them all fit together, true — but he did this by distorting them so severely that their original meanings were often destroyed. If he had provided any evidence or at least rational arguments to support his statements, we might agree that he developed interesting new metaphysical truths, or that he at least had revived old, discarded concepts, breathing new life into them. But he gave no evidence and he rarely took the trouble to defend his remarks. He relied primarily on his own, unsupported word; the only substantiation he generally offered was to cite the myths, traditions, and doctrines that, he claimed, were consistent with his teachings (although they became consistent only after he had “corrected” them). [7] II. The Theory of Nothing The word “Anthroposophy” literally means the knowledge or wisdom of the human being. Steiner meant that his doctrines include both knowledge about humans and knowledge that humans can acquire. But what did he mean by knowledge? He said that real knowledge does not come from using your brain. “[T]he brain and nerve system have nothing at all to do with actual cognition....” [8] Actual knowledge, he said, comes from clairvoyance, which allows you to do such things as to read the Akashic Records, which amount to an invisible universal encyclopedia written on an undetectable ether called akasha. “[I]f we are able to raise our faculty of perception [i.e., clairvoyance] and look through the visible world to the invisible, we arrive at length at a point where we have [i.e., we see] before us what might be compared to a mighty spiritual panorama ... These abiding traces of all spiritual happenings may be called the ‘Akashic Records’....” [9] To become really clairvoyant, you need to develop invisible, nonphysical “organs” of clairvoyance: “You see, the organs of clairvoyance must be developed from within....” [10] “[J]ust as natural forces build out of living matter the eyes and ears of the physical body, so will organs of clairvoyance build themselves....” [11] All of this is nonsense, of course, but it is what Steiner taught — and it is what many Waldorf school teachers believe. The “wisdom” of Anthroposophy comes when we stop thinking with our conscious brains and surrender to the unconscious Wisdom that we have within ourselves. Finding this wisdom can be complex, requiring the mystical disciplining our of minds and souls, but it is imminent, ready for our discovery, through clairvoyance. [12] There are certainly traces of misogyny in this statement, but let’s not focus on that right now. [14] Instead, let’s try to grasp what Steiner was saying about the “Old Moon.” Steiner taught that the solar system blinks in and out of existence, and during each blink — which lasts more many centuries — we humans evolve. We started out as very vaguely defined, extremely dim creatures in a phase of evolution that Steiner called Old Saturn. [15] After it blinked out, we return on Old Sun, and later we returned on Old Moon. Now we are on Earth (which is one of the few true ideas Steiner ever expressed). After Earth blinks out, we will go on to Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan (yes, Vulcan). The concept is fascinating, perhaps, but what evidence does Steiner offer to support it? None. Nowhere in his works will you find any real evidence for this or almost anything else Steiner ever said. His method was to make astonishing claims and then gallop ahead, leaving us breathless with admiration or confusion or skeptical revolt. We can take his word for things or not, but Steiner offers us nothing much except his own word. The closest he came buttressing his claims was alluding to various occult teachings and myths and works of art, which he interpreted as he pleased. Look, he said: The ancient Egyptians (or whoever) believed thus-and-so, which is a lot like what I am saying now, so it must be true! According to him, everything that has ever been true can be found, properly explained, in his own ideas. The ancients were wise, and he is wiser; the ancients were right, and he is righter. But there is another way to see this. Steiner gives us no real evidence, no real reasoning — and on this extremely flimsy basis he makes a vast number of extremely weird statements. This is not wisdom; it is ignorance. By piling his own teachings on top of the myths and delusions of ancient peoples, he merely piled ignorance on top of ignorance. Is “ignorance” too strong a word to throw at Steiner? [16] Think about those comets, which “wander” through space “regardless of the other laws of the Solar System.” Steiner’s statement bears no relation to reality. Comets do not wander; they orbit the Sun in regular, knowable, elongated elliptical orbits. Nor do comets defy the laws that control the other bodies in the solar system. They orbit the Sun in accordance with precisely the same laws of orbital mechanics that apply to everything else that orbits the Sun (and, probably, everything that orbits anything anywhere in the universe).  Steiner was quite knowledgeable about myths, legends, esoteric teachings, occultism, and so on. He knew a lot about those bodies of misinformation — and he accepted them as the truth, whereas he generally rejected real knowledge out of hand. Science is wrong, he said over and over. It is “scientific trash” forked up by “scientific simpletons” with their and their “logical, pedantic, narrow-minded proof of things.” He deplored “primitive concepts like those... of contemporary science.” [17] But quite clearly, the primitive view is not science; the primitive view is the one he espoused: mystical, woolly, subjective, fantastical. The “wisdom” and “truth” of Anthroposophy is an elaborately reworked farrago of fantasy and falsehood. It is what every sane person should walk away from — or run from, laughing or weeping, gladly or sorrowfully. Myths and mysticism have their charms, but they offer us no real knowledge. If we human beings are to evolve — as Steiner constantly said we must — then, ironically, we must reject Steiner’s doctrines and those of every other false prophet. If we want real knowledge and wisdom, we need to look elsewhere. Steiner offered us none. — Roger Rawlings Steiner said that gods such as Odin really exist. Waldorf students are usually not taught this, but they usually are told many, many tales about such gods. Here is a drawing by a Waldorf student:  Mythologies, fantasies, and fables of all sorts are typically emphasized in Waldorf schooling. [http://karenswhimsy.com/] Goetheanum, detail. [R.R., 2009 - from cover, Rudolf Steiner, ARCHITECTURE (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003).] Painting by a Waldorf student, courtesy of PLANS.
ENDNOTES [1] For Steiner’s overview, see “Everything” here at Waldorf Watch. [2] One particularly relevant example of universal esoteric agreement: “The soul was always known as the 'mother' in all esoteric (mystical) teachings; the instructor was the 'father'.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 266.] Concerning Steiner’s debit to Theosophy, see “Clairvoyant Vision” here at Waldorf Watch. [3] E.g., “Zeus, Apollo, Mars, Wotan, Odin, Thor, who are all real beings....” [Rudolf Steiner, THE EAST IN THE LIGHT OF THE WEST (Kessinger, facsimile of 1942 edition), pp . 108-109. (Also published by Temple Lodge 1993.)] “Actual facts concerning the higher Spiritual Worlds lie at the foundation of all myths....” [Rudolf Steiner, UNIVERSE EARTH AND MAN IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO EGYPTIAN MYTHS AND MODERN CIVILIZATION (Kessinger Publishing, 2003), p. 94.] "Fairy tales are ... the final remains of ancient clairvoyance ... What was seen in a dream was told as a story ... All fairy tales in existence are thus the remnants of the original clairvoyance." [Rudolf Steiner, ON THE MYSTERY DRAMAS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1983), p. 93.] [4] E.g., “As a religion, Christianity is the last. Within itself it carries all possibilities for development.” [THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY. p. 260.] “True Christianity is the summation of all stages of initiation. The initiation of antiquity was the prophetic announcement, the preparation.” [Rudolf Steiner, GUIDANCE IN ESOTERIC TRAINING (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 9.] “True” Christianity, according to Steiner, can be found in his own Gnostic teachings, Anthroposophy. [5] See “Gnosis” here at Waldorf Watch. [6] I discuss these and many more of Steiner’s bizarre teachings, in the various essays here at Waldorf Watch. Please see the Index or Table of Contents, or use the “Search Site” function near the top of each page. [7] He “corrected” almost everything he drew from, including the work of his Theosophical mentors such as Helena Blavatsky. “It is true that Blavatsky has in her books put forward important truths concerning spiritual worlds, but mixed with so much error that only one who has accurately investigated these matters can succeed in separating what is significant from what is erroneous.” [Rudolf Steiner, APPROACHES TO ANTHROPOSOPHY, (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1992), p. 7).] The primary accurate investigator he had in mind was, of course, himself. [8] Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 60. [9] Rudolf Steiner, OCCULT SCIENCE - AN OUTLINE (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1969), p. 105. [10] Rudolf Steiner, INTRODUCING ANTHROPOSOPHICAL MEDICINE (Anthroposophic Press, 1999), p. 198. [11] Rudolf Steiner, KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT (Anthroposophic Press, 1944), p. 28. For more on clairvoyance, see "Clairvoyant Vision" here at Waldorf Watch. [12] For more about the kind of “thinking” Steiner advocated, see “Thinking Cap” here at Waldorf Watch. For more about initiation, see “Inside Scoop”. [13] Rudolf Steiner, CHRIST IMPULSE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF EGO CONSCIOUSNESS (Anthroposophical Publishing Co., 1925; facsimile edition by Kessigner Publishing), p. 58. [14] For more about Steiner’s views on men and women, see “The Goddess” here at Waldorf Watch. [15] For more about Old Moon, etc., see “Everything” and “Steiner Static” here at Waldorf Watch. [16] We can attempt to develop clairvoyance to check out Steiner, but this would be a fool’s errand, in that clairvoyance does not exist. Can I prove that it doesn’t exist? No, one cannot prove a negative. But the onus is on Steiner and the other advocates of clairvoyance: Prove that it does exist. They haven’t, and almost certainly they never will. See “Inside Scoop” and search for ESP. [17] See “Steiner’s Science” here at Waldorf Watch. |
