 “This is what gives art its essential lustre: it transplants us here and now into the spiritual world.” — Rudolf Steiner [1] MAGICAL ARTS What Lies Behind the Arts at Waldorf Schools with a look at festivals Waldorf schools place great emphasis on the arts. The rationale is not aesthetic. Rather, Rudolf Steiner taught that various art forms have spiritual, even magical, properties. Eurythmy For Steiner, the highest art is eurythmy (which, not coincidentally, he invented). Eurythmy is a form of bodily movement that looks a bit like slow-motion modern dance, but actually it is intended to teach the proper stances to manifest spiritual states of being — calling upon influences from our past lives and preparing the basis for our future lives. According to Steiner, eurythmy enables the physical body to make direct connection with the spiritual realm. Our physical bodies are, in a sense, merely tools that enable us to do eurythmy. Eurythmy gives outward form to the inner meaning of language — it is often called "visible speech." In the process, it gives us access to aspects of our previous lives, and it creates — in our limbs — effects that will carry over into our next lives. (If some of the following quotations seem nonsensical, don’t worry: They are. Enduring gibberish is the price one pays for reading Steiner.)  At the Waldorf school that I attended, we did eurythmy while manipulating therapeutic copper rods and holding our pelvises strictly still. Occasionally, we prepared eurythmic performances for school assemblies. In my class’s first such performance, coming in about the third or fourth grade, we enacted the creation of the world — the emergence of light, the separation of light from darkness, the separation of dry land from the waters, and so on. We portrayed angels and archangels and the fulfillment of God’s commands. (In a wholly nonsectarian, non-denominational way, of course. Waldorf schools usually deny that they have a religion agenda. Please.) Painting Crucial as eurythmy may be, other forms of art are also emphasized at Waldorf schools. At my school, we were taught to produce misty watercolor paintings with no straight lines or clear definitions. This was wet-on-wet watercoloring (wet brushes spreading watery paint over wet paper), a technique that effectively prevents a child from creating recognizable images of the real world, especially when only large, wide brushes are used. There was certainly something otherworldly about the images we created, bearing no resemblance to ordinary physical reality, yet completely unlike the stick-figure cartoons that kids often produce. The teachers didn’t say so, but our paintings were in effect talismanic representations of the spirit realm — rich in color but devoid of harsh lines and clear-cut forms: “You see, when the soul arrives on earth in order to enter its body, it has come down from spirit-soul worlds in which there are no spatial forms. Thus the soul knows spatial forms only after its bodily experience, only while the aftereffects of space still linger on [i.e., only after birth in the physical plane, but while memories of the spirit realm linger] ... But though the world from which the soul descends has no spatial forms or lines, it does have color intensities, color qualities. Which is to say that the world man inhabits between death and a new birth (and which I have frequently and recently described) [Steiner is talking about reincarnation] is a soul-permeated, spirit-permeated world of light, of color, of tone; a world of qualities not quantities; a world of intensities rather than extensions.” [3]  The paints we used in our watercoloring were, from an Anthroposophical perspective, magical: Their hues provided entree into the spirit realm while simultaneously providing spiritual beings with access to our world. “We have seen that colours ... are windows through which we can ascend spiritually into the spiritual world....” [4] Children using colorful paints are being directed toward such windows, according to Steiner. But, also, the colors bring spirit entities into the room. Thus, a clairvoyant can find different spiritual beings in a rooms of varying colors: “In a red room, other beings become visible than in a blue room.... ” [5] The use of color, in other words, is supposed to be a major part of a child’s spiritual training. This also helps explain why Waldorf classrooms are often painted in varying colors, here a beige room, there a pink or green room. The colored walls are meant to pull the students into varying spiritual states: “Imagine we look at a surface shining all over with the same shade of strong vermilion ... We shall not be able to help feeling that this whole red world permeates us ... In this infinite red space we shall be able to feel as though before the judgment of God ... Suppose we do the same with a more orange surface, we shall feel that what comes to meet us ... wants to arm us with inner strength ... With a yellow surface we feel as though transported back to the beginning of our cycle of time ... our first earthly incarnation ... If we accompany green into the world ... we experience and inner increase in strength in what we are in this incarnation ... With a blue surface you would [feel the desire] to overcome your egoism....” [6] The main point for us here is that, at Waldorf schools, colors are not used for art’s sake. Instead, the students are led to perform actions, such as painting, that are intended to lead them toward occult spiritual “truths.” And they do this in rooms that are often intended to direct particular spiritual entities toward them. If you are a believer in spiritual entities and states, you may like the sound of all this. But perhaps you should ask yourself whether Steiner’s versions of these matters are consistent with yours. If you are an orthodox Christian, Muslim, or Jew — or a follower of almost any other major faith — they are not. Music As you might expect, music is also not simply an art, according to Rudolf Steiner. It is steeped in mystical power. A music class, like a painting class, like a eurythmy class, is actually a cultic ritual — or so Steiner intended. Steiner explained that composers get their musical ideas while asleep, during which time the higher parts of their beings leave their physical bodies and travel into the spirit world. “When a man falls asleep, his astral body [a nonphysical human body — don’t worry about it] goes out from his physical body, his soul then lives in the devachanic world [a Theosophical term for Heaven - don’t worry about it]. Its harmonies make an impression on his soul.... The composer ... takes his model from the spiritual world. He has in himself harmonies which he translates into physical terms. That is the secret connection between the music which resounds in the physical world and the hearing of spiritual music during the night....” [7] Note Steiner’s use of the word “secret.” Occultism centers on secrets: Knowledge that initiates have but the rest of us don’t. This is the basis of Steiner’s claim to being a spiritual guide: He possessed secrets. To a lesser extent, Waldorf teachers who are devoted to Steiner’s doctrines believe that they share such secrets. And secrets don’t remain secret if they are revealed to others, for instance to you.  In WaldorfWorld, people who play or listen to music are theoretically being lured toward occult spiritual experiences. “[O]n listening to music, he has an inkling ... of the spiritual world.” [8] Steiner is speaking, here, of the composer listening to music. But other listeners share a similar spiritual experience: Composers are not the only ones who hear spiritual harmonies at night. Children in a Waldorf music class are actually being ushered toward esoteric mysteries. Steiner taught that musical tones operate much like colors, providing access to the spirit realm. Bear in mind that Steiner wasn’t speaking metaphorically or vaguely, he meant this quite literally. A child listening to or making music is moved to the occult world of spirits. “The world of sound will deepen and enliven the life of the soul in a very similar way ... We shall experience the tone [i.e., a musical note] as an opening made by the gods from the spiritual world, and we shall climb through the tone into the spiritual world.” [9] Just as a parent may initially like Steiner’s statements about spiritual entities and color, it is quite possible that a parent may agree with Steiner that music can enliven a student’s soul. But, once again, I would urge you to be sure that Steiner’s literal meaning is acceptable to you. His version of the spiritual realm includes not only reincarnation but also multiple gods (“an opening made by the gods”). Anthroposophy is polytheistic, gnostic, occult. If you want your child led toward polytheism, gnosticism, and occultism, well and good. But if you don’t, a Waldorf school may not be the best place for your child. Literature From the Waldorf perspective, literary art has spiritual effects like all other arts. “The question I have in mind is ... ‘What is the actual positive reason for introducing art into our lives?’ It is only during our materialistic age that ... we have forgotten the supersensible origin of art.” [10] According to Steiner, “supersensible” stuff is imperceptible to our regular senses but quite clear to clairvoyants like himself. Art of all types comes from the supersensible world — the spirit realm, the devachanic world — and it leads us back to that world. In some ways, literature is even more potent than other arts, because it consists of words that convey meaning. According to Steiner, the effect of literature is to carry us toward “truths” that need no logical confirmation. “We experience poetry much more externally than architecture or sculpture ... We actually forget time and space, or at least space, and are lifted out of ourselves ... Supersensible knowledge can be described as a transformation of ordinary abstract knowledge ... It is nonsense to require the same sort of logical, pedantic, narrow-minded proof of things in higher realms as is desirable in the crasser realms of the sciences, mathematics, and so forth.” [11] The arts are not a place for narrow-minded proof — this is true enough. But does it then follow that what we receive from art is truer than science or math? Steiner’s system requires us to stop thinking logically and instead immerse ourselves in amorphous states of mind — dreamy, colorful, harmonic — where we will become spiritually initiated. Confession: I was an English major in college and later I became member of a college English department. I believe in the power of literature. But that is quite different from believing that any form of art trumps reasoning as a way to learn about reality. If you doubt me, I’ll hand the microphone back to Steiner. Here is a statement he made about novels written by blacks: “[I]f we give these Negro novels to pregnant [white] women to read, then it won’t even be necessary for Negroes to come to Europe in order for mulattos to appear. Simply through the spiritual effects of reading Negro novels, a multitude of children will be born in Europe that are completely gray, that have mulatto hair, that look like mulattos!” [12] Some Anthroposophists have claimed that the remark I’ve just quoted is a joke. If so, it is a “joke” that only a racist would tell or find amusing. But I submit that the remark is serious, not a stab at humor (of which Steiner’s books and lectures are almost completely devoid). Steiner was perfectly consistent in arguing that art has spiritual origins and spiritual effects. And he taught that the physical world is imbued with spiritual realities (such as the beings clairvoyants see in colored rooms). A novel, then, comes from spiritual sources and has spiritual effects extending into the physical realm. A novel written by a “Negro” carries “Negro” spiritual powers, which would — in Steiner’s warped thinking — have injurious effects for white readers (who are more spiritually advanced, according to Steiner). [13] For more about the uses and misuses of literature in Waldorf schools, see my essay “Oh My Word” at this Web site. Other Arts, All Arts Among the doctrines Steiner adopted from various religions are karma and reincarnation. Focusing on these concepts helps us to comprehend what Steiner meant about art arising from the spirit realm. “Prebirth experiences are carried over into the world of the physical senses. What we see if we survey the architectural and sculptural works of art created by humankind is nothing other than an embodiment of unconscious recollections of our life between death and rebirth.” [14] Art comes out of our nightly excursions into the spirit world, and it also comes out of our previous lives in the spirit world. We live in that world between our earthly lives, according to Steiner. It leaves its marks on us (Steiner taught that children are born with memories of the spirit world — see my essay “Thinking Cap” at this Web site). We are visitors from a faraway place that we often revisit. We go there during our many hours of sleep and during the many, many spiritual lives we lead between our many, many earthly lives. Art helps us to make our return visits, and it provides us with links to the great beyond during our periods of physical existence on Earth. So there you have it. “Now we have a realistic answer to the question why human beings create art.” [15] Art at Waldorf schools is a vehicle for occult beliefs. What we get from art are secret “truths” that need no proof, but that Rudolf Steiner possessed. According to him. Hardly anybody else has ever known as many secrets as he knew. According to him. No Jew, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, agnostic, or rationalist should swallow any of Steiner’s guff. If you fall into any of those categories, I’d suggest you keep far away from schools where Steiner’s doctrines are honored. Occultism and true faith are quite different, as are occultism and rationality. There are traces of many religions in Steiner's doctrines, but they exist alongside doctrines that violate each major faith. There are traces of science and reason in Steiner's doctrines, but only faint traces, engulfed in baseless mysticism. Steiner advocated the occult and the irrational. We find this everywhere we look in his doctrines, including his discussions of art. ◊◊◊◊ AFTERWORD: Festivals Various forms of art are often given prominence during the seasonal festivals celebrated at Waldorf schools. These festivals — which may seem lovely and harmless — are actually disguised occult ceremonies. Here’s what a leading Anthroposophist has said, beginning with the festival of Michaelmas, which may be celebrated at Waldorf schools as a “fall festival.” (To follow the quotation, you need to know that Steiner said the Earth is alive, and it breathes; also, that Michael is an archangel and Ahriman is a demon; and the elemental world is physical reality.) “Through finding the right way to celebrate Michaelmas (traditionally September 29) we may awaken new human forces needed to create completely open community [sic], grounded in spiritual reality. It was clear to Steiner that much depends on our awakening to such new festivals ... If, in our social life, we can learn to accompany the out-breath of the earth in spring and summer ... then with Michael’s help in autumn we can accompany the elemental world’s withdrawal into itself during the winter’s death and darkness. The evil, estranging ahrimanic powers that seek to possess the earth ... must now be transformed and illumined from within at Christmas ... Steiner shows how this new understanding of the yearly festivals prepares us for our current historical transition.” [16] In other words, the festivals are intended to promote our evolution to the next stage of spiritual development as foreseen by Steiner. What is the “new understanding” of the festivals? To get a glimpse, you need to dig into Steiner’s theology. Here’s a glimpse of a glimpse. Bear in mind that Steiner’s teachings are complex and tricky, so take the following as only a introduction to the mysteries of festival celebration. Still, in a general sort of way, here’s what’s happening. I’ll concentrate on Michaelmas. Other Waldorf festivals reflect similar occult teachings. [17] Michael is an archangel. He currently rules over us. You see, we are currently in the Anglo-Germanic age, which began in 1413 AD and extends till 3573 AD. A crucial task during this period is to advance human consciousness to an “objective” appreciation of all phenomena, so that spiritual truths can be apprehended “objectively” through the “consciousness soul.” (This boils down to everyone trying to have the same consciousness Steiner claimed for himself, or maybe a bit more so.) The current age began under Samuel, the archangel of Mars. His reign as Time Archangel — most of it occurring in the previous age — was turbulent, with Christendom splintering under the assaults of Mongols, the Renaissance, and growing nationalism. The compensation for all this was that the consciousness soul awakened, to be strengthened under succeeding archangels. Gabriel, archangel of the Moon, took over in 1471. Under him, natural science became dominant, humans became increasingly materialistic and skeptical, and ancient Egyptian impulses pervaded society. Socialism and democracy reared their heads. On the up side, German philosophy reached heights of wisdom during this time, although it was generally ignored. One pivotal development under Gabriel was that people learned they could disbelieve spiritual truths — a necessary step so that later people could later freely choose spirituality. Michael became Spirit of the Age in 1841, and he assumed his 350-year incumbency as Time Archangel in 1879. His main task is to bring “spiritual science” (Anthroposophy) to the fore, spreading Steinerism everywhere, thus opening humanity for the “Christ impulse.” Michael’s task isn’t easy — he is opposed by Lucifer and Ahriman. Fortunately, Michael (Archangel of the Sun, hence Christ’s countenance) is a warrior, so the prospects for victory seem good. Ahriman will manifest in the West, just as Lucifer manifested previously in the East. Western civilization will lead to the destruction of the Earth, but that will enable properly evolved humans to pass on to their next, higher evolutionary stage. Death, you see, is good for us. This is the sort of thinking that lies behind many, if not all, innocent-seeming festivals at Waldorf schools. The primary festivals Steiner discusses in THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING [18] are Michaelmas (autumn), Christmas (midwinter), and Easter (spring). Ostensibly, these are Christian observances, but as we have seen with Michaelmas, the Anthroposophical teachings related to these observances stray far from the Bible. Some festivals at some Waldorf schools may be free of occult purpose, but others have distinct religious significance — and the religion is not Christianity, per se, but Anthroposophy. — Roger Rawlings Parts of this essay were adapted from “Unenlightened.” This is a typical example of wet-on-wet watercoloring, produced by a Waldorf student. Of course, not all paintings and drawings done at Waldorf schools are otherworldly. If a student masters the art of watercoloring, or paints with finer brushes on drier paper, or works in a different medium, recognizable objects can be depicted. Here is a painting that spans the divide: Visitors are often impressed, and parents are often proud, that Waldorf students are led to produce so much lovely art. Waldorf artwork courtesy of PLANs To see artwork that a Waldorf school proudly displays, including wet-on-wet painting, click here: Emerson/art And here is a somewhat typical shot of eurythmy, albeit posed for the camera and thus a bit more lively than usual: [1963 PINNACLE (Inter-Collegiate Press, 1963.)] For additional flattering images of eurythmy, click here: Google/eurythmy For more Steiner quotes about eurythmy, please see "Eurythmy". Some images I use at this Web site are not specifically Anthroposophical — instead, they suggest elements of Waldorf thinking that can be traced to beliefs, fantasies, or platitudes that are wider than Steiner's own specific doctrines. [http://www.fromoldbooks.org/] ENDNOTES [1] THE GOETHEANUM: School of Spiritual Science (Philosophical-Anthropopsophical Press, 1961), p. 25. Here is a more complete statement of Steiner's view of the arts. An abyss separates Earthly life from the spirit realm. "Supersensible" cognition — that is, gaining knowledge through extraordinary means, specifically clairvoyance — enables us to pass over the abyss. The arts are especially helpful in this effort. They are a replacement for ordinary religion, which Steiner said is dead. (His own teachings, Anthroposophy, are the substitute — they are the religion pushed by Waldorf schools, although Anthroposophists shy away from the word "religion.") “[T]he anthroposophical world-conception is capable of giving a strong impetus to cognition as well as to religious experience. In the case of cognition it stresses the fact that one must travel a road of purification before passing the gate to the spiritual world. On the other hand, it stresses the truth that religious life leads far beyond the facts observable by a person with only ordinary earthly consciousness. For Anthroposophy recognizes that the Mystery of Golgotha, the earth-life of Christ Jesus, though placed among historical events comprehensible to the senses, can be comprehended in its fulness only supersensibly. “Fortunately the abyss on the edge of which man lives, the abyss opening out before him in religion and cognition, can be bridged. But not by contemporary religion, nor yet by a cognition, a science, derived wholly from the earth. “It is here that art enters. It forms a bridge across the abyss.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE ARTS AND THEIR MISSION (Anthroposophic Press, 1964), IV.] [2] Rudolf Steiner, ART AS SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 247. “The art of Eurythmy could only grow up out of the soul of Anthroposophy; could only receive its inspiration through a purely Anthroposophical conception.” [Rudolf Steiner, EURYTHMY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2006), pp. 65-66.] "There is perhaps no other art through which one can experience man's relationship to the cosmos so vividly as one is able to do through the art of eurythmy Therefore this art of eurythmy ,based as it is on the etheric forces in man,had to appear just at the time a modern Spiritual Science was being sought.For it is out of this modern Spiritual Science that eurythmy had to be born." [Rudolf Steiner, EURYTHMY AS VISIBLE SPEECH (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1984), p. 259.] Eurythmy is "visible speech": A poem or other text is enacted in such a way as to express its meaning through physical motion. Steiner had very strict views on this. "A certain eurythmist was showing a poem by Albert Steffen. As she finished, Dr Steiner got up and said, 'That will not do'; and he went on to say that for this poem he had already given a form and this being so, no other form should be used. 'For any poem there is only one true form' — his voice, stern and earnest, remains in my memory." [A MAN BEFORE OTHERS: Rudolf Steiner Remembered (Rudolf Steiner Press (1993), pp. 190-191.] Steiner taught that eurythmy has curative powers. "[B]y learning to bring the limbs into proper control, we can do much to counteract on the one hand feeble-mindedness, and on the other hand the tendency to mania. And here the way is marked out for us at once to Curative Eurythmy. In the case of a feebleminded child, what you have to do is to bring mobility into his metabolism-and-limbs system; this will stimulate also his whole spiritual nature. Let such a child do the movements for R, L, S, I (ee), and you will see what a good effect it will have. If, on the other hand, you have a child with a tendency to mania, then, knowing how it is with his metabolism-and limbs system, you will let him do the movements for M, N, B, P, A (as in Father), U (as in Ruth), and again you will see what an influence this will have on his maniacal tendency. We must always remember how intimate the connection still is in the young child between physical-etheric on the one hand, and soul-and-spirit on the other. If we bear this continually in mind, we shall find our way to the right methods of treatment." [Rudolf Steiner, EDUCATION FOR SPECIAL NEEDS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 103.] "It can really be said that this dance is a remedy against jealousy and false ambition." [EURYTHMY AS VISIBLE SPEECH, p.190.] Media accounts of Waldorf activities are often superficial, failing to mention Steiner’s explicit occult purposes. (One reason may be that occultism is so unimaginable to most people, the need to delve into Steiner’s doctrines doesn’t occur to many. And, of course, reporters working in deadline don’t have much time to serious research of this sort.) Here is part of an item that appeared in early February, 2009. I will withhold the name of the school involved: “[X] Waldorf School, an independent, co-educational, non-sectarian school, announced its fourteenth annual gala performance of the unique art of Eurythmy February 14th and 15th ... Eurythmy, an enlivening of the art of dance inaugurated by Rudolf Steiner, reveals the essence of music and the spoken word in gesture and movement, in a breathtaking blend of choreography, sound, light, and color.” [Business Wire, Feb. 11, 2009] The article says nothing about linking people directly to the supersensible world. Parents considering Waldorf schools for their children probably should bring in Steiner quotations and ask for clear, convincing explanations of the schools’ policies and goals. It would be especially important to determine whether any particular Waldorf if really nonsectarian or whether it is devoted to Anthroposophy. See my essays “Is Anthroposophy a Religion?” and “Non-Waldorf Waldorfs” and “Clues”. [3] Rudolf Steiner, THE ARTS AND THEIR MISSION (Anthroposophic Press, 1964), p. 23. [4] Rudolf Steiner, ART AS SEEN IN THE LIGHT OF MYSTERY WISDOM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), pp. 111-112. [5] Rudolf Steiner, lecture given on October 15, 1911, quoted in ART INSPIRED BY RUDOLF STEINER, John Fletcher (Mercury Arts Publications, 1987), p. 95. [6] Rudolf Steiner, UNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN BEING (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1993), pp. 160-161. [7] ART INSPIRED BY RUDOLF STEINER, p. 136. Steiner taught that we live in the physical world, the soul world, and the spirit world. He distinguished between soul and spirit. The soul is your personal spiritual essence and is renewed with each incarnation; your spirit partakes of higher spiritual essences and is immortal. The spirit world can be termed devachanic: “The three worlds are 1. The physical world, the scene of human life. 2. The astral world or the world of soul. 3. The devachanic world or world of spirit. The three worlds are not spatially separate. We are surrounded by the things of the physical world which we perceive with our ordinary sense, but the astral world is in the same space; we live in the other two worlds, the astral and devachanic worlds, as the same time as we live in the physical world.” [Rudolf Steiner, FOUNDING A SCIENCE OF THE SPIRIT (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1999), pp. 10-11.] Don’t worry about it. “Devas” are gods. The gods of the astral world speak to us through colors: “The pupil gradually comes to recognize a certain resemblance between the physical and astral worlds ... [S]piritual beings, called gods or devas, now reveal themselves through the colours. The astral world, then, is a world of beings who speak to us through color.” [Ibid., p. 14.] [8] Ibid., p. 136. [9] UNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN BEING, p. 162. “[E]verything lives in music ... the sun and the spheres speak in music ... [T]he sun, which really does sound forth to us in music if we are in the world of Devachan.” [FOUNDING A SCIENCE OF THE SPIRIT, p. 15.] Devachan is the world of spirit, the devachanic world. If Devachan is higher than the astral world, then music is “higher” than art forms that use physical colors. “Music and language have their origins in the ‘Music of the Spheres’ ... What is the ‘Music of the Spheres’? It is a supersensible experience of the initiate who can penetrate to higher realms and hear — so to speak — the voices of the gods. Those who have such a gift tell us that music and language are reflections of those heavenly voices ... the origins of art lie in the religious life.” [Roy Wilkinson, THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF STEINER EDUCATION, The Waldorf School Approach (Sophia Books, The Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996) , pp. 60-61.] [10] ART AS SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY , p. 238. [11] Ibid., p. 240. Literature is often read aloud in Waldorf schools, sometimes as accompaniment for eurythmy. The purpose is occult. "If the art of speech is to be resuscitated — preferably more in the form of a narrative style, or as the kind of poetry developed by the ancient Greeks — and to revise also the art of declamation, which the older German poetry is based on, it is necessary to do something about speech formation. This is the point." [Rudolf Steiner, THE CHILD'S CHANGING CONSCIOUSNESS (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 199.] Through the "proper" use of speech, one can hook into the powers and wisdom of the ancients — primarily clairvoyance. The ancients had clairvoyance, most of us now don't, but we all can have it — in a new, improved form — by following Steiner's instructions. The process entails moving upward from imagination to other clairvoyant capacities. "In the picture of the descent of world evolution down to man you have that scale which human beings have to reascend, from Imagination through Inspiration to Intuition. In the poem transformed into eurythmy you have Imagination; in recitation and declamation you have Inspiration as a picture; in the entirely inward experience of the poem, in which there is no need to open your mouth because your experience is totally inward and you are utterly identified with it and have become one with it, in this you have Intuition." [Rudolf Steiner, THE CHRISTMAS CONFERENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1990), p. 36.] [12] Rudolf Steiner, quoted by Peter Staudenmaier, “Race and Redemption: Racial and Ethnic Evolution in Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy,” 2004, waldorfcritics.org. [13] This is a big and horrible topic. See my essay “Steiner’s Racism” at this Web site. [14] ART AS SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY, p. 241. [15] Ibid., p. 241. [16] Henry Barnes, A LIFE FOR THE SPIRIT: Rudolf Steiner in the Crosscurrents of Our Time (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), pp. 185-186. Full disclosure: I knew Henry Barnes, slightly. He headed up the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City during the years when I was a student at the Waldorf School in Garden City, New York. [17] For concise Anthroposophical summaries of human history, past and future, see Richard Seddon, THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY AND THE EARTH AS FORESEEN BY RUDOLF STEINER (Temple Lodge Publishing, 2002) and Stewart C. Easton, MAN AND WORLD IN THE LIGHT OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 1989). My summary, here, draws on their summaries. [18] Rudolf Steiner, THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998). |
