NEUTERED NATURE: Waldorf’s View of the Natural World I. Rudolf Steiner’s worldview represents an aversion to reality, an aversion that he decked out in the garb of occult “wisdom.” His doctrines come, in part, from the heretical tradition of gnosticism. As Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke has pointed out: “Rudolf Steiner ... blended modern Theosophy with a Gnostic form of Christianity....” [1] Steiner claimed deep knowledge of gnostic Christian teachings. When critics said he “was merely reviving the ideas of Christian Gnosticism,” Steiner asserted that he proved the truth of gnostic and occult teachings by using clairvoyance to penetrate the spiritual realm. [2] In gnostic teachings, the physical universe was created not by God Almighty but by a demiurge — a subordinate god who opposes spirituality. Often, this lower god is said to be Yahweh, the god of Israel, whom we generally refer to as Jehovah (and whom most Western monotheists identify as God Almighty). The physical universe created by the demiurge is deemed inherently illusory and evil — we must get past it to find truth. [3] Most rationalists call the physical universe reality, without necessarily denying the existence of a spiritual plane beyond the physical. But for gnostics, nature, the physical world, is a dreadful place, to be avoided or transcended. A modified form of this antipathy to nature is reflected in Anthroposophical lore and, at least sometimes, in Waldorf school curriculums. Obviously, teaching children to have an aversion to reality is potentially quite damaging. Even when Waldorf teachers stop short of that, they may lead their students toward confusion rather than clarity. If the unreal is more real than the real, a kid’s head can spin. The teachers are my Waldorf school imparted a sort of bipolar appreciation of nature. Nature's beauties were important, apparently. Our teachers professed a love of nature — they displayed crystals and pine cones and colorful leaves in the classrooms. Yet at the same time, the teachers subtly urged us to look beyond nature — they conveyed the impression that nature was, in some unspoken way, unworthy of us. Certainly, we were shielded from an understanding of nature's true operations. In elementary school, teachers would occasionally take us on "nature walks." On these, we were encouraged to note spiral patterns (e.g., in the petals of flowers), or striking symmetries (in plants with two or three nearly identical heads), or interesting branch patterns (as in young maples). These were patterns or archetypes that, it was implied, reflected "indwelling" forces — i.e., spiritual forces.  We were not taught Darwinian evolution, so the families of various plants and animals were largely unknown to us. We were also largely shielded from the knowledge that a) much of the color in nature is an evolutionary adaptation promoting procreation (sex — colorful, sweet-smelling flowers attract birds and insects that spread pollen — literally, the birds and the bees — and various female primates have bright-red rumps because ... ), and b) most creatures spend a great deal of their waking time searching for whom they may devour (nature is red in tooth and claw, and some species — e.g., deer — live their entire lives in alternating states of panic and semi-panic). The "facts of life" were, for the most part, withheld from us. Instead, we were guided toward a misleading idea of the "purpose" behind natural phenomena. (The hallmark of Darwinian evolution is that no mutation is purposeful; changes occur randomly, and some serendipitously provide a survival benefit, so creatures with these characteristics tend to survive and reproduce, while the others fall behind in the competition for survival.) Waldorf covertly adopted what would today be called a creationist approach, emphasizing spiritual influences and intentions — but the school gave these some odd Steinerian twists. [4] In his meetings with the teachers at the first Waldorf school, Steiner said that the Waldorf curriculum is meant to fulfill the “intentions of the gods” [5]. These intentions can be comprehended only through an appreciation of dualism: the stark contrast between physical and spiritual realities. We were constantly reminded of this dualism, although usually indirectly. One instance: In upper grades we were taught about the interactions of "telluric" and "etheric" forces — that is, Earth forces and super-Earthly forces [6]. There is some truth in this paradigm, of course. Almost any religious faith hinges on the idea there there is a spiritual realm beyond the reality our senses can perceive. Also, even on the purely physical plane, a sort of dualism can be identified: The things present on the Earth are affected by things above the Earth. The atmosphere and the Earth interact, as in the cycle of rainfall and evaporation. Moreover, astronomical bodies (mainly the sun and moon) have influences on the Earth (warmth, light, tides ... ). Looking farther out, it may be that meteors and comets delivered the basic building blocks of life (organic compounds) to the surface of the Earth. Extremely distant exploding stars may have produced most of the heavier elements that ultimately arrived on Earth. Possibly a planet once collided with Earth, creating the moon from the debris. Likewise, the Earth certainly influences the moon (capturing it in orbit and slowing its spin until it always holds one face toward us). Earth's influence on the sun or any other celestial object is, however, far smaller (and in the cases of truly distant objects, essentially nil). Now please understand: Nothing even slightly resembling the sensible things I have just said was included in our curriculum. When our teachers spoke of "telluric" and "etheric" forces, they were alluding primarily to spiritual and/or astrological forces. In his yearbook messages to both my class and the class before mine, our headmaster referred to the heavens in astrological terms. Preceding class: “In 1962 the heavenly constellation was such that at one time millions in the East feared the end of the world.” [7] My class: “For some onlookers, a special star has shone over your class from its beginning many years ago.” [8] To outsiders, such language may seem innocuous. Those who have studied Steiner, however, know that Anthroposophists do not use such language lightly. Steiner often spoke of the “powers” of celestial bodies and constellations: e.g., “In the course of its development, the good portion of humankind will learn to use the Moon forces to transform the evil part ... ” [9], or “In cholerics, you will generally find an abnormally developed sense of balance (Libra) [i.e., kids under the influence of the astrological sign, Libra] ... In sanguines (Virgo) ... the sense of movement predominates. In the same way, in melancholics (Leo) the sense of life predominates ... ”, etc. [10] One minor, but fairly remarkable detail may serve to complete this snapshot of nature as seen from a Waldorf perspective. Our school stood on a large expanse of level land. For reasons that were never laid out, the school hired bulldozers and dump trucks to come in and create artificial hills, one for each playground. Steiner found significance in hills, evidently because they rise toward the sky and thus are infused with etheric influences. “We could show that here is the Earth, and the Earth grows a little bump, a hill. This hill, however, is filled with the forces of the air and also of the Sun.” [11] I don’t want to make too much of my Waldorf’s playground mounds. Still, we can see here some tiny, telltale indicators of what lurks behind the happy Waldorf facade. The creation of these machine-made, totally unnatural hills was a betrayal both of the school's professed love of nature and of its sincere antipathy to technology. The little pseudo-hills stood as emblems of the proposition that nature, for Anthroposophists, has no real meaning or value. Reality is naught; the imaginary or contrived is all. And those bulldozers, used by a school where the book THE FAILURE OF TECHNOLOGY [12] was mandatory reading, reveal how, for Anthroposophists, the ends justify the means. Deceiving parents about the nature of the school [13], brainwashing children [14], using the implements of a soulless civilization — all is valid, if it serves the higher mission of Anthroposophy — i.e., “the intentions of the gods”. II. Nature is not utterly debased, according to Steiner. The natural world is infused by the spiritual world; indeed, all of physical reality is just a condensation of spiritual reality. In this sense, nature deserves our respect, even reverence. Moreover, with the Crucifixion, Christ's blood — his essence, as it were — flowed into the Earth. So, Steiner taught, the natural world of the Earth has a sort of holiness, and for this reason Anthroposophists are often advocates of "green" beliefs, promoting conservation, organic gardening, and ecological sensitivity. But the other pole, the aversion to nature, still stands tall in Anthropological doctrines. Nature is not wholly evil, but elements of evil run through it. It is the abode of “elemental beings” or “nature spirits,” lowly and somewhat wicked beings. Some of these beings have been given names such as “goblins.” Yes, Steiner taught that such mythical creatures are real. They are more or less antithetical to humans, although their actions can benefit us — they represent stages of existence that are beneath us, and properly so. Animals also represent such low stages.  Let’s start by hearing about the animals, since they at least actually exist. During an early period of our evolution, according to Steiner, “The higher animals did not yet exist ... Man was there, but in quite a different form ... Afterward, man evolved higher, and left behind him the fish-form which had been contained within him ... Again man evolved higher, and separated the birds from himself. Next the reptiles and amphibians came out of man ... Later still, man put the mammals out from himself....” [15] The main point to note in Steiner’s absurd account is that animals are now completely beneath us. They represent inferior characteristics we had to shed on our evolutionary ascent — they are the debris we left behind. Unless we continue to reject them, we will slip backwards spiritually. Nature spirits may represent another form of debris. Inferior humans who fail to climb the evolutionary ladder “fall out of evolution” [16], after which they deteriorate to subhuman status in the form of nature spirits. This fate entails losing the ability to be reincarnated, which means losing the capacity to make progress from life to life. “Such souls lose the possibility of incarnation and find no other opportunity ... [T]here are no more bodies bad enough [to house them] ... Beings that stay behind at such stages appear in a later epoch as subordinate nature spirits.” [17] Steiner said that losing the ability to reincarnate makes you a merely “natural” being. “Quite a number of people have been born [who] ... are not reincarnated, but are human forms filled with a sort of natural demon. There a quite a large number of older people going around who are actually not human beings, but are only natural.” [18] To be “natural,” in Steiner’s teachings, is to be inferior and wicked. Goblins, undines, sylphs, phantoms, and so forth, are overlapping examples of nature spirits. One handy term to cover them all (not quite accurate, but handy) is fairies. As a rule, they are not our friends. Concerning goblins, for instance, Steiner said: “There are beings that can be seen with clairvoyant vision at many spots in the depths of the earth ... Many names have been given to them, such as goblins, gnomes and so forth ... Their nature prompts them to play all sorts of tricks on man.... ” [19] They belong to a different “world” from ours — they are part of nature in a way we are not. “Gnomes are ... unable to grasp how there can be anything but an ineffectual relationship with our world.” [20] Other nature spirits have better intentions, but don't trust any of them without strong assurances. Nature spirits can be detected by peering through seams in the natural world, Steiner claimed. It is “possible for occult vision to have an impression of other beings standing immediately behind the veil of nature ... This is especially the case if we devote ourselves to the peculiar play of a body of water tossing in a waterfall and giving clouds of spray, if we yield ourselves to the forming and dissolving of mist and to watery vapour....” [21] A rational explanation for “fairies” semi-seen semi-sporting in a swirl of mists is delusion, imagination run riot, optical illusion. Steiner, the opponent of rationality, accepts such false impressions as truth. For our present discussion, the point to note is the phrase “the veil of nature” — nature is a deceptive screen that we need to get past, according to Steiner. Steiner was not always consistent. He generally said that there are four types of nature spirits: gnomes or goblins, sylphs, salamanders, and undines. But on other occasions he included other elemental beings, some of which are nastier than goblins. Let’s look at these, then circle back to consider the basic four. The nastiest group consists of phantoms, specters, and demons, and they literally represent wrongdoing. Phantoms, the mildest of the lot, are wraiths that come to Earth through the physical bodies of wrongdoers. They are “beings which have been created in the physical body through the effect of lying and slander ... Such beings ... now flit and whirr about in our world and belong to a class that we call ‘phantoms.’ They form a certain group of elemental beings related to our physical body and invisible to physical sight.” [22] Specters embody transgressions associated with our “etheric” bodies. Steiner said that we have several nonphysical bodies in addition to the physical body — the etheric body, the astral body, and the “I.” “All that leads to want of harmony, all that makes for bad adjustments between people ... is continued into the etheric body.” [23] Wrongs committed by humans (inharmonious behavior, bad relationships) cause forms of vileness to detach from the spiritual worlds and manifest in our environment: “The accumulation in the etheric body caused through these [wicked] experiences of the soul ... brings about detachments from the beings working in the spiritual worlds and these likewise are now to be found in our environment — they are the ‘specters’ or ‘ghosts.’” [24] Don’t be misled by the idea that specters and ghosts come from the spiritual worlds — they are not truly spiritual beings. Steiner sometimes called nature spirits “elemental beings” precisely in order to stress their lack of spirit: “To call them elemental spirits shows the greatest possible ineptitude, for it is just [i.e., exactly] spirit that they do not possess. It is better to call them elemental beings....” [25] The worst nature spirits are associated with our “astral” bodies, which journey into spiritual worlds every night when we sleep. Evildoing can cause an astral body to pick up hitchhikers or “enclosures” that ride to Earth tucked inside. “In all that works [evilly] from soul to soul in our world, from the giving of bad advice to all those methods which people employ in order to overwhelm others ... [this] is expressed in the night in the astral body. The astral body gets these ‘enclosures’ and thereby beings are detached from other worlds and whirr through our world again as elemental beings. They belong to the class of demons.” [26]  Nature spirits can sometimes be beneficial to us, enabling us to develop and evolve above them. Indeed, when nature spirits behave themselves, they may fulfill the intentions of the gods, assisting us as the gods intend. Steiner placed the four basic types of nature spirits in the soil, air, water, and fire: goblins, sylphs, undines, and "salamanders." These beings lay a sort of groundwork for us. But the hostility and mischievousness of naughty nature spirits cause troubles. "Take the gnomes and undines: they are, so to say, in the world which borders on human consciousness; they are already beyond the threshold. Ordinary consciousness is protected from seeing these beings, for the fact is that these beings are not all benevolent ... [I]n the moment when man breaks through into the world wherein they live and are active, he finds there not only the well-disposed beings but the malevolent ones as well ... The main difference between the ill-disposed beings and the well-disposed is that the latter are always drawn more to the plant and mineral kingdoms, whereas the ill-disposed are drawn to the animal and human kingdoms ... Now someone might say: Why then are these malevolent gnome and undine-beings there, if they engender parasites? Well, if they were not there, man would never be able to develop within himself the force to evolve the structure of his brain." [27] Most things can be turned to good account, even the actions of malevolent nature spirits. But their malevolence is real, and we must read cautiously. The benefits we receive from nature spirits are not easy to describe (and not worth worrying about, since these doctrines are dross). Trying to explain, Steiner discussed our "auras," if you can believe it: "Here on earth, a person's aura carries a kind of remnant of the things he received when he had ascended to the spiritual world [in sleep or death]. Having left behind the realms of wisdom, of beauty, of truth [spiritual realms we exit when descending to Earth again], mankind must enter the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms [realms infused by nature spirits] ... The person who does not give in to his animal instincts is not necessarily wise. The wise human being — wise in the sense implied by strength of heart — is the one who possesses moral ideas [animal instincts are lowly, sometimes sexual: earthy] ... [O]ur materialistic age is distinguished by the way it so thoroughly involves the sphere of sexuality in artistic considerations — a piece of mischief for which our age is responsible ... Even though some of the things I have said have come out very badly — perhaps they will come out better later — I want to present something further to you, something that belongs in the context of the whole. One can say: Whereas it is our physical body that connects us with the realm of physical becoming, our brain connects us with certain elemental beings ... the elemental beings of the myths and sagas. There they are called elves, fairies, and so on.” [28] Here is one of the most affirmative statements Steiner made about nature beings. See how it strikes you. “The predecessors of our Earth-gnomes, the Moon-gnomes, gathered together their Moon-experiences and from them fashioned this structure, this firm structure of the solid fabric of the Earth, so that our solid Earth-structure actually arose from the experiences of the gnomes of the old Moon ... Now let us pass over from the gnomes to the undines, the water-beings ... These beings have not the need for life that human beings have ... [They] have rather a need for death ... They only feel their life to be truly theirs when they die ... And now let us proceed to the sylphs. In the course of the year we find the dying birds ... Dying birds possess spiritualized substance ... they desire to give this spiritualized substance over to the higher worlds ... But here an intermediary is needed. And these intermediaries are the sylphs ... And when we pass over to the fire-beings [i.e., salamanders], only think how the dust on the butterfly's wings seems to dissolve into nothing with the death of the butterfly ... When in the course of the year the butterfly-world approaches its end, all this becomes glittering and shimmering ... [I]nto this glittering and shimmering the fire-beings pour themselves; they absorb it.” [29] Some of Steiner's language and concepts may seem attractive, but his essential attitude toward nature was, at best, ambivalent. He found some value in the natural world — but he also found must that he considered lowly, vile, even evil. He wanted to turn away, toward "higher" worlds. That may or may not be advisable — such worlds may or may not exist. If turning away from nature means turning our backs on reality, his advice was surely perilous. Children can be educated to live in a world of Moon-gnomes, suicidal sylphs, and other imagined apparitions, or they can be raised to live and thrive in the real world, the one described in science and mainstream religions. Choosing to go with Steiner means choosing an alienating cult — alienating from reality, from ourselves, and from truth. III. Nature is deceptive — within it lurk demonic snares, which may cause you to use your intelligence too much. The natural world consists of matter, which is the antithesis of spirit (although it is condensed spirit — don't expect complete logical consistency from Steiner). The snares of nature have been placed in our path by our spiritual foes, who want to trip us up with illusion. “I must emphasize this again and again, that the saying ‘the world is Maya’ is so vitally important." [30] The greatest liar, the author of so many illusions that await us in the world of matter, is the devil Ahriman. “Ahriman infused into human observation something like a dark smoke cloud that prevents penetration to the spiritual. Through Ahriman's agency man is enmeshed in lies, in maya, in illusion. “ [31] The minions of Ahriman hide just below the surface of the Earth, and they strive to create a race of subhumans residing within the elements. “Were [the minions of Ahriman] to be successful, man would become extremely clever in the material realm — incredibly clever and intelligent. They cannot achieve their end directly, but they aim at doing so indirectly. And their efforts, which have actually been going on for thousands of years, have in fact succeeded in producing a whole race of sub-human beings. Their method is as follows. [paragraph break] Suppose a man has strong and rude instincts. These beings will clutch at his instinctive nature and seize hold of it. The man then falls victim to the Ahrimanic powers. He is completely given up to his passions and leads a wild and dissolute life. When a man has in this way become a prey, during his earthly life, to the Ahrimanic powers, then these powers will be able to hold on to his instinctive nature and tear it out of him after death. There exists already on the Earth a whole population of beings who have arisen in this way. They are there, in the elements of earth and water, a sub-human race.” [32] All in all, nature is a tricky place. Respect it. But fear it. And leave it behind ASAP. — Roger Rawlings Steiner did not teach that nature is wholly evil — it can't be, since fundamentally everything arises from and incarnates the divine spirit realm. His message is more neutral: There is good in the natural, physical world; but there is also also illusion, danger, and evil. Here's the bright side: “We see nature around us, and we see also that man enters into his physical existence through the forces of this same nature. We know through our study of Spiritual Science that we do not rightly regard nature if we only pay attention to its external physical features. We know that divine forces permeate it and we only become aware of our origin from nature in the true sense of the word when we perceive this divine element that weaves and works within it In this we perceive the Father principle of nature. All that permeates nature as the divine is the Father principle in the sense of the old religions and also in the sense of a rightly understood Christianity — whether it be the flowers of the field that we observe, and how they grow, or the roll of the thunder and the flash of the lightning; or whether we watch the sun in its path across the heavens or gaze upon the shining stars; or whether again we listen to the brooks and the streams rushing along — when we become aware of what is revealed so mysteriously in this external revelation of nature as the origin of all ‘becoming,’ then we are at the same time aware of what places us as men within this world through the mystery of physical birth.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE SEARCH FOR THE NEW ISIS, DIVINE SOPHIA (Mercury Press, 1983), lecture 1, GA 202.] Steiner did not teach that nature is wholly evil — but there is evil in it. “[T]here are entities in this next-door world — other, higher worlds lie beyond it — which could only be made known to human beings under certain conditions. They have a specific function in the whole universe and especially also in human evolution. “...Today I want to talk to you about one class of such entities, the class whose function in the great scheme of things is connected with human birth and death ... If one were to speak of them, and of the whole way in which these elemental spirits live, one would be speaking of something that would seem like red-hot coals to people. “...[T]he divine spirits who guide world destinies have to use elemental spirits who actually are the enemies of everything human beings seek and desire for their welfare and well-being here in the physical world. “...[T]he gods always rule for a time within a particular sphere of elemental spirits and then human beings enter into this same sphere and use the elemental spirits. In earlier times, the elemental spirits of birth and death essentially served the divine spirits who guided the world; since our day — and this has been going on for some time now — the elemental spirits of birth and death are serving technology, industry and human commerce. “...[T]hese elemental spirits are the enemies of human welfare and want to destroy it. We have to see things straight and not have any illusions concerning the radical nature of this. Civilization must progress in the fields of technology, industry and commerce. But by its very nature such a civilization cannot serve the well-being of humanity in the physical world; it can only prove destructive to the human weal. “ ...The elemental spirits of birth and death are, of course, messengers of Ahriman. The iron necessity of world evolution forces the gods to use Ahriman's messengers to control birth and death. When they ask the elemental spirits to act on their behalf they do not allow the powers of these messengers to enter the physical world. But as civilization goes into its decline, from the fifth post-Atlantean period onwards, this element has to come in again, so that catastrophe may be brought about.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE FALL OF THE SPIRITS OF DARKNESS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1993), lecture 4, Oct. 6, 1917.] The natural world, the Earthly sphere, the physical world — these would have been better except for a recent event. The archangel Michael fought a war in heaven, as it were, and cast his defeated enemies down to the Earth. “Events in which humanity is now caught up...are more significant than is often realized today. I have sought to show that momentous occurrences in the spiritual world form the background to these events. I have also spoken of the profoundly significant battle which took place in the spiritual regions of the world between the early 1840s and the autumn of 1879. This was one of the battles which occur repeatedly in world and human evolution and are customarily represented by the image of Michael or St George fighting the dragon. Michael won one such victory over the dragon on behalf of the spiritual worlds in 1879. At that time the spirits of darkness who worked against the Michaelic impulses were cast down from the spiritual realm into the human realms. As I said, from that time onwards they have been active in the feeling, will and mind impulses of human beings. Present-day events can therefore only be understood if one turns the inner eye to the spiritual powers which are now moving among us.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE FALL OF THE SPIRITS OF DARKNESS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1993), lecture 13, Oct. 27, 1917.] For more on this, see "Michael".
 [Anthroposophic Press, 1987.] From the back cover: "Steiner explains in this history of the development of human consciousness that the world has [sic: had] already ended in the fourth century A. D. At that time it became impossible to find the spirit in nature. Since that time we have been living in an increasingly spiritual world on a disintegrating, dying earth." [To learn about evil gods, see "War" and "Evil Ones".] The following is a bit difficult to follow, but I think you'll find the effort rewarding. I urge you to read the entire lecture, "Ahrimanic Elemental Beings", in the book NATURE SPIRTS. “[W]e are surrounded by beings who, in accordance with the cosmic plan, have been charged with the mission to carry over into the future that which man himself is unable to transmit from one earthly life to another, especially the abstract content of our libraries, for instance ... These beings must enlist into their service others who had long been alien to them, who had experienced a totally different evolution from the spiritual beings associated with man. These beings with their different evolution I have called in my books ahrimanic beings. Despite their different evolution there are occasions when they come in contact with our own, when, for example, we build a motor car. They are beings who are able by virtue of their ahrimanic cosmic forces to understand modern techniques such as the construction of a motor car. They transmit to future ages the technical achievements of civilization. "...[W]hen a medium is in a trance condition...an entity of this kind which is subject to ahrimanic influences and whose function is to transmit the achievements of civilization to the future slips into the brain. Instead of being the bearer of the human ego, the medium is, temporarily, the vehicle of an elemental being which is neglecting its duty in the cosmos. "...Ahrimanic beings exist in the cosmos and possess an intelligence far superior to that of mankind ... Something of this intelligence passes over to their progeny, the elemental beings who slip into mediumistic brains, so that in this way significant information may be revealed by mediums ... Though we may learn much of importance from them, this is not the right path to spiritual knowledge. [The right path is the use of clairvoyance of the kind Steiner possessed, according to Steiner. Steiner proceeds to give an example of true clairvoyant vision, in contrast to faulty mediumistic vision.] "...The souls of those who have recently died are surrounded by strange demonic forms. At the entrance to this intermediate world which the dead must enter and in which we can accompany them with a certain clairvoyant vision, we meet with demonic figures with enormous webbed feet — enormous by earthly standards — like the duck or the wild duck species and other aquatic animals, huge webbed feet that are perpetually changing shape. These beings have a form somewhat similar to that of the kangaroo, but half bird, half animal. "...If, as you are standing among the autumn crocuses, you try to evoke the state of consciousness that is able to follow the dead, you will see, wherever an autumn crocus is growing, a being of the kind I have just described, with webbed feet and strange kangaroo-like body. "...We can only know what the elemental beings are, the progeny of the ahrimanic powers, when we enter into the world immediately bordering our own [through true clairvoyance] ... The deceptive and highly hallucinatory element in everything connected with mediumistic consciousness is explained by the fact that those who contact these beings have no understanding of their real nature." [Rudolf Steiner, NATURE SPIRITS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1995), X: Aug. 19, 1924.] To the extent that Anthroposophy finds virtue in the natural world, a reverent attitude toward nature is cultivated. This helps explain the presence of "nature tables" in many Waldorf classrooms. Some critics see these as pagan altars.  From an essay by Dan Dugan [http://www.waldorfcritics.org/active/articles/nature_table/nature_table.html] "’What is the altar in Room One?’ a visiting public school teacher challenged parents assembled at Oak Ridge Elementary School on May 7, 1997. They had gathered for a meeting with Superintendent of Schools Jim Sweeney to discuss the school's 'Waldorf Method.' She was referring to a Waldorf school tradition, the 'nature table,' and implying that it had a religious significance. Does it? “Every lower-grade Waldorf classroom that I've visited has had a nature table. It's an important part of the Waldorf way. The teachers create the tables with seasonal themes, making artistic arrangements of natural objects such as plants, wood, and rocks, and symbolic objects such as candles, Menorahs, figurines, and polished crystals. “...Uhrmacher describes a full-blown morning prayer ceremony. Note the ritual use of bell and candle, and the students' assumption of the occultist posture of prayer: “'Clock time registers 8:50. Miss Bronte [2nd grade teacher] sweeps to the back of the room to turn off the lights and then she says, "Let's have a golden tone this morning. Who has never done this?" A few students raise their hands. Miss Bronte chooses Ariana to ring the golden tone. With great enthusiasm and anticipation, acting as though she has never done this before, Miss Bronte holds the xylophone for Ariana, who with a flick of the wrist creates the golden tone. The class listens quietly in the darkened room.
“The sun, with loving light, Makes bright for me each day. The soul, with spirit power, Gives strength unto my limbs. In sunlight, shining clear, I reverence, O God, The strength of humankind Which thou so graciously Has planted in my soul, That I with all my might May love to work and learn From thee come light and strength To thee rise love and thanks. “Students recite the words clearly. Next, with accompanying hand movements, students sing another song. Then they snuff the candle with great attention and ritual...” [P. Bruce Uhrmacher, WALDORF SCHOOLS MARCHING QUIETLY UNHEARD (dissertation, Stanford School of Education.) May, 1991, pp. 108-109.]”
Dugan quotes Steiner: “[W]hen he [Goethe] was seven he built himself an altar to nature, taking his father's music stand and placing on it plants from his father's herbarium and also minerals and crowning it all with a little incense candle that he lit by focusing the beams of the morning sun with a burning-glass; an offering to the great god of nature, a rebellion against everything imposed on him by education.” [Rudolf Steiner, PRACTICAL ADVICE TO TEACHERS (Anthroposophic Press, 1988), p. 113.] Dugan then comments: “This is pretty explicit, ‘an altar to nature,’ and ‘an offering to the great god of nature.’” Presumably this is the sort of altar Waldorf teachers recreate in their classrooms. Note that the passage comes as part of Steiner's "practical advice to teachers." Driving the point home, Steiner told the Waldorf teachers that Goethe — whom Steiner often praised as an exemplar — represented the correct educational approach: “In the very essence of his nature, Goethe was always a human being longing to be educated in the way people ought to be educated today.” [Ibid., p. 113.] Steiner taught that animals descended from us, diverging from the main current of human evolution. Similarly, evil races split off from the good, ascending tide of human evolution: "Just as older conditions which have degenerated to the ape species seem grotesque to us today, so do materialistic races remain at the standpoint of evil, and will people the earth as evil races. It will lie entirely with humanity as to whether a soul will remain in the bad race or will ascend by spiritual culture to a good race.” [Rudolf Steiner, ROSICRUCIAN WISDOM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2000), p. 150.] In general, Steiner taught that earthly things are lowly, as are the creatures of the Earth. "The child learns to walk; that is to say, he learns to raise himself from the position in which he was incapable of lifting his body from the earth level towards the heavenly heights of the Cosmos. He is now in that position which, above all, distinguishes man from the animals. Having learnt by his own inner forces to assume it, he turns his gaze away from the earth at which the animal is compelled to look by reason of its nature and form." [Rudolf Steiner, "Pre-Earthly Deeds of Christ", a lecture, March 7, 1914, GA 152.] Of course, some animals stand erect much as humans do, but Steiner discounts them. And of course no four-legged animals spend all their time looking downward — think of giraffes, or horses, or dogs, or cats... In fact, most animals primarily direct their gaze horizontally, looking at their surroundings — just as humans do. In Anthroposophy, the best earthly creatures detach themselves from the Earth as much as possible. (The God or gods behind nature are divine; nature itself is something else.) “[T]he butterfly is essentially a being belonging to the light — to the light in so far [sic] as it is modified by the forces of the outer planets, of Mars, of Jupiter, and of Saturn ... [T]he butterfly does not participate in what is directly connected with earthly existence, but only indirectly, in so far [sic] as the sun, with its power of warmth and light, is active in this earthly existence. Actually a butterfly lays its eggs only where they do not become separated from sun activity, so that the butterfly does not entrust its egg to the earth, but only to the sun. Then out creeps the caterpillar, which is under the influence of Mars-activity, though naturally the sun influence always remains present. Then the chrysalis is formed, and this is under the influence of Jupiter-activity. Out of the chrysalis emerges the butterfly, which can now in its iridescent colours reproduce in the earth's environment the luminous Sun-power of the earth united with the power of Saturn.” [Rudolf Steiner, MAN AS SYMPHONY OF THE CREATIVE WORD (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1970), lecture 5, GA 230.] Some illustrations on each page are closely connected to the essay on that page; others are not — they provide general context.  The basic four nature spirits are associated with the "four elements" recognized by the ancients (and long ago discarded by science). Here are their signs. [Rudolf Koch, THE BOOK OF SIGNS (Dover Publications, 1955), p. 50.] The associations are as follows: salamanders: fire, sylphs: air, undines: water, gnomes: earth. (The "salamanders" in question are invisible beings, not the real-world amphibians — although some of the ancients did think that real salamanders were impervious to fire. This is just one indication of the value of "ancient wisdom," on which Steiner pinned so much importance.) Science currently recognizes 114 elements, not four. And none of the ancient four qualifies as a real element.   A salamander (left, above), sylphs (right, above), an undine (left, below), and gnomes (right, below). These images represent the traditions Steiner drew from, not Steiner's reworkings of the traditional conceptions. I've taken the images from Manly P. Hall's THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES (H. S. Crocker Co., 1928), an interesting if disagreeable source.    According to Steiner, nature spirits — despite their less savory aspects — make contributions to the cosmic commonweal. “And so we picture, from below upwards, in bluish, blackish shades the force of gravity, to which an upward impulse is given by the gnomes; and flitting all around the plant ... the undine power that blends and disperses substances as the plant grows upwards. From above downwards, from the sylphs, light is made to leave its imprint in the plant and molds and creates the form which descends as an ideal form and is taken up by the material womb of the earth; moreover fire spirits flit around the plant and concentrate cosmic warmth in tiny seed points. This is sent down to the gnomes together with the seed power, so that down there they can cause the plants to arise out of fire and life." [Rudolf Steiner, HARMONY OF THE CREATIVE WORD (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2001), pp. 125-126. R.R. sketch, 2009. There is no plant in my sketch because there is none in the book's.] It's good to see Steiner affirm the force of gravity, here. At other times, he said something quite different. “It is a remarkable thing that animals and man, who in their lower organs are in fact earth-bound, should experience as poison what has become corrupted on the earth in the belladonna, whereas birds such as thrushes and blackbirds, which should really get this in a spiritual way from the sylphs — and indeed through the benevolent sylphs do so obtain it — should be able to assimilate it, even when what belongs up above in their region has been carried downwards to the earth. They find nourishment in what is poison for beings more bound to the earth. "Thus you get a conception of how, on the one side, through gnomes and undines what is of a parasitic nature strives upwards from the earth towards other beings, and of how the poisons filter downwards from above. "... And so you have gained a picture of those beings which are just on the boundary of the world lying immediately beyond the threshold, and of how, if they carry their impulses to their final issue, they become the bearers of parasites, of poisons, and therewith of illnesses. Now it becomes clear how far man in health raises himself above the forces that take hold of him in illness. For illness springs from the malevolence of these beings who are necessary for the upbuilding of the whole structure of nature, but also for its fading and decay. "These are the things which, arising from instinctive clairvoyance, underlie such intuitions as those of the Indian Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva ... Brahma is intimately related to all that is of the nature of the fire-beings, and the sylphs; Vishnu with all that is of the nature of sylphs and undines; Shiva with all that is of the nature of undines and gnomes. Generally speaking, when we go back to these more ancient conceptions, we find everywhere the pictorial expressions for what must be sought today as lying behind the secrets of nature.” [Rudolf Steiner, MAN AS SYMPHONY OF THE CREATIVE WORD (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1970), lecture 8, GA 230.]  FAIRY WORLDS AND WORKERS, by Marjorie Spock (Anthroposophic Press, 1980). “That fairyland and its denizens should be as much a concern of scientists as they have long been of poets and painters and storytellers was one of Steiner’s deep convictions. For he was a close observer of their [i.e., the fairies’] life and work, and it was clear to him that they were of profound importance to the earth.” — Waldorf educator Marjorie Spock, FAIRY WORLDS AND WORKERS, p. 8. (The book’s dedication: “In memory of RUDOLF STEINER who understood so well the living forces behind Nature.”) "Four races of Little People (as tradition also calls fairies) serve the four elements: earth, air, fire and water. Gnomes are the caretakers of the earth-realm, undines or water spirits [are] wielders of fluids. Sylphs are the element of light and air. Fire-spirits reign over processes of heat." — Ibid., p. 10. "[I]t would be a mistake to picture the Little People carrying on their work in a do-gooding spirit. Virtue does not interest fairies; it would scarcely occur to them that they 'serve' Nature ... They simple react to their environment in love or loathing. For they are ruled exclusively by feeling — feeling more intense by far that any familiar to most human beings." — Ibid., p. 10. "Since gnomes and human beings alike are earthbound creatures, we will probably find gnomes — or cobolds, or goblins, as they are sometimes also called — the fairy race closest to our understanding." — Ibid., p. 11. "Gnomes are immensely clever Little People, with large heads out of all proportion to their tiny bodies ... [T]o them anyone who has to think to get facts is half asleep ... Since they are wide awake already, they perceive what is without having to mull it over in their heads." — Ibid., p. 11. "It is no easy feat for people of our time to see the fairies. Yet there are four professions which offer their practitioners unique opportunities to know them. Farmers, fishermen, foresters and miners work not just at the threshold of fairyland but well inside it ... Insightful farmers learn to transform dead wastes into life by composting ... Fairies are strongly attracted by this practice. They swarm to the farmer's aid ... Taught by Rudolf Steiner, the biodynamic farmer adds a further lure: Four kinds of sprays are readied ... To strengthen gnome activity in roots a spray of treated cow manure is used... [etc.]." — Ibid., pp. 27-28. "It is wise, on encountering a fairy, not to be too overeager in one’s scrutiny. Little People — like those other innocents, animals, and children — have an intense dislike of being stared at. They love to stare at us, of course, but will turn away at once and disappear the moment we return the favor. They have grown shy in the face of our disbelief in them.” — Marjorie Spock, FAIRY WORLDS AND WORKERS (Anthroposophic Press, 1980), p. 28. "It is not hard to detect that gnomes are wintry ... There is frostbite of mind in them, and a chilly remoteness from others in their rugged individualism ... We live with undines when we feel with spring, experiencing the upward freeing of the tide of life ... We live with sylphs when we imagine ourselves moving with the raying light as it suffuses the whole universe in summer ... We live with fire-spirits in the mellow warmth that is carried deep into the earth in autumn ... This is to live with Nature where she really lives." — Ibid., pp. 30-31. Detail from a drawing by a Waldorf student. Bear in mind that Waldorf schools do not necessarily or absolutely teach antipathy to nature. Steiner's message was mixed: nature has its virtues as well as its troubling deceptions and lures. Here is a pleasing image of nature created by a Waldorf student (courtesy of PLANS):  But our natural, physical world — a place of illusion — is separated from the higher spirit realms by an abyss. Here is one of the creatures lurking there, drawn by Steiner, engraved on a window in the Goetheanum, and lastly copied by myself. A little too much Disney has crept into my rendering, I think. The image at the Goetheanum is creepier.  The relationship between humans and animals, as described by Steiner, is odd (as you might expect). Here is just one indication:  “The ancients thought that the animal that primarily develops the heart, that is all heart and therefore the most courageous, is the lion ... [T]he lion has quite short intestines; their development is curtailed. The minute 'intestine' in the human ear is formed most delicately ... [T]he eagle is under the sway of the upper forces ... [T]he ancients called the part of man that constitutes the digestive system 'bull'. That gives us the three members of human nature: eagle — head; lion — breast; bull — abdomen ... [T]hese ancient people expressed, in such symbols, certain truths that we acknowledge again today ... These people dreamed true dreams.” [Rudolf Steiner, FROM COMETS TO COCAINE (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2000), pp. 50-51. R.R. sketch, 2009, based on illustration on page 51.] Some parts of this statement almost seem to make sense. But consider. Steiner was saying that the ancients were fundamentally correct (their dreams were true; Anthroposophists "acknowledge" or accept the ancients' truths today). Thus, in discussing the "symbols" used by the ancients, Steiner was asserting that those images were true — the ancients, you see, were clairvoyant. Steiner's basic position on such matters is that the ancients were right about many, many things, whereas modern science is wrong about almost everything. In sum, Steiner embraced ancient ignorance while rejecting modern knowledge. As for Mother Earth herself: “The earth was once a giant animal which, in keeping with its size, was rather lazy, turning only slowly about its axis in space, but which looked out into space through these dragon birds which were simply movable eyes ... You can comprehend the earth if you imagine it as an animal that has died.” [Rudolf Steiner, BLACKBOARD DRAWINGS 1919-1924 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), p. 69. R.R., sketch, 2009.]  “This is what the surroundings of the earth looked like ... [L]et's call this warmer layer 'fiery air.' It was not blazing hot, as modern scientists incorrectly assume ... [P]eculiar animals lived in the fiery air ... These flying animals were even able to emit something like electricity and to send it down to the earth ... [T]hese birds were small dragon birds ... Further down, on the muddy earth, there were animals remarkable for their gigantic size ... [T]hey had huge eyes that emitted light ... [Y]ou would have seen a gigantic light coming toward you with a body larger than a whale ... [Y]ou could have climbed on it with a ladder. It would indeed have been like mountain climbing ... So you see things were really different back then." [Rudolf Steiner, FROM CRYSTALS TO CROCODILES (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2002, pp. 101-104. R. R. sketch, 2009, based on illustration on p. 101.]  [R.R., 1993.] "People gaze open-eyed at the rainbow. But if you look at the rainbow with a little imagination [i.e., basic clairvoyance], you may see there elemental Beings. These elemental Beings are full of activity, and they demonstrate their activity in a most remarkable manner. At the yellow you see some of them streaming out from the rainbow, continually coming out of it. They move across, and the moment they reach the lower end of the green they feel drawn to it. You see them disappear at this point [green]. On the other side they come out again. To one who views it with Imagination, the whole rainbow is a revelation of the spiritual. It is in fact a spiritual cylinder, wonderful to behold. And you may observe too how these spiritual Beings come forth from the rainbow with extreme fear, and then how they go in with an absolutely invincible courage. When you look at the red-yellow, you see fear streaming out, and when you look at the blue-violet you have the feeling: there all is courage and bravery of heart. "Picture it to yourself. What I see before me is not just a rainbow! Here beings are coming out of it, there beings are disappearing into it . Here is anxiety and fear, there is courage. And now the courage disappears again. That is the way to look at the rainbow!" [Rudolf Steiner, ART (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), pp. 241-242.]  “We see countless elemental beings in spring just around Easter time ... we see them come together in a general cloud (red) and form a common mass within the Earth soul (green). But in doing so these elemental beings lose their consciousness to a certain degree and enter into a sort of sleeping condition.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE CYCLE OF THE YEAR AS THE BREATHING-PROCESS OF THE EARTH (Anthroposophic Press, 1984), p. 40. R.R, sketch, 2010, based on the one in the book. Neither version is informative.]    Anthroposophists often find meaning behind the forms of nature. Natural objects expressing these forms may be cherished and displayed — their corrupt material qualities outweighed by their presumed spiritual, even magical essences. Spirals, as in the nautilus, are taken as representations of spiritual evolution: a recursive process of gradual advancement. Concentric forms with precious cores, as in geodes, are prized as symbols or manifestations of inner glory, inner spiritual connection. Crystals enact, inspire, and perhaps even aid gradual, purifying spiritual growth. [R.R., 2010.] But vileness lurks. Forces of creativity are also forces of demonic influence.  "The creatures of Ahriman with the body of snails correspond to the principle of creating forces, taking innumerable form variations in the animal world, and here especially in the world of molluscs." [Georg Hartmann, THE GOETHEANUM GLASS-WINDOWS (Philosophisch-Anthroposophischer Verlag, 1972), p. 31. R.R. sketch, 2009.] For a quick review of mythical beings that Steiner said really exist, please use this link: "Beings"  Life can be hard, disappointing, painful. People often respond by turning to fantasy worlds — and often they convince themselves that such worlds are real. But they aren't. The only truth, reality, and beauty that really exist, exist here, in the real world. ENDNOTES [1] RUDOLF STEINER (WESTERN ESOTERIC MASTERS SERIES), anthology edited by Richard Seddon (North Atlantic Books, 2004, general editor's preface by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke), p. 7. [2] Rudolf Steiner, OCCULT SCIENCE: An Outline (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), pp. 12-13. For connections and distinctions Steiner drew between Anthroposophy and gnosticism, see ANTHROPOSOPHICAL LEADING THOUGHTS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1999), pp. 175-180. Steiner held that modern humans cannot simply adopt the gnosticism of the past: We have reached a different level of development. The new “wisdom” he offered, Anthroposophy, extends gnostic teachings into our age with appropriate spiritual refinement/repackaging. [3] See, e.g., THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, “Gnosticism.” Platonists believed that a demiurge created the universe. Gnostics accepted the idea from them. Because gnosticism is not an organized religion, there is doctrinal variation. Steiner’s gnosticism is generally consistent with what we might call mainline gnosticism. The natural world is okay, Steiner said, if we perceive it as a sort of garment of the spirit realm. Then it is "true nature." But if we look on the natural world — or, indeed, physical reality in general — as the only reality, then it amounts to hell. Discussing benevolent spiritual beings who aided humanity in the past, Steiner said that Earthly life is darkened by the powers of Ahriman, a dreadful demon. "These former divine companions confronted, as an inimical world, what even in earlier times was called 'hell.' But the efficacy of these spiritual beings stopped short at the gates of hell. These spiritual beings worked upon humankind. The forces of humankind extend even into hell. This signifies nothing other than humankind’s subconscious projection into Ahrimanic forces in the wintertime and also into the ascent of these Ahrimanic forces in the spring. The divine spiritual beings felt this as a world opposed to them. They saw it rise up out of the Earth and felt it to be an exceedingly problematic world." [Rudolf Steiner, THE CYCLE OF THE YEAR AS BREATHING-PROCESS OF THE EARTH (Anthroposophic Press, 1984), p. 41.] Spending time in the hardened, material world where the powers of Ahriman are great is clearly dangerous, but Steiner said it is necessary for us as we evolve. We move away from the purely spiritual realm in order to return with greater impetus. Thus, Anthroposophical doctrine includes a sort of ambivalence toward the material, natural world. "Understood psychologically, there seems in Anthroposophy to be a cosmological ambivalence towards matter which expresses the experience of many spiritually-minded and creative people, not least of Steiner himself, toward the world." [Geoffry Ahern, SUN AT MIDNIGHT (James Clarke & Co., 2009), p. 116.] [4] For an explication of Steinerian evolution, see my essay “Evolution, Anyone” with an afterword by Peter Staudenmaier, on this Web site. Underlying the bipolarity of the Waldorf approach to nature is Steiner's doctrine that Christ, the Sun God, came to earth and remains now on/in/around the earth. “Christ, the Sun God, who was known by earlier peoples under such names as Ahura Mazda, Hu, or Balder, has now united himself with the earth...." [Rudolf Steiner, RUDOLF STEINER SPEAKS TO THE BRITISH (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), pp. 4-5, Introduction by Margaret Jonas.] The Earth, then, must be revered for Christ's sake. However, the Earth also contains such nasty beings as goblins. Physical nature, then, must be viewed askance. [5] Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 55. [6] One meaning of “ether” is “air.” However, in 19th century physics, “the ether” was thought to be an undetectable medium that pervaded the entire universe. (See http://www.britannica.com:80/eb/article-252877/relativity.) Steiner accepted this now-discarded theory, and he extended it into the spirit realm. “[I]f one truly wants a concept of the ether, one must approach it from two sides ... It is interesting that the great German philosophical Idealists ... did not form the concept of the ether. They could not strengthen, could not empower their inner soul life enough to conceive of the ether.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE, (Foundations of Waldorf Education, 1) (Great Barrington, MA: Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 290.] For Steiner, “the etheric” suggests everything that is not purely, grossly earthly — air, outer space, and beyond. [7] ‘63 PINNACLE, Waldorf School of Adelphi University, (Kansas City: Inter-Collegiate Press, 1963). [8] ‘64 PINNACLE, Waldorf School of Adelphi University, (Kansas City: Inter-Collegiate Press, 1964). [9] Rudolf Steiner, AN OUTLINE OF ESOTERIC SCIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), p. 393. [10] FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, pp. 90-91. [11] Rudolf Steiner and Roberto Trostli, RHYTHMS OF LEARNING (SteinerBooks, 1998), p. 196. It may not be coincidental that the first Waldorf school stood on a hill (although the sponsoring Waldorf Cigarette Factory may have influenced the site selection): “It is certainly easier to climb than the Swiss mountains, but the pleasure we get in climbing up this hill to our dear Waldorf School is a spiritual pleasure more than anything else.” [Rudolf Steiner, RUDOLF STEINER IN THE WALDORF SCHOOL (SteinerBooks, 1996), p. 60.] In any event, Steiner situated his headquarters on hills: “The First Goetheanum was erected on the hill in Dornach (1913-1922/23).” [Rudolf Steiner, COLOUR (SteinerBooks, 1996), p.3] “The [second] Goetheanum building now standing on the hill at Dornach is intended as a contribution towards the opposing of destructive forces being unleashed within the human soul ... ” [Rudolf Steiner and Christian Thal-Jantzen, ARCHITECTURE AS A SYNTHESIS OF THE ARTS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1999), p. xiii.] [12] Friedrich Georg Juenger, THE FAILURE OF TECHNOLOGY (Henry Regency Company, 1956). All members of my senior class had to read this book, which became the focus of our weekly “discussion” group (which was, of course, heavily attended — and dominated — by faculty). Juenger’s thesis is that to use of modern technology interferes with the acquisition of spiritual wisdom. [13] See “Unenlightened,” on this Web site. [14] Ibid. [15] Rudolf Steiner, INVESTIGATIONS INTO OCCULTISM SHOWING ITS PRACTICAL VALUE IN DAILY LIFE (Kessinger, 1996), p. 137. [16] Rudolf Steiner, NATURE SPIRITS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1995), p.69. [17] Ibid., p. 70. [18] FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 649. [19] NATURE SPIRITS, p. 62. [20] Rudolf Steiner, CHANCE, PROVIDENCE, AND NECESSITY (SteinerBooks, 1988), p. 95. [21] NATURE SPIRITS, pp. 28-29. [22] Ibid., pp. 83-84. [23] Ibid., p. 84. [24] Ibid., p. 84. [25] Ibid., p. 62. [26] Ibid., pp. 85-86. [27] Rudolf Steiner, "Man as Symphony of the Creative World" (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1970), lecture, November 3, 1923. [28] Rudolf Steiner, THE RIDDLE OF HUMANITY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1990), lecture, August 6, 1916. [29] Ibid., lecture 9, August 15, 1916. [30] Rudolf Steiner, THE MISSION OF THE FOLK SOULS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), p. 64. [31] Rudolf Steiner, THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN (Anthroposophic Press, 1973), XII. [32] Rudolf Steiner, MAN’S LIFE ON EARTH AND IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLDS (Anthroposophical Publishing Company, 1952), pp. 83-84. This fascinating book, which is not fully consistent with some of Steiner’s other productions — he sometimes had trouble keeping his stories straight — includes air-fire beings, earth-water beings, Jahve (Jehovah on the Moon), Ahriman, Lucifer, Jupiter beings, Mars beings, Saturn beings, and much, much more. A samplling: "When therefore we look out into the atmosphere which surrounds our Earth, and within which we ourselves are living, we have there around us a world of beings, who are composed merely of air and warmth. They are the same kind of beings whom I have called in my books and frequently spoken of in lectures as the Luciferic beings." [Ibid., p. 81.] "Turning now again to the beings whom I called Ahrimanic and who have their stronghold below the surface of the Earth — the earth-water beings — how do these compare with Jahve and the Mercury and Venus beings? ... The Ahrimanic beings wage war continually on Jahve and on the Venus and Mercury powers, and are determined to usurp from Jahve his rightful sovereignty." [Ibid., p. 87.] "And so we find these air-fire beings making sallies from their strongholds not only upon the Ahrimanic powers, but upon the influences that should be continually reaching man from Mars, Jupiter and Saturn." [Ibid., pp. 88-89.]  The Waldorf view of nature is a bit like a negative image: attractive, perhaps, but with all the substance drained away. [R.R., 2010.] |
