NON-WALDORF WALDORFS Looking for a Good One How can a Waldorf school sanitize itself — that is, rid itself of Steiner's doctrines, or at least the most noxious ones? Tossing out teachings that are obviously wrong or wicked might seem a simple matter. But in fact some of Steiner's most appalling doctrines lie near the heart of Anthroposophy and cannot be eliminated without causing the entire body of Steiner’s teachings to fall apart. Race Rudolf Steiner found special virtues in Aryans and, especially, Germans. He taught that Northern European culture was the highest yet attained, and that German folk wisdom can point the world toward spiritual truth: “Germanic mythology, from the way in which it was developed out of the native powers of the Archangel, is in its pictures closely akin to the anthroposophical conception of the world such as it shall grow to be in the course of time for all mankind.” [1] Aryans, he said, are especially adept at using their brains: “[A]t the present time it is the task of the Aryans to develop the faculty of thought and all that belongs to it.” [2] Dark-complected people are less intelligent than fair-haired whites, according to Steiner: “In the case of fair people, less nourishment is driven into the eyes and hair; it remains instead in the brain and endows it with intelligence. Brown- and dark-haired people drive the substances into their eyes and hair that the fair people retain in their brains.” [3] In setting up his first Waldorf school, in Germany, for German students, Steiner aimed to offer an education specially suited to German mental and spiritual capacities: The German “must be educated to [his] mission ... [which is] looking at the world from the most varied points of view. This is the special mission of the German people ... They shall take hold upon world culture from this side ... [C]ertain things that I shall touch upon today, for example, in the realm of knowledge, can be evolved only through the German people....” [4] All of this raises the question whether Waldorf education can be tailored to the needs of non-Germans. At the Waldorf school I attended, this was attempted, in part, by emphasizing the spiritualistic writings of the American Transcendentalists. [5] The aim was to make our education appropriate for white American kids. (Please remember: I am discussing Anthroposophical thinking about nations and races, not my own thinking.) But what about nonwhite American kids? Making Waldorf schooling appropriate for them is more challenging. Steiner repeatedly and explicitly said that the "white race" is superior to other races. "The white race is the future, the spiritually creative race." [6] Racism is almost universally deplored today. So what's a Waldorf to do? The obvious solution is to assert that Steiner was wrong in this one instance, on the solitary issue of racism. For Waldorf faculties, however, such an admission would have serious drawbacks. It would open the possibility that Steiner was also wrong about other matters, a dangerous admission. It would even raise the possibility that Steiner was not, as he claimed, a clairvoyant with access to virtually all knowledge, past and future. This claim is utterly central to the Anthroposophical faith — truly faithful Anthroposophists cannot possibly call Steiner's psychic powers into doubt. So what's a Waldorf to do? One option is to quietly renounce racism without ever admitting that Steiner made racists statements. This is a safer course, but even it entails dangers: Parents and others may do the research necessary to unearth Steiner's racism, in which case not only would Steiner be laid open to criticism, but so would the deceitful Waldorf movement. We must admit that rejecting racism, however it is done, would be meritorious. Good riddance. Unfortunately, because racism is so extensive in Steiner's teachings, at least some Anthroposophists today attempt to explain or excuse it. We've seen examples of this at the discussion forum http://groups.yahoo.com/group/waldorf-critics/ . There, Steiner defenders have posted messages endorsing a racist view of human history and development. This leads us to the obvious, unhappy conclusion that racism remains imbedded in at least some Anthroposophical projects, most notably Waldorf schools. Postings at the PLANS Web site (http://waldorfcritics.org/ ) support this unhappy conclusion: e.g., “Woman Sees Waldorf Racism On First Visit” http://waldorfcritics.org/active/articles/WomanSeesRacism.html . Science Let's consider another basic Anthroposophical belief: Steiner's view of evolution, which is connected to his teachings on karma and reincarnation. “Evolution is the great theme of ... Steiner’s life work. It is, however, an evolution that goes far beyond anything dreamed of today in biology or geology.” [7] Steiner taught that individuals, nations, and even races evolve upward or else they degenerate (involution). The mechanism is provided by karma and reincarnation: Those who live properly in one life move upward in the next, while those who sin or err in one life move downward in the next. [8] Such teachings are alien to most Westerners who usually think that after a single life, one's "soul" will go to heaven or hell, or it will simply cease to exist (death is death: kaput). But rejecting Steiner's teachings on these matters is extremely difficult for Anthroposophists, since they are “the great theme of ... Steiner’s life work.” Hence, if Waldorf schools want to attract students — to fill the classroom seats and provide tuitions — the schools generally have little option but to hide their devotion to reincarnation, karma, and Steinerian evolution/involution.  Note that Steiner's view of evolution was at odds with Darwin's. There is no karma or reincarnation in Darwinian evolution — the key mechanism for Darwinists is random change, not the receipt of one's karmic due. This leads us to another large problem area for Waldorf schools: Science. Steiner frequently set his teachings in direct opposition to the findings of science, rejecting wholesale the discoveries of physics, astronomy, geology, medical science — in essence, all real knowledge. [9] Waldorf schools face a major predicament if they endorse Steiner’s aversion to science. Denying Steiner's many factually indefensible statements commits them to a long series of deceptions. A sensible position, I think, would be for Waldorfs to admit that Steiner made some mistakes in unimportant matters (i.e., racism, and facts about the physical universe: science), while affirming that Steiner's big doctrines (about the spirit realm: occultism) are correct. Anthroposophists rarely, if ever, take such a line, however. Steiner’s teachings are dogma, generally taken as unquestionable truths: “The facts spoke, not he.” [10] Thus, Steiner’s antiscientific teachings are generally either affirmed or kept hidden. [11] Steiner’s antiscientific attitude was founded on his disregard for clear, ascertainable facts. In Anthroposophy, the real, physical universe has almost no substance or significance. Anthroposophists try to turn their attention to "higher," spiritual realms. [12] Steiner taught that by following his doctrines, Anthroposophists could gain psychic powers similar to his own. In fact, he taught that "organs of clairvoyance" can develop within the human organism. [13] The mindset underlying true-blue Waldorf schools if fundamentally at odds with rationality and science. Art We can see Waldorf’s true agenda also reflected in the way the arts are taught at Waldorf schools. The word "imagination" is widely used in Waldorfs to indicate the mode of thought the schools encourage. [14] Such thinking is deeply irrational, but it is not the sort of fantasizing that we often associate with imagination (e.g., in animated Disney films). Imagination, at Waldorfs, is a precursor to — or even a proxy for — clairvoyance. Consider painting. Students at Waldorfs are often taught wet-on-wet watercolor painting (wet brushes spreading watery colors on wet paper). The results bear no resemblance to ordinary physical reality, and they are completely unlike the stick-figure cartoons that kids often produce. In effect, “imaginative” wet-on-wet Waldorf paintings are talismanic representations of the spirit realm: "[T]he world from which the soul descends has no spatial forms or lines, [but] 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) 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." [15] In creating paintings that suggested such a spirit realm, Waldorf students are given an opportunity to rise into that realm: "[C]olours ... are windows through which we can ascend spiritually into the spiritual world...." [16] From an Anthroposophical perspective, the most important of all arts is eurythmy, a form of stylized dance invented by Steiner. Even more distinctly than painting, eurythmy is intended to enable its practitioners to make direct connection with the spiritual realm: "Eurythmy shapes and moves the human organism in a way that furnishes direct external proof of our participation in the supersensible world. In having people do eurythmy, we link them directly to the supersensible world." [17] Many people are attracted to Waldorf schools because of the emphasis the schools place on the arts. The schools are often aesthetically pleasing. But Waldorf schools do not embrace art for art's sake — in most Waldorf schools, art is employed as a vehicle leading to the occult. ◊◊◊◊ I could continue this analysis of a true-blue Waldorf curriculum (e.g., by discussing the stages of childhood growth; the etheric body, the astral body, and the "I" that each human is supposed to manifest; the various temperaments by which Waldorf faculties segregate students: phlegmatic, melancholic, etc.) [18], but there's probably no need. We can already see the following: ◊ A Waldorf school that clings to all of Steiner's teachings is a den of occultism. ◊ A Waldorf that tries to pick and choose among Steiner's teachings runs into dilemmas that have no easy resolution — which statements does the school disavow, and for what reasons, and why does the school cling to Steiner’s other teachings, and how can a consistent educational program be cobbled together out of broken, disassembled parts?
◊ A "Waldorf" that tries to completely renounce Steiner would be a Waldorf in name only. But retaining the name would always raise suspicions. If a school says it is a Waldorf — if it walks like a Waldorf, and talks like a Waldorf — then at least some remnants of Waldorf occultism are likely still imbedded there. For parents trying to find a “good” Waldorf, then, the choices may come down to this: Send your kids to an Anthroposophical school that pretends to be non-Anthroposophical, or send them to a non-Anthroposophical school that pretends the reverse. Or, obviously, you could decide to sidestep Waldorf schooling altogether. The foregoing leads us to a critical issue. How many Anthroposophists on the staff of a “Waldorf” school are too many? Half of the faculty? No, that’s far too many — kids will probably come into frequent contact with Steiner-like loopiness. What, then, if there is just one Anthropop on the faculty? This would certainly be better, yet it would still be worrisome. I’ve said that some “Waldorfs” may be free of Anthroposophy. But how is a parent to know for sure, given that many deeply Anthroposophical Waldorfs disguise their missions? If a school calls itself a Waldorf or Steiner school, then we would be well advised to assume that the school aspires to Steinerism. The sole Anthroposophist at that sort of school might be, in essence, the covert spiritual leader for the entire faculty. And realize that some teachers who are not Anthroposophists may nonetheless have received training as Waldorf teachers, so they will be following some version of Steiner’s dicta whether or not they know it.  Another possibility is that the faculty at a Waldorf school may generally disavow Steiner’s doctrines and yet remain devoted to other forms of occultism. Steiner urged his followers to develop their own powers of clairvoyance. An aspiring spiritualist or mystic may begin by following Steiner’s advice but then wander away. Mystical revelations can be of almost any sort, visions that support Steiner’s and visions that don’t. I’ve known individuals with spiritualistic yearnings who were drawn to Anthroposophy, joined Waldorf faculties, then partially or wholly split from Anthroposophy, but remained mystics. In his later years, American Anthroposophist John Fentress Gardner — headmaster at the Waldorf I attended — shifted away from his years-long adherence to Steiner. He began urging some spiritualistic faculty members to “use their own spiritual perceptions in their educational approach.” [19] If such perceptions are not tightly bounds to Steiner's doctrines, following Gardner's advice could create a sort of curricular chaos. And indeed, Gardner’s new tack contributed to the scandal that nearly ripped that Waldorf school apart. [20] After resigning in the wake of the scandal, Gardner affirmed charismatic Christianity as being at least as true Anthroposophy. [21] The important point for our present discussion is that a Waldorf school that separates itself, more or less, from Rudolf Steiner may nonetheless by an occultist institution where children are led toward mysticism of one form or another. If you don’t want this for your child, you should send her/him elsewhere. Finally, let’s consider the possibility that a “Waldorf” faculty includes no Anthroposophists or other mystics, and no teachers who have been trained in Waldorf methods. Surely that school is safe? Perhaps. But this situation could also mean that the teachers there are groping in a deeper darkness than Anthroposophical initiates do — to the extent that they try to employ Waldorf methods, they may not understand what they are attempting. Anthroposophy is a loaded gun. For people to play with this gun when they don’t know how it works is a prescription for disaster. So, zero Anthropops on the faculty? That would be best, certainly. But the concerns that attach themselves to the names “Waldorf” or “Steiner” would still potentially hover over the school. A parent should dig deep for clear, demonstrably true answers about the school’s purpose and curriculum before consigning children to that school’s care. So, my advice? Look for a school with no devotion to Steiner or any other form of covert mysticism. A real Waldorf or Steiner school is quite dangerous. An apparently false one — a school that calls itself a Waldorf or Steiner school for no discernible reason — may also be dangerous. So caveat emptor: Let the buyer (parent or student) beware. Assume that a “Waldorf” is a center of occultism until absolutely overwhelming proof convinces you otherwise. — Roger Rawlings Some illustrations on each page are closely connected to the essay on that page; others are not — they provide general context.  Waldorf schools can be attractive, no doubt. Consider what it is you find attractive, and ask if it is enough. Young Waldorf students in a circle, celebrating a birthday, if I recall. [R.R., 1963 — a photo I took of a class at a Waldorf school in Germany.]  Anthroposophical art — ranging from watercolor painting to sculpture to architecture — usually employs organic forms that are meant to invoke the spirit realm. The presence of such art in a Waldorf school suggests a deep commitment to the religion of Anthroposophy. This is the side door of a house designed by Rudolf Steiner; the object next to it is a window shutter. [R. R. sketch, 2010.]  The wheel of karma [Ernst Lehner, SYMBOLS, SIGNS & SIGNETS (Dover Publishing, 1950), p. 96]. Here is an item from the Waldorf Watch "news" page: “My husband is Swiss, and in Switzerland the gov. subsidizes Waldorf, there's one in every town, it very prevalent, just one notch below mainstream. (As an aside, this is a country where religion is laughed at and almost extinct, and people don't think of Steiner as religious.) So, my knowledge about Waldorf en masse comes from there. But here in the U.S., even our good, relatively small public school system was a social and emotional disaster for my kids. My son's self-esteem, happiness, empathy, confidence, consideration for others, sense of responsibility, open mindedness has dramatically improved since we moved him. And that's what we hear from other parents at this school, and from our friends in Switzerland. I can't know what you or others have experienced. If it's way different than that, it sounds like the schools or teachers you've had experience with are not really ‘doing Waldorf right’ imo. I'd hate to see our Waldorf take the rap for that.” [5-16-2001 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/waldorf-critics/message/19051]
 “As soon as we speak from the aspect of the higher worlds, there exists an unbroken connection between the different planets and so the moon is connected with the earth just as for instance Berlin and Hamburg are connected by the telephone. Beings that live on the moon can therefore carry out their operations on the earth with the aid of astral forces. One might call them the reverse side of other beings whom we also find in the astral world, beneficent beings who, compared even with the mildest human nature, are yet much, much milder — in their speech too, very mild and gentle. The speech of these beings has not that aridity of human language which a man must ponder over a long time if he is to express himself, and clothe his thoughts and ideas in words. One could say that the thoughts of these beings flow from their lips — not merely the expression of the thoughts in words, but thoughts themselves flow in a gentle language from their lips. These beings are likewise to be found within our astral world; they have their actual scene of action on another planet. As the first-named beings are at home on the moon, these second are at home on Mars, they inhabit Mars and are in fact the main population — as certain human races are the principal population on our earth. If we then mount up higher to the devachanic plane we find certain beings who in their own way are also of a mild, peaceable nature and who in a certain respect are extraordinarily clever. These beings to be found on the devachanic plane have their actual home on the planet Venus, as the other beings on moon and Mars. On Venus too we find yet a second species of beings who — in contrast to the gentle, amiable kind — present a wild and furious vitality, and whose principal occupation consists in mutual fighting and plunder.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE INFLUENCE OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS ON MAN (Anthroposophic Press, 1961), lecture 1, GA 102. R.R. sketch, 2010 — whereas Steiner’s text is strictly factual, my sketch is somewhat impressionistic.] I have a special fondness for this book — I remember seeing a copy in the home of one of my teachers. I wish I had read a page or two.  [R. R., 2010.] Steiner sometimes took questions at the end of his lectures. Here's a sample. (You may detect a bit of double-talk.) Question: How are Christ's words of consolation received and experienced? Answer: Men will feel these words of consolation as though arising in their own hearts. The experience may also seem like physical hearing. Question: What is the relation of chemical forces and substances to the spiritual world? Answer: There are in the world a number of substances which can combine with or separate from each other. What we call chemical action is projected into the physical world from the world of Devachan — the realm of the Harmony of the Spheres. In the combination of two substances according to their atomic weights, we have a reflection of two tones of the Harmony of the Spheres. The chemical affinity between two substances in the physical world is like a reflection from the realm of the Harmony of the Spheres. The numerical ratios in chemistry are an expression of the numerical ratios of the Harmony of the Spheres, which has become dumb and silent owing to the densification of matter. If one were able to etherealise material substance and to perceive the atomic numbers the inner formative principle thereof, he would be hearing the Harmony of the Spheres. We have the physical world, the astral world, the Lower Devachan and the Higher Devachan. If the body is thrust down lower even than the physical world, it comes into the sub-physical world, the lower astral world, the lower or evil Lower Devachan, and the lower or evil Higher Devachan. The evil astral world is the province of Lucifer, the evil Lower Devachan the province of Ahriman, and the evil Higher Devachan the province of the Asuras. When chemical action is driven down beneath the physical plane — into the evil Devachanic world — magnetism arises. When light is thrust down into the sub-material — that is to say, a stage deeper than the material world — electricity arises. If what lives in the Harmony of the Spheres is thrust down farther still, into the province of the Asuras, an even more terrible force — which it will not be possible to keep hidden very much longer — is generated. It can only be hoped that when this force comes to be known — a force we must conceive as being far, far stronger than the most violent electrical discharge — it can only be hoped that before some discoverer gives this force into the hands of humankind, men will no longer have anything un-moral left in them. Question: What is electricity? Answer: Electricity is light in the sub-material state. Light is there compressed to the utmost degree. An inward quality too must be ascribed to light; light is itself at every point in space. Warmth will expand in the three dimensions of space. In light there is a fourth; it is of fourfold extension — it has the quality of inwardness as a fourth dimension. Question: What happens to the Earth's corpse? Answer: As the residue of the Moon-evolution we have our present moon which circles around the Earth. Similarly there will be a residue of the Earth which will circle around Jupiter. Then these residues will gradually dissolve into the universal ether. On Venus there will no longer be any residue. Venus will manifest, to begin with, as pure Warmth, then it will become Light and then pass over into the spiritual world. The residue left behind by the Earth will be like a corpse. This is a path along which man must not accompany the Earth, for he would thereby be exposed to dreadful torments. But there are Beings who accompany this corpse, since they themselves will by that means develop to a higher stage. [Rudolf Steiner, THE ETHERIZATION OF THE BLOOD (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1971), GA 130, Oct. 1, 1911. R.R. sketch, 2009, based on Rudolf Steiner, BLACKBOARD DRAWINGS 1919-1924 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), p. 121. The sketch is not entirely appropriate to the Q&A session, but what image would be?]  Public schools in America need improvement. Many families are unhappy with the quality of education provided at such schools. But if you seek an alternative, make sure that the alternate school you select offers higher academic standards, better preparation for life, and an environment that will nurture a child's real capacities. Waldorf schools are oriented to nonexistent occult realms. [R.R. sketch, 2010.] For further suggestions, please see "Advice for Parents" and "Clues" here at Waldorf Watch. For an overview of the Waldorf spirit, see "Spirit" Images of gods from karenswhimsy.com.  [Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, 2004.] Waldorf educators have become increasingly skilled at making their curriculum seem "normal." The teachers' guide shown here is a good example. Much of the book presents more or less straightforward, simple chemistry. The impression is created that Waldorf teachers following the book would teach modern science in a fair and balanced manner. The author even has nice things to say about Darwin and Einstein [pp. 250, 259.], scientists whom Anthroposophists normally scorn. And yet, if you carefully consider the statements made in the book, you can easily perceive how in Waldorf schools the teaching of chemistry is bent to serve the occult purposes of Anthroposophy. Here are three excerpts. They are written in the sort of code Waldorf teachers often employ — the words may sound fine until you stop to mull them over: "Waldorf education works with the developmental stages of growth in children. The harmonious unfolding of the personality depends on the healthy maturation of each developmental stage...." [p. 7.] "Pre-school children are informed about the world through their bodily or sense impressions. The wonder of the world passes directly into their physical/sensory organization through every experience they encounter. Impressions are stored as cellular memory as the organs of the body are being sculpted." [p. 7.] "When a foundation of observation and disciplined thinking is established, the high school science teacher now introduces a new type of thinking ... [F]irst a phenomenon is carefully observed; second, the rigors and laws of thinking and science are applied ... third, everything up to now is laid to rest, the mind is cleared, and the phenomenon itself is allowed to speak. The student observes what comes forward while keeping the mind from straying ... This type of thinking is freed from the senses and allows the universe to speak through the individual. It is a type of thinking which is truly moral and can be the fertile ground for the 'new' science of the twenty-first century." [pp. 12-13.] What is wrong with any of that? Let's observe with disciplined thinking: Anthroposophists believe that students mature through a precisely defined series of "developmental stages": These are seven-year-long periods during which invisible bodies (the etheric body, the astral body, and the "I") incarnate. [See "Most Significant".] Anthroposophists also believe that children arrive on Earth from their past lives (reincarnation), retaining memories of the wondrous spirit realm. The "physical/sensory organization" of children (a phrase taken straight from Steiner) bears this spiritual imprint. The kids' overall "organization" extends beyond the physical body to multiple, invisible spirit and soul components: This is the "human organization" Steiner often discussed.* "Cellular memory" is a speculative notion with little basis in real science: It posits that our cells hold the patterns of our history and mentality, independent of DNA or the brain. Anthroposophists like the concept because it can be made to fit with their belief that the physical body is "sculpted" by spiritual forces, including the astrological effects of the stars and constellations. [See "What We Are".] The "new type of thinking" is Anthroposophical thinking, very much akin to meditation ("the mind is cleared ... keeping the mind from straying"). Such meditation is key to Steiner's doctrine that one can discipline the mind and thus become clairvoyant. [See "Clairvoyance".] The "phenomenon" or "universe" is said to "speak" when the spirit flows through it into the receptive mind. Anthroposophical thinking is "freed from the senses" because, as Steiner taught, real thinking doesn't depend on the brain but on invisible "organs of clairvoyance." [See "Thinking Cap".] Such thinking is "moral" because it is spiritual (not like the neutral objectivity aimed at in real science) and it leads to the "'new' science" which, for Anthroposophists, is spiritual science — Anthroposophy itself.** [See "Steiner's 'Science'".] So, as you can see, even careful statements made by Anthroposophists trying to hide their occultism often reveal this very occultism. We get a hint of this from the very title of the book: It refers to "Waldorf Chemistry". What is this? It is not the same as ordinary chemistry; it is Goethean science of the sort promoted by Steiner. [See "Goethe".]
The following is excerpted from "The Delusional World of Rudolf Steiner" by Ian Hayward Robinson http://www.rationalist.com.au/archive/78/p2-5_AR78.pdf The Steiner beachhead has succeeded due to the partisan lobbying by groups of acolytes who seek to provide a spiritually-based education for their children at the secular system’s expense. Most of them seem to now little about Rudolf Steiner or his crazy theories on just about everything, but are sucked in by the superficially attractive rhetoric and egged on by the hard-core disciples of this weird early twentieth century German guru. Part of the propaganda is that Steiner education is not ‘religious’ or ‘spiritual’. It may be true that religion or spirituality are not overtly proselytised in Steiner annexes, although we can’t be sure of this because there is little monitoring or evaluation. The whole basis of Steiner education, however, comes from Steiner’s excursions into what he called ‘spiritual’ or ‘occult science’, which was code for him going into a meditative state, free-associating around a topic, and writing down the results of his ruminations as though they were incontrovertible truth. Using this method he came up with a number of amazing break-throughs in modern thought, such as the importance of burying stag bladders full of yarrow flowers in a field to stimulate the growth of crops! The principles of Steiner education are certainly not evidence-based or the result of rigorous research. ... One would have thought that Steiner propagandists would have been keen to establish the credentials of their system by a series of well-designed and executed research studies, but this is not the case. There is virtually no hard information about what goes on in Steiner classrooms or on the effects of it on children’s learning. In eschewing such empirical studies, Steiner’s supporters are really only following the guru himself. Steiner was highly dismissive of the ‘trend of human evolution … to validate judgements through visual observations’. ...If the sources of Steiner’s educational ideas are not educational research, where do they come from? Although this is often denied, there is no doubt they come from Steiner’s quasi-religious beliefs. Steiner teachers don't say overtly that their system is religious, because then they wouldn't be allowed to teach it in state public schools and maybe wouldn't get as many takers for their dedicated schools. But the whole system is shot through with religion, whether the teachers admit it or even know it. When the children study Indian mythology one year and Hebrew another and so on, they are not studying `comparative religion`, as one parent claimed, they are recapitulating the spiritual development of man as Steiner believed it occurred, from the mythical civilisations of 'Lemuria' and 'Atlantis', through the Egyptian, Indian, and Hebrew civilisations to its culmination in modern (i.e. early 20th century) ‘Aryan’ (i.e. German) civilisation. This is not an educational idea, it is a religious one. When Steiner teachers divide the development of the child into seven year cycles, this obeisance to the mystical number 'seven' is not an educational idea, it is a religious one. ...When Steiner teachers focus on different aspects of the person at different stages, this is based on his religious belief about humans having three bodies (the physical, the 'astral' and the 'etheric') that develop in a certain order at certain times. This is not an educational idea, it is a religious one. When Steiner teachers make children at a certain age paint on damp paper, which makes everything go fuzzy, this is because he believed their souls were not yet developed enough to cope with sharp distinctions. This is not an educational idea, it is a religious one. ...Steiner certainly thought his education system was an extension of his religious beliefs. He tells the teachers in his first school that ‘by employing our methods we will harmonise the higher human being (the human spirit and soul) with the physical body (our lower [sic] being)’. Five years later he tells them: ‘Every word and gesture in my teaching as a whole will be permeated with religious fervour’ and talks about having ‘educated children very naturally in a priestly way – what is really a religious devotion …’. This position has not changed since Steiner’s death. A Steiner education website states: 'Anthroposophy holds that the human being is fundamentally a spiritual being and that all human beings deserve respect as the embodiment of their spiritual nature. This view is carried into Waldorf [Steiner] education …' and another states: 'Rudolf Steiner's educational philosophy must be set within the context of his main endeavour - to address the latent possibilities in human beings of advancing beyond the present-day accepted limits of cognition to an awakening, by self-discipline and exercise, to a knowledge of the spiritual worlds underlying outer existence — higher worlds.'  Steiner's doctrines are strange. If you associate yourself or your child with a Waldorf school, you should be prepared for this strangeness — it may never be spoken aloud in your presence, but it underlies the entire Waldorf movement. Steiner taught, for instance, that there were two Jesuses — one from the line of Solomon, one from the line of Nathan. They fused, incorporating the soul of Zarathustra and then serving as host for the Sun God, Christ. This, then, was the Solomonic Nathanic Christ Jesus. The image above, not Anthroposophical, is the "great symbol of Solomon". I include such images at this site to put Anthroposophy in its esoteric context. [Eliphas Levi, MAGIC (Dover, 2006), p. 43.]  Waldorfish art, more or less [R. R., 2010]. ENDNOTES [1] Rudolf Steiner, THE MISSION OF THE FOLK SOULS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), p. 123. [2] Rudolf Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY (SteinerBooks, 1987), p. 46. [3] Rudolf Steiner, HEALTH AND ILLNESS, Vol. 1. (Anthroposophic Press, 1981), pp. 85-86. [4] Rudolf Steiner THE CHALLENGE OF THE TIMES (SteinerBooks, 1979), pp. 207-209. I discuss these matters in “The Good Wars” at this Web site. [5] See my essay “Unenlightened” at this Web site. [6] Rudolf Steiner, VOM LEBEN DES MENSCHEN UND DER ERDE (Verlag Der Rudolf Steiner-Nachlassverwaltung, 1961), p. 62. For a laundry list of Steiner's racist remarks, see "Steiner's Bile" at this Web site. [7] Rudolf Steiner, AN OUTLINE OF ESOTERIC SCIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), p. xii, introduction by Clopper Almon. [8] See the essay “Evolution, Anyone?” with an afterword by Peter Staudenmaier, on this Web site. [9] See such books as Rudolf Steiner, AN OCCULT PHYSIOLOGY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1983), Rudolf Steiner SCIENCE (Sophia Books, 2004), Rudolf Steiner, FROM ELEPHANTS TO EINSTEIN (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1999), and Rudolf Steiner, THE INTERIOR OF THE EARTH: An Esoteric Study of the Subterranean Spheres (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2007). [10] Hermann von Baravalle, RUDOLF STEINER AS EDUCATOR (St. George Books, 1960 revised edition), p.17. [11] See the essay “Steiner's ‘Science’” at this Web site. Steiner was always sensitive to public opinion. For this reason, he urged Waldorf teachers to be cagey about revealing various of his doctrines, such as that islands and continents swim in the sea, unanchored — they are held in position by the influence of the stars. “[I]slands do not sit directly upon foundation; they swim and are held fast from outside ... Such things are the result of the cosmos, of the stars ... However, we need to avoid such things. We cannot tell them to the students ... we would acquire a terrible name. Nevertheless, that is actually what we should achieve in geography.” [Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), pp. 607-608.] [12] See, e.g., Rudolf Steiner, KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT (Anthroposophic Press, 1944). [13] KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT, p. 28. [14] See, e.g., “Essentially, people today have no inkling of how people looked out into the universe in ancient times when human beings still possessed an instinctive clairvoyance ... If we want to be fully human, however, we must struggle to regain a view of the cosmos that moves toward Imagination again....” [Rudolf Steiner, ART AS SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 256.] See also “To what extent will [a child’s] thinking become purely logical and colorless, unenriched by imagination, uninformed by experience? ... More than ever, therefore, should the attempt be made with our adolescents to preserve from the earlier stage of childhood those capacities which are natural to it ... [T]his means to transform thought from what it is at present — the capacity for abstract hypothesis — into the capacity for self-evident spiritual experience.” [A.C. Harwood, PORTRAIT OF A WALDORF SCHOOL (The Myrin Institute Inc., 1956), pp. 23-24.] [15] Rudolf Steiner, THE ARTS AND THEIR MISSION, Lectures from 1923 (Anthroposophic Press, 1964), p. 23. [16] Rudolf Steiner, ART AS SEEN IN THE LIGHT OF MYSTERY WISDOM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), pp. 111-112. [17] ART AS SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY, p. 247. [18] I discuss all of these matters in various essays on this Web site. [19] Lawrence Williams, Ed.D., THE OAK MEADOW TRILOGY (Oak Meadow, Inc., 1997). [20] John T. McQuiston, “’Psychic’ Ex-Student’s Influence Shakes Waldorf School,” THE NEW YORK TIMES, Feb. 18, 1979, p. 48. Also see my essay “Unenlightened” on this Web site. [21] See John Fentress Gardner, TWO PATHS TO THE SPIRIT: Charismatic Christianity and Anthroposophy (Golden Stone Press, 1990). |
