1) [Moon; Saturn] “[T]he moon today is like a fortress in the universe, in which there lives a population that fulfilled its human destiny over 15,000 years ago, after which it withdrew to the moon together with the spiritual guides of humanity ... This is only one of the ‘cities’ in the universe, one colony, one settlement among many ... As far as what concerns ourselves, as humanity on earth, the other pole, the opposite extreme to the moon is the population of Saturn.” [Rudolf Steiner, RUDOLF STEINER SPEAKS TO THE BRITISH (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 93.] 

2) [Occultism; Brotherhood] “There is no other means of bringing about a universal human brotherhood than the spreading of occult knowledge through the world.” [Rudolf Steiner, THEOSOPHY OF THE ROSICRUCIAN (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1953), p. 143.]

3) [Education: Irrational; Life Before Birth] “You will injure children if you educate them rationally because you will then utilize their will [power] in something they have already completed — namely, life before birth.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 61.]

•••

4) [Sun; Moon; Plant Man; Animal Man; Evolution] “If, as he had developed on the Sun, man was called plant man, the man of the Moon can be called animal man ... [T]he Sun man could only elevate himself into a plant by thrusting a portion of his companions down into a coarser mineral realm ... The animal man of the Moon does not yet have firm bones. His skeleton is still cartilaginous. His whole nature is soft, compared to that of today ... His locomotion is not a walking, but rather a leaping, even a floating ... [T]he Moon of that time did not have a thin, airy atmosphere like that of present-day earth, but its envelope was considerably thicker, even denser than the water of today.” [Rudolf Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY: Prehistory of Earth and Man, from the chapter “Life on the Moon” (SteinerBooks, 1987), pp. 193-194.]

5) [Astrology; Horoscopes] “People who are knowledgeable about these things can ‘read’ the forces that determine a person’s path in his or her physical life; on this basis horoscopes are cast. Each of us is assigned a particular horoscope, in which the forces are revealed that have led us into this life. For example, if in a particular horoscope Mars is above Aries, this means that certain Aries forces cannot pass through Mars but are weakened instead.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND HUMANITY (Anthroposophic Press, 1991), p. 61.]

6) [Temperaments; Reincarnation] “Melancholic children are often dependent on atmospheric conditions ... If I were to go into this question in detail from the standpoint of spiritual science [i.e., Anthroposophy], I would have to show you how the childish temperament is actually connected to karma, how in the child’s temperament something really appears that could be described as the consequence of experiences in previous lives on Earth ... Temperament is connected, to a remarkable degree, with the whole life and soul of a person’s previous incarnations.” [Rudolf Steiner, DISCUSSIONS WITH TEACHERS, Foundations of Waldorf Education (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), pp. 60-61.]

•••

7) [Moon Beings; Ghosts] “When human beings cling too strongly to earthly things it may be difficult for them to find their bearings in the sphere of the Moon Beings ... The moon-influences are not really active below the roots of plants ... The moon-influences, rising like mist from this shallow layer, may cause human beings who have to pass after death into the Moon sphere — the soul-world — but are unable to understand the Moon Beings, to be trapped by this shallow stratum of moon-influences and they can actually be seen by sensible-supersensible perception wandering about as ghosts, as spectral shades.” [Rudolf Steiner, KARMIC RELATIONS, Vol. 2 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1974), pp. 150-151.]

Steiner had severe problems trying to express himself. I’ll translate: The Moon sphere is the soul-world; it is occupied by Moon Beings; the influence of the Moon extends only a short distance below the surface of the Earth; people who can’t understand the Moon Beings may, upon death, get trapped in the shallow parts of the Earth that are under the influence of the Moon; thereafter, these poor dead people will become what are commonly called ghosts.

8) [Discipline: Tardiness] How to handle tardy students: Steiner said the following to Waldorf teachers: “We lose all control the minute we look away ... it would make us somewhat laughable. Of course, it’s just laziness ... If a child comes late ten minutes, have him or her stand for half an hour ... Let them stand uncomfortably ... you can be particularly effective if you allow [sic] them to stand in an uncomfortable place ... We could also buy a number of little sheds....” [FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, pp. 109-110.] 

9) [Blonds; Intelligence] “If the blonds and blue-eyed people die out, the human race will become increasingly dense ... Blond hair actually bestows intelligence. 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.” [Rudolf Steiner, HEALTH AND ILLNESS, Vol. 1 (Anthroposophic Press, 1981), pp. 85-86.]

No comment.

•••

10) [Phantoms] These are wraiths of nastiness that emerge from 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.’” [Rudolf Steiner, NATURE SPIRITS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1995), pp. 83-84.]

There are a great many meanies of various sorts flitting and whirring around. Keep reading.

11) [Specters or Ghosts; Etheric Body] Ghosts (aka specters) come to Earth in association with the lowest of our nonphysical bodies (we have three of such bodies, Steiner said). Our accumulated naughtiness causes bits of spiritual beings to chip off, in a manner of speaking, and come to Earth as ghosts:  “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.’” [Ibid., p. 84.] 

Steiner puts words like 'ghosts' in quote marks not to deny that such beings exist — he is telling us that they do  exist. He is simply adding that the common understanding of such stuff is wrong; the correct understanding can be had only by listening to You Know Who.

But Steinerian correctness can be muddling. The explanation for the existence of ghosts Steiner gives here (#11) differs a smidge from what we've seen previously (see #7). That's one reason I politely call these teachings static. More properly, they are crap.

And by the way: If you don't understand the difference between ghosts (aka specters) and phantoms, that's just tough.

12) [Demons; Astral Body] Demons come to Earth through the gumming up of our second nonphysical body: “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.” [Ibid., pp. 85-86.]

Elemental beings are "nature spirits" — nonphysical beings that lurk in the Earth and in nature; they are nonphysical but they are not spiritual: They lack true spirit. Evil people may sink to their level. I'll get to this in a future installment.

Our highest nonphysical body is the "I" or spiritual ego; it defines our humanity. Plants and animals have etheric bodies, like us; animals have astral bodies, like us; but only we have "I"s. (Nonhuman people — there are a lot of them walking around, so look out — don't have "I"s. I'll get to this, too.)

•••

13) [Prayers; "Verses"; Deception] “We also need to speak about a prayer. I ask only one thing of you. You see, in such things everything depends upon the external appearances. Never call a verse a prayer, call it an opening verse before school. Avoid allowing anyone to hear you, as a faculty member, using the word ‘prayer.’”  [FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 20.]

Steiner often coached Waldorf teachers in deceiving outsiders about the true purposes of Waldorf schooling.

Here are the "verses before school" Steiner wrote for Waldorf school students. These prayers, seemingly innocuous, are required in most Waldorf schools. They address and thank God, doing so in distinctly Anthroposophical terms. Teaching students such prayers is teaching them — or at least sensitizing them to — Anthroposophy. Anthroposophical concepts in the prayers include a loving spiritual presence on the Sun, the difference between soul and spirit, the special powers of humanity, light within the soul (stemming from higher worlds), the distinction between God (who does not fully exist in our polytheistic universe) and the spirit of God, and the like. For a detailed analysis, please see "Prayers" on this Web site.

14) [Prayers] “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,

That thou so graciously 

Hast 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.”

15) [Prayers] "I look into the world

In which the Sun shines,

In which the stars sparkle,

In which the stones lie,

The living plants are growing, 

The animals are feeling,

In which the soul of man 

Gives dwelling for the spirit; 

I look into the soul 

Which lives within myself. 

God’s spirit weaves in light 

Of Sun and human soul,

In world of space, without, 

In depths of soul, within. 

God’s spirit, ‘tis to Thee

I turn myself in prayer,

That strength and blessing grow 

In me, to learn and work.” 

•••

Steiner’s doctrines constitute a carnival of absurdities. I’m stunned to look back and realize that many of my Waldorf school teachers believed Steiner's nonsense. If you send your kids to a Waldorf school, they may be “educated” by people who believe it too.

Here’s a miscellaneous selection of three interesting Steiner statements. Waldorf teachers presumably would not repeat such things to their students. But then again, using simpler words, they might. These statements are neither more nor less absurd than many others that Steiner made — they are merely typical.

16) [Giants; Druids; Moon-Science] Steiner taught that “elemental beings” or “nature spirits” lurk behind the surface of nature. These nonphysical beings lack true spiritual identities (i.e., “I”s), but nonetheless they can grow quite large. Some elemental beings emerge from the roots of plants and some emerge from the leaves of plants: “The Sun-Initiation gave the Druid priest the spiritual impulse, and as a result he had his science of Nature ... His science of Nature being a Moon-science, the Druid priest perceived how the elemental beings can grow and expand into gigantic size. [paragraph break] From this resulted his knowledge of the Jötuns, the giant-beings ... When the kind of elemental beings who lived beneficially in the root-nature, expanded into giants, they became the giants of the frost ... And what worked in the growth of the leaves, this too could grow to giant size. Then it lived as a giant elemental being in the misty storms that swept over the Earth, with all that they contained in certain seasons — with the pollen of the plants, and so forth.” [Rudolf Steiner, MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE, Lecture 4: “The Sun-Initiation of the Druid Priest and His Moon-Science”.] Sneeze.

A note on style: Some English translations preserve the tangled and confused quality of Steiner’s prose. Reading this stuff is hard, even after a kindly guide like myself has cut out some of the excess verbiage. But the effort of plowing through Steiner's prose is worthwhile if you want to understand the thinking that lies behind Waldorf schools — it is tangled and confused thinking, disconnected from clarity, reason, and reality. For some people, it exerts a mystical appeal. For others, it sounds a loud alarm: Run away!

17) [Animals; Evolution] Steiner said that animals evolved from people, not vice versa. In the following version (Steiner was not always consistent), animals left humanity before we became full-fledged flesh-and-blood humans. If the animals had stuck with us longer in pre-Earthly existence, they could have accompanied us to the Earth and become human too: “When we say that certain beings remained at the Bull stage, others at the Lion, others at the Eagle, and so on, what does this mean? It means that if these beings had been able to wait, if they could have developed their full love for the physical world only at a much later time, they would have become human beings. If the lion had not willed to enter into the earthly sphere too early, it would have become a man; the same is true of the other animals that had split off up till then.” [Rudolf Steiner, EGYPTIAN MYTHS AND MYSTERIES, Lecture 8 .] Snort.

18) [Sexes; Evolution] Early on, we weren’t divided into genders. This had its drawbacks but it also had some advantages. ”We shall now describe the state of man before his division into male and female. At that time the body consisted of a soft malleable mass ... This division took place slowly and gradually. Long before its actual occurrence, human beings were already developing in such a way that one individual would be born with more male, another with more female characteristics. Each human being however also possessed the opposite sexual characteristics, so that self-impregnation was possible.” [Rudolf Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1959), p. 96.] Snug.

•••

To understand what Waldorf teachers believe, we have to understand the big picture as Rudolf Steiner presented it. So I’d like to begin a series of postings that will, sketchily, explain where we come from, according to Steiner. I’ll begin all the way back at the beginning (as in “In the beginning...”) and then, in future postings — interspersed with others that deal with other topics — I’ll proceed through our main stages of evolution.

If you doubt that Steiner’s theology finds it way into Waldorf classrooms — it does, in many ways. One of the most widespread is the emphasis placed on Norse myths by Waldorf schools. See, for instance, my essay “The Gods”.

ORIGINS

So. To begin with. How was the universe created — did God create it? Somewhat surprisingly, Steiner was vague on this point.

Anthroposophists often criticize the scientific theory of the Big Bang because, as they correctly point out, science cannot (yet) explain why the Big Bang occurred. Thus, science cannot give an ultimate explanation of our ultimate beginnings. Interestingly, however, Steiner’s theory (sorry, undeniable clairvoyant truth) suffers from the same shortcoming. (It also suffers from the drawback that there is absolutely no evidence for Steiner’s view, whereas there is a ream of evidence supporting the Big Ban theory — we don’t know why  the Bang happened, but we’re pretty dang sure that it did  happen. Likewise, we can be pretty dang sure that Steiner's theory is tommyrot.)

19) [Godhead; Angels; Solar Systems] Let’s start by trying to pin Steiner down on the existence of God. Steiner said that the Christian God, the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holly Ghost) exists. But he also said that other trinities also exist. In other words, the Christian God is real, along with a plethora of other gods who are nearer to us and more busy in our affairs. The highest attendants of God have experienced the presence of the Trinity, but perhaps only they have done so. "The Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones come from an earlier solar system. They have been in the vicinity of the highest godhead of all, namely the Trinity." [Rudolf Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL HIERARCHIES (Anthroposophical Publishing Company, 1928), synopsis of Lecture 5.] The capital-T Trinity may be located in the “Crystal Heaven,” which is outside our immediate macrocosm. The Godhead in the “Crystal Heaven” infuses our macrocosm, in the form of creative forces — what Steiner sometimes called the spirit of God (“Gottesgiest”). The essential exception is the descent of Christ to the Earth — in that Event, a portion of the Godhead became very real for humanity, Steiner taught.

20) [Origins; Questioning] Note that the Seraphim, et al, come from “an earlier solar system.” Our solar system undeniably exists, and Steiner said it emerged thanks to the actions of beings from a previous solar system — but where and when and how it all began is more than he can explain: Steiner cops out. He focuses on events in our own celestial neighborhood, and he discourages investigation into ultimate origins. “In a purely intellectual way it is possible, of course, in the case of every given origin, to ask again after its origin ... [But in doing this] we only prolong questioning, as it were, mechanically ... [T]he facts themselves will put a natural end to questioning.” [Rudolf Steiner, OCCULT SCIENCE - An Outline (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1979), pp. 126-127.

Steiner’s point is that if we say our reality was created by a previous reality, this merely pushes back the ultimate explanation. We will want to know how the previous reality came about. And if the answer is that the previous reality was created by a still earlier  reality, then we will want to know how the earlier reality came about. And if... You get the idea. Unless we can identify an actual beginning of everything, we will simply be caught in an infinite regress of explanations that don’t really explain anything. The Bible has an explanation: God is eternal, He always existed, and at a particular point he created the universe. Steiner doesn’t offer any such clear-cut explanation.

21) [Unknown Cause; Logos] “If we have a clock, a mechanical instrument, we can know in advance how it will behave ... [I]n a sense this also applies, as, for instance, in the case of an eclipse of the Sun which can be calculated ... [But the] higher we ascend in the kingdoms of Nature, the less we are able to say what a being will do in a certain situation ... We must accept the creation of the World as a free act of the Logos [the divine or occult Word]. We must not question the Why and Wherefore. All those who have true insight have never spoken of a Cause of the Creation of the Universe.” [Rudolf Steiner, Foundations at the Periphery: Rudolf Steiner's Observations on Star Knowledge,  Nov. 10, 1904 http://wn.rsarchive.org/RelArtic/BobbetteRSW/steineraz_1904.html ] Steiner called himself a scientist, but this statement his utterly unscientific. If a scientist hasn't found an answer, s/he keeps looking. Importantly, Steiner's statement also departs from Biblical truth. The Bible doesn't explain God's reasons, but it give a clear, certain account: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth"  (Genesis 1:1). For the Father, Steiner substitutes "Logos," Christ — the living Word of God — and he reframes the act of divine command as a nebulous, inexplicable act of "freedom." Steiner raises doubts and leaves them unexamined. He is untrue to both science and the Bible.

22) [Jehovah; Elohim] According to Steiner, the Biblical God, Jehovah, did not create the universe. Jehovah (or Jahve) is not the One True God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. He is just one of a band of gods called the Elohim. (To savvy the following, you also need to know that the Moon was once part of the Sun.) “[The] further evolution of man has only been possible because one of the Elohim, Jahve, accompanied the separation of the Moon — while the other six spirits remained in the Sun — and because Jahve cooperated with His six colleagues....” [Rudolf Steiner, THE MISSION OF THE FOLK SOULS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), p. 99.] Jahve is not the Lord God Almighty — he’s just one of the guys.

23) [Crystal Heaven; Zodiac] According to Steiner, our own evolution comes as a result of prior evolutions, involving other beings, elsewhere. (Now you need to know that a very early stage of our evolution occurred on Saturn. Surprise!) “That which happened in the beginnings of our evolution, before the Saturn development, we must place outside, beyond the Zodiac. Primeval wisdom called it the Crystal Heaven, and in that crystal heaven were deposed [sic: deposited?] all the deeds of the Beings of a former evolution. They formed, so to speak, the foundation on which the new Beings began to create.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL HIERARCHIES (Anthroposophic Press, 1929),  Lecture 10 http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/19090418p01.html ]  So, beyond our solar system and even the Zodiac there are, or were, others. The beings in those places enabled the "new Beings" to get busy in our neck of the universe, prodding us to evolve. Where did the "Beings of a former evolution" come from? Don't ask. Infinite regress.

24) [Bible; Creation] Steiner delivered a number of lectures explaining the “real” meaning of the Book of Genesis (it’s not what you were told in synagogue, temple, or church). One essential difference between Steiner’s version and the Bible’s version: Steiner said that the Creation in Genesis does not refer to the beginning of everything, but merely to the beginning of the Earth. He taught that humans lived on Saturn, the Sun, and the Moon before beginning life on the Earth — and, crucially, the Earth came into existence only when we were ready for it. Thus, Steiner claimed that the story of Creation told in Genesis merely picks up on a story that began much further back in time and space. All that happens in Genesis is a continuation of previous universal evolution, reworking it in a new form. “In fact all that is narrated in the Bible of the six or seven ‘days’ of creation is a reawakening of previous conditions, not in the same but in a new form.” [Rudolf Steiner, GENESIS: SECRETS OF THE BIBLE STORY OF CREATION (Anthroposophical Publishing Company, 1959), Lecture 3, http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/Gen1959/19100819p02.html ] Thus, not creation at all but re-creation.

So much for ultimate origins. Steiner leaves us no wiser than before. But, of course, that was always his way.

In a future episode of Steiner Static, I will pick up the story of creation by describing the first stage of our evolution: which happened on Saturn.

•••

But first, let's have a few more helping of miscellany. If you send children to Waldorf schools, you are handing them into the care of people who believe Rudolf Steiner’s phantasmagoric visions. Not all Waldorf teachers believe all of Steiner's delusions, but a great many do. Three more examples, in Steiner’s characteristically tortured phrasings:

25) [Gnomes (which are real); and Their Heads] “[T]he beings which we call gnomes and goblins have a physical body, but they do not possess what in man we call the ego ... [T]hey can never be seen even though they have a physical body. They have a physical body only for one who can see through the earth ... [T]hose persons who portray gnomes out of a certain nature-sense [i.e., intuitive or psychic insight] are not unjustified in making their heads [sic: the gnomes’ heads] a special characteristic. All these symbols have their true foundation in reality.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE INFLUENCE OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS ON MAN, Lecture 8, May 16, 1908.]

Note: “all these symbols”, like all myths, like all fairy tales, are basically true.* And gnomes, for one, really exist, not as symbols, but as real creatures lurking in the Earth. Their more revealing name is "goblins." [See, e.g., NATURE SPIRITS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1995), pp. 62-3.]

26) [Dragons] Steiner said we humans used to live on the Moon, aka the Old Moon. Describing how humans on the Old Moon inhaled and exhaled heat, Steiner said: “Figures such as the Archangel Michael with the fire-breathing dragon under his feet, or St. George, fighting with the dragon, are pictures reminiscent of those conditions [on Old Moon]. The fire breather of Old Moon, the ancient Dragon, is a figure that once actually existed.” [Rudolf Steiner, ROSICRUCIAN ESOTERICISM, VII: “Evolutionary Stages of our Earth before the Lemurian Epoch, June 9, 1909.]

Again: Steiner said all this stuff is real, although he often interpreted symbols, myths, etc., in his own special way. He spoke of goblins and dragons, etc., as symbols, but he also described them as actual beings who actually exist(ed). In FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), Steiner identifies real dragons as fire-breathing dinosaurs (p. 26).

The Old Moon was an evolutionary stage of humanity and of the solar system, according to Steiner. It wasn't the Moon, although it was. We weren't the same then as we are now, but the Old Moon really existed, and we really lived there.

27) [Certainly Magicians and Suchlike] “Black or grey magicians ... whose intentions toward humanity are not good” are busily at work “to present certain groups of people with the secret of how to dominate great masses ... [S]uch domination can be put into the hands of some few individuals ... Certain circles in this materialistic age are striving to paralyse [sic] and make impossible all of humanity’s spiritual development....” [Rudolf Steiner, SECRET BROTHERHOODS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), pp. 90.]

Working pretty much in league with the black magicians are Americans, who plan to ruin everything for everyone, especially good ol' (white) Europeans.**

•••

Today’s installment will be dominated by a single quote. It's a beaut — and more than a bit wearisome. So grab a cup of joe and hunker down.

Are Waldorf schools religious institutions? Well, they are bathed in religious feelings, and Waldorf teachers have the “office” of priests.

To follow what follows, you need to know that, according to Steiner, young children live in a naturally religious, prayerful soul-state because they arrived on Earth so recently from the divine realm. Until age 7, children are essentially  asleep within their elemental religious condition. Then, around age 7 or so (about when the baby teeth fall out), each growing child manifests a second element of itself, its etheric body. (This is a set of forces associated with the soul. Don’t worry about it). The process of incarnation is tricky. Fortunately, priestly Waldorf teachers can help.

The quote, below, is tough going, but I'll hop in pretty often trying to make the dreadful prose comprehensible. If you stumble, stagger ahead to my explanations, which appear within brackets. The complete quote occupies two substantial paragraphs, and my added explanations will swell them almost to the bursting point.

One more bit of preface (I’m dragging this out, trying to prepare you for what lies ahead): My wife often tells me that I should quote Steiner less. He’s almost impossible to read, she says. I agree. I know. Yet I feel I must quote Steiner to show that he really said what I say he said. The strategy I often follow is to cut out chunks of his repetitious, incoherent verbiage — but this can look fishy. What have I cut out? What am I concealing? Nothing, I’m leaving out nothing important. I never intentionally change Steiner’s meaning, I just try to make his statements readable. Still, I know the appearance can be bad. So today I will take the opposite tack: I’ll leave in all of Steiner’s words, and I’ll supplement them with my own running explanations. This will create its own problems: Steiner’s prose will alternate with my own prose, and the total word count will skyrocket. But, please bear in mind: My point, always, is that Steiner actually said these utterly daffy things. Really. Cross my heart. He actually said this stuff. Here, look:

31) [Waldorf Priests: first paragraph]: “If we observe the struggle unfolding in the child before us — within this fundamental, natural religious element — if we observe the struggle between the hereditary forces and what the individual’s forces develop as the second human being through the power brought from pre-earthly life, then, as teachers, we also develop a religious mood. [A typical, convoluted Steiner sentence. Translation: Children are influenced by heredity, but even more they are influenced by their unique individual forces (borne within karma, although Steiner doesn’t use the word here). The child’s individual forces are empowered by the child’s "pre-earthly life,” which occurred in the divine spirit realm. These good forces enable the growing child to attain a second stage of Earthly incarnation, but “hereditary forces” (genetic influences coming from the child’s parents) struggle against this and must be overcome. Waldorf teachers seeing this process unfold are filled with religious emotion.] But, whereas the child with a physical body develops the religious mood of the believer, the teacher, in gazing at the wonders that occur between birth and the change of teeth, develops a ‘priestly’ religious attitude. [The child, acclimating to its physical body, develops "the religious mood of a believer," while the teacher develops the attitude of a priest: So in effect we have the child, a parishioner, and the child's priest, the Waldorf teacher.] The position of teacher becomes a kind of priestly office, a ritual performed at the altar of universal human life — not with a sacrificial victim to be led to death, but with the offering of human nature itself, to be awakened to life. [Waldorf teacher/priests serve life, not death. Celebrating "universal human life" (Steiner taught that many beings have been human — angels, etc., passed through a human phase) the teacher/priests "offer" "human nature" by helping awaken it within the child.] Our task is to ferry into earthly life the aspect of the child that came from the divine spiritual world. This, with the child’s own forces, forms a second organism from the being that came to us from the divine spiritual life. [The “being that came” is the child, while we (the being “came to us”) are the teacher/priests. A teacher’s priestly office is to help the divine essence of the child (“the aspect of the child that came from the divine spiritual world”) to fully incarnate. At the time when the baby teeth drop, the teacher/priest helps the divine essence to work through the "child’s own forces" to release the new, “second organism" (the etheric body).* Waldorf teacher/priests are uniquely suited to assist the child in this, as in all things. Note that, in effect, the child comes to them, not to the parents whose hereditary forces are an impediment. This is one reason Steiner said it might almost be better for Waldorf teachers to assume full control of children soon after birth.**]

[Second paragraph, following directly from the first]: “Pondering such things awakens something in us like a priestly attitude in education. Until this priestly feeling for the first years of childhood has become a part of education as a whole, education will not find the conditions that bring it to life. If we merely try to understand the requirements of education intellectually, or try to rationally design a method of education based on external observations of a child’s nature, at best we accomplish a quarter education. A complete educational method cannot be formulated by the intellect alone, but must flow from the whole human nature — not merely from the part that observes externally in a rational way, but the whole that deeply and inwardly experiences the secrets of the universe.” [That’s saying a mouthful. Education in most schools is dead, because it has not been brought “to life” by the “priestly feeling” Steiner describes. The requirements of true, living education can be comprehended only by those who can see beyond rationality and “external observations” (superficial, materialistic appearances). The form of seeing required is, of course, clairvoyance. It is subjective, felt — it involves “the whole human nature” (which is mainly spiritual) not just the brain. (Strictly speaking, according to Steiner, the brain does not contribute to real cognition — i.e., clairvoyance.) Fortunately, Waldorf schools are staffed by whole, rounded teacher/priests who, possessing clairvoyance, are privy to “the secrets of the universe.” Waldorf teacher/priests create complete education, not 25% education as at other schools. Education cannot be 100% without the priestly office to which Waldorf teachers are called. (Ordinary educations consider only one of our four bodies: the physical body. One out of four= 25%. Get it? True humans eventually incarnate a physical body, an etheric body, an astral body, and an “I.” Only by when teachers consider all four can education be 100%.)]

Note that we here have the main reason Steiner opposed giving kids “rational” educations. (Woe betide.)

The source of the two wonderful paragraphs I’ve quoted: Rudolf Steiner, THE ESSENTIALS OF EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), pp. 23-24. There are many other wonderful paragraphs there as well. All of them come from a lecture R.S. delivered on April 9, 1924.

OK. Class dismissed. Go outdoors, breathe deeply, and try to forget all this. Steiner's words, if taken in large doses, promote dementia. Cure: Take your kids to the park, feed the squirrels, and enjoy yourselves.

•••

Rudolf Steiner talked convoluted nonsense. Understanding him can be difficult — but if we want to know what many, many Waldorf school teachers believe, we need to make the effort. This is the sort of stuff they would like your children to accept, even if only unconsciously, even if only as a vague sort of bias in favor of Steinerish occultism:

Ok. #34: Synopsis: Blindness is clairvoyance, and vice versa. (Huzzah! Steiner got one thing right! "Clairvoyants" are blind.) Blind, clairvoyant Homer could consult the Akashic Record, which is a celestial storehouse of almost unlimited knowledge. As for the centaurs Homer described, they really existed in the period before the Moon “separated.”* Human centaurs prowled the Earth in those ancient days, when the Moon’s forces were still incorporated within the Earth and we still had shining pineal glands beaming from our noggins. Those were the days, my friend.

34) [Centaurs; Homer] “It is said that Homer was a blind seer, but that means that he was clairvoyant. He could look back into the Akashic Record. Homer, the blind seer, was much more seeing in the spiritual sense than were the other Greeks. Thus, the centaur was once an actual human form. When man looked like this, the moon had not yet withdrawn. The moon force was still in the earth, and in man was still what had formed itself during the sun period, the shining pineal gland, which he bore like a lantern on his head.”  [Rudolf Steiner, EGYPTIAN MYTHS AND MYSTERIES, Lecture 7, September 9, 1908.]

OK. #35: Synopsis: Steiner acknowledged that atoms exist, except when he didn’t. He disputed the “atomic theory” both because atoms aren’t really real (they are empty bubbles) and more because he didn’t like the idea that things consist of smaller things that consist of still smaller things. He didn’t understand how large things can be built up of small things, or if he understood, he just plain didn’t like it. The atomic theory is deadly, materialistic thinking (the kind the Jews bequeathed us, darn them).** Jews, scholars, and scientists generally get things wrong. See, Steiner disputed actual information and knowledge. He was selling fantasies (which may sometimes become nightmares).

35) [Atoms; Demons] “[A]toms are really tiny little caricatures of demons, and our learned scholars would not speak about them as they do unless people had grown accustomed, in education, to putting everything together out of its parts.” [Rudolf Steiner, RHYTHMS OF LEARNING (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 161.]  Note Steiner's sarcasm, O ye "learned scholars." (You're the same people Steiner sometimes described as "scientific simpletons" and "so-called educated people in the universities." Dumbbells, in other words.)

Ok. #36: Synopsis: We evolved on Saturn, Sun, and Moon before Earth; we will go on to Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan. (Yes, Vulcan. I’ll spin this out in more detail some other time.) These planets are really planets, but not exactly, being not at all like the planets we know today and actually being stages of evolution, both for ourselves and for the solar system. The course of evolution holds not just for us and our planets but for other solar systems, too. “Globes” are not planets as such but evolutionary periods in the history of planets. Solar systems eventually go poof, becoming centers for spirits that go on to create other solar systems. (Don’t worry, you don’t need to master all this stuff. It’s sufficient to get a general idea: that idea being, this stuff is nuts.)

36) [Evolution & Vulcan] “These are the seven stages of evolution of our system: Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan. In the Vulcan development [i.e., the Vulcan stage], all those Beings who have evolved out of the small beginnings of the Saturn existence, will be spiritualised in the highest degree, they will have grown not only as far as the Sun, but even higher than the Sun. Vulcan is more than Sun, and with this it has reached the maturity of sacrifice, the maturity necessary to self disintegration [sic]. [paragraph break] The course of evolution is this: a Sun, which from the beginning is included in such a [planetary or solar] system, has at first to throw off its planets, being too weak to develop further without excluding them. It grows strong, absorbs its planets again, and grows into a Vulcan. Then the whole is dissolved, and from the Vulcan globe is formed a hollow globe which is something like the circles of Thrones, Cherubim, Seraphim, etc. [i.e., the spiritual regions occupied by these gods]. The Sun will thus dissolve in space, sacrifice itself, send forth its Being into the Universe, and through this will itself become a circle of Beings like the Thrones, Cherubim, Seraphim, which will then advance towards new creation.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL HIERARCHIES, Lecture 5, April 14, 1909.]

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

•••

OLD SATURN

•••

Steiner taught that human  evolution can occur only if some people are separated out and left behind — perhaps to be saved later, or perhaps not. The possibility that we might all advance together seems to have eluded him. 

43) [Separation] “Evolution is possible only by means of differentiation and separation ... In order for special qualities to develop in human evolution, certain groups of human beings must be separated off for a time." [Rudolf Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION OF MORALITY (SteinerBooks, 1995), p. 25.] "For a time" suggests some hope — maybe the ones left behind can be rescued later. In general, Steiner said this is what happens. But he also taught that some people sink so low that they cease to be human. Their plight is dreadful.

The process of separation began as far back as Old Saturn. But for now, let's consider more recent times and the lies we have told ourselves about ourselves.

44) [Decadence] 

45) ["Morality"] “Souls previously incarnated in quite subordinate races, raised themselves to a higher level and could incarnate in the bodily descendants of the leaders in Europe ... This was the reason that the lower races had fewer and fewer descendants, while the higher races had more and more.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION OF MORALITY (SteinerBooks, 1995), p. 30.] Note the title of the book in which this quotation appears. We are glimpsing Steiner's concept of morality and its foundation — its "spiritual" foundation. Can you spot any morally questionable concepts in it? At least the "lower races" are becoming depopulated and will eventually be extinguished. Good riddance. (Bear in mind, please: I'm conveying Steiner's views, not my own.)

46) [Demons of Decay and Asiatic Hordes] “[W]ith the dying out of the worst parts of the ancient population of which I have been speaking, the whole region gradually became filled with demonic beings that represented the products of the decay of what had died out. The whole of Europe and also Asia Minort were [sic] thus filled with the spiritual products of decay out of the worst parts of the population. These demons of decay ... endured a long time ... Their influence can best be seen at the time of the Great Migrations, when large masses of people, including Attila [the Hun] and his hordes, came over from Asia and caused great terror among the people in Europe. This terror made the population susceptible to the influences of the demonic beings ... As a consequence of the terror produced by the hordes coming over from Asia, there gradually developed what manifested during the Middle Ages as the epidemic of leprosy.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION OF MORALITY (SteinerBooks, 1995), p. 31.] In this scurrilous passage, Steiner combines racism, quack medicine, and demonology. The demonic beings are ex-humans, products of decay, essentially subhuman byproducts of human evolution.

Belief in the existence of subhumans is appalling, yet it is part and parcel of Steiner's worst doctrines:

47) [Subhumans] “[I]n our time certain supernumerary people are appearing who have no 'I' [i.e., no true spiritual ego]  and are therefore not human beings in the full sense of the word." [Rudolf Steiner, THE BOOK OF REVELATION AND THE WORK OF THE PRIEST (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 180.] Supernumerary people — unneeded, excess, inhuman, subhuman. One is reminded of a line from Dickens: "'If they would rather die,' said Scrooge, 'they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.'" But Dickens was giving us a sweet Christmas tale. Steiner was offering us something very different:

48) [Subhumans] “[C]ases are increasing in which children are born with a human form, but are not really human beings ... [They] are not reincarnated, but are human forms filled with a sort of natural demon ... [T]here are people who are not human beings.” [FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, pp. 649-650.] If you are considering a Waldorf school, you can at least take comfort from this: In the same passage, Steiner explains that Waldorf schools are designed for children who are real humans: "We cannot, however, create a school for demons." Thank goodness.

While Steiner's doctrines offer the hope that most humans will evolve upward, they also contain the appalling idea that some people move downward, toward subhuman status.  Moreover, some people walking the Earth today are already subhuman. There are good humans and demons in disguise, just as there are high races and low races, and good souls and fundamentally evil souls.

All of man's inhumanity to man is implicit in such twisted thinking.

•••

[46, redux] “This is a very specific process, which we must understand. The souls develop further, but the bodies die out. That is why we must distinguish so carefully between soul evolution and racial evolution. The souls reappear in bodies belonging to higher races, while the bodies of the lower races die out. Such a process does not occur however without having effects of its own. When something like this occurs over large regions, when something disappears, as it were, it does not disappear into nothing, but rather disperses and is then present in a different form. You will understand what I mean if you consider that with the dying out of the worst parts of the ancient population of which I have been speaking, the whole region gradually became filled with demonic beings that represented the products of the decay of what had died out. The whole of Europe and also Asia Minor were thus filled with the spiritual products of decay from the dying out of the worst parts of the population. The demons of decay, which were contained in the spiritual atmosphere, as it were, endured for a long time and later exerted an influence in such a way that they permeated people's feelings. Their influence can best be seen at the time of the Great Migrations, when large masses of people, including Attila and his hordes, came over from Asia and caused great terror among the people in Europe. This terror made the population susceptible to the influences of the demonic beings that still persisted from earlier times. As a consequence of the terror produced by the hordes coming over from Asia, there gradually developed what manifested during the Middle Ages as the epidemic of leprosy. This disease was nothing other than the consequence of the conditions of fear and terror that the people experienced at this time. But these conditions could have had this effect only with people who had been exposed to the demonic forces from the past.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION OF MORALITY (SteinerBooks, 1995), pp. 30-31.]

•••

[Freedom] One of Steiner's early books is THE PHILOSOPHY OF FREEDOM, first published in 1894. In Anthroposophy, Steiner stresses the value and significance of human freedom, yet the concept sits uneasily in the context of occultism. People are constrained in multiple ways, according to Steiner, not least by the consequences of their own actions, producing karma. If our original actions, establishing our early karma, were free, then the subsequent constraints put on us by karma would have been free chosen, as it were (to quote R.S.). But Steiner said that we attained the possibility of freedom not at the beginning of our evolution but rather late, as a result of Lucifer's actions. (49) “Freedom is the result of the Luciferian influence, and fear and similar feelings.... ” [Rudolf Steiner, AN OUTLINE OF OCCULT SCIENCE (Kessinger Publishing, 1998: 1922 edition), pp.  229-230.]

We became potentially free, Steiner said, because Lucifer worked to lure us from the proper course of our evolution. Thus, he gave us the option of choosing how to proceed — as we should, or as we shouldn't. That is, we can freely choose to make a grievous error that will possibly ruin us for all eternity, or we can freely decline to make this grievous error. If we decline, then we freely choose to stay on the right path (which we were on, anyway).

Philosophers have long debated the concept of free will. If we are biologically or otherwise determined by forces or conditions in the physical realm, we do not have free will. Likewise, if we live under the control of spiritual beings (such as an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God), we are not free. Yet we prize freedom, and our concept of justice, to give one example, depends on it. We are responsible for our own actions only if we choose them. If forces beyond or control compel our actions, they and not we are responsible.

It's a conundrum. Steiner's doctrines are caught in this difficulty, perhaps no more than many other philosophies, but certainly no less. And his solution is not quite convincing. For instance, he said (50) ”The spirit ... must not stand as a slave-driver over the soul, dominating it with laws and commandments; the soul must rather learn to follow these laws and duties out of its own free inclination. The student must not feel duty to be an oppressive power to which he unwillingly submits, but rather something which he performs out of love.” [Rudolf Steiner, KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT (Anthroposophic Press, 1944), p. 96.] By "spirit" he meant the human essence that represents the divine spiritual realm; by "soul" he meant the nonphysical human identity that alters during the process of reincarnation.

The nub of Steiner's position is that we must learn to willingly, freely accept spiritual laws and commandments. He said that, spiritually, this makes all the difference. Perhaps. Yet if we were already on the right path, and if we live in a universe of spiritual laws and commandments, veering from the right path and/or violating spiritual laws and commandments would be, at a minimum, foolish. And, if the laws and commandments are truly what these words indicate — i.e., inescapable cosmic requirements — then we cannot veer unless the laws and commandments somehow provide for this, in which case we remain under the laws and commandments even when we seem to depart from them.

It's a conundrum. In quotation 50, for instance, Steiner does not say that we can escape the laws and commandments, only that we should accept them freely, out of love. Is this just a variation of the old notion that we must learn to love our servitude, perhaps singing in our chains? Steiner doesn't mean it in this way, yet accepting cosmic necessity is the inherent requirement in his occult conception of freedom. (His earlier, more humanistic ideas, in THE PHILOSOPHY OF FREEDOM, are less constricted, at least in the early edition of this work — but Steiner turned to occultism and the overwhelming power of the gods rushed in to fill any voids in this thought processes.) Steiner's emphasis is on our subjective response to the laws and commandments, not on the laws and commandments themselves.

Freedom is important in Steiner's doctrines; indeed, it is necessary for our ultimate evolution. But the concept of necessary freedom, or a freely accepted necessity, is self-contradicting. Steiner was not unique in tripping over this difficulty, but he did trip, and as a result his evolutionary scheme is badly weakened. Certainly the concept of free inquiry stands at odds with his indication that (51) "every criticism, every adverse judgment passed, disperses the powers of the soul for the attainment of higher knowledge." [KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT, p. 11.] This is a prescription for obedience, not freedom: put aside your critical intelligence; don't think, venerate.

•••

OLD SUN

Let’s continue with the story of our evolution. If you’ll recall, Steiner said that we were created somewhat mysteriously, not by the conscious act of a single God — or, anyway, not as far as we or Steiner or anyone can say. Later, we emerged from a vague spiritual existence into a very mildly physical existence on/at/during Old Saturn. Then we flowed back into a vague nonphysical existence again during a pralaya — what we might call a siesta or breather.

The next chapter occurs at/during/on Old Sun. We reemerged from our rest stop into a slightly more real physical existence than on Old Saturn. Taking up solar existence, we became “air” instead of “warmth,” and our etheric bodies showed up for the first time. Our development was pushed along by the Dominions and their friends. We didn’t develop all that much, however:

52) [You're Getting Sleepy] “Man now passes through his second stage of consciousness on the Sun [i.e., our second overall but our first on the Sun — as always, I’ll try to straighten out Steiner’s incoherence as we proceed]. It resembles that into which today man sinks during a calm and dreamless sleep. This condition, which interrupts man's state of wakefulness today, is a remainder, as it were, a memory of the time of the Sun development [i.e., dreamless sleep today is a version of our consciousness on the Sun]. One can also compare it with that dull state of consciousness in which the world of plants exists today. As a matter of fact, in the plant [i.e., any plant, such as a rutabaga] one must see a sleeping being.” [Rudolf Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1959), p. 175.]

The Sun we lived on, way back when, was not yet a star; it was a planet, although a very tenuous one. It was a ball of Sun-stuff extending all the way out to the present orbit of Jupiter. This, according to Steiner, meant that the Sun filled the entire solar system. (Steiner excluded Uranus and Neptune from the solar system, for occult reasons.) There was nothing in the solar system except the Sun, us, and our spiritual helpers. See THE SPIRITUAL HIERARCHIES (Anthroposophical Publishing Company, 1928), lecture 5.

53) [Being Worked On] Here’s how things went for us on the Sun. First, we recapitulated our previous existence on Saturn. This process of recapitulating previous stages will repeat over and over at each successive stage of our evolution. In the process, many spiritual beings will work us over. “What can be observed during the first Sun cycle ... is the labor of the 'Spirits of Wisdom' (Dominions or Kyriotetes in Christian esoteric doctrine  [sic: Steiner's note, not mine]). They have [i.e., had] intervened in the development of man around the middle of the first Saturn cycle (see the previous chapter [sic: Steiner is referring us back to the preceding chapter of his mighty book, COSMIC MEMORY]). They now continue their labor during the first half of the first Sun cycle by repeating in successive stages the wise arrangement of the physical body. A little later this labor is joined by that of the 'Spirits of Motion' (Dynamis in Christianity. Mahat in theosophical literature). Thereby that period of the Saturn cycle is repeated during which the human body received the capacity of motion.” [COSMIC MEMORY, "The Life of the Sun".]

Steiner goes on to list other spiritual beings who contributed to our solar progress, including Archai and archangels. Bear in mind that on the Sun, we were not yet really human. We were more like plants, actually (I’ll develop this development further, below). Just as the Archai (Spirits of Personality) passed through their human stage while we were on Saturn, the archangels (Fire-Spirits) were human during our Sun period. One remarkable fact about this: The the behavior of the human archangels on Old Sun, like the behavior of the human Archai on Old Saturn, is not at all what we Earth humans, today, are capable of. Steiner’s conception of what it means to be human was quite elastic.

The Old Sun spun or rotated (just as Old Saturn did, only more so). This spinning created separations of the basic spirit/matter of the Sun into higher and lower spirit/matter stuff. Among the condensing stuff was the stuff that would eventually become our physical selves today. The overall schema is that during our evolution we grew more and more physical/material until the present day; in the near future, we will begin becoming more and more spiritual again. (This is Steiner’s handy solution to the problem: Why does the universe that we see around us bear no relationship whatsoever to the universe Steiner described? And why are we, and all other living things, and all other inanimate things, and all observable processes and patterns, so completely different from what Steiner described? Well, children, it just so happens that we live in a period when the truth of Steiner’s doctrines is hidden, because ours is such a very physical period. But in your past incarnations, you could have seen that Steiner was right; and you’ll see this again in future incarnations. So hang on — all will be revealed, in time. This will, sadly, take a long, long time, however: Steiner taught that we reincarnate once every 2,166 years, give or take a few.)

On Saturn we were essentially minerals, as it were, and on the Sun we were essentially plant, so to speak. (See the pattern? On our next go-round, the Old Moon, we will be animals, sort of. And then, on Earth — presto-chango — human!)

54) [Mineral Body] “[I]n Saturn, man's physical body had been formed. The latter was completely lifeless at that time. Such a lifeless body is called mineral by mystery science [“mystery science” is an earlier label for what Steiner called “spiritual science” — “mystery science” is closer to the mark]. One can therefore also say that on Saturn man was mineral, or he passed through the mineral realm. This human mineral did not have the form of a present-day mineral. Minerals as they are at present, did not yet exist at that time [nothing now is what it was then, for the reason I explained above].” [Ibid.]

55) [Competition] Steiner proceeds to explain that, on the Sun, we shed from our essence the substances that would later become present-day minerals. Our evolution entails many such sheddings; we climb upward by tossing overboard bits of ourselves. These bits become members of lowly kingdoms of various sorts. Thus, there is something rather nasty about our story, although Steiner doesn’t see it that way; rather, it is just how things work in the wide cosmos: “It can be seen that man ascends into a higher realm by thrusting a part of his companions down into a lower. We shall see this process repeating itself many times in the subsequent stages of development. It corresponds to a fundamental law of development." [Ibid.]* 

56) [Overview] Steiner helpfully provided a summary of our Sun/plant period. Take it or leave it:

◊ The Sun is the planet on which develops the second human condition of consciousness, that of dreamless sleep. The physical human body rises to a kind of plant existence through the incorporation of an ether body into it.

◊ This development passes through seven subsidiary stages (smaller cycles or “rounds”).

◊ In the first of these cycles the stages of development of Saturn are repeated, with respect to the physical body, in a somewhat altered form.

◊ At the end of the first cycle begins the pouring out of [i.e., the development of] the ether body by the “Spirits of Wisdom” [i.e., Dominions].

◊ In the middle of the second cycle, the work of the “Spirits of Motion” [i.e., Mights] on this body begins.

◊ In the middle of the third cycle the action of the “Spirits of Form” [i.e., Powers] on the ether body has its beginning.

◊ From the middle of the fourth cycle onward, this body receives selfhood through the “Spirits of Personality” [i.e., Zeitgeists]. 

◊ In the meantime, the physical body has advanced so far through the action of the forces which have been working on it since earlier periods that from the fourth cycle onward the “Spirits of Fire” [i.e., Archangels] can elevate themselves to humanity through it [the archangels have their “human” phase on/through/within the Sun].

◊ In the middle of the fifth cycle the “Spirits of Fire” ...  take over the work on the ether body. The “Sons of Twilight” [i.e., Angels] are active in the physical body at this time.

◊ Around the middle of the sixth cycle the work on the ether body is transferred to the “Sons of Twilight,” Man himself now works on the physical body.

◊ In the course of the seventh cycle the animated monad has come into existence. [Ibid. The animated monad is atma-buddhi, the germ of our later spiritual essence. More generally, a monad is a self-enclosed being. We become monads when we, in our souls, carry our individuality through life and lives. See, e.g., Rudolf Steiner, INITIATION, ETERNITY, AND THE PASSING MOMENT (Anthroposophic Press, 1980), p 44. The sum of all monads is Monad, the macrocosmic human, Christ. See Rudolf Steiner, CORRESPONDENCE AND DOCUMENTS 1901-1925 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1988), p. 83.]

After life on the Sun, dull as it was, we had another pralaya in which we again left physical reality for a while to recuperate. In a future episode, we’ll move along to Old Moon.

•••

The connection between ancient planetary conditions such as Old Sun and the present-day members of our solar system is not crystal clear. Steiner liked to keep things vague. In some instances, the present orbs are evolutionary descendants of their ancient namesakes. But some planets existing now — Mars, Mercury — have no clear antecedents. They simply exist as planets although of course there is nothing simple about their current status, as Steiner defined these things.

58) Venus, for instance, is a husk tossed off by Lucifer. “Lucifer himself takes part in Earth evolution with the perpetual longing within himself for his true home, for the star Venus ... [W]hat Lucifer casts off as a husk ... as the physical body is cast off by the human soul at death, shines down from heaven as Venus.” [Rudolf Steiner, WONDERS OF THE WORLD (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1983), p. 77.]

59) The planets and other celestial orbs are inhabited, and the inhabitants mix with us in surprising ways. Martians are “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 ... [T]hey inhabit Mars and are in fact the main population — as certain human races are the principal population on our earth ... [Where]  love and kindliness prevail, where humanitarianism is unfolded, there you find the mild, gentle Mars beings present ... [T]he preponderance of moon beings or Mars beings ... circling through a man gives his lymph its special character. If more moon beings circulate through his body he is a man who inclines more easily to wrong-doing, irritation, and anger, if more Mars beings, then he is a man who is more inclined to gentleness, kindliness, mildness.”   [THE EVOLUTION OF THE EARTH AND MAN AND THE INFLUENCE OF THE STARS, Lecture X, 9th September, 1924  http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/19240909p01.html]

60) Vulcan is the most mysterious member of our solar system. It may be Mercury, or hidden by Mercury, or not. It is so near the Sun that we can’t see it (it may even hide behind the Sun). Yet it is real, and it will become our final evolutionary stage. In the past, when humans dispersed to the various planets, some went to Vulcan. And today, Vulcan beings (the nonhuman occupants of Vulcan) are already here, among us.

"You will remember the passage in the book OCCULT SCIENCE [plug: Steiner wrote it] dealing with the time when the human souls ascended to the planets and afterwards descended once more to earth-existence. I spoke of how the Mars-men, the Jupiter-men and the others descended again to earth. Now an event of great significance came to pass at the end of the seventies of last century [i.e., the 1870s]. It is an event that can be described only in the light of facts which are revealed to us in the spiritual world. Whereas in the days of old Atlantis human beings came down to the earth from Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and so on — that is to say, beings of soul were drawn into the realm of earth-existence — since the end of the seventies of last century, other Beings — not of the human order — have been descending to the earth for the purposes of their further development. From cosmic realms beyond the earth they come down to the earth and enter into a definite relationship with human beings. Since the eighties of the nineteenth century, super-earthly Beings have been seeking to enter the sphere of earth-existence. Just as the Vulcan-men were the last to come down to the earth so now Vulcan Beings are actually coming into the realm of earthly existence ... [This is a serious matter:] Super-earthly Beings are already here, and the fact that we are able to have a connected body of Spiritual Science at all today is due to the circumstance that Beings from beyond the earth are bringing the messages from the spiritual world down into earth-existence ... Today people may consider it comparatively harmless to elaborate only those automatic, lifeless thoughts which arise in connection with the mineral world and the mineral nature of plant, animal and man. Materialists revel in such thoughts which are — well — thoughts and nothing more. But try to imagine what will happen if men go on unfolding no other kinds of thoughts until the time is reached in the eighth millennium for the moon-existence to unite again with the earth. These Beings of whom I have spoken will gradually come down to the earth. Vulcan Beings, ‘Supermen’ of Vulcan, ‘Supermen’ of Venus, of Mercury, of the Sun, will unite with this earth-existence. But if human beings persist in nothing but opposition to them, earth-existence will pass over into chaos in the course of the next few thousand years." [Rudolf Steiner , "Picture of Earth-Evolution in the Future," lecture in Dornach, May 13th, 1921 http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/PicEar_index.html]

•••

Let's return, briefly, to the original, miscellaneous format for Steiner Static.

61 a,b,c) [Subhumans] “[I]n our time certain supernumerary [excess, unneeded] people are appearing who have no 'I' [spiritual ego] and are therefore not human beings in the full sense of the word.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE BOOK OF REVELATION AND THE WORK OF THE PRIEST (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 180.]  Note that Steiner made these very charitable remarks when discussing his concept of religion. “[P]eople who have healthy souls suffer as a consequence of those who go about as human locusts.” [Ibid., p. 181.] Steiner kindly explained that subhumans should be treated kindly, since they may not all be evil. Some “might be retarded souls who have come back from another planet to which almost the whole of humanity once went....” [Ibid., p. 182.]

62)  [They’re Alive!] Our thoughts create spiritual beings who live, for real, in the spirit realm. We have evidence of this in the plays of Shakespeare. Shakespeare's thoughts created real beings who live in the spirit realm, and we can create more such beings if we stage Shakespeare's plays properly. (Bear in mind, Steiner meant all of this quite literally.)  “When you make Shakespearean characters living [i.e., “bring them to life”] ... you can raise them into the supersensible world where they remain living. Of course, they do not do in the higher worlds what they do on the physical plane, but they remain alive, nevertheless, and they act there.” [Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998, Volumes 1 & 2), p. 336.] Let’s hope Caliban behaves himself.

63) [Pachyderm Peculiarity] “When death approaches — this is the peculiar thing with pachyderms — these animals feel this particularly strongly ... Their instinct then makes them go into caves. People tend not to look for them in those earth caves. If they were to look for them there they would find more dead elephants in the regions where elephants are. They are not found in the open.” [Rudolf Steiner, FROM ELEPHANTS TO EINSTEIN (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), pp. 4-5.] Steiner accepts the myth that elephants have special graveyards, adding the nice twist that the graveyards are inside caves. But there's a good reason why people don't look for elephant bones inside caves. Can you guess what it is? As for the whole idea of elephant graveyards, the benighted ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA says "Evidence does not substantiate the existence of so-called 'elephant graveyards,' where elephants supposedly gather to die." ["elephant." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 27 Jan. 2009.] But what does the benighted BRITANNICA know? Very possibly staffed by human locusts, that institution wouldn't recognize a living occult truth if it fell out of the sky (i.e., out of the "supersensible world" where Caliban is romping around). 

•••

Let's linger over Steiner’s supremely silly statement about elephant graveyards. Our natural inclination on reading such piffle is to shake our heads, laugh, and move on. But this would be a mistake. There’s a lot to be learned from Steiner’s silliness — the elephant quote gives us Steiner’s method in a nutshell.

Steiner almost never met a legend, superstition, old wives’ take, myth, fantasy, or fairy tale that he didn’t like. This was his material, the stuff he took seriously (as opposed to real information, of the sort that science and rational scholarship produce). Thus, he said that ghosts exist; Atlantis existed; bulls hate red; black magicians are busily at work; there is a universal ether; there are goblins in the ground; there are fairies in the air; we can communicate with the dead; astrology is for real; and so forth and so on.

Anthroposophy is Steiner’s Theory of Everything, although he said it is not a theory, it is the Truth. If ever you are tempted to believe him, ask yourself whether you are prepared to join an expedition looking for elephant bones in caves.

Think about the caves Steiner mentioned, the ones where he said elephants go to die. Steiner accepted huge quantities of nonsense and misinformation, but he typically altered it, putting his own interpretation on it so that it fit into his overall design. Anthroposophists find this enormously persuasive. This is the “inner logic” of Anthroposophy: See? Everything fits! Elephants, ghosts, Atlantis, bulls, magic, the dead, the stars ... Steiner’s vision encompasses them all!

Well, yes and no. Yes, he pieced everything together in a huge superstructure of unsubstantiated invention. But no, this doesn’t make any of it sensible. Elephants don’t have graveyards, in caves or anywhere else. Goblins don’t exist. Horoscopes don’t work. Etc. Piecing fantasies together doesn’t make the fantasies true.

And notice how Steiner did the piecing. In order to make each piece fit, he got out his scissors and Magic Marker, and changed each piece out of recognition. He cut away bits here and colored in bits there. King Arthur was a high pre-Anthroposophical initiate. Jehovah is an demiurge who lives on the Moon. Jesus is the Sun God. Goblins are physical beings, but they happen to be invisible. Buddha went to Mars, at the behest of Christian Rosenkreutz. The canals on Mars are actually wind patterns. And so on. And so on. And so on.

This, ladies and gents, is Anthroposophy. Anyone who wants to believe it is free to do so. And I suppose anyone who wants to send their kids to a school based on such thinking is free to do so. But if you must send children to a Waldorf school, please do it with your eyes open. At the Waldorf school I attended, the little school library had multiple books about UFOs, dragons, and other fantasies — all presented as truth. I was taught that different races have different types of blood. I was taught that animals evolved from humans. I was taught that different races embody different stages of human development. I was told, and assigned, innumerable myths and legends (especially Steiner’s favorites: Norse myths). I was taught that science is unreliable and technology is evil. I was required to recite prayers written by Rudolf Steiner. I was required to do forms of dance, and create types of paintings, intended to connect me to the spirit realm. I was directed to use my imagination, not logic; intuition, not research. And so on. And so on. And so on. 

My teachers, you see, believed Steiner. In retrospect, I am stunned to realize this, but so it was: I was “educated” by people who believed Steiner and his pieced-together, cut and colored fantasies.

Send your kids to a Waldorf school, by all means, if you want to. But, please, do it with your eyes open.

Sometimes I step back, breathe deeply, and dismiss Steiner from my mind for a while. The result inevitably is that I'm shocked and amazed when I return — Anthroposophists believe what? Waldorf teachers do what? Renewing this sense of shock can be productive. Steiner made many, many bizarrely whack-o statements, and some people sign aboard. "Sounds good to me," they say. Gosh.

Here are some more examples.

64) [How People Become Lowly Nature Spirits] Imagine a human who incarnates too fully in the physical world. The Earth will keep evolving, but s/he won’t. “The earth does not wait for him, the earth goes forward and he finally arrives at a point where he can no longer incorporate in a human body, for none are in existence. There will be no more bodies in which souls that have grown too much involved in their bodily nature can incarnate. Such souls lose the possibility of incarnation and find no other opportunity ... They must cut themselves off entirely from the progress of evolution ... Beings that stay behind at such stages appear in a later epoch ... as subordinate nature-spirits. In fact the human race will furnish a whole number of such new nature-spirits ... [T]here will appear upon Jupiter the destructive forces of love from beings who have remained behind. Into the midst of the general tapestry of the Jupiter existence will be set the hideous forms of the retarded beings with egoistic demands for love....” [Rudolf Steiner, NATURE SPIRITS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1995), p. 70.]

This is certainly a serious problem. Those retarded Jovians with their egoistic demands for love are gonna be a trial for us, no doubt about it.

65) [Goblins and the Moon] “[A]t the present time the moon is continually approaching nearer ... Each year the moon is actually nearer the earth ... And to this coming nearer of the moon the attentiveness of these goblins is quite specially directed ... They await with intense expectation the epoch when the moon will again unite with the earth ... for they will then use the moon substance gradually to disperse the earth, as far as its outer substance is concerned, into the universe. Its substance must pass away ... [W]hen one looks at this process from the aspect of the gnomes, one gains a ... picture how our earth would appear if all the water were taken away from it ... [O]ne receives the impression that this is really the united gnome-world of the old Moon. 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.” [Rudolf Steiner, MAN AS SYMPHONY OF THE CREATIVE WORD, Lecture 9, Nov. 4, 1923]

The Moon goblins created the rocky, waterless structure of the Earth. But now the Earth goblins want to disperse the Earth. A word of reassurance: Don’t worry about it. According to astronomers, the Moon is actually drawing farther away from the Earth, and it has been doing so for millennia.

66) [True Dreams] "[C]hanges ... occur in our dream life when we undertake the ascent to higher knowledge. Our dreams lose their meaningless, disorderly, and disconnected character and begin to form an increasingly regular, lawful, and coherent world. As we evolve further, this new dream-born world not only becomes the equal of outer sensory reality with regard to inner truth, but also reveals facts depicting, in the full sense of the word, a higher reality." [Rudolf Steiner, HOW TO KNOW HIGHER WORLDS (Anthroposophic Press, 1994), p. 163.]

What Steiner describes is, in reality, self-deception. People who wake up believing their dreams are dangers to themselves and others; they no longer see the dividing line between reality and fantasy. Think of a Waldorf school teacher who dreams about your child and then, starting the next day, bases assignments and other activities on this dream. Think about that awhile.

•••

Return with us now to the thrilling days of yesteryear when out of the ... But wait. Most of you are too young to remember the Lone Ranger, aren’t you? So, instead, in quiet and scholarly decorum, let’s return to our examination of human evolution, as described by Rudolf Steiner.

As you may recall, our first stage of evolution occurred on/during Old Saturn, and our second stage unfolded during/on Old Sun. In a rhythmic fashion, our solar system emerged from nonphysicality into physical existence (manvantara) as Saturn, and then it all subsided (pralaya); then it reemerged as Sun, and then it sank from view again. During the manvantara phases — which we might call periods of manifestation — our ancient predecessors began their crawl upward toward becoming the fine specimens of humanity we are today.

During our Old Moon phase, we gained our astral bodies, our consciousness rose to the level of dumb brutes, and we became animal-men. Our chief assistants on/during Old Moon were the Sons of Life, aka Spirits of Twilight, aka Angels. But, as during previous manvantaras, other gods also pitched in.

67) Here’s a longer dose of Steinerspeak than I normally inflict on you. Try to plow through it, even if it seems murky or well-nigh incomprehensible. This is the sort of thing Steiner’s followers celebrate. A word of cheer: The second half, while fully as loony as the first half, is relatively clear (by Steiner’s standards). 

“[T]he Fire Spirits [i.e., Archangels] are active in the astral body ... [W]hat the Fire Spirits produce in the astral body are vivid emotions, love and hate, rage, fear, horror, stormy passions, instincts, impulses and so forth. Because the Spirits of Personality (the Asuras [i.e., Archai]) have previously inoculated this astral body with their nature, these emotions now appear with the character of selfhood, of separateness. [Mostly, all this present-tense stuff refers to conditions we encountered on the Moon. In brief, thanks to a little help from our friends, we started to develop spiritual selfhood.] One must now represent to oneself how at that time the ancestor of man is [i.e., was] constituted on the Moon. [This is Steinerspeak for saying that Steiner will now describe what we were like on the Moon.] He has [i.e., had] a physical body through which in dullness he develops a ‘spirit self’ (Manas [i.e., a reincarnating self, the transformed astral body]). He has an ether body, through which the Twilight Spirits [Angels] feel joy and pain; and finally he possesses an astral body which, through the Fire Spirits [Archangels], is moved by impulses, emotions, and passions.

“...[The] animal man [i.e., us] ... is on a higher level than the present-day animals of earth. It possesses the qualities of animality in a more complete way. In a certain respect these are more savage and unbridled than present-day animal qualities.

“...The animal man of the Moon does not yet have firm bones. His skeleton is still cartilaginous. His whole nature is soft, compared to that of today. Hence his mobility too is different. His locomotion is not a walking, but rather a leaping, even a floating. This could be the case because the Moon of that time did not have a thin, airy atmosphere like that of present-day earth, but its envelope was considerably thicker, even denser than the water of today. He moved forward and backward, up and down in this viscous element ... At that time man was not yet developed in the form of two sexes, but only in one. He was made out of his [sic] water air. But as everything in the world [sic] exists in transitional stages, in the last Moon periods [we went through seven periods on the Moon], two-sexedness was already developing in a few animal man beings [sic] as a preparation for the later condition of the earth [i.e., life on/during Earth: our next period of manavantara].” [Rudolf Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY, chapter titled “Life on the Moon” (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1959), pp. 192-195.]

Mucking about with Lucifer is dangerous. We may be seduced into evil, in which case we may descend into states of being that are almost too awful to contemplate. (70) “[T]he human being must conduct himself so as not to be led into the abyss by this adversary.” [Ibid.] Freedom, separateness, independence — these carry with them the possibility of evil and its necessary punishment. Consider what will happen in the far future when good humans prepare to move to Vulcan; bad humans will be segregated and expelled: (71) “During that state a special cosmic body splits off [i.e., will split off] that contains all the beings who have resisted evolution, a so to speak ‘irredeemable moon,’ which now moves toward an evolution, for the character of which no expression can be found because it is too dissimilar to anything that man can experience on earth. [I.e., all the bad souls will be segregated on a separate “moon.” There, they will undergo an unimaginable evolution.] The evolved mankind, however, advances [i.e., will advance] in a completely spiritualized existence to the Vulcan evolution, the description of which does not lie within the scope of this book. [I.e., all the good souls will go to Vulcan, where they will undergo a wonderful evolution — which, sad to say, Steiner declines to describe.]” [Ibid.] 

•••

72) As we all know, Steiner described the spirit realm precisely as it really is, thanks to his use of “exact clairvoyance.” Nonetheless, he missed a few tricks. I would encourage all occultists to expand their reading beyond Steiner’s own books and lectures. Here is a brief recommended reading list, quoted and paraphrased from various book catalogues:

To learn how the ancient Egyptians generated microwaves through the Great Pyramid of Giza,

and why they did it, consult THE GIZA POWER PLANT by Christopher Dunn.

HUMAN LEVITATION: A True History and How-To Guide, by Preston Dennett, 

contains invaluable tips no mystic should be without.

Brendan Myers' A PAGAN TESTAMENT details surprising truths from long, long ago — 

and from just around the corner.

In OF WITCHES, Janet Thompson explains the Wiccan lifestyle and urges you to join up.

COSMIC ORDERING, by Jonathan Cainer, gives sure-fire guidance on 

making the gods hop to your command.

GHOSTS OF ALCATRAZ, by Kathryn Vercillo, tells how — if you visit the Rock — 

you can listen to Al Capone playing the banjo.

I KNOW WHY WE ARE HERE, by psychic Sylvia Browne, 

explains stuff you won’t learn from Steiner, such as the meaning of life.

A. Miller and J. Brown (who may be quite happy together) explain how you can find your soulmate

thanks to their easy-to-use astrological tables: PERFECT MATCH (Shocken, $15.95).

As I hope is plain, this installment of Steiner Static is a joke. But it has a serious side. Anthroposophy shares a dark, occult corner with other, equally bizarre beliefs. Naturally, Anthroposophists claim that their occultism is different from other, false forms of occultism. But, then, believers in non-Anthropop occultism would defend their beliefs in precisely the same way. And, in fact, the books I've listed are typical of reading matter that Anthroposophists occasionally dip into when they are not studying Steiner. I've seen many such books on Anthroposophists' bookshelves, including in the homes of Waldorf teachers. Occultists are often indiscriminate, extending at least partial credence to wide swaths of otherworldly nonsense, finding "confirmation" of their own beliefs in the widespread acceptance of vaguely similar beliefs. Indeed, Steiner himself read many books of the kind I've listed. His doctrines are an amalgam of concepts he derived from his extensive readings in occultism — he even took some of his ideas from occultist fiction. (“Central to the spiritual work on inner development is what Rudolf Steiner calls (following Bulwer Lytton, who introduced the term in his Rosicrucian novel ZANONI)....” [Rudolf Steiner, START NOW! (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2007), p. 243, Christopher Bamford, editor — the reference is to the concept of the Guardian of the Threshold.])

So I'm joking. But I'm also, sadly, serious. Here are a few titles from Anthroposophical publishing houses, books by authors other than Steiner, sometimes mildly at odds with his views, yet far removed from reality, and generally endorsing Steinerish occultism. (Warning: Some are anything but funny.)

From the Anthroposophic Press:

CHRISTIAN HERMETIC ASTROLOGY, by Robert Powell.

ATLANTIS: Lost Kingdom of the Andes, by Jim Allen.

THE DEMON SLAYER, by Samuel Mills.

From Temple Lodge Publishing:

THE TREE OF LIFE AND THE HOLY GRAIL, by Sylvia Franke.

LIGHT BEYOND DARKNESS: How I Healed My Suicide Son After His Death, by Dore Deverell.

MICHAEL AND THE TWO-HORNED BEAST, by Bernard Nesfield-Cookson.

From The Rudolf Steiner Press:

MEDITATIONS ON THE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC, by John Jocelyn.

ZANONI by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

FAIRY WORLDS AND WORKERS: A Natural History of Fairyland, by Marjorie Spock and Ingrid Gibb.

That last is my personal favorite. The description quoted by Amazon includes this: "The fairyland and its denizens have long been the concern of poets, painters, and storytellers. Not only are these beings [sic: the fairies, not the poets,et al] charged with the maintenance of Nature’s household but with her evolutionary plans as well. Our recognition of them and their work helps their efforts prosper and helps the earth be carried forward in its evolution. Marjorie Spock draws aside the veil obscuring the life of the "Little People" and makes their magic world come alive for us. Included are color paintings of the four races of Little People: Undines or water spirits, Gnomes, the earth spirits, Sylphs, or air spirits, and the Fire-Spirits." As you may know, Steiner taught that gnomes, sylphs, and other such beings really exist. Really.

It's all nearly enough to make me ashamed to be human. Is there no limit to our gullibility and self-deception?

The reasons  for our gullibility are plain. We want to deny our limitations. Most urgently we want to deny or defeat death. And we want to live in a world that is more magical, more wondrous, and more easily comprehensible.

What is also plain, although often overlooked, is our capacity to lie to ourselves — and to believe our own sad lies.

•••

73) “Woodrow Wilson ... describes things magnificently [in his writings], but as though he is possessed by subconscious influences. There is a quality of demonic possession in his writings.” [Rudolf Steiner, HOW DO I FIND THE CHRIST? (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2006), pp. 45-46.]

74) “We need to be clear that Ahrimanic forces  [i.e., demonic forces] are increasingly breaking in upon historical events. Two leading personalities, [Woodrow] Wilson and [Vladimir] Lenin, died from the same illness, both from paralysis, which means both offered an opening for Ahrimanic forces.” [Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 700.]

Background: Woodrow Wilson, a scholar and former president of Princeton University, was 28th President of the United States. In 1917, he led the US into World War I, against Germany. He set forth a 14-point plan for peace, was influential at the Versailles peace conference, helped found the League of Nations, and in 1919 won the Noble Peace Prize.

According to Steiner, Wilson was possessed by demons; he could not think; he was a plagiarist; he was a mere non-Waldorf schoolmaster; an idol; a secret king; the reincarnation of a Muslim warlord; a typical Westerner; a spiritual giraffe; and other not-nice stuff.

75) “A Greek would never have uttered so much nonsense about Egyptian conceptions as Woodrow Wilson is able to think in one week about European conceptions — if one can call it thinking!” [Rudolf Steiner, ANCIENT MYTHS, Lecture I http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/AncientMyths/19180104p01.html;mark=206,55,62#WN_mark]

76) ”Schoolmastering is utterly and entirely unable to fulfill its mission today. What ranks as Schoolmastering is completely foreign to the true being of man. But the world threatens to be ruled by a schoolmaster [Woodrow Wilson], revered through political idolatry.” [Ibid., Lecture VI http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/AncientMyths/19180112p01.html;mark=759,97,104#WN_mark]

77) ”[T]he talent for abstraction demonstrated in Woodrow Wilson is the ultimate talent for abstraction in the political field. Those fourteen points of the world's schoolmaster, which in every word bear the stamp of the impractical and unachievable, could only originate in a mind wholly formed for the abstract, with no discernment whatever for true realities ... the humbug of the fourteen points of Woodrow Wilson.”  [Rudolf Steiner, THE MYSTERIES OF LIGHT, OF SPACE, AND OF THE EARTH, IV  http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/19191215p01.html]

78) “Muavija [who led the Islamic assault on Europe] is a representative spirit in the first century after Mohammed ... If you follow the campaigns and observe the forces that were put into operation under Muavija, you will realise that this eagerness to push forward towards the West was combined with tremendous driving power ... If we follow this Muavija, one of the earliest successors of the Prophet, as he passes along the undercurrent and then appears again, we find Woodrow Wilson [sic: emphasis by Steiner].” [Rudolf Steiner, KARMIC RELATIONSHIPS, Vol. I http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/KarmRelI/19240316p01.html]

79) “I may be allowed to be somewhat outspoken about Wilson ... who sits on the throne of America ... [T]he man who now occupies the throne of America drafted [i.e., plagiarized] his most powerful republican document from one issued by the late Emperor of Brazil, Don Pedro, in 1864. Wilson copied this exactly except that the passage, ‘I must intervene in the interests of South America’ is altered to ‘I must intervene in the interests of the United States of America,’ etc., with the necessary recasting.” [Rudolf Steiner, EARTHLY DEATH AND COSMIC LIFE, Lecture 1 http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/EarthDeath/19180122p01.html]

80) “To use a figure of speech employed, I believe, by that deeply spiritual writer, Rabindranath Tagore, the Westerner is pre-eminently a ‘head-man.’ The oriental is a ‘heart-man,’ for he experiences the process of metabolism in his heart; the Middle European is the ‘breath-man.’ He stands in a rhythmic relationship to the outer world through the rhythmic processes within him. Tagore compares the Westerner to a spiritual giraffe because he raises everything into abstractions — into abstractions such as gave rise, for instance, to the ‘Fourteen Points’ of President Wilson. Speaking in the sense of spiritual reality, one feels that the Westerner's head is separated from the rest of his body by a long neck.”  [Rudolf Steiner, “The Peoples of the Earth in the Light of Anthroposophy”, lecture given March 10, 1920  http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/PeoEar_index.html]

81) “[T]he general course of modern civilisation will inevitably involve the disappearance of much that is still greatly to men's taste ... [A] very disagreeable awakening is in store ... [W]hat must be regarded as imminent is a great spiritual battle between East and West, in which the true culture of Middle Europe, as we have come to know it in recent weeks, will be crushed ... [W]e have got to the pitch of having no content at all in our ideas; because this twentieth century has had to give us an example of a man, hailed by vast numbers as a world-leader whose utterances have absolutely no meaning — Woodrow Wilson, who only utters phrases which have completely lost their content.”  [Rudolf Steiner, “The Coming Experience of Christ”, lecture given October 31, 1920  http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/ComChr_index.html]

What in the world did Rudolf Steiner have against poor Woodrow Wilson? And what, if anything, can this tell us about Steiner?

Steiner abominated Wilson both because the US President led his nation into war against Steiner’s beloved Germany, and because the terms of the Versailles treaty were indeed harsh. Steiner, revered by so many as a great spirit with a universal perspective, was actually very much a man of his time and place. An ardent German nationalist, he took his nation's affairs to heart. He was, at least occasionally, chauvinistic, small-minded, and vindictive — like most of us, in our own ways, in our own lands. And that’s the point. Steiner was like everyone else. He was just a guy. He pretended to be far more, and some people believed him. They treated him as Steiner said people treated Wilson: as an idol, upon a throne. But he was just a guy who happened to lie a lot and make many, many amazingly stupid statements. A bozo, in other words — like the rest of us, only a bit more so.

This is an important insight we need to bear in mind. Steiner was just like everyone else, despite his claims. He was worse than most of us, in some ways: He was an Austro-German Elmer Gantry, a Marjoe, a Jim Baker. A fake. But fundamentally, he was just a guy.

And here’s another important insight we can gain. Begging you indulgence, I will now return to quote #73, above, and spin it out at greater length. I think you’ll find it illuminating. Comparing the work of Hermann Grimm, a German, and Woodrow Wilson, the demonic American, Steiner said:

73 redux) ”I love the way Herman [sic] Grimm writes, while Woodrow Wilson’s style is something quite alien and distasteful to me ... I set particular passages of Grimm and Wilson next to each other ... There are sentences and passages which are almost perfectly interchangeable, which are nearly identical word for word ... [But] when two people say the same thing, they are in fact saying something different ... What is strange about the fact that Woodrow Wilson describes [various] things in sentences that seem almost to have been lifted wholesale from the passages of Herman Grimm? In every sentence and passage that Herman Grimm wrote we can sense the personal, individual effort, the struggle. Everything he writes about is expressed from the standpoint of nineteenth century culture, but imbued by the direct promptings of the consciousness soul. Woodrow Wilson, on the other hand, describes things magnificently, but as though he is possessed by subconscious influences. There is a quality of demonic possession in his writings.” [HOW DO I FIND THE CHRIST?, pp. 44-46.]

In this odd little passage about an odd little subject — the writing styles of Hermann Grimm and Woodrow Wilson — we find Steiner’s entire epistemological method. And we find its unintentional self-refutation. Steiner did not look at things, he tried to look through  them to their spiritual essence. But this amounted to projecting his own preferences, wishes, and biases, and then mistaking those projections for objective reality. Grimm and Wilson used virtually the same words, yet Steiner found the results completely different. Grimm good, Wilson bad.

“When two people say the same thing, they are in fact saying something different.” Actually, no. When two people say the same thing, they say the same thing. I don’t want to be frivolous. Of course, slight differences in wording can make large differences. And context can change our understanding. Thus, I would stipulate that Hitler’s celebrations of the German soul were different from the similar celebrations expressed by Steiner. But such differences do not stem from spiritual “realities” ascertainable only by clairvoyance. They are real, verifiable, rationally comprehensible differences that can be discerned in the words themselves, especially when these are read in the context of the authors' other words. But truly identical statements have identical denotations — their meanings are the same.

Steiner loved  Grimm’s work and he found Wilson’s “alien and distasteful.” Quite clearly, considering the context provided by the other quotations I have given, Steiner felt a deep-seated hostility toward Wilson for political reasons. This had nothing to do with the quality of Wilson’s “soul” (which Steiner, just a guy like the rest of us, could not directly observe); nor did it have to do with any demons inhabiting Wilson’s soul (beings that Steiner, just a guy like the rest of us, could not directly observe — in part because such beings probably do not exist anywhere, inside or outside anyone’s soul). Rather, it is quite clear that Steiner merely projected his beliefs and biases onto the words of Grimm and Wilson.

Try an experiment. This is one of the mental exercises I devised for myself when working to undo the occultist conditioning I’d received in a Waldorf school. Look at a photograph and “feel” the qualities in it. For example, look at a photo of an attractive young woman with long, blonde, wavy hair. Now, tell yourself that the woman is German. You may quickly convince yourself that, indeed, only a German would look just like that — an Aryan sort of look, a set of qualities that are distinctly Germanic. Then, without even taking your eyes from the photo, tell yourself a different story: This woman is English, a professional model living in London during the 1960s. Yes, yes. You will quickly see that she is a Carnaby Street chick, distinctly British and mod. Next, still keeping your eyes glued to the photo, tell yourself that the woman is Russian, a Slav. Of course, distinctly so! Where else but in Moscow or Leningrad could one meet such an ice princess — those cold eyes, those almost Asiatic lips, that wrinkled wintry hair?

I still do this exercise from time to time, and I still find that I can “feel” the differences, the deep “spiritual” truths, within a photo, and I can change them at will, instantly. This is what we humans do all the time. We imagine, we invent, and we tell ourselves that our imagined inventions are real. This is what Steiner did. And it is what we all have to stop doing if we are ever to be rational, and stop hating each other for no reason, and stop following Elmer Gantrys like Steiner.

By the way: I should clarify that I am no fan of Woodrow Wilson. There are many reasons to criticize Wilson. But they are not the imagined spiritual reasons Steiner gave, nor can they be found in Steiner’s nationalistic rancor.

Not so much by the way: Notice how Steiner’s “spiritual insight,” fueled by his nationalism, quickly lapses over into racism and horror: Asians are this, Westerners are that; and “what must be regarded as imminent is a great spiritual battle between East and West, in which the true culture of Middle Europe ... will be crushed.”  Steiner’s views are not just stupid, they are invidious, hateful, and potentially disastrous. We must have a worldwide racial showdown, he taught: the great War of All Against All. (82) “Consider that through evil separating from good, the good will be immeasurably strengthened, and that after the great War of All against All...” [Rudolf Steiner, EVIL (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 194.] (83) “[T]he transition from the fifth cultural epoch to the sixth cultural epoch cannot happen differently than as a violent fight between white mankind and colored mankind in the most varied areas.” [Rudolf Steiner, DIE GEISTIGEN HINTERGRÜNDE DES ERSTEN WELTKRIEGES {The Spiritual Background of the First World War}, p. 38.])

No. We must not have any such war. The concept is horrible; it is evil. And to the degree that Steiner preached such bile, his doctrines are evil.

•••

85) [Too Many Jesuses: Two]  Did you know that there were actually two Jesuses? “[I]n preparation for the Mystery of Golgotha [i.e., the Crucifixion] two Jesus-children were born. The one was the Jesus who descended from the line of Solomon and bore the Ego of Zarathustra. The other, coming from the Nathan line of the House of David, was a very special Being. In the twelfth year of the life of the latter the Ego of Zarathustra passed over into him from the child of the line of Solomon, and from that time until his thirtieth year the Nathan child with the Ego of Zarathustra made himself ready to receive the Christ-Being.” [Rudolf Steiner,  BACKGROUND OF THE MYSTERY OF GOLGOTHA, lecture 7: “Pre-Earthly Deeds of Christ”, March 7th, 1914  http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/PreEar_index.html]

This is not your father’s Christianity.

Steiner’s heresies and plain confusions can be explained, however. You see,

86) [“Truth”]  “The concepts of ‘true’ and ‘false’ are dreadfully barren, prosaic, and formal. The moment we rise to the truths of the spiritual world, we can no longer speak of ‘true’ and ‘false’....” [Rudolf Steiner, DEEPER INSIGHTS INTO EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 1983), p. 29.]

From time to time we must grit our teeth and hear more of Steiner’s racial views. So grit and read on:

87) [The Value of White Skin]  “[T]he impregnation of the flesh by the spirit is the characteristic mission, the overall mission of white mankind. People have white skin because the spirit works in the skin when it wants to come down to the physical plain ... [W]here the spirit has not yet worked as spirit ... where it assumes a demonic character, not fully penetrating the flesh, white skin coloring does not occur.” [Rudolf Steiner, DIE GEISTIGEN HINTERGRÜNDE DES ERSTEN WELTKRIEGES (Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1974), p. 37.]

Leaving that horrible subject, let’s do a quick bit of review, preparing ourselves to learn about human life on Earth, which I’ll delve into next time. Before we came to Earth, stuff like this was going on:

88) [Cosmic Sex]  “Between one condition (Sun) and the other (Moon), it came about that the human being became a physical being in water. Formerly he was a physical being only in air. During this Moon condition we have something similar to conception, but not yet anything similar to birth. What was the nature of this conception during the ancient Moon condition? [paragraph break] The Moon was there, an entirely female being ... Seeds came in from outside and fructified the whole Moon-Earth. And if you could have lived at that time and set foot on this primeval cosmic body, you would not have said when you saw all sorts of drops coming in ‘It is raining,’ as one says today. At that time you would have said, ‘Earth is being fructified.’" [Rudolf Steiner, EVOLUTION OF THE EARTH AND MAN (Anthroposophic Press, 1987) , p. 11]

•••

EARTH

To remind you: We once lived on the Old Moon as soft-boned, gliding, leaping, animalish creatures. The Old Moon then winked out of physical existence, taking us with it. We rested up (pralaya), getting ready for our next manifestation, the one that will seem a bit more familiar: We came to Earth (i.e., the incorporeal solar system reemerged from spirituality into a form of physicality more like what we see around us now).

But the “Earth” phase of evolution wasn’t all that familiar, at least at first. (Remember that the various orbs Steiner described are not the objects we see in the sky, except when they are — Old Saturn, Old Sun, and Old Moon were spiritual/evolutionary phases, precursors to the present orbs, except that all of them were really precursors of Earth. And Earth itself is more a phase than a planet, as such — except that it clearly is a planet, too.) During the “Earth” phase of evolution we become the most physically hardened we will ever be. We started out very nonphysical on Saturn, then gradually hardened on Sun and again on Moon, and we are reaching our maximum hardening here on Earth, after which we will get softer and softer as we leave physicality behind and become pure spirits. Nonetheless, our first years of Earthly existence were not all that physical. Those years (which weren't exactly years) are called the Polarian Epoch. We were still pretty mushy, as was the Earth itself, which still held the Sun and Moon within itself, but then — during the Polarian period — the Sun split off. The finer beings needed to get away from us:

89) “Let us again call to mind that, in the beginning of its development, our Earth was united with Sun and Moon. At that point man had arisen once more out of the earliest germ which comprised physical, etheric, and astral bodies; he appeared, so to speak, in his first earthly form — the only one possible to him while the Earth still contained both Sun and Moon. This period of Earth evolution, which man experienced in common with his planet, is usually called in the literature of spiritual science, the ‘Polarian’ period. It would lead too far to explain today why this period is called ‘Polarian’; meanwhile let us simply accept the term. Then comes the time when the Sun is preparing to quit the Earth; when the beings who cannot abide the grosser substance of the Earth separate from the latter with the finer substances of the Sun.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN (Anthroposophic Press, 1948), p. 66.]

We would have to bend a bit to make that consistent with what we were told about events on/during Old Moon, but let’s press ahead. During our Polarian period (with its mysterious name) we were members of the Polarian Race, which may be called a root race in that later races evolved out of it.

90) “In the so-called Polarian Race (the first Root Race) the etheric body was the most important. Man's whole body at that time consisted of fine etheric substance. Only later did the etheric body densify by permeating itself with physical matter. At the end of the first Root Race, man was not fettered to the ground as he is today. He hovered through the etheric earth, and his organs too, were etheric.’”  [Rudolf Steiner,  “(On) Apocalyptic Writings”, lecture given October 10,1904 http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/19041010p01.html;mark=116,17,25#WN_mark] 

Steiner had a disconcerting way of distancing himself from his own words, as when he referred to the “so-called Polarian race.” What he meant, usually, was that words can hardly describe the amazing things he told us about (in words). Anyway, we get more solidly physical during our time on Earth, and eventually we manifest the “I”, our true human spiritual essence or ego. 

91) “I am the self

the self am I,

the spirit in my heart

is the self.”

[from a Steiner-written meditation, BREATHING THE SPIRIT (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2002), p. 55.] Before we came to Earth, we could not say “the self am I,” but now we can. That’s progress for you.

The second phase of life on Earth was the “Hyperborean” stage. The Moon separated from the Earth, then, and other stuff happened. But we still had a long way to go:

92) “One must imagine the perceptual world of these ancestors of man to have been a quite general and indefinite one. Only two of the types of perception of today had already become separated: the sense of hearing and the sense of touch. Because of the changes that had taken place in the body as well as in the physical environment, the entire human form was no longer capable of being, in a manner of speaking, an 'ear.' A special part of the body remained capable of reverberating to delicate vibrations. It furnished the material from which our organ of hearing gradually developed. However, approximately the whole remainder of the body continued to be the organ of touch.” [Rudolf Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1959), p. 114.] Rock concerts were much wilder back when we were all ear.

Getting more and more complete and physical, we moved on to the Lemurian and Atlantean epochs, which is to say we inhabited these two continents, in that order. Each of them came a cropper, with brought us to our present stage of evolution, the  one you can see around you with your physical eyes. I’ll tell about Lemuria and Atlantis in upcoming episodes of Steiner Static.

•••

93) [Reading the Hidden Script] Waldorf schools emphasize imagination. Behind these, in Steiner’s teachings, are inspiration and intuition. All three of these “faculties” are stages in the development of clairvoyance, stages on the path to initiation in the occult mysteries of Anthroposophy. This is what Waldorf schools are, ultimately, aiming for.

“When the pupil has got so far as to have an experience of Intuition, then in addition to having knowledge of the pictures that belong to the world of soul and spirit, and being able to read from the Hidden Script how these pictures are interrelated, he also comes to know the Beings through whose co-operation the world to which man belongs has been called into existence.” [Rudolf Steiner, OCCULT SCIENCE - An Outline  (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1979), p. 296.]

This is an advanced stage, farther along than a Waldorf student could be expected to travel while still a child. But anyone who has attended a Waldorf school will probably recognize the impulse found in these words — it is the impulse found in many Waldorf school classes and activities.

As for the “Hidden Script” — that is the Akashic Record, a celestial encyclopedia you can read if, and only if, you become clairvoyant. 

94) Lurking behind Waldorf education are such occult beliefs as astrology and numerology. Here is Steiner embracing both of these two fallacies, discussing the length of time required for the entire Zodiac to cycle around so that each sign passes through an ascendant phase. He links this period of time to the number of breaths a human being takes in a year. Which proves what? Well, in reality, it proves nothing. But for woolly-headed mystics like Steiner, such coincidences have great “meaning.” Waldorf students may be led into a similar wooly-headedness. I know. I was there.

“The essential thing to bear in mind is that the vernal point [the beginning of spring] advances along the whole Zodiac circle, so that the point where the sun rises is always a little further on [in the Zodiac, in succeeding years]. The vernal point must travel along the whole Zodiac and it will then return to its point of departure. The time required for this will be about 25,920 years ... On the average, a human being breathes 18 times a minute ...  In one hour this would be equal to 18 x 60 = 1080. In 24 hours: 1080 x 24 = 25,920, that is to say, 25,920 times ... This is extremely important, for it shows us that our respiratory process, that is to say, something which takes place within our human being, is subjected to the same rhythm — differing only in time — as the rhythm which, on a large scale, lies at the foundation of the rhythm of the sun's course.” [Rudolf Steiner, “Man's Position in the Cosmic Whole, the Platonic World-Year”, lecture given January 28th 1917, Anthroposophic News Sheet 8th of January 1940 No. 1-2.]

All very true. Except that the Sun’s “course” as determined in astrological terms is an illusion. And the Zodiac is a illusion. And different people breath at different rates, so the magic number 25,920 doesn’t apply to all of them. In fact, none of this applies to anyone anything, since it is all a pile of ... shall we just say silliness?

By the way, consider what it means for a “rhythm” to differ from another “rhythm” “only in time.” Two rhythms differing in time are fundamentally different, not the same. 

Anyway. Back to the Zodiac. Steiner taught that we reincarnate once per sign of the Zodiac — that is, once every 2160 years (25,920 / 12), give or take. This is extremely important. Except that it isn’t, since reincarnation is bosh. Students at Waldorf schools, however, will be taught by people who believe in it, and in astrology, and in meaningless numerical wonders. (One more quick example: Steiner once calculated that the demon Ahriman reached his greatest power in the year 333 BC. Likewise, Steiner said that the need for humans to reenter the celestial hierarchies began in the year 333 AD. Now, adding 333 to 333, we get — tad da! — 666, the Mark of the Beast. All of which proves ... what? Nothing. But Steiner and his followers think it has great significance. [Rudolf Steiner, GUARDIAN ANGELS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2000), pp. 96-97.])

95) What else do Waldorf teachers believe in? We might better ask what foolishness don’t they believe in? If the accept Steiner’s word for things (as they do), they believe, for instance, that we can communicate with the dead. (For instance, see the book STAYING CONNECTED: How to Continue Your Relations with Those Who Have Died (Anthroposophic Press, 1999), consisting of wisdom provided by Rudolf Steiner.)

Consequently, they may also believe in zombies released by evil scientists misusing the Zodiac: “There will also .... be many attempts to introduce the dead into human life by artificial means. The dead will be brought into human life via a detour through Gemini....” [Rudolf Steiner, SECRET BROTHERHOODS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), p. 192.]

96) [Machine-Animals] Here’s another example of the sorts of paranoid nightmares Steiner spread. I’ll take it from the same book I just quoted from — in fact, I’ll take it from the same page. Steiner said that evil wizards or scientists will “detach the mechanism of life somewhat from the human being ... The cosmic forces brought in from this direct will produce remarkable machines, machines that can be labour-saving for people because they will contain a degree of intelligence. And it will be the task of a science of the spirit concerned with the cosmos [could he mean Anthroposophy?] to ensure that all the great temptations emanating from these machine-animals created by human beings themselves will be unable to have any damaging influence on them.” [Ibid., p. 192.] Now you know why Waldorf schools are so down on computers and other labour-saving “machine animals” that have “a degree of intelligence.” Thank goodness a “science of the spirit” is standing guard!

•••

To give you a feel for the sort of mood and thinking that prevail inside Waldorf schools — what I have sometimes called the schools’ spiritualistic vibe — I’d like to quote a few of Rudolf Steiner’s meditations. They are bits of spiritual enlightenment he gave to his followers. Meditate upon these wonderful words. Waldorf faculty members often have such words ringing in their minds. 

97) “In the distance beckons spirit image

and the spirit image is with God

and a God is the spirit image;

in him is the living I

and the living I is the light of human beings.”

[Rudolf Steiner, BREATHING THE SPIRIT (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2002), p. 53.]

Note how the meditation moves from “God” to “a God,” implying the existence of other gods. Anthroposophy embraces the ideal of a single, ultimate God, but it affirms the reality of many gods. The image of spiritual fulfillment — with God — beckons. The image is a God, implicitly Christ, the Sun God* — who, as the living Word, is with God. The “I” is the human spiritual ego. In the image of our future selves we perceive our higher “I”: Christ, the living light that guides us. And as we emulate Him, we ourselves may become the living I, the light, with God.

•••

ATLANTIS

As we move toward the end of our little summary of human history as described by Steiner, we may wonder where we can find the evidence to support Steiner. For that matter, what evidence did Steiner himself use to support his assertions? The answer is: None. He had zero. Zilch. Steiner made it up, every bit of it. (Or, to be more precise, he borrowed most of it from Theosophy and other occult systems, which themselves are based on no firm evidence whatever. Zero. Zilch.)

Science has tons of evidence supporting the standard, scientific descriptions of cosmic and human history. None of it supports Steiner in the slightest. This is particularly striking in the cases of Lemuria and Atlantis, the two “lost continents” that we supposedly lived on. The ruins of these physical realms should still exist somewhere under the ocean. Steiner said where each continent was: Lemuria, south of Asia; Atlantis, east of Gibraltar. So finding the ruins should be easy enough. Indeed, expeditions have been mounted to find them. They found nothing. Zero. Zilch.

Oh, well. Moving on. Steiner taught that a small part of the Lemurian population — the superior part, the most capable of evolving properly — left Lemuria and settled on Atlantis. If the gods’ original plan had worked out, humans would have received the Christ Impulse there, and we would have scooted up the evolutionary ladder all that must faster. But Lucifer fouled things up for us on Lemuria, and Ahriman (the arch-demon of Zoroastrianism) played a similar, subversive role on Atlantis, causing additional delays for us.

Still, life on Atlantis was pleasant. We had flying automobiles and attractive wooden houses. Spiritual wisdom flourished, and things looked pretty bright. But what with Ahriman working his mischief, things went awry. Human initiates (guys and gals clued into deep spiritual mysteries) became corrupt, and Atlantis was destroyed.

120) [How the Atlanteans Lived] The people of Atlantis had a highly developed technology, but unlike ours it was based on “the life force” and was associated with “subordinate natural beings” (nature spirits: embodiments of life forces within nature, what you and I might call fairies). Steiner points out that, of course, none of this information can be known by modern humans or modern science, because we depend on our senses. But Steiner assures us that everything he says is “quite certain for occult experience” — that is, clairvoyance nails down all the of this information. “While the power to think logically was absent among the Atlanteans (especially the earlier ones), in their highly developed memory they possessed something which gave a special character to everything they did ... Memory is closer to the deeper natural basis of man than reason, and in connection with it other powers were developed which were still closer to those of subordinate natural beings than are contemporary human powers. Thus the Atlanteans could control what one calls the life force. As today one extracts the energy of heat from coal and transforms it into motive power for our means of locomotion, the Atlanteans knew how to put the germinal energy of organisms into the service of their technology ... The vehicles of the Atlanteans, which floated a short distance above the ground traveled at a height lower than that of the mountain ranges of the Atlantean period, and they had steering mechanisms by the aid of which they could rise above these mountain ranges ... Today, the above-mentioned vehicles of the Atlanteans would be totally useless. Their usefulness depended on the fact that then the cover of air which envelops the earth was much denser than at present ... The above-mentioned density of air is as certain for occult experience as any fact of today given by the senses can be.” [Rudolf Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY (Anthroposophic Press, 1987), pp. 42-44.] 

121) [The Gods] The Atlanteans knew various pagan gods as well as we today know our neighbors. Gods descended to Earth during the Atlantis period, when the Earth’s atmosphere was more watery than it is today — they walked among us in human form. But later, when we took on more solid bodies, the gods backed off. “Already in Atlantis we meet beings [i.e., gods] who were among men as our fellows are today ... [M]an learned to know Thor, Zeus, Wotan, Baldur [Norse gods] as actual companions ... When man still lived in the water-fog atmosphere ... incarnations were possible for [some gods]. Such a figure was the later Wotan [i.e., the god later known as Wotan], for example. He said to himself, ‘If man incarnates in this fluid matter, then I can also.’ Such a being assumed a human form and moved about in the physical world. But as the earth condensed and man took on ever denser forms, Wotan said, ‘No, I shall not go into this dense matter.’ Then he remained in invisible worlds, in worlds removed from the earth.” [Rudolf Steiner, EGYPTIAN MYTHS AND MYSTERIES (Anthroposophic Press, 1971), p. 140.] (122) Incidentally, you may be interested to learn: “The same being who was called Wotan in the Germanic myths, appeared again as Buddha.” [Ibid., p. 141.]

123) [Initiates] The population of Atlantis included initiates. Steiner’s description of them can be applied to Steiner himself and to his followers: “[T]the initiates and their schools ... are [or were] in advance of the stage of development of their period. For admission into such schools, the decisive factor is not age, but whether in his previous incarnations the applicant has acquired the faculties for receiving higher wisdom. The confidence placed in the initiates and their representatives during the Atlantean period was not based on the richness of their personal experience, but rather on the antiquity of their wisdom. In the case of the initiate, personality ceases to have any importance. He is totally in the service of eternal wisdom. Therefore the characteristic features of a particular period do not apply to him.” [COSMIC MEMORY, p. 42.]

124) [Trouble Comes] Sadly, however, the initiates on Atlantis screwed up big time. “Powerful rulers [of Atlantis] themselves were initiated ... [T]he initiated kings and leaders of the Atlanteans came into being. Enormous power was in their hands, and they were greatly venerated. [paragraph break] But in this fact also lay the reason for decline and decay ... Man wanted to count for something through his power. The greater the power became, the more he wanted to exploit it for himself. The ambition which had developed turned into marked selfishness. Thus the misuse of these powers arose. When one considers the capabilities of the Atlanteans resulting from their mastery of the life force, one will understand that this misuse inevitably had enormous consequences.” [COSMIC MEMORY, pp. 51-52.]

125) [Ahriman Sticks His Nose In] The errors of the powerful rulers of Atlantis led to the destruction of their beautiful continent. But before we hear about that, we should examine the role Ahriman played. “Ahriman follows Lucifer and instills into human beings the illusion that matter is a reality in itself. So in the course of their evolution, during which the divine-spiritual beings [i.e., the good gods] wanted their influence to work upon them [i.e., us], human beings allowed themselves to be subject to two other forces: those of Lucifer who attacks human beings in their inner nature, in their astral body, endeavoring to confuse and mislead them; and Ahriman who, working from outside, deludes human beings to a certain extent, causing the external world to appear as maya, as matter.” [Rudolf Steiner, ATLANTIS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2001), p. 37.] Lucifer and Ahriman remain active today, and this description applies to us today. But In our history, Lucifer played the destructive role for Lemuria, and Ahriman took this role for Atlantis.

126) [Ahriman II, The Sequel] Any movie about Atlantis would make a huge production number out of the destruction of that continent. Here’s Steiner’s version: “Mighty and ominous powers of Nature were thus let loose by the deeds of men, leading eventually to the gradual destruction of the whole territory of Atlantis by catastrophes of air and water. [Steiner equated this with the Biblical Flood.] Atlantean humanity — the portion of it, that is, which did not perish in the storms — was compelled to migrate. As a result too of the great storms, the whole face of the Earth changed. Europe, Asia and Africa on the one hand, and America on the other, began gradually to assume their present shape ... [During that period] supersensible forces [i.e., spiritual and magical forces] were placed in the service of lower instincts, passions and desires ... [Humanity, going astray, produced monsters]: human figures would arise [i.e., did arise] that were monstrous and grotesque in size and shape ... [Much of the mayhem resulted from the actions of devils]: other beings had, since the middle of the Atlantean time, been making themselves felt in the realm of human evolution, owing to whose influence man was induced to enter the world of the physical senses in an unspiritual manner ... The leader of them may be called after the name he received later on in the ancient Persian civilization, Ahriman. (Mephistopheles is the same being.)”  [Rudolf Steiner, OCCULT SCIENCE - An Outline (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1979), pp. 198-200.]

127) [Fleeing] According to Steiner, one crucial result of the catastrophe that destroyed Atlantis is that humans migrated in vast numbers to other parts of the Earth. Some of these people were less highly evolved than others. Thus, they became higher and lower human race. We’ll pick up the story by returning to the quotation I just now gave you, filling in some of the words I omitted. (Steiner always rambled; he was amazingly incoherent. Trying to sort out his words is a pain.) “...Europe, Asia and Africa on the one hand, and America on the other, began gradually to assume their present shape. Vast numbers of human beings migrated into these countries ... Peoples of many kinds took up their abode in these countries, people that stood at many different levels of evolution — and also of corruption ... Physically speaking, post-Atlantean humanity evolved form Atlantean forebears whose bodily figure had already become firm enough [to survive] ... Human racial forms which had hardened before this time could continue to propagate themselves for a good while to come, but ... these races too had to die out. Many of the forms were nevertheless able to maintain themselves right into the post-Atlantean times; indeed, some of them ... survived in a somewhat altered condition for a very long time.” [OCCULT SCIENCE, pp. 198-199.]

128) [Steiner’s Racism] Examining Steiner’s loony statements about Atlantis brings us, inevitably, to his horrible statements about race. We currently live in the Post-Atlantean Epoch, according to Steiner, and among us are survivors of higher and lower racial types. I apologize for quoting the following, but anyone who studies Steiner deeply must come to terms with remarks such as the following: “Just at the time when Atlantis began to sink there was a great contrast between men who were good as to their qualities of soul, and were a race of little men [Steiner, who was short, liked little men], and the giant forms who were wicked and in whom everything turned to flesh ... There were people whose inner nature was correctly balanced and who were normal ... [T]hese were the men that the Atlantean initiates could do the most with [the initiates tried to steer human evolution in the “proper” course, just as Steiner and his followers tried to do in our own time]. On the other hand there were other men who had developed a tremendously strong ego-feeling ... There were other people again who had not reached anything like a normal ego-feeling...  [So, there were good, normal people, and two types of abnormal people. Now I’ll shut up and let Steiner convict himself out of his own mouth.]  ... [I]t was the normal human beings that were the best material for the initiates to use for the evolution of the future ... Those peoples whose ego impulse was developed too strongly ... gradually wandered to the West and became the nation the last survivors of which appeared as the Red Indians of America. Those people who whose ego-feeling was too little developed migrated to the East, and the survivors of these people became the subsequent Negro population of Africa. If you look at those things in a really spiritual scientific way you will see evidence of them right into the physical characteristics ... [T]he colour of egohood is red or copper or a yellowish brown ... Those people who had developed their ego being too little ... became black ... they deposited too many carbonic constituents in their skin and became black. This is why the Negroes are black. Thus both east of Atlantis in the black population and west of Atlantis in the red population we find survivors of the kind of people who had not developed their ego-feeling in a normal way. The human beings who had developed normally lent themselves best to progress.” [Rudolf Steiner, THE BEING OF MAN AND HIS FUTURE EVOLUTION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1981), pp. 117-119.]

Can you guess what color the best, “normal,” upwardly evolving humans were and are? And can you guess where they migrated to, according to short, white, Austro-German R. Steiner?

On this dreadful note of reprehensible racist crap, I will now conclude our summary of human history. Steiner’s views were insane and horrible. Fortunately, they have no bearing on reality. Nothing is or ever was the way Steiner described it. All of his views amounted to static, crackling interference in the air — crackling that clears up when we twist the dial, tune in another station, and turn our attention to reality.

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(129) "People merely gape at the rainbow nowadays. If you only look at it with some imagination [i.e., clairvoyance], 

you will see elemental beings very active in it, and these elemental beings show us some remarkable phenomena. 

Here [red and yellow] you see elemental beings coming out of the rainbow all the time ... 

The moment they arrive at the lower end of the green, they are drawn in. You see then disappearing here [green and blue]. 

On the other side they come out again." — Rudolf Steiner, ART (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), pp. 233-234.

[This is my colored version of the black-and-white, labeled image in the book; 2009.]

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Concerning the colors of skins and souls:

(130) "If we take the flesh color of a Caucasian person, 

which resembles spring's fresh peach-blossom colour, 

we have the living image of the soul. 

If we contemplate white in an artistic way, 

we have the soul image of the spirit ... 

And if, as artists, we take hold of black, 

we have the spiritual image of death. And the circle is closed." 

— Rudolf Steiner, ART (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), pp. 188-189.

[This is my colored version of the black-and-white, labeled image in the book; 2009.]

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Steiner's account of the creation and prehistory is incompatible with both science and the Bible. Here are some details about life in/on/during Old Moon. (131) “[W]armth, air, and water were there but as yet no really solid mineral structures ... During this Old Moon stage, therefore, we are talking of a thickish fluid that contained in solution all the substances which today are solid ... [I]mmense quantities of metals and even of sulphur were present in the air ... The mode of life of the creatures that existed at that time was utterly different ... You can imagine how different the earth looked at that time, like a kind of giant egg yolk ... The creatures ... had a bodily structure somewhere between what one needs for swimming — fins — and what one needs for walking — feet ... These creatures therefore had limbs in which there was something of a thornlike nature, but also something like joints. They were really quite ingenious joints, and in between, the flesh mass was stretched out like an umbrella ... Other creatures lived in the dense air ... [They] had no lungs ... They absorbed the air as a kind of food ... [T]he birdlike creatures in the air of that time excreted continuously ... Reproduction was at that time of a very different nature; it went on in the whole earth-body. The upper world fertilized the lower, the lower world fertilized the upper. The whole earth-body was alive. One could say that the creatures below and the creatures above were like maggots in a body ... It was one life, and the various beings lived in a completely living world." [Rudolf Steiner, FROM SUNSPOTS TO STRAWBERRIES (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2002), pp. 18-24. My sketch based on the sketch on p. 20.]

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Genesis may be described in varying ways in various Waldorf schools.

Young students particularly (and their parents)

may not be ready to hear Steiner's "truths."

[All Waldorf student artwork

courtesy of PLANS.]

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Entering Earthly life, we descend from spirit realms (blue) to the physical (green).

Here, evil souls may fall farther, into the abyss.

— Rudolf Steiner, THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN (Anthroposophic Press, 1993), p. 121.

[This is my colored version of the image in the book, drawn 2009.]

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[R.R., 1972.]

Abyss: 70

Advanced Races [cf. Savages]: 109

Ahriman: 74, 125, 126

Akashic Record: 93

All Against All: 81, 82, 83

Americans: 29, 30

Animal Man [also see Old Moon]: 4, 67

Animated Monad: 56

Angels [also see Sons of Twilight]: 19

Animals: 15, 17, 63

Archai: 67

Archangels [also see Spirits of Fire]: 67

Asia: 46

Astral Body: 12, 67, 69

Astrology: 5, 94, 95

Atheism: 39

Atlantis: 44, 105, 110, 120, 121, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128

Atma: 56

Atoms: 35

Attila the Hun: 46

Auras: 113

Baby Teeth: 32

Bible: 20, 24

Black: 130

Blonds: 9

Blood: 99, 100

Body (material, physical): 41, 54, 56, 107

Brazil, Emperor: 79

Brotherhood: 2

Buddha: 122

Buddhi: 56

Cause (Unknown) - see Origins

Centaurs: 34

Cherubim: 19

Child: 31

Christ [also see Sun God]: 97, 98, 99

Christ Impulse: 111

Clairvoyance: 34, 102

Commandments: 50

Communication: 106

Competition: 55, 57, 69

Consciousness: 41, 53

Creation, The: 20, 21, 24

Criticism (not): 51

Cross: 101

Crystal Heaven: 19, 23

Deception: 13

Demons: 12, 35, 48, 73, 74

Demonic Beings: 46

Destiny: 104

Differentiation: 46

Discipline: 8

Dragons: 26

Dreams: 66

Druids: 16

Earth: 37, 38, 89, 90, 90, 91

Earth Body: 102

East: 81

Education: Irrational: 3, 31

Elemental Beings - see Nature Spirits

Elephants: 63

Elohim: 22

Eggs of Warmth: 40

Ego - see “I”

Etheric Body: 11, 32, 56, 90

Europe: 29, 46, 81

Evil: 10, 11, 12, 27, 44, 69, 108, 110, 111, 117

Evil Gods: 106

Evolution: 4, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 36, 37, 39, 43, 44, 64, 88, 89, 90, 91, 105, 110, 111, 126, 128

The Fall: 110, 111

Fear: 49

Fire: 112

Female - see Sexes; Sophia

Feminine Soul: 109

The Flood: 126