THE ANCIENTS

Mistaking Ignorance for Wisdom

Once again I will twist the kaleidoscope.

Many of the following quotations also appear

on other pages here at Waldorf Watch.

I used them there to illustrate certain points.

I will use them here to illustrate other, related points.

Mankind today knows more about almost everything than we used to. Science and society have made great strides. Thousands of years ago, even the most learned people knew very little, and the great majority of people were — by modern standards — thoroughly uneducated. They may have been good people, kindly and loving, skilled at the tasks needed for survival in relatively primitive conditions, but they had very little of what we now call information. No Internet. No books. No newspapers. Generally, no schools.

As for the "learned" people of those societies, their knowledge consisted largely of traditions, superstitions, folk beliefs — that was about it. Their "knowledge" was limited and, in most cases, simply wrong. For us today, it seems obvious that if you want to learn about the stars, or animals, or the interior of the earth, you should go to astronomers, biologists, or geologists — not ancient folklore or myths. Almost everyone today understands this. But not absolutely everyone. Some people look backward instead of forward in the quest for information. And among them was Rudolf Steiner.

Steiner based many of his teachings on myths, legends, superstitions — even fairy tales and old wives’ tales. In other words, he based many of his teachings on ignorance. He practiced what we, in the 21st century, know as GIGO: garbage in, garbage out.

Steiner quite explicitly rejected most of the findings of science while endorsing misinformation gleaned from the ancients. Let’s survey the terrain.

Steiner said that, in his own life, discovering a mystical philosopher marked a great turning point: “Suddenly, in place of the old rationalistic philosophy there appears in [Friedrich Joseph von] Schelling a real awakening of the ancient philosophy of the gods of mythology, a reawakening of the old gods ... I myself again and again returned to Schelling.” [1] Steiner boned up on Schelling’s works, and strove to learn whether Schelling was right that one can penetrate to the Eternal. Steiner claimed success. “I discovered this capacity in myself.” [2]

The Eternal that Schelling led Steiner to is a place of “the gods of mythology ... the old gods.” For the rest of his life, Steiner investigated that place (or pretended to). The old gods, and the old myths, legends, and fables that tell of them, became the apples of his eye  — his psychic eye, his claimed powers of clairvoyance.

Steiner taught that the ancients had natural clairvoyance — not nearly as good as his own “exact clairvoyance,” but pretty darned good nonetheless. Thanks to their psychic abilities, the ancients had profound spiritual knowledge that modern man has lost. Steiner claimed that he, through Anthroposophy, showed how we can regain clairvoyance — his new, improved version.

Most of us today are “illiterate,” by Steiner’s lights. “A person who cannot read world phenomena [clairvoyantly] is like a cosmic illiterate where these phenomena are concerned.... In the time of ancient clairvoyance human beings were far less illiterate in the spirit.” [3] You can immediately see how Steiner turns truth on its head — the illiterates are not the ancients, the vast majority of whom were literally illiterate (that is, unable to read), but we moderns who cannot see the gods of myth peeking through the cosmos at us. In Steiner’s hands, words lose their meaning.

Old-timers of all stripes had natural, ancient clairvoyance, and they transmitted the findings of their clairvoyant observations in such narratives as myths. “We must not look merely for astronomical facts in such a myth as the myth of Osiris, but we must see in it the result of the deep clairvoyant insight of the wise priests of ancient Egypt. They embodied in this myth what they knew concerning the evolution of earth and man. [paragraph break] Actual facts concerning the higher Spiritual Worlds lie at the foundation of all myths....” [4]

In the benighted modern world (of which I am a proud and grateful citizen) the word “myth” is often associated with fantasy, illusion, falsehood. There is, of course, a layer of truth in many myths — a layer reflecting psychological and emotional truths, a layer reflecting human culture and aspiration and desire. But this is not what Steiner meant. He meant that myths convey real information about the spirit realm. 

“Myths and sagas are not just 'folk-tales'; they are the memories of the visions people perceived in olden times ... At night they were really surrounded by the world of the Nordic gods of which the legends tell. Odin, Freya, and all the other figures [i.e., Norse gods] in Nordic mythology were not inventions; they were experienced in the spiritual world with as much reality as we experience our fellow human beings around us today.” [5]

Go over this slowly. Steiner was not saying that the ancients, when having visions, were seeing things that were symbolically true, or true in some deep but vague way. No, when the ancients had visions of the ancient gods, “they were really surrounded” by such beings, who are “not inventions” — the ancient gods are as real as the people we meet on the streets today. Steiner says these gods “were experienced” as real. Does this weaken the statement? No, for him psychic experience is the realest reality. Steiner meant that Odin, Freya, Osiris, and all the other ancient gods are real beings. Really. Honest.

What’s more, Steiner didn’t say that just some myths are true. He gave priority to Norse myths (the ones he may have been told when growing up), but he said “All myths and sagas are handed down from a time when human beings could still perceive the astral world: when they ascended to spiritual vision they encountered Wotan, Baldur, Thor, Loki [i.e., Norse gods] and other beings who were not physically embodied on earth ... The human being of that ancient epoch descended into his physical body each morning and felt separate and single, but when he returned each night to the world of spirit, he returned also to a unity and wholeness of which he was part, a great company to which he belonged.” [6]

Go over that slowly. “ALL myths” recount the experiences the ancients had “EACH night” in the spirit world. After they fell asleep, the ancients floated out of their bodies into the literally real spirit realm, met the gods, and then returned to their bodies in the morning. To describe what they had seen, they told one another myths, which are true. Sure, the myths may color and distort things somewhat — describing the spirit realm is difficult. It is a place of swirling colors and tones, but not clear-cut forms. Finding the right words is tough. But the myths, ALL of them, succeed: They all tell of the “great company” the ancients joined every night, the spiritual band in which we ourselves belong.

Popping over to the spirit world let the ancients perceive all sorts of spirit beings, not just gods. “Imagine what the people of ancient times perceived, entrancing them, pouring through their heads, till they exclaimed, 'Ah, the nymphs! Ah, the gnomes! How the nymphs whirl in my head, how the gnomes hammer....' That no longer exists for us. Today the hammering, surging, and whirling are eclipsed and overwhelmed by what comes from actual seeing or hearing.” [7]

The nymphs! The gnomes! Nowadays, we understand that people who see and believe in nymphs and gnomes are insane. But Steiner took the opposite view. "Actual" seeing and hearing, you see (hear me out), get in our way. The eyes lie. The ears lie. But myths and clairvoyance convey truth. The nymphs and gnomes are real. “There are beings that can be seen with clairvoyant vision at many spots in the depths of the earth ...  Many names have been given to them, such as goblins, gnomes and so forth ... Their nature prompts them to play all sorts of tricks on man.... ” [8]

Steiner didn’t say that goblins or gnomes may be visualized or imagined. No, he said they really exist, and clairvoyants can see them.

The loony bins are full of people who can see them — but this is me talking, not Steiner. Steiner turned everything on its head. Truth (reality, science, actual seeing and hearing) are false, he said, while myth (fantasy, illusion, lies) are true. Remarkably, Steiner didn’t just say that the myths we have inherited from the ancients are true. His claim is much broader than that, extending to other forms of fantasy. 

“Fairy tales are never thought out [i.e., invented]; they are the final remains of ancient clairvoyance, experienced in dreams by human beings who still had the power. What was seen in a dream was told as a story — for instance, 'Puss in Boots' ... All the fairy tales in existence are thus the remnants of the original clairvoyance” [9]

Slowly, now. ALL fairy tales are essentially true, conveying clairvoyant visions. To repeat, “Fairy tales are ... the final remains of ancient clairvoyance, experienced in dreams by human beings who still had the power... for instance, 'Puss in Boots.'” I swear to you, I am not making this up. This is what passes for wisdom among Steiner’s followers.

Steiner made things up. For him, the vast bulk of ancient “wisdom” passes muster, even if the ancients involved lived on a nonexistent continent, and even if Steiner himself had to make up what these ancients "knew" through their nonexistent faculty of clairvoyance. "The sun oracle of ancient Atlantis had already prophesied the coming of the Christ, of the Sun God." [10]

Mixing Christianity with clairvoyance, Atlantis, and other nonsense might be offensive to some people — such as, for example, Christians. But this didn’t deter Steiner. Thus, he explained the missing years in Jesus’s life (the years between childhood and the beginning of His ministry) by saying that Jesus traveled to the East and picked up ancient mystery wisdom there: "the words Jesus of Nazareth heard in pagan lands — the secret of the earthly human being as it was presented in ancient sacred teachings. They hold deep secrets of human evolution." [11] So, according to Steiner, Christ’s message to humanity included pagan elements, and — the most important point — it was therefore consistent with Steiner’s own evolutionary theories. You won’t find support for this in the Bible, but Steiner professed to know more than the Bible.

Steiner did not embrace every single last ancient teaching, of course. Some ancient peoples had things wrong. (Naturally, these were people whose beliefs were incompatible with Steiner’s own, later teachings.) For instance, Persians were in danger of committing themselves ot Lucifer and his minions:  “The ancient Persians ... were in danger of merging altogether into the Luciferian beings.” [12]  More importantly, ancient Jews were onto a good thing for a while, but later they failed to become Christians and therefore fell into extreme error. Their childish thinking then turned into the deadly materialistic thinking that is so rampant in the world today. “[T]he ancient Jewish people ... did not wish to learn anything in addition to what the human being brings with him as a capacity because of the fact that he was an embryo ... Old Testament thinking [led to] the atheistic science of the modern age ... Old Testament thinking in human beings today is transformed into naturalism.” [13]

Even the true teachings of the ancients are, in a sense, wrong for us in the modern world. We can’t just take ancient teachings and run with them: “When the ancient Indians received the teaching of the holy Rishis [i.e., Hindu saints], there was a different way of thinking, a different kind of feeling and willing ... [H]umankind is constantly evolving. People today have an entirely different, finer brain structure, even an entirely different blood formation ... For this reason, today all truths must be formulated differently, and methods of initiation must be designed so that they are appropriate for today's European [i.e., whites].” [14]

Steiner set about to offer the correct form of mystery wisdom for modern humans. We once possessed mystery wisdom, then we evolved to possess forces in our souls that allowed us to put the mysteries aside for a while. But now we are evolving into a new consciousness that must once again incorporate the ancient mysteries, but in a new form. That’s what Anthroposophy is all about. Steiner said that forces would flow out of his headquarters, the Goetheanum, all around the world, ushering in the new age. “[T]he inner spiritual impulse that is intended to flow from the Goetheanum through the anthroposophical movement always contains an aspect that goes far beyond any theoretical understanding, indeed beyond any understanding altogether ... The tasks human beings must undertake today are growing great again. They are growing great because the forces [that were] once available to turn away more or less from the impulses of the ancient Mysteries are now exhausted ... [H]uman evolution cannot proceed further unless forces from the Mysteries enter into evolution once again....” [15] Since, as we've seen, we now have different blood and brains than the ancients had, the Mysteries must be packed in a new way to be suitable for us.

Steiner was at least correct when he said that his teachings go “beyond any understanding altogether.” Let’s take a quick glance at some of the repackaged, modern mystery wisdom he offers us and our children, especially if we send our kids to Waldorf schools. “We can show that the British isles have risen and sunk four times and thus follow the path of geology back to the concept of the ancient Atlantis ... [W]e should not be afraid to speak about the Atlantean land with the children. We should not skip that ... The only thing is, you will need to disavow normal geology since the Atlantean catastrophe occurred in the seventh or eighth millennium.” [16] 

Yes, the only problem with Steiner’s teachings is that they are disproved by science. But pressing on: “[T]he soul of the earth dwells within the earth during the winter, and is out in the cosmic spaces during midsummer time; while in spring it is emerging and ascending towards the cosmos. The Spring festival, the Easter festival, cannot therefore be fixed on a particular day ... but must take into account the constellations of the stars. A deep wisdom lies in this, which originated in an age when people were still able to perceive the spiritual nature of the year’s course through an ancient instinctive clairvoyance. We must come to perceive this once more.” [17]

So. In conclusion Where does all this get us?

We can summarize Steiner’s views by saying that, for him and his followers, ignorance is wisdom and fantasies are truth. Thus, it is only fair to point out that Steiner’s truths are fantasies, and his wisdom is ignorance.

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Oh. I mentioned old wives’ tales when we were getting started here. I mustn’t forget. So, I present the following. It is a statement by someone who finds value in Steiner’s biodynamic gardening principles, although not without reservations: “Steiner was indeed a nut, but he didn't dream all this stuff up. He was a reluctant evangelist who condensed whole epochs of old wives’ gardening tales and had the guts to promote them.” [18] Yes, and it takes guts to believe anything Steiner ever said.

— Roger Rawlings

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Drawing of goblins or gnomes

by a Waldorf student.

[Courtesy of PLANS.]

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Steiner's universe contains all manner of legendary beings;

he said they are real, just misunderstood or misperceived by modern humans.

mermaid who tries to lure the human being into its own fluid consciousness-world ...

[A]s Steiner remarks, 'Whether or not man does perceive such things depends on

his own free choice.'"

[Rudolf Steiner, HARMONY OF THE CREATIVE WORD 

(Rudolf Steiner Press, 2001), p. xviii - introduction.]

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Light.

[R. R., 2003.]

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For a quick review of mythical beings that Steiner said really exist,

please use this link: "Beings"

For additional information about "false" thinking,

use "Materialism U."

For information about pagans, pagan Christianity, 

King Arthur, the Grail, and Druids,

use "Pagan"

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Mermaid by Clerk Colvill.

Other images of ancient beliefs

from http://karenswhimsy.com/

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ENDNOTES

[1] Rudolf Steiner, KARMIC RELATIONSHIPS, Vol. 4 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2008), p. 94.

[2] Ibid., p. 157.

[3] Rudolf Steiner, ART AS SEEN IN THE LIGHT OF MYSTERY WISDOM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), pp. 111-112.

[4] Rudolf Steiner, UNIVERSE EARTH AND MAN IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO EGYPTIAN MYTHS AND MODERN CIVILIZATION (Kessinger Publishing, 2003), p. 94.

[5] Rudolf Steiner, THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 198.

[6] Ibid., p. 294.

[7] Rudolf Steiner, ISIS MARY SOPHIA (SteinerBooks, 2003), p. 230.

[8] Rudolf Steiner, NATURE SPIRITS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1995), pp. 62-3.

[9] Rudolf Steiner, ON THE MYSTERY DRAMAS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1983), p. 93.

Puss in boots — a sword-wielding feline — made his first appearance from a French fairy tale. He has had his own movie (with Salma Hyak), and he plays a part in a Shrek film.

[10] Rudolf Steiner, ON THE MYSTERY DRAMAS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1983), p. 93.

Steiner and his followers naturally deny that Steiner made anything up. He either drew on the knowledge of earlier clairvoyants, or he used his own clairvoyance. Mainly the latter.

[11] Rudolf Steiner, THE FIFTH GOSPEL (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1995), p. 120.

[12] Rudolf Steiner, OCCULT SCIENCE - AN OUTLINE (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1969), p. 207.

[13] Rudolf Steiner, THE CHALLENGE OF THE TIMES (Anthroposophic Press, 1941), pp. 28-33.

Note the indications of anti-Semitism. The problems of the modern world can be traced back to the Jews.

[14] Rudolf Steiner, THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 146.

Steiner’s audience was overwhelmingly — perhaps exclusively — white. There were relatively few nonwhites in Europe at that time.

[15] Rudolf Steiner, THE BOOK OF REVELATION And the Work of the Priest  (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), pp. 11-12.

[16] Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998) , p. 25.

[17] THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING, p. 379.

Steiner taught that Earth is alive. It breathes very, very slowly. See Rudolf Steiner, THE CYCLE OF THE YEAR AS BREATHING-PROCESS OF THE EARTH (Anthroposophic Press, 1984.) There's a lot about the Earth you may not know. "[T]he whole earth is a living being ... it bears the plants as a man bears his hair." [Rudolf Steiner, ESSENTIALS OF EDUCATION (Anthroposophical Publishing Company, 1926), p. 64.]

[18] Philip White, “Fertile Ground for True Believers,” THE INDEPENDENT WEEKLY, 2/3/2009.