WHAT WE’RE MADE OF:

Our Occult Innards

Madame Helena Blavatsky, one of the founders of the religion called Theosophy, was Rudolf Steiner’s mentor. The title of Madame Blavatsky’s magnum opus is, tellingly, THE SECRET DOCTRINE. Many religions, certainly including Blavatsky’s Theosophy and Steiner’s Anthroposophy, make a fuss about their “secrets” and “mysteries.” Generally, possession of “mystery knowledge” is supposed to be confined to initiates — insiders, the select few. The thrill of possessing privileged, holy knowledge is powerful among true believers. To be an initiate is to be saved, to be one of the elect, one of the wise, one of the good.

Claiming to possess occult secrets can have some unfortunate side-effects, however. Sometimes the secrets turn out to be mere bits of discarded science — ideas that educated people once considered true but that science has since rejected: The sun orbits the earth, the universe is filled with an invisible ether, racial differences are deep and extremely important, and other fallacies. [1] In other instances, esoteric secrets never had any rational validity but their antiquity is counted in their favor. They are thought to have been handed down by “the ancients” who, occultists believe, were closer to God, or had truer intuitions, or possessed greater clairvoyant powers, than the degenerate people of today. Thus we find belief in sprites or spirits of all sorts, bizarre conceptions of the movements and powers of the planets, faith in various forms of spells and magic and alchemy, and so forth. No matter where the various occult “secrets” come from, they encourage true believers to deny modern scientific information. Today’s spiritualists often reject vaccination, deny the causes of AIDS, repudiate Einsteinian physics, turn thumbs down to Darwinian evolution, and even close their eyes to firmly established historical events such as the Holocaust. [2]

Let’s examine some of the “mystery knowledge” that Rudolf Steiner revealed to teachers at the first Waldorf school. I’ll concentrate mainly on statements Steiner made about human nature and the human body, drawing quotations primarily from THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE: Foundations of Waldorf Education. [3] The concepts Steiner expressed in these lectures undergird the study of many subjects at Waldorf schools. As Anthroposophist educator Roy Wilkinson has written, “It should be pointed out that any study of physiology or anthropology [at a Waldorf school] is taken according to the understanding of the human being as given by Rudolf Steiner.” [4] Wilkinson actually understates the case. Steiner’s views on human nature inform the entire Waldorf curriculum, to varying degrees. After all, the only way to teach students is to reach them, and the only way to do that is to understand who and what they are.

A word before we plunge in. Wading through Steiner’s rambling, obscure, obtuse comments can be a chore — and finding sense in them may sometimes seem impossible. But the attempt is necessary for anyone who wants to know what goes on inside Waldorf schools. Bear in mind that the statements quoted here represent the “Foundations of Waldorf Education.” This stuff is loony, but it is fundamental. In an attempt to add some clarity, I will interject explanations as we go along. I will also occasionally supplement Steiner’s words with brief comments about the education I received at a Waldorf school. 

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Here are some of Steiner’s amazing remarks:

◊ Thinking with Your Bones: “The ancients ... believed that people thought with their bones ... We can thank the capacity of our skeletal system for everything we have in abstract science ... Our skeleton has considerable knowledge, but because we cannot reach down into the skeleton with our consciousness, our awareness of that knowledge fades and is reflected only in the geometric pictures drawn by human beings. The human being is directly coupled to the cosmos, and with the development of geometry, something the human being does in the cosmos is modeled [i.e., geometry reflects human spiritual activity].” [5] When Steiner stated that the ancients thought that humans think with their bones, he could have gone on to say how wrong they were. But he did just the opposite (as usual for him): He embraced ancient, dead “knowledge” and incorporated it into his theology. Hence, geometry is not a branch of mathematics governed by rational laws; geometry — like virtually everything else presented to students in a Waldorf school — is deemed to be the expression of cosmic, spiritual activities. Our math teacher continually urged us to see past the forms we created with compass and straight edge: to find beyond them a spirit of perfection. Geometry embodies truths that, ideally, we should feel deep in our bones. We learned that the circle is the perfect form; the equilateral triangle is “highest” of all angular shapes; the “Golden Mean” embodies a timeless aesthetic ideal; the “Platonic realm” is more real than coarse physical reality.

◊ Thinking with Your Bones, the Sequel: “As soon as we begin to think with our fingers — and one can think with one's fingers and toes much more brightly, once one makes the effort, than with the nerves of the head — as soon as we begin to think with that part of us which has not entirely become matter, when we think with the lower part of our being, then our thoughts are the thoughts of our karma." [Rudolf Steiner, BLACKBOARD DRAWINGS 1919-1924 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), p. 126.]

◊ No Brainer: Spend a while on this next one; Steiner had a gift for clarifying and blurring at one and the same time. Unless you have spent many years in a Waldorf school, this will probably seem to be gibberish: “As we appear physically, we are clearly divided into the head system, the chest system, and the abdominal system, including the limbs ... If you say that we differentiate between the human head, chest, and abdomen-limbs, then people will be of the opinion that each of these must have its own well-defined boundary. People want to draw lines when they differentiate, but when we speak of reality, this is impossible. In our heads, we are mainly head, but we are head in our entire being, only the rest is not primarily head ... The chest is the actual chest, but only in the main since the whole human being is also chest ... It is the same with the abdomen ... [T]he head has qualities of the abdomen ... The beautiful structure of the outer cortex [of the brain] is, in a sense, a degeneration. It represents more of a digestive system in the outer portions of the brain ... [Because] we can feed the brain nerves better than animals do ... we have the possibility of more fully developing our higher cognition. However, the brain and nerve system have nothing at all to do with actual cognition....” [6] At my Waldorf school, physiology was taught by our headmaster. Without attributing the concept to Steiner, he stressed the tripartite nature of the human body: head system, chest system, and abdomen-limb system. He also apparently agreed that the head is not the seat of true cognition: He once explicitly told me not to think with my brain.

◊ Sun in the Morning and the Moon at Night: “[W]hen ancient people ... spoke of the head as consonant with the sun and the chest with the moon, they were not incorrect ... To understand human nature, it is very important to recognize that a major portion of the chest is invisible. The chest reveals its physicality only on one side, that is, toward the rear; toward the front it blends into the soul state [i.e., spirituality].” [7] We students were led to appreciate the importance of the chest system, primarily because it contains the heart (which opens outward to the cosmos, as Steiner suggests in the present passage). One of our Friday high school assemblies was given over to a speech by an aspiring chiropractor. Afterwards, our headmaster said the presentation was excellent, but that chiropractic ascribed to the spine an importance that really belongs to the heart. Steiner himself frequently said that the heart is a sense organ: “The heart is not a pump ... Basically the heart is a sense organ within the circulatory system, yet exactly the opposite is taught nowadays.” [8]

◊ What Nerve: “Physiologists believe that they are onto something when they speak of sensory and motor nerves, but they are actually only playing with words ... They say that someone cannot walk because the nerves that set the legs in motion, the motor nerves, are paralyzed. In truth, that person cannot walk because he or she cannot perceive his or her own legs [i.e., someone with higher consciousness would not be paralyzed].” Doctors foolishly ascribe most forms of paralysis to nerve damage. Steiner corrects them: Paralysis reflects a spiritual deficiency, a failing of “perception” — which, for Steiner, means clairvoyance or one of its allied forms of thought such as imagination. The gods give us these problems so that we can overcome them and, thus, make spiritual progress. “Our age has of necessity become lost in a series of errors so that we can have the opportunity to work our way through these errors and become free human beings.” [9] Couldn’t the gods think up a less troublesome approach to helping us?

◊ Eating Fat Empties Your Head: To grasp the following, you need to know that we are reincarnated. Your “soul” is your individual spiritual identity renewed with each new incarnation, while your “spirit” is your undying spiritual component, representing the authority of the spiritual realm. Your “spirit-soul” is the combination of both. “[I]t would be incorrect to allow children to eat too much fattening food. If [we] do so, since the fat blocks the spirit-soul, the head separates from the spirit-soul and becomes empty.” [10] This brief sentence calls for at least two responses. • Here we see Steiner actually giving good, practical advice, something he rarely did. Avoid fattening foods. Correct. But, as usual, his reasoning is outlandish. At a conventional, secular school, the study of physiology would focus largely on health and how to maintain it — indeed, the course might be called “Health.” The teacher would discuss the cardiovascular system, and how to attain cardiovascular fitness. There would be discussion of the transmission of diseases, and how to protect yourself. There would be discussion of the brain and nervous system, and the importance of avoiding concussions or spinal injuries. And certainly healthful eating habits would be discussed. At our school, such subjects were left by the wayside, in the Anthroposophical haze. • I do not recall that the terms “spirit” and “soul” were differentiated at the Waldorf school I attended, and I don’t remember the term “spirit-soul” being used. However, the faculty frequently spoke of either spirit or soul when addressing us. We were led to understand that we are primarily spiritual beings, which seemed okay since we heard the same thing in church. But we didn’t know what Anthroposophists mean by this concept, for instance that our heads could be emptied out due to an anti-spiritual diet.

◊ Body, Soul, and Spirit — A Work in Progress: “We know that when we look at the complete human being, we see the human body, soul and spirit ... The body is part of the stream of genetic heredity; it carries inherited traits and so forth. The soul is part of that prenatal existence [i.e., life in the spirit realm before birth] most closely connected to the body. However, what is spiritual in modern human beings exists only as a tendency ... So here, where we wish to lay the foundation for a good pedagogy [i.e., Waldorf education], we must take into account what is present only as a spiritual tendency ... What we call Spirit Self is present only as a tendency ... Then there is a second highest aspect of the human being that we call Life Spirit. The Life Spirit is barely perceptible in modern human beings. It is something very spiritual that will develop in the distant future. The highest part of the human being is something that presently exists only as a barely perceptible tendency, the actual Human Spirit.” [11] Basically, we are still mired in the physical realm. We have bodies, and connected to them we have souls. Our spirits are still vague, however — we find only spiritual tendencies in ourselves, not spiritual fulfillments. Our physical bodies are in several ways our enemies. To make real progress, we will have to realize our spiritual tendencies and rid ourselves of our physical existence. (But if physical existence is reality — if we are now living our one and only life in the real world — Steiner’s guidance is worthless.)

◊ The Head’s Chest: “In the head we have the actual head, and we also have the torso — that is, everything associated with the nose. And we have a limb component that extends into the cavity of the body — that is, everything surrounding the mouth. In this way, we can see how the entire human being is present in the head. But, only the head’s ‘chest’ is stunted [skip the word “only”: the “chest” inside your head is stunted]. It is stunted to the degree that we only vaguely recognize the connection between the nose and the lungs ... the nose transforms the breathing process so that it is directed toward the physical. It would be a mistake to view the lung as less spiritual than the nose ... [A]lthough the nose sits shamelessly in the middle of the human face, the lungs, even though they are more closely related to the soul, modestly hide their existence.” [12] I’m almost tempted to think Steiner was joking, here. At least, he was apparently trying to be witty. He was serious about his central point, however, which is unfortunate, since it is remarkable foolish. The nose is certainly connected to the lungs: We breathe by using our noses, mouths, and lungs. But the nose is not, therefore, a miniature torso. Nor does the nose “transform” the breathing process into something physical. Breathing is a physical process, needed to keep the physical body alive. As for the shamelessness of the nose and the modesty of the lungs...

◊ We Have Several Bodies, Some of Them Nonphysical: “If we wish to speak about the human body, we must speak of the sentient body (the least perceptible body, which we also call the astral body), the etheric body and the coarse physical body. [The astral and etheric bodies are assemblages of nonphysical forces.] The etheric body lives in our physical body, completely forming and permeating it. However, it is beyond imperceptible [sic] to the external senses [skip the word “beyond”: the etheric body is imperceptible to our normal senses] ... The human being also has a sentient body that lies deeper still  [this is the astral body, which is more imperceptible] ... Now we may ask what occurs when a human being draws what lives in the temporal body as instinct, drive, and desire into his or her I, that is, into the Sentient Soul [the “I” is the highest of our nonphysical bodies] ... Here we cannot differentiate quite so clearly ... because in the soul of modern human beings everything is all mixed up.” [13] Something is all mixed up, obviously. Never accuse Steiner of saying anything clearly. Summary: Each of us has a physical body, and tightly connected to it is an invisible etheric body. Higher than that is the astral body. Highest still is the “I,” which is our divine selfhood. (Plants and animals have etheric bodies; animals have astral bodies; but only humans have I’s.) Sometimes Steiner spoke of the  “I” as a nonphysical body, but here he separates it as something beyond bodies. The “I” is even more imperceptible than the astral body. The reason all these things are imperceptible might just possibly be that they don’t exist. Steiner claims that they do exist, and he could perceive them using an “internal” sense: clairvoyance.

◊ Kids’ Ages and Stages: Steiner taught that children pass through three stages of development, and that anything approximating a normal education should be postponed until the third stage: “Until the time of the change of teeth [i.e., loss of baby teeth — around age 7], children want to imitate. Until the time of puberty [around age 14], they want to stand under authority, and then [over age 14] they want to use their judgment in the world ... What do human beings actually desire when they arrive from the spirit-soul world and clothe themselves in bodies? Human beings want to bring what they previously lived through in the spiritual world ... Before the change of teeth, human beings are, in a sense, focused on the past ... Children live so much in the past and, in many respects, reveal, not the physical, but the prenatal, the spirit-soul past. After human beings have gone through the change of teeth, they actually live constantly in the present ... Before puberty it is not wise to offer systematized instruction because children have a correct inner concept of truth only following puberty.” [14] • One of the many criticisms made of Waldorf schools is that they set low academic standards. Postponing “systematized” education until high school lends evidence to this criticism. At my Waldorf, class work became more formal in high school, but it remained essentially devoid of rigorous intellectual challenges. • Note that young children are focused on the past, including the prenatal past. Steiner taught that children come into this life with memories of past lives. We’ll return to this point.

◊ A Matter of Matter and Energy: “The human soul is a stage upon which not simply a human, but a cosmic process plays out ... [U]nless you penetrate such views, it is impossible to be a good teacher ... The Earth is saved from death because human beings created matter and energy ... [T]he blood, through its connection to the nerves, acts to create matter and energy ... [T]he blood is continuously on the path toward spirituality and meets resistance there ... [Scientists] formulate, for example, something like the Law of Conservation of Energy and Matter ... [W]e should not form a Law of Conservation of Energy and Matter, but rather seek out the beings for which this law has meaning [physical laws apply to physical beings, but we are much more than physical].” [15] An antiscientific bias is evident throughout the curriculum Steiner developed. We were continually advised that science had severe shortcomings and that we should not consider ourselves limited by those shortcomings. But dos this mean that scientific laws to not have meaning for us? And should we take credit for creating matter and energy, and for saving the Earth from death? Neither scientists nor followers of orthodox religions would agree with these propositions. (By the way, the law concerning energy is called the law of the conservation of energy, period. Matter is something else again — it certainly can be destroyed, whereas energy cannot.)

◊ Evolving in Reverse: Steiner taught that science has evolution backwards. People did not evolved from animals; just the opposite: “Today, much that scientists say about nature ... is very confused ... If the evolution of the Earth did not include human beings, then most animals would not exist ... At a particular stage in their earthly development, human beings, to develop further, needed to rid their nature, which then was much different than it is now, of the higher animals. We can perhaps comprehend this cleansing if we imagine how, in a mixture in which something is dissolved, the dissolved substance precipitates and falls. In the same way, human beings in an earlier stage of development were one with the animal world, and then the animal world precipitated out.” [16] In at least one Friday assembly of the entire high school, our headmaster spoke of a Steinerian form of reverse evolution, although he did not attribute it to Steiner. But he also discussed this subject in private conversations with students, he was more forthcoming. Biologists would fall of their chairs if they heard the statements made by Steiner and our headmaster.

◊ Tug-of-War Between the Physical and Spiritual: We shed the animals; we also shed other parts of ourselves in order to move toward spirituality: “[W]e are always shedding and peeling on the outside. If the spirit is not sufficiently strong, then we must cut off some parts, such as fingernails, because the spirit wants to destroy them by absorbing them from outside ... The chest and abdomen ... fight against the destruction of the penetrating spirit-soul and fill people with matter. From this you can see that the human limbs extending out beyond the torso are really the most spiritual part of the human being, because in the limbs the process of creating matter occurs the least.” [17] As far as I can recall, the extreme spiritual importance of the limbs was not ever spelled out for us. However, we were made to understand the great seriousness of eurythmy, a form of “dance” in which the pelvis is held still while the limbs make elaborate, graceful motions. Here is Steiner’s recondite explanation: “In a certain sense, we take from earthly life only the physical medium [the only benefit we get from physical life is our body], the actual human being who is the tool or instrument for eurythmy [the value of a body is that it lets us do eurythmy]. But we allow this human being to make manifest what we study inwardly [in making kids do eurythmy, we “allow” them to manifest spiritual states], what is already prepared in us as a result of previous lives [these spiritual states were prepared in our past lives]; we transfer this to our limbs, which are the part of us where life after death is being shaped in advance [our arms and legs shape the lives we will have after death]. Eurythmy shapes and moves the human organism in a way that furnishes direct external proof of our participation in the supersensible world [eurythmy actually “proves” the existence of the spirit realm]. In having people do eurythmy, we link them directly to the supersensible world.” [18] In the lower grades, at least, we all had to take eurythmy. Thus, by Steiner’s lights, we were all linked directly to the supersensible world. This was Waldorf’s goal, although it was never explained clearly to us or to our parents.

◊ Making Sense: Steiner taught that human beings have twelve senses: “First, we have the four senses of touch, life, movement and balance. These senses are primarily permeated by will ... The next group of senses, namely smell, taste, sight and temperature are primarily senses of feeling ... I need to add that the sense of I [the highest human spiritual component] and the senses of thought, hearing and speech are more cognitive senses ....” [19] Like most of what we have read, here, this flies in the face of science, reality, and truth. We do not, for instance, have a sense of life. We know we are alive because our five senses tell us so, and because our brains — those organs Steiner derided — give us consciousness. Nor do we have a sense of movement. Tactile sensations (our sense of touch) within our inner ears tell us that we are moving; our eyes and other senses can confirm this — we may see that our position is changing, we feel the wind in our hair, we hear that distant sounds are growing louder... I could go on, but then so can you. Steiner was simply wrong.

◊ Milk of Knowledge: Oddly enough, Steiner associated breasts with the abdomen-limb system rather than the chest. Men, women, and children may all be surprised to learn the following: “Women create milk in direct connection to the upper limbs — that is, the arms. The milk-producing organs are an inner continuation of the limbs [spiritually, breasts extend from arms and legs]. In the animal and human kingdoms, milk is the only substance that has an inner kinship to the nature of the limbs [remember that the limbs are the most spiritual components of the physical body]. In a certain sense, milk is born out of the nature of the limbs, and therefore, has the power of the limbs’ essence still in it. When the mother gives a child her milk, the milk acts as the only substance, or at least the main substance, to awaken the child’s sleeping spirit [mother’s milk gives a spiritual kick-start].” [20] When the spirit awakens, interesting results follow. Steiner taught that kids are born with innate intuitions of the spirit realm. A child whose spirit has been awakened can focus on its past lives in the spirit realm. [21] Ideally, the child then remains in a spiritually enhanced haze until its baby teeth fall out — at about age seven — which is when it is okay for children to start learning to read. [22] But not until seven more years have passed, as we have already seen, should children begin to receive a “systematized” education — at about age 14. That’s the Waldorf way, anyhow. In public schools, education begins a bit earlier. 

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Steiner divided and subdivided phenomena, and he added phantom phenomena, to create patterns that conformed to his numerological preferences. Thus, he divided man's nature into three categories, and then he subdivided each of these into three subcategories. The main categories are body nature, soul nature, and spirit nature. Here they are, along with their subcategories. Overall, this is Steiner's schema for the nine-fold nature of human beings:

NINE-FOLD NATURE OF MAN

Body Nature

1. Physical Nature

2. Etheric Nature

3. Soul Nature (a)

Soul Nature (b)

4. Sentient Soul

5. Intellectual Soul

6. Spiritual Soul

Spirit Nature

7. Spirit Self (a)

8. Life Spirit

9. Spirit Man

I'll discuss the parts of human nature, as conceived by Steiner, in a moment. But first you need to know that Steiner said there are additional, unknown natures — which we can disregard, thank goodness. Moreover, Steiner reshuffled the nine-fold deck in order to create seven-fold and and four-fold listings:

SEVEN-FOLD NATURE OF MAN

1. Physical Nature

2. Etheric Nature

3. Astral Nature 

(combining Soul Nature (a) and Sentient Soul)

4. Intellectual Soul

 

5. Spirit Self (b)

(combining Spiritual Soul and Spirit Self (a))

6. Life Spirit

7. Spirit Man

 

FOUR-FOLD NATURE OF MAN

1. Physical Nature

2. Etheric Nature

3. Astral Nature 

4. The I

(combining Spirit Self (b), Life Spirit, and Spirit Man)

These three schemas are not wholly consistent with one another, so a certain amount of confusion will persist after even a painstaking analysis, should you care to undertake one. In order not to inflict pointless pain, I will keep my analysis, here, fairly brief.

The four-fold schema is the clearest, reflecting Steiner's basic concepts. Steiner was reacting against both materialism and orthodox Christianity. Materialism or science describes man as purely a physical being; psyche, emotions, and spirit are products of the operation of the physical organism. On the other hand, orthodox Christianity — like most faiths — posits a dualistic view: Man is both physical and spiritual.

Steiner insisted that the physical organism is the lowest and least important of man's components, and he was even more insistent that man's spiritual nature is multi-faceted. Specifically, he related the four-fold nature of man to the four forms of cognition he said man can attain.

Physical body: ordinary sensory perception

Etheric body: imagination

Astral body: inspiration

I: intuition

As a human being matures and develops, Steiner said, s/he manifests these four bodies on a seven-year schedule: physical body at birth, etheric body at about age seven, astral body at about age fourteen, and the "I" at about age twenty-one. As these bodies are realized, the human being gains the capacity for the associated forms of cognition. Imagination, inspiration, and intuition are all "supersensible": They do not rely on ordinary senses but on the "super" senses of the three nonphysical bodies. The path of initiation requires us to develop and perfect these forms of knowledge, which are variations of clairvoyance. [31]

The nine-fold schema makes subtle distinctions within this general outline. Steiner was drawn to the numbers three and nine (three squared) for a variety of reasons. Three is important in Christianity (the triune God has three members), for instance, and Steiner developed a theory of social organization which he called Threefolding (society consists of economic, political, and cultural spheres which should be kept distinct). In occultism generally, the number three often expresses the hidden, higher "truths": beyond mere duality, accessible only to the initiated.

Body Nature: We have physical bodies, clearly. Our "etheric" bodies are tightly linked to these, providing the needed life forces. The soul nature ((a), not (b): Steiner often used the same words for different things, creating needless confusion) is our individual spiritual identity, varying from life to life (we reincarnate many times, Steiner said). The soul and etheric body link the physical body to higher realms. The human being is a microcosm of the universal macrocosm, with levels of human nature reflecting — and connecting to — levels of the spiritual realms.

Soul Nature (b): The larger nature of the human "soul" connects us to the "soul world" — a level of spiritual existence above the material level but below the spiritual level. The various components of soul nature (b) have developed over time, during our evolution. For instance, the sentient soul developed during ancient Egyptian times, while the intellectual soul developed during Greco-Roman times. In our personal development, we recapitulate the overall development of humanity.

The sentient soul is somewhat misnamed, since it enables us to apprehend reality only as generally undifferentiated beings, lacking self-awareness and any real power of thought. We became more fully present, individualized, and thoughtful when developing the intellectual soul (Steiner accepted the proposition that intellect developed for the first time in ancient Greece — all previous peoples were relatively benighted). Today we are capable of still higher cognition thanks to the spiritual soul, which can be dated to 1413 AD.  (Steiner also referred to the sentient soul as the consciousness soul, the understanding soul, and/or the responsive soul. Using multiple names for the same thing is another source of needless confusion caused by Steiner .) We are now capable of "felt" thought, the mind working in conjunction with the heart of apprehend more deeply than intellect alone would permit: Supersensible cognition in a better, higher form than ancient, atavistic clairvoyance becomes possible. 

Spirit Nature: Our spirits are higher than our souls: They are immortal citizens of the spirit realm. In developing and unlocking the components of our spirits, we make possible our ultimate, full ascension into the spirit-world (a higher realm than the soul-world). The spirit self (a) is manas (a Sanskrit term, not  very enlightening), which may be considered the reincarnating self. It is the transformed, more purely spiritual astral body. The life spirit is buddhi, a yet-higher component, which is the transformed etheric body — developing it moves us farther toward pure spiritualization, breaking linkages with material reality. Spirit Man is atma, the transformed physical body. The god within, it links us to the Godhead while more completely severing our physical bonds. However, none of these highest levels of consciousness will be fully attained during life on Earth — we will have to evolve much further on other planets. [32]

I realize that much of what I am laying out here is vague. The only way to fully grasp Steiner's meaning is to delve deeply into the many subjects I discuss throughout the essays on this Web site — or, since Anthroposophists would surely deny that any real knowledge can come through me, you may need to submit to the process of Anthroposophical initiation. [33]

The intermediate schema, the seven-fold nature of man, probably need not detain us. It is the same as the four-fold and nine-fold schemas, slightly revised. Steiner frequently divided his teachings into categories of seven. Thus, our evolution consists of seven major stages (conditions of consciousness), each of which can be subdivided into seven lesser stages, each of which... Similarly, as we have seen, children mature through seven-year-long periods. In addition, there are seven "sacred" planets, and so forth. [34] Occultists (and gamblers) often place high value on the number seven, for its supposed good fortune and mystic significance (in numerology, seven is associated with both scholarship and mysticism, which makes it particularly apt for Theosophy and Anthroposophy, which claim to present sure knowledge of mystical matters). 

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"Each region of the zodiac can be looked upon as the home of particular spiritual beings and a centre of forces. There are 12 signs of the zodiac and 12 corresponding parts of the human organism ... While the forces of the zodiac correspond to the human physical structure, the planets and their forces are mirrored in the internal organs ... Thus for example: Sun: Heart : Aurum (gold); Moon: Genitals: argenum (silver); Mercury: Lungs: Cinnabar (mercury)." [Roy Wilkinson, THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF STEINER EDUCATION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), p. 47.]

[R.R. sketch, 2009 - based on sketch on p. 48.]

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Steiner's lectures are sometimes accompanied by drawings or schematics. The image above approximates the schematic on p. 154 of THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN (Anthroposophic Press, 1993). The image can be enlarged by clicking on it. (It won't provide any more information, however, no matter how much you blow it up.) 

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The image below is a rough sketch of a rough sketch that Steiner tossed off. (I’ve added colors.) Ranged along the top are the "planets": Saturn, Sun, Moon, Mars, Earth (green, vague), Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan. (Yes, Vulcan). At the bottom is the human being: physical body (blue) around the etheric body (orange) around the astral body (red) around a stack: reading, top to bottom, sentient soul, intellectual soul, consciousness soul, and upper trinity (i.e., manas, budhi, and atma). Each human part is connected to its equivalent planet. For example, “The human being was never on Mars, but his intellectual soul is connected esoterically with this planet in such a way that its forces have been taken from there.” [Rudolf Steiner, CORRESPONDENCE AND DOCUMENTS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1988), p. 71.]

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AFTERWORD

No discussion of the human constitution would be complete without delving into the mysteries of sex. Here’s Steiner’s take:

Steiner taught that a lowly form of clairvoyance is fueled by rechanneled sexual energy. He said that Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg monkeyed around with such. “[T]ransformed sexual energy is the basis of Swedenborg's clairvoyance." [23] Of course Swedenborg, like just about everyone else except Guess Who, didn’t have the highest, “exact” form of clairvoyance.

According to G. Who, mixing sexual energy into spiritual seeing is the wrong approach, as the ancients understood. “[I]n olden times people knew how to protect themselves. They knew that people approaching the spiritual world had to recognize both their weaknesses and the fact that strength of character, inner discipline, and doing away with any unrestrained emotional impulses are necessary for ascending into the spiritual worlds in the right way. Ancient initiates were aware of human weakness and took steps to prevent any possibility of mixing the two spheres. [paragraph break] How did they do it? Simply by keeping people away from the opposite sex whenever truly spiritual matters were being spoken of. That is, the female sex was not allowed to participate in gatherings in which spiritual scientific matters were discussed.” [24]

Now, before anyone gets too indignant, realize that Steiner says that such precautions are no longer needed. Women can now participate, but sex must still be kept firmly under control. “Now these times are long gone, and spiritual scientific movements such as ours should attempt to do away with such constraints. However, the spiritual realm must still be kept totally free of the other sphere I mentioned; these two realms are not to be mixed.” [25] Swedenborg only attained a low level of clairvoyance because he did not observe this rule. He repressed his sexuality, but he tried to rely on sexual energy for his psychic explorations. “[I]n Swedenborg’s case, repressed sexuality filled his Imaginations [i.e., visions] that would otherwise have remained empty, but only to a certain extent ... Swedenborg, then, is a good example of what to avoid in approaching the spiritual world in modern times.” [26]

If you find a certain squeamishness about sex under Steiner’s words, you may be onto something. But, pressing on: To be male or female means embodying a cosmic principle that is the polar opposite of the principle manifested by the opposite sex. “[T]he polarity between masculine and feminine has a cosmic archetype in the polarity between comet and moon.” [27] That, I think, is clear enough.

However, things are a bit more complicated that they might seem at first blush, especially when we consider the three human nonphysical bodies (ether body, astral body, and "I"): “[W]e must be clear that masculine characteristics exist in every woman, and feminine characteristics in every man. We also know that the ether body of a man is female, and that the ether body of a woman is male; this immediately makes the matter extremely complicated. We must realize that the male-female polarity is thus reversed in the ether bodies of men and women, as are the cometary and lunar effects. These effects are also present in relation to the astral body and I-being.” [28] 

I’m almost speechless, so I’ll let Rudolf continue: “[T]he relationship between the moon (representing the universal masculine) and the cometary nature (representing the universal feminine) is decisive and reflects itself in the product of the sexes. [paragraph break] Feminine spiritual life, whether in a man or in a woman, projects something primitive and elemental into our existence, and this is also what a comet does ... We can express it this way: a woman acts more out of passion and feeling, in contrast to dry, masculine reasoning.” [29]

Now, before anyone gets too indignant, remember that this is all very complex. “The male brain is stiff, resistant, and more difficult to manipulate than a female brain, which easily overcomes obstacles that a male brain erects through its density. Consequently, the female brain can more quickly follow what is new in our view of the world ... These facts are very important in terms of cultural history, but just about the only place we can discuss them today is in anthroposophic groups. Except for our groups who will seriously consider the fact that a male brain is less comfortable than a female brain?” [30] Who, indeed?

— Roger Rawlings

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ENDNOTES

[1] E.g., Thomas R. DeGregori, “The Deadly Perils of Rejected Knowledge,” (posted September 13, 2002 , American Council on Science and Health).

[2] See, e.g., the discussion “Holocaust denial material recommended on yahoo anthroposophy list,” beginning with message 174 at groups.yahoo.com/group/waldorf-critics/messages  .

For Steiner's view of alchemy, please use this link: "Alchemy".

[3] Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE: Foundations of Waldorf Education (Anthroposophic Press, 1996). 

[4] Roy Wilkinson, THE CURRICULUM OF THE RUDOLF STEINER SCHOOL: Guides to Teaching in Rudolf Steiner Education. (Robinswood Press, 1975,) p. 18. Note that Waldorf schools and “Steiner” schools are essentially the same.

[5] THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE, p. 75.

[6] Ibid., pp. 59-60. 

[7] Ibid., pp. 159-160. 

[8] Rudolf Steiner, POLARITIES IN THE EVOLUTION OF MANKIND, (Steiner Books, 1987), p. 56.

[9] Ibid., p. 58. Both quotations come from the same passage.

[10] Ibid., p. 196.

Addressing children at the first Waldorf School, Steiner said: “You each have a physical body, a soul, and a spirit.” [Rudolf Steiner, RUDOLF STEINER IN THE WALDORF SCHOOL, (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 54.]

[11] THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE, pp. 80-81.

The spirit can be considered to have three components: spirit-self, life-spirit, and spirit-man (or human spirit). These are approximately equivalent to concepts from Eastern mysticism: Manas, Budhi (or Buddhi), and Atma(n). [Rudolf Steiner, OCCULT SCIENCE: An Outline (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1969), p. 332, translator’s note; also Gary Lachman, RUDOLF STEINER (Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2007), p. 141.] These three terms may also be understood as reflecting evolutionary stages of consciousness, with Atma(n) being the highest level obtainable by humans. Atma(n) corresponds to the transformed physical body, Budhi to the transformed etheric body, and Manas to the transformed astral body. [Rudolf Steiner, EVIL (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), pp. 208-209, note 1, Part III, Chapter 1.] Mankind has not yet evolved to the stage when these spiritual components will be fully realized. Make of all this what you will.

[12] Ibid., p. 205. This may be a rare instance in which Steiner attempted to convey his point (one that he nonetheless considered important) through the use of wit or humor. At least, I hope that he realized how absurd his statement sounds.

[13] Ibid., pp. 83-84.

[14] Ibid., pp. 155-158. 

[15] Ibid., pp. 77-78. 

[16] Ibid., pp. 69-70.

[17] Ibid., pp. 195-196. 

[18] Rudolf Steiner, ART AS SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 247.

[19] THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE, pp. 142-145.

[20] Ibid., p. 177.

[21] See, e.g., A.C. Harwood, PORTRAIT OF A WALDORF SCHOOL (The Myrin Institute Inc., 1956), pp. 15-16

[22] “[O]ur children learn to read a bit later than others do, and they learn to write letters [A, B, C] later than children in other schools.” [Rudolf Steiner, HUMAN VALUES IN EDUCATION  (Anthroposophic Press, 2004), pp. 70-71.]

[23] Rudolf Steiner, COMMUNITY LIFE, INNER DEVELOPMENT, SEXUALITY, AND THE SPIRITUAL TEACHER (Anthroposophic Press, 1991),  p. 78.

[24] Ibid., p. 79.

[25] Ibid., p. 80.

[26] Ibid., p. 80.

[27] Rudolf Steiner, THE REAPPEARANCE OF THE CHRIST IN THE ETHERIC (SteinerBooks, 2003), p. 63.

[28] Ibid., p. 64.

[29] Ibid., pp. 64-65.

[30] Ibid., pp. 65-66.

[31] See my essays "Rankings", "Inside Scoop", and "Gnosis".

[32] See my essay "Everything" and the essays that follow it.

[33] References to the various terms I've used are scattered throughout Steiner's works. A Google search will provide a quadzillion hits. Other sources include THE ESSENTIAL STEINER (Lindisfarne Books, 2007), Henry Barnes, A LIFE FOR THE SPIRIT (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), Stewart C. Easton, MAN AND THE WORLD IN THE LIGHT OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 1989), Gary Lachman, RUDOLF STEINER (Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2007), Roy Wilkisnon, RUDOLF STEINER (Temple Lodge Publishing, 2001), and Geoffrey Ahern, SUN AT MIDNIGHT (James Clarke & Co., 2009).

[34] See "Basement", "Oh My Stars", "The Planets", and "Who Gets Hurt" here at Waldorf Watch.