Rudolf Steiner found great significance in the stories of the Holy Grail. He said that the Grail signifies the ancient “Mysteries” (i.e., occult knowledge) hidden within Christianity. The search for the Grail thus becomes the search for the occult meaning of Christianity, or so Steiner taught.
 The Grail is associated with Lucifer, Steiner said. Lucifer is evil, yet he also helped show us the way forward.
Lucifer helped us by accentuating individual identity, ego, and striving for knowledge. Lucifer’s knowledge is mistaken, and succumbing to his temptation can be destructive. But taken in the right way (i.e., Steiner’s way, according to Steiner), Lucifer continues to give us an impulse that complements the impulse Christ gives us.
Lucifer gives us the power of seeking knowledge, although the star fell from his crown and he lost it: He no longer has true knowledge. But if we use his gift to us properly, it is a blessing. Steiner taught that evil can often be turned to good, and in this sense Lucifer is actually a central benefactor within Anthroposophy.
Lucifer lost the star; we lost the Grail. The search for the Grail is the search for ancient wisdom that remains true today, although in revised form. Each stage of evolution has had its truths, Steiner taught, and we must keep these truths alive, although we must constantly revise them to make them applicable in our new, higher stage of evolution. (The authors of the Grail myths would be surprised, but this is what Steiner said their myths mean.) The Grail embodies ancient Eastern wisdom, but it is most truly grasped as Christian truth (as redefined by Steiner, in a way that few Christians would accept as being truly Christian).
Never forget that Christ, according to Steiner’s new, improved Christianity, is the ancient Sun God.
Ultimately, the story of the Grail — as revised by Steiner — is the same as the story Steiner told on all occasions, about everything. This is the story cooked up by Theosophy and altered by Steiner to put more emphasis on Christ. It is the story of human evolution beginning during Old Saturn and proceeding, in our future, to Future Vulcan. Yes, Vulcan. It is a story Steiner claimed to learn by reading the invisible “stellar script,” the Akashic Record. The Grail symbolizes this, too: The Grail symbolizes the hidden, occult meaning of our evolution.
 The Grail? No. [HARTER'S PICTURE ARCHIVE (Dover Publications, 1978).]  A Waldorf teachers' guide. [Floris Books, 2002.] Books such as this, intended primarily for Waldorf teachers, are well worth studying. The occultism of Waldorf thinking often shines out. Anthroposophy is devoted to finding the path to higher worlds, and events on Earth are conceived as being the handiwork of many hidden gods operating in mysterious ways. Thus, for instance, we find the following statements in this teachers' guide:
Waldorf teachers who bring such concepts into the classroom are creating an environment in which students may be led to Anthroposophy. The story of the knight Parsifal (or Parzival, or Perceval) and his quest for the Grail is one of the legends deemed virtually sacred in the Waldorf belief system. [See "He Went to Waldorf".] Sometimes an entire course at a Waldorf school is spent studying the Parsifal legend. Students are likely to be exposed to the legend in lower school and then directed back to it in high school. As interpreted by Steiner's followers, the Parsifal legend embodies basic Anthroposophical beliefs. A true-believing Waldorf teacher will find ways to at least hint at these beliefs when the legend is told and retold within the school.
The "new kind of reality" conveyed in such a course — not so new to longtime Waldorf students — is Anthroposophical reality: mystical, mythic, metaphysical. "Where is reality?" In a Waldorf school, reality does not reside in the phenomena of the physical universe ("electricity ... stars"), but in the fabulous realm of Anthroposophical occultism. In other words, it resides in the Grail and in the "Mysteries" that Steiner said the Grail signifies. * Steiner taught that children mature through three seven-year-long periods, during which three invisible bodies incarnate. [See "Incarnation" and "Most Significant".] On Mysteries and Secrets The secrecy in and around Waldorf schools is not absolute. Anthroposophists generally withhold their most prized spiritual "knowledge" from the uninitiated. Likewise, Waldorf schools generally disguise their occult purposes and beliefs from outsiders. Nevertheless, starting with Steiner, Anthroposophists have engaged in efforts to disseminate some of their occult beliefs through public lectures, the circulation of books and pamphlets, etc. This outreach work is often less than candid, however. Texts are often framed and edited in ways that suppress and mislead. Only rarely can outsiders arrive at clear formulations unless they undertake considerable detective work — and some secrets may well lie beyond such detection. Most of my own knowledge of Anthroposophy has come from reading publicly available texts. This means that, in all probability, I am not privy to the most esoteric, hidden Anthroposophical lore. Steiner drew a sharp distinction between knowledge available to the “initiated” — that is, insiders who have mastered occult mysteries — and knowledge that can be shared with the general public.
Everyone is capable of initiation, Steiner said. For this and other reasons, knowledge should be spread as widely as possible — but only within the limits of the second law, above. By his own account, Steiner wrote OCCULT SCIENCE — his most important book — to make much occult wisdom known far and wide.
But in that same book, Steiner withholds various information. One example: Concerning a future stage of human evolution, the “Vulcan” stage, Steiner is extremely close-mouthed:
OCCULT SCIENCE is an “outline” only. Its compass is limited by the ability of ordinary language to frame spiritual mysteries, and by the requirement that people who are unworthy and/or unprepared — that is, the uninitiated — must not be told certain things. Three key concepts run like a thread through Steiner's theology: the "occult", "mysteries", and "initiation." They all reflect the need for secrecy. The most innocent definition of the term "occult" is "hidden." Mystery knowledge is necessarily hidden or hard to attain. Initiation is the process of attaining such knowledge. Steiner's devoted followers undergo initiation, after which they face the difficult task of deciding how much of their "knowledge" to divulge to the uninitiated — that is, to you and me. Various Anthroposophists and Waldorf schools make various decisions about where to draw the line; some are more candid than others; but all presumably recognize the need to withhold at least some of their doctrines from outsiders, including many if not all parents of Waldorf students. This does not, however, prevent Waldorf schools from acting on Anthroposophical doctrines and thus leading children toward occultism. They merely have to be circumspect about it, which means not explaining their actions. As Steiner said,
For more on the subject of initiation, see "Inside Scoop" and "Knowing the Worlds". Also see chapter five of OCCULT SCIENCE, which is titled "Knowledge of the Higher Worlds (Concerning Initiation)". In a more recent edition, the chapter's title is even clearer: "Knowledge of Higher Worlds: Initiation" — AN OUTLINE OF ESOTERIC SCIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), p. 281. (Changing "occult" to "esoteric" is just small one instance of the effort to downplay alarming Anthroposophical beliefs. If you read much of Steiner's work, you will find that older editions are generally blunter and more informative than newer, more guarded editions. Moreover, if you compare Steiner's words in the original German with their translations in English-language texts, you will find that some troubling passages and lectures have been omitted from the English texts.) For more on Steiner's instructions to Waldorf teachers telling them to keep mum, see "Secrets". THE WAY OF INITIATION, which I quoted above, is old and difficult to find. Newer editions include KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT (Anthroposophic Press, 1944) and HOW TO KNOW THE HIGHER WORLDS - A Modern Path of Initiation (Anthroposophical Press, 1994). - Compilation and commentary by Roger Rawlings To visit other pages in this section of Waldorf Watch, use the underlined links, below. RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY also see "Anthroposophical Christianity" and "Judaism, The Hebrew Bible"
|