CONFESSION

I must admit that I feel the allure of Steiner's vision. Don't you? It's thrilling, comforting, and even fun, imagining a mighty system of wondrous realms, especially when we put ourselves at the glorious center of it all. It's akin to the thrill we get from J. R. R. Tolkien fantasies, or Harry Potter, or STAR WARS. 

But I also feel the emptiness and sorrow of it. Steiner's vision is almost wholly unsupported by evidence. It is almost wholly unconnected to reality. (Comparing Steiner's work with the work of Tolkien, et al, may seem ludicrous and offensive, but the only fundamental difference is that Steiner claimed his fantasies are factually true.)

Think how tiny Steiner's universe is. Especially when we think in terms of the planetary spheres,* his universe is downright claustrophobic — a few spheres, stretching out a long distance by our normal standards, but shrinking to virtual vanishing point when compared to the revelations of modern astronomy. 

There is no zodiac. The constellations are imaginary formations of our own devising. Nor is there a crystal heaven. The real universe stretches on through distances and timespans that wholly dwarf Steiner's little sketch. We now know that our own galaxy, the Milky Way, has about 100 billion stars (or one hundred thousand million, as the Brits would say). And there are approximately an equal number of galaxies. Thus, the total number of stars we know anything at all about is approximately 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Give or take a few.*

Of course, the sheer immensity of the real universe can be daunting. It can make us feel small and insignificant. This is precisely why warm little fantasies such as Steiner's appeal to us.

But the majesty of the real universe can also be stimulating and ennobling. This is our home. This is the glory with which we are surrounded. And don't forget, we are one with the stars. All of the heavy elements that make up our bodies were born in the hearts of distant stars, elements forged in the furnaces of the stars and then hurled outward by stupendous stellar explosions. The atoms in your body come from the most spectacular bursts of energy, the mightiest fireworks displays, in the most distant reaches of reality. As Carl Sagan used to say, we are made of star stuff.

And we have brains made of star stuff, brains that enable us to think deeply and truly. Brains that enable us to get beyond the childish fantasies of our intellectual infancy. Brains that let us stand proudly erect in this glorious universe and claim our true place in it — that is, the place of smart, thinking beings who face reality without flinching, who prize truth, and who work to spread the light of truth-finding into all the expanses that were previously dark.

* See "Higher Worlds".

** Since I wrote this, astronomers have made additional discoveries and now we know that there are far more galaxies and stars than I indicate here.

I think it is quite clear that Rudolf Steiner was wrong about almost everything. But that isn't the most important point. What is truly important is that parents who are considering Waldorf schools for their children should know what Steiner taught. And then they should ask themselves whether they feel comfortable entrusting the education of their children to people who think Steiner was right. Bear in mind, Waldorf schools are also called Steiner schools, and for good reason. Some Waldorf/Steiner schools are more faithful to Anthroposophy than others are. But any genuine Waldorf/Steiner school is, to some degree, rooted in Anthroposophy. If you cannot embrace Anthroposophy, you will probably — sooner or later — find serious deficiencies in the Waldorf movement.

 

The ultimate purpose of Waldorf schooling is to promote the religion created by Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophy. Steiner often denied this purpose, but sometimes — apparently inadvertently — he admitted it.

"When the [Waldorf] school was founded, we placed great value upon creating an institution independent of the Anthroposophical Society. Logically, that corresponds quite well with having the various religious communities and the Anthroposophical Society provide religious instruction, so that the Society provides religious instruction just as other religious groups do." [13]

“The instruction in religion based on spiritual science [i.e., Anthroposophy] is increasing [in the Waldorf school], and more and more children come to it. Some have even deserted other religious instruction to go to the anthroposophic religious lessons. It is quite understandable, therefore, that people should say that these anthroposophists are rather bad people, since they lead children to abandon their Catholic and Protestant religious lessons for the religious instruction based on spiritual science. We do all we can to discourage them from coming, because it is very difficult for us to find religious teachers in our own area. Nevertheless, despite the fact that we never planned on this instruction except in response to parents’ requests and the unconscious requests of children (to my great distress, I might almost say), the demand for anthroposophic religious instruction constantly increases. And now thanks to this anthroposophic religious instruction the school has a completely Christian character.” [14]

Anthroposophy is certainly a religion, but is it “Christian”? Consider how Anthroposophy stands in contrast to both Catholicism and Protestantism. In Steiner’s time, this contrast clearly meant that Anthroposophy was heretical, denying the only recognized forms of Christianity. As for Steiner’s “distress” in meeting the “unconscious requests” of students, each reader can form an opinion. Steiner could be simultaneously candid and disingenuous. Or, since we are using plain speech here, perhaps we should say that Steiner was not above lying when it suited his purposes.

At today's Waldorf schools, there may not be much if any overt religious instruction. But an Anthroposophical religious perspective, mood, and atmosphere usually pervades the schools. Waldorf schools are, in fact, religious institutions, and the religion they embody is Anthroposophy. If you don't want your children led toward Anthroposophy, don't send them to a Waldorf school. Maybe your kids would successfully resist all inducements toward Anthroposophy. Maybe the Anthroposophical impulse at a particular Waldorf school will prove to be muted and largely ineffective. But is this a gamble you want to take?

 

For an inquiry into the sort of thinking

that can lead to such hallucinatory belief systems

as Anthroposophy, see "Fooling".

Many of Steiner's doctrines contain elements 

that are little more than superstition. 

For an overview, see "Superstition".

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

Arguing that Waldorf schools generally conceal their real agenda,

a participant in the discussion at The Ethereal Kiosk

has proposed the following an accurate Waldorf self-description, 

the sort of truthful mission statement a Waldorf school should post:

[W]hat would I prefer the schools say about themselves which, as a prospective parent, I would like to have read? I’ll have a go at that. Here’s what my ideal fictional Steiner school would say on its home page:

“The Puddleton Steiner school bases its teaching methods on the indications of Rudolf Steiner, the spiritual leader of the Anthroposophical movement. Every detail of the school, from the colour of the walls to the delivery of lessons, is informed by Steiner’s ideas and traditional Anthroposophical culture.

"We believe that the most effective approach to education engages and develops a child’s mind, body and soul. The Anthroposophical understanding of these three aspects of the human being leads to a model of child development that advocates a delay in reading and more traditional intellectual pursuits until a child is 7 years old. Adolescents develop their critical and logical thinking ability around the age of 14. The curriculum of our school reflects these stages.

"We maintain links with the wider Anthroposophical community. Besides the traditional subjects, Eurythmy is an important and compulsory lesson. A dance form that aims to translate the spoken word into movement, it also has spiritual significance and can be used in a curative, therapeutic way in case of medical or learning difficulties. The school employs an Anthroposophical doctor who can advise on the use of Eurythmy and other complementary therapies in these cases. The school maintains a bio-dynamic garden where students grow their vegetables following Steiner’s agricultural indications. Some members of staff belong to the Anthroposophical Society and we regularly invite speakers to give talks on Anthroposophical subjects to parents.”

That’s just 3 paragraphs. It wouldn’t necessarily have scared me off immediately but would have given me plenty of food of thought and directions to read up on....

[http://zooey.wordpress.com/2012/12/09/hollowed-traditions/#comment-21822]

To illustrate how Waldorf schools generally avoid mentioning Anthroposophy and its doctrines 

— i.e., the thinking that undergirds all their activities and purposes —

the writer created a web crawler "to index the home pages of all 34 Steiner schools in the UK 

plus the SWSF home page and all the pages you can get to one click away from the home pages. 

I generated a word cloud where the size of each word represents the total frequency it occurs."

[http://zooey.wordpress.com/2012/12/13/word-cloud/]

(SWSF is the Steiner-Waldorf Schools Fellowship.)

Here is the result:

[https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4096634/Steiner%20wordles/steiner_1000.pdf]

The name "Steiner" is prominent, which might seem to indicate at least a minimal level of disclosure — but in the UK, Waldorf schools are called Steiner or Steiner-Waldorf schools, so the schools can't avoid naming their founder. But do the schools honestly explain who Steiner was and what he preached? Clearly not. If they did so — if, in other words, the schools forthrightly explained the real nature of Waldorf education — the cloud would be filled with terms such as "Anthroposophy," "karma," "reincarnation," "etheric body," "astral body", "nature spirits," "planetary conditions," "astrology," "gods," "Sun God," "Lucifer,' "Ahriman," "spiritual evolution", and the like. Steiner's teachings about all of these topics are fundamental to Anthroposophical belief, upon which Waldorf pedagogy is based. Unless these are explained, the purposes of Waldorf education are left unexplained.

For background, see, e.g.,

"Spiritual Agenda", "Secrets", "Oh Humanity", "Curriculum",

"Incarnation", and "Eurythmy".

Here is an excerpt from testimony at a trial in which an association of Waldorf schools

sued a former Waldorf teacher for libel. The lawyer for the former Waldorf teacher

is questioning "Mrs. X," a representative of the association of Waldorf schools:

Lawyer: "In the name 'Steiner-Waldorf' education, we find the name of Rudolf Steiner. One may imagine that there is a link between Anthroposophy and Steiner-Waldorf education, since they are derived from the same person. Is this not so? But do you inform parents that Anthroposophy is behind this education? Do you tell them, for example, during visiting days?" 

Mrs X: "No, it is for the parents to learn."

Lawyer: "But where can they learn this? On the website of the [Steiner-Waldorf] Federation? I went there and I saw no mention of Anthroposophy or Rudolf Steiner!"

Mrs X: "Well, they are adults, they just need to look harder!"

For more on this trial, see "My Life Among the Anthroposophists, Part 3".

THE SCHOOLS THEMSELVES

There are many Waldorf schools in the world today, sprinkled across the continents. The schools are not all identical, by a long shot. Still, they all trace their origins to Rudolf Steiner and the first Waldorf school, which he established in 1919. There are enough similarities between the Waldorf schools in operation today to allow us to make many general observations about them.

A few of the schools, especially in Europe, are fairly large, having scores of faculty members and several hundred students. Most Waldorf schools, however, are of more modest size, and some are quite tiny.

Waldorf schools (also called Steiner schools and/or Steiner-Waldorf schools) are usually pleasant places with earnest, committed faculty and staff. There is usually a faint but palpable spiritual or even mystic atmosphere, although usually no particular theology is openly professed. Green values, with reverence for nature, are usually in evidence. There is almost always much art in and around the schools: paintings, drawings, sculpture, instrumental music, choral music, dance...

Academic pressures are usually light, as the schools focus as much attention on emotional and spiritual development as on brainwork. There is usually much playtime, especially in the lower grades, along with craftwork of various kinds, including knitting, crochet, woodworking, and the like. School days often thus pass pleasantly.

A familial feeling is often achieved. Students get to know one another, and their teachers, well. The same small group of students may remain together for many years — ideally, all the way from kindergarten through high school. Likewise, the same teacher(s) may lead a particular group for many years: from first grade through fifth or eighth grade, or (on rare occasions) through twelfth grade.

Subjects are usually studied in a set order, according to the Waldorf belief that there is a correct time for each. The order corresponds to the Waldorf conception of the stages of childhood development. There are three such stages, with the major turning points coming around ages seven and fourteen. Waldorf teachers try to shepherd their charges through these important transitions. The teachers offer themselves as role models, hoping to inspire both the admiration and love of their students. They seek to gradually fortify the students so that, having been well led, the children eventually develop the capacity to think for themselves in the final years of schooling.

All of this is more or less as Rudolf Steiner intended, and most of it derives from his specific directives. Most of it reflects Steiner's mystic conception of human nature. [See "Oh Humanity".] The three stages of childhood development, for example, are actually three phases of incarnation. [See "Incarnation".] In Waldorf belief, human beings have four bodies, three of which are invisible. A human is born with a physical body; at age seven, the "etheric body" (an envelope of formative forces) incarnates; at age fourteen, the "astral body" (an envelope of soul forces) incarnates; and at age twenty-one, the "ego body" or "I" (individual spiritual selfhood) incarnates.

Underlying the Waldorf belief in incarnation is a belief in reincarnation. Steiner taught that humans live alternating lives in the spiritual and earthly realms. [See "Reincarnation".] During these lives, we evolve toward spiritual perfection, a process that includes working out one's karma. [See "Karma".] Humanity's great guide along the upward path of evolution is Christ, who in Waldorf belief is actually the Sun God. [See "Sun God" and "Prototype".]

Usually, very little of this is openly explained to parents before they enroll their children in a Waldorf school, and sometimes much of it remains hidden even after enrollment. Rudolf Steiner's teachings are embodied in the mystical system called Anthroposophy, which forms the foundation of Waldorf education. Anthroposophists believe that they are occult initiates who possess divine wisdom that others do not possess and are unprepared to receive. Thus, they are often secretive about their purposes and practices — properly so, in their view. [See "Inside Scoop".] Not all Waldorf teachers are full-fledged Anthroposophists, but many are, and they observe Steiner's admonition to preserve occult knowledge from those who are not ready for it. [See "Secrets".]

Rudolf Steiner claimed that he attained occult wisdom through the use of clairvoyance. In particular, he claimed to employ "exact clairvoyance," which enabled him to gain virtually unchallengeable knowledge of spiritual matters. [See "Exactly".] He stipulated that Waldorf teachers should be true Anthroposophists, and he said they should either develop their own powers of exact clairvoyance or accept the guidance of their colleagues who have developed it. He called this form of exact clairvoyance the "Waldorf teacher's consciousness." [See "The Waldorf Teacher's Consciousness".]

Stated in the broadest terms, the chief objective of Waldorf education is to spread Anthroposophy. However, in accordance with the need to preserve occult secrets, this objective is usually pursued subtly, indirectly. Rarely are Waldorf students taught the doctrines of Anthroposophy in so many words. Instead, guided day after day, month after month, year after year by the same small set of teachers, they gradually come to see the world much as their teachers see it, which is generally as Rudolf Steiner saw it. Thus, Waldorf schools usually do not explicitly teach Anthroposophy to the students, but the schools lead students down the path toward Anthroposophy. [See "Spiritual Agenda".] Few Waldorf students graduate from school as Anthroposophists — most may have only the foggiest idea what Anthroposophy is — but most will graduate having internalized attitudes and beliefs that may cause them, later in life, to devote themselves to Rudolf Steiner and his teachings. [See "Mistreating Kids Lovingly".]

Restated at the personal level, the objective of Waldorf education is to shepherd students through the process of incarnation and spiritual development so that they may, sooner or later, find spiritual truth — i.e., the doctrines of Anthroposophy. [See "Soul School".] The hope is that the children will do this "freely" — Waldorf schools claim to promote human freedom. [See "Freedom".] Thus, in theory, Waldorf students are led to think for themselves and make their own free life choices. However, in Anthroposophical belief, any choice other than Anthroposophy is wrong and may lead to the loss of one's soul. [See "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?"] Moreover, critics allege that Waldorf students are effectively — albeit subtly — indoctrinated through the long years spent in an Anthroposophical milieu, and this negates the possibility of actual freedom. [See "He Went to Waldorf".]

Virtually all classes and activities in Waldorf schools are keyed to the schools' spiritual purposes. A few quotations from Rudolf Steiner make this plain: • "It is possible to introduce a religious element into every subject, even into math lessons. Anyone who has some knowledge of Waldorf teaching will know that this statement is true." • "As Waldorf teachers, we must be true anthroposophists in the deepest sense of the word in our innermost feeling.” • "Among the faculty, we must certainly carry within us the knowledge that we are not here for our own sakes, but to carry out the divine cosmic plan. We should always remember that when we do something, we are actually carrying out the intentions of the gods, that we are, in a certain sense, the means by which that streaming down from above will go out into the world.”  [See "Here's the Answer".]

With their primary attention devoted to occult spiritual matters, Waldorf teachers may or may not provide a sound education for their students. [See "Academic Standards at Waldorf".] Usually, Waldorf faculties harbor a fundamental mistrust of modern science and scholarship, which are so much at odds with Steiner's mysticism. Still, depending on individual circumstances, some students may graduate having attained a reasonable level of literacy and real-world knowledge. And, again depending on individual circumstances, some may come away more or less unscathed by their teachers' occult beliefs. [See "Who Gets Hurt".] Parents should realize, however, that if they select Waldorf schools for their children, they may be subjecting their children to risks unlike those found in ordinary, secular forms of education. [See "Advice for Parents".]

To see how the Waldorf curriculum is geared to Anthroposophy, see "Curriculum" and the essays that follow it ("Oh My Word", "Magical Arts", "Mystic Math", etc.). To look into methods used by Waldorf teachers, see "Methods". To see how Waldorf teachers are trained, see "Teacher Training". To see how Anthroposophical attitudes and inclinations are surreptitiously conveyed to Waldorf students, see "Sneaking It In." For indications of the problems, sometimes quite unusual, that can disrupt the pleasant tenor of Waldorf school life, see "Cautionary Tales".

[R. R., 2009.]

AFTERWORD

My father fought, and nearly died, in World War II, in Europe, bombing Germany. If he had died in the war, I would not exist. So, the war has always been of interest to me. I've read a great deal about the war and the events leading up to it, largely in order to try to understand the appeal of Adolf Hitler. How could a sophisticated nation such a Germany deliver itself into the hands of a racist lunatic like Hitler? How, at an even deeper level, could Germany have acceded to Nazi insanity and evil so profoundly as to allow what is probably the greatest crime in all of human history, the Holocaust?

I think I understand the answers to these questions. I think I can imagine what it was like to live in defeated, ravaged, impoverished, humiliated, riven Germany — and to see possible salvation in a Leader who loudly proclaimed the divine superiority of our master race: Us, the best, the once and future winners. I think I understand.

And yet, at some level, Hitler and the Holocaust must always remain a mystery. We can understand what happened, yet we must always find what happened utterly unthinkable. The actions of the Nazis were completely beyond the bounds of what we want to think of as human nature. The death camps were hellish; the things done there ought never to have been possible for any human beings to do. Our minds and hearts and souls recoil utterly, as they should. And so we must always be dumbfounded by what we understand and know to be true: Yes, we human beings did these things; yes, we are capable even of such atrocities. But no, no! Surely not! But yes...

(Aside: The sheer unthinkability of the Nazi crimes is one reason so many people — including some Anthroposophists — deny that the Holocaust occurred. There are also other, less innocent reasons for Holocaust denial, but at the simple emotional level, we can all understand the urge to deny this hideous historical truth. O, God, if only it we could wash this indelible stain from our hands...)

Compared to Hitler and Nazism, Steiner and Anthroposophy are far, far less terrible, and far, far less important.

But here is one similarity, at least in my view. Although I have read almost everything I could find about Steiner and his doctrines and Waldorf schooling — and although I personally lived through deep exposure to these things, and for a long time felt in my heart a profound yearning for the benefits they claim to offer — there is a way in which belief in Steiner's teachings must always be mysterious, unthinkable, incomprehensible.

Some very smart, capable people have bought into Anthroposophy; some have devoted their lives to it. I understand. I've been there. I've been — in a youthful, unsmart way — one of them. Yet what these people believe (and what I once believed) is such utter poppycock as to stagger the mind. Ye gods and little fishes! Are we all insane? How can we, with our marvelous big brains, accept such fantasies as Steiner peddled? Fairies, goblins, dragons, Old Saturn, Old Sun, Vulcan, floating islands and continents, planets that trail the Sun instead of orbiting it, magic, alchemy, astrology...

Are we all insane? Perhaps, in a way, we are. Most human beings, of course, have never heard of Rudolf Steiner and in no way accept his teachings. But most of us believe similar stuff — most humans believe in invisible presences, and they have superstitions, and generally believe many things that they cannot prove or even explain.

We have deep mystical yearnings. At one level, it is easy to understand this. We don't want to die. We don't want to believe that our loved ones can die — or, if they did die, we don't want to believe that they are truly gone, forever, extinguished, eliminated. A friend of mine died not long ago. I'm still going through the experience I've had before under similar circumstances: The utter absence of my friend feels so wrong, so unbelievable, that at an irrational level I still think of him as alive, somewhere, somehow. When we feel such things, the possibility of discarnated souls feels right to us, so we can imagine a realm of the discarnated, a spiritual realm, and we can easily begin spinning out ideas about this realm — and, presto, we have a mystical belief system.

This is easy to understand. It is even easier to understand that our own impending deaths are far more unbelievable to us than the deaths of our loved ones. No! I cannot die! I refuse to believe that I will die. So I will use various prayers and practices to ensure my eternal survival...

This is easy to understand. And yet, this is — to the rational mind — more than a little absurd. Our belief in the invisible, in things none of us has ever seen or experienced, is preposterous. But there it is; that's how most of us think most of the time.

I don't mean to challenge all religions and faiths, although my argument clearly runs in the direction. The issue, here, is Steiner's body of doctrines. Fairies, goblins, dragons, Old Saturn, Old Sun, Vulcan... Preposterous, mysterious, absurd. And yet Anthroposophy is accepted by some smart, articulate people.

One particular attraction of Steiner's teachings is that so much is included. Like Blavatsky and others, Steiner stitched together many, many disparate beliefs, apparently developing a coherent framework that incorporates and explains them all. This is what Anthroposophists sometimes refer to as the inner logic of Anthroposophy: Steiner took a huge number of jigsaw pieces and fitted them all neatly together.

This proposition helps to make the allure of Anthroposophy comprehensible. Fairies, goblins, dragons and the rest may make sense if we can accept a super-theory of spiritual reality that accounts for all of them. This is what Anthroposophy purports to be, the Theory of Everything, the Science of the Spirit, the Explanation of All.

And yet, pause. Steiner said that all fairy tales, all myths and legends, all spiritualistic symbols are true: They represent clairvoyantly ascertained realities. The mind begins to boggle. All of these are true? And this is ascertained how? By the use of a faculty that does not exist?

Let's look at the bigger picture. Steiner (like Blavatsky and others) tried to unify the world's religions. Thus, in Anthroposophy, we find elements of Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and so on. Great. We understand the appeal of this synthesis.

But does it make even a particle of sense? To make his system work, Steiner had to bend everything so badly that no orthodox Christian, Hindu, or Buddhist would recognize her/his faith in Steiner's doctrines. Jesus is the Sun God. Jesus has come again, but only in the etheric realm (the what?), and he will assist us in our evolution, not take us directly to Heaven. We will live many lives, which are informed by karma, in a universe of many gods — ideas a Hindu will accept, but that any monotheistic Jew or Muslim or Christian, faithful to the Bible and/or Koran, must reject. So the Hindu feels comfortable with Anthroposophy — except that Anthroposophy centers on Christ, and the "Mystery of Golgotha" (i.e., the meaning of the Crucifixion), and Rosicrucianism — not Hindu concepts. And the Buddhist? Buddha refused to talk about life after death and the existence of the gods and most of the other matters that Steiner insisted upon; Buddha certainly did not say that the true path involves following a spiritual sage from Nazareth; and he did not anticipate his own transfer to Mars...

Steiner tried to affirm almost every spiritual belief (I haven't mentioned Zoroastrianism, Mithraism, animism — and so much more — all of which Steiner also affirmed). But in the process of these affirmations, Steiner had to change most of these beliefs so completely that very few of them retained their original character.

Consider the sources Steiner drew from. Accepting the tales and beliefs of the ancients (people who knew little by modern standards), he repeatedly rejected the findings of modern scholars and scientists (people who know a great deal about the real world). Nothing rational or true could come from such an enterprise. If Steiner believed the things he professed, he was deceiving himself. Indeed, Anthroposophy is an enormous project in human self-deception.

All of this is a long way of saying that I understand the appeal of Anthroposophy, yet my mind also boggles. What? Anthroposophists believe what?

Ok. I understand. Any yet...

A modest suggestion: If we could all stop believing (deeply, passionately) things that defy rationality, we might be better off. The Nazis believed in the superiority of Aryans and the subhuman vileness of Jews and Gypsies and Slavs — they believed this trash so passionately that they could commit the horrific atrocities of the Holocaust.

Anthroposophists say they don't believe anything, they know. But this is what most mystics say. And Anthroposophists certainly do base their "knowledge" in belief — belief in their own powers of clairvoyance, if nothing else. But clairvoyance doesn't exist, which means that every spiritual "reality" ascertained by clairvoyance is a fantasy, unproven but accepted by an act of belief or self-deception.

I'd suggest we all give self-deception a rest.

P.S.

The title of this essay, "Summing Up", may be misleading, particularly for readers who leap to this page without having done a fair amount of preliminary research. I have not attempted to write a single, all-conclusive, all-encompassing summary of everything that appears elsewhere at Waldorf Watch. Nor have I attempted to frame a categorical, undeniable argument that will end all discussion. Rather, on this page I have tried to tidy up a bit, round things out a bit, and put things in some perspective. I have added some further evidence and analysis, but I do not offer these as — in and off themselves — the last word. (You might note, for instance, that "Summing Up" is not the final essay at this website. There's more to be said, just as there was a lot of ground to cover before arriving here.)

Readers who, prior to reading "Summing Up," already knew a lot about Anthroposophy and Waldorf education, may find this essay useful. Others may be less well served. I have necessarily focused, here, on a few key quotations and pieces of information. Taken in context, these may prove enlightening. But no one should take "Summing Up" as a complete or, by itself, adequate discussion of Anthroposophy and Waldorf. I have not intended this essay to be a digest that tells the whole story or that even makes the most crucial arguments about the subjects discussed, so I urge you not to mistake it for that. If you decide you have not yet studied these subjects sufficiently to draw your own conclusions about them, I urge you to spend more time at other parts of Waldorf Watch, and I strongly urge you to visit other websites, those that criticize Rudolf Steiner's teachings and Waldorf education, and those that defend them. I list a number of these sites on the "Links" page. 

Certainly I encourage you to read books by Rudolf Steiner and his followers. Hear what they have to say, carefully considering the plausibility and persuasiveness of their work.

Probably I should add that I have not attempted to develop arguments that will compel agreement or surrender from Anthroposophists. Adults who choose to follow Rudolf Steiner are perfectly free to do so, in my opinion, and I have not attempted to change their minds. Instead, my aim has been to address people standing outside the circle of Anthroposophy, particularly those who are considering Waldorf schools for their children. And my message to them is really quite simple. To summarize, it is this: Please wait a moment. Have you thought this through completely? Are you sure you know what Waldorf schools really are? Please pause, do some research, and reflect carefully before taking a step that may, just possibly, prove deeply damaging.

[R.R., 2010.]

Parents should know that the main purpose of Waldorf schooling is not educational, as this term is normally understood, but occult. [See, e.g., "Incarnation".] Waldorf faculties are supposed to help the gods fulfill what Steiner called the divine cosmic plan. Waldorf schools are on a messianic mission to save humanity. This is all well and good, perhaps — if Waldorf schools are really in a position to provide such a lofty service. But are they? Or are they engaged in a delusion? And what effect may this have on your kids if you send them to a Waldorf school?

Rational education may easily fall by the wayside as Waldorf teachers work to "bring the spirit" to their students. Here is one statement Steiner made bearing on these matters. “What a child develops in his head, in his heart and soul, by having to learn a... b... c, is — spiritually speaking — a parasite in human nature ... [W]hen the letters of the alphabet, which are the product of advanced civilization, are imposed on the human being, this does engender a parasitic element ... [T]he spiritual can be brought to man without becoming poison. First you have the diagnosis, which finds that our age is infested with carcinomas, and then you have the therapy — yes, it is Waldorf School education ... [O]ne must regard education as medicine transposed into the realm of mind and spirit. This strikes us with particular clarity when we wish to find a therapy for civilization, for we can only conceive this therapy as being Waldorf School education.” — Rudolf Steiner, HARMONY OF THE CREATIVE WORD (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2001), pp. 216-217. [R.R. sketch, 2009, based on sketch on p. 216.]

The main purpose of Waldorf education is to spread Steiner's religion, Anthroposophy. Only in this way, Anthroposophists believe, can humanity be saved. "[W]e can only conceive this therapy as being Waldorf School education.” Civilization is infested with spiritual cancers. Waldorf schools aim to provide a cure. Steiner made his statement in November, 1914, with the world at war. But from an Anthroposophical perspective, spiritual cancers are just as widespread — perhaps, indeed, more widespread — today.

If you think that the purpose of schooling is to save humanity from spiritual cancers, then perhaps Waldorf education will suit you and your child. But if you think the point of schooling is to convey knowledge (such as knowledge of the alphabet) to children, then perhaps you should look elsewhere.

---

"If these ideas are not true, they should be true.

What we believe shapes the reality. 

If we become conscious of these ideas

and hold them, they will become true."

                                      — from "Anthroposophy 101"

These plaintive words were written by Dr. Ronald E. Koetzsch, an Anthroposophist connected with the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America. "Anthroposophy 101" is Koetzsch's summary of Rudolf Steiner's basic teachings. We can all feel the deep yearning in Koetzsch's words — we all wish for the wonderful, the transcendent, the glorious. I feel such desires — I understand where Anthroposophists are coming from.

But wishing doesn't make anything true. Our wishes can be our guides, our motivators — but, in and of themselves, wishes create nothing. Thinking or hoping that something is true doesn't cause that thing to become true. Some thoughts are false, and no amount of fervent belief can redeem their falsity. You may tell yourself that the Moon is made of green cheese. You may dwell on this thought day after day, month after month. You may meditate upon it, visualize it, preach it from the rooftops. But it is false, and your efforts cannot make it true. The moon is not made of green cheese and it never will be. Your idea is false.

Anthroposophical thinking is mere wishfulness, which is tantamount to self-deception. During the play "Peter Pan", when the fairy Tinkerbell is dying, Peter tells the children in the audience to wish for Tinkerbell's recovery. And it works! The kids wish and wish, and Tinkerbell revives. It is a nice fairy tale. But that's all it is, a fairy tale.

Truth and reality have a great advantage — they are true and real. And they aren't so bad. We're alive, in a universe of beauty, grandeur, pain, suffering, and achievement and joy and victory. This is the universe that really exists, the universe of physics and astronomy and the soaring human intellect. Steiner would return us to a dark, medieval past. We need not go there. Indeed, we must not go there. For the sake of our planet, and our children, and ourselves, we must face reality squarely and then work to realize its best possibilities.

Truth and reality have a great advantage — they are true and real. Anthroposophy is divorced from truth and reality. And to the degree that they embody Anthroposophy, Waldorf schools are divorced from truth and reality. The sad irony in this is that Steiner and his followers have ignored a truth uttered by Goethe, the man whom Steiner so much admired (and for whom the Anthroposophical headquarters, the Goetheanum, is named). Anthroposophy describes the universe as many of us would like it to be: a place of wonders, magic, transcendence, a place where the human being is the center of everything. In this sense, Anthroposophy represents an ideal. But it does not represent reality. And, as Goethe said,

"A confusion of the real with the ideal

never goes unpunished."

The punishment Anthroposophists suffer, generally without realizing it, is that they waste their lives in a warm, hazy set of delusions.

[R.R., 2010.]

---

The Anthroposophical headquarters, the Goetheanum,

is a cathedral.

[See "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?"]

Here are impressions of four windows in the Goetheanum,

windows consisting of designs etched in colored glass.

The designer: Rudolf Steiner.

The central section of the violet triptych on the north wall.

The central section of the green triptych on the north wall.

The left-hand section of the rose triptych on the south wall.

The right-hand section of the blue triptych on the north wall.

[R.R. sketches, 2014.]

---

This is the Earth prior to the separation of the Moon (as it were) — 

although actually it could be almost anything discussed or admired by Anthroposophists. 

Most things are, ultimately, sort of mandala-like, or talisman-ish, or spiral-esque... 

most spiritual things as related by Steiner, anyway. 

Of course, giving shapes to things that have no shapes is always a bit misleading — 

and even things that have physical shapes may not be bounded by those shapes. 

Still, circular and spiral imagery abounds in Anthroposophical domains, 

including Waldorf schools. This may reflect profound truths; 

or it may not. The point all parents should bear in mind is that 

mysticism, as reflected in such symbols, is fundamental to Waldorf schools. 

[R.R. sketch, 2009, based on image on p. 20 of SUNSPOTS TO STRAWBERRIES 

(Rudolf Steiner Press, 2002) — a collection of Steiner's lectures. 

The colors I've chosen are more decorative than instructive.]

We have four bodies, according to Steiner.

The physical body exists within a nimbus of other bodies.

It just so happens that our extra bodies 

— like almost everything Steiner described  —

are invisible. Indeed, there is no evidence at all

for their existence. But that's Anthroposophy for you 

— i.e., that's the faith underlying Waldorf education.

Faith may be a very good thing 

— but we need to carefully choose where to bestow our faith.

The dream: Breaking through, seeing beyond the physical, beyond maya...

This is an image loved by esotericists and spiritual seekers.

I remember several of my Waldorf teachers had copies on the walls of their homes.

[Universum - C. Flammarion, Holzschnitt, Paris 1988, Kolorit:

Heikenwaelder Hugo, Wien 1998.]

---

---

The philosophy underlying Waldorf education, Anthroposophy (the word means human wisdom),

glorifies humanity. We are wondrous, upward-evolving spiritual beings, central to all of creation,

beloved of the gods. This is a grand and attractive vision. We can all feel its tug on our hearts

and souls. But can humanity actually fulfill its potential by following Steiner's lead? He concocted

a blend of occultism, myth, gnostic religion, and fantasy. The path to wisdom cannot run

through such a welter of fallacies. If we are to realize our better nature, fulfilling

our best potential, surely we must face reality squarely and build on truth, not illusion.

[R.R. sketch, 2014, based on image on p. 26 of Albert Steffen's GOETHEANUM:

School of Spiritual Science (Philosophical-Anthroposophical Press, 1961).]

---

Here are reasons to be concerned about the spread of Anthroposophy,

as expressed by the operators of the Website CHASE

(Challenging Anthroposophy and Steiner Education)

[http://chaseukinfoarchive.wordpress.com/what-concerns-us/]

These excerpts refer to UK (the United Kingdom)

but they are applicable to all parts of the English-speaking world

and, with modifications, beyond.

Parents, statutory agencies, civil servants and civic administrators, politicians, the media and the public generally are largely unaware of Steiner and Anthroposophy or hazy about the details if they are aware.

An informational gap exists because Steiner wrote in German and we rely for information on translations into English provided by Anthroposophists. In the words of the only UK academic to research in depth the Anthroposophical belief system (Dr Geoffrey Ahern) these translations of Steiner’s original texts can give an effect “not short of conceptual Jabberwocky”. This is in part due to difficulties in finding English equivalents for the actuality or vision of the spiritual domain Steiner reported on, his reports being complex and containing nuances that can become lost in translation.

However, it cannot help that English translations of his original works have been divested of Steiner’s more overtly racist remarks ... Clearly there is a problem of racism with Steiner but it is unclear as to how or even if the Anthroposophy community in this country either acknowledges it or deals with it. Sanitisation of texts suggests an awareness of a problem with the texts but how can sanitisation of texts in our country cope with the fact that many Anthroposophical practitioners arrive here in the UK having been trained in countries where the intact versions of Steiner are published?

...Problems with Steiner extend beyond that of racism. Steiner held and presented his highly unorthodox and controversial views on such emotive and personally sensitive matters as religion, karma, reincarnation, evolution, the economy, science, medicine and health, human relationships the arts – he even went so far as to champion a belief in the existence of gnomes and Atlantis. Given that an informational gap exists, the British public is poorly served in having to cope with conceptual Jabberwocky and sanitised texts before engaging with the issues surrounding Steiner and his beliefs or before studying the man and his beliefs for the first time.

People engaging with Anthroposophy, e.g. by placing kids or loved ones with a Steiner school, medical facility or other institution, expect and deserve to be fully informed of the beliefs of its practitioners when, as with Anthroposophic/Steiner beliefs, those beliefs are so different from the mainstream as to be considered alternative, radical, progressive, codswallop, New Age, avant-garde, brilliant or whatever else way they might be described. As a result of the informational gap people can end up giving support to organisations they would not ethically, intellectually or morally support. The possibility of unintended support happening exists because Anthroposophy consists of a community of mutually supportive projects and organisations.

---

[Waldorf student painting.]

The following is excerpted from "Spotlight on Anthroposophy"

by Sharon Lombard

http://www.icsahome.com/logon/elibdocview.asp?Subject=Spotlight+on+Anthroposophy

Rudolf Steiner was a white magician and one of the most knowledgeable occultists of his time (Merkur, 1993, p. 61). He saw the universe as a vast, living being, inhabited by a multitude of spiritual beings at various stages of development, whose forces create the physical world. He was a macro-microcosmic thinker ... [T]he universe a vast human being, the individual a small universe. 

...Steiner is reputed to have said that Elizabeth Vreede understood his work more deeply than anyone else (Vreede, 2001, back cover). Once appointed the head of the Mathematical-Astronomical Section of the School of Spiritual Science by Steiner himself, Vreede reiterated Steiner’s belief that stars are the discarded physical bodies and external forms of divine, spiritual beings; members of a spiritual colony ... In her book ANTHROPOSOPHY AND ASTROLOGY, Vreede...writes:

“The plant world receives its forms from the starry heavens, and the animal world its form from the zodiac. Human beings receive their form from the whole sphere of the heavens, not from the single constellations, just as we also bear in our head an image of the entire stellar universe. Again we find the human being as the synthesis, the perfect embodiment of the entire cosmos.” (Vreede, 2001, p. 287)

In other words, a tulip is created by a certain group of spiritual beings forces, while the lily is created by another group of beings, whereas, animals get their form from the gods of the Zodiac. All beings in the cosmos make up man. Man is the world and the world is man.

Steiner taught that the physical human being is comprised of an etheric body, astral body, and an I body. This belief gives Anthroposophic believers the ability to leave their physical bodies during their day-to-day earthly existence in order to commune with spiritual beings in the cosmos. In Waldorf education, Steiner’s True Nature of Man more commonly known by the uninformed as his child development model is based on his concept of man as physical, etheric, astral, and I.

...Beings in the cosmos cause the physical body to grow as well as hold it together. Beings that live in the chest move the blood as the heart is not a pump ... The etheric body in the male is female, and visa versa ... The loosening of baby teeth and growth of secondary teeth is a sign that the etheric body is incarnating.

...It loosens if a person gets a fright or sneezes. If a body part falls asleep and tingles it is because the etheric body temporarily has left that part of the physical body.

...A whole people share a common astral body that lives within a kind of astral cloud and is the body of the Folk-Spirit (Steiner, 1981b, p. 47). It is released into the physical body between fourteen to twenty-one years of age. Steiner taught that all human astral bodies leave the physical body during sleep. They wind their way, in spiral form, out of the physical body into the cosmic community of spiritual beings, returning to the physical body upon waking (Steiner, 1959, p. 104).

...Spiritually advanced man has an individual I body. This separates him from animals and lower humanity, making him divine. The I leaves the physical body and accompanies the astral body during sleep. The I is the body that can be trained to remember past lives in Greece and Atlantis, etc.

...During the Renaissance, influential magicians such as Agrippa of Nettesheim (1486-1533) and others, like Giordano Bruno, Robert Fludd and John Dee, disseminated macro-microcosmic ideas. 

...In a lecture entitled The Relationship of Man to the Sun, Steiner recapitulated his own doctrine by telling his audience that Agrippa knew quite well that in the several planets of our system are spiritual Beings of specific character and kind (Steiner, 1965, p. 49). He went on to say that Agrippa assigned to each planet what he called the Intelligence of the planet. ... The Intelligence of the Earth Star was man himself. Man had been given the task to regulate and rule the Earth by the World-Spirit. Through what he is, through the forces and powers he bears within his being, Man gives to Earth the impulse for her movement round the Sun, for her movement altogether in cosmic space. Man is Lord of the Earth (Steiner, 1965, pp. 50-51).

...Appearing throughout Steiner’s doctrine are references to his trinity of Ahriman, Lucifer, and what he calls the Christ Spirit. Two thousand years ago, the Christ who existed in the Sun, came to Earth and inhabited Jesus body for a period of three years: this Christ spirit had also inhabited other great spiritual leaders of human kind such as Zarathustra. Lucifer had a human incarnation about 5000 years ago in China, and Ahriman incarnated in the West in 1998.

...It is the deeper task of the anthroposophical movement to enable a number of human beings to enter their next incarnation with an I each remembers as his or her own, individual I. These people will then form the nucleus of the next period of civilization.

...[T]he earth and all it can yield will belong to those who now cultivate their individualities. Those, however, who do not develop their individual I will be dependent on joining a group that will instruct them in what they should think, feel, will and do.

...Steiner’s lectures are peppered with racism and anti-Semitism. His racist doctrine is similar to other occult variants like ariosophy, sometimes attracting interest from far-right publishers and distributors.

...In a 1915 sermon in Stuttgart, Steiner said that advanced spirituality is tied to external skin color and that white skin is a sign of spiritual progress:

“[W]e are not justified in thinking that human beings were originally like the savages of today. The savages have developed into what they now are with their superstitions, their magical practices and their unclean appearance from states originally more perfect. The only superiority we have over them is that, while starting from the same conditions, we did not degenerate as they did. I might therefore say: The evolution of man has taken two paths. It is not true that the savages of today represent the original condition of mankind. Mankind, though to begin with looked more animal-like, was highly civilized. ... Just as the present savages have fallen from the level of the human beings of primeval times, so the apes are beings who have fallen still lower.” (Steiner, 1987, p. 126)

To visit other pages in this section of Waldorf Watch, use the underlined links, below.

◊◊◊ 14. PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER ◊◊◊

SUMMING UP

TRUTH

Mystical thinking, realistic thinking

OCCULTISM

POWER WORDS

AKASHA

ALTOGETHER

BEST

POLYTHEISM

BEINGS

LECTURE

KARMA

REINCARNATION

MOST SIGNIFICANT

TEMPERAMENTS

FREEDOM

INDOCTRINATION

COMMON SENSE

WALDORF ASTROLOGY

SPIRIT

MISSION

MATERIALISM U.

RANKINGS

OUT IN THE OPEN

OUR EXPERIENCE

Reports and advice from parents whose children attended Waldorf schools

COMING UNDONE

A report by a mother who was drawn to a Waldorf school but left disillusioned

MOMS

Talking it over

POPS

Had enough?

EXTREMITY

Crossing many lines

THE WALDORF SCANDAL

Describing the near-collapse of the Waldorf school I attended

MY SAD, SAD STORY

Deprogramming myself after Waldorf

YOURS TRULY

Who the heck am I?

HORROR AND HOPE

Doom and deliverance

CONCLUSION

Short and sweet

SO?

Can you trust me?

[4] Criticizing a rationalist, Steiner once said: “He did not want any fairy tales told to children, or to teach children anything other than scientific trash....” — Rudolf Steiner, THE RENEWAL OF EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 2001), p. 94. Steiner’s preference for fairy tales is, in itself, revealing. Steiner said that most of conventional science is wrong, but all fairy tales are spiritualistically true: “Fairy tales are...the final remains of ancient clairvoyance, experienced in dreams by human beings who still had the power [i.e., clairvoyance]. 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.” — Rudolf Steiner, ON THE MYSTERY DRAMAS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1983), p. 93. Einstein is wrong, but ‘Puss in Boots’...

[5] SECRET BROTHERHOODS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), pp. 92 and 97.

[6] Max von Laue, “Steiner and Natural Science” (Transition no. 61-62, Collingwood, Vic, Australia, 2000) {translated from “Steiner und die Naturwissenschaft,” Deutsche Revue, 47 (1922), available at http://waldorfcritics.org/active/articles/von_laue_critique_of_Steiner's_science.pdf

[7] Of course, I can’t know what the future may bring. Possibly Steiner will be borne out eventually. We have no reason to think so, however. For a fine analysis of Steiner’s relationship with science, see “Is Anthroposophy Science?” by Sven Ove Hansson, at http://waldorfcritics.org/active/articles/Hansson.html 

Many of the semi-scientific concepts Steiner incorporated in Anthroposophy are, today, examples of discarded science — notions that seemed plausible in Steiner’s time but that we now know are wrong. Consider the “universal ether” of 19th century science, for instance. Modern science has tossed this concept aside, but Steiner fell for it, at least sometimes: “[W]hat we subjectively describe as the quality of colour is the effect on us...of an objective process that is taking place in the universal ether....” — Rudolf Steiner, SCIENCE: An Introductory Reader (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), p. 80. (On other occasions, Steiner distanced himself from this belief; but this is typical of Steiner: frequent self-contradiction.) Likewise, Steiner accepted the existence of the planet Vulcan, which was once thought to orbit the Sun inside the orbit of Mercury. Steiner did not wholly embrace the existence of Vulcan as most Theosophists did, but he accepted it in some form: Thus, for instance, he told of beings descending to Earth from Vulcan: "The beings I have spoken about will descend gradually to the earth. Vulcan beings, Vulcan supermen, Venus supermen....” — Rudolf Steiner, MATERIALISM AND THE TASK OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1987), lecture 14, GA 204. Concerning the planets in general, Steiner blundered even in small ways, as in accepting the idea that there are long, straight lines on the surface of Mars, lines that some of Steiner’s contemporaries thought were canals. Steiner said the lines weren’t canals, but he mistakenly agreed that the lines exist: “Mars is primarily of a more or less fluid mass ... [As for the canals:] There is nothing to be seen except straight lines.” — Rudolf Steiner, FROM SUNSPOTS TO STRAWBERRIES (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2002), pp. 147-148. In fact, Mars is quite dry, at least at the surface — and close observations reveals no long, straight lines. If Steiner actually possessed the clairvoyant powers he claimed — if he had the power to penetrate to the truth, as he said he did — he should have avoided such errors.

[8] Here are quotations in which Steiner pulled the boners I’ve listed:

◊ Science “sees the heart as a pump that pumps blood through the body. Now there is nothing more absurd than believing this, for the heart has nothing to do with pumping the blood.” — Rudolf Steiner, FREUD, JUNG, AND SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY (SteinerBooks, 2001), pp. 124-125. Note: Nothing could be more absurd.

◊ Answering a question about planetary movements, Steiner drew a “helical line.” He positioned the Sun at about the midpoint of the line. He strung out Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn on the left half of the line, and he put Mercury, Venus, and Earth on the right half. Steiner’s words: “Now you simply need to imagine how that [i.e., the line] continues in a helix. Everything else is only apparent movement. The helical line continues into cosmic space. Therefore, it is not that the planets move around the Sun, but these three, Mercury, Venus, and the Earth, follow the Sun, and these three, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, precede it.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, pp. 30-31. Steiner sometimes said that the planets orbit the Sun, but on other occasions he said that they don't.]

◊ Steiner said that gravity is a purely local phenomenon, experienced only on one type of planet. He denied that there is a universal force of gravity. “Gravity is ... perceived only by those beings that live on a solid planet ... Beings who could live on a fluid planet would know nothing of gravity ... And beings who live on a gaseous planet would regard as normal something that would be the opposite of gravity ... [B]eings dwelling on a gaseous planet instead of seeing bodies falling towards the planet would see them always flying off ... Gravity begins when we find ourselves on a solid planet.” [Rudolf Steiner, SCIENCE (Rudolf Steiner Press 2003), pp. 136-137.] In reality, gravity exists everywhere, including on gaseous/fluid planets such as the gas giant Jupiter — where gravity is far greater than on small, solid planets such as the Earth. Steiner's ignorance or his determined antiscientific bias tripped him up. “The best would be if you considered gravity only as a word.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 29. “Over there is a bench and on it is, let us say, a ball ... [T]he ball falls to the ground ... Saying that the ball is subject to the force of gravity is really meaningless ....” — Rudolf Steiner, PRACTICAL ADVICE TO TEACHERS (Anthroposophical Press, 2000), pp. 116-117.

[9] More:

◊ “Einstein's theory of relativity is clever and does hold true for some things in the world, but you cannot do anything with it when you look into reality. For the theory of relativity will never tell you why someone gets extremely tired going to [the city of] Basle, seeing [i.e., because] he is unable to say if he is going to Basle or if Basle is coming to meet him.” — Rudolf Steiner, FROM ELEPHANTS TO EINSTEIN (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 180. This is amazingly ignorant. Einstein’s “theory of relativity” (actually, Einstein published two theories of relativity) does not say what Steiner claims. More to the point, Einstein’s work has stood the test of time, receiving repeated scientific confirmations. The same is not true for Steiner’s work.

◊ Dismissing their work as merely “ingenious” (i.e., clever but wrong), Steiner said “I have already spoken to you of the ingenious description of the sun given by astrophysicists.” — Rudolf Steiner, AGRICULTURE: An Introductory Reader (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), p. 35. But it is Steiner’s statements about the stars and planets that are merely ingenious, lacking any factual content.

◊ Steiner promulgated an entire corpus of medical misinformation. See “Steiner’s Quackery”.

[10] “[T]he brain and nerve system have nothing at all to do with actual cognition....” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 60. “You see, the organs of clairvoyance must be developed from within....” — Rudolf Steiner, INTRODUCING ANTHROPOSOPHICAL MEDICINE (Anthroposophic Press, 1999), p. 198. “[J]ust as natural forces build out of living matter the eyes and ears of the physical body, so will organs of clairvoyance build themselves....” — Rudolf Steiner, KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT (Anthroposophic Press, 1944), p. 28.


[11] More:

◊ “[T]hose whose intentions toward humanity are not good, in other words those who are black of grey magicians" are busily at work... — Rudolf Steiner SECRET BROTHERHOODS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), p. 90. Possibly people who think they are magicians are at work — but contrary to what Steiner taught, there are no real magicians aside from performers (pretenders) on stage.

◊ “And what about true alchemy? That does not come from doing research in the manner of chemists today but from being able to perceive the nature spirits [immaterial beings that lack true spirit] within the processes of nature and coming to an understanding with them....” — Rudolf Steiner, ALCHEMY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2001), p. 17. “[T]his ability of the medieval alchemists to reach the nature spirits was really fraught with difficulty. On the one hand they approached the spirits of nature, the spirits of air and water; the approached gnomes, sylphs and undines in their living reality. On the other hand there were some among these beings who told them of things that overwhelmed them with despair....” — Ibid., p. 37.

◊ “[T]he Sun-influence goes as far as the heart and stops short just before the heart. For the head and the blood-forming process, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are at work. Then, from the heart backward, the Moon influence is supported by the Mercury and Venus forces.” — Rudolf Steiner, AGRICULTURE COURSE (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), p. 41. “With the students, we should at least try to...make it clear that, for instance, an island like Great Britain swims in the sea and is held fast by the forces of the stars.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 607.

◊ Steiner reversed the Lord’s Prayer and converted it to address multiple gods. His version begins thus: “Aum./Amen./Evils reign/Bearing witness to I-being....” — Rudolf Steiner, START NOW! (SteinerBooks, 2004), pp. 220-221.

◊ Steiner instructed farmers and gardeners to spray a special potion on the soil. “Horn Manure is cow manure that has been fermented in the soil over winter inside a cow horn ... Before being applied very small amounts...are dissolved in water and stirred rigorously for one whole hour. This is done by stirring (preferably by hand) in one direction in such a way that a deep crater is formed in the stirring vessel (bucket, barrel). Then the direction is changed, the water seethes and slowly a new crater is formed. Each time a well-formed crater is achieved the direction is changed until the full hour is completed. In this way the dynamic effects concentrated in the prepared manure...are released into the rhythmically moved water and become effective for soil and plant.” — “Biodynamic Frequently Asked Questions,” www.biodynamic.org.uk. “Everything that lives in the silicious [sic] nature contains forces which comes [sic] not from the Earth but from the so-called distant planets, the planets beyond the Sun — Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. That which proceeds from these distant planets influences the life of plants via [silicon and related substances]. On the other hand, from all that is represented in the planets near the Earth — Moon, Mercury and Venus — forces work through limestone and kindred substances.” — Rudolf Steiner, AGRICULTURE COURSE, p. 24.

◊ Murder is often quite different from what we usually think. “Right up into the nineteenth century there existed in the East a remarkable order, the Thugs ... The members of this order were obliged to murder certain individuals indicated to them by [their] superiors....” — Rudolf Steiner SECRET BROTHERHOODS and the Mystery of the Human Double (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), p. 88. The motive behind such murders was to gain access to occult secrets. You see, “souls who have been violently propelled through the gate of death know something in the spiritual world after death which the other souls do not [i.e., should not] want to learn about from them at the wrong time.” — Ibid., p. 84. The secret knowledge possessed by victims of violence could unhinge human evolution if regular dead souls learned it too soon. Murdered people “know certain things sooner than is actually beneficial in the overall process of human evolution.” — Ibid., p. 85. But this knowledge is useful to members of the evil “secret brotherhoods” — which is why those S.O.B.s engineer murders.

◊ For our past and future, see Rudolf Steiner, OCCULT SCIENCE - AN OUTLINE (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1979) and Richard Seddon, THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY AND THE EARTH AS FORESEEN BY RUDOLF STEINER (Temple Lodge Publishing, 2002). For the interior of the Earth, see Rudolf Steiner, THE INTERIOR OF THE EARTH: An Esoteric Study of the Subterranean Spheres (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2007). For astronomy, see, e.g., “Star Wisdom, Moon and Sun Religions”, “Creating an Astronomy Based on the Science of the Spirit”, “Comets and the Solar System, the Zodiac and the Rest of the Fixed Stars,” Rudolf Steiner, FROM BEETROOT TO BUDDHISM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1999).

◊ For future human evolution, in addition to books mentioned immediately above, see Rudolf Steiner, THE BEING OF MAN AND HIS FUTURE EVOLUTION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1981). I go into some of Steiner’s predictions in the essay "Everything" and the essays that immediately follow it.

◊ Concerning Anthroposophical medicine, see, e.g., “Growing Up Being Made Sick by Anthroposophy” (http://waldorfcritics.org/active/articles/Smith-Hald.html) and “Our Brush with Rudolf Steiner” (http://waldorfcritics.org/active/articles/lombard.html). I look into this subject in “Steiner’s Quackery”.

[12] More:

◊ “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....” —Rudolf Steiner, NATURE SPIRITS. Lectures from 1908-1924 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1995), pp. 62-3. “Everything that refers to ‘giants’ in legends is absolutely based on a knowledge of the truth. If, therefore, a real memory of these times is preserved in the Germanic [i.e., Norse] myths, we feel it to be absolutely correct, from the spiritual scientific point of view, that the giants are stupid and the dwarfs very clever.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE BEING OF MAN AND HIS FUTURE EVOLUTION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1981), p. 117.

◊ “Myths and sagas are not just ‘folk-tales’; they are the memories of the visions which people perceived in olden times ... Human beings were aware of the spiritual both by day and by night. At night they were really surrounded by that world of Nordic gods of which the legends tell. Odin, Freya, and all the other figures 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.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 198.

◊ “When you make Shakespearean characters living [i.e., “bring them to life” on stage]...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, p. 336.

◊ “[D]uring the Lemurian epoch of earth-evolution [i.e., long ago] only very few human beings had outlasted, on the earth itself, the happenings of this evolution...the majority of souls withdrew from the earth to other planets, continuing their life on Mars, Saturn, Venus, Jupiter, and so forth.” — Rudolf Steiner, OCCULT HISTORY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1982), p. 36.