APRIL 17, 2020

◊ OBITUARY ◊

From Kent Online [United Kingdom]:

Coronavirus Kent: 

Steiner School founder Ulrike Brockman 

dies from Covid-19 at Faversham Cottage Hospital

By Gerry Warren

Canterbury Steiner School

An educational visionary who founded a special school has died from coronavirus in hospital after being admitted following a fall.

Ulrike Brockman, who was 89, established the Perry Court Rudolf Steiner School near Canterbury with her husband Alan Brockman in 1976.

She died on April 8 after being confirmed Covid-19 positive at the Faversham Cottage Hospital, where she had been recovering from the accident.

Parent, friend and student Helen Applegarth, who wrote an obituary for the school’s Facebook page, said: “We considered her a passionate educational visionary who enhanced the lives of those who followed her passion for anthroposophy.”

Born in Stuttgart, Mrs Brockman inherited her educational inspiration from her parents, who were friends of Rudolf Steiner and followers of his philosophy, known as anthroposophy or spiritual science.

She achieved a diploma in speech, drama, singing, poetry and eurythmy at The Goetheanum, Steiner’s Centre of Anthroposophical Art in Switzerland.

She came to England to study at Hawkwood College in Stroud in 1950, where she met her future husband, Alan Brockman of Broad Oak, near Canterbury, just as he too was discovering anthroposophy...

Their two sons, Patrick and Leo, were born in 1967 and 1969 and attended the nearest Steiner School at Michael Hall in East Sussex, 70 miles away.

It soon became the couple’s wish to open a Steiner School closer to home...

Perry Court School opened in 1976 with 14 pupils in three classes...

The Perry Court Rudolf Steiner School went on to become the Canterbury Steiner School and now has been reborn in Chartham as the New School, Canterbury....

[4/17/2020    https://www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/news/inspirational-school-founder-dies-in-hospital-225742/]

APRIL 13, 2020

WALDORF SCHOOLS 

AT THE ABYSS

The coronavirus pandemic has wrought many changes in institutions and customs. Perhaps these changes will prove to be temporary. Maybe life will return to normal eventually. But, then again, maybe not. Perhaps the current upheavals will have lasting impacts; perhaps the new normal that eventually emerges will be quite different from what we knew before.

Waldorf education does not appear to be exempt. Dramatic changes have swept through Waldorf schools during recent weeks. In many cases, the schools have suspended normal operations. Classes are now held online, through the use of computer technology — something that, under the Waldorf belief system, would have been virtually unimaginable until the current crisis began. [1]

In the century since the first Waldorf school was established by Rudolf Steiner, successive Waldorf schools have generally held faithfully to the pattern Steiner established. Although Waldorf schools theoretically have had the ability to evolve — Steiner did not claim to lay down immutable, eternal educational edicts — nonetheless there has been a strong inclination to honor Steiner's legacy. For Waldorf faculties, figuring out what to do in any given circumstance has often come down to figuring out what Steiner said or hinted about that type of situation.

Yet today, more than perhaps at any time before, the future for Waldorf education is hazy. Much is in doubt; much is up in the air.

Here are some comments made a month ago by a leading Waldorf authority, trying to anticipate what the future may hold. These are excerpts from a posting by Torin M. Finser [2] at Waldorf Today:

COVID-19 and our existential crisis

[T]his is an existential crisis...

Waldorf traditions are questioned as never before, finances are stretched to the breaking point in many schools, and basic social norms seem to be eroding. Now in our corona-crisis we see stark images of what has been creeping up on us for some time: an experience of nothingness ... We are at a point in evolution where the 'old' can no longer continue ... We now need to create out of Nothingness [3]...

[S]omething different is happening in this year of the 100th anniversary [of Waldorf education]. The paradigm has shifted...

Change is no longer an option; it is a necessity...

In so many realms we no longer know where we stand. At times it seems we all need to go back to first grade and learn again what it means to share, listen to others, play by the same rules, in short, to be decent and respectful. The social distancing of COVID-19 asks us all: can we address the soul condition [4] of isolation and disconnection, and how do we want to work together? Deeper down are questions concerning the very nature of the human encounter [5]...

Death can lead to spirit rebirth. [6] Institutions are in themselves always dying, and stay alive only because of the people within them. But one senses that the present time is calling for more radical change. [7] Perhaps we need to re-orient ourselves more around activities that bring life, and focus less on perpetuating the institutional aspects of buildings and budgets...

Many spiritual traditions, including most major world religions, have practices of atonement or preparation for high festivals. [8] Fasting for Ramadan, the period of Lent, and preparing for Yom Kippur call upon participants to change their ways and forego ordinary comforts and habits. Spirit comes before matter. We are being asked today to reaffirm our spiritual roots and put limitations on our desires for material things. [9] We are approaching an unprecedented existential state. We are staring into the abyss [10]: nothingness, dis-connection, dis-establishment of institutions, fear and dread of the unknown. [11]

Out of this moment can come a new sense of freedom. [12] We can choose how we want to relate, what we value in life, and how we want to support educational activities. Our existential crisis is pregnant with potential, if we are awake at this turning point in time. [13] Yes, we all long for a return to some semblance of normality. For me, it is my vocation as a teacher. I look forward to July and...welcoming students [14] beginning teacher education whose destiny path [15] has led them to Waldorf education.

I hope we can all go through this dark night of the soul and emerge stronger in spirit....

[4/13/2020    http://www.waldorftoday.com/2020/03/covid-19-and-our-existential-crisis/   This item was originally posted on March 18.]

Waldorf Watch Response

The "change" Finser considers necessary now ("Change is no longer an option; it is a necessity") would essentially be a reanimation of the original Waldorf impulse. It would reject materialism ("buildings and budgets...our desires for material things") and restore the primacy of spiritual values ("I hope we can...emerge stronger in spirit").

What would this "change" amount to in practice? Would the Waldorf schools of the future be different in distinct ways from the Waldorf schools that have existed up to this moment? It seems unlikely. Finser's argument is based on fundamental Anthroposophical beliefs. The implications of these beliefs are unlikely to alter. Anthroposophy might manifest in slightly different forms — but only slightly so. 

Ultimately, Finser seems to call not for radical reinvention but for a reaffirmation of past doctrines and practices. He apparently wants purer Waldorf schools that hone even more closely to Anthroposophical principles, not liberated Waldorf schools that launch out in new directions.

Waldorf Watch Footnotes

[1] Waldorf schools, like all Anthroposophical endeavors, have long been averse to modern technologies, which Steiner indicated may be demonic. [See "technology" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE).]

[2] Finser has been involved in Waldorf education for decades, as a class teacher and as leader of a Waldorf teacher-training program. He has also served as General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America. He is the author of such books as SCHOOL AS A JOURNEY (SteinerBooks, 1995), THE FALSE DOOR BETWEN LIFE AND DEATH (SteinerBooks, 2019), and INITIATIVE:A Rosicrucian Path of Leadership (SteinerBooks, 2011).

[3] Finser paints an apocalyptic picture. Apocalyptic thinking runs deep in Anthroposophy. [See, e.g, "Apocalypse" in the BWSE.] 

The "nothingness" of today's "existential crisis" may be looked on as resulting from the actions of the arch-demon Ahriman. In one of his books, Finser says this about Ahriman:

"Today human beings mostly see...the material world around us. Few see a connection to the divine anymore ... When we become fixated in the things of this world, we can fall into the grip of Ahriman, a spiritual being that tries to tie us to the Earth." — Torin M. Finser, SELF-GUIDED STUDY: Rudolf Steiner's Path of Spiritual Development (SteinerBooks, 2015), GBks.

According to Steiner, Ahriman offers humanity temptations that may destroy us but that may also, if we are wise, open new possibilities for future evolution. [See "Ahriman".]

[4] Waldorf education is always more concerned with the human soul and spirit (Steiner taught that these are different) than with the things of this world. [See "soul" and "spirit" in the BWSE.]

The underlying Waldorf belief system, Anthroposophy, is a religion [see "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?"], and Waldorf schools are thus essentially religious institutions [see "Schools as Churches"]. Although Finser is speaking of changes in the Waldorf movement, he is more fundamentally speaking of a return to roots ("go back to first grade and learn again..."). The changes he contemplates would not alter the fundamental nature of Waldorf education as an enactment of Anthroposophy.

[5] According to Anthroposophy, we should encounter one another as reincarnating spirits who are enacting their karmas in the effort to evolve to higher stages of spiritual perfection. [See "evolution of consciousness", "karma", and "reincarnation" in the BWSE.] Steiner taught that Waldorf communities, including individual Waldorf classes, are groups brought together by karma.

[6] For Anthroposophists, death is indeed merely a passage from one life to the next, through the process of reincarnation. In this sense, death is an illusion, for it always leads to a new birth. [See, e.g., Finser's book THE FALSE DOOR BETWEN LIFE AND DEATH.]

[7] The first Waldorf school was certainly radical, in that it was the first school based on Anthroposophy. All subsequent Waldorf schools have tended to embody conflicting impulses, toward radicalism on one hand (countercultural inclinations) and toward conservatism on the other hand (looking backward to Steiner and his teachings). [See, e.g., "Beat".]

[8] Anthroposophy is an amalgam of many such spiritual traditions, and indeed various fundamentally religious festivals are observed during the Waldorf school year. [See "festivals" in the BWSE.] Atonement or purification is a key purpose in at least some of these events.

[9] Here again we see the recommendation to "reaffirm our spiritual roots," especially through rejection of materialism ("Spirit comes before matter. We are being asked to...put limitations on our desires for material things"). In Anthroposophical belief, Ahriman is the lord of materialism — he seeks to sever us from the spirit realm by dragging us down into a wholly material existence.

[10] In Anthroposophy, the "abyss" is the chasm between physical reality and spiritual reality. [See "abyss" in the BWSE.]

[11] Here is one relevant statement by Steiner: 

"[T]oday...the spirit-soul [the combined human spirit and soul] is asleep. The human being is thus in danger of drifting into the Ahrimanic world, in which case the spirit-soul will evaporate into the cosmos. We live in a time when people face the danger of losing their souls to materialistic impulses." — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 115. 

The renewal Finser discusses would reawaken the spirit-soul, rescuing humanity from materialism and re-energizing human spirituality.

[12] Anthroposophy and Waldorf education emphasize freedom. But this is freedom of a limited, strictly confined type. Chiefly, it is the "freedom" to reject "the black path" and affirm the "white path" — the path of Anthroposophy. [See "freedom" in the BWSE.]

[13] In Anthroposophy, "the turning point of time" is a crucial concept, referring to the moment when the Sun God incarnated on Earth and changed the course of human evolution. [See "Turning Point of Time" in the BWSE; also see "Sun God".] Here, Finser suggests (perhaps hyperbolically) that the Waldorf movement now confronts a similarly crucial turning point.

[14] I.e., trainees beginning their education to become Waldorf teachers.

[15] I.e., karma.

— R.R.

APRIL 11, 2020

COUNTERING COVID 

WITH COSMIC DANCE 

Among the quack remedies being promoted during the coronavirus pandemic, perhaps none is stranger — or less likely to confer protection from the virus — than curative eurythmy.

Eurythmy (the word is pronounced yur-RITH-me) [1] is a form of spiritualized dance devised by Waldorf founder Rudolf Steiner.

Impression of eurythmy.

[R. R. rendering, 2010, derived from

photo presented on p. 31 of THE GOETHEANUM

(Philosophical-Anthroposophical Press, 1961).]

Eurythmists often perform in long, flowing gowns

and prismatic veils that billow like wings.

Feet are usually clad in light, silent slippers.

Filled with inspiration, dancers performing eurythmy ("eurythmists") purportedly rise to communion with the spirit realm. So Steiner said:

"In having people do eurythmy, we link them directly to the supersensible [i.e., supernatural] world." [2]

At most Waldorf schools, all students are required to perform eurythmy. Steiner said the following to Waldorf teachers:

"Eurythmy is obligatory. The children must participate. Those who do not participate in eurythmy will be removed from the school." [3]

Looking a bit like slow-motion modern dance, eurythmy is meant to manifest the inner or spiritual meaning of true, inspired speech. Here, for example, is the eurythmic postures expressing the inner powers of the letters "R", "G", "O", and "E":

By moving in stately fashion from posture to posture, 

a dancer can spell out any word containing these letters 

(egg, ego, gore, goer, ergo, ogre, gorge, regorge...). 

The resulting dance is believed to express the inner spirit 

of the words performed. 

[R.R. drawing, 2013, based on images in 

Cynthia Hoven's book, EURYTHMY 

(HeartSong Press, 2012), pp. 36, 56, 78, and 74.] 

Steiner's followers believe that eurythmy, with its deep spiritual value, is inherently healthful. Body and soul are strengthened through communion with the supersensible realm. All eurythmy, in other words, is believed to have therapeutic effects. But a special subset of eurythmic practices is deemed especially helpful in preventing and overcoming ailments. This is "curative eurythmy."

A recent communiqué from the worldwide Anthroposophical headquarters [4] touts the efficacy of eurythmy in the current medical crisis:

"Curative eurythmy/ eurythmy therapy for influenza (coronavirus) epidemic

"Eurythmy therapy as a remedy of anthroposophical medicine [5], as a movement-oriented therapy, meets the requirements for maintaining health in these times to a special degree. In particular, eurythmy therapy can strengthen the immune system holistically, i.e. not only on the physical, but also on the mental and spiritual level, and especially on the vital level. Every meaningful, inspired movement integrates us with ourselves, develops warmth, security and resistance. In the broad spectrum of eurythmy therapy exercises there are several to choose from in the current situation."   

— "Heileurythmie/ Eurythmietherapie bei Grippe (Coronavirus) Epidemie", Medical Section, The Goetheanum. [Translated with DeepL Translator.]

The communiqué then refers to various eurythmic exercises described by Rudolf Steiner in the book CURATIVE EURYTHMY. Here are the exercises and their purported effects:

"Affirmation/denial  —  Such a movement has a strong effect on the respiratory system on its way through the life organization (etheric body) [6]

"Sympathy/antipathy  —  The forces of human individuality (ego-organization [7]), which are expressed especially in the heat organization [8], become more active in relation to the whole organism, especially with regard to circulation and digestive processes

"Love -E  —  A positive warming effect on the circulation

"Hope -U   —  A beneficial warming effect on the respiratory system

"Rhythmic -R  —  Has a very good effect on the whole rhythmic system, on the respiratory and circulatory rhythm and the spine

"A-H Worship  —  The organism becomes more stable, more resistant."

— "Heileurythmie/ Eurythmietherapie bei Grippe (Coronavirus) Epidemie". [Translated with DeepL Translator.] For Steiner's descriptions of these movements, see lecture 5 in CURATIVE EURYTHMY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1983).

Note that the A-H movement is designated as "Worship." The belief system underlying eurythmy — and Waldorf education — is the new religion developed by Steiner, called Anthroposophy (pronounced an-throw-POSS-o-fee). Seen as an enactment of this religion, eurythmy is essentially a form of temple dancing. Significantly, eurythmy is associated with an astrological understanding of the cosmos. Astrology is basic to much Anthroposophical belief and practice. [9] So, for instance, we find the following in the synopsis for lecture 10 in the book EURYTHMY AS VISIBLE SPEECH, a collection of Steiner lectures:

"The nineteen possibilities of sound: the consonants have their source in the Zodiac; the vowels in the dance of the planets. A cosmic activity may be brought to expression by means of human gesture and movement. [10] The word of the heavens is really the being of man. [11] By means of an imitation of the dance of the stars, discovered through spiritual knowledge [12], we have the possibility of renewing in eurythmy the temple dancing of ancient Mysteries. [13]" — EURYTHMY AS VISIBLE SPEECH (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1984), p. 18.

Four eurythmic positions and their zodiacal associations:

Leo, Virgo, Aquarius, and Scorpio.

[R. R. sketch, 2013, derived from the drawing 

on p. 159 of EURYTHMY AS VISIBLE SPEECH.]

Anthroposophists may believe they can fend off the coronavirus by performing astrology-tinged temple dancing. The rest of us may, perhaps, be forgiven for doubting the efficacy of this therapeutic strategy. 

Waldorf Watch Footnotes

[1] See "Eurythmy".

[2] Rudolf Steiner, ART AS SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), pp. 246-247.

"Supersensible" things lie beyond the reach of our ordinary senses, Steiner taught. To perceive them, we need to become clairvoyant, he said. [For Steiner's instructions on how to attain clairvoyance, see "Knowing the Worlds".]

[3] Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 65.

[4] This is the Goetheanum (go-thee-AN-um), named for the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, whom Steiner admired. [See "Goethe" and "Goetheanum" in the BWSE.]

[5] Anthroposophy is the Steiner belief system. Anthroposophical medicine attempts to base therapeutic treatments on Anthroposophical physical/spiritual beliefs. [See "Anthroposophy" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE). For an overview of medical practices based on Anthroposophy, see "Steiner's Quackery".]

[6] The "etheric body" is one of three nonphysical bodies that, Steiner's followers believe, fully incarnated humans possess. [See "etheric body" in the BWSE.]

[7] In Anthroposophy, the "ego" (the spiritual ego, not to be confused with the ego of Freudian analysis) is the fourth and highest of the invisible human bodies. The "ego organization" is the psychological/spiritual structure of the ego. [See "ego" and "ego organization" in the BWSE.]

[8] According to Anthroposophical medicine, this is the set of organs and processes that warm a living organism.

[9] See "Astrology".

[10] I.e., eurythmic gestures and movements express cosmic activities (the behavior of the stars and planets — and their resident gods).

[11] I.e., the cosmos is a macrocosmic replica of the human being, who in turn is a microcosmic replica of the cosmos and its "word" or logos. [See "Logos".]

[12] Spiritual knowledge, according to Anthroposophical belief, is to be found in Anthroposophy itself. The root meaning of the word "Anthroposophy" is human (anthro) wisdom (sophy). Today, the word is used almost exclusively to denote Rudolf Steiner's belief system, which he developed by drawing heavily from Theosophy. [See "Basics".] Steiner called Anthroposophy a "spiritual science;" he said it yields objective knowledge of the spirit realm. Critics contend that there is little or no real wisdom in Anthroposophy.

[13] See "mystery", "mystery knowledge", "mystery schools", etc., in the BWSE. The mysteries of Anthroposophy are reflected in four "mystery plays" written by Steiner. [See "Plays".]

— R.R.

APRIL 9, 2020

◊ NEWS BRIEFS ◊

COVID, NATURE, 

AND THE YOUNG 

1.

According to the Waldorf belief system, Anthroposophy [1], nature is ultimately beneficent — it is the outward expression of the gods' will [2]. This conception leads to a preference in Waldorf culture for all things natural — organic foods rather than processed foods, woolen fabrics rather than synthetic fabrics, herbal medications rather than modern drugs, and so forth.

One corollary of this sort of thinking is that diseases, as common or natural occurrences in human life, must be good for us. Thus, there is a general inclination within Anthroposophy to look on diseases as "blessings" [3] — diseases help us to discharge our karma, strengthening and improving us for our future incarnations [4].

Advocates of natural living often look upon childhood diseases in particular as desirable episodes in human life [5]. Taken to an extreme, this view has sometimes led to the promotion of social gatherings — such as "measles parties" and “chickenpox parties” — held for the explicit purpose of passing diseases from infected children to healthy children [6].

Today, during the coronavirus pandemic, "coronavirus parties" are popping up in countercultural circles. An opinion piece in yesterday's New York Times, written by a doctor who specializes in epidemiology, offers a sharp warning in response:

Please, Don’t Intentionally Infect Yourself. [7]

Signed, an Epidemiologist.

By Dr. Greta Bauer

As the coronavirus continues to spread, epidemiologists like me are starting to field a remarkable question: Would people be better off if they just contracted the virus and got it over with? I’ve heard rumblings about people avoiding physical distancing or hosting a version of “chickenpox parties,” where noninfected people mingle with an infected person in an effort to catch the virus.

For some, it is part of a “herd immunity strategy” to build population immunity by infecting younger people who seem to have mild cases of Covid-19 [8]...

...[T]here are seven clear reasons choosing to get intentionally infected would be a really horrible idea right now...

1. Immunity isn’t a sure thing

We have not yet established that those who recover from this infection indeed develop long-term immunity. Herd immunity projections depend completely on such a sustained immune response, and we haven’t found out whether that even exists [for Covid-19]...

2. Reinfection could be possible

There are documented cases where people who appear to recover from the virus test positive again, which calls even short-term immunity into question...

3. The virus could continue living inside you

We don’t know that recovered patients actually clear the virus from their bodies. Many viruses can remain in reservoirs, parts of the body where they hang out quietly, and re-emerge to cause disease later in life. For example, chickenpox can come back as shingles, and hepatitis B can lead to liver cancer years later...

4. Even the young can be hospitalized

Hospital beds and equipment are urgently needed right now for Covid-19 patients. People shouldn’t kid themselves that because they are young they will not be hospitalized if infected...

5. Survivors could suffer long-term damage

While early reports focused almost exclusively on the risk of death, we do not yet fully understand the other effects of Covid-19. We do know that previously healthy people are being left with potentially long-term lung and heart damage.

6. A ‘mild’ case is hardly mild

As more patients recount enduring painful coughing, disorientation and difficulties breathing, people are coming to understand that the 80 percent to 85 percent of cases considered mild are not necessarily “mild” in its usual sense ... While “mild” can be truly mild, it can also include pneumonia, and be brutal and scary.

7. There’s no shortcut to immunity

Herd immunity requires a high proportion of a population to be immune (the actual percentage varies for different infections), but we want to get there slowly or, ideally, through vaccines. Right now, too many people are getting sick through non-intentional spread, burdening hospitals and leading to severe illness and death...

___

While it is hard to be patient, the best way out of this [i.e., the pandemic] will likely be much clearer to us in a month or two than it is now. In the meantime, it is important that we don’t take unnecessary risks with unknown consequences. If we can avoid infection, we need to do exactly that.

[4/9/2020    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/opinion/coronavirus-parties-herd-immunity.html    This article originally appeared on April 8.]

2.

One argument in favor of "coronavirus parties" or, more generally, for allowing young people to contract COVID-19 is that the virus generally seems to be gentler with young people than with the old. Youngsters almost always come through the disease in good shape, the argument goes.

But a serious danger lurks within this argument. If most young people who get the disease seem to be escaping with minimal damage, not all of them are. Some young people — including children — are becoming gravely ill. And some are dying.

Here is an update, focusing on the USA — which now has the largest Covid-19 outbreak in the world. This article is from The Washington Post:

Hundreds of young Americans have now 

been killed by the coronavirus, data shows

By Chris Mooney, Brady Dennis and Sarah Kaplan

...For the very young — people under the age of 20 — death is extremely rare in the current pandemic. But it happens: The Post identified nine such cases [9].

The risk appears to rise with every decade of age. The Post found at least 45 deaths among people in their 20s, at least 190 deaths among people in their 30s, and at least 413 deaths among people in their 40s...

The true number of deaths among young people is probably even higher. Not all states provide data on coronavirus deaths sorted by age group ... As a result, the figures above do not include data from some states, including several with sizable outbreaks...

[M]ore young people are getting cases of serious disease that require hospital care...

Most of these young people suffered from underlying conditions such as asthma, diabetes and hypertension. But at least seven for whom the CDC [10] had data had no outside health problems, underscoring that a small fraction of severe cases remain hard to explain...

[Dr. Shawn] Evans said the vast majority of young people who contract the disease fare well and recover. But for a minority, it appears to cause a unique change in the blood’s oxygen-carrying hemoglobin cells.

“Young people who are otherwise fit can tolerate this longer, but at the expense of their heart and their pulmonary functions,” said Evans...

He said younger patients he has seen tend to come in [for treatment] later, after battling the disease at home for longer. But for those who take a tragic turn, it often happens quickly.

“When they do deteriorate, they do so much more dramatically,” he said...

What has profoundly struck Evans and his colleagues is the seeming randomness of the type of young people who are unable to fight off the disease...

“Just because they are young doesn’t mean they aren’t vulnerable,” he said. “Nobody knows what immune protection they have at any given moment"....

[4/9/2020    https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/08/young-people-coronavirus-deaths/    This article originally appeared on April 8.]

Waldorf Watch Footnotes

[1] See "Anthroposophy" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE).

[2] Anthroposophy is polytheistic. [See "Polytheism".]

[3] See, e.g., L.F.C. Mees, BLESSED BY ILLNESS (Anthroposophic Press, 1998).

[4] Belief in karma is fundamental in Anthroposophy. [See "Karma".]

[5] See the section "Childhood Diseases" in "Steiner's Quackery".

[6] See, e.g., "The Vile Virus and Technology, II", March 24, 2020.

[7] See, e.g., "Don't Stay Home, Don't Protect Kids", April 2, 2020.

[8] For adults to attend such parties, intending to infect themselves, is one thing. Adults presumably have the capacity to make informed — or at least conscious — choices. But for children to be sent to such parties — children who cannot understand the risks or make mature decisions — is something else altogether.

Anthroposophical doctor Harald Matthes has argued that closing schools is counterproductive. Children should be allowed to contract COVID-19, he has said. If schools stay open, kids will pick up the bug, which will eventually help create population immunity, commonly called collective or herd immunity. [See "The Vile Virus & Technology, II", March 24, 2020.] Think about this carefully. If Matthes' advice were followed, the schools would effectively become large-scale coronavirus parties — they would be centers of contagion where children would become ill, perhaps severely ill. [See the second of today's News Briefs.] And because each victim of the virus typically infects several other people (the students could infect their teachers, their parents, their neighbors), the pandemic would spread all the more widely. Matthes' advice is meant to help stem the pandemic, but in fact it would have the opposite effect.

[9] These are child deaths in the USA. The total, nine, should almost certainly be considered a minimum estimate. The true total may be considerably higher — and it is probably climbing daily. The previous estimate we'd seen for the number of American children killed by Covid-19 was three. That estimate was released just two days ago. [See "Kids and COVID", April 7, 2020.]

There have also been reports of child deaths due to Covid-19 in Europe and Asia. [See, e.g., "Don't Let Kids Contract COVID-19", March 25, 2020.] But no reliable, comprehensive tabulation seems to be available to date. (The worldwide total for child mortality in the pandemic seems to be about double the US total. But this is only a guesstimate.)

The total number of children killed by Covid-19 in all countries is likely to be relatively low compared to mortality rates for older individuals worldwide. But there have likely been more child deaths around the globe — perhaps many more — than have yet been reported. (Hospitals are overwhelmed; filing reports is low on their list of priorities. Grieving families, too, have other priorities. And governments have reason to dissemble — they typically downplay statistics that reflect badly on them.)

[10] This is the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, the primary national public health institute of the United States. 

— R.R.

APRIL 8, 2020

5G WAVES, DISEASE, 

& ANTHROPOSOPHY 

Waldorf education is rooted in Anthroposophy — the "spiritual science" (or, really, the religion) concocted by Rudolf Steiner. [1] In turn, Anthroposophy is rooted in superstition and ignorance. [2]

The falsehoods of Anthroposophy have real consequences in the real world. We see this, for instance, in the arguments advanced by at least some Anthroposophists concerning the coronavirus. One of these arguments, which you might think is preposterous on its face, is that the spread of the coronavirus has been caused by the deployment of fifth-generation electronic communications networks, so-called 5G networks. [3]

Here are excerpts from a new article on this subject, from the French newspaper 20 Minutes [Paris, France]:

No, 5G does not promote 

the coronavirus epidemic 

[By] Marie-Laetitia Sibille

Some critics have accused electromagnetic radiation of being at the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they have shared this concern on social networks. Experts reject their claims...

It all started with a video posted on YouTube on March 16 and viewed almost 2 million times to date. [4] Wacky terms in support — "poisoned cells," "electrification of the Earth," "excreting debris we call virus" — issued from Thomas Cowan, who presents himself as a doctor. He assures us that viruses are caused by electronic waves... 

Thomas Cowan explains that the Spanish flu of 1918 was caused by "the introduction of radio waves around the world." [5] He then speaks of "a dramatic quantum leap in the last six months in the electrification of the Earth. This is called 5G." Finally, Thomas Cowan asks where is "the first city in the world entirely covered by 5G." His answer: Wuhan. [6] At the end of his "demonstration," he argues against vaccines which, with their adjuvants containing aluminum salts, allegedly make us receptors of electromagnetic fields. [7]

Thomas Cowan represents Anthroposophy, an esoteric movement that espouses the natural world, which its sees as being controlled by spirit entities. Anthroposophy was founded in the 1910s by the Austrian Rudolf Steiner. [8]

Grégoire Perra is a professor of philosophy and an anti-Anthroposophy whistleblower, having taught in a Waldorf school that promoted the Anthroposophical current of thought. [9] After reviewing the video, he explains to 20 Minutes: “Anthroposophical medicine belongs to the sectarian aberration which is Anthroposophy, something I have been denouncing on my blog for ten years. [10] Its supporters oppose technology across the board. For Steiner, electricity, magnetism, and radioactivity are fundamentally evil forces. According to the followers of this thought, when we sleep, our astral body [11] leaves the earth's field. It has to pass through the earth-orbiting satellites. [12]"

Scientists completely contradict the link between coronavirus and 5G. An article on the BBC website debunks two rumors: 5G could suppress the immune system, and viruses can communicate by radio waves. According to Simon Clarke, associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading...these two concepts are "complete garbage"...

This is also what teacher-researcher Carlos Bader, 5G specialist at Centrale Supélec [13], explains in a video from November 2019 entitled: "Is 5G dangerous for health?"...

It be impossible for 5G to transmit the virus, adds Adam Finn, professor of pediatrics at the University of Bristol: "The current epidemic is caused by a virus which is transmitted from an infected person to another. Viruses and electromagnetic waves work differently. They are as different as chalk and cheese"...

YouTube [14] has decided to put in place new measures to limit the spread of conspiratorial videos linking 5G technology to the COVID-19 epidemic, as a spokesperson for the platform explained to The Guardian this Sunday: “We started to decrease the place of videos promoting the conspiracy theories on 5G and the epidemic, which dangerously misinform our users." Nevertheless, Thomas Cowan's video is still visible on YouTube.

[4/8/2020     https://www.20minutes.fr/sante/2755723-20200407-non-5g-favorise-epidemie-coronavirus    This article originally appeared on April 7. Translated by Roger Rawlings with the use of Google Translate.]

Waldorf Watch Footnotes

[1] See "Anthroposophy" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE). Also see "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?"

(A word unknown to most people, "Anthroposophy" — meaning, at its linguistic roots, "human wisdom" — is pronounced an-throw-POSS-o-fee. The word is used today to denote Rudolf Steiner's concoction, which arguably contains little or no actual wisdom.) 

[2] See, e.g., "Summing Up".

[3] See the Waldorf Watch News Brief #1 for April 6, 2020; also see "Anthro Medicine Put In Its Place", March 28, 2020.

[4] It is an exaggeration to say "it all started" with this video; the statement magnifies the role played by Thomas Cowan. Anthroposophists have worried about electricity, electronic communications, computers, etc., for a long time. [See, e.g., "Spiders, Foxes and Dragons".] 

Concerning specific fears about 5G, see, e.g., "Fearing the Invisible — The long history behind the 5G COVID-19 conspiracy theory", SLATE, April 7, 2020.

[5] The proposition that there was a connection between the Spanish Flu and the development of radio is wholly unconvincing. There is no mechanism whereby radio waves could create a virus. Moreover, radio was invented, and the first broadcasts were made, two decades before the Flu began (Guglielmo Marconi created the first radio transmitters and receivers in 1895-96; the first commercial broadcasts occurred in 1900; the Flu struck in 1918). Then, too, the Flu largely died out by 1920, whereas the "golden age" of radio — when commercial broadcasts became nearly ubiquitous and wildly popular — extended from the mid-1920s to the early 1950s (until the ascendance of television). 

[6] Wuhan, a city in China, has seen the first major outbreak of COVID-19. But to say that Wuhan is "entirely covered by 5G" is excessive and imprecise. China in general has an extensive 5G network, but this does mean that everyone in China (or even in Wuhan) is entirely or unrelievedly immersed in 5G waves. [See, e.g., "China rolls out 'one of the worlds largest' 5G networks", BBC, November 1, 2019.]

[7] Anthroposophy and Waldorf schools do not officially oppose vaccination in all cases, but they generally harbor anti-vaccine beliefs. [See "vaccination" in the BWSE.]

An adjuvant is a substance that strengthens the body's immune responses.

[8] See "Steiner, Rudolf" in the BWSE.

Steiner became a Theosophist in or around 1902. Anthroposophy is effectively a variant of Theosophy. [See "Basics".] In 1913, Steiner broke from Theosophy to establish Anthroposophy as a separate spiritual movement.

[9] For some of Perra's whistleblowing articles, translated into English, see, e.g., "He Went to Waldorf" and "My Life Among the Anthroposophists".

[10] Perra's blog, "La Vérité sur les écoles Steiner-Waldorf" {The Truth About Steiner-Waldorf Schools} is available at https://veritesteiner.wordpress.com.

[11] In Anthroposophic belief, the astral body is an invisible envelope of soul forces. Steiner taught that the astral body is one of three invisible bodies possessed by fully incarnated humans; he said the astral body incarnates around age 14. [See "astral body" in the BWSE.]

Steiner taught that the astral body and another invisible body, the ego body, leave Earth each night and travel to the spirit realm. The physical body and the etheric body remain on Earth. [See "Incarnation".]

[12] The artificial satellites of greatest concern, presumably, are communications satellites that constantly transmit electronic communications to and from the surface of the Earth.

[13] Centrale Supélec is an engineering and science research institute in France.

[14] Thomas Cowan's video (which ironically has gone "viral") became available on YouTube.  

— R.R.

APRIL 7, 2020 

◊ NEWS BRIEFS ◊

KIDS & COVID  

1.

Some Anthroposophists have argued that children are not seriously harmed by the coronavirus. Anthroposophical doctor Harald Matthes has stated that the "virus only becomes dangerous with age" — i.e., only older people are in danger. Consequently, Matthes argues, closing schools is counterproductive: Children should be allowed to contract COVID-19. [See "The Vile Virus & Technology, II", March 24, 2020.]

Views such as Matthes' are likely to be given particular weight in Waldorf schools, which are rooted in Anthroposophy. 

But accumulating evidence undercuts Matthes' contentions. While children generally are not as badly affected by the coronavirus as older folks are, children can nonetheless become critically ill from the virus. And some die.

All of the protective measures recommended for adults should also be applied to children.

The following is from CNN [USA]:

Most cases of coronavirus in children are mild 

but severe cases have been reported, CDC says

By Gina Yu and Hollie Silverman

Children diagnosed with coronavirus in the United States typically have mild cases, the Centers for Disease Controls and Prevention said in a report released Monday.

However, some severe cases in children are being reported and three [American] children have died, the analysis said...

"Whereas most Covid-19 cases in children are not severe, serious Covid-19 illness resulting in hospitalization still occurs in this age group," the report said.

"Social distancing and everyday preventative behaviors remain important for all age groups as patients with less serious illness and those without symptoms likely play an important role in disease transmission."

...Among children, 73% reported symptoms of fever, cough and shortness of breath, while 93% of adults aged 18 to 64 reported experiencing those...symptoms...

For those who had their hospitalization reported, 20% of children were hospitalized while 33% of 18 to 64-year-old adults were hospitalized, the report said...

Among the 295 pediatric cases that included information on both hospitalization status and underlying medical conditions, 28 of 37 children that were hospitalized — including all six children who were admitted to an intensive care unit — had an underlying medical condition, the report said.

[4/7/2020    https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/07/health/children-coronavirus-cases-mild/index.html.]

2.

COVID-19 seems to hit males harder than females. This is true among adults and also among children — including infants.

Children in general tend to have mild cases of the disease; only a small fraction become seriously ill. About 5 out of every 100 children with COVID-19 have been hospitalized; about one in a thousand has died. 

Parents should take precautions, nonetheless. (The coronavirus remains mysterious. Information about it is in flux. Data may be wrong, or misstated, or misinterpreted.)

From Yahoo Lifestyle [USA]:

CDC: Coronavirus is more prevalent 

in young boys than girls 

By Abby Haglage

For weeks, infectious disease experts have been investigating why the coronavirus is proving particularly devastating to males, with early theories from China suggesting that higher rates of smoking among men may be to blame. But a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is suggesting it may have more to do with biology — specifically, genetics — than lifestyle.

The research, released on Monday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, found a higher prevalence of COVID-19 in males across every pediatric age group — including infants...

Most of the children reported symptoms of cough or fever, but only a small fraction (five percent) were hospitalized, bolstering reports that kids often develop a mild case of the virus. Those hospitalized were far more likely to report underlying health conditions than those who weren’t, including asthma, chronic lung disease and cardiovascular disease. Only 0.1 percent [1 out of 1000] of the children infected died....

[Infectious disease expert Dr. Gregory] Poland says the new research should not be a reason for parents of boys to panic, nor for parents of girls to consider them immune. “I would not want this to give false reassurance to a parent because yes, there were girls that got sick,” Poland tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “There were girls that had severe illness. So I would put it in the category of, that's interesting. More research needs to be done. But for me as a parent, I put whatever appropriate layers of protection around my children, regardless of their gender.”

[4/7/2020    https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/cdc-coronavirus-is-more-prevalent-in-young-boys-than-girls-201351491.html    This article originally appeared on April 6.]

Waldorf Watch Response 

Generalizations about an ongoing epidemic, when so much remains unknown, must be treated skeptically. The same goes for statistics, which — with their apparent mathematical precision — may create a false sense of certainty.

It is comforting to know that most children seem to come through COVID-19 in good shape. It is heartening to know that, evidently, very few children die of the disease.

But for parents of children who do die, generalizations and statistics mean nothing. 

And presumably no parents of healthy children want their offspring to tragically become rare instances of COVID-19 fatality.

All children should be protected to the absolute best of our ability.  

— R.R.

APRIL 6, 2020

◊ NEWS BRIEFS ◊

ANTHROPOSOPHY AND 

THE VIRUS (CONT.) 

1.

Various Anthroposophists — devout followers of Rudolf Steiner — have been promoting strange falsehoods about the coronavirus pandemic. One such falsehood, so bizarre as almost to beggar belief, is that the spread of new wireless communications technology, called 5G, is to blame for the disease. [See, e.g., "Anthro Medicine Put In Its Place", March 28, 2020.]

Baseless though fear of 5G may be, it has taken hold in some circles. Conspiracy theorists have latched on, with perhaps foreseeable (and violent) results.

The following is from Bloomberg L.P. [New York City, USA]:

5G-Virus Conspiracy Theory Fuels 

Mast Damage Amid U.K. Rollout 

By Thomas Seal

Telecom masts that enable the next generation of wireless communication were set on fire in the U.K. in recent days, apparently by people motivated by a theory that the tech helps spread the coronavirus...

While there’s absolutely no evidence to support the idea that 5G technology contributes to Covid-19’s spread, the conspiracy is being shared widely on social media. Mast fires were reported in Belfast, Liverpool and Birmingham...

Concerns about links between the new tech and cancer were already slowing the roll-out of 5G in countries including Switzerland, Bloomberg Businessweek previously reported, despite a lack of scientific support for the claims. Last month the independent global health body, the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, deemed 5G safe....

[4/6/2020    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-06/investors-stop-laughing-as-5g-virus-conspiracy-fuels-mast-damage.]

2.

Another falsehood circulated by Anthroposophists and others is that children cannot be harmed by COVID-19. Some Anthroposophists have gone so far as to argue that children should be allowed to contract the disease, so that when they recover they will help create a cordon of collective immunity that will protect old folks. [See "Don't Stay at Home, Don't Protect Kids", April 2, 2020.]

There seems to be undeniable evidence that the elderly are the most likely to die from COVID-19. But this does not at all mean that children are safe. There have been numerous reports of children becoming gravely ill from the disease, and some children have died. [See "Don't Let Kids Contract COVID-19", March 25, 2020.] Most of the recorded deaths among children have befallen teenagers and infants, leaving open the possibility that children between these extremes may be exempt. [See the Postscript to "Don't Stay at Home, Don't Protect Kids", April 2, 2020.] But this possibility is almost surely an illusion.

The following is from The Guardian [London, UK]:

Five-year-old child among 

latest UK coronavirus deaths 

By Nazia Parveen

A five-year old child is among 708 people whose deaths with coronavirus were announced on Saturday in the UK, as Britain’s death toll rose to 4,313, the biggest increase since the outbreak began...

In England, 637 more patients who tested positive for Covid-19 were reported to have died on Saturday, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths in hospital to 3,939. The death toll in Scotland increased by 46 to 218, while in Wales it was up by 13, to 154....

[4/6/2020    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/apr/04/five-year-old-child-among-latest-uk-coronavirus-deaths    This article originally appeared on April 4.]

Like most victims of all ages who die from COVID-19, the child reportedly had underlying health problems.

From the BBC [London, UK]:

Coronavirus: Five-year-old 

among latest UK victims 

A five-year-old child with underlying health conditions is among those with coronavirus whose deaths were reported in the past day, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove has said...

During the briefing, Mr Gove paid tribute to one of the youngest victims of the outbreak.

"Our thoughts today are also with the family of the five-year-old with underlying health conditions who has tragically died," he said.

[4/6/2020    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52165443    This article originally appeared on April 4.]

The child's pre-existing health problem is probably key. And the child's death may well mean that all children with such problems (like all of their elders with such problems) are in danger from the coronavirus. The virus can compound pre-existing problems, which can lead to death.

APRIL 4, 2020

WALDORF, THE VIRUS, 

AND THE INTERNET

Waldorf education is reeling from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The enforced shift to distance learning — with teachers and students able to communicate only at long range, generally through electronic means — strikes at fundamental Waldorf precepts and practices.

The ultimate impact on Waldorf may not be known for a long time to come. Perhaps, when the pandemic subsides, things will return to what passes for normal in Waldorf circles. Waldorf education in rooted in the preachments of Rudolf Steiner, preachments that Steiner's apostles embrace as expressing virtually immutable truths. So there will almost certainly be a strong impulse within the Waldorf community to reconstruct the status quo ante.

On the other hand, the dramatic changes occurring in Waldorf education now — especially those that violate the deep Anthroposophical aversion to modern technology as manifested in contrivances such as computers and the Internet — may leave deep, permanent marks. Waldorf education may be changed in ways Rudolf Steiner could never have foreseen (despite his claimed clairvoyant ability to read the future).

An immediate problem at many Waldorf schools centers on tuition. Waldorf schools are generally private institutions, many of them quite small. They rely on the tuition paid by students' parents — and this funding source may dry up now. The very survival of at least some of these schools may be in question.

It may be many months of even years before these things shake out fully. In the meantime, observing the twists and turns of pedagogical adaptation within the Waldorf movement — and the efforts of Waldorf schools to remain viable — may prove revelatory.

Here are preliminary indications of the changes occurring at Waldorf schools in one small corner of the world, the Hudson Valley of New York State, USA. The following is from Chronogram, a magazine of "arts, culture, spirit" [Luminary Publishing, New York]:

COVID-19 Forces Hudson Valley 

Private Schools Into Unchartered Territory 

By Abigail Foster

As the COVID-19 case numbers continue to increase in New York, schools are being forced to adapt to the new reality of social distancing. While distance learning is something that all schools are having to implement, remote instruction is proving to be a both a challenge and an opportunity for some private schools in the Hudson Valley...

For some private schools, hands-on learning is at the core of the curriculum. Digital media and technology, especially for young children not yet in high school, is sometimes limited as much as possible. For that reason, remote instruction has become a challenge that small private schools are trying to overcome...

The Primrose Hill School in Rhinebeck has had [a particular] challenge converting to online instruction. “We really don't usually use any technology. We're very community based and hands on,” says the school’s director Jennifer Nelson. Teachers at the Waldorf-inspired Primrose Hill are recording lessons and sending them to their students at home, although the transition is difficult...

The Acorn School in Accord is a Waldorf school with three classrooms and approximately 40 students. Motria Shuhan, founder of the Acorn School, says that when the school decided to close down in March, she had to let go of most of her eight employees...

According to Shuhan, most of the families with children still enrolled at the Acorn School have agreed to pay April’s tuition, but a future source of income is uncertain. “We're calling it tuition donation now. Tuition didn't seem like an appropriate term anymore,” says Shuhan.

Teachers at the Acorn School in a Zoom meeting

(Chronogram)

The Mountaintop Waldorf School, an early childhood education center for children between the ages of 18 months and six years old, is experiencing similar funding problems as they move to online instruction.

Wendy Weinrich, the school’s founder, says that some of the school’s 40 families are having a hard time paying tuition at this time ... “I just paid the last month to my employees yesterday. I'm only keeping my two lead teachers on for the foreseeable future, and at a reduced rate,” says Weinrich...

No one is sure how long distance learning will be necessary, and for some private schools, it might just become the new normal. At the very least, technology will be more present in the curriculum moving forward.

Doane Stuart [a non-Waldorf school] is experiencing some success with their online classes and are planning to continue to utilize remote instruction in the future. “Having that balance of technology is definitely something that we'll continue to do and continue to perfect. Unfortunately for our students, snow days are gone. They're stuck with us now,” says [Cecil] Stodghill [head of Doane Stuart School].

For others, distance learning has the potential to teach students important lessons. Shuhan [of the Acorn Waldorf School] wonders if children might benefit from learning how to be alone. “That may be a real gift,” says Shuhan.

The Mountaintop Waldorf School plans on keeping technology out of the classroom for their younger students. “It’s really a basic tenet that we try to keep screens away from young children. I think there is going to be a detox at the end of it,” says [Mountaintop founder] Weinrich....

[4/4/2020    https://www.chronogram.com/hudsonvalley/covid-19-forces-hudson-valley-private-schools-into-unchartered-territory/Content?oid=10313751   This article originally appeared on April 2.]

Rudolf Steiner generally deplored modern technology, considering it to be at least potentially demonic. [See "Spiders, Dragons and Foxes".] Waldorf schools have generally accepted this judgment — they have minimized or even banned the use electronic devises such as televisions, movie projectors, and computers.

Now some Waldorf leaders are waffling a bit. Thus, Motria Shuhan — perhaps rationalizing, trying to make a small virtue of a widespread necessity — thinks distance learning may convey "a real gift" if kids learn "how to be alone." And the use of technological gadgetry seems to be accepted at many Waldorf schools now, at least as a temporary expedient, at least for the older students. But Wendy Weinrich emphasizes that younger students should still be protected from the dire effects of "screens," if at all possible. And when this protection breaks down, a process of detoxification ("a detox") may be needed to help the kids recover.

Other Waldorf schools are trying to take a firmer line. They are bowing to the need for distance learning, but they are trying to conduct such instruction without recourse to electronics. In some cases, however, they still wind up relying on technology at least to some degree. (Does a video created by a teacher count as a high-tech — possibly demonic — fabrication, for example? And are students playing by the rules if they dabble with Google?) If modern technology is a corrupting influence, the corruption seems to be spreading almost irresistibly.

The following is from Daily Camera [Colorado, USA]:

Tara Performing Arts High School 

tries distance learning unplugged 

By Amy Bounds

Tara Performing Arts High School sophomore Emma Towle 

works to build a model of a theater space out of sticks 

on Monday at Wonderland Lake in Boulder. 

(Jeremy Papasso/Staff Photographer)

Tara Performing Arts High School, a private Waldorf school in Boulder that enrolls close to 50 students, is finding ways to keep students mostly unplugged while moving to remote learning. The school is in its second week of remote learning because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Teacher and leadership council member Catherine Barricklow said the school closed its campus March 13...

She had about five hours to come up with a remote learning class for last Monday, she said...

“It’s been an exciting challenge, in a way, to figure out how to deliver the content without technology,” she said. “I wanted to engage [my students] and take them outside and awaken their imagination in a way that things on the screen just don’t.”

She made a video of herself building a Greek theater outside to get them started, then asked her students to make their own creations using natural and found materials...

Kiri Booth, a junior at Tara...had started a unit studying the medieval book “Parsival” with her class a week before the closure...

She...is turning in summaries and themes through Google classroom...

Kiri lobbied teachers to add video calls with the whole class, who agreed and started the calls on Friday....

[4/4/2020    https://www.dailycamera.com/2020/03/23/tara-performing-arts-high-school-tries-distance-learning-unplugged/   This article originally appeared on March 23.]

APRIL 2, 2020 

DON'T STAY AT HOME, 

DON'T PROTECT KIDS 

As humanity struggles with the coronavirus pandemic, a startling — and quite terrible — proposition appears to be making the rounds among Anthroposophists. It goes like this: We should not follow stay-at-home directives. In particular, we should not protect children from contracting COVID-19. Instead, we should allow children to become infected. This will ultimately benefit old people, since when the children recover, they will be immune, and this will create a barrier of collective immunity protecting society at large.

An Anthroposophical clinic director, Harald Matthes, as advanced this proposition. [See "The Vile Virus & Technology, II", March 24.] Now another leading Anthroposophist has gone on record making essentially the same argument. Here is a report and a rejoinder posted by former Waldorf teacher Grégoire Perra:

Anthroposophist Tristan Chaudon, 

son of the President of the Steiner-Waldorf Federation of Schools, 

speaks out against containment [i.e., stay-at-home orders]

The sad reality cannot be denied: After several articles in the Anthroposophical journal Aether about the coronavirus, which recommended that young people should be infected, a representative of Anthroposophy in France, Tristan Chaudon, declared on Twitter: "There is no point in limiting the spread of the virus, we need to create collective immunity."

Tristan Chaudon is not just anyone. He is a member of the Initiative Committee of the Matthias Grünewald Branch [of the Anthroposophical Society in France]. He is also a programme designer for the general meetings of the Anthroposophical Society in France, which means that he works closely with its Executive Committee...

Finally, he is the son of Guy Chaudon, the President of the Federation of Steiner-Waldorf Schools in France, and he regularly intervenes on the Internet to defend Steiner-Waldorf pedagogy.

Unless his Tweet was awkwardly worded to apparently say something different from what it clearly seems to say, we understand that in the eyes of Tristan Chaudon confinement "is useless" and, further, we should not "limit the spread of the virus"...

On March 20, Tristan Chaudon confirmed in another Tweet that indeed he challenges the policy of confinement: "Alas, our scientific excellence contrasts with the incompetence of health policy. General containment is not only useless but counterproductive...."

To say on social networks on March 20 that "general containment is not only useless but counterproductive" is serious. It could amount to incitement to civil disobedience in the midst of a health crisis where lives depend on proper compliance...

Tristan Chaudon's words do not, of course, implicate his father, Guy Chaudon, President of the Federation of Steiner-Waldorf Schools in France. Tristan speaks in his own name and not on behalf of any Anthroposophical organization. But given Tristan Chaudon's close ties to the leading circles of Anthroposophy in France, whose opinions he often relays; his proselytizing activity in favor of Anthroposophy on social networks; his past as a former student at a Steiner-Waldorf school; his membership of the Anthroposophical Society in France, in which he is a prominent player, organizing courses and giving lectures — we can think that his words are fairly representative of a milieu, that of Anthroposophists and their leaders, reflecting what they really think about the coronavirus crisis and the injunction to follow the instructions of the political and health authorities....

[4/2/2020    https://veritesteiner.wordpress.com/2020/03/29/lanthroposophe-tristan-chaudon-fils-du-president-de-la-federation-des-ecoles-steiner-waldorf-se-prononce-contre-le-confinement/    This item originally appeared on March 29. Translation by Roger Rawlings, relying on DeepL Translator and Google Translate.]

Waldorf Watch Response 

Perhaps the most deplorable implication of the position taken by Anthroposophists such as Harald Matthes and Tristan Chaudon is the harm their views can inflict on children. 

Let the children get sick.

Is this really how we should deal with COVID-19?

Children generally seem to be more resistant to the coronavirus than older people are. But children's resistance is limited. Indeed, kids can become seriously ill if they contract COVID-19. They can undergo torments. And some die.

Surely we should protect children, not use them as a shield behind which we elderly may cower. (I write these words as an old man, approaching my 74th birthday.) Children deserve the greatest degree of protection we can possibly give them. Dealing with children in any other way is unconscionable.

A recent BBC report includes the following:

"[C]hildren exposed to the coronavirus can be infected with it and display signs of Covid-19 ... [G]lobal trends seem to suggest children are less likely to be infected than adults, especially older adults, but it is very possible the data is biased ... In general, children with Covid-19 experience milder symptoms than adults. But a 12-year-old girl from Belgium and a 13-year-old boy from London, UK, have both died in recent days, making them the youngest victims in Europe. A 14-year-old in China has also been reported to have died after being infected with the virus." — Michelle Fernandes, "Why children are not immune to Covid-19", BBC, March 21, 2020.

An earlier NEW YORK TIMES report included this:

"[T]he largest study to date of children and the virus has found that while most develop mild or moderate symptoms, a small percentage — especially babies and preschoolers — can become seriously ill ... The researchers analyzed 2,143 cases of children under 18 that were reported to the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ... About half of the children had mild symptoms ... More than a third — about 39 percent — became moderately sick ... But there were 125 children — nearly 6 percent— who developed very serious illness...." — Pam Belluck, "Children and Coronavirus: Research Finds Some Become Seriously Ill", THE NEW YORK TIMES, March 17, 2020.

According to LIVE SCIENCE, the effects of COVID-19 can be harrowing, for children as well as adults:

"[A]round 6% of children developed severe or critical illness, with symptoms such as shortness of breath and hypoxia, or low levels of oxygen in body tissues ... In rare cases, children developed acute respiratory distress syndrome, a life-threatening condition...." — Rachael Rettner, "Not all children are spared from coronavirus", LIVE SCIENCE, March 20, 2020.

At least three children in the USA have reportedly died of COVID-19, two teens and one infant:

• "Jaquan Anderson, a 17-year-old boy from New Orleans became the youngest fatality from the virus in the state, the Louisiana Department of Health has reported ... 'This does illustrate the point that everyone is at risk...' Governor Edwards told a press conference ... Yesterday, California teen William Whang became the first US minor to reportedly die from coronavirus." — Samantha Lock, "Second US child 'dies from coronavirus as death toll soars past 1,130", THE U.S. SUN, March 26, 2020.

• "The governor of Connecticut delivered heart-breaking news Wednesday about the COVID-19 pandemic and said an infant girl [in Connecticut] died of coronavirus ... The 7-week-old baby girl...was unresponsive when taken to the hospital recently and could not be revived. The infant tested positive during a postmortem exam for the virus that causes COVID-19...." — "Newborn in Connecticut Dies of Coronavirus", NBC CONNECTICUT, April 1, 2020 - updated April 2.

The position taken by Harald Matthes and Tristan Chaudon is indefensible. If these men speak for Anthroposophy, then the Anthroposophical position is indefensible. 

We certainly should not let kids get sick. We should do everything in our power to protect them.

See my editorial, "Don't Let Children Contract COVID-19", March 25, 2020.

Postscript

The infant who died of COVID-19 in Connecticut was almost certainly not the first infant in the world to die of this disease. Probably she was not even the first in the USA. We know of at least two infants who evidently preceded her, one in America, one in China. The following is from LIVE SCIENCE, March 28, 2020:

"The first infant death related to COVID-19 in the United States has been reported in the Chicago area today (March 28)...

"The age of the infant, who lived in Cooke County, has not been released. This isn't the first death in an infant confirmed to have COVID-19. In China, a 10-month-old with the disease, died 4 weeks after being admitted to the Wuhan Children's Hospital, according to a March 18 report published in the New England Journal of Medicine...

"[D]octors are realizing that no age group is immune to the virus nor to its severe health effects...."

As of this moment, as I write this (5:12 p.m., April 2), the total number of reported COVID-9 cases worldwide is 1,002,159. The world passed the million mark this afternoon. The total number of reported deaths attributable to COVID-19, worldwide, is now 51,485.

Mind you, these tallies are for reported cases and reported deaths. The number of unreported cases, like the number of unreported deaths, will never be known.

How many children have died in the pandemic so far? We will probably never know this, either. There are widespread suspicions that the Chinese government has grossly underreported the severity of the coronavirus outbreak there. If this is true, then that government has almost certainly suppressed the number of children who have died of COVID-19 under its rule. The Chinese Communist Party has been on the defensive for weeks, trying to assuage enormous public anger at its handling of the disease. If the Party admitted that the pandemic in China has actually been far worse than previously reported — and if it admitted that many children have died — the uproar would be far, far more intense.

But the numbers we are discussing (known numbers and unknown numbers, acknowledged numbers and suppressed numbers) are ultimately irrelevant. There are deeper considerations at stake.

All told, the public record now includes eight children who apparently died due to COVID-19. Eight. Just eight. But this number, too, is irrelevant. (And bear in mind, the real number — in China and the rest of the world — may be much higher.)

So what is relevant? What are the deeper considerations?

Ask yourself: How many childhood deaths would be too many? How much childhood suffering is too much? How many children are we prepared to afflict?

The answers to these questions should be obvious. 

We should do everything in our power to prevent all childhood deaths, and to relieve all childhood suffering, and to safeguard every child. Every child.

We cannot absolutely ensure the safety of all individuals, of course. We cannot guarantee the wellbeing of all children everywhere. But we absolutely should try. If we are to consider ourselves moral, enlightened, civilized — if our survival is to have any value or meaning — we absolutely must try.

If we were to learn that children in a particular age range (perhaps between infancy and the teen years) always pull through COVID-19 in good shape — they don't die of the disease; they aren't permanently harmed — then perhaps we could conclude that closing schools for such kids is "counterproductive." But we have not learned this. And because we have not learned this, we must recognize that intentionally allowing children to become infected would be deeply unjustified. Indeed, it would be reprehensible. In all probability, it would mean consigning at least some children — possibly quite a number of them — to death.

— Roger Rawlings

The following are items from the 

"Quotes of Note" section of the Waldorf Watch News page 

appearing in March and April of 2020. 

These items focus on the Anthroposophical approach 

to illness and health.

Such teachings and practices are often found 

in and around Waldorf schools.

The underlying question is whether such teachings and practices 

offer any real benefit for children who are, or may become, ill.

During this period when the coronavirus pandemic is fixating attention on medical concerns, we should examine the sort of medical care offered in and around Waldorf schools. Here are some samples. We will begin with a statement Rudolf Steiner made to Waldorf teachers:

"You could...seriously damage the children’s health if you have them work for an entire period upon what is normally called grammar ... You would then put the child in the position that, while determining whether something is in the indicative or the subjunctive case, the child’s breakfast cooks within the child, uninfluenced by his or her soul. You would, therefore, prepare for a time, perhaps fifteen or twenty years later, when genuine digestive disturbances or intestinal illnesses, and so forth, could occur. Intestinal illnesses are often caused by grammar instruction." — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, Foundations of Waldorf Education VIII (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 540.

Anthroposophical beliefs about health and illness are woven throughout Waldorf education. Rudolf Steiner taught that illnesses have mind-blowing causes and jaw-dropping cures. So, studying some subjects can foul up a child's innards, while studying other subjects may cure what ails a child.

“Rickets in children can be improved through appropriate geometric study." — Rudolf Steiner, ESOTERIC LESSONS 1904-1909 (SteinerBooks, 2007), p. 291.

Steiner's followers believe that illnesses may reveal karma, or astrological influences, or demonic interference. [See "Steiner's Quackery".] On the other hand, Steiner taught that hocus-pocus such as numerology can restore health.

"Five is the number of evil ... Part of the treatment [of disease] would be to study the illness in its development on the first and fifth days after its onset, on the separate days at the fifth hour past midnight, and again during the fifth week ... [T]he number five...determines when the physician can best intervene." — Rudolf Steiner, OCCULT SIGNS AND SYMBOLS (Anthroposophic Press, 1974), p. 42.

According to Waldorf belief, Anthroposophy itself is the great panacea — and the physical enactment of Anthroposophy, the dance form called eurythmy, is essential for student health. [See "Eurythmy".] Indeed, in a Waldorf school, "curative eurythmy" should take precedence over almost everything else:

"The school doctor asks about curative eurythmy exercises.

"Dr. Steiner: '[It is] a question of using the time [in school] most efficiently. Some children are given curative eurythmy exercises for a particular period, and they should be done daily. The children will have to leave class for that. If they are doing some curative eurythmy exercises, then they are sick. Since it is a therapy, you should be able to remove the children from class at any time except during religion class. If they miss something in class, it is just karma. There can be no difficulties if curative eurythmy is given the importance it is due. No one should hold curative eurythmy in such low regard that a child is not allowed to go.'" — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 759.

How important is eurythmy in Waldorf education?

"Eurythmy is obligatory. The children must participate. Those who do not participate in eurythmy will be removed from the school." — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 65.

In these days of the coronavirus pandemic, we may want to inquire into the root causes of illness. Rudolf Steiner had much to say on such matters.

According to Steiner, the demons Ahriman and Lucifer aim to derail human evolution. But they work in opposition to one another. Ahriman tries to sever humanity completely from the spirit realm, while Lucifer tries to lure us into false forms of spirituality. The conflict between Ahriman and Lucifer is reflected in the diseases that beset humanity. 

"Let us suppose for a moment that the Ahrimanic powers [Ahriman and his minions] were victorious in the physical body of some person, victorious, that is, over the Luciferic powers ... The result would be that the person would succumb to illnesses producing tumours or carcinoma, or else to illnesses of the metabolism ... Whenever an illness of this description shows itself in a man's physical nature, it means that Ahriman has won a victory over Lucifer ... If on the other hand Lucifer gains a victory in a man's physical nature over the Ahrimanic powers...then the person concerned succumbs to illnesses of a catarrhal nature, or else to insanity." — Rudolf Steiner, PLANETARY SPHERES AND THEIR INFLUENCE OF MAN'S LIFE ON EARTH AND IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLDS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1982), lecture 5, GA 218.

Neither Ahriman nor Lucifer can attain ultimate victory, Steiner taught. But they will persist in their efforts, which means they will continue inflicting illness of human bodies, souls, and spirits. Thus Steiner imagines humanity addressing the Ahrimanic and Luciferic spirits in these words:

“Ye creatures of Lucifer and Ahriman...the disappointment and great frustration that you meet with, time and again, are due to evils of your own making, evils that are bound to arise on Earth in consequence of your own partial victories. And that must go on; for you will not cease from making people sick and ill and obsessed, nor from turning people into liars and self-seekers and ego-less dreamers. And so you have no choice but to continue this restless alternation between triumphant joy and the grief of acute disappointment.” — Rudolf Steiner, ibid.

Steiner was not always so optimistic that Ahriman and Lucifer will fail in their devilish schemes, but on this occasion he was.

To summarize: In order to rid ourselves of disease, we must rise above the endless, evil struggles of Ahriman and Lucifer. We must free ourselves of demonic interference.

[For more on these issues, see "Ahriman", "Lucifer", "Evil", "Evil Ones", and "Steiner's Quackery".]

COVID-19 is a respiratory disease that attacks the lungs. Rudolf Steiner had many surprising — and medically useless — things to say about the health of the lungs. For instance, he said the following during a discussion of Waldorf educational principles:

"[N]eglect of memory training is weakening [for] the physical body’s ability to absorb food into various organs. If memory is insufficiently stimulated, the stomach reacts by not secreting enough acids, or the acids secreted are not adequate for a proper digestion. This tendency will spread over the whole organism, and the ability to absorb necessary substances decreases. After many years, one may discover that the physical body of such a person is always hungry, yet it cannot function properly, organically speaking. Such a person has a tendency toward lung diseases and kindred illnesses." — Rudolf Steiner, WALDORF EDUCATION AND ANTHROPOSOPHY, Vol. 2 - Foundations of Waldorf Education XIV (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), pp. 177-178.

Waldorf thinking is, to a large extent, magical thinking. Steiner and his followers try to find moral or spiritual explanations for events that are, in reality, random. People get sick, often by chance. Often there is no meaning to an illness or other happenstance (being struck by lightning, stumbling over a hidden rock, being swallowed by a sudden sinkhole). Stuff happens. It's tough. It's sad. But that's how the cookie crumbles.

Not all diseases are without clear causes, of course. If you smoke cigarettes for years and then develop lung cancer, there is a probable connection between your actions and your disease. Getting lung cancer "makes sense" in that case. Not all lung cancer comes from smoking, however. And there are many other types of "lung diseases and kindred illnesses" (such as COVID-19), many of which strike for no apparent reason. (If we delve down deep enough, "causes" of disease can be found at the chemical, molecular, or genetic level. But we find little consolation or philosophic "meaning" at those micro levels.) 

Disease may strike us down for no apparent reason. But the human mind generally recoils from meaninglessness. We want to understand. We want explanations. This, unfortunately, opens the door for charlatans like Steiner who weave wild theories that "explain" random phenomena. So, here, Steiner posits a moral "reason" for lung disease: The patient had not received sufficient memory training!

Such an "explanation" may possibly satisfy the human desire for meaning — but only if we refrain from requiring explanations to make sense. In reality, there is no rational, scientific, or medical basis for Steiner's "explanation." If your memory is untrained, perhaps you will be forgetful. But you will not, for this reason, develop a lung disease. 

People who follow Steiner into his wild imaginings wander into a maze of mystical nonsense from which they may never re-emerge.

(By the way, Steiner was inconsistent about many subjects. Thus, he also attributed lung disease to insufficient interest in music during a previous incarnation. And, on various occasions, he denigrated memory training, saying it was damaging to students.)

There's medicine, and then there's Anthroposophical medicine.

Medicine: 

"COVID-19 [is] a respiratory disease, one that especially reaches into your respiratory tract, which includes your lungs. COVID-19 can cause a range of breathing problems, from mild to critical ... Your lungs and airways swell and become inflamed. This can start in one part of your lung and spread ... About 14% of COVID-19 cases are severe, with an infection that affects both lungs. As the swelling gets worse, your lungs fill with fluid and debris ... In critical COVID-19 — about 5% of total cases — the infection can damage the walls and linings of the air sacs in your lungs. As your body tries to fight it, your lungs become more inflamed and fill with fluid ... In the most critical cases, your lungs need help from a machine called a ventilator to do their job." — "What Does COVID-19 Do to Your Lungs?", WebMD, Mar 25, 2020.

Anthroposophic medicine: 

"[I]t is possible to trace back the state of health which the human being bears with him in a given earth life to the interest he had taken in the visible world to the widest extent during his former earth life. People, for instance, who in our time take absolutely no interest in music — people to whom music is a matter of indifference — will certainly be born again in a next earth life with asthmatic trouble, or with some disease of the lungs; or, they will be born with a susceptibility to asthma or lung disease. It is an actual fact that the quality of soul which develops in one earth life through the interest we take in the visible world comes to expression in our next earth life in our general bodily disposition in regard to health or illness." — Rudolf Steiner, KARMA (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1943), lecture 5, GA 235.

Anthroposophists offer various strategies for combatting the coronavirus. Here are excerpts from a message sent out by an Anthroposophical pharmacy, as quoted by moderator Dan Dugan at the Waldorf Critics discussion site:

"Information about Light Ether [1] and Viruses ... [A]ll viral epidemics of the last 100 years or so (including the pandemic influenza outbreak of 1918 [2]) were preceded by a sudden increase in electrification — whether in the form of introduction of radar back in 1918 [3] or recently the enormously powerful 5G networks ... Rudolf Steiner explains that electricity is a form of materialized, condensed and 'fallen' light [4]! Since the etheric body [5] is essentially a 'light body' it is not surprising that shocking the etheric world [6] with corrupt light would weaken it and enable organisms like viruses to overwhelm this body ... For this reason, we have started using the Lightroot Comp product [7] as a support for these etheric forces. The reason is as follows: Rudolf Steiner explains that the plant dioscorea batatas, the wild yam...is potentially the only plant that can store original light ether in its roots. Dioscorea is the main ingredient in the Lightroot Comp ... [W]e recommend 1 capsule morning, midday and evening. We will send more information on other remedies to help with viral infections soon ... [From] Ross Rentea MD." [Posted at Waldorf Critics, March 14, 2020.]

Waldorf Watch Footnotes 

[1] According to Anthropophical belief, this is one of four types of the "ether" (a spiritualized, universal essence) that pervades nature. [See "ether" in in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE).]

[2] This is a reference to the so-called Spanish Flu that affected approximately one quarter of the world's population between 1918 and 1920. Fifty million people reportedly died.

[3] Radar was actually developed during the 1930's and '40's. [See, e.g., "radar", ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA.]

[4] See "light" in the BWSE.

[5] This, Steiner taught, is an invisible body that molds the physical body. [See "Incarnation".]

[6] The etheric world or realm, Anthroposophists believe, is a supernatural realm that enfolds the physical realm. [See "etheric realm" in the BWSE.]

[7] This is a dietary supplement containing extract of wild yam.

The validity of Anthroposophical medicine — the sort of medicine often employed in and around Waldorf schools — is coming under increased scrutiny during the coronavirus pandemic. The therapies offered by Anthroposophical medicine are surpassingly strange.

The following is from Rudolf Steiner Press, describing their book COLOUR, HEALING AND THE HUMAN SOUL, by Gladys Mayer: 

"[C]olour is nothing other than the very substance of the soul. Just as the body is made up of mineral, water, air and warmth, so the soul is made up of colour ... Based on the work of Rudolf Steiner...Mayer offers an approach to colour that is of value to...those interested in...health and healing [etc.]...."

Students at Waldorf schools spend a great deal of time creating colorful paintings and drawings. A central reason, as propounded by Rudolf Steiner, is that colors promote human health. Thus, "color therapy" is employed at Waldorf schools and in Anthroposophical medicine. One mother of a seriously ill Waldorf student reports that an Anthroposophical doctor gave this odd prescription, among others: 

"[W]e were to give our daughter red, yellow, and orange crayons to color with!"

Here are some of the properties of various colors, according to Anthroposophical teachings: Blue is the color of the celestial realm; it takes us out of ourselves. Purple promotes an inner perspective yielding spiritual truths. Red is aggressive and angry; it invokes awe; it creates a sense of standing before the throne of judgment. Orange promotes inner strength. Yellow carries us back to our first incarnation; conveying the Sun's luminescence, it cheers the heart. Green, signifying earthly life, strengthens our current incarnation. White is the “soul image of spirit”; it purifies and fortifies. Peach-blossom is "flesh color"; it is "the living image of soul"; it evokes carefree childhood. Brown, as perceived clairvoyantly, denotes sickness. Black, manifesting the fixed stars, is the color of death. 

According to Anthroposophical tenets, selecting which colors a child can use (crayons, colored pencils, paints) can influence whether s/he will be healthy or ill, whether s/he thrives or declines. [For more on such matters, see, e.g., "Mystical Colors", "Magical Arts," and "Lesson Books".]

The therapies offered by Anthroposophical medicine are surpassingly strange — and almost certainly useless. Which makes them dangerous. In the current crisis, we should all be following real, rational medical advice. We certainly should not depend on such delusions as "color therapy" to protect our children. [For an overview of Anthroposophical medicine, see "Steiner's Quackery".]

"It is extremely important for the teacher to be able, in a sense, to foresee the child’s state of health and act preventively ... If you have, for instance, treated a child for a time with lead and have accomplished what you wanted, it would be good to treat that child with some copper compound for a short time, so that nothing remains of the lead process. If you found it necessary to treat a child with silver for a period, you should later treat him or her with iron, so that the inner process is arrested ... [Y]ou can achieve a great deal through external therapeutic means. If you give a child in such a case a small dose of phosphorous, you will see that it becomes relatively easy to reach the child with reprimands ... Give the child phosphorous, or if the problem is deeper...use sulfur." — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), pp. 537-538.

"Rudolf Steiner [identified] the seven physiological functions ... Once you understand these you will know which disease is connected to which process ... Planets, everchanging [sic] in the sky, govern all moveable, interchanging func­tions in the body. Breathing is the first life process ... Breathing is associated with the planet Saturn, the most peripheral planet [i.e., farthest from the Sun] ... Steiner called the second process warm­ing (ruled by the planet Jupiter) ... Nutrition is the third process. It is...connected with Mars. Mars is an aggressive Planet, related to destruction. Nutrition has this same quality ... [T]he fourth process, circulation...is done through the cardiovascular sys­tem, governed by the Sun ... The fifth process, maintenance, relates to tissue and cell connections ... This process belongs to Mer­cury ... Sixth, growth and maturation...takes a new impulse, that comes from Venus ... The last process, reproduction...is gov­erned by the Moon ... Sat­urn forces bring the outer world in, the Moon forces take the inner world out." — Anthroposophical doctor Ross Rentea, "The Seven Life Processes", AnthroMed Library, downloaded March 26, 2020.

Astrology is central to Anthroposophy. Note that the solar system discussed by Rentea is the ancient, astrological system: It includes the Moon and the Sun as "planets" while excluding Uranus and Neptune — and the Earth. Rudolf Steiner himself affirmed the astrological view of the solar system, listing the seven "planets" as enumerated by Rentea (including the Moon and the Sun). Steiner many numerous unscientific claims about these spheres. He asserted, for instance, that Saturn is the farthest planet from the Sun. 

To shift our focus to reality, we should recollect that the real solar system has eight planets (or nine, if we count Pluto). And, of course, neither the Moon nor the Sun is a planet. [For Anthroposophical teachings on these matters, see "Astrology" and "Planets".] 

Medical care based on astrology is — to put the issue mildly — unlikely to be effective. It is based on ancient superstition; it is disconnected from reality. [See "Steiner's Quackery" and "Summing Up".]

Anthroposophists offer various strategies for combatting the coronavirus. The following is from a message sent out by an Anthroposophical institute, as quoted by moderator Dan Dugan at the Waldorf Critics discussion site:

"We invite you to attend our webinar on Viral illnesses and some ideas of what to do from an anthroposophical point of view ... Especially now it might be helpful for those who value Anthroposophy to re-familiarize (or familiarize) ourselves with some insights given by Rudolf Steiner regarding viruses, lung illnesses, etc. Since his days many remedies (based on his indications)...have been introduced. We will explain some of them ... Importantly we will present a sequence of eurythmy therapy exercises that Rudolf Steiner gave specifically to improve the immune system in connection with viral illnesses." [Posted at Waldorf Critics, March 21, 2020.]

Eurythmy is a form of temple dancing developed by Rudolf Steiner. [See "Eurythmy".] Steiner's followers believe that eurythmy has curative effects both for the dancers and for their audiences.

"When people do eurythmy, it is a fact that this has benefits for the lives of both eurythmists and those who watch; both significantly profit from it. In those who are themselves eurythmists, their physical organism is fashioned by the eurythmic movements into a subtle organ of receptivity for the spiritual world, because the movements strive downward from the spiritual world. Eurythmists become receiving-organs, as it were, for the processes of the spiritual world by preparing their bodies for them. In the spectators of eurythmy, all the movements that pertain to their astral body and [spiritual] ego are intensified by the eurythmic motions ... [Watching eurythmy] strengthens the soul by letting it find its way into the supersensible [realm] more vividly." — Waldorf school doctor Michaela Glöckler, EDUCATION AS PREVENTIVE MEDICINE (Rudolf Steiner College Press, 2002), p. 211.

There's medicine, and then there's Anthroposophical medicine. 

In severe cases, COVID-19 causes lungs to fill with fluid; patients become unable to breathe. Here is "wisdom" from Rudolf Steiner on the nature of lung diseases:

"[D]uring life between birth and death our lungs are a reservoir, as it were, of forces that are continually influenced by the metabolism-limb [system]. When we die, such forces have been stored up ... [T]hey accompany us through death and through the entire life between death and a new birth. And when we enter a new incarnation, it is these forces that were in the lungs that form our head outwardly, that stamp upon our head outwardly the physiognomy. What the phrenologist wishes to study in the outer form of the head must be sought in an earlier form in the inner aspect of the lungs in the previous incarnation...

"If what has been stored in the lungs is not controlled in the right way, it is pressed out, as I said yesterday, in the same way as water in a sponge is pressed out, and then, from what actually should only form the head in the next incarnation there arise abnormal phenomena that are usually designated as compulsive thoughts or illusions. It is an interesting chapter in a higher physiology to study in persons suffering from lung disease the strange notions [compulsive thoughts or illusions] that arise in the advanced stages of the disease." — Rudolf Steiner, THERAPEUTIC INSIGHTS: EARTHLY AND COSMIC LAWS (Mercury Press, 1984), lecture 4, GA 205.

Anthroposophic medicine hinges on a welter of superstitions and falsehoods. In the brief passage above, we find references to a "metabolic-limb" system, reincarnation, phrenology, the transformation of one organ to a completely different organ in the next incarnation, the production of distorted spiritual emanations from diseased organs, and the like. [For an introduction to Anthroposophical medicine, see "Steiner's Quackery".]

[April 3, 2020]  We currently know of six children who have been killed, apparently, by COVID-19. The real total, of course, may be much higher. [See "Don't Stay at Home, Don't Protect Kids", April 2, 2020.]

In this context, it may be appropriate to consider the Anthroposophical attitude toward the death of children. Rudolf Steiner taught that such deaths are sad but, often, okay. Such deaths may fulfill the victims' karmas. Here is an example:

"In the autumn we experienced the death of a member's child, a child seven years of age. The death of this child occurred in a strange way ... He came to die because he happened to be on the very spot where a furniture van overturned, crushing the boy so that he died of suffocation. This was a spot where probably no van went past before nor will go past again, but one did pass just that moment. [A superficial view would be that] all kinds of circumstances caused the child to be in that place at the time the van overturned, circumstances considered chance if the materialistic view is taken ... Superficially, the death of young Theodor Faiss could...be described as a most unfortunate accident. In reality, however, the karma of this child was such that [his] ego, to put it bluntly, had ordered the van [to come] and the van overturned to fulfil the child's karma." — Rudolf Steiner, THE DESTINIES OF INDIVIDUALS AND OF NATIONS (SteinerBooks, 1987), pp. 125-126.

The child needed to die. It was the child's karma to die. The child, in fact, caused his own death (his ego ordered the van to come).

The same reasoning may apply to children who die of the coronavirus. Take whatever comfort you can from this Anthroposophical line of thought.

According to Rudolf Steiner and his followers, failing to educate children properly — that is, failing to follow Waldorf principles — can damage children's health, perhaps permanently. 

"If, at this stage [early childhood], the rhythm of breathing and blood circulation is not treated properly, harm may result and extend irreparably into later life. Many weaknesses and unhealthy conditions of the respiratory and circulatory systems in adult life are the consequences of an improper education during these early school years. Through the change in the working of children’s ether body [an invisible body that incarnates around age seven], the limbs begin to grow rapidly, and the life of the muscles and bones.. ... One must meet these inner needs of children, demanding a somewhat similar treatment, metaphorically, to that of a new violin responding to a violinist, adapting itself to the musician’s characteristic pattern of sound waves. Through ill treatment, a violin may be ruined forever. But in the case of the living human organism, it is possible to plant principles that are harmful to growth, which increase and develop until they eventually ruin a person’s entire life." — Rudolf Steiner, SOUL ECONOMY - Foundations of Waldorf Education XII (Anthroposophic Press, 2003), pp. 136-137.

While some parts of Steiner's statement may seem beguiling (meeting children's inner needs by treating the children like violins), it is all baseless. There is no such thing as an ether body, for instance. And the Anthroposophical conception of bodily rhythms is unfounded. Thus, for instance, Steiner taught that blood circulates of its own accord — it is not pumped by the heart.

“[Science] sees the heart as a pump that pumps blood through the body. Now there is nothing more absurd than believing this.” — Rudolf Steiner, PSYCHOANALYSIS AND SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY, (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1990), p. 126.

Anthroposophy and its educational offshoot, Waldorf schooling, are fundamentally anti-scientific. They offer no valuable guidance for preventing respiratory illnesses or any other ailment. Yet proponents of Waldorf education claim that attending a Waldorf school can, as Steiner suggested, protect a child from illness. 

"From the beginning of his work with teachers and physicians, Rudolf Steiner always stressed that educating is simultaneously healing, a subtle healing. The curriculum of the Waldorf school is therefore built exclusively on physiological aspects of learning and child development. Each subject is considered, above all, with respect to its effect on physical development." — Waldorf school doctor Michaela Glöckler, EDUCATION AS PREVENTIVE MEDICINE - A Salutogenic Approach (Rudolf Steiner College Press, 2002), p. 15.

Note, especially, the title of Glöckler's book. Correct education, Waldorf education, is preventive medicine. So Steiner and Glöckler tell us.

All of this bears on the current COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 is an infectious respiratory illness. It would seem to fall within the range of conditions discussed by Steiner ("unhealthy conditions of the respiratory and circulatory systems"). But Steiner offers us nothing of value in this crisis. As we strive to find preventions and cures for COVID-19, we must emphasize real science, real medicine — not the false panaceas held out by Anthroposophy.

Anthroposphical statements about the Covid-19 pandemic and its predecessors are often markedly disconnected from reality. Here is one prominent example:

"Every instance of 'influenza' epidemic in our modern era was associated with a radical change in the electrification of the earth immediately before the outbreak. One of the most studied of these pandemics was the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, which killed millions of people around the globe. The Spanish influenza...was particularly associated with Naval bases and installations that were the first to install high-intensity radar [1]. The use of worldwide radar signals grew exponentially, and along with this expansion, the pandemic spread rapidly around the world ... The 1956 flu pandemic directly followed the introduction of high-intensity radar installations off the coast of Alaska, Cape Cod and New York Harbor [2] ... In 1968 the “Hong Kong flu” pandemic swept the globe. This followed about eight months after the first satellites in the earth’s Van Allen radiation belt became operational [3] ... This brings us to the coronavirus ... Wuhan City in China, where the outbreak started, was the initial site of the most intense rollout of 5G wireless technology on the planet. [4]" — Anthroposophical doctor Thomas Cowan, "An Important Question About the Coronavirus, Plus Immune-Support Tips", DR. THOMAS COWAN'S FOURFOLD HEALING, February 28, 2020.

Waldorf Watch Footnotes 

[1] Perhaps Cowan means radio. Radar did not come into extensive use until the 1930s-40s. There was little use of any sort of electrical detection technology — anything we might call radar — during World War I (1914-1918) or in the years immediately after.

But Cowan's statement is inaccurate even if he means radio. The first radio broadcasts occurred in 1895-96; the first commercial broadcasts came around 1900; AM broadcasting began around 1920; FM broadcasting dates from the late 1930s. There is no such thing as "high-intensity" radio, nor was 1918 a particularly significant year in the history of radio. 

[2] Cowan seems to attribute the 1956-58 flu to the same cause as the 1918-20 flu: "high-intensity radar." Perhaps he means radio in the first instance and radar in the second. But his statements seem unrelated to any distinct events in the history of radio or radar. 

"High-intensity radar" is not a commonly used term. Perhaps instead of "intensity" Cowan means "frequency." Various radars send out beams of various frequencies. Improved (more powerful or more accurate) radars were introduced in the 1950s, but the same can be said of every decade from the 1930s onward. [See "History of Radar", ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA.]

The "Asian flu" of 1956-58 began in China, passing from wild ducks to human beings. No radar installations off the US coast — "Alaska, Cape Cod and New York" — had any direct bearing.

[3] Again, it is hard to connect Cowan's statement with any real events in the real world. The first satellite to function operationally in the Van Allen radiation belt — Explorer I — was launched in early 1958, not in 1968. (There are actually two Van Allen belts, one about 620-7,500 miles above the Earth's surface, the other about 8,100-37,300 miles above the surface. Explorer I penetrated the lower belt. Explorers 3, 4, and other 1950s-era satellites extended the exploration of the belts.) 

[4] Actually, China rolled out 5G technology in 50 cities more or less simultaneously in late 2019. [See "China launches 5G networks in 50 cities", ABC News, November 1, 2019.] The chief cities involved were Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. Wuhan was not one.

The first 5G rollout worldwide came in the USA in April, 2019. The new technology was not, however, made available throughout the nation. South Korea was the first country with widescale adoption of 5G, coming also in April, 2019.

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The main points to recognize in all this is that Cowan offers little beyond correlations (two things happened at about the same time) AND he gets the correlations wrong (no, these things did not happen at about the same time). In any event, correlations prove nothing. There is no evidence that "electrification of the earth" causes influenza or Covid-19. Indeed, there is no way it could.

Health care in Waldorf communities often involves countercultural, anti-scientific measures such as "curative eurythmy":

"In curative eurythmy [1], repeated practice of specific speech sounds and tone exercises [2] stimulate formative and regenerative activity in the body [3] and counteract pathological changes [4]. The speed of intensity of individual exercises is adapted to enhance or restrain formative impulses in the body as needed [5] ... Curative eurythmy is also helpful in treating movement, hearing and visual disorders because it helps the child's soul [6] penetrate the body more completely [7]". — Michaela Glöckler, Wolfgnag Goebel, Karin Michael, A WALDORF GUIDE TO CHILDREN'S HEALTH (Floris Books, 2018), pp. 243-244.

Waldorf Watch Footnotes 

[1] Eurythmy (yur-RITH-me) is a form of spiritualized dance developed by Rudolf Steiner. Typically, all children in a Waldorf school are required to perform eurythmy. "Curative" eurythmy is is meant to preserve and restore the dancers' health.

[2] Eurythmic exercises are dance moves: They are believed to express the inner, spiritual meaning of language. A narrator may read a poem or other text aloud while eurythmy is performed, but the dancers themselves are usually silent. [See "Eurythmy".]

[3] The "body" referred to is the physical body, but according to Waldorf belief "formative and regenerative" forces come from the "etheric body," also known as the "formative-forces body." Although the existence of this second body is doubtful at best — the etheric body cannot be seen or felt — it is nevertheless fundamental in Waldorf belief and practice. Steiner taught that the etheric body incarnates around age seven. [See "etheric body" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE).]

[4] I.e., curative eurythmy maintains health by thwarting disease ("pathological changes").

[5] The eurythmy teacher determines each child's needs and prescribes fast or slow movements accordingly. Making these determinations is difficult, since the etheric body (the vessel of the "formative impulses") cannot be perceived by any ordinary means — clairvoyance is required. The existence of clairvoyance is doubtful at best — there is no convincing evidence for it — yet the alleged use of clairvoyance is widespread among Steiner's followers. [See "Clairvoyance" and "Knowing the Worlds".] Many Waldorf teachers believe themselves to be clairvoyant. [See "The Waldorf Teacher's Consciousness".]

[6] According to Waldorf belief, each human being has both a soul and a spirit. [See the entries for these terms in the BWSE.] Soul forces are conveyed by the invisible "astral body," which purportedly incarnates around age 14, and spirit forces are conveyed by the invisible "ego body," which purportedly incarnates around age 21. [See "Incarnation".]

[7] I.e., curative eurythmy aids in the process of incarnation. Incarnation and reincarnation are basic tenets of Waldorf belief. “[Waldorf] education is essentially grounded on the recognition of the child as a spiritual being, with a varying number of incarnations behind him, who is returning at birth into the physical world.” — Anthroposophist Stewart C. Easton, MAN AND WORLD IN THE LIGHT OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 1989), pp. 388-389. Helping children to incarnate properly is a central goal for Waldorf teachers. (Children are believed to incarnate by descending from the spirit realm, where they have lived among gods since their prior earthly incarnations. Human life is conceived as a long, long sequence of alternating periods spent in the celestial and terrestrial realms. If these ideas are mistaken, a great deal of time and effort in Waldorf schools is wasted.)