Embedded Files
.
.
.
.
WALDORF / STEINER
NEWS ARCHIVE
.
January 1, 2011
to
January 15, 2011
.
.
This site supplements Waldorf Watch.
To go to Waldorf Watch itself, please click here:
.
.
.
The news items below are presented in reverse chronological order — newest first, oldest last.
Please excuse a certain amount of repetition in the contents of this archive. Items that now appear close together on the screen may have originally been separated by intervals of several days.
Many of the items in this archive generalize about Waldorf schools, describing them as Rudolf Steiner and leading Waldorf representatives have said they should be and as evidence shows they often are today. Not all Waldorf schools, Waldorf charter schools, and Waldorf-inspired schools conform to this model precisely. To evaluate an individual school, you should carefully examine its stated purposes, its practices (which may or may not be consistent with its stated purposes), and the composition of its faculty.
— Roger Rawlings
.
“I'm a believer. I grew up in a family with Scottish roots, and the Scots take what they call ‘second sight’ for granted. Everybody has it ... Do you believe that each of us has this ability? Have you experienced it? Have you seen it in others? Why are some people so troubled by it (viz the experts and professional debunkers who instantly howled in protest)? And how do you explain it? Or do we even need to — after all, no one can prove that God exists, or love. Yet we accept both as being central to our lives. Maybe it's time for a thoughtful conversation about ESP.”
[1-15-2011 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julia-moulden/do-we-have-one-extra-sens_b_808417.html]
Response:
A columnist at THE HUFFINGTON POST wants to start a discussion of ESP. This is relevant to Waldorf education because Rudolf Steiner claimed to be clairvoyant, virtually all his teachings are based on this claimed power, and Waldorf teachers such as Eugene Schwartz claim that all Waldorf teachers should use clairvoyance (they should use this “power” in getting to “know” their students).
The proposed discussion may be interesting, but real information about the existence or nonexistence of ESP will come from other quarters — i.e., investigators scrupulously applying the scientific method. Believers in the occult usually dismiss such investigations. They often claim that ESP, etc., can only be discovered when scientists and indeed cool rationality are absent. This in itself tells us a lot. (Note, by the way, that Rudolf Steiner claimed to be a scientist, and he said that ordinary science would validate his "spiritual science," so this sort of objection becomes dicey for his followers. This doesn't stop them from resorting to it, however.)
As always, watch for slippery non-logic used by true-believers. For instance, do we really have no proof for the existence of love? I'd say, using a round number, that we have about umpteen zillion proofs of love each day.
.
.
.
.
.
.
“When Samone Sims grows up, she might want to be an astronaut, or maybe a scientist who studies meteors. She received a real-life look at these careers when scientists from the Planetary Science Institute visited her classroom at the Tucson Waldorf School [Arizona, USA] on Friday to speak about some of their work in Antarctica.”
[1-15-2011 http://azstarnet.com/news/local/education/precollegiate/article_89af0f0b-0b54-5a2a-b93d-c54f3f78c7fd.html]
Response:
It is difficult for Waldorf schools to square their beliefs with scientific truth. The Anthroposophical worldview is fundamentally antiscientific, despite the misleading label that Steiner adopted for his teachings: “spiritual science.” There is nothing scientific about Anthroposophy. [See “Is Anthroposophy Science?”]
Still, Waldorf schools today need to make a stab at teaching kids real science, if only to satisfy education officials. As in all things, Steiner showed the way. Gravity, he said, is a meaningless concept — but teach the kids about it anyway. Likewise, islands float in the sea, he said, but don’t make too much of this “truth” in class. (As usual, Steiner was concerned about appearances, and he coached Waldorf teachers on how to deceive outsiders.)
◊ “[G]ravity is really meaningless ... But we cannot avoid speaking of gravity; we must mention it. Otherwise, when our students enter life they may some day [sic] be asked to explain gravity ... Just imagine what would happen if a fifteen-year-old boy knew nothing of gravity; there would be a terrible fuss.” — Rudolf Steiner, PRACTICAL ADVICE TO TEACHERS, Foundations of Waldorf Education (Anthroposophic Press, 2000), pp. 116-117.
◊ “[A]n island like Great Britain swims in the sea and is held fast by the forces of the stars. In actuality, such islands do not sit directly upon a foundation: they swim ... However, we need to avoid such things. We cannot tell them to the students because they would then need to tell them to their professors in the examinations, and we would acquire a terrible name. Nevertheless, that is actually what we should achieve in geography.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), pp. 607-608.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Christian Rosenkreutz is an individual who is active both when he is in incarnation and when he is not incarnated in a physical body; he works not only as a physical being and through physical forces, but above all spiritually through higher forces."
[1-14-2011 http://martyrion.blogspot.com/2011/01/astonishing-christian-rosenkreutz.html]
Response:
Continuing his outreach/educational efforts, Larry Clark has posted a lecture by Rudolf Steiner about Christian Rosenkreutz, the founder of Rosicrucianism. [See "White Lodge" and "Rosy Cross".]
The significance of such things for people interested in Waldorf education is this: Waldorf teachers study and absorb Steiner's lectures. We should be concerned about this for several reasons, but for now let's focus on just one. Steiner and his followers believe in many fabulous falsehoods. Thus, for instance, they believe in Christian Rosenkreutz, although Rosenkreutz is a legendary figure who never existed. Steiner believed in King Arthur, fire-breathing dragons, gnomes, and so on. He was wrong on a vast range of topics. [See "Steiner's Blunders".] But Waldorf teachers believe him.
There are, surely, rational people teaching in Waldorf schools. But if you send your child to such a school, a fair proportion of your child's teachers will likely be true-believing Anthroposophists, i.e., they will be fantasists, i.e. they will be out of touch with reality.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The discussion at UrbanBaby continues.
"Steiner claimed to be a Clairvoyant. In fact, most of the Waldorf pedagogy comes out of this so called clairvoyancy. Now, I don't know about you, but do you really want your child to be educated by what a little gnome told someone? By the way, Steiner goes into great detail about the gnomes that he claims he saw."
[http://www.urbanbaby.com/talk/posts/52538561]
.
.
.
.
.
.
◊ “With the free school reform steadily materializing in the UK, more and more information becomes available as to which Steiner schools are applying for free school status and thus asking to receive state funding. At the time being, we know of 25 schools that have shown an interest in becoming free schools ... I want to stress how indispensable it is for anybody interested in this matter to familiarize themselves with the concerns surrounding Steiner schools and the criticism against Steiner education and the Steiner school movement ... To ignore the problematic aspects of Steiner education presently won’t make these issues miraculously evaporate into the air and disappear for good — no, they will inevitably come back and haunt us.”
[1-14-2011 http://zooey.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/uk-steiner-waldorf-free-schools/]
◊ "[T]those who police the internet on behalf of the [Waldorf] movement decry Steiner Critics as being unreasonably opposed to a humane movement, this claim obfuscates the fact that the vast majority of these people are simply parents who have seen their children ‘altered’ in a negative way by their experience of Waldorf education, if they are not actually previous pupils who have made their own observations.
"So the criticism of these parents and former students is simply an attempt to silence this knowledge of negative impacts on children from getting out to the world at large, prospective families and now also prospective funders! We must turn this around before countless more children are damaged. Such an inward-looking movement cannot reach the standards of transparency or accountability required by state funded schools. Those who have spoken up already, and are termed critics, have often risked much to do so, and we need initiatives and strategies that will empower the many many others to do the same in spite of their fears of reprisals etc."
[Ibid.].
.
.
.
.
.
Bad news for astrology buffs, including numerous Waldorf teachers: The star charts you have been using are wrong. Due to precession — the gradual drift of the Earth's axis away from its prior position — the constellations have shifted over time, so you probably were not born under the sign you think. Moreover, there really should be 13 zodiacal constellations, not 12.
(Waldorf teachers: Among other things, this means that any astrological conclusions you have drawn about your students are wrong — not wrong merely because they are based on astrology, which is nonsense, but doubly wrong because they are based on a faulty comprehension of the zodiac.)
To quote the new "news":
“The zodiac signs we associate with our birthdates may not be the correct ones ... Parke Kunkle, board member of the Minnesota Planetarium Society, says that the moon's gravitational pull has caused the Earth to slowly wobble on its axis, shifting the stars' alignment by about a month. So for the faithful Aquarian out there, this may mean you've just been bumped into the Capricorn constellation.
“Our astrological signs correspond to the position of the sun within the constellations as they appeared more than 2,000 years ago...
“The [newly updated] list [of constellations] now includes Ophiuchus, a constellation the ancient Babylonians dropped because they wanted 12 star signs instead of 13, one for each month of the year.”
[1-14-2011 http://www.cbc.ca/news/pointofview/2011/01/zodiac-signs-has-yours-changed.html]*
Response:
How can this possibly be of concern to Rudolf Steiner’s followers? Well, for one thing, Steiner advocated the use of horoscopes (based on a faulty 12-constellation conception of the zodiac), including horoscopes that Anthroposophists could use to guide their treatment of the children under their care. [See “Horoscopes”.] More generally, astrology is a big deal in Anthroposophy because Steiner's followers believe it reveals the actions and influences of the gods. [See “Astrology” and “Star Power”.]
Let’s hear from Steiner on the significance of the 12 constellations:
“We relate the heavenly bodies of our solar system to the twelve constellations of the Zodiac, and we can find our bearings in the World of Spirit only by viewing it in such a way as to be able to assert that spiritual Beings and events are realities; we compare the facts with the courses of the planets but the spiritual Beings with the twelve constellations of the Zodiac.” — Rudolf Steiner, MACROCOSM AND MICROCOSM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1985), p. 108. [Emphases by Steiner.]
Wrong again, Rudolf. The constellations reveal nothing about spiritual realities. The constellations do not exist. There are not 12 constellations, nor 13. There are none (zero: 0). The constellations are illusory patterns we subjectively piece together in our minds. The “stars” — some of which may be galaxies or nebulas — that we think constitute a constellation are nowhere near one another in space, nor are they connected with one another. We piece various "stars" together because they are bright and because they appear to us to be near one another in the sky. But their apparent proximity is an illusion. If we were to move far enough away from the Earth, the constellations would disappear — the illusory patterns would break apart because we would be viewing the stars, galaxies, and nebulas from a very different perspective.
As to the number 12: Steiner loved to lump phenomena together in groupings of 12, since he considered 12 to be one of the sacred numbers (along with 3, 4, 7, etc.). This was part of his version of numerology. [See “Magic Numbers”.] He was superstitious, not sensible. His groupings were arbitrary, false patterns imposed in the same way that we impose the false patterns of the "constellations" when we gaze at the sky.
By the way, deluding ourselves by "seeing" things that don't really exist is what comes from the sort of thinking advocated in Waldorf schools. By directing our thoughts with emotion and will, Steiner taught, we can can gain greater clarity and, indeed, penetrate to spiritual realities. In fact, however, all that we do by using such "thinking" is to create subjective fantasies, things that we want to perceive but that, as far as such "thinking" can reveal, do not objectively exist at all. Some spiritual beings and states may be quite real, of course. But we cannot find them by using subjective, self-deluding forms of perception. [See, e.g., "Thinking Cap".]
* Parke Kunkle is receiving a lot of attention over his "revelations" about the zodiac. But, actually, astronomers have known about these matters for a long, long time. a) Precession happens. b) Astrology is bunk. c) Due to precession, astrology is doubly bunk.
.
.
.
.
.
“Health insurers will once again reimburse alternative medicines from next year. But the interior ministry [in Switzerland] says the proposed treatments will have to meet strict criteria if they are to continue to be paid for after 2017. The debate over who should pay for complementary therapies has rumbled on for years. Five therapies — homeopathy, herbal medicine, neural therapy, traditional Chinese medicine and anthroposophic medicine — were provisionally covered in 1999. But the interior ministry struck them off the list in 2005 amid rising national health costs. This caused a public outcry and in a national vote two years ago, voters chose to reinstate them. They’ll be back on the paid list next year but only until 2017 if they don’t prove to be efficacious, cost-effective and suitable. The interior ministry says they will cost the health service CHF 50 million a year.”
[1-13-2011 http://worldradio.ch/wrs/news/wrsnews/alternative-medicines-to-be-reimbursed.shtml?22640]
Response:.
Modern medicine has many failings. Our knowledge of the human body and mind are incomplete; much more research is needed before we will find cures for all the diseases that afflict humanity. Nevertheless, turning to alternative medicines instead of relying on conventional, genuine medicine can be a serious error.
People quite understandably seek alternatives, out of desperation or misplaced hope. Some prefer alternative medicine because of their spiritual beliefs or countercultural convictions. But everyone should grasp a central truth. Alternative therapies are unproven. They may work, occasionally, but usually they don’t. When a therapy has been proven to work, it stops being an alternative — it is adopted, sooner or later, as part of conventional medicine. In sum, if you want treatment that has a good chance of working, turn to conventional medicine. If, for some reason, you prefer alternative treatments, do so in the full knowledge that you are experimenting with something that very probably will not work.
[For information on so-called “Anthroposophical medicine” — which is often practiced in and around Waldorf schools — see “Anthroposophical Medicine”, “The Deadly Perils of Rejected Knowledge”, “Spotlight on Anthroposophy”, “Growing Up Being Made Sick by Anthroposophy”, “Questionable Cancer Therapies”, and “Steiner’s Quackery”.]
.
.
.
.
.
.
“Waldorf School of Princeton Offers Simplicity Parenting Reading Group - If you are a parent, tired of busy schedules; if your children are stressed and exhausted; if your family life is not fulfilling and family time gets lost in the daily shuffle, join our Simplicity Parenting reading group! Each Wednesday evening through February 16 from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., parents from the Princeton area [New Jersey, USA] will explore the ideas in Kim John Payne’s book, SIMPLICITY PARENTING: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids.”
[1-13-2011 http://princetonwaldorf.typepad.com/on-windy-hill/2011/01/waldorf-school-of-princeton-offers-simplicity-parenting-reading-group.html]
Response:
Waldorf schools have answers for most of your questions. Whether these answer are true may be a different matter.
Waldorf schools love to endorse books, movies, and programs that tell us to put less pressure on children. The Waldorf approach is decidedly low-pressure. The reason for this is occult. Rudolf Steiner taught that young children should be brought out of their intuitive spiritual haze very slowly. Certainly they should not be encouraged to use their brains for rational thought.
"Although it is necessary, especially today, for people to be completely awake later in life, it is equally necessary to let children live in their gentle dreamy experiences as long as possible, so that they move slowly into life. They need to remain as long as possible in their imaginations and pictorial capacities without intellectuality." — Rudolf Steiner, A MODERN ART OF EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 2004), pp. 103-104.
Why is this necessary, according to Steiner? Because, he said, children retain memories of their past lives in the "higher worlds." Moreover, they incarnate on Earth very slowly (the process takes at least 21 years, and actually continues far into adulthood). These ideas may or may not be true (you can, perhaps, guess my opinion), but you should at least realize that this is what lies behind the Waldorf attitude toward childhood.
.
.
.
.
.
"Greg Matheson did not notice the missing light bulb...."
The author of the Anthroposophists-gone-berserk thriller, SOULS OF TERROR, has made the first few chapters freely available on the Web: http://www.soulsofterrorbook.com/souls%20of%20terror%20excerpt.pdf
In the expectation that the book may inspire some give-and-take, I've created a page to follow the giving and taking: "Souls of Terror". I could be wrong, of course. I'm making my prediction without the aid of ESP. But, somehow, I think people will want to voice their opinions about a thriller that involves Rudolf Steiner, Waldorf education, reincarnation, murder, ritual disfiguration, sleuthing, terrorism, Freemasonry, kidnapping, and suchlike.
.
.
.
.
.
"The Federation of Rudolf Steiner Waldorf Schools in New Zealand is a registered incorporated society which represents member schools, early childhood and adult education centres who work out of the pedagogical indications developed by Austrian Philosopher and Scientist, Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). The Federation's purpose is to promote and safeguard the integrity of Steiner Education (also known as Waldorf Education) in New Zealand and it seeks to support its continued development."
[http://www.rudolfsteinerfederation.org.nz/]
Response:
There is some variation among Waldorf or Steiner schools — some of the schools are more wholly Anthroposophical than others. [See, e.g., "Non-Waldorf Waldorfs" and "Clues".] But supervisory organizations work hard to ensure doctrinal purity in the Waldorf movement; they work to ensures "the integrity of Steiner Education."
If you are considering a Waldorf school for your child, you should begin with the premise that the school is deeply, deeply devoted to Rudolf Steiner and his doctrines. Require a lot of powerful, undeniable evidence to the contrary before changing your mind.
"[T]the pedagogical indications developed by Austrian Philosopher and Scientist, Rudolf Steiner" are the nearest thing to gospel in true-blue Waldorf schools. Steiner himself set the tone.
"As Waldorf teachers, we must be true anthroposophists in the deepest sense of the word in our innermost feeling.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 118.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Rudolf Steiner tells us, that as man is evolving, he is now slowly approaching a state of etheric clairvoyance and the second coming will be in an etheric form where the Christ can appear to those who are ready for this as a comforter."
[1-13-2011 http://www.stockyard.net/vbulletin/open-discussions/75061-steiner-schools.html]
Discussions of Steiner schooling crop up in the darnedest places, sometimes. This one is at a Stockyard Horse Discussion Forum.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"A new education centre using the principles of an Austrian teaching pioneer has opened its doors in a village near Bath [UK]. The Steiner kindergarten, which encourages children aged up to seven to learn at their own pace, has started work in Peasedown St John. The Laurel Farm nursery is based in an old Buddhist temple at Carlingcott, which has been converted into a classroom, and also has easy access to the nearby farm animals and nature area."
[1-13-2011 http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/education/Alternative-kindergarten-opens-Buddhist-temple/article-3093394-detail/article.html]
Response:.
As I have pointed out before, whenever Steiner or Waldorf schooling is described without including explicit references to occultism, you know that much is being concealed. [See. e.g., "Secrets".] In Steiner schools, children up to the age of seven are kept in a pleasant haze of play, fairy tales, and myths. This is done for a specific — and occult — reason. The teachers are waiting for the children's "etheric bodies" to incarnate. If this sounds screwy to you, you have just learned something important about Steiner education. [For information about etheric bodies, astral bodies, and other occult concepts inherent in Steiner schooling, you might consult the Waldorf Watch Index.]
“Over and above the physical body, spiritual science [i.e., Anthroposophy] recognizes a second essential principle in Man: it is that which Steiner usually refers to as the ‘etheric body,’ though he sometimes refers to it as the ‘life-body’ or ‘formative-forces-body’ ... [T]he etheric body is accessible to investigation only to [i.e., by] those who have developed the necessary higher organs of perception.” — Gilbert Childs, STEINER EDUCATION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE (Floris Books, 1991), p.26.
The "necessary organs of perception" are invisible "organs of clairvoyance." Yes, I know, this is screwy. But this is Steiner education we're discussing. [See, e.g., "Holistic Education".] The full incarnation of the etheric body is signaled by the loss of baby teeth — an event accorded preposterous significance in Steiner schools. [See, e.g., the entry for "teeth" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.]
.
.
.
.
.
A paper purporting to be scientific claims that the healthy lifestyle in and around Steiner schools leads students in the schools to have fewer allergies.
[1-13-2011 http://www.docstoc.com/docs/69203923/Allergic-disease-and-sensitization-in-Steiner-school-children].
Response:
The reported results are possible. Just as organic food is good for you (IMO), living simply and in harmony with nature may have many benefits. Without doubt, many people in industrialized countries have highly unhealthy lifestyles, either by choice or compulsion.
When considering Steiner schools, taking potential health benefits into account makes sense. But weigh these against the severe damage that may be inflicted on a child's mind and spirit by the schools' mystical purposes and anti-intellectual stance. [See, e.g., "Soul School", "Thinking Cap", and "Steiner's Specific".]
Carefully consider, also, the grave dangers inherent in the unscientific form of "medicine" practiced in and around the schools. [See "Steiner's Quackery". Also see, e.g., "Rage Against the Vaccine" at http://www.seattleweekly.com/2011-01-12/news/8232-rage-against-the-vaccine-8232/:
"The Waldorf School makes no apologies for its dubiously low immunization rate ... [S]hould the day come when an outbreak of a once-dormant disease makes headlines in Seattle [Washington State, USA], we know where we'll go looking for Patient Zero."]
.
.
.
.
.
.
“Five years after a community campaign saved Abbotsford Convent from private developers, the site's board is facing a public backlash over plans for new buildings on grassy open space overlooking the Yarra River [Australia]. The Abbotsford Convent Foundation has given in-principle support to plans by one of its 130 tenants, the Sophia Mundi Steiner School, to erect five new classrooms on convent land known as the goat's paddock, between the school and the Collingwood Children's Farm.”
[1-13-2011 http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/anger-at-classroom-plans-for-abbotsford-convent-20110112-19o9c.html]
Response:.
The notion of a Steiner school erecting classrooms on the grounds of a former Christian institution might give us pause. Steiner schools may seem, at first blush, conventionally Christian, but the theology at their root is deeply inconsistent with the teachings of any mainstream Christian denomination. Here’s a quick taste of Anthroposophical beliefs concerning Christ:
• Christ is the god known to other religions as the Sun God. “Christ, the Sun God...was known by earlier peoples under such names as Ahura Mazda, Hu, or Balder, has now united himself with the earth...." — Margaret Jonas, introduction to RUDOLF STEINER SPEAKS TO THE BRITISH (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), pp. 4-5.
• There were two Jesus children who merged to become the receptacle for the Sun God. “I have showed you how the Nathan Jesus Child was completely described in the Koran ... The Christ Being incarnates in the Nathan Jesus Child with the Solomon Jesus Child, the Christ Being Who comes from beyond the super-earthly, Who draws into the personality of this Solomonic Nathanic Jesus in [his] 30th year.” — Rudolf Steiner, THINGS OF THE PAST AND PRESENT IN THE SPIRIT OF MAN, GA 167, lecture, May 30, 1916.
• Christ’s mission on Earth was paralleled by Buddha’s mission on Mars. “Buddha, the Prince of Peace, went to Mars — the planet of war and conflict — to execute his mission there. The souls on Mars were warlike, torn with strife. Thus Buddha performed a deed of sacrifice similar to the deed performed in the Mystery of Golgotha [i.e., Calgary — the Crucifixion] ... To dwell on Mars as Buddha was a deed of sacrifice offered to the Cosmos. He was as it were the lamb offered up in sacrifice on Mars and to accept this environment of strife was for him a kind of crucifixion.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE MISSION OF CHRISTIAN ROSENKREUTZ (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1950), VII, “The Mission of Gautama Buddha on Mars”.
I wonder what the former residents of the Convent would think of all this.
.
.
“Karl Heisman and his Group of Forty-Eight are a covert sub-group of a spiritual movement known as Anthroposophy. Does their strange karma include links to Freemasonry and the dawning of a New Age? Are they racist terrorists or is there a method to their madness? And who was Rudolf Steiner?”
[http://www.soulsofterrorbook.com/, downloaded 1-12-2011]
Response:
A small press has put out a thriller, SOULS OF TERROR, that may cause a big ruckus. The story deals with a band of murderous Anthroposophists. Some readers will love it; others will be outraged.
The following are from the customer reviews at Amazon (as of today, 1-12-2011, there are three reviews, all raves [http://www.amazon.com/SOULS-TERROR-New-Age-Thriller/dp/098664580X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294870070&sr=1-1]):
• “An essential and cautionary read ... Hopefully this book will help shine the light on anthroposophy, the insidious ideology that is propagated in Waldorf schools.”
• “The author has obviously done a lot of research. I found the villains to be especially creepy because of their irrational worldview ... I found this book refreshing and original and couldn't put it down.”
• “Anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner's occult sect, will be unfamiliar to many readers, and Souls of Terror provides true-to-life details about this group's practices and beliefs, their colorful cosmology, their unique understanding of karma, to their yearning for their leader, who died in 1925, to reincarnate.”
None of the three reviewers, it is safe to surmise, is an Anthroposophist. Reviews by Steiner’s followers, when they come, may be couched in somewhat different terms and a very different tone. (I'm just guessing.).
.
.
.
.
.
.
“Large numbers of unvaccinated children can be easily found in the Amish, Christian Science, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Steiner/Waldorf School (anthroposophical) communities across the US."
[1-12-11 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/JonGH/vaccine-autism-debate_b_806857_73538559.html]
A lengthy discussion of vaccination is occurring at THE HUFFINGTON POST. I have dealt with this issue in several previous postings here at the news page.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Have you ever had a weird sense that you could tell what was going to happen to you, or that you just knew what was behind Curtain Number One?"
[1-12-11 http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/do-you-believe-pyschologist-has-found-proof-of-esp/question-1439219/]
I hope this doesn't violate my pledge to start laying off the ESP stuff, but I'd like to report that a lengthy discussion of ESP stuff is occurring at Soda Head..
.
.
.
.
.
“Large numbers of unvaccinated children can be easily found in the Amish, Christian Science, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Steiner/Waldorf School (anthroposophical) communities across the US."
[1-12-11 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/JonGH/vaccine-autism-debate_b_806857_73538559.html]
A lengthy discussion of vaccination is occurring at THE HUFFINGTON POST. I have dealt with this issue in several previous postings here at the news page.
.
.
.
.
.
“[A] group is asking the state for permission to start a Waldorf-inspired charter school in Buffalo [New York State, USA]. The Wisteria Charter School...would offer Waldorf-style education tuition-free for the first time in Western New York ... Wisteria's founders say they plan to incorporate the hallmarks of Waldorf education — imaginative play, handwork, daily outdoor experiences, strong community connections — into their program while still meeting the testing requirements set out by the state and federal government.”
[1-12-2011 http://blogs.buffalonews.com/school_zone/2011/01/the-next-wave-of-charter-applications-in-buffalo.html]
Response:
Efforts to create Waldorf charter schools continue apace. A key reason is indicated in this news item: When schools become part of a public school system, they can dispense with tuition fees, so they can offer their form of schooling to far more families. At present, Waldorf schools largely cater to well-off families who can afford fairly stiff tuition charges. The creation of Waldorf (or "Waldorf-inspired") charter schools would change this.
The key issue for officials considering applications from Waldorf advocates is how closely the schools will adhere to the educational tenets laid down by Rudolf Steiner and his devout Anthroposophical followers. There may be variation from school to school, but any fully fledged Waldorf school will be deeply immersed in occultism. [See, e.g., "Spiritual Agenda" and "Soul School".]
A short test that might be given to education officials considering applications from Waldorf groups is this: Please define the word “Anthroposophy.” Officials who cannot do so are clearly unprepared to make a sensible judgment concerning Waldorf or “Waldorf-inspired” schools.
Additional questions might include the following:
1) How many bodies do fully formed human beings have, according to Waldorf belief? Answer: Four.
2) What is the main purpose of education, according many Waldorf advocates? Answer: Helping children incarnate their three invisible bodies.
3) What is the primary mechanism that guides the formation of individual classes, according to Waldorf belief? Answer: Karma — the karmas of the students and the karma of their teacher.
4) What organs are the seats of knowledge and cognition, according to Waldorf belief? Answer: Not the brain or any other physical organ, but invisible organs of clairvoyance.
5) What is the primary task that should be undertaken by teachers, according to Waldorf belief? Answer: Waldorf teachers are on a messianic mission to serve the will of the gods.
Education officials (and parents) who cannot answer such questions might find value in reading "Here's the Answer".
.
.
.
“[A] group is asking the state for permission to start a Waldorf-inspired charter school in Buffalo [New York State, USA]. The Wisteria Charter School...would offer Waldorf-style education tuition-free for the first time in Western New York ... Wisteria's founders say they plan to incorporate the hallmarks of Waldorf education — imaginative play, handwork, daily outdoor experiences, strong community connections — into their program while still meeting the testing requirements set out by the state and federal government.”
[1-12-2011 http://blogs.buffalonews.com/school_zone/2011/01/the-next-wave-of-charter-applications-in-buffalo.html]
Response:
Efforts to create Waldorf charter schools continue apace. A key reason is indicated in this news item: When schools become part of a public school system, they can dispense with tuition fees, so they can offer their form of schooling to far more families. At present, Waldorf schools largely cater to well-off families who can afford fairly stiff tuition charges. The creation of Waldorf (or "Waldorf-inspired") charter schools would change this.
The key issue for officials considering applications from Waldorf advocates is how closely the schools will adhere to the educational tenets laid down by Rudolf Steiner and his devout Anthroposophical followers. There may be variation from school to school, but any fully fledged Waldorf school will be deeply immersed in occultism. [See, e.g., "Spiritual Agenda" and "Soul School".]
A short test that might be given to education officials considering applications from Waldorf groups is this: Please define the word “Anthroposophy.” Officials who cannot do so are clearly unprepared to make a sensible judgment concerning Waldorf or “Waldorf-inspired” schools.
Additional questions might include the following:
1) How many bodies do fully formed human beings have, according to Waldorf belief? Answer: Four.
2) What is the main purpose of education, according many Waldorf advocates? Answer: Helping children incarnate their three invisible bodies.
3) What is the primary mechanism that guides the formation of individual classes, according to Waldorf belief? Answer: Karma — the karmas of the students and the karma of their teacher.
4) What organs are the seats of knowledge and cognition, according to Waldorf belief? Answer: Not the brain or any other physical organ, but invisible organs of clairvoyance.
5) What is the primary task that should be undertaken by teachers, according to Waldorf belief? Answer: Waldorf teachers are on a messianic mission to serve the will of the gods.
Education officials (and parents) who cannot answer such questions might find value in reading "Here's the Answer".
.
.
.
.
.
“To understand today's children, Eugene Schwartz contends, we must understand the millennial rhythms of reincarnation described by Rudolf Steiner, and also recognize the significance of the assumption of ‘personal karma’ that occurs around age twelve and a half. In this rich lecture, Eugene also discusses the ‘Three A's’ that signal the approach of a new kind of child: ADHD, Asperger Syndrome, and Adoption.”
[1-11-2011 CD 141 http://members.millennialchild.com/products/catalog_page/Resources_ChildDevelopment3.html]
Response:.
It is almost impossible to overestimate the extent to which Waldorf teachers depend on the words of Rudolf Steiner. To understand almost anything, they think, one needs to understand what Steiner said about it.
The most direct way to learn what Steiner said is to buy some of his books and read them. Steiner’s language is so opaque, however, that most people find his books almost impenetrable. For this reason, relying on commentators who explain Steiner is often helpful. Here at Waldorf Watch, I offer my services, for whatever they may be worth. At the other end of the spectrum, Anthroposophists such as Eugene Schwartz offer a decidedly different take on Steiner.
Schwartz is prolific, affable, and accessible. He has written some books as well as various online essays. [See, e.g., http://knol.google.com/k/anthroposophy-and-waldorf-education-the-web-as-will-and-idea#]
Schwartz also offers CDs expressing his views. The quotation, above, describes one of them. The price for such CDs at MillennialChild.com is $18.50 (plus shipping).
If you’re prepared to shell out a bit more, you can talk to Eugene Schwartz personally, on the telephone. The rates are $25 for a half-hour chat, or $40 for a full hour. [http://millennialchild.com/consulting/phone.html]
You may want to hurry. I don't know how long these offers will last.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Here are two more reports on the current controversy over claimed evidence for the existence of ESP. (The second is rather dry. Sorry.)
I.
"No one is accusing the author of the ESP study, Daryl J. Bem, a Cornell University psychologist, of committing a fraud. He is a genuinely respected and prominent researcher. But he has been attacked on the grounds that his statistical analysis was faulty and not sufficiently scientific. In particular, critics complain he did not properly account for the possibility that his hypothesis might not be true.
"At least two rebuttals have already been penned, and one is to appear in the same issue of the JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY [that will publish Bem's paper] later this year. Three attempts at duplicating [Bem's] results have failed."
[1-10-2011 http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/science-journals-in-decline-113189344.html]
II.
"[T]he episode has inflamed one of the longest-running debates in science. For decades, some statisticians have argued that the standard technique used to analyze data in much of social science and medicine overstates many study findings — often by a lot. As a result, these experts say, the literature is littered with positive findings that do not pan out: 'effective' therapies that are no better than a placebo; slight biases that do not affect behavior; brain-imaging correlations that are meaningless.
"...Statistical analysis must find ways to expose and counterbalance all the many factors that can lead to falsely positive results — among them human nature, in its ambitious hope to discover something, and the effects of industry money, which biases researchers to report positive findings for products.
"And, of course, the unwritten rule that failed studies — the ones that find no effects — are far less likely to be published than positive ones. What are the odds, for instance, that the journal would have published Dr. Bem’s study if it had come to the ho-hum conclusion that ESP still does not exist?"
[1-11-2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/science/11esp.html?_r=1]
Response:
Discussions of such things as statistical analysis can be awfully boring. But in a case like this, they may be crucial. Bem's critics are charging that his methods were flawed and thus his results are meaningless. This is a crucial (if highly technical) concern.
The bigger problem for Bem is that various scientists are repeating his experiments and failing to get the same results he reported. This is absolutely central. The conclusions drawn from a scientific experiment are confirmed and therefore accepted only if the same results are obtained in later repetitions of the experiment. Galileo dropped objects of different weights from the top of the Tower of Pisa and noted that they reached the ground at the same time.* Subsequent tests by other scientists confirmed Galileo's findings. If they had not, Galileo's work would have been disproved. Dr. Bem's findings are in danger of being disproved.
* The story may be legend, but the findings are correct. If we adjust for air resistance, objects of differing weights fall at the same rate. (One Apollo astronaut famously confirmed this by dropping a feather and a hammer on the airless moon. They hit the ground at the same time. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C5_dOEyAfk])
Unless something big develops, I may stop posting items about Dr. Bem here on the news page. To keep abreast of the story, visit the "ESP" page from time to time. [https://sites.google.com/site/waldorfwatch/esp]
.
.
.
.
.
.
“Seattle’s Waldorf School Is King County's Least Vaccinated - The irony of the vaccine controversy is that most often it's the parents who should know better that don't. Even though the original 1998 report that first claimed a link between vaccines and autism has now been thoroughly debunked, the vaccination rate in wealthy, progressive enclaves around the country continues to plummet — a trend best represented locally by Seattle's Waldorf School [Washington state, USA].
“...With a tuition of $17,000 per year, Waldorf is expensive. It also caters to a crunchier crowd [i.e., granola eaters] ... Waldorf has the highest percentage of unvaccinated kids in King County ... Waldorf's exemption rate of 47 percent is far and away the highest....
"’We're concerned any time a school has high exemption rates, because they are more at risk for preventable diseases,’ [says Michele Roberts of the Department of Health].
“That includes diseases long thought to be dead. In 2009 two unvaccinated children in Pennsylvania were killed by a strain of influenza all but wiped out in America 20 years ago. And last year there were more cases of whooping cough in California than in any other year since 1947, before vaccinations became widespread.
“Nettie Fabrie, Waldorf's head of pedagogy, laughs when told of her school's ranking. She says she's not surprised and that the figures have everything to do with the kinds of parents Waldorf attracts.
“Fabrie says Waldorf neither encourages or discourages its parents regarding vaccination: ‘We just leave it up to them.’ A live-and-let-live philosophy other Waldorf schools have been accused of violating.
“...[I]n a report...from THE AUSTRALIAN, a frustrated Waldorf parent told the paper that teachers at the school recommended against immunizing his children because it would lead to the 'bestialisation of humans.'”
[1-10-2011 http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2011/01/parents_at_seattles_waldorf_sc.php]
Response:
In truth, Waldorf schools are rarely neutral about vaccination. The underlying principle of Anthroposophical medicine is that virtually everything physical manifests spirit. The causes of illness, then, are not primarily physical but instead they are spiritual forces or conditions. Bad health often reflects the working out of one’s karma. If one enters this world carrying spiritual impurities resulting from sins or errors committed in previous lives, disease can serve as a rite of passage, purging evils from one’s bodily/spiritual system. Thus, medical intervention is often a bad idea: A doctor who cures a patient with drugs, etc., may be blocking the patient’s karmic self-healing process. The same is true if a doctor protects a patient from contracting a karmically necessary illness.
Addressing a group of doctors, Rudolf Steiner said this:
“If we destroy the susceptibility to smallpox, we are concentrating only on the external side of karmic activity.” — Rudolf Steiner, MANIFESTATIONS OF KARMA (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2000), pp. 165-166.
The more urgent spiritual or internal side of karmic activity is left unaddressed.
On other occasions, Steiner was even more outspoken (and bizarre). He said that black magicians and other evildoers will create vaccines that will deaden people to all things spiritual:
“Endeavors to achieve this will be made by bringing out remedies to be administered by inoculation...only these inoculations will influence the human body in a way that will make it refuse to give a home to the spiritual inclinations of the soul.” — Rudolf Steiner, SECRET BROTHERHOODS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), pp. 90-91.
So Waldorf schools generally oppose vaccination. They believe that receiving a vaccine may hamper your karma or even destroy your soul, leaving you a soulless beast. And you know what happens to soulless beasts.
“The evil race, with its savage impulses, will dwell in animal form in the abyss.” — Rudolf Steiner, UNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN BEING (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1993), p. 103.
.
.
.
.
.
.
From millennialchild.com:
“February 27, 2011 will mark the 150th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s birth. In conjunction with this, Eugene Schwartz has created a unique multi-media ‘Online Journey’ that will both deepen and broaden our understanding of Steiner’s contributions to the modern world ... This online course will be six hours of audio and visual content ... Although these presentations are meant to be an introduction to the life and work of Rudolf Steiner, long-time students of Anthroposophy will find new insights as well ... The fee for the online course is $35.00 ... MillennialChild.com Members receive a 50% discount on the course fee.”
[1-10-2011 http://millennialchild.com/online/steiner.html]
Response:
I don’t usually reprint advertisements here, but I will make an exception in this case. Eugene Schwartz, an Anthroposophist, is a skilled and articulate advocate of Waldorf schooling. In addition, he has a penchant for being at least marginally more forthright than many other Anthroposophists when addressing the general public.
Schwartz is fully committed to Steiner’s occult doctrines and to the spiritual agenda of Waldorf education.
As he famously said on one public occasion:
"That's why I send her to a Waldorf school. She can have a religious experience. A religious experience. I'll say it again: I send my daughter to a Waldorf school so that she can have a religious experience." — Eugene Schwartz, "Waldorf Education — For Our Times of Against Them?" [http://waldorfcritics.org/active/articles/schwartz.html]
Schwartz may have regretted his candor on this occasion — he was subsequently demoted within the Waldorf community. He had revealed some things that should remain hidden.
Schwartz has said that good teachers need to be clairvoyant, and he accepts as real such fantasies as the invisible “higher bodies” described by Steiner.
“Must teachers be clairvoyant in order to be certain that they are teaching in the proper way? We may, indeed, need only the ‘clairvoyant’ faculties that we are already using without being aware that we possess them.” — Eugene Schwartz, WALDORF EDUCATION: Schools for the Twenty-First Century (Xlibris Corporation, 2000), p. 17.
Schwartz later adds this:
“Earlier in this book I spoke of the ‘everyday clairvoyance’ which allows us to perceive the activities of the ‘higher bodies’ of the human being without our necessarily being endowed with the degree of spiritual insight [i.e., heightened clairvoyance] necessary to see the bodies themselves.” — Eugene Schwartz, WALDORF EDUCATION, p. 34.
Understand that no matter how appealing Schwartz’s message may seem, it is an invitation into occultism. Clairvoyance is the key requirement and goal of Anthroposophy: Rudolf Steiner claimed to possess it, and he laid out steps his followers should take to develop similar abilities — that is, he laid out a path toward occult initiation. See, e.g., Steiner's book HOW TO KNOW HIGHER WORLDS (Anthroposophic Press, 1994). The distressing part of all this is that clairvoyance and the "findings" of clairvoyance are delusions, delusions that Schwartz embraces. [See "Clairvoyance". The newly claimed "evidence" concerning ESP may or may not have a bearing. See "ESP".]
“Millennial Child” is both the title of a book Schwartz wrote and an organization devoted to the Waldorf movement. “Become a Member of MillennialChild.com. Receive a free download of a CD of your choice, and 20% discounts on CDs and Webinars. Join by the month or by the year, and you will help support our efforts to offer free teaching resources and information about Waldorf education worldwide.” [http://millennialchild.com/index.html]
.
.
.
“To understand today's children, Eugene Schwartz contends, we must understand the millennial rhythms of reincarnation described by Rudolf Steiner, and also recognize the significance of the assumption of ‘personal karma’ that occurs around age twelve and a half. In this rich lecture, Eugene also discusses the ‘Three A's’ that signal the approach of a new kind of child: ADHD, Asperger Syndrome, and Adoption.”
[1-11-2011 CD 141 http://members.millennialchild.com/products/catalog_page/Resources_ChildDevelopment3.html]
Response:.
It is almost impossible to overestimate the extent to which Waldorf teachers depend on the words of Rudolf Steiner. To understand almost anything, they think, one needs to understand what Steiner said about it.
The most direct way to learn what Steiner said is to buy some of his books and read them. Steiner’s language is so opaque, however, that most people find his books almost impenetrable. For this reason, relying on commentators who explain Steiner is often helpful. Here at Waldorf Watch, I offer my services, for whatever they may be worth. At the other end of the spectrum, Anthroposophists such as Eugene Schwartz offer a decidedly different take on Steiner.
Schwartz is prolific, affable, and accessible. He has written some books as well as various online essays. [See, e.g., http://knol.google.com/k/anthroposophy-and-waldorf-education-the-web-as-will-and-idea#]
Schwartz also offers CDs expressing his views. The quotation, above, describes one of them. The price for such CDs at MillennialChild.com is $18.50 (plus shipping).
If you’re prepared to shell out a bit more, you can talk to Eugene Schwartz personally, on the telephone. The rates are $25 for a half-hour chat, or $40 for a full hour. [http://millennialchild.com/consulting/phone.html]
You may want to hurry. I don't know how long these offers will last..
.
.
.
.
.
“Seattle’s Waldorf School Is King County's Least Vaccinated - The irony of the vaccine controversy is that most often it's the parents who should know better that don't. Even though the original 1998 report that first claimed a link between vaccines and autism has now been thoroughly debunked, the vaccination rate in wealthy, progressive enclaves around the country continues to plummet — a trend best represented locally by Seattle's Waldorf School [Washington state, USA].
“...With a tuition of $17,000 per year, Waldorf is expensive. It also caters to a crunchier crowd [i.e., granola eaters] ... Waldorf has the highest percentage of unvaccinated kids in King County ... Waldorf's exemption rate of 47 percent is far and away the highest....
"’We're concerned any time a school has high exemption rates, because they are more at risk for preventable diseases,’ [says Michele Roberts of the Department of Health].
“That includes diseases long thought to be dead. In 2009 two unvaccinated children in Pennsylvania were killed by a strain of influenza all but wiped out in America 20 years ago. And last year there were more cases of whooping cough in California than in any other year since 1947, before vaccinations became widespread.
“Nettie Fabrie, Waldorf's head of pedagogy, laughs when told of her school's ranking. She says she's not surprised and that the figures have everything to do with the kinds of parents Waldorf attracts.
“Fabrie says Waldorf neither encourages or discourages its parents regarding vaccination: ‘We just leave it up to them.’ A live-and-let-live philosophy other Waldorf schools have been accused of violating.
“...[I]n a report...from THE AUSTRALIAN, a frustrated Waldorf parent told the paper that teachers at the school recommended against immunizing his children because it would lead to the 'bestialisation of humans.'”
[1-10-2011 http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2011/01/parents_at_seattles_waldorf_sc.php]
Response:
In truth, Waldorf schools are rarely neutral about vaccination. The underlying principle of Anthroposophical medicine is that virtually everything physical manifests spirit. The causes of illness, then, are not primarily physical but instead they are spiritual forces or conditions. Bad health often reflects the working out of one’s karma. If one enters this world carrying spiritual impurities resulting from sins or errors committed in previous lives, disease can serve as a rite of passage, purging evils from one’s bodily/spiritual system. Thus, medical intervention is often a bad idea: A doctor who cures a patient with drugs, etc., may be blocking the patient’s karmic self-healing process. The same is true if a doctor protects a patient from contracting a karmically necessary illness.
Addressing a group of doctors, Rudolf Steiner said this:
“If we destroy the susceptibility to smallpox, we are concentrating only on the external side of karmic activity.” — Rudolf Steiner, MANIFESTATIONS OF KARMA (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2000), pp. 165-166.
The more urgent spiritual or internal side of karmic activity is left unaddressed.
On other occasions, Steiner was even more outspoken (and bizarre). He said that black magicians and other evildoers will create vaccines that will deaden people to all things spiritual:
“Endeavors to achieve this will be made by bringing out remedies to be administered by inoculation...only these inoculations will influence the human body in a way that will make it refuse to give a home to the spiritual inclinations of the soul.” — Rudolf Steiner, SECRET BROTHERHOODS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), pp. 90-91.
So Waldorf schools generally oppose vaccination. They believe that receiving a vaccine may hamper your karma or even destroy your soul, leaving you a soulless beast. And you know what happens to soulless beasts.
“The evil race, with its savage impulses, will dwell in animal form in the abyss.” — Rudolf Steiner, UNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN BEING (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1993), p. 103.
.
.
.
.
.
.
From millennialchild.com:
“February 27, 2011 will mark the 150th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s birth. In conjunction with this, Eugene Schwartz has created a unique multi-media ‘Online Journey’ that will both deepen and broaden our understanding of Steiner’s contributions to the modern world ... This online course will be six hours of audio and visual content ... Although these presentations are meant to be an introduction to the life and work of Rudolf Steiner, long-time students of Anthroposophy will find new insights as well ... The fee for the online course is $35.00 ... MillennialChild.com Members receive a 50% discount on the course fee.”
[1-10-2011 http://millennialchild.com/online/steiner.html]
Response:
I don’t usually reprint advertisements here, but I will make an exception in this case. Eugene Schwartz, an Anthroposophist, is a skilled and articulate advocate of Waldorf schooling. In addition, he has a penchant for being at least marginally more forthright than many other Anthroposophists when addressing the general public.
Schwartz is fully committed to Steiner’s occult doctrines and to the spiritual agenda of Waldorf education.
As he famously said on one public occasion:
"That's why I send her to a Waldorf school. She can have a religious experience. A religious experience. I'll say it again: I send my daughter to a Waldorf school so that she can have a religious experience." — Eugene Schwartz, "Waldorf Education — For Our Times of Against Them?" [http://waldorfcritics.org/active/articles/schwartz.html]
Schwartz may have regretted his candor on this occasion — he was subsequently demoted within the Waldorf community. He had revealed some things that should remain hidden.
Schwartz has said that good teachers need to be clairvoyant, and he accepts as real such fantasies as the invisible “higher bodies” described by Steiner.
“Must teachers be clairvoyant in order to be certain that they are teaching in the proper way? We may, indeed, need only the ‘clairvoyant’ faculties that we are already using without being aware that we possess them.” — Eugene Schwartz, WALDORF EDUCATION: Schools for the Twenty-First Century (Xlibris Corporation, 2000), p. 17.
Schwartz later adds this:
“Earlier in this book I spoke of the ‘everyday clairvoyance’ which allows us to perceive the activities of the ‘higher bodies’ of the human being without our necessarily being endowed with the degree of spiritual insight [i.e., heightened clairvoyance] necessary to see the bodies themselves.” — Eugene Schwartz, WALDORF EDUCATION, p. 34.
Understand that no matter how appealing Schwartz’s message may seem, it is an invitation into occultism. Clairvoyance is the key requirement and goal of Anthroposophy: Rudolf Steiner claimed to possess it, and he laid out steps his followers should take to develop similar abilities — that is, he laid out a path toward occult initiation. See, e.g., Steiner's book HOW TO KNOW HIGHER WORLDS (Anthroposophic Press, 1994). The distressing part of all this is that clairvoyance and the "findings" of clairvoyance are delusions, delusions that Schwartz embraces. [See "Clairvoyance". The newly claimed "evidence" concerning ESP may or may not have a bearing. See "ESP".]
“Millennial Child” is both the title of a book Schwartz wrote and an organization devoted to the Waldorf movement. “Become a Member of MillennialChild.com. Receive a free download of a CD of your choice, and 20% discounts on CDs and Webinars. Join by the month or by the year, and you will help support our efforts to offer free teaching resources and information about Waldorf education worldwide.” [http://millennialchild.com/index.html]
A discussion of Steiner schools has begun at Unexplained-Mysteries.com.
“I am currently researching about Steiner schools since my nephew is about to start in one. As i research more I am constantly drawn to the idea that releasing a children imagination is the best type of education available. However it seems that many ex steiner teachers talk about some really alarming concepts being taught in these schools including a total disregard of scientific facts as well as the notion that Gnomes and Fairies are real! Is there anyone who has some further knowledge or experience of these types of school both positive and negative would be helpful and are these really some sort of bizarre occult schools hidden in plain view from the general public?”
[1-10-2011 http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=198383]
Response:
Concerning fairies, gnomes, Norse gods, et al, see "Beings" and "Neutered Nature". Sometimes Waldorf teachers tell their students that such beings exist; more often, they imply the reality of these invisible beings while immersing the children in multitudinous fairy tales and myths.
Steiner taught that fairy tales and myths are true, i.e., they represent truths ascertained through clairvoyance.
• “Fairy tales are never thought out [i.e., invented]; they are the final remains of ancient clairvoyance, experienced in dreams by human beings who still had the power ... All the fairy tales in existence are thus the remnants of the original clairvoyance.” — Rudolf Steiner, ON THE MYSTERY DRAMAS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1983), p. 93.
• “Myths...are the memories of the visions people perceived in olden times ... At night they were really surrounded by the world of the Nordic gods of which the legends tell. Odin, Freya, and all the other figures in Nordic mythology were...experienced in the spiritual world with as much reality as we experience our fellow human beings around us today.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 198.
For some reports by former Waldorf teachers, see "He Went to Waldorf", "Ex-Teacher", and subsequent pages at Waldorf Watch.
• “Okay so I recently finished Rudolf Steiner's book Atlantis which is so fascinating I fell in love with it ... [On Atlantis they] developed language and their words were sacred and had magic and meaning behind them. So how do we like do this again since everybody takes language for granted now.” [1-9-2011 http://thisonly.orgfree.com/2011/01/open-question-people-who-read-rudolf-steiner-books/]
• “Anyways, I'm that type of person which will search various galaxies for the truth if necessary. And I've been thinking, maybe Rudolf Steiner wasn't right? Maybe there is some other truth I may find?”
[1-9-2011 http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110109044621AAV6W3B]
Response:
The chief impediment to fruitful discussions between Steiner’s followers and his critics is that the two groups tend to have wholly different conceptions of truth. The difference can perhaps most easily be seen in responses to such things as Steiner’s descriptions of life on Atlantis. Some people are wowed; they love such concepts as lost continents, magic, mysticism, sacred mysteries, and so forth. They intuit “truth” in such things. But other people are astonished that anyone could possibly take such things seriously. They point out that Atlantis never existed, that magic is unreal, that Steiner presented no tangible evidence for his assertions, and so forth. They want facts and reason; they look to logic and natural science for truth.
The divide between those attracted to the mystical and those who find it empty may be unbridgeable. My only hope is that we are all truth-seekers. We are all taking the same journey, between birth and death, looking for meaning. With charity in our hearts and clarity in our minds, perhaps we can make a bit of progress together. History doesn’t provide much cause for optimism, and I myself am far from neutral in the debate over the character of truth. But if we lose all optimism, we may lose all else besides.
"[I]s it reasonable, in the first place, to allow for the state funding of schools based on a philosophy that nobody is thought competent to describe, define or discuss[?]"
[1-9-2011 http://www.dcscience.net/?p=3853]
As was to be expected, the posting "Steiner Waldorf Schools Part 3. The problem of racism" has ignited a heated debate. (The previous essays in the series can be found at http://www.dcscience.net/?p=3528 and http://www.dcscience.net/?p=3595.)
Following such discussions can be illuminating. Bear in mind, however, that devoted members of a cult can overwhelm efforts at rational discourse. Tabulating pro and con messages means little — the cult will almost inevitably post more messages. Instead, study the reasoning and evidence presented in the various messages to find the truth behind the uproar.
“[T]here are no secret societies in Anthroposophy, all the material is available for free, either on the internet or via their libraries. If you join a local society (free if that is what you want), after a qualifying period, you will be able to participate in the First Class which is designed specifically to assist you in peeling back the veil of the material. There are no promises and there is no haste.”
[1-8-2011 http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?p=518774]
Response:
An interesting discussion is occurring at the Ex-Scientologist Message Board.
It is always wise to apply some healthy skepticism to statements you find on the Internet. For instance, is it true that Anthroposophy is free of secrets?
One of the few neutral scholars to study Anthroposophy is Geoffrey Ahern, whose book THE SUN AT MIDNIGHT - The Rudolf Steiner Movement and Gnosis in the West (James Clarke & Co., 2009) is quite informative. Here’s an excerpt:
“The First Class [consisting of Anthroposophical initiates] adapts Steiner’s meditative path for individuals ... Members of this elite are pledged to secrecy. I have had no success when I asked for information about the mantras of the First Class: I was told that they ‘belong to the School’ [i.e., the School of Spiritual Science]. When as an outsider I asked questions about them (or the commentaries on them), this was one of the few acts that would, almost predictably, incur annoyance [from Anthroposophists].” — THE SUN AT MIDNIGHT, p. 61.
Ahern goes on to say that members of the First Class deny that they are secretive, and indeed some inside information has leaked out. In general, Anthroposophists are torn between the requirement to conceal occult secrets from the uninitiated and the desire to spread the Anthroposophical good word. This tension persists today. [See, e.g., “Secrets”.]
Here is another report on the new "evidence" for ESP:
“[A] top journal is slated to publish new research supporting the idea that extrasensory perception (ESP) could actually exist.
“...[P]sychology professor emeritus Daryl J. Bem of Cornell University reports the results of nine experiments designed to gauge the ‘retroactive influence of some future event on an individual's current response.’
“Participants were asked, for example, to choose which of two computer screens an image was about to appear on. If the images were erotic, Bem found that that people could pick the right screen 53 per cent of the time (that number dropped to 50 per cent for non-erotic images).
“... [T]he more than 1,000 people who participated in the experiments appear to have predicted, or have been influenced by, the future event slightly more successfully than if they had simply been guessing.”*
[1-8-2011 http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110108/has-a-psychologist-uncovered-proof-of-esp-110108/20110108/?hub=CalgaryHome]
Response:
A couple of sidelights:
• The connection between eroticism and ESP may startle mystics. Bem tried to heighten the motivation of his participants by having his computer display nudie pictures. Eager for the opportunity to ogle bare flesh, the study participants seem to have done better than if they had merely guessed which screen would display an non-nude image. But linking psychic powers to sexual excitement is not at all the sort of thing Rudolf Steiner would have endorsed or considered a true use of psychic power. Thus, it is certainly questionable whether Bem's work supports Steiner's in any sense.
• Dr. Bem relied on a computer to randomly decide which screen would display the cheesecake. Having done some computer programming myself (at a very low level, I hasten to add), I think I can confidently say that computers cannot produce truly random results — or, at least, producing such results is extremely difficult and rare. Every computer follows the logic of its circuitry and the logic of the program it runs. A typical “randomizing” program will produce results that are very nearly random — so nearly random that we would be very hard-pressed to correctly deduce its results. But because the results are not truly random, we might be able to deduce the results at least occasionally, and that’s the point. A highly motivated individual might be able to rapidly, unconsciously deduce the results, at least occasionally. If the choice is between just two possibilities (the exciting picture will appear on screen A or screen B), the task is greatly simplified. Thus, I suspect that perfectly ordinary mental processes — making quick logical leaps — could lead to the 53% success rate reported by Bem. ESP would not be required.
(Of course, extremely sophisticated computer processes may come very near to producing genuinely random results. Learning how sophisticated Dr. Bem’s program is may tell us a lot. Meanwhile, allow me to quote Wikipedia — a source that I find often unreliable but that Anthroposophists sometimes like to consult:
“A random number generator (often abbreviated as RNG) is a computational or physical device designed to generate a sequence of numbers or symbols that lack any pattern, i.e. appear random ... Several computational methods for random number generation exist, but often fall short of the goal of true randomness ... There are two principal methods used to generate random numbers. One measures some physical phenomenon that is expected to be random and then compensates for possible biases in the measurement process. The other uses computational algorithms that produce long sequences of apparently random results, which are in fact completely determined by a shorter initial value, known as a seed or key. The latter type are often called pseudorandom number generators. A ‘random number generator’ based solely on deterministic computation cannot be regarded as a ‘true’ random number generator, since its output is inherently predictable.” [See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_number_generation])
* The computer made its decision only after a participant selected a screen. Thus, the participant was predicting a future event — the decision the computer would make in the next few moments. — R.R. Here is the first of what will probably be a long series of follow-up reports concerning the claim that strong evidence has been found for the existence of ESP (extrasensory perception). For the original report here at Waldorf Watch, see the item, below, that begins "Daryl Bem is a Cornell University psychologist".
“Have scientists really discovered proof of ESP?
“...Although Daryl J. Bem, an emeritus professor at Cornell University, claims his tests of over 1,000 college students over 8 years have yielded proof of ESP, his findings have provoked ‘amusement and scorn’ from the scientific community. Should we believe Bem, or do his claims give serious science a bad name?
“...Bem's findings are ‘fascinating,’ says Robert Krulwich at NPR [National Public Radio] ... If his findings can be repeated, ‘this story is going to be big.’
“...If history's any guide, no one will be able to repeat these findings: Bem isn't the first psychologist to claim proof of ESP, says James Acock at the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Time and time again, the studies fail to ‘yield data that are capable of being replicated.’ Bem's work is no different; it's full of ‘flawed research’ and ‘methodological and analytical problems.’ His conclusions reflect ‘not the light of knowledge, but the biases of the researcher.’ The only mystery is how his study got published.
“...But there's some precedent: Although Bem's assertion that memory can work backwards [i.e., we can "remember" the future] throws out 'our entire understanding of time and physics,' says Melissa Burkley at Psychology Today, the idea that time is not linear is a key supposition of quantum physics.”
[1-8-2011 http://theweek.com/article/index/210890/have-scientists-really-discovered-proof-of-esp]
Peculiarly, perhaps, a discussion of Steiner schools is occurring at MoneySavingExpert.com. [1-8-2011 http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=40023026]
There is also a discussion ("Any inputs on Waldorf Education? I need help to make a decision, please!!!") at HomeschoolSpot.com [1-8-2011 http://www.homeschoolspot.com/showthread.php?p=346978]
Informe.com has a listing of forums, tweets, urls, etc., that include references to Waldorf schools. Links are provided. [1-8-2011 http://informe.com/waldorf/waldorf_school/]
A similar listing is available for Steiner schools. [1-8-2011 http://informe.com/steiner/steiner_school/]
And there is a listing at infospace.com [1-8-2011 http://www.infospace.com/ispace_santamail/ws/results/Web/Waldorf%20Schools/1/302361/RightNav/Relevance/iq=true/zoom=off/enginefilter=all/qlnk=1/_iceUrlFlag=7?_IceUrl=true]
A list of the "best" Waldorf blogs is given at The Waldorf Connection [1-8-2011 http://thewaldorfconnection.com/uncategorized/waldorf-homeschooling-best-waldorf-blogs/]
Bear in mind that almost everything you will find on such lists comes from a single direction: It is almost all pro-Waldorf, much of it posted by Waldorf teachers, Waldorf administrations, and enthusiastic Waldorf recruits. For balance, you may also want to consult the Waldorf Watch links page, where you will find both pro- and anti-Waldorf sites listed: https://sites.google.com/site/waldorfwatch/links.
“A publication ban has been issued by the Ontario Court of Justice in Newmarket [Canada] ... Investigators working out of the York Regional Police Crimes Against Children Unit have charged a 56-year-old man in connection with numerous historical sexual assaults against two victims ... On Thursday, December 9, 2010, police charged the accused with sexual offences that occurred between 1985 and 1992 at the Toronto Waldorf School ... Both victims were 17 years old when the alleged offences occurred. The accused is currently employed by the Toronto Waldorf School ... Investigators believe there may be more victims that have not come forward and are urging anyone with information to call police.”
[1-7-2011 http://www.oyetimes.com/news/canada/8644-publication-ban-issued-in-case-of-sexual-assaults-by-teacher-robert-pickering-at-toronto-waldorf-school]
“In his new German language book Der Himmelsgarten (Heaven's Garden), Marc Daniels...challenges President Barack Obama to root feed our ecological, educational, and spiritual roots by inviting children from around the world to the White House for a televised Weed Out Hate event ... His call to action has struck a responsive chord with students from Manhattan's prestigious Rudolf Steiner School ... The students will be entrusted to plan and execute a march on Times Square commemorating Martin Luther King's achievements ... From 9-11AM, on January 17th, the students will distribute the peace seeds to passersby in an effort to raise race related social consciousness. The venue will be opposite the Times Square Reuters building under its billboard. There will also be concurrent events in San Francisco, CA; Dallas/Ft Worth, TX; Baltimore, MD; Toronto, CA; Springfield, IL; and Heilbronn, Germany.”
[1-7-2011 http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mr-president-lets-weed-out-hate-and-sow-the-seeds-of-peace-113066834.html]
Response:
This is commendable. But Waldorf or Steiner schools have a problematic relationship with racism. Many of Rudolf Steiner’s teachings are clearly racist. Today Steiner Waldorf* schools are often at pains to profess an abhorrence of racism. Excellent. But the schools will have limited credibility on this important matter until they explicitly reject Steiner’s racial teachings. Instead, they almost unanimously defend Steiner, rejecting the charge that he was a racist. This flies in the face of the obvious truth.
Steiner taught that some races are "higher" than others; he ranked them from low to high, placing blacks at the bottom and whites at the top.
“A race or nation stands so much the higher, the more perfectly its members express the pure, ideal human type.” — Rudolf Steiner, KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT (Anthroposophic Press, 1944), p. 149.
What is the" ideal human type"? To understand, we need a bit of background. Steiner taught that the gods intended for primitive races to die out when higher races evolved from them. But the demons Lucifer and Ahriman interfered.
“Instead of the intended consecutive development of races, there was a coexistence of races. That is how it came about that physically different races inhabited the earth and are still there in our time ... Let us assume the original, divine cosmic plan for the earth had been fulfilled ... In that case, a human race of Grecian beauty would have spread over the earth, and in our age we would already see humanity approaching more and more this beautiful Grecian type.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE UNIVERSAL HUMAN (Anthroposophic Press, 199), pp. 82-83.
Steiner said the ideal human type is most closely approximated today among white Europeans. We see Steiner repeat this idea in many statements, some of which are quite amazingly offensive. The divine plan has not been fulfilled, Steiner opined, but whites are still incomparably more attractive than blacks.
“There is a biography of Schubert in which it is said that he looked rather like a negro. There is not a grain of truth in it. He actually had a pleasing, attractive face.” — Rudolf Steiner, KARMIC RELATIONSHIPS: Esoteric Studies - Volume I (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1972), VII.
Intelligence, like beauty, is connected to pigmentation, Steiner taught.
“If the blonds and blue-eyed people die out, the human race will become increasingly dense ... Blond hair actually bestows intelligence. In the case of fair people, less nourishment is driven into the eyes and hair; it remains instead in the brain and endows it with intelligence. Brown- and dark-haired people drive the substances into their eyes and hair that the fair people retain in their brains.” — Rudolf Steiner, HEALTH AND ILLNESS, Vol. 1 (Anthroposophic Press, 1981), pp. 85-86.
Steiner held that whites are the closest we have yet come to the ideal human type. Whites are smart and spiritually advanced. Other races stand at lower levels; they belong in specific regions of the Earth, which they leave at their peril.
“On one side we find the black race, which is earthly at most. If it moves to the West, it dies out. We also have the yellow race, which is in the middle between earth and the cosmos. If it moves to the East, it becomes brown, attaches itself too much to the cosmos, and becomes extinct. The white race is the future, the spiritually creative race." — Rudolf Steiner, VOM LEBEN DES MENSCHEN UND DER ERDE - ÜBER DAS WESEN DES CHRISTENTUMS (Verlag Der Rudolf Steiner-Nachlassverwaltung, 1961), GA 349, p. 52.**
Steiner's view of blacks conformed to appalling racial stereotypes, such as attributing powerful, overheated physicality to blacks, and disparaging blacks' intelligence. (Blonds are intelligent; blacks are largely controlled by their unconscious rear-brains, Steiner said.)
"[E]verything connected to the body and the metabolism is strongly developed in the Negro. He has, as they say, powerful physical drives, powerful instincts ... [H]is whole metabolism operates as if he were being cooked inside by the sun. That is where his instinctual life comes from. The Negro is constantly cooking inside, and what feeds this fire is his rear-brain.” — Rudolf Steiner, VOM LEBEN DES MENSCHEN UND DER ERDE - ÜBER DAS WESEN DES CHRISTENTUMS, p. 55.
Steiner found tremendous spiritual importance in race. He taught that your race reflects the condition of your soul. He said that to understand human history and social relations, we need to focus on racial characteristics, specifically skin color.
“One can only understand history and all of social life, including today's social life, if one pays attention to people's racial characteristics. And one can only understand all that is spiritual in the correct sense if one first examines how this spiritual element operates within people precisely through the color of their skin." — Rudolf Steiner, VOM LEBEN DES MENSCHEN UND DER ERDE - ÜBER DAS WESEN DES CHRISTENTUMS, p. 52.
[See "Steiner's Racism" and "Races".]
Steiner was a racist, and the thinking behind Waldorf schools — consisting primarily of Steiner's teachings — is seriously tainted as a result. Asking students to hand out "peace seeds" in Times Square is fine. But far more is needed before Waldorf schools can be cleared of the suspicion that, in embracing Steiner, they at least tacitly accept Steiner's racist views. Waldorf faculties must publicly and firmly disavow Steiner's racism. They may continue to argue that Steiner was right about virtually everything else. They may continue to pledge their allegiance to Rudolf Steiner. But on this one subject, they must make a clean, clear break. Until they do, nothing they say about human nature, human capacities, and human relations can have any moral standing.
* Schools that operate in accordance with Steiner's teachings are variously called Waldorf schools, Steiner schools, Steiner Waldorf schools, and so on. I am using these tags interchangeably here.
** Steiner deplored the movement of "lower" races to areas where they do not (in his view) belong. He made this clear to Waldorf faculty members.
“The French are committing the terrible brutality of moving black people to Europe...." — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), pp. 558-559.
“Play is the foundation of children’s learning ... It wasn’t until our children began attending Early Childhood programs at Aurora Waldorf School [New York, USA] that we finally ‘got it.’ In these programs play is the foundation. Play intermixed with a comforting routine of artistic activity, home skills, puppet shows, singing and an enormous amount of time spent in rain pants and boots tromping in the woods.”
[1-7-2011 http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial-page/from-our-readers/my-view/article305020.ece]
Response:
Sounds like fun. But is it education? Children need time to play and they need the freedom to exercise their imaginations and creativity. No one disputes this. But is play really the basis — the "foundation" — of education? Obviously not. Some play is not educational at all. It is fun, but it doesn't convey new knowledge. By the same token, some learning is difficult. Some is just plain hard. It isn't fun at all, but it is necessary.
Waldorf schools postpone reading, writing, and arithmetic until age seven for an occult reason: The teachers are waiting for each child’s invisible “etheric body” to incarnate. [See "Incarnation".] This is nonsense, and postponing the development of crucial skills until this imaginary event occurs is potentially very harmful.
A vast amount of research conclusively proves the value of early childhood education such as Head Start, programs that contain hefty doses of academics. Students who attend Waldorf schools are denied the potentially lifelong benefits of such education. [See "Academic Standards at Waldorf".]
As reported here previously, scientist Daryl Bem has presented what he believes is solid evidence for the existence of ESP (extrasensory perception). The results of experiments he conducted have yet to be confirmed or refuted by other scientists — the necessary step for the scientific method to play out. At least two scientists, Richard Wiseman and Stuart Ritchie, have announced their intention to repeat Bem's experiments. In making their preparations, they are on the alert for possible errors in Bem's approach, and they think they may have already found one.
"Stuart Ritchie (Edinburgh University) and I are planning to replicate the study. Yesterday we went over the procedure in detail and I think that the studies contain a potential methodological problem.
"...The potential problem is in the scoring...."
[http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/bems-esp-research/ I downloaded this item on 1-10-2011, guided by a report at iTWire.com http://www.itwire.com/science-news/biology/44259-science-journal-publishes-esp-is-true-article]
"Some scientists say [Dr. Bem’s] report deserves to be published, in the name of open inquiry....
"...In recent weeks science bloggers, researchers and assorted skeptics have challenged Dr. Bem’s methods and his statistics, with many critiques digging deep into the arcane but important fine points of crunching numbers.
"...Many statisticians say that conventional social-science techniques for analyzing data make an assumption that is disingenuous and ultimately self-deceiving....
"...So far, at least three efforts to replicate [Dr. Bem's] experiments have failed."
[1-5-2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/science/06esp.html?_r=1]
The skepticism of many scientists concerning Bem's work proves nothing. Many scientific breakthroughs have met with initial skepticism and even ridicule. Perhaps Dr. Bem will one day be hailed as a great researcher who revolutionized our understanding of human mental capabilities.
On the other hand, the failure to replicate and thus confirm Bem's findings is a serious matter. Unless other scientists are able to confirm the work done by Bem — getting the same or even more dramatic results — Bem's claims will ultimately be dismissed. A scientific hypothesis is accepted only if substantial, reproducible evidence is accumulated to support it. So far, this has not happened in this case.
For a longer excerpt from the TIMES article, see "ESP"..
.
.
.
.
• “Vaccines MMR Autism Fraud Vaccine Fears Causing Measles, Mumps, Flu, Deaths — It is truly ironic that epidemics of diseases such as Autism and Vaccine Phobia inhabit some of the most intelligent well educated and well read communities. In California Autism is considered an affluent disease. In Marin County north of San Francisco and in Ashland, Oregon, vaccine phobia and disease is rampant ... Today the official word came out that the original child multi-vaccine caused Autism [report] was based on outright fraud ... At the top of the list [of schools where many of the students have not been vaccinated] is the private Cedarwood Waldorf School in Southwest Portland [Oregon, USA], whose 78 percent exemption rate even exceeds Portland Village School. In fact, the top 18 county schools with the most exemptions – of 10 percent or more of their students – are all Waldorf, Montessori, alternative, private, charter or magnet schools ... Increasingly, parents are claiming a ‘religious exemption’ for not having their children vaccinated, which decreases the overall immunity of children in the classroom.”
[1-6-2011 http://jimboguy.blogspot.com/2011/01/vaccines-mmr-autism-fraud-vaccine-fears.html]
• “In 1998, Dr. Andrew Wakefield published a paper in the British medical journal Lancet claiming that there was a link between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. A worldwide panic ensued ... Now an article in the British journal BMJ [British Medical Journal] places the final nail in the coffin of the alleged connection between vaccines and autism ... The vaccine/autism link has been demonstrated to be one of the greatest frauds in the history of science ... The problem is that the vaccine/autism fraud perpetrated by Wakefield had caused untold suffering and death. There have been outbreaks of measles, a disease that was once common in childhood but was all but been wiped out by vaccines. The BMJ article reports that 10 babies in California died of whooping cough, another former childhood disease suppressed by vaccines, last summer.”
[1-6-2011 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/7546906_autism_vaccine_link_study_proven_as_a_fraud]
Response:
Attending a Waldorf school may not merely retard a student’s education — it may literally be dangerous to the child’s health. Rudolf Steiner opposed vaccination in most cases because a) it would interfere with karma, and b) black magicians create vaccines that destroy the soul. This is madness. [See "Steiner's Quackery".] Children who spend their school days in the company of a large number of unvaccinated schoolmates are far more likely to become infected. A school with a high number of unvaccinated students can easily become a center of contagion.
Parents may be excused for fearing vaccinations, since so many scare stories have circulated in the press and on the Internet. The belief that vaccination can cause autism is a prime example. Reports of a link between vaccines and autism have been widely circulated, and many parents are naturally alarmed. But here is the key point: There is no truth to these reports. They are bogus. In fact, vaccinations provide some of the most important health benefits parents can bestow on their children.
Areas where vaccination rates are low tend to be areas where disease rates are high. The causal link is obvious. A little good sense is clearly called for.
“Daryl Bem is a Cornell University psychologist who says he's been doing magic as a hobby since he was 17. Now he has managed what some scientists may call his greatest trick: he's written a paper attempting to prove the power of ESP — extrasensory perception — and had it accepted for publication in a major scientific journal ... Did Bem really find evidence of extrasensory perception, or will his paper turn out to be an embarrassment? Already, there are doubts in the scientific world. ‘It's obvious, I think to most of us, that this is going to turn out badly,’ said Robert Park, a physicist at the University of Maryland who is the author of ‘Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science.’"
[1-6-2011 http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/extrasensory-perception-scientific-journal-esp-paper-published-cornell/story?id=12556754&page=1]
Response:
It will be interesting to follow this story. From time to time, one researcher or another has claimed to find solid evidence for the existence of ESP, clairvoyance, or some other psychic power. Years ago, great excitement developed when a researcher at Duke University insisted — over a sustained period of time, and on the basis of many experiments — that he had proof for the existence of various psychic powers. But in that case and all others, the evidence eventually crumbled — the findings could not be confirmed and, in many instances, they were clearly disproved. [See "Clairvoyance".]
Sometimes erroneous claims about psychic powers result from intentional fraud. In other instances, well-meaning researchers have run poorly designed experiments that were overturned when more rigorous trials were made. Perhaps now, for the first time, verifiable evidence for ESP has been produced. The odds are against it, however.
If Dr. Bem has found anything, it is at most a latent psychic capacity. This may open the possibility that psychic powers could be developed to produce the refined capacity — “exact clairvoyance” — that Rudolf Steiner claimed to possess. But a chasm yawns between Bem’s supposed results and Steiner’s claim. The best the volunteers in Bem’s study could do was 53% accuracy. In other words, they were wrong nearly as often as they were right — and the results hover close to pure chance (50%). Steiner claimed to achieve virtually 100% accuracy — his clairvoyance was “exact,” he said. [See “Exactly”.] But there is no evidence that such accuracy is possible, and indeed Steiner’s own record was demonstrably poor. He made many blatant errors; he was fell far short of his own standard. [See “Steiner’s Blunders”, “Steiner’s ‘Science’”, “Millennium”, and “Steiner’s Illogic”.]
All of this is relevant to Waldorf schools because Rudolf Steiner’s teachings depend on his claimed power of clairvoyance, and Waldorf education is built upon Steiner's teachings. If clairvoyance does not exist, there is no basis for Steiner’s teachings. In that case, Anthroposophy goes up in smoke, taking with it the rationale for Waldorf schooling. So stay tuned. The story of Dr. Bem and his experiments may take years to play out (examining evidence, analyzing conclusions, and running tests that confirm or disprove Bem's findings), but in the end the truth will be established.
“Be a more mindful parent by joining the Brilliant Parenting Discussion Group at 7 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of the month at Water's Edge Waldorf School, 150 W. Bonner Road, Wauconda [Illinois, USA]. The group will discuss a variety of topics of interest for parents who take a mindful approach to the choices they make in raising their children. Call (847) 526-1372. R.S.V.P. appreciated but not required.”
[1-6-2011 http://www.pioneerlocal.com/highlandpark/lifestyles/currents/2994942,lake-county-calendar-010611-s1.article]
Response:
The parenting tips offered in such sessions may be valuable. But bear the context in mind. Waldorf schools are eager to recruit not just children but entire families. They think they have access to truths that people outside the Waldorf community lack. Such truths become available to them through the use of such techniques as clairvoyance, dreams, and astrology. Thus, for instance, Rudolf Steiner said this:
“People who are knowledgeable about these things can ‘read’ the forces that determine a person’s path in his or her physical life; on this basis horoscopes are cast. Each of us is assigned a particular horoscope, in which the forces are revealed that have led us into this life. For example, if in a particular horoscope Mars is above Aries, this means that certain Aries forces cannot pass through Mars but are weakened instead.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND HUMANITY (Anthroposophic Press, 1991), p. 61.
Take Waldorf “wisdom” with plenty of salt. And remember that Waldorf teachers want to “undo” the influence you have had on your child. As Steiner said to Waldorf teachers:
"You will have to take over children for their education and instruction — children who will have received already (as you must remember) the education, or mis-education given them by their parents. Indeed our intentions will only be fully accomplished when we, as humanity, will have reached the stage where parents, too, will understand that special tasks are set for mankind to-day, even from the first years of the child’s education. But when we receive children into the school we shall be able to make up for many things which have been done wrongly, or left undone, in the first years of the child’s life. For this we must fill ourselves with the consciousness through which alone we can truly teach and educate." — Rudolf Steiner, THE STUDY OF MAN (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), p. 16.
Waldorf teachers have a much easier job if parents are won over early. If parents follow Steiner’s occult teachings, then Waldorf teachers find less that they have to undo when they “take over children.”
“Robert of Mayflower’s metaphysical weblog exploring the ideas and wonders of Rudolf Steiner’s works ... • January 2011 Astrological Newsletter...January 4th New Moon in Capricorn with Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Pisces, along with Venus in strong aspect to Jupiter/Uranus/Neptune makes for intense changes in love life, investments, and strong shifts in weather right up to Full Moon on the 19th. Storms of change and storms of love quake and shake things up. Unrealistic expectations or projections on others may pop your balloon ... • Kosovo’s illegal market in human organs business exposed ... • When we don’t learn and understand the principles of Karma and Reincarnation, as taught in theosophy, tibet, Steiner; the world’s thinking gets very ‘this shore’ little.”
[1-6-2011 http://blog.mayflowerbookshop.com/archives/71]
Not everyone who studies Steiner gets his teachings straight. Steiner is not to blame for everything said and thought by his followers. Nonetheless, if you are thinking of entering the Waldorf universe, it would be wise to look around first and meet the denizens of that universe. They will be your spiritual neighbors.
As reported here previously, scientist Daryl Bem has presented what he believes is solid evidence for the existence of ESP (extrasensory perception). The results of experiments he conducted have yet to be confirmed or refuted by other scientists — the necessary step for the scientific method to play out. At least two scientists, Richard Wiseman and Stuart Ritchie, have announced their intention to repeat Bem's experiments. In making their preparations, they are on the alert for possible errors in Bem's approach, and they think they may have already found one.
"Stuart Ritchie (Edinburgh University) and I are planning to replicate the study. Yesterday we went over the procedure in detail and I think that the studies contain a potential methodological problem.
"...The potential problem is in the scoring...."
[http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/bems-esp-research/ I downloaded this item on 1-10-2011, guided by a report at iTWire.com http://www.itwire.com/science-news/biology/44259-science-journal-publishes-esp-is-true-article]
"Some scientists say [Dr. Bem’s] report deserves to be published, in the name of open inquiry....
"...In recent weeks science bloggers, researchers and assorted skeptics have challenged Dr. Bem’s methods and his statistics, with many critiques digging deep into the arcane but important fine points of crunching numbers.
"...Many statisticians say that conventional social-science techniques for analyzing data make an assumption that is disingenuous and ultimately self-deceiving....
"...So far, at least three efforts to replicate [Dr. Bem's] experiments have failed."
[1-5-2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/science/06esp.html?_r=1]
"Looking to combat both classroom distractions and the fever pitch of children's advertising, a number of schools around the nation have policies in place prohibiting media characters from joining students in the form of backpacks, T-shirts, shoes and other apparel.
"'We don't agree with making a market out of our children,' says Patrice Maynard, outreach leader for the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America. 'We're trying to protect them.'
"At many Waldorf schools, known partly for their emphasis on the arts, the policy dates back at least 20 years. Many Montessori and other private schools have similar policies in place."
[1-4-2011 http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/tribu/sc-fam-0104-character-free-class-20110104,0,5430252.story]
Response:
Waldorf schools are right about some things (IMO), and we should not hesitate to acknowledge this. Quite often, they are right when they oppose various unhealthy trends in modern life. The danger is that in agreeing with them about what to oppose, we may slip into thinking that Waldorf schools are right about what they affirm. Waldorf schools oppose, for example, bringing mass-marketing into the classroom, placing too much pressure on young children, feeding children (and everyone else) unhealthy foods, substituting computers for human contact, destroying the Earth through excessive materialism and greed, and so forth. They are right to oppose such things. But what do they affirm? Clairvoyance, astrology, quack medicine, ancient superstitions, antiquated systems of human categorization, racist beliefs, and so forth. On all these matters — and much more — they are wrong. The schools affirm some of these things openly, and they tend to be secretive on some of the others. But all these things can all be found in the thinking on which the schools stand. [See, e.g., "Clairvoyance", “Exactly”, “Astrology”, “Star Power”, “Steiner’s Quackery”, “The Ancients”, “Superstition”, "Steiner Static", “Humouresque”, “Races”, and “Steiner’s Racism”.
• "We send our son to a Waldorf school, which strictly prohibits the use of electronics in the school (no TV, no computers) and strongly discourages their use in the child’s home (which we, sadly, have not honored as we should have)."
[1-4-2011 http://www.bripblap.com/consumerism-and-dancing/]
• “The students were finishing up an artistic project and some of them were cutting out graphics for their work. Now in Waldorf education, we have the students do their own work and have them stay away from the media as much as possible. Well, the new teacher had a conniption when she saw these graphic pieces being placed into their main lesson books; ; I just pulled her aside and said, 'I used to be really concerned about such matters. But I have come to realize that in the end it really doesn’t matter.'”
[1-3-2011 http://janakastagnaro.blogspot.com/2011/01/its-just-dream.html]
Response:
Waldorf schools are increasingly torn over the question of modern technology. Many of the schools now have websites and Facebook pages. Some acknowledge that computers can be useful educational tools. But most still cling to the Luddite-like views promoted by Rudolf Steiner, associating modern science and technology with the arch-demon Ahriman. [See “Spiders, Dragons and Foxes”, “Academic Standards at Waldorf”, and “Ahriman”.]
As for the media and popular culture in general (which, admittedly, are not all sweetness and light): Waldorf schools abjure them. Only a rare — and brave — Waldorf teacher admits the shocking notion that exposure to the outside world will not automatically and instantaneously curdle the soul of a Waldorf student.
[For an entertaining look at the Anthroposophical attitude on such matters, see Robert Hald-Smith's "Musical Biography": http://www.robertsmith-hald.com/biography.htm]
“RETHINKING THE THREEFOLD DIVISION OF THE MAIN LESSON — Part one of Christof Wiechert's valuable and challenging observations about teaching main lesson ... In Rudolf Steiner’s lectures on education and in the accounts of his meetings with teachers of the first Waldorf school, there is no mention of a necessary division of the main lesson into three distinct parts. The importance of rhythm is affirmed many times. But the critical question is: Does this threefold structure lead to rhythm or merely to routine?”
[1-3-2011 Waldorf News Weekly Update, waldorfteachers.com. I’m coming close, here, to violating my rule not to post items from sites that require subscriptions. To receive this newsletter, you need to join the mailing list — see the sidebar at http://www.waldorfteachers.com/ Joining is free, however, and worthwhile.]
Like Anthroposophists in general, Waldorf teachers who are true to Steiner tend to have heartfelt debates over matters that may strike outsiders as, at best, trivial. For instance, should a main lesson (the first and longest lesson of the day at a Waldorf school) be structured so that it has three distinct phases? In Waldorf circles, such an issue can loom large.
How are such debates resolved? Often they are not — the discussions become almost perennial. But if any participant can cite a statement by Rudolf Steiner on any issue, that will probably be conclusive. Steiner’s word is very nearly holy writ among Waldorf teachers.
“Can Waldorf schools ditch ‘spiritual science’ and still be Waldorf schools? Can they ditch what Rudolf Steiner taught and still call themselves Waldorf or Steiner schools? ... I’m reading [a] newsletter from the pedagogical section of the Goetheanum ... [I]t makes quite clear that Waldorf cannot be just anything its proponents (or happy but clueless parents) wish it to be: 'Irrespective of their name and their rich, cultural diversity, they are all unified through several essential characteristics which are described below. Schools or kindergartens which do not reflect these characteristics don’t belong to the worldwide movement of Waldorf schools or Waldorf kindergartens ... The basis of Waldorf education is a study of human being and developmental psychology presented by Rudolf Steiner (1861 – 1925) in his volume of lectures entitled “A General Knowledge of the Human Being” or “Study of Man” ... Educators and teachers require teacher training in Waldorf education, and feel obliged to undertake a form of self-education which is appropriate to Waldorf education, as well as further continuing professional development ... Each colleague feels obliged to participate in the weekly pedagogical conference ... Within the Pedagogical Section there is an organ responsible for the recognition of schools as Waldorf Schools and, for kindergartens as Waldorf Kindergartens. The legal right to this name is granted after the school or kindergarten has been recognized as such.’”
[1-3-2011 http://zooey.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/essentials-of-Waldorf-education-hague-conference-2009/]
“Cogges Farm in Witney [UK] has been revealed as the potential site of a new 60-pupil ‘free school’ run by home-educating parents ... If approved by the Government, the school would be state-funded but outside Local Education Authority control ... [I]t would become the first Steiner Waldorf school in Oxfordshire if approved. There are 1,000 such schools worldwide, based on the theories of Austrian educationalist Dr Rudolf Steiner and claiming to offer ‘unhurried and creative learning’ to let children explore their artistic and emotional sides.”
[1-3-2011 http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/yourtown/witney/8763527._Free_school__eyes_up_farm_museum_site_as_base/]
Response:
Offering state funds to such schools while freeing the schools of oversight is obviously a questionable idea. The allure for opponents of public education is evident, of course, and advocates of Steiner Waldorf schooling certainly would appreciate receiving funds while being freed to pursue their own arcane agenda. [See “Spiritual Agenda”.]
Whenever descriptions of Steiner Waldorf education omit references to occultism, you know that much is being concealed. Rudolf Steiner was an unapologetic occultist, and his educational doctrines all derive from his occultism. [See “Here’s the Answer” and “Occultism”.]
Steiner did not have educational “theories.” He claimed to possess “exact clairvoyance” [see “Exactly”], and he applied this psychic power to determine how children should be educated.
Children at Steiner schools are “unhurried” because Steiner taught that children retain memories of the spirit realm where they dwelled before returning to Earth (Steiner endorsed the concept of reincarnation), and these memories should be preserved as long as possible. So kids should be kept young as long as possible. [See “Thinking Cap”.]
Arts and creativity are emphasized because Steiner said the arts provide direct avenues to the spirit realm [see “Magical Arts”], and he said that imagination is a preliminary stage of clairvoyance [see "Steiner's Science"]. Emotion is emphasized because Steiner downplayed the importance of the reasoning brain. [See “Steiner’s Specific”.]
“[T]he brain and nerve system have nothing at all to do with actual cognition....” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE - Foundations of Waldorf Education (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 60.
Actual cognition, Steiner taught, is clairvoyance [see “Clairvoyance”], and Steiner-Waldorf schools try to steer children toward developing it.
To summarize briefly: The government of the United Kingdom is contemplating giving state funds to schools that minimize actual intelligence while seeking to promote an occult system based on a wholly fallacious psychic power. Perhaps some second thoughts are in order.
From The Coloradoan:
"Mountain Sage Community School, [is] a new public charter school in Fort Collins [Colorado, USA] ... Mountain Sage Community School Charter was approved by the Poudre School District in October ... The school, which is currently accepting applications for the fall, is offering an arts-centered education that blends Waldorf methods with state academic standards."
[1-3-2011 http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20110103/NEWS01/101030321/In-brief]
Response:
Figuring out the real agenda of such a school can be difficult. Waldorf methods are based on Anthroposophy, an occult religion; the methods make little sense without the religion.* So, will Mountain Sage promote Anthroposophy? The school does not say so. [http://www.mountainsagecommunityschool.org/] There is concern in the Anthroposophical community that some Waldorf schools, eager to receive tax revenues, will compromise too much with the secular world. Waldorf teacher training is usually designed to assure that Waldorf teachers are versed in Rudolf Steiner’s occult teachings. [See “Teacher Training”.] And Steiner himself stressed the need to avoid compromises.
“As teachers in the Waldorf School, you will need to find your way more deeply into the insight of the spirit and to find a way of putting all compromises aside ... As Waldorf teachers, we must be true anthroposophists in the deepest sense of the word in our innermost feeling.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 118.
Determining whether the teachers at a Waldorf charter school abide by this admonition may require considerable detective work. Of course, if you enroll your child, the answer may gradually become apparent over time — but by then the effects on your child may be difficult to repair.
* This is not to deny that Waldorf methods can be attractive. [See "Methods".] The schools try not to push kids too hard. They leave plenty of time for play and creativity, imagination and whimsy. Art and beauty are stressed. Indeed, Waldorf teachers are generally expected to present every subject in an artistic manner. All of this is quite nice, if less than overwhelmingly original. No one, after all, thinks that kids should be pushed too hard, or that schools should be unpleasant and ugly. But the real question about Waldorf methods is whether they work — that is, whether the kids receive a good education. Sadly, there is much evidence that Waldorf students learn less than kids in other types of schools and often emerge unprepared for life outside the Waldorf community. [See, e.g., "Academic Standards at Waldorf" and "Our Experience".]
From SteinerBooks:
"Religious ritual is often seen as a way of bringing divine influences down into the material world. In this profound and stimulating work, Rudolf Steiner and Friedrich Benesch introduce the idea of 'reverse ritual' — a way that each of us can raise our souls to the spiritual realm.
"In this process, the everyday world becomes a portal through which we can enter the dimension of the sacred. Here, each of us can be a 'priest,' and each of our actions can be a cosmic, ritual act.
"This stimulating collection of writings on spiritual communion of humanity includes two further lectures by Steiner that show how this process can engage our social lives. Also included are two additional essays as appendices: 'Sacramental and Spiritual Communion' by Dietrich Asten and 'Human Encounters and Karma' by Athys Floride."
[1-2-2011 http://steinerbooks.org/detail.html?session=6c4abb88aefd55046084eedb16004b24&id=9780880104876]
Response:
Anthroposophists almost always deny that their beliefs constitute a religion. Yet Anthroposophists quite often let slip information that reveals the real nature of those beliefs. Anthroposophy is, in brief, a pagan religion. Its "reverse" nature underscores the oddity of its occult teachings.
Most important for us here, the Anthroposophical religion suffuses almost everything that happens at most Waldorf schools. [See, e.g., "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?" and "Soul School".]
Everyone has a right to practice the religion of her/his choice. But if you are considering a Waldorf school, try to make sure that you understand — and accept — the beliefs of that school's faculty (bearing in mind that Waldorf faculties often deny their real agenda when talking with outsiders). If you cannot accept those beliefs, Waldorf will probably not be the right choice for you or your child. Sooner or later, Anthroposophical beliefs will make themselves felt in the classroom — perhaps subtly, or then again perhaps not. [See, e.g., "Spiritual Agenda" and "Faculty Meetings".]
“There are several factors to take into account when choosing a Waldorf school for your preschooler ... Credentials Are the teachers and instructors at this preschool educated in the Waldorf method? ... Location Much of the Waldorf approach revolves around the seasons and nature. In keeping with this view, a Waldorf preschool usually has “festivals” ... Parental Participation If the preschool is dedicated to the Waldorf approach and but [sic] the parents are not, the children will not reap the benefits of the philosophy ... Cost The cost of Waldorf preschools generally mirrors that of conventional private preschools ... Feedback From Other Parents More than any outside advice or checklist, real feedback from real parents is a wonderful resource ... Keep the Larger Picture In Mind When looking at a prospective Waldorf school, it is important not to focus just on one issue.”
[12-19-2010 http://www.suite101.com/content/choosing-a-waldorf-preschool-a322772 This item was circulated on the Web on 1-2-2011.]
Response:
The main factor to bear in mind when considering Waldorf schools is this: How devoted is any particular Waldorf school to the occult doctrines of Anthroposophy?
There is some variation between Waldorf schools on this key issue, but the only safe assumption to start with is that occultism lies at the heart of each Waldorf school. Thus, for instance, if the teachers at any school have received extensive Waldorf teacher training, they are almost certainly, to one degree or another, Anthroposophists. Such teachers will consult their occult beliefs in making all decisions about the school's curriculum and activities. Unless you share these teachers' mystical mindset, that school is almost certainly wrong for you and your child.
[See “Teacher Training”, “Non-Waldorf Waldorfs”, and “Clues”. Concerning Waldorf secrecy, see, e.g., "Secrets" and "Our Experience". For information on the festivals celebrated at Waldorf schools, see "Magical Arts". For an overall assessment of the role occultism plays in Waldorf education, see "Here's the Answer" and the essays that immediately follow it.]
Tweet of the day:
"Steiner Waldorf schools Part 3 The problem of racism. Major guest post now up http://bit.ly/fi6H7z"
[1-2-2011 http://twitter.com/david_colquhoun/status/15323702589652992]
“10 New Year’s Resolutions for a Waldorf Inspired Homeschooling Mom! ... #7, I will work with and not against my children's temperaments."
[1-1-2011 http://themysticalkingdom.blogspot.com/2010/12/10-new-years-resolutions-for-waldorf.html]
Quoting Rudolf Steiner several times, the blogger at “The Mystical Kingdom” offers New Year’s resolutions, such as the one I’ve quoted. Unless you, too, are a mystic, you may want to tread carefully. In Waldorf schools, “temperaments” are classifications adapted from an ancient — and totally discredited — system of thought. Waldorf students are segregated on the basis of “temperament” (choleric, melancholic, sanguine, and phlegmatic), and they will receive treatment based on this discriminatory pigeonholing. [See, e.g., “The Phlegmatic Sits by the Window”, by a teacher with experience in Waldorf schools: http://waldorfcritics.org/active/articles/the_phlegmatic_sits_by_the.html]
Before taking too much inspiration from Waldorf schools, it would be advisable to understand the thinking and practices found in the schools. They are rooted in occultism. [See, e.g., "Soul School" and "Occultism".]
Larry Clark at Wellspring [http://martyrion.blogspot.com/] is posting some of Steiner's lectures. For January 1, 2011: "Jesus: Krishna, Redeemed by Christ"; for December 31, 2010: "Why Did Christ Die in a Human Body?" Like most Steiner lectures, these are rough sledding. But anyone interested in Waldorf education should read Steiner, who is the font of virtually all Waldorf "wisdom." [If you'd like some assistance in studying Steiner, see, e.g., "Lecture".] A large number of Steiner lectures is available at the Rudolf Steiner Archive: http://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/.
Clark seems to fall into the common error of thinking that Anthroposophy — the belief system undergirding Waldorf schools — is Christian. Take any such assessment with plenty of salt. [See, e.g., "Was He Christian?"]
"It should...be understood that anthroposophy is not a 'Christian' teaching in the sense that it favors Christianity above other competing religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, or Shintoism." — Anthroposophist Stewart C. Easton, MAN AND THE WORLD IN THE LIGHT OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 1989), pp. 175-176.
Steiner had plenty to say about Christ, but what he said may startle Christians: He said that Christ is one of a vast plethora of gods, many of whom are situated on various celestial globes. Specifically, Christ is the Sun God — the god who dwells upon, and rules over, the Sun. [See "Sun God".] Some of Steiner's statements on this subject are a bit opaque. For instance:
"I told you also how the Sun, which hitherto we have thought of as being supreme in power and might, now appears as a planet among the seven planets, and Christ as the Spirit of the planet of the Sun." — Rudolf Steiner, MAN IN THE LIGHT OF OCCULTISM, THEOSOPHY AND PHILOSOPHY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1964), lecture 10, GA 137.
But on other occasions, Steiner was — for him — quite clear. Christ is the Sun God who came down to Earth:
“Had Christ not appeared on the earth, had He remained the Sun-God only, humanity on the earth would have fallen into decay.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING (Anthroposophical Publishing Company, 1958), “World-Pentecost; The Message of Anthroposophy”, GA 226.
Q: “What's that whole Waldorf school system about? ... [S]urely there's some good things, since Waldorf schools are popping up everywhere..."
A 1: “...I would say that the people I know who were educated in Waldorf schools are insanely creative, loving, smart, and curious but are also completely feral, have problems fitting into structured environments, have problems keeping jobs, and get bored easily....”
A 2: “[I]t is a very structured system, and they demand that families comply with things like absolutely no tv or computers or even recorded music for young children. There are also things that are weirder, like the belief that reading and writing should be delayed until age 7 ... [And] the 'no black crayons' thing ... [A] teacher told me that children prefer to play with natural materials because they could sense the ‘life energy’ or some such nonsense ... It isn't an educational community that I choose to participate in any more.”
[1-1-2011 http://questionland.com/questions/17677-whats-that-whole-waldorf-school-system-about]
Anyone who wonders what Waldorf schools are all about may want to read the aptly titled report "Here's the Answer". (I can vouch for it. I know the author pretty well.)
.
.
.
.
.
..
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse