January, '18
Here is a collection of items that appeared on the Waldorf Watch "news" page in January , 2018. The items appear in reverse chronological order: newest first, oldest last. To find a specific item, scroll down the page.
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I am the author of the Waldorf Watch commentaries, editorials, and explanatory notes you will find here. In them, I often generalize about Waldorf schools. There are fundamental similarities among Waldorf schools; I describe the schools based on the evidence concerning their structure and operations in the past and — more importantly — in the present. But not all Waldorf schools, Waldorf charter schools, and Waldorf-inspired schools are wholly alike. 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
January 30
WALDORF, HARRY,
AND HIDDEN DEEPS
From The Des Moines Register [Iowa, USA]:
‘Harry Potter’ comes to life
in Des Moines this weekend
Wizards and witches of Iowa, you don’t need an official letter from Hogwarts to experience a real-life taste of the Harry Potter universe in Des Moines this weekend.
Running Friday and Saturday, touring cinema concert production company CineConcerts brings film favorite “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” to life via a performance from the Des Moines Symphony....
[downloaded 1/30/2018 https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/entertainment/arts/2018/01/29/harry-potter-comes-life-des-moines-weekend/1075313001/]
Waldorf Watch Response:
What does this announcement have to do with Waldorf education?
Come to that, what does Harry Potter have to do with Waldorf?
Nothing, of course.
Except...
Some Waldorf teachers evidently believe that Harry Potter has already come to life. He is real. He exists. Although, of course, he is not quite what he seems.
Let's take this one step at a time.
Rudolf Steiner taught that all fairy tales and myths are true.
“Fairy tales are never thought out [i.e., invented]; they are the final remains of ancient clairvoyance [i.e., the clairvoyance ancient peoples possessed] ... 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.
“Actual facts concerning the higher Spiritual Worlds lie at the foundation of all myths.” — Rudolf Steiner, UNIVERSE, EARTH AND MAN (H. Collison, 1931), GA 105.
All fairy tales. All myths.
The beings described in fairy tales and myths really exist, Steiner taught.
“Myths and sagas are not just 'folk-tales'; they are the memories of the visions people perceived in olden times ... At night they were really surrounded by the world of the...gods of which the legends tell ... [These gods] 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.
Even beings created by human imagination can become real, Steiner taught: These imagined characters become actual spirits residing in the spirit realm. Shakespeare's characters, for instance. If a Shakespeare play is performed properly, the characters in it take on real existence on high:
“When you make Shakespearean characters living [i.e., when you "bring them to life," as theater folk say]...you can raise them into the supersensible world [i.e., the spirit realm] where they remain living. Of course, they do not do in the higher worlds what they do on the physical plane, but they remain alive, nevertheless, and they act there.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 336.
Well, then. Such beliefs can lead Steiner's followers to believe that Harry Potter and other imagined beings may really exist. Steiner taught that imagination is akin to, or a form of, clairvoyance.
This is why a Waldorf press puts out books such as WHO IS HARRY POTTER? Written by a Waldorf teacher, WHO IS HARRY POTTER? claims to reveal (or indicate, or anyway suggest) Harry's real identity.
Frans Lutters, WHO IS HARRY POTTER?
(Waldorf Publications, 2015)
Here is how Waldorf teacher Frans Lutters states his conclusions about Harry Potter, as of now. (He will continue his occult research, and he urges us to follow his example.)
"I found Harry's true identity in Mani [the founder of the religion called Manichaeism] and in the continuation of his mission as Parzival [a knight who searched for the Holy Grail]. This answer is only a preliminary one. What I am hoping for is that, after reading this booklet, the readers will begin their own investigations [i.e., practice Anthroposophy].
"One thing is a certainty for me: The real Harry Potter is alive and working as our contemporary ... The Harry Potter story shows in pictures real events that have been happening in the world since 1980. We have to do with a spiritual battle being fought behind the scenes of outer reality. Great initiates such as Mani and Zarathustra [the founder of the religion called Zoroastrianism] are involved in this battle." — WHO IS HARRY POTTER?, pp. 61-62.
There's a lot of humor in Anthroposophy, although most of it is unintentional. Rudolf Steiner's followers believe — really and truly — the loopiest things. (For instance, they believe the teachings of Rudolf Steiner.) So some of them believe that Harry Potter is probably Mani, aka Parzival. And they think that Harry Potter really exists. "One thing is a certainty [sic] for me...."
Oh. About Zoroaster. In case you haven't guessed, he is Harry's teacher, Albus Dumbledore. See Chapter 8 of WHO IS HARRY POTTER? Its title is "Zoroaster and Dumbledore."
"In Albus Dumbledore the spiritual force of Zarathustra is living again...." — WHO IS HARRY POTTER?, p. 48.
Now, all of this would be okay if Lutters was simply saying that the Harry Potter books repeat themes found in certain ancient myths and belief systems. But he is not saying that. Or his is not saying only that. He is saying (as Steiner taught) that mythic characters — in this case, Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore — really exist. Really.
"One thing is a certainty for me: The real Harry Potter is alive and working as our contemporary." — WHO IS HARRY POTTER?, p. 62.
Now you know.
— R.R.
P.S. If you'd like to examine some of the bizarre beliefs that Rudolf Steiner preached to his followers — bizarre beliefs that his followers generally accept — you might take a peek at "Steiner Static" and "Oh Man" and "Steiner's Blunders". There you will find teachings that can lead people into such a welter of delusion that they wind up thinking seriously that, for instance, Harry Potter (aka Mani, aka Parzival) is alive and well today. This is the welter toward which Waldorf education can lead innocent children. The question becomes, then, whether you want your children to be led in that direction. Bear in mind, some of Steiner's true-believing followers work as teachers in Waldorf schools. They would be happy to "educate" your children for you.
January 29
WALDORF'S OCCULT
UNDERPINNINGS
"Trending" today at The Quackometer Blog:
What Every Parent Should Know
About Steiner-Waldorf Schools
STEINER SCHOOLS ARE BASED ON ESOTERIC, MYSTICAL BELIEFS.
SOME OF THOSE BELIEFS ARE DEEPLY DISTURBING.
You may know my feelings about Steiner/Waldorf Schools. Most importantly, that prospective parents are not being told about the occult foundations of the Steiner philosophy. You may think that the mystical, spiritual and esoteric movement behind Steiner schools might be a very important factor in deciding whether your children should attend such a school. But the schools obviously do not. Informed choice is not possible when you do not understand the school’s underlying philosophy....
Rudolf Steiner was a central figure of the occult revival at the start of the 20th Century. He believed he had access to a higher consciousness through a clairvoyant knowledge of the spiritual world....
Anthroposophy blended ideas from astrology, spiritualism, Rosicrucianism, Christian mysticism and other gnostic and esoteric sources, to create a cosmology based on Steiner’s readings of the ‘Akashic Records‘ — the cosmic history of the past and the future that exists on a spiritual plane and available to the few through meditation and clairvoyance. Thus was born Steiner’s Spiritual Science — his belief that ordinary science was really just a capability to be able to “spell”, but to be able to “read” one had to have knowledge of higher spiritual existences. Without such knowledge, we cannot fulfill our potential as fully spiritual beings....
Steiner’s cosmology is inherently racist and abhorrent. [According to Steiner] black people are spiritually childish. Jews should simply ‘disappear’. Disabled people somehow must have wanted to be disabled though actions in previous lives.
Steiner viewed the purpose of Anthroposophy was to prevent the human race from degenerating towards a black-brown “denseness”....
[downloaded 1/29/2018 http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/11/what-every-parent-should-know-about-steiner-waldorf-schools.html]
Waldorf Watch Response:
"What Every Parent Should Know About Steiner-Waldorf Schools" has been online for several years. But if it is currently trending, the schools may be receiving much-needed scrutiny.
Parents considering Waldorf schools for their children should work to understand what these schools actually represent. If you do the work and like what you find, then fine — Waldorf may be just what you're looking for. But otherwise, you almost certainly should give Waldorf a miss.
Waldorf-critical websites such as The Quackometer Blog can be helpful in your efforts to understand Waldorf education. Other such sites include People for Legal and Nonsectarian Schools (PLANS), The Waldorf Review, Faith Schoolers Anonymous, and (for Francophones) La Vérité sur les écoles Steiner-Waldorf. The Ethereal Kiosk is informative as well (especially if you know Swedish in addition to English), as is its Facebook extension.
This is by no means a complete list, but it should get you started.
Of course, you should also check in with some Waldorf-promoting sites, such as the site for The Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA), the one for The Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America (WECAN), and the site for The Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship (SWSF).
In all cases, keep your thinking cap on and your quackometer running.
The author of The Quackometer Blog is Andy Lewis. For an interview with Lewis, see https://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/waldorf_steiner_and_education.
— R.R.
January 27
WALDORF: PLANETS,
TYPES, & PHASES
From Mountain Xpress [Asheville, North Carolina]:
Rainbow and Azalea Mountain schools to host educator
ASHEVILLE — Join educators, parents and interested community members on Feb. 7 for two public events with Torin M. Finser. On the campus of Azalea Mountain School…Finser will be discussing the foundations of Waldorf education found in anthroposophy through study and the practice of the arts.…
At 7 p.m., on the campus of Rainbow Community School...Finser will be discussing his new book, Education for Nonviolence: The Waldorf Way. In this book, Finser describes how Waldorf education provides much-needed pathways towards wholeness….
Finser is chair of the Education Department at Antioch University New England … Torin is the author of numerous books, including School as a Journey (1994); School Renewal (2001); and Organizational Integrity (2007).
[downloaded 1/27/2018 https://mountainx.com/blogwire/rainbow-and-azalea-mountain-schools-to-host-educator/]
Waldorf Watch Response:
Rudolf Steiner's followers (Anthroposophists) often work as missionaries, proselytizing for their belief system and promoting one of that system's chief embodiments, Waldorf education. In these missionary efforts, they usually try to make their beliefs seem sensible. But if we dig a little, we can reach down to the bedrock doctrines of their faith, which are anything but sensible.
Torin M. Finser is the author of numerous books bearing respectable titles that would alarm no one. But, then again, Finser is also the author of works such as this:
INITIATIVE - A Rosicrucian Path of Leadership
(SteinerBooks, 2011)
Rosicrucians are members of a secretive group — or a loose-knit array of groups — professing occult spiritual wisdom. Rudolf Steiner declared that Rosicrucianism is the correct spiritual path for modern humanity. [See "Rosy Cross".] Steiner did not mean just any old Rosicrucianism, of course. He meant Rosicrucianism as reconceived by himself; he meant, in effect, Anthroposophy. [See the entries for "Rosicrucianism" and "Anthroposophy" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.]
When Torin M. Finser writes of "A Rosicrucian Path of Leadership", he means the Rosicrucian path delineated by Steiner. He means the belief system embraced by many Waldorf teachers and their trainers (such as Torin M. Finser).
The path Finser discusses is infused, at almost every step, by astrology. As we have noted here previously, astrology is almost always present in Waldorf thinking. [See, e.g., the news item for Jan. 19, below: "Waldorf Astrology, FYI".]
Let's hear Finser on this matter.
"In my 2007 book Organizational Integrity, I introduced the notion of planetary types ... [I]n the years since that original piece, I have done further research in regard to the role of planetary influences [on human beings]." — Torin M. Finser, INITIATIVE - A Rosicrucian Path of Leadership (SteinerBooks, 2011), p. 63.
By "planetary types," Finser means types of human beings who are heavily influenced by the astrology forces flowing down from specific planets overhead. In INITIATIVE, Finser discusses this at some length. Notice how his terminology is reminiscent of the astrological claptrap found in newspaper horoscope columns.
"[L]et us look more closely at what I call the 'planetary types'...
"The Saturn Type Such person cultivate their inner world with great energy but generally have poor relationships with the outer world ... Saturn types can be awkward in practical matters (they are typically not good car mechanics), and they tend to be easily offended ... Their virtue is loyalty; their vice is spite....
"The Mercury Type ... The Mercury type can observe things and people with great acuteness ... They always seem to be in motion, dancing through life as it were, but they are inwardly quite passive ... The virtue of the Mercury type is their light-footed cleverness; their vice can be a kind of superficiality that can border on dishonesty....
"The Mars Type ... [T]he Mars type looks continually to the future ... These people are goal oriented, they push obstacles aside, and they can be quite rude at times ... [T]heir virtue is courage, but their vices are anger, excessive zeal, and the tendency to give free rein to their passions...." — Finser, ibid., pp. 69-72.
Finser goes on to tell us about the Moon type, the Venus type, the Jupiter type, and the the Sun type. [pp. 72-75]
Finser also explains that each person, over the course of a typical lifetime, passes through seven distinct "planetary phases" during which s/he rises through the planetray spheres, as it were:
"Moon phase, from birth to age seven ... Mercury phase, ages seven to fourteen ... Venus phase, ages fourteen to twenty-one ... Sun phase, ages twenty-one to forty two ... Mars phase, ages forty-two to forty-nine ... Jupiter phase, ages forty-nine to fifty-six ... Saturn phase, ages fifty-six to sixty-three." — Finser, ibid., pp. 102-103.
Bear in mind that when Anthroposophists talk this way, they are not speaking metaphorically. They mean these things literally. Thus, Rudolf Steiner taught that humans undergo significant mental, physical, and spiritual changes every seven years. [See "What We're Made Of".] Indeed, the idea that children change significantly every seven years is sometimes called Steiner's most significant educational insight. [See "Most Significant".] Anthroposophists say this, anyway.
Finser provides a handy chart showing the planetary spheres and the schedule of our movement upward through these spheres:
INITIATIVE - A Rosicrucian Path of Leadership, p. 103.
Finser credits other mystics for inspiring some of his occult notions, but toward the end of INITIATIVE, he puts the ultimate credit where ultimate credit is due:
"I base all my research on the anthroposophic worldview as described by Rudolf Steiner." — Finser, ibid., p. 109.
If you have an opportunity to attend a public presentation by Torin M. Finser or any other proponent of Waldorf education, I'd suggest you go. But I'd also suggest you bring along a list of pointed questions.
— R.R.
January 25
STEINER, WALDORF,
AND BEES
— AND DEMONS
(CONT.)
From The Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA):
Webinar: Who Are The Honey Bees?
Date: 1/31/2018 Start Time: 6:30 PM End Time: 7:45 PM
Location: Online Webinar, sponsored by AWSNA and the Anthroposophical Society
...Discover the relationship of bees to the human being, based on inspirations from Rudolf Steiner and biodynamics.
Find out more about who the honeybees are and how we can relate to them....
Where: Join us live on Zoom by registering at this link....
Sponsored by AWSNA and the Anthroposophical Society in America
[downloaded 1/25/2018 https://waldorfeducation.org/default.aspx?RelId=622273&eventid=301]
Waldorf Watch Response:
Rudolf Steiner's followers have long held odd, occult beliefs about bees, as we have seen previously. See the news item for Jan. 14, below: "Steiner, Waldorf, and Bees".
Bees are important pollinators, and they are accorded considerable importance in the Waldorf worldview. Lectures about bees are fairly common in Waldorf schools, and some of these schools have beehives on their grounds. This may be well and good. But the particulars of Waldorf beliefs about bees are decidedly offbeat.
Steiner taught that beehives possess a more advanced consciousness than human beings currently possess.
“The group soul of a beehive is a very high level being ... It is of such a high development that you might almost say it is cosmically precocious. It has attained a level of evolutionary development that human beings will later reach in the Venus cycle [of cosmic evolution]." — Rudolf Steiner, BEES (SteinerBooks, 1998), p. 176.
The particulars of Waldorf beliefs about most things tend to be offbeat, to one degree or another. Waldorf beliefs are otherworldly and, almost always, occult.
[For more on Steiner's teachings about bees and related matters, see, e.g., "Bees" and "Matters of Form". You might also want to check out "Occultism".]
We should also note that "webinars" are uncommon in Waldorf circles, but they are not entirely unknown there. Steiner's followers generally fear modern technology, but sometimes they try to make use of it to advance their spiritual agenda.
Their fear of technology centers on a terrible demon who goes by the name of Ahriman. We have looked into this subject, too, in recent days. See the news item for Jan. 5, below: "Waldorf, Technology, and Demons".
“[T]he whole computer and Internet industry is today the most effective way to prepare for the imminent incarnation of Ahriman ... The net of ahrimanic spider beings developing out of the internet around the earth...will serve [Ahriman] particularly effectively and offer him extremely favorable potential to work. ” — Anthroposophist Sergei O. Prokofieff, "The Being of the Internet".
Note that "Ahrimanic spider beings" are distinctly different from bees. Ahrimanic spider beings are monstrosities of intellect and technology that will spread their foul influence over the entire Earth one day, according to Steiner.
“[T]he earth...will be covered as if by a network or web of ghastly spiders possessing tremendous wisdom ... To the extent that human beings have not enlivened their shadowy, intellectual concepts, they will have to unite their being...with these ghastly mineral-plant-like spidery creatures. They will have to dwell together with these spiders ... [This is] a serious matter facing mankind ... [W]e are dealing with something that definitely affects the whole configuration of the cosmos." — Rudolf Steiner, MATERIALISM AND THE TASK OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1987), lecture 14, GA 204.
[For more on these strange matters, see "Ahriman", "Spiders, Dragons and Foxes", and the entries for "spiders" and "technology" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.]
— R.R.
January 23
◊ READINGS ◊
WALDORF'S PIPELINE
TO THE GODS
CREATING A CIRCLE OF COLLABORATIVE SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP
(Pedagogical Section Council of North America,
Waldorf Press, 2014),
edited by Roberto Trostli
Having lofty motives can sometimes be a dangerous thing.
Waldorf faculties often think they are serving the gods. This would be fine, if the gods they believe in actually exist, and if they really know what those gods intend. But if not, then Waldorf schools may be operating under a dangerous form of delusion. In either case, you should know what true-belieiving Waldorf teachers truly believe.
Consider the following quotation from a recent book put out by a Waldorf teachers' council:
"If the College [of Teachers] is to be a true spiritual community bound by spiritual idealism, its members need to work in a way that attracts spiritual beings to participate in its tasks." — Waldorf teacher Roberto Trostli, CREATING A CIRCLE OF COLLABORATIVE SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP (Waldorf Publications, 2014), p. 43.
The "college of teachers" at a typical Waldorf school is the central committee, the group that calls most of the shots in the school. The members are, usually, Waldorf teachers who are committed to Anthroposophy (Rudolf Steiner's spiritual teachings) or who are headed in that direction.
The "spiritual beings" whom Waldord teachers try to engage are gods. They are the spirits Steiner meant when he said this to Waldorf teachers:
"Among the faculty, we must certainly carry within us the knowledge that we are not here for our own sakes, but to carry out the divine cosmic plan. We should always remember that when we do something, we are actually carrying out the intentions of the gods, that we are, in a certain sense, the means by which that streaming down from above will go out into the world." — Waldorf founder Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER — Foundations of Waldorf Education (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 55.
Waldorf schools are religious institutions, and their religion (their "spiritual idealism") is Anthroposophy. Waldorf spokespeople usually deny these things. They deny them to outsiders, and sometimes they even deny them to themselves. But consider the words we have seen just now. The central committee of a Waldorf school wants to be "a true spiritual community," a "circle of spiritual leadership" that "attracts spiritual beings to participate in its tasks." It wants to "carry out the divine cosmic plan." In other words, it wants to "carry out the intentions of the gods."
A true-blue Anthroposophical Waldorf school is a religious institution. And it is run by religious zealots — people who think they are "the means by which that streaming down from above [i.e., the gods' beneficence] will go out into the world.” This is powerful stuff. Potentially, it is powerfully worrisome. Do the gods of Anthroposophy really exist? (Steiner said there are scads of them, arrayed in nine ranks.) And do Waldorf teachers really understand the gods' will (the gods' "divine cosmic plan")? True-believing Waldorf teachers think the answer to both questions is yes.
Consider the enormous authority Waldorf teachers think they wield as a result. They think they work hand-in-hand with gods. They think they are the earthly representatives of those gods. They think they have divine sanction for their work. They think that opposing them or even questioning them means lining up in opposition to the gods.
How should teachers at a Waldorf school conduct their meetings, in order to induce the gods "to participate" in the school's "tasks"? The teachers should conduct strange religious rituals:
"[A] 'cultus' or true ritual is an earthly reflection of something we have experienced in the spiritual world before birth. When we participate in a ritual together, we feel a connection with those who are participating with us because we have common cosmic memories ... [An important] foundation for community is what Rudolf Steiner terms the 'reverse cultus' or 'reverse ritual' ... While a ritual bring the supersensible down into the physical world through words and actions, the reverse ritual raises earthly deeds into the supersensible realm [i.e., the spirit realm]... The reverse ritual is the crux of College work. When a meeting achieves the reverse ritual, spiritual beings receive an offering...that is akin to the blessing we receive when we partake of a sacrament." — Roberto Trostli, CREATING A CIRCLE OF COLLABORATIVE SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP, pp. 43-45.
A "reverse ritual," in its crudest form, is a ritual conducted in reverse order. Thus, for instance, Steiner sometimes recited The Lord's Prayer in reverse order and with altered wording. (Instead of addressing "Our Father who art in heaven," Steiner addressed "Ye Fathers [i.e., gods] in the heavens.")
At a higher level, a reverse ritual is a spiritual ceremony in which the flow of beneficence is reversed — instead of streaming down from above, it rises from the Earth to the divine regions above.
We don't need to unpack all of the strange religious beliefs entailed in Trostli's statements. It is sufficient, for now, simply to recognize the obvious reality: Trostli is talking about religious ceremonies conducted by the central committee of teachers at the heart of a Waldorf school. He is telling us (even if he would likely deny it) that a Waldorf school is a religious institution, and its religion is Anthroposophy.
Parents who want to send their children to Waldorf schools should certainly be free to do so. But they really should understand what sort of school they are choosing for their beloved daughters and sons.
[To learn a bit about the gods of Anthroposophy, see "Polytheism". To learn a bit about the religious nature of Anthroposophy, see "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?" To delve into reverse rituals as prescribed by Rudolf Steiner, see the book REVERSE RITUAL - Spiritual Knowledge Is True Communion, by Rudolf Steiner and Friedrich Benesch (Anthroposophic Press, 2001). To read Steiner's reverse Lord's Prayer, see "Soul School - Religion and More in Waldorf Schools".]
— R.R.
January 21
REELING AWAY
FROM WALDORF
From time to time, stunned and disillusioned parents report their experiences at Waldorf schools. Here are excerpts from such a report posted yesterday — Jan. 20, 2018. I have done a little light editing for clarity (my annoying habit as an old English teacher).
Hello,
My son attended [X] Waldorf Nursery school for 3 years of preschool. I was attracted to it for the nature, art and play-based aspects. I also appreciated what I thought was non-religious spirituality ... We left a couple of months early in his 3rd year due to safety concerns and learning more about the Waldorf founder Rudolf Steiner's background. When I first researched the school I learned nothing concerning these things. I've since learned that if one does not intentionally look for negative things on Waldorf, only positive, Waldorf-based sites show up online, some looking independent.
I was very involved [at the school] as a volunteer ... I was particularly thankful when my son was 2 that I could participate in the parent-child class which seemed in line with attachment parenting ... [I] later realized that was the beginning [of] "teaching" me as much as my son.
I learned of teachers believing [in] gnomes ... I cocked my head and did some research and was stunned, beginning with concern about them taking their reverence for nature beyond reality and how that could impact our son. Then learning of Steiner's involvement with the occult, and his racist statements (karmic hierarchy of souls from black to white) ... [I was] outright stupefied....
...I would have wanted to know these things before starting and so am posting them here so that other parents may research criticisms as well as information by pro-Waldorf and anthroposophy sites.
...Looking back...I see how rituals, communications, materials and activities seem to me all skillful means to indoctrinate my son and family ... Some particularly strange things in the last year indicate that [the Waldorf faculty] may have been trusting me more given my involvement and enthusiasm. While we did have many positive experiences at [the school] the information that came to light overshadowed and changed our understanding of the positive aspects far beyond what was acceptable to us.
[At this point, the writer gives a long list of specific problems at the school.]
People can have a wide range of parenting and spiritual beliefs. Transparency of those beliefs is critical for me to trust a school with my child. In my experience the school was not completely forthright with their beliefs. Some concerns & criticisms raised in waldorfwatch.com and other critical websites are consistent with my experience of Waldorf education ... Many concerning aspects were very subtle, [but] cumulatively and increasingly concerning issues arose, particularly in the last year.
[downloaded 1/21/2018 https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/waldorf-critics/conversations/messages/31732]
Waldorf Watch Response:
Different families sending their kids to different Waldorf schools may have very different experiences. Some children and their parents love the Waldorf schools in which they become involved.
Yet, undeniably, some families reel away from Waldorf stunned. The bizarre nature of Waldorf beliefs shocks many, and the day-to-day reality of life within the schools is often jarringly unlike the glowing images projected by Waldorf PR.
Disillusioned families often depart Waldorf schools quietly. They aren't looking to pick a fight with anyone — they just want to undo whatever damage their children suffered, and find a better school. But sometimes, fortunately, brave parents write the truth about their sojourns in the delusory Waldorf universe.
To delve more deeply into these matters, you should read the entire message posted at the Waldorf Critics discussion site — it is far longer than the excerpted version above. You may also want to examine "Moms", "Pops", and "Cautionary Tales".
— R.R.
January 20
THE SILENT DEATHS
OF WALDORF SCHOOLS
New Waldorf schools are created now and then, all around the world. And Waldorf schools die now and then, all around the world.
The Waldorf movement generally trumpets news of Waldorf openings while hushing up news of Waldorf collapses.
Here is a rough translation of the headline and first paragraph of a French blog posting that touches on these matters. The headline, in French, is "L’école Steiner-Waldorf des Capucines ferme définitivement ses portes."
The Steiner-Waldorf School of Capucines
finally closes its doors
Posted on January 18, 2018
The news of the closure of a Steiner-Waldorf school is usually something that the leaders of these institutions do not want to publicize, as this would draw attention to an event whose causes they would prefer to keep hidden. That's why everything is done so that the news does not shine out. A Steiner school dies silently, without cries of agony, disappearing from the public scene as if it had never existed. No report is issued, nor of course is any public announcement made, because a candid accounting would be harmful to Steiner-Waldorf schools in general; it would reveal not only local problems, but more importantly it would reveal serious structural dysfunctions caused by the sectarian nature of these schools.
[downloaded 1/20/2018 https://veritesteiner.wordpress.com/2018/01/18/lecole-steiner-waldorf-des-capucines-ferme-definitivement-ses-portes/ Rough translation by Roger Rawlings.]
Waldorf Watch Response:
The blog in question is called La Vérité sur les écoles Steiner-Waldorf (The Truth about Steiner-Waldorf Schools). The blogger is Grégoire Perra, a former Waldorf student and Waldorf teacher. If you can read French, you would be well advised to follow Perra's posts. Having been a Waldorf insider, Perra knows whereof he speaks. (If you can't read French, various online translation services may help you. There is, for instance, Google Translate, which is far from perfect but seems to be improving.)
Perra is a whistle-blower who was once prominent in the Anthroposophical community. After he left that community and began writing critical essays, Steiner-Waldorf authorities sued, trying to silence him. But he won the trial.
Some of his most significant work is available, in English translation, here at Waldorf Watch. Included are:
My Life Among the Anthroposophists/
The Anthroposophical Indoctrination /
of Students in Steiner-Waldorf Schools/
("He Went to Waldorf")
and
Nearly Undetectable Influence/
("Mistreating Kids Lovingly").
The account of Perra's trial is available at "My Life Among The Anthroposophists - Part 3".
For more about the closings of Waldorf schools, see "Failure" and, e.g., an Oct. 10, 2017 news item covered here: "The Canterbury Waldorf School will be auctioned off in October".
Concerning Waldorf failures generally, here is a statement made by an Australian Waldorf teacher:
"In my four decades in Steiner [education], I have seen many [Steiner] schools born ... Sadly I've also seen many die. Sometimes the death is physical, where the school simply vanishes; in others it is a spiritual demise. This is when the purity of the Steiner educational impulse is contaminated, or at worst, corrupted totally ... I can not recall any of these schools dying due to external attack ... Rather every tortured demise was caused from within. The cancer took root in the souls of one or other of the elements of the school community itself...." — Alan Whitehead, A CREATIVE LIFE - Memoirs of a Rudolf Steiner Teacher, vol. 3, Into the Wind (Golden Beetle Books, 2001), p. 2.
A spiritually dead Waldorf school may survive in some form or other, at least for a while. But it will no longer be a real Waldorf school. And, precisely for this reason — because it has lost its raison d'être — it may eventually close its doors. Then again, losing "the purity of the Steiner educational impulse" may merely be a matter of perspective. One faction within a Waldorf school may interpret Steiner's teachings differently from another faction. Strife and dissension may result — this is often the case in Waldorf schools — and the losing faction may accuse the winners of apostasy and betrayal. The school may survive, but at the cost of becoming a difficult place to work. As another Waldorf teacher has written:
"[W]hen things go bad [at a Waldorf school] they do so from the inside ... [S]everal teachers had, through a misunderstanding and misapplication of Steiner's words, become excessively, in fact obsessively, preoccupied with [X, Y, or Z — the details aren't important] ... Between them the school's managers and their protégés had turned the Rudolf Steiner School into a place where I didn't want to be ... I got myself a job at the [non-Steiner] Lenox School ... My work at Lenox was rather trying, since the students were much nastier than the ones at the Rudolf Steiner School ... [but] the teachers were considerably easier to get on with." — Keith Francis, THE EDUCATION OF A WALDORF TEACHER (iUniverse, 2004), pp. 94-115.
— R.R
.
January 19
WALDORF ASTROLOGY,
FYI
Astrology lurks just below the Waldorf surface. [See, e.g., "Waldorf Astrology".]
Here's a heads-up re the astrological moment breaking upon us now, according to a recent Anthroposophical publication:
January 20: Sun 6º Capricorn: Adoration of the Magi (Dec/26/6 BC). Capricorn asks us to stand courageously before the higher thoughts of the gods, for in the absence of truth's redeeming grace, other powers step in — from hidden realms of evil — to fill the void people have left untended. Therefore, without a collective vision for a positive future, adversarial forces may continue to create scenarios that will cause great suffering.
The three kings stood resolutely before the child they came to adore, seeing him as the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy ... The approaching Full Moon of this cycle remembers this adoration.
[JOURNAL FOR STAR WISDOM 2018, edited by Robert Powell (Lindisfarne Books, Anthroposophic Press, 2017), pp. 129-130.]
Waldorf Watch Response:
The Waldorf belief system, Anthroposophy, is polytheistic. Thus, in the passage excerpted above, we find a reference to "the gods." [See "Polytheism".]
JOURNAL FOR STAR WISDOM 2018 tells us that our task is to stand resolutely before the gods' "higher thoughts," which embody "truth's redeeming grace." Truth, according to the Waldorf belief system, is the Waldorf belief system itself. It is, in a word, Anthroposophy. [See, e.g., "Everything".] We become "redeemed," according to Anthroposophy, when we gain access to the hidden meaning of the gods' thoughts. In other words, salvation is not a matter of faith or good works, it is a matter of occult initiation. [See "Inside Scoop".] The Waldorf belief system is, in this sense, gnostic. [See "Gnosis".]
In addition to asserting the existence of many gods, the Waldorf belief system recognizes the existence of many evil spirits or demons ("adversarial forces"). Anthroposophy is sometimes said to be entirely positive and propitious; some adherents say Anthroposophy teaches that "evil" is illusory. But here we find reference to "hidden realms of evil" and the evil spirits that may issue from them. Indeed, Steiner interspersed his uplifting preachments with references to regions of darkness, demonic conspiracies, and evil in its many guises. [See, e.g., "Evil Ones" and "Sin".] The two chief demons mentioned recurrently in Anthroposophical teachings are Ahriman and Lucifer. [See "Ahriman" and "Lucifer".] They would destroy us if Christ did not protect us. This is a cardinal teaching in the Waldorf religion. [See, e.g., "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?"]
The "child" whom the three kings came to adore was, of course, the baby Jesus. But the identity of Jesus is complicated, according to the Waldorf belief system. Steiner taught that there were actually two Jesuses. One had the soul of Zarathustra, while the other embodied the spiritual forces of Buddhism. Moreover, a distinction must be drawn between Jesus and Christ. Steiner taught that Christ is the Sun God (sometimes known by such names as Ra or Apollo). The two Jesuses merged, to become the vessel into which the Sun God — descending from his solar home — incarnated upon the Earth. [See "Was He Christian?" and "Sun God".] The Adoration of the Magi, "remembered" by the Full Moon that will come at the end of January, represents one portion of this complex Anthroposophical religious narrative. [Steiner provided his followers with a "corrected" version of the Gospels of the New Testament: See "Steiner's Fifth Gospel".]
For more on Anthroposophical astrology generally, see "Astrology", "Star Power", and "Astrosophy".
— R.R.
January 17
WALDORF TEACHERS,
TRAINED OR NOT
Here is a fairly typical, innocuous-seeming promotional pitch from a Waldorf teacher-training center. It is evidently meant to appeal to Anthroposophists and non-Anthroposophists alike:
WESTT
West of England Steiner Teacher Training
Structured for people with busy lives
This part time course is designed for those wishing to become Steiner Waldorf teachers and for mainstream teachers who want to deepen and enliven their existing practice. It offers an opportunity to go deeply into Steiner Waldorf educational philosophy and practice in a programme that is structured to be accessible for full time teachers as well as people with family and work commitments. The course takes place over two years, each year consisting of ten weekends, from 7-00 pm on Friday to 1-00 pm on Sunday , with one week at Easter and another in the Summer. Its lively and varied programme focuses primarily on the class teacher period (Ages 6 - 14 years) and is appropriate for those wishing to become class teachers and subject teachers of this age group....
◊
INTRODUCTION DAY
April 2018
Come along to our FREE introduction day and experience different aspects of the WESTT course.
Where: Wynstones School, Gloucs
When: 10am - 4pm
on Saturday 14th April 2018
Coffee at 10 for 10.30 start.
Activities will include:
singing
form drawing
clay modelling
talk on Steiner Education
(no prior experience necessary)
[downloaded 1/17/2018 http://westt.org.uk/index.html]
Waldorf Watch Response:
Rudolf Steiner said Waldorf teachers should be deeply committed Anthroposophists:
"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.
Steiner's followers have taken this to heart:
"Waldorf teachers must be anthroposophists first and teachers second." — Waldorf teacher Gilbert Childs, STEINER EDUCATION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE (Floris Books, 1991), p. 166.
Waldorf teacher-training programs aim to ensure that Waldorf teachers both understand and embrace Anthroposophy. [See "Teacher Training".] Help-wanted ads placed by Waldorf schools almost always stipulate that applicants for teaching positions should have Waldorf training and Waldorf experience. [See, e.g., "Waldorf Today".]
In reality, however, Waldorf schools are often unable to find enough Anthroposophists to fill the ranks. So, often, outsiders are hired — folks having no background in the Waldorf movement and little or no understanding of Steiner's doctrines. The result is that Waldorf faculties often represent a broad spectrum, ranging from devout Anthroposophists, to New Age spiritual aspirants who find Anthroposophy (what they know of it) more or less appealing, to teachers having more conventional religious affiliations, to secular teachers who were simply looking for a job.
People who sign up for Waldorf teacher-training programs often represent the same wide spectrum.
But the underlying structure and impetus of the Waldorf movement is messianic. Efforts are made to indoctrinate not only Waldorf students and their parents, but also to indoctrinate Waldorf teachers who have not yet seen the Anthroposophical light. The process can be subtle and slow, taking many months or even years. But the goal is to bring as many waverers as possible into the fold, sooner or later. (And, sadly, the recalcitrant may be eventually expelled or fired.)
Former Waldorf student Grégoire Perra, who went on to become a Waldorf teacher, has described the process by which Waldorf teachers are conditioned:
"The indoctrination of teachers is...even more perverse [than the indoctrination of students and their parents]. Contrary to what one might think, the teachers in these schools do not all start as Anthroposophists ... [T]he schools must recruit applicants from outside. Most of the time this is done the same way students or parents are recruited, that is to say, without revealing the school's true coloration....
"The indoctrination [of new teachers] begins with the obligation to participate in many educational meetings per week ... [T]hese meetings begin with the reading or recitation of prayers or words of Rudolf Steiner....
"Teachers must also attend conferences that open educational meetings, where esoteric themes are discussed. At first, the uninitiated do not understand much of what is happening nor the esoteric verbiage ... Such a conference is not just a simple means for communicating ideas — it is an act of sacramental communion.
"...Teachers are also encouraged to participate in study groups from the Anthroposophical Society to cultivate the foundations of their discipline or their teaching skills.
"Meanwhile, teachers are asked to participate in various tasks of school life: monitoring the canteen, preparing various gatherings, helping with educational exhibitions, helping with open houses, gardening the school's green spaces, cleaning classrooms, doing small maintenance, undertaking administrative tasks, etc.
"...Ultimately, the teacher is so much involved in the famous "school life" that he soon surrenders his personal life. If his/her spouse does not adhere to the concepts and practices of the school, colleagues make the teacher understand that s/he probably is not living with the right person. The teacher finds compensation, a kind of new family, in the school itself...."
[See "Indoctrination".]
The ultimate objective of the Waldorf movement — which is the same as the ultimate objective of the Anthroposophical movement overall — is to save humanity by leading everyone toward Truth, which for Steiner's followers is summarized in the works of their guru. Fulfilling their messianic dream will take a long time, they know. Meanwhile, Waldorf schools must often make do with imperfect faculties that include non-Anthroposophists. This means the schools cannot function as effectively as they might wish as centers of Anthroposophical awakening. Non-Anthroposophists may sometimes make up a substantial portion of a Waldorf faculty — a majority, in some cases. And non-Anthroposophists may take central roles in the establishment and financing of new Waldorf schools. Non-Anthroposophists may innocently proselytize for Waldorf, and sign petitions for Waldorf, and contribute both cash and voluntary work on behalf of Waldorf. They may give Waldorf a non-Anthroposophical tenor, seeming to validate the usual claim that Waldorf is non-sectarian. As a result, efforts to indoctrinate Waldorf students and their parents — efforts that are generally covert, in any case — may be absent or minimal in some Waldorf schools.
But Anthroposophical ambitions will be unaffected. The Anthroposophists at the core of the Waldorf movement will remain focused and busy. Rudolf Steiner's dream will remain vibrant for them, inspiring them to carry on, working to complete their mission. And carry on they will.
We should harbor no illusions about any of this. When we think about Waldorf schools, we should certainly remember their ultimate purpose, which is to spread Anthroposophy.
[For more on the revolutionary intentions of Anthroposophy, see, e.g., "Mission", "Schools as Churches", and "Threefolding". To consider the covert nature of Waldorf operations — even when the schools are fully staffed by Anthroposophists — see "Secrets" and "Sneaking It In".]
— R.R
.
January 16
WALDORF, SHOTS,
AND ILLNESS
An article in today's New York Times explains how California has stemmed disease outbreaks associated with low vaccination rates. A Waldorf school (Berkeley Rose School) figures prominently in the article.
After a Debacle, How California
Became a Role Model on Measles
Changing minds on vaccination is very difficult,
but it isn’t so important when a law can change behavior.
By Emily Oster and Geoffrey Kocks
In December 2014 something unusual happened at Disneyland. People came to visit Mickey Mouse, and some of them left with measles. At least 159 people contracted the disease during an outbreak lasting several months....
...Medical experts generally agree that the fact that [the Disneyland measles outbreak] took off was probably a result of California’s low vaccination rates, which in turn was a result of an inability to persuade a significant share of Californians that vaccines were important.
The episode made national news, but in the next few years, another development was striking but attracted less national attention: Because of a policy change, California was able to turn it around....
Limiting outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases relies on “herd immunity.” Essentially, if enough people are vaccinated, a disease cannot get a foothold. For measles, this number is around 90 percent to 95 percent. In other words, if 95 percent of people in an area are vaccinated for measles, an outbreak is unlikely even if the disease is introduced....
[An outbreak can occur if a local community, such as the student population in a particular school, has a low vaccination rate.] At the Berkeley Rose School, in Alameda County, only 13 percent of kindergarten students were up to date on vaccinations in 2014....
There were two ways a student could be unvaccinated in 2014 in the California public schools. Some students were admitted “conditionally” — that is, not fully vaccinated but planning to be soon. Other students had a formal “personal belief exemption.” That is, for religious or other reasons — often misplaced fears of vaccine injury — the parents could choose not to vaccinate their children at all....
In the Berkeley Rose School, a private Waldorf school, all of the unvaccinated students (87 percent of the kindergartners) had personal belief exemptions....
In response to the Disneyland outbreak, California suddenly went from a state with quite lax school vaccination standards to one with extremely strict requirements. The state passed Senate Bill 277, which went into effect in 2016 and eliminated all personal belief exemptions and tightened the approach to conditionally enrolled students....
...And what about the Berkeley Rose School, with its 87 percent personal belief exemption rate? By 2016, 57 percent of entering students were vaccinated — a huge change, and that was only in the first year of the law....
In the end, the effect of the law was simple: More children were vaccinated, and the risk of disease outbreaks has gone down....
[1/16/2018 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/upshot/measles-vaccination-california-students.html?_r=0]
Meanwhile, an opinion piece in the Lufkin News [Lufkin, Texas], also deals with vaccination, and it also features a Waldorf school.
Anti-vaccination movement is fake
— and dangerous — news
by Dr. Sid Roberts
Most vaccine-preventable diseases of childhood are at or near record lows. Vaccines prevent the deaths of about 2.5 million children worldwide every year. Yet some highly contagious diseases like measles and whooping cough still pop up where enough people are unvaccinated....
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, students are required to have seven vaccinations in order to attend a public or private elementary or secondary school in Texas....
[But] Texas law also allows — ill-advisedly — “parents/guardians to choose an exemption from immunization requirements for reasons of conscience, including a religious belief.” The “belief” of the anti-vaccination movement is based on lies and is only “religious” in its cult-like following of a dangerous (and discredited) Pied Piper, Andrew Wakefield.
A 2017 Washington Post article states, “A leading conspiracy theorist is Andrew Wakefield, author of the 1998 study that needlessly triggered the first fears. (The medical journal BMJ, in a 2011 review of the debacle, described the paper as “fatally flawed both scientifically and ethically.”) Wakefield’s Twitter handle identifies him as a doctor, but his medical license has been revoked. The British native now lives in Austin, where he is active in the state and national anti-vaccine movement.”
The political noise made by these charlatan zealots has been difficult for legislators to ignore. This disturbing movement has been gaining traction, especially in certain private schools in Texas. In one such school, the Austin Waldorf School, reportedly more than 40 percent of the school’s 158 students are unvaccinated. This is mindboggling ignorance in a “school” where tuition ranges from $11,450 to $17,147 a year.
[downloaded 1/16/2018 http://lufkindailynews.com/news/community/article_9f8eede6-ee2d-5ca0-87ef-8dcdd27a079b.html The article originally appeared on 1/14]
Despite the clear evidence for the efficacy of carefully designed and administered vaccinations, controversy swirls arounds this topic, in at least some quarters. The items excerpted above will not resolve this controversy. But they may help encourage a rational approach to childhood health care, especially in America's schools.
[To delve into the Waldorf attitude toward vaccination, see "Steiner's Quackery".]
— R.R.
January 14
STEINER, WALDORF,
AND BEES
From the Albany Democratic-Herald [Oregon, USA]:
Beginning beekeeping talk slated
The Linn Benton Beekeepers Association is presenting a free talk that will help people thinking about getting into beekeeping understand what to expect ... The discussion will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17, at the Corvallis Waldorf School....
[downloaded 1/14/2018 http://democratherald.com/news/local/beginning-beekeeping-talk-slated/article_6f103aa1-753b-5699-8d33-1484ea100dc0.html]
Waldorf Watch Response:
Why would a Waldorf school host a talk about bees? Perhaps just to be neighborly. Or perhaps there are deeper reasons.
Mystics have long been fascinated by bees, whose industrious, creative behavior (making honey! making beeswax!) seems to transcend anything we could expect from mere bugs. [1]
Rudolf Steiner was one of the mystically-minded admirers of our buzzy little friends, Indeed, one collection of Steiner's lectures is titled BEES. [2]
Steiner's bee-mindedness led him to make many wondrous assertions, such as these:
• “The group soul [2] of a beehive is a very high level being ... It is of such a high development that you might almost say it is cosmically precocious. It has attained a level of evolutionary development that human beings will later reach in the Venus cycle, which follows the completion of the present Earth cycle. [3]" — Rudolf Steiner, BEES (SteinerBooks, 1998), p. 176.
• “What takes place on the other planets [4] cannot be discovered merely by thinking. One cannot for example experience what is taking place on the Sun or Venus if one is unable to transfer one's consciousness into the life and functioning of a colony of bees. [5] The bee has not gone through the whole course of evolution as we have. [5] ... The consciousness of the beehive, not of the single bee, is immensely lofty. The wisdom of this consciousness will only be attained by man in the Venus existence. [6]” — Rudolf Steiner, FOUNDATIONS OF ESOTERICISM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1982), lecture 4, GA 93a.
Anthroposophists, including many Waldorf teachers, credit Steiner with virtual omniscience. They think he knew just about everything about just about everything. As one Waldorf teacher is recorded as saying,
“Steiner had exceptional powers, he saw the future, he knew the truth. If you truly need to learn, you need to study and follow Steiner. Steiner is all anyone ever needs to know.” [6]
Bees occupy a tiny corner of the Waldorf / Anthroposophical universe. Beekeeping is a perfectly respectable occupation, and hosting a talk about beekeeping is a perfectly respectaible thing for a school to do. In all likelihood, the upcoming talk at Corvalis Waldorf School will be anodyne — it will almost certainly not include open references to any of Steiner's bizarre doctrines about bees.
But those doctrines will hover, buzzing, in the background. Waldorf schools are places run, often, by people who believe Steiner about just about everything. ("Steiner is all anyone ever needs to know.”) Parents should contemplate the sort of education their children are likely to receive in schools run by people who believe Steiner.
[For more about Steiner's teachings re bees, see "Bees".]
— R.R.
Waldorf Watch Footnotes
[1] The mystical lore concerning bees is multifaceted. Thus, e.g.,
"In [ancient] Egypt, the bee was associated with the sun and regarded as a symbol of the soul. — In Greece, it was regarded as a priestly animal ... The bee, which seems to die in the winter and return in the spring, is also occasionally encountered as a symbol for death and resurrection ... In Christianity, [the bee's] tireless work also led it to become a symbol for hope ... [H]oney represents Christ's gentleness and compassions, whereas the stinger represents Christ as judge of the world. — Since, according to ancient tradition, bees do not produce their own offspring...they were regarded in the Middle Ages as a symbol of the Immaculate Conception." — Udo Becker, THE CONTINUUM ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SYMBOLS (Continuum, 2000), p. 38.
[2] Rudolf Steiner, BEES (SteinerBooks, 1998). An older version is NINE LECTURES ON BEES (St. Georges Press, 1964). A more recent variant is THE WORLD OF BEES (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2017):
[2] A "group soul," according to Steiner, is the collective soul shared by all members of a species — such as bees — or all members of a spiritually significant group — such a nation or race. [See the entry for "group soul" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE).]
[3] Steiner called the large stages of our evolution "conditions of consciousness" or "planetary conditions". [See the entries for these terms in the BWSE.] Following our lives here on the planet Earth during the "Present Earth" stage of evolution, we will proceed to the "Future Jupiter", "Future Venus", and "Future Vulcan" stages. [See "Present Earth" and "Future Stages".]
[4] Here, Steiner is speaking of real planets — that is, physical spheres, members of the solar system — not planetary conditions. He taught, however, that there are deep connections between planets and planetary conditions. [See "Planets".]
[5] I.e., bees have a collective consciousness that lies outside ordinary experience; bees know, intuitively, what is happening on other worlds.
(Note, by the way, that Steiner often spoke of the Sun as a "planet." He did the same with the Moon.)
[6] See "Ex-Teacher 5".
January 12
Lynn Rollins Stull,
WONDERS AT THE VEIL
(Arts2thrive, LLC, 2017)
From the SteinerBooks website:
In Wonders at the Veil, you will discover veil work — the extraordinary spiritual practice of intentionally approaching the veil between the living and the dead to be of service to your loved ones who have died. You will learn how to penetrate the veil and forge a living connection with those you thought had traveled beyond your reach, supporting them as they journey through the spiritual realms. You will even discover ways to engage in co-creative activities with your loved ones, learning how to recognize the messages you receive from them and together bringing new creations into being on Earth that will enrich your own life and benefit humanity.
Based in part on Rudolf Steiner's indications, author and eurythmist Lynn Stull shares in Wonders at the Veil the practices she has engaged in for nearly twenty years. Topics covered include creating a successful veil work practice, communication basics, the fundamental practice of reading to our loved ones, steps for co-creating with loved ones who have died, and eurythmy and painting exercises that facilitate connection.
"Now is the time in our spiritual evolution to create conscious, living relationships with loved ones who have died. I welcome you to this sacred, heart-opening work." —Lynn Rollins Stull, Director, Institute for Veil Work
[downloaded 1/12/2018 https://steiner.presswarehouse.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=512711]
Waldorf Watch Response:
Contacting the dead, and offering assistance to the dead, are preoccupations for many of Rudolf Steiner's followers.
This preoccupation extends into Waldorf schools. Here is a book, published by a Waldorf educational outfit, offering guidance for Waldorf teachers:
Helmut von Külgelgen,
WORKING WITH THE DEAD
(Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, 2003)
In WORKING WITH THE DEAD, the author — a Waldorf teacher — advises his colleagues to teach young Waldorf students to "serve the dead." In the same vein, he urges Waldorf teachers to have their students celebrate not only people's birthdays but also their "death days." [See "Waldorf Wisdom", installment 2, "The Dead".]
Other Anthroposophical books dealing with the dead and our ties to them include STAYING CONNECTED - How to Continue Your Relationships with Those Who Have Died (Anthroposophic Press, 1999) and OUR DEAD - [Rudolf Steiner's] Memorial, Funeral, and Cremation Addresses (Steiner Books, 2011).
Returning to WORKING WITH THE DEAD: Here is the beginning of a "verse" addressed to someone who committed suicide. This is an example of how we, the living, can assist the dead. We can buck them up, offering them good advice and support:
"Your will was weak,
Strengthen your will.
I send you warmth
for your cold.
I send you light
for your darkness...."
—WORKING WITH THE DEAD, pp. 33-34.
January 11
PLANS FOR ANOTHER
NEW WALDORF SCHOOL
FROM KTVB.com [southern Idaho, USA]:
Waldorf school coming to the Treasure Valley
A Waldorf school is coming to the Treasure Valley in the fall. It's a 100-year-old teaching philosophy based on the arts and nature. Currently there are two Waldorf schools in Idaho, one in Hailey and one in Sandpoint, but this will be the first one locally.
The school will be called Peace Valley and will be located in the soon-to-be renovated Clearwater Research Building off Federal Way in Boise.
"The main focus is developmentally appropriate," said Laura Henning, who is the Peace Valley executive director. "We're really focused on the development of the child and their stages and to make sure we're teaching things at the right time"....
Other key components of Peace Valley are students learning a foreign language starting in the first grade and delaying the use of computers....
"What we can create is imaginative, creative, flexible, dynamic thinkers and they can take on any challenge that presents them in the future," said Henning....
[downloaded 1/11/2018 http://www.ktvb.com/news/education/waldorf-school-coming-to-the-treasure-valley/507013381]
Waldorf Watch Response:
When evaluating articles about Waldorf education, especially articles that quote Waldorf representatives, a little caution is usually in order. Let's review some of the subjects raised in the above article.
• The Arts. Waldorf schools do indeed place great emphasis on the arts, and as a result the schools are often quite beautiful. But the rationale may surprise you. It is mystical. Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf's "100-year-old teaching philosophy," taught that the arts provide avenues for us to rise directly into the spirit realm.
“This is what gives art its essential lustre: it transplants us here and now into the spiritual world.” — Rudolf Steiner, quoted in THE GOETHEANUM: School of Spiritual Science (Philosophical-Anthroposophical Press, 1961), p. 25.
When Steiner made statements like this, he meant what he said literally; he was not speaking metaphorically. He said that we can rise into the spirit realm through the arts, and the gods can descend to Earth by traveling along the same avenues. The gods come down to us through the colors of paintings, for instance, and through the sounds of music. One consequence is that different spiritual beings can be found in rooms that are painted different colors. (Waldorf classrooms are often painted in different colors — one room red, another room blue...)
"In a red room, other [spiritual] beings become visible than in a blue room....” — Rudolf Steiner, quoted in ART INSPIRED BY RUDOLF STEINER, John Fletcher (Mercury Arts Publications, 1987), p. 95. (The spirits "become visible" if you have clairvoyance.)
The arts at Waldorf schools have surprising dimensions, as you can see.
[For more on the Waldorf approach to art, see "Magical Arts".]
• Nature Waldorf schools do emphasize nature and the natural world. According to the Waldorf belief system, the natural world is the abode of various invisible spirits, often called nature spirits of elemental beings. We have touched on this matter previously. See, e.g., the item for January 3, below: "Gnomes at Waldorf".
[For more on the Waldorf approach to nature, see "Neutered Nature".]
• Developmental Stages Waldorf education is geared to the incarnation of children's invisible bodies. (Yes, you read that correctly.) Steiner taught that a child's "etheric body" incarnates at about age seven, and the "astral body" incarnates at about age 14. [See "Incarnation".] This mystical concept is sometimes called Steiner's most significant educational insight. [See "Most SIgnificant".]
According to Waldorf belief, children recapitulate the mystical evolution of humanity as they develop. Consequently, there is a "right time" to teach every subject, depending on the level of incarnation and mystical development the children have obtained.
"As each child's consciousness matures, it recapitulates the cultural epochs of all Mankind ... There is, then, a proper time and method for particular subjects to be taught.” — Waldorf teacher Peter Curran, quoted in WHAT IS WALDORF EDUCATION?, a collection of essays by Steiner (Anthroposophic Press, 2003), p. 21.
[For more on the Waldorf curriculum and methods, see "Waldorf Curriculum" and "Methods". For more on cultural epochs, see "Epochs".]
• Foreign languages Waldorf schools do emphasize foreign languages, and they should be commended for this. As usual, however, probing below the Waldorf surface can be distressing.
Rudolf Steiner was a German nationalist, and he considered the French language to be a spiritually inferior.
“The use of the French language quite certainly corrupts the soul." — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 558.
Steiner said that languages reflect the "folk souls" of various peoples. Folk souls are, at one level, the overarching souls shared by all members of a nation, people, or race. At a higher level, folk souls are gods. Each people, having its own folk soul, has its own god. The differences between various families, nations, and races are far more than skin-deep, Steiner taught. They reflect different spiritual conditions, different levels of spiritual evolution. We receive our tasks in life from our folk souls.
"In the truest sense, we each receive our allotted human task from our family, nation, or race soul ... [A]s isolated individuals, we would wholly harden within ourselves and fall into ruin if we did not acquire the powers inherent in the spirits of our race and nation." — Rudolf Steiner, HOW TO KNOW HIGHER WORLDS (Anthroposophic Press, 1994) , pp. 191.
The French language corrupts because, from Steiner's perspective, the French soul is inferior. (But Waldorf schools can't very well state this weird prejudice openly. So French is usually taught in Waldorf schools.)
[For more on the distressing subject of racism, see "Steiner's Racism" and "Races".]
• Computers Waldorf schools generally avoid high-tech teaching devices. They avoid them for fear of demons. The schools especially try to shield the youngest students from the effects of demonic technological gizmos. We have touched on this matter before. See, e.g., the item for January 5, below: "Waldorf, and Technology, and Demons".
• Imaginative Thinking Waldorf schools do indeed try to encourage children to think in unconventional ways. (The Waldorf beliefs we have been reviewing are the result of "imaginative, creative, flexible, dynamic" thinking.) If you are considering sending a child to a Waldorf school, the key question to contemplate is whether Waldorf-style thinking leads children toward, or away from, reality.
The nub of this question can be summarized in the word "imagination." In Waldorf belief, imagination is actually a stage of (or preparation for) clairvoyance. By developing clairvoyance ("imagination"), you become a mystical initiate.
"Imagination [is] the first stage of initiation ... The observer of an imagination [i.e., one who has a true imaginative vision] is in touch with the sphere of action of the third hierarchy [i.e., gods of the third divine level]." — Waldorf teacher Henk van Oort, ANTHROPOSOPHY A-Z, p. 59. [For more on the gods revered in the Waldorf belief system, see "Polytheism".]
Steiner taught that in the past all human beings possessed a natural form of clairvoyance, but most of us have lost it. But he said he could show his followers how to attain a better form of clairvoyance now. Regaining imaginative/clairvoyant vision is crucial, he said. (Note that in the following quotation, "clairvoyance" and "imagination" are synonymous.)
“Essentially, people today have no inkling of how people looked out into the universe in ancient times when human beings still possessed an instinctive clairvoyance.... If we want to be fully human, however, we must struggle to regain a view of the cosmos that moves toward Imagination again.” — Rudolf Steiner, ART AS SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 256.
Many Waldorf teachers believe they are clairvoyant, and prominent Waldorf representatives say that all Waldorf teachers really ought to employ clairvoyance:
"Must teachers be clairvoyant in order to be certain that they are teaching in the proper way? Clairvoyance is needed...." — Waldorf educator Eugene Schwartz, THE MILLENNIAL CHILD (Anthroposophic Press, 1999), p. 157.
Everything in Waldorf education is based on clairvoyant or imaginative "insight." The great problem for Waldorf education is that clairvoyance is an illusion. It does not exist. [See "Clairvoyance".]
This means there is no rational basis for Waldorf education.
It's something to mull over.
◊
I hope this little review may help you to evaluate articles about Waldorf education, especially articles that uncritically accept statements made by Waldorf representatives. The people who propose and establish new Waldorf schools often have high ideals and rational intentions; they may not be fully committed to outlandish Anthroposophical doctrines. But, intentionally or not, they ally themselves with a movement that embodies such doctrines. Rudolf Steiner died long ago, but his teachings did not die. The Anthroposophical community today still clings to doctrines of the sort we have reviewed here.
[For more on the current state of Anthroposophical belief, and how such beliefs continue to flourish within the Waldorf movement, see "Today - Waldorf in the 21st Century" and the pages that follow it — "Today 2", "Today 3", etc. Proponents of Waldorf schooling do not always start out as deeply committed Anthroposophists, but they are often subjected to forms of pressure and persuasion that, over time, bring them more deeply into the Anthroposophical faith. See "Indoctrination", which was written by a former Waldorf teacher.]
The racism built into basic Anthroposophical teachings surely ranks among the most troubling issues concerning Waldorf education. Rudolf Steiner died in 1925. We must hope that no Waldorf teachers today share his views on race; we must hope that enlightenment has dawned among Anthroposophists on this issue if on no other. Yet even today, as we approach the third decade of the 21st century, few Anthroposophists have roundly condemned Steiner's racial teachings. Even today, traces of racism can be found in Waldorf-related materials available online and elsewhere. [See, e.g., "Embedded Racism".] We can only hope that Anthroposophy will truly right itself, on this issue if on no other, soon.
— R.R.
January 10
WALDORF, WORMING OUR WAY,
AND UNFAVORABLE IMPRESSIONS
From NPR Illinois:
Gov Vetoes School Funding Trailer Bill
By Dusty Rhodes
[National Public Radio]
Gov. Bruce Rauner has boasted that fixing Illinois’ woefully inequitable school funding formula was his top accomplishment of the past year. But yesterday, he struck down a measure needed to implement that reform, by issuing an amendatory veto of a relatively short, simple “trailer” bill drafted to ensure that the 550-page reform plan squared up with the financial models lawmakers had approved.
The trailer had received bipartisan support (unanimous in the House; 42-11 in the Senate), but Rauner’s veto letter says it doesn’t go far enough in providing school choice, and he wants to lower the standards to include private schools that haven’t yet received “recognition” from the Illinois State Board of Education [ISBE].
Such “recognition” entails a thorough examination of a school. It starts with a 17-page form that requires documentation of curriculum, anti-discrimination policies, teacher qualifications, staff background checks and other safety protocols — all confirmed by teams of ISBE investigators through multiple site visits.
Rauner wants to include private schools that are merely “registered” with ISBE, which is a more casual process. Registration means a school official completes a five-page form providing “assurances” regarding curriculum, safety, and other standards, but does not include a site visit. Schools lobbying for this change include Urban Prairie Waldorf School....
[1/10/2018 http://nprillinois.org/post/gov-vetoes-school-funding-trailer-bill#stream/0]
Waldorf Watch Response:
Waldorf schools are usually eager to avoid inspections and regulation by education officials. They generally argue that their unique educational approach cannot be judged in accordance with ordinary standards. Thus, for instance, students in the lower grades at Waldorf schools will almost automatically fail to meet ordinary literacy standards, since Waldorf schools intentionally delay instruction in reading and writing. The schools are waiting for the students’ “etheric bodies” to incarnate. State inspectors are poorly equipped to evaluate the incarnational status of Waldorf students, of course.
Rudolf Steiner told Waldorf teachers that they need to be canny when dealing with outsiders, including state inspectors. In 1920, the German government passed a law that would have prevented the original Waldorf school from operating as Steiner wanted. Steiner's response? In a faculty meeting at the school, he told the teachers to worm their way out of the situation. Lie to the officials; deceive them; make fools of them. Practicing deceit would be all right as long as the teachers knew, in their hearts, that their actions were justified. (Be realistic, Steiner said. This is how the world works. Be deceitful — not in the underhanded way Jesuits are, but in the upright way Anthroposophists can be.) Do whatever is necessary, he said:
"We must worm our way through. We have to be conscious of the fact that this is done in life — not through an inner provocation, then it would be the way the Jesuits work — but done with a certain mental reservation in response to external requirements. We have to be conscious that in order to do what we want to do, at least, it is necessary to talk with the people, not because we want to but because we have to, and inwardly make fools of them." — Rudolf Steiner, CONFERENCES WITH THE TEACHERS OF THE WALDORF SCHOOL IN STUTTGART, Vol. 1 (Steiner Schools Fellowship Publications, 1986), p. 125.
Proponents of Waldorf education argue that Waldorf students eventually catch up with students at other types of schools. But the evidence supporting this claim is spotty, at best. When senior students at the first Waldorf school, on the verge of graduation, took state-sponsored examinations, the results were dismal. This was not entirely unexpected. Steiner had told teachers at the school that the only real issue concerning such examinations was whether or not Waldorf dared tell the students’ parents that the kids would get no preparation for the exams.
“It is a question of whether we dare tell those who come to us that we will not prepare them for the final examination at all, that it is a private decision of the student whether to take the final examination or not.” — Rudodlf Steriner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 712.
It was standard practice for Waldorf schools to mislead education officials and also to mislead students’ parents.
After the exam results became known, Steiner said the following to the Waldorf faculty:
“We should have no illusions: The results gave a very unfavorable impression of our school to people outside.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 725.
To determine whether the situation has improved at Waldorf schools today, inspections would need to be rigorous. But all too often, they are not.
[To delve into these issues, see, e.g., "Academic Standards at Waldorf", "The Waldorf Curriculum", "Secrets", and "Incarnation".]
All of this bears on the question of whether or not Waldorf schools should receive any form of state funding or taxpayer support. But perhaps we can leave that discussion for another time.
— R.R.
January 9
ANOTHER STEINER SCHOOL
CHARGED RE CHILD SAFETY
From The Ballarat Courier [Victoria, Australia]:
Allegations of inadequate supervision
of children at Ballarat Rudolf Steiner Kindergarten
by Michelle Smith
A Ballarat kindergarten has been accused of inadequate supervision of children and other serious regulatory breaches under a state crackdown on kindergarten and child care providers.
The Ballarat Rudolf Steiner Kindergarten at Mount Helen was one of two kindergartens subject to compliance orders in 2017....
According to the Department of Education, the approval of the Steiner kindergarten was amended “due to the serious nature of non-compliances” in relation to supervision of children, to meeting conditions on service approval, and in relation to notifying the regulatory authority.
Enforcement action was taken against the kinder on October 25 but no detail was available as to the conditions that regulators placed on the kindergarten.
Education department inspectors conducted more than 3200 visits to child care providers and kindergartens in 2017, including 2245 unannounced visits. More than 60 providers, mostly in long and day care, were found to have breached regulations....
The state crackdown comes as the federal government this week released a register of child care centres caught rorting [sic] taxpayer subsidies and committing other rule breaches.
"This register should serve as a warning to providers that if you're non- compliant and do the wrong thing you will be hung out to dry," said Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham.
The Ballarat Rudolf Steiner Kindergarten could not be reached for comment.
[1/9/2018 http://www.thecourier.com.au/story/5156061/ballarat-kindergarten-accused-of-inadequate-supervision/]
Waldorf Watch Response:
While Waldorf schools generally seek to provide their students with a safe haven, shielding the children from many of the dangers of modern life, this effort has often been known to break down. Various Waldorf and/or Steiner schools have been charged with practices that actually endanger students. One of the main Steiner schools in the United Kingdom was recently ordered to close, due to child safety concerns. See, e.g., "Kings Langley's Rudolf Steiner School ordered to close by Government over safeguarding concerns" — Aug/Sept, 2017.
The Steiner School at Kings Langley is seeking to have the order reversed. See "The Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley’s Fight For Existence" — September, 2017.
Situations like those reported at Kings Langely and, now, at Ballarat, may seem to be exceptions to the Waldorf norm, but in fact worries over child safety at Waldorf/Steiner schools are sometimes widespread. See, e.g., "Safeguarding Fears Mount over Controversial Steiner Schools" — September, 2017: "[A]n investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has revealed that the inspectors have raised concerns about safeguarding at almost half of Steiner schools in the country in the past four years."
The otherworldly and mystical perspective embraced by many Waldorf teachers may be at least partly to blame. Steiner's followers believe that each child has a guardian angel who can be relied on to protect the child; human intervention may be unnecessary. Moreover, there is a belief that children must be free to enact their karmas.
[To inquire into the issue of child saftey at Waldorf schools, see, e.g., "Cautionary Tales", "Slaps", and "Karma". Also see the entries for "guardian angels", "karma", and "bullying" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.]
In the idiom of Australia and New Zealand, a "rort" is a dishonest act or practice.
— R.R.
January 9
A WALDORF SCHOOL
STRUGGLES WITH DEBT
From The Daily Camera [Boulder, Colorado]:
Boulder's Shining Mountain Waldorf School
looks to sell half its acreage, realign campus
By Alex Burness
Shining Mountain Waldorf School intends to sell about half of its 12-acre property in north Boulder, as administrators plot a broad redesign they hope will keep the debt-saddled school financially viable many generations into the future....
The school...opened in 1983 with a 6-acre parcel ... Since then, through a series of purchases between 1986 and 2007, the school has also acquired detached houses that are used as offices, properties that became a high school and a fine arts center, plus an undeveloped field [a total of six more acres]....
"By 2008, we had total debt of $5 million," said School Director Jane Zeender. "That added $400,000 a year of debt financing for our budget"....
Prior to the Great Recession, Shining Mountain's board envisioned, along with their newly acquired land, expanding the school's enrollment — which has never exceeded about 340 — into the 400s, and possibly as high as 500, Zeender said.
Today, enrollment is at 295, and the board expects that generally to hold following the sale and redesign. They hope to build for a capacity of 350 students, but say they'd probably operate closer to 300.
Under the current plan, the roughly 6 acres that Shining Mountain would hang onto would see major changes, as the school would remove all of the aging, cramped, double-wide trailers that house grades one through eight....
While a desire to wriggle free of debt may be the most pressing motivator for the sale, school officials say their consolidated redesign will have the [added] benefit of improving security on the campus, which is currently easily penetrable from many different points....
Waldorf Watch Response:
Spokespeople for the Waldorf movement often claim that theirs is the fast-growing independent-school movement in the world. Certainly, there are Waldorf schools in many nations on many continents, new schools are opened fairly regularly, and some thrive.
On the other hand, most Waldorf schools are small — some vanishingly so — and some fail to survive. Understandably, these facts that are less frequently mentioned in Waldorf promotional efforts.
The Shining Mountain Waldorf School may prosper after selling half of its campus, but the problems it faces are far from unknown in other Waldorf communities.
[For more on the travails sometimes encountered by Waldorf schools, see, e.g., "Failure".]
— R.R.
January 7
ANTHROPOSOPHICAL UNDERPINNINGS
OF THE WALDORF IMPULSE
Coming up later this month at Sunbridge Institute, a Waldorf teacher-training center in the USA:
Waldorf Weekend
Friday, January 26, 2018 @ 7:00 pm - Saturday, January 27, 2018 @ 5:30 pm
A weekend workshop on the foundations and fundamentals of Waldorf Education from early childhood through high school....
Open to all, but especially relevant for new and prospective Waldorf community members (teachers, parents, grandparents, staff, board members) and lovers of education, our popular Waldorf Weekend workshop is designed to provide an in-depth and experiential survey of the basis and the basics of Waldorf Education.
In addition to exploring the Waldorf curriculum from early childhood through high school, your [sic] workshop includes a discussion of Rudolf Steiner’s insights in human development and a look into the anthroposophical underpinnings of the Waldorf impulse....
Cost
$220 (includes Saturday snacks & lunch, and a $25 non-refundable registration fee)
[downloaded 1/7/2018 http://www.sunbridge.edu/event/waldorf-weekend-2/]
Waldorf Watch Response:
It is important to understand that Rudolf Steiner's occultism (the creed consisting of his "insights") remains the basis for Waldorf education today. This is often downplayed when Waldorf schools recruit new families into the fold, but it is the key to everything about Waldorf education.
Another way to put this is that the Waldorf movement is built on the foundation provided by Anthroposophy (the "Waldorf impulse" stands on "Anthroposophical underpinnings"). And what is Anthroposophy? It is the creed mentioned above: It is the occult, mystical worldview created by Rudolf Steiner, drawing from Theosophy and other spiritual movements. Steiner's followers refer to Anthroposophy as a "spiritual science" — but in fact it is a gnostic, New Age religion.
[To look into all this, perhaps as preparation for attending the Waldorf Weekend workshop, you might consult "Oh Humanity - The Key to Waldorf", "Occultism", and "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?"]
Here are a few statements about the nature of Waldorf education. These statements come to us from within the Waldorf/Anthroposophical community:
• “[Waldorf] education is essentially grounded on the recognition of the child as a spiritual being, with a varying number of incarnations behind him, who is returning at birth into the physical world.” — Anthroposophist Stewart C. Easton, MAN AND WORLD IN THE LIGHT OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 1989), pp. 388-389.
• “Waldorf education strives to create a place in which the highest beings [i.e., the gods]...can find their home....” — Anthroposophist Joan Almon, WHAT IS A WALDORF KINDERGARTEN? (SteinerBooks, 2007), p. 53.
• “[T]he purpose of [Waldorf] education is to help the individual fulfill his karma.” — Waldorf teacher Roy Wilkinson, THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF STEINER EDUCATION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), p. 52.
• "Waldorf education is a form of practical anthroposophy...." — Waldorf teacher Keith Francis, THE EDUCATION OF A WALDORF TEACHER (iUniverse, 2004), p. xii.
• "Waldorf teachers must be anthroposophists first and teachers second." — Waldorf teacher Gilbert Childs, STEINER EDUCATION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE (Floris Books, 1991), p. 166.
[For more on these matters, see, e.g., "Here's the Answer", "Waldorf's Spiritual Agenda", and "Sneaking It In".]
— R.R.
January 5
WALDORF, AND TECHNOLOGY,
AND DEMONS
From the e-paper LiveMint:
...[R]eports of the negative effects of social media on the mental and physical health of our youth and children can’t be ignored — shorter attention spans due to increasingly digitalized lifestyle.
Interestingly, some of Silicon Valley’s top executives send their children to Waldorf School of the Peninsula, where they don’t introduce screens until the eighth grade. Even Steve Jobs in an interview in 2010 during the launch of the iPad had told a journalist that his family limited how much technology his kids use at home.
It’s no surprise then that in the last couple of years, we have witnessed the revival of old-school [analogue] gadgets like the Polaroid and Fujifilm instant cameras and turntables....
[1/5/2018 http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/iYAxCEJMFkr1NYC8UP3giP/Break-free-from-FOMO-this-new-year.html]
Waldorf Watch Response:
Waldorf schools generally deplore modern technology, to one degree or another. Here LiveMint repeats points that are often raised in pro-Waldorf news accounts.
• Spending too much time online can be bad for kids.
• Some Silicon Valley execs limit the use of high-tech gizmos at home.
• Some Silicon Valley execs send their kids to Waldorf schools.
• People are getting nostalgic for the good old analogue days.
• And so on.
How should we respond to all this? What does it tell us, pro or con, about Waldorf schools?
There are certainly good reasons to steer kids away from excessive use of high-tech stuff. Excessive use of anything is bad. That's what "excessive" means. (Excessive use of low-tech or even no-tech stuff would also be bad, if we take the word "excessive" literally.)
And we shouldn't be surprised if technology honchos want to unplug their children, at least a little. They know that their kids will grow up in a heavily tech-centered culture. They themselves are helping to create that culture. They themselves advocate that culture. So it makes sense for them to want their kids to chill out, at least a little.
But none of this means that the Waldorf aversion to modern technology makes much sense. There may be good reasons to shield kids from today's "digitalized lifestyle," but the Waldorf reasons for spurning modern technology are not good. The Waldorf reasons are (to put this bluntly) bonzo. Primarily, the Waldorf reasons center on a fear of demons.
Here are a few samples:
• “In constructing steam engines an opportunity is...provided for the incarnation of demons ... In steam engines, Ahrimanic demons [1] are brought right down to the point of physical incorporation ... [W]hat has been said here about the steam engine applies in a much greater degree to the technology of our time ... [T]elevision, for example. The result is that the demon magic spoken of by Rudolf Steiner is spreading more and more intensively on all sides ... It is very necessary that anyone who aspires towards the spiritual should realise clearly how the most varied opportunities for a virtual incarnation of elemental beings [2] and demons are constantly on the increase." — Anthroposophist Georg Unger, “On ‘Mechanical Occultism’”, 1963; posted at the Rudolf Steiner Archive in November, 2014.
• "Whatever the merits of certain inventions, they show the face of Ahriman. Under such headings one could consider all sorts of mechanisms but in particular such appliances as television, radio, cinema and the thousand and one things dependent on electricity." — Waldorf teacher Roy Wilkinson, RUDOLF STEINER - An Introduction to his Spiritual World-view, Anthroposophy (Temple Lodge Publishing, 2005), p. 131.
• “The exploitation of electric forces — for example in information and computing technologies — spreads evil over the Earth in an immense spider's web. And fallen spirits of darkness [3]...are active in this web. [4]” — Anthroposophist Richard Seddon, THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM AND BEYOND (Temple Lodge Publishing, 1996), p. 24.
• “[T]he whole computer and Internet industry is today the most effective way to prepare for the imminent incarnation of Ahriman [5] ... The net of ahrimanic spider beings developing out of the internet around the earth...will serve [Ahriman] particularly effectively and offer him extremely favorable potential to work. [6]” — Anthroposophist Sergei O. Prokofieff, "The Being of the Internet"; see, e.g., PACIFICA JOURNAL, Anthroposophical Society of Hawai'i, No. 29, 2006.
• "The elemental beings responsible for the processes of birth and death were in earlier times in the services of higher spiritual beings [7] ... This is no longer the case ... For us they have become evil ... Before the time of radar, television, and computers, Rudolf Steiner prophesied that these elemental beings would enter our time with an abundance of inventions ... These inventions, which increasingly fill our world, need to be balanced by the faculty of imagination. [8] This is the secret to how we can deal with the forces of evil. [9]" — Waldorf teacher Helmut von Kügelgen, "Threshold Experiences of Children and Adults in the Present Time", Research Bulletin, Research Institute for Waldorf Education, Fall/Winter 1999, Issue #37.
There are good reasons to be at least a little leery of modern technology. When addressing the public, Waldorf spokespeople are likely to refer to these reasons. But the underlying Waldorf reasons (which are usually kept hidden, but which are far more important to the Waldorf attitude) are something else.
By the way, we might reflect on this oddity: LiveMint is an e-paper. The only people who can read LiveMint's cautionary words about modern technology are people who move around on that terrible network, the World Wide Web.
We might also reflect on the nostalgia some people apparently have now for analogue technological devices, such as Polaroid cameras. Nostalgia is a common human attitude, but would Rudolf Steiner accept the proposition that analogue gizmos are less demonic than digital gizmos? Remember that even steam engines are demonic, according to Anthroposophical teachings. Indeed, even manual typewriters (dating from the late 19th century) are fearful, according to Steiner. Indeed, even that newfangled contrivance called an abacus (dating from about 3000 BCE) is fearful, according to Steiner.
• "We can clearly see what is happening inside the human body once we have reached the stage of clairvoyant imagination. In objective seeing such as this, every stroke of a typewriter key becomes a flash of lightning. And during the state of imagination, what one sees as the human heart is constantly struck and pierced by those lightning flashes." — Rudolf Steiner, SOUL ECONOMY: Body, Soul and Spirit in Waldorf Education (Anthroposophic Press, 2003), p. 146.
• "The calculator [abacus] has been introduced. I do not wish to be a fanatic, and the calculator may have its usefulness; from certain points of view, everything in life is justifiable. But much of what might be gained from the use of invented calculating machines can be achieved equally well by using the ten fingers or, for example, by using the number of students in the class. Do not misunderstand if I say that, when I see calculators in classrooms, from a spiritual point of view it strikes me as if I were in a medieval torture chamber." — Rudolf Steiner, ibid., p. 173.
No. Put away your old Polaroids. And your typewriters. And you abacuses. Ahriman lurks within and behind. Beware.
— R.R.
Waldorf Watch Footnotes
[1] In Anthroposophy, Ahriman is a terrible demon. [See "Ahriman".] "Ahrimanic demons" are Ahriman and his demonic sidekicks.
[2] In Anthroposophy, "elemental beings" are nature spirits such as gnomes who reside within the forces of nature. [See "Neutered Nature".]
[3] In Anthroposophy, "spirits of darkness" are demons or evil gods. [See "Evil Ones".]
[4] This is a good example of Anthroposophical "logic." Steiner taught that demons will one day create a vast, Earth-encircling network of evil forces. And there will be horrible spiritual "spiders" racing around in that vast "web." He was talking about things that will happen in the far distant future. But today, technology has created the World Wide Web. Aha! And racing around on this web are "spiders" (programs that browse the World Wide Web to create indexes). Aha! A web! Spiders! So Steiner's clairvoyant wisdom is affirmed! Aha!
That today's Web and spiders have nothing to do with Steiner's prediction is conveniently overlooked. [For more on these matters, see, e.g., "Spiders, Dragons and Foxes".]
[5] Steiner taught that the demon Lucifer incarnated on Earth in the past, and the demon Ahriman will incarnate on Earth on day soon. [See "Lucifer" and "Ahriman" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.]
[6] Here, the World Wide Web and its spiders are explictly equated with the far-distant web and spiders that Steiner predicted.
[7] I.e., good gods. Anthroposophy is polytheistic. [See "Polytheism".]
[8] i.e., clairvoyant wisdom. In Anthroposophy, "imagination" is the first stage of clairvoyance and/or the first stage of preparation leading to clairvoyance. [See "imagination" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.] Fundamentally, this is why imagination is stressed in Waldorf schools.
[9] I.e., modern technology arises from — and embodies — the forces of evil. To combat evil, we need the imaginative powers of clairvoyance that Anthroposophy (and Waldorf education) help us to develop. "This is the secret to how we can deal with the forces of evil."
January 4
Eric G. Müller, THE INVISIBLE BOAT AND THE MOLTEN DRAGON
(Waldorf Publications)
From the publisher:
Ever wonder about the living beings who drive the wild untamable fires in the west? Here is a tale that makes pictures for us all of the powerful beings driving such natural events forward! These are important pictures to draw us closer to nature in a different way from our ordinary thinking.
The children who helped the elemental world to clean the water and release the water sprites from the Binagatorials in The Invisible Boat I, are called upon once more in this tale of suspense and adventure to help our living earth to tame the Molten Fire Dragon. Using their invisible boat, a gift from the beings of the earth and their grandfather, they navigate to the place of most need on the planet — the center of the raging fires in the West. The gnomes of earth show themselves only to those whom they can trust not to dismiss them as imaginary....
...This wonder-filled tale helps us all — youngsters in particular — to understand the earth as a living organism....
The book is for good readers from grade four up to adults and is an excellent read-aloud story for children of seven years and older.
[downloaded 1/4/2018 https://www.waldorfpublications.org/collections/frontpage/products/the-invisible-boat-and-the-molten-dragon The book was released last month.]
Waldorf Watch Response:
Waldorf Publications, headquartered in Chatham, NY, developed out of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA). It is an official, or at least semi-official, organ of the Waldorf movement.
Concerning the "living earth": Rudolf Steiner taught that the Earth is a living organism that breathes in and out as the seasons change. [See, e.g., the Waldorf Watch "news" item for Christmas Day, 2017.] Steiner urged Waldorf teachers to convey belief in the living earth to their students. He told them to say things such as this to the kids:
"Just think, children, our Earth feels and experiences everything that happens within it ... [I]t has feelings like you have, and can be angry or happy like you.” — Rudolf Steiner, DISCUSSIONS WITH TEACHERS (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), p. 132.
The Gaia hypothesis — belief that the earth and its environment constitute a single living organism — is an attractive idea, and many people today are drawn to it. But Steiner's version arose from his mystical beliefs, not from modern ecological consciousness. His "living earth" is a fantastical place thronging with gnomes, sylphs, undines, and fire spirits — invisible "nature spirits." [See "Neutered Nature".] It is a place that comes to us out of fairy tales, not out of science. And, indeed, Steiner taught that fairy tales are true.
“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. What was seen in a dream was told as a story — for instance, 'Puss in Boots' ... All the fairy tales in existence are thus the remnants of the original clairvoyance.” — Rudolf Steiner, ON THE MYSTERY DRAMAS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1983), p. 93.
Puss in Boots, forsoooth. [See "Fairy Tales".]
On the other hand, Steiner sometimes indicated that the Earth has now died.
"[T]he earth is a huge human head, indeed, a huge, dead human head. [sic]" — Rudolf Steiner, FROM CRYSTALS TO CROCODILES (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2002, p. 149.
Steiner's tendency to contradict himself (caused, perhaps, by his inability to keep his stories straight) is a complication for his followers.
As for dragons: Steiner informed Waldorf teachers that fire-breathing dragons (a type of dinosaur) once roamed the earth. Really.
"Yes, those beasts, they did breathe fire ... What I am referring to are the dinosaurs from the beginning of the Tertiary Period." — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 26.
Tellingly, when Steiner said such things to Waldorf teachers, very few of them leaped up, shouting "This is insane! Let me out of here!" No, by all indications, they sat quietly and absorbed the great man's wisdom. They believed him, in other words, just as many Waldorf teachers today continue to believe him.
[For more of the startling things Steiner said to Waldorf teachers and others, see, e.g., "Steiner's Blunders" and "Faculty Meetings". Concerning "ancient clairvoyance": Steiner taught that people used to have natural psychic powers that we have now, generally, lost. But he offered to show his followers how to attain a new, heightened form of clairvoyance. See "Knowing the Worlds". This is, indeed, the central promise of Anthroposophy, the belief system that forms the basis of Waldorf schooling. See, e.g., "Here's the Answer".]
— R.R.
January 3
Rudolf Steiner, NATURE SPIRITS
(Rudolf Steiner Press)
From the publisher:
Based on knowledge attained through his highly-trained clairvoyance, Rudolf Steiner contends that folk traditions regarding nature spirits are based on spiritual reality. He describes how people possessed a natural spiritual vision in ancient times, enabling them to commune with nature spirits. These entities — which are also referred to as elemental beings — became immortalised as fairies and gnomes in myth, legend and children's stories.
Today, says Steiner, the instinctive understanding that humanity once had for these elemental beings should be transformed into clear scientific knowledge. He even asserts that humanity will not be able to reconnect with the spiritual world if it cannot develop a new relationship to the elementals. The nature spirits themselves want to be of great assistance to us, acting as 'emissaries of higher divine spiritual beings'.
[downloaded 1/3/2018 https://rudolfsteinerpress.com/viewbook.php?isbn_in=9781855845305 Note that NATURE SPIRITS has been available, in various editions, for many years. This latest edition first became available in 2016.]
The nature spirits most commonly represented — in stories, pictures, statuettes, and so forth — in Waldorf schools are the beings commonly called "gnomes." Other names for these beings include "goblins." Here are a few representative statements Rudolf Steiner made about gnomes:
• “There are beings that can be seen with clairvoyant vision at many spots in the depths of the earth ... Many names have been given to them, such as goblins, gnomes and so forth ... What one calls moral responsibility in man is entirely lacking in them ... Their nature prompts them to play all sorts of tricks on man....”
• "It is true that the beings which we call gnomes and goblins have a physical body, but they do not possess what in man we call the ego ... [T]heir bodies [are] far less visible than the physical body of man."
• “A gnome is only visible to someone who can see on the astral plane [i.e., a level of existence transcending the physical plane], but miners frequently possess such an astral vision [i.e., clairvoyance]; they know that gnomes are realities.”
• "The predecessors of our Earth-gnomes, the Moon-gnomes, gathered together their Moon-experiences and from them fashioned this structure, this firm structure of the solid fabric of the Earth, so that our solid Earth-structure actually arose from the experiences of the gnomes of the old Moon.”
Gnomes (or their images) play a far larger role in Waldorf schools than in virtually any other educational establishments. Here are statements made by two mothers who sent their children to Waldorf schools:
• "Gnomes are something that Waldorf schools can hook onto in popular culture, from suburban lawn ornaments to familiar fairy tales, and insinuate a message about 'nature spirits' that is meant to prepare children to be receptive to a wide variety of related beliefs about the 'spiritual hierarchies' as outlined by Rudolf Steiner. Nature spirits are at or near the bottom of a very complex hierarchy, going up through various rankings of angels and archangels to the Christian seraphim, cherubim, etc. ... I think gnomes get more systematic emphasis because talk of angels is too blatantly religious, parents will wonder if their child comes home always talking about angels, whereas gnomes can be treated as simply creatures from children's stories or fairy tales, and of course most Waldorf schools deny to parents that the curriculum is religious." — Diana Winters
• "The felt gnome in my son's Waldorf classroom sat on a shelf near the top of the chalkboard. I remember the class teacher telling a group of parents that the gnome's role was to watch the children while he was out of the classroom. He said it with a smile and a twinkle in his eye, so my reaction was that it was funny and cute. I assumed it was intended as a big joke ... The teacher spoke of the gnome affectionately. I think he said the gnome's name was George. It's really weird to look back now, picturing all those adults sitting at their children's desks, listening attentively to a man who, unknown to us, believed his guru [Rudolf Steiner] could see real gnomes...." — Margaret Sachs
Gnomes make appearances in many types of classes and activities in Waldorf schools, including arithmetic lessons. Here is a typical drawing from a Waldorf student's arithmetic lesson book:
The lesson, here, concerned the number 6.
So the teacher drew six gnomes walking among flowers
having six petals (when completed),
with six clouds floating overhead.
And the student copied the image.
Probably no child has ever been harmed by being asked to draw a picture of gnomes. But if the underlying purpose is to nudge the child into an occult belief system that considers gnomes real — and if this purpose is reenacted day after day, in multiple ways, involving gnomes and other invisible beings — then serious long-term damage may ultimately occur. The ultimate purpose of Waldorf schools is to lead children toward Anthroposophy.
[See, e.g., "Lesson Books" and "Sneaking It In". For more about gnomes in particular, see "Gnomes". For Anthrosophical beliefs about other types of nature spirits — including sylphs, undines, and fire spirits — see "Neutered Nature" and "Beings".]
— R.R.
January 2
STEINER AND THE
HOLY NIGHTS
The following is by Kristina Kaine, writing at the Huffington Post. It is the tenth of a series of messages by Kaine, describing the twelve Holy Nights [1] of the Christmas Season from an Anthroposophical perspective. In this message, Kaine describes night of January 2-January 3, 2018: tonight.
Not all Anthroposophists would agree with all of Kaine's assertions, but her messages nonetheless open a window onto the worldview that prevails in and around Waldorf schools. This is one way that Anthroposophists, including many Waldorf teachers, mark the ending of an old year and the beginning of a new year. [2]
Holy Night Ten
January 2-3 – Libra [3]
The night in which the greatest sacrifice grows from service: learning to listen to the inner voice and the signs of divinity [4], and to hear them obediently.
Mystery [5]: the voice calling in us through our various incarnations. [6] Its clarity grows through sacrifice and decision.
- [from] Rudolf Steiner’s indications for the Holy Nights given to Herbert Hahn. [7]
...Are we willing to listen to the inner voice? If so, what will we hear? We don’t hear the sound of voices we are used to hearing in the world. We have to look beyond what appears to us as matter and hear the voice behind physical appearances. We can practice this when we are in nature, we can contemplate the shape of a plant or an animal and wonder at the way it speaks to us. Everything speaks to us in its own way. Rudolf Steiner explains:
“But this means that through Spiritual Science [8] we must again learn to perceive a spiritual reality in everything that is of a material nature — a spiritual reality behind stones, plants, animals, human beings, behind clouds, stars, behind the sun. When through what is material we again find the Spirit in all its reality, we also open our soul to the voice of Christ [9] who will speak to us if we are willing to hear Him.” 17.5.1923
...Rudolf Steiner could read the Akashic Record [10]....
[1/2/2018 https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/holy-night-ten_us_5a4b232de4b0d86c803c792b]
Waldorf Watch Footnotes
[1] Associated with the "twelve days of Christmas" — sometimes called "Christmastide" — the twelve Holy Nights begin with Christmas Eve and they end with the eve of Epiphany. (The eve of Epiphany is sometimes called "Twelfth Night.")
[2] Kaine lists the first ten of twelve Holy Nights thus: #1, Dec. 24-25, Capricorn; #2, Dec. 25-26, Aquarius; #3, Dec. 26-27, Pisces; #4, Dec. 27-28, Aries; #5, Dec. 28-29, Taurus; #6, Dec 29-30, Gemini; #7, Dec 30-31, Cancer; #8, Dec. 31-Jan. 1, Leo; #9, Jan. 1-2, Virgo; #10, Jan. 2-3, Libra.
For another Anthroposophical account, see, e.g., "In Consideration of The Holy Nights of Christmas", by Mary Stewart Adams [http://www.rudolfsteiner.org/fileadmin/regions/central/The_Holy_Nights_of_Christmas.pdf]. Adams focuses on the winter of 2014-2015.
[3] Anthroposophy and Waldorf education have many enduring ties to astrology. [See, e.g., "Astrology" and "Waldorf Astrology".] Steiner indicated that each of the twelve Holy Nights is associated with one of the twelve astrological constellations.
[4] In Anthroposophical belief, the "inner voice" is the sound of "living thoughts" implanted in the soul by the gods during one's sojourn in the spirit realm between earthly incarnations. These divine thoughts, marks of the gods' solicitude and indications of our own divine nature ("signs of divinity"), are also carried to us on the cosmic ether. “The cosmic ether, which is common to all, carries within it the thoughts; there they are within it, those living thoughts of which I have repeatedly spoken in our anthroposophical lectures, telling you how the human being participates in them in pre-earthly life before he comes down to Earth.” — Rudolf Steiner, CURATIVE EDUCATION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1999), p. 37. [See "Thinking".] To hear silent sounds, the aural equivalent of clairvoyance — sometimes called "clairaudience" — is sometimes said to be required. "[I]n clairaudience we hear the sound which expresses [an object's] innermost being and rings forth as a tone in the universe that is distinct from all others." — Rudolf Steiner, AN ESOTERIC COSMOLOGY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1974), lecture 14, GA 94.
[5] Steiner's teachings deal largely with spiritual mysteries, which he claimed to penetrate. (He wrote a series of "mystery plays" that are often performed by his followers. In the plays, Steiner attempted to give dramatic form to many of his teachings about spiritual mysteries. [See "Plays".])
[6] Anthroposophists believe in reincarnation; they believe we evolve through a long series of incarnations. [See "Reincarnation".]
[7] Herbert Hahn (1890-1970) was a German Anthroposophist. An associate of Rudolf Steiner, he taught at the first Waldorf school.
[8] For Anthroposophists, "spiritual science" — the objective study of the spirit realm — is Anthroposophy. This "science" depends on the disciplined use of clairvoyance. [See the entries for these terms in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.]
[9] In Anthroposophy, Christ is the Sun God. [See "Sun God".]
[10] The Akashic Record (also called the Akashic Chronicle) is purportedly a celestial storehouse of knowledge, written on the cosmic ether called "akasha." Various mystics have claimed the ability to read the Record through their use of clairvoyance. [See "Akasha".]
January 1
A NEW YEAR LECTURE:
EARTHQUAKES, ETC.
Here are excerpts from a lecture by Rudolf Steiner featured today, January 1, 2018, at The Rudolf Steiner Archive. Steiner delivered the lecture, "The Deed of Christ and the Opposing Spiritual Powers", on January 1, 1909.
(Steiner is hard to read. Following the excerpts, I provide a plain-English paraphrase and some clarifying footnotes.)
...Although it was Lucifer [1] who caused the human physical body to become denser than it would otherwise have become, nevertheless it was necessary for yet another influence to approach man in order to bring him completely into the material world of sense, in order to shut him off entirely from the spiritual world so that he was led to the illusion: There is no other world than the world of material existence outspread before me!
From the middle of the Atlantean epoch [2] an opponent quite different in character from Lucifer approached man, namely the Being who casts such mist and darkness around [man's] faculties of perception that he makes no effort nor unfolds any urge to fathom the secrets of the world of sense. If you picture to yourselves that under Lucifer's influence the sense-world became like a veil, through the influence of this second Being the physical world in its totality became like a dense rind, closing off the spiritual world. It was only the Atlantean Initiates [3] who were able, through the preparation they had undergone, to pierce this dense covering of the material, physical world.
...The mighty influence of the forces of black magic which finally led to the destruction of Atlantis had its origin in the temptations of that Being whom Zarathustra [4] taught his people to know as Ahriman (“Angra Mainyu”) [5], the Being who opposed the God of Light proclaimed by Zarathustra as “Ahura Mazdao”, the “Great Aura”. [6]
...[A]ncient Lemuria [7] was brought to its destruction by the fire of the passions of men. [8] ... So too it was with the forces working through air and water which, again by way of the passions of men, led to the Atlantean catastrophes. [9] These catastrophes were evoked by the collective karma of humanity [10] but a relic has remained and this relic awakens the echoes of those earlier catastrophes. Our volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are nothing else than the echoes of these catastrophes.
...[I]t is often the fate of occult science [11] to be obliged to formulate the questions in the right way before they can be correctly answered. Again do not take this to mean that the mysterious connection between earthquakes and the karma of humanity is a secret that cannot be investigated. It can be investigated ... Let the knowledge reach mankind through spiritual science that there is a connection between the deeds of men and happenings in nature and then the time will come when these things can be answered in the way the question demands. Spiritual science may pass through many destinies; its influence may even be crippled, remaining within narrow and restricted circles. Nevertheless it will make its way through mankind, will be integrated into the karma of humanity, and then the possibility will be created for individuals themselves to have an effect upon the karma of humanity as a whole. [12]
[downloaded 1/1/2018 http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/Dates/19090101p01.html]
Plain Paraphrase
(with interpretation):
...Due to the influence of Lucifer, the human body became far more densely physical than ever before. But the actions of another demon were responsible for completely severing humans from the spirit realm. Thereafter, limited to what our physical senses reveal, we became prone to the illusion that only the physical world exists.
This second demon began working on mankind during the middle period of our life on Atlantis. He cast a pall of mist and darkness over our physical senses, so that we no longer tried to penetrate to the secrets hidden beyond the reach of our physical senses. Lucifer had dropped a veil over our senses; this second demon made the physical world fully opaque to our senses, so that we were really cut off from the spirit realm. Only the occult initiates living among us on Atlantis were able to pierce through the physical world to see the spirit realm beyond.
...Tempted by this second demon, the people of Atlantis resorted to black magic, which led to the destruction of Atlantis. The demon who offered this terrible temptation was the spirit identified by Zarathustra as "Ahriman" (the God of Darkness). Zarathustra recognized Ahriman as the chief enemy of the God of Light (the Sun God). Zarathustra called the God of Light "Ahura Mazda" (the Lord of Wisdom).
...Human wickedness caused the continent of Lemuria to be destroyed by fire, and then human wickedness caused the continent of Atlantis to be destroyed by wind and water. These catastrophes came out of the collective karma of mankind (affected by Lucifer and Ahriman). Traces of those ancient catastrophes are still present on Earth today. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are echoes of those ancient catastrophes.
...The karma of spiritual science obligates us to correctly formulate our questions about reality, so that we can reach the correct answers. Do not think that such mysteries as the connection between earthquakes and human karma cannot be investigated. They can be investigated. Spiritual science enables us to comprehend the connection between human actions and natural occurrences such as earthquakes. The karma of spiritual science may take many twists and turns; spiritual science may even be crippled for a time, so that only a tiny segment of mankind embraces it. Nevertheless, spiritual science will ultimately spread throughout humanity, merging with the karma of mankind as a whole, and then it will become possible for even individual spiritual scientists to beneficially affect the karma of all of humanity.
— R.R.
Waldorf Watch Footnotes
[1] Steiner identified many demons who oppose the proper evolution of humanity. Lucifer is one of the foremost. [See "Lucifer".]
[2] I.e., while we lived on Atlantis. [See "Atlantis".]
[3] I.e., spiritual savants — masters, initiates — who lived among the population of Atlantis.
[4] Zarathustra was the founder of the religion called Zoroastrianism. Steiner said Zarathustra was the wisest human who lived before Christ, the Sun God, incarnated in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. [See "Zarathustra" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.]
[5] According to Steiner, Ahriman is another mighty demon. In Anthroposophy, Ahriman is often depicted as more terrible than Lucifer. [See "Ahriman".]
[6] In Anthroposophy, the "God of Light" is the Sun God, who is often called Christ. [See "Was He Christian?".] By exerting his influence, Christ can convert the temptations of Lucifer and Ahriman into valuable gifts for humanity, Steiner said.
[7] Steiner taught that before living on Atlantis, we lived on the continent of Lemuria. [See "Lemuria".]
[8] Steiner said that humans, through their misdeeds, destroyed both Lemuria and Atlantis.
[9] Anthroposophists believe that Lemuria was consumed by fires unleashed by human evil; Atlantis was submerged in a might flood unleashed by human evil.
[10] Karma is a key Anthroposophical doctrine. [See "Karma".] Steiner taught that individuals humans have karmas, and so do groups of humans (families, nations, races, etc.), and so does humanity as a whole.
[11] For Anthroposophists, "spiritual science" — the objective study of the spirit realm — is Anthroposophy itself. For Theosophists, "spiritual science" is Theosophy. (Some other belief systems also apply this term to themselves.) When Steiner delivered this lecture, in 1909, he was a Theosophist; he would not break away to estbalish Anthroposophy as a separate movement until 1913. However, even while a Theosophist, Steiner began referring to his own esoteric teachings as anthroposophy. (Indeed, the word "anthroposophist" occurs once in this lecture.) One way to describe Anthroposophy — as least as it existed originally — is to say that Anthroposophy is Steiner's version of Theosophy.
Synonyms used by Steiner for "spiritual science" include "occult science" and "mystery science." Steiner's key text, in which he lays out the general contrours of his esoteric teachings, is titled OCCULT SCIENCE: AN OUTLINE. The first edition of the book appeared in 1909; Steiner later revised it numerous times. [See "Everything".]
[12] Anthroposophists seek to save their own souls, but they also work to save humanity as a whole. They do this through such Anthroposophical initiatives as Waldorf schools. In general, the Anthroposophical effort to remake human society is pursued under the rubric "threefolding." [See "Threefolding".]