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WALDORF / STEINER 

NEWS ARCHIVE

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March, 2020

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This site supplements Waldorf Watch.

To go to Waldorf Watch itself, please click here:

Waldorf Watch.

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The news items below are presented in reverse chronological order — newest first, oldest last.

Please excuse a certain amount of repetition in the contents of this archive. Items that now appear close together on the screen may have originally been separated by intervals of several days.

Many of the items in this archive generalize about Waldorf schools, describing them as Rudolf Steiner and leading Waldorf representatives have said they should be and as evidence shows they often are today. Not all Waldorf schools, Waldorf charter schools, and Waldorf-inspired schools conform to this model precisely. To evaluate an individual school, you should carefully examine its stated purposes, its practices (which may or may not be consistent with its stated purposes), and the composition of its faculty.

— Roger Rawlings

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MARCH 29, 2020

STEINER SCHOOL CRISIS — 

PARENT GROUP FIGHTS BACK 

The coronavirus pandemic understandably dominates the news these days, but we should not lose sight of other stories that bear on Waldorf education.

Steiner/Waldorf schools in the United Kingdom have been in crisis during recent months. Inspectors have identified serious deficiencies at many of these schools. As a result, some of the schools have shut down, while others teeter on the brink of closure. [See "The Steiner School Crisis".]

One of the schools that have been shuttered is the Wynstones School, a Steiner boarding school in Glouchestershire. Now a parents group is fighting back, directing their fire at Ofsted — the UK government's Office for Standards in Education. The inspectors who criticized the school are Ofsted officials.

The following is from The Stroud News and Journal [Glouchestershire, UL]:

Parents plan legal challenge against Ofsted 

after closure of Wynstones 

Families of pupils at Wynstones School are planning to launch a legal challenge 

against Ofsted following its damning report about the school. Photo: Tatia Nichols

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PARENTS of children at a ‘failing’ Steiner school are fighting back against Ofsted.

Families of pupils at Wynstones School, which closed down at the start of the year after the education watchdog found “serious and widespread failures” are planning to launch a legal challenge against Ofsted following its damning report.

The school in Whaddon near Gloucester closed in January after Ofsted found “significant safeguarding concerns”, with inspectors describing the school’s safeguarding culture as “weak”.

But now the Wynstones Parent Initiative, a group of over 50 parents, is aiming to bring a judicial review against Ofsted’s judgement...

Parent spokesman Arthur Edwards said: “We are pursuing a judicial review to highlight the fact that while Oftsed has great power to judge and regulate others, it is arguably itself above the law.

“We believe that Ofsted has been operating in a high-handed manner without regard for real educational principles, and without taking consideration of parents’ educational rights...

“The effect on Wynstones’ children and families has been devastating and completely unwarranted.

“Ofsted has not followed normal procedures in this case, but has arguably pursued a bullying agenda that has the effect of intimidating schools and depriving parents of an education of their choice...."

[3/29/2020    https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/18335637.parents-plan-legal-challenge-ofsted-closure-wynstones/    This article originally appeared on March 26.]

Here are excerpts from an article in the same newspaper published at the time of Wynstones' closure:

WYNSTONES School has closed following a damning Ofsted report...

Ofsted found [the school] had 'serious and widespread failures'.

Wynstones Steiner School, an independent boarding school in Whaddon, was rated 'inadequate' [an overall failing grade] by Ofsted in November after inspectors reported 'significant safeguarding concerns' [i.e., the school failed to protect its students adequately].

Ofsted’s website says the school has been closed...

An Ofsted report published in November found that untrained staff 'had restrained children on two occasions', after the school assured Ofsted that no restraints had occurred...

The report, which followed an inspection on November 27 to 29, said: "The safeguarding culture in the school is weak. Leaders, managers, staff and trustees do not protect children from harm. Statutory safeguarding guidance is not fully understood or followed.

"Leaders and managers have failed to ensure effective management of safeguarding matters...."

[1/28/2019    https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/18191961.wynstones-school-closed-following-damning-ofsted-report/]

While safeguarding has been a crucial issue at several of the Steiner schools criticized by Ofsted, other failings have also been found at several of these schools, ranging from poor teaching to dysfunctional management. So, for instance, a news account said this about a Steiner school in Exeter:

"[I]nspectors...discovered a catalogue of failings at the school including leadership being 'dysfunctional at every level', kindergarten pupils being physically restrained by teachers, and a lack of support for vulnerable children.

"[The] Ofsted inspection highlighted serious inadequacies in leadership, quality of teaching and safeguarding. The school was found to be 'inadequate' in every area inspected...." [See "Steiner School Crisis: An Effort to Reassure", January 27, 2020.]

Ofsted determined that Wynstones School failed in all of these ways, not only in safeguarding. After a less stringent inspection service rated the school "good" during a previous evaluation, Ofsted — applying tighter standards —  judged Wynstones to be "inadequate" at every level:

[Ofsted]

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Proponents of Steiner/Waldorf education are often enchanted with at least the more appealing aspects of the Steiner ethos. Proponents with overt ties of the Anthroposophical movement are especially fervent, defending the schools roundly. Such supporters work hard to keep Steiner/Waldorf schools open, or — when the schools go down, for whatever reason — to reopen them. In this case, the tactic being employed is evidently an attempt to shift focus from the schools themselves to the education officials who have found fault with the schools. 

— R.R.

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MARCH 28, 2020 

ANTHRO MEDICINE 

PUT IN ITS PLACE

The coronavirus pandemic is leading to the exposure of Anthroposophical medicine for its falsehoods and empty promises. Perhaps, indeed, the current crisis will lead people back to an appreciation for real medicine, modern science, and rational thinking. 

What we need now, clearly, is a vaccine that will help prevent COVID-19 and a medication that will cure COVID-19 after it has been contracted. To find these, we must rely on real medicine — and the modern science on which it is based, and the rational thinking that is fundamental to both real medicine and modern science. False approaches such as Anthroposophical medicine will get us nowhere.

Here are excerpts from a new article in the French newsmagazine LE POINT — it puts Anthroposophical medicine in context.

Coronavirus: 

the "fake news" virus 

is galloping around 

By Géraldine Woessner

Have you heard that the coronavirus is due to...5G? Don't laugh! Don't laugh! ... [T]he video advancing this delusional theory has gone viral ... Thomas Cowen, former vice-president of the Association for Anthroposophical Medicine, explains that viruses don't exist, because they are merely "the excretion of a poisonous cell" which gets rid of its impure parts. There is a different origin for evil: "If you expose every living thing to a new electromagnetic field, you poison it," he explains.

The Spanish flu [in 1918] was produced by the development of radio waves, other flus [in the 1930's-40's] were linked to the development of radar, and today COVID-19 is traced to — the development of 5G! ... This type of analysis would merely make us smile if it did not emanate from an occult belief system [Anthroposophy] that has more and more followers ... Anthroposophy shows up in health and beauty products (the Weleda and Demeter brands), education (Steiner-Waldorf schools), and biodynamic agriculture. On Facebook now, people share occult schemes supposed to protect against the epidemic, along with other totally aberrant remedies.

Since the beginning of sheltering in place — when the population, locked up, must face its anxieties alone — the use of social networks has exploded, along with the dissemination of false information, smoky scoops, and conspiracy theories...

These excesses can be divided into three categories: false medicines, conspiracy theories, and "ideological opportunisms." False medicines are the most dangerous ... In Iran, more than 210 people died of methanol poisoning after reading that alcohol could protect against COVID-19. In France, grandmothers' remedies advocated by natural product merchants...risk distracting people from genuinely effective measures ... Behind this lurks anti-vaxx activism...

A second category includes conspiracy theories, all following the same pattern: Some power created this virus to serve malign purposes ... So, in China, a notorious conspiracist website has claimed "new evidence that the virus came from the United States"...

Likewise there are theories that the obvious shortage of basic medical equipment, such as tests and masks, results from deliberate actions by governments in managing the crisis...

[A] third category consists of strained interpretations contrived to support various belief systems, such as interpreting the tragedy as a "divine punishment" sent to punish men for their immorality or their way of life... 

Former Minister of Ecology Nicolas Hulot [an ally of Anthroposophy] believes that "nature is sending us a message," a kind of ultimatum against which we would be forced to do penance. Globalization, the capitalist model...and the destruction of natural habitats are accused of creating the crisis. [But this overlooks the fact that] we had much worse pandemics before the industrial era...

In the long term, interpretations supporting false beliefs may weaken the authority of genuine medical experts. And if the public comes to doubt true medical advice, who will be able to convince them to take the right protective measures?

[3/28/2020    https://www.lepoint.fr/sante/coronavirus-le-virus-fake-news-galope-27-03-2020-2369049_40.php    This article originally appeared on March 27. Translated, somewhat freely, by Roger Rawlings, using www.DeepL.com/Translator. I thank former Waldorf teacher Grégoire Perra for bringing this article to my attention.]

The question comes down to this: Will the current crisis lead us to reaffirm our commitment to the truth — to real medicine, real science, and real rationality? Or will the crisis send us spinning off into panicky occult fantasies (fear of 5G, embrace of baseless conspiracy theories, reliance on useless folk nostrums dredged up from the past)? We stand at a crucial decision point.

— R.R.

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MARCH 25, 2020

◊ EDITORIAL ◊

DON'T LET CHILDREN 

CONTRACT COVID-19 

Generalizations are often imprecise. Still, I would argue that — generally speaking — Rudolf Steiner's followers have good intentions. Anthroposophists, including Anthroposophical doctors and devout Waldorf teachers, mean well. 

Unfortunately, however, the Anthroposophical belief system can cause great harm. Consider the recommendations at least some Anthroposophical doctors are making during the current coronavirus pandemic. 

As reported recently in the French newsmagazine L'EXPRESS, one leading Anthroposophical doctor has argued that shutting down schools would be "counterproductive." He said that only the elderly are endangered by the coronavirus disease, COVID-19. Hence young people should be allowed to contract the disease, he said. We should let the children get sick so that herd immunity can develop in the wider society.

"[Dr. Harald Matthes asserts] the 'virus only becomes dangerous with age' ... For this health worker, a large number of young people must be infected in order to achieve 'the indispensable 70% herd immunity ... [I]t is good that younger people are infected first, to build up a collective immunity....'" — Thomas Mahler, "5G, contamination bienvenue... Ces médecins qui diffusent des théories folles sur le coronavirus", L'EXPRESS, March 23, 2020 [translation by Roger Rawlings, using DeepL Translator].

Let the children get sick.

This is a shocking proposition — and it runs contrary to the information researchers are gathering about COVID-19. Old people may be at the greatest risk from the disease, but young people are not safe. No doctor should proceed on the premise that children should be allowed to become sick with the coronavirus.

Here are excerpts from a report published at LIVE SCIENCE:

"[A] new study suggests that not all children are spared [by the coronavirus] — a small percentage of kids develop serious illness from COVID-19 ... [A]round 6% of children developed severe or critical illness, with symptoms such as shortness of breath and hypoxia, or low levels of oxygen in body tissues ... In rare cases, children developed acute respiratory distress syndrome, a life-threatening condition that prevents oxygen from getting to the lungs and in turn, into the bloodstream. One 14-year-old boy with confirmed COVID-19 died from the disease ... [I]nfants and very young children were particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. Of the 125 children who developed severe illness, more than 60% were age 5 or younger...." — Rachael Rettner, "Not all children are spared from coronavirus", LIVE SCIENCE, March 20, 2020.

An article in THE NEW YORK TIMES presents essentially the same information:

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

Allowing children to become ill with COVID-19 is unconscionable. Some will be seriously harmed. Some will die. 

All the protective measures applied to older members of the population should be applied to children as well. Indeed, if we love children with special intensity, we should strive to protect them with special intensity.

The Anthroposophical attitude is cruel. Unintentionally so. But it is cruel nonetheless.

According to Anthroposophical teachings, illness can be a blessing. We become ill, at least in part, because karma requires it. We must undergo certain trials in this life in order to discharge our karma and thus become better spirits.

"[T]he outbreak of an epidemic produces something we are seeking in order to compensate for [past failings] ... [W]e are driven into certain conditions where we may suffer some injury, the overcoming of which will make us more perfect." — Rudolf Steiner, MANIFESTATIONS OF KARMA (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), p. 145.

So we should welcome illness, including childhood illnesses.

"[W]e should consider [childhood illnesses] as the greatest blessings, because through them man is able to strengthen his personal form by conquering [an inherited] predisposition, enabling him to incarnate better." — L.F.C. Mees, BLESSED BY ILLNESS (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 192.

Let children get sick. It is good for them. And it is good for society as a whole.

You may be shocked when Anthroposophical attitudes are stated this bluntly. You should be shocked. 

Anthroposophists mean well. Despite the Anthroposophical teachings I have cited here, Anthroposophists often strive to comfort the afflicted and protect the innocent. Steiner himself said that, for compassionate reasons, we must sometimes intervene in karma when it seems too harsh. Nevertheless, the Anthroposophical belief system can often be — unintentionally — cruel. Consider firsthand testimony such as the following. Even if we discount the author's understandable anger, his account is harrowing:

"I grew up in two Camphill [i.e., Anthroposophical] communities in North America ... I spent half of my childhood sick in bed... Anthroposophy is a religion, and Camphill is a sect, a cult of fanatics pursuing spiritual development and ultimately perfection. They believe that sickness is the soul incarnating, and also that it has to do with karma. They don’t believe in inoculations, so I had all the child diseases going around, some twice. My being sick all the time was obviously not just the mumps and the measles and whooping cough, so they had the anthroposophical doctors in all the time, in between punishing me for being sick ... This brand of medicine is based on a world view that is twisted, and their medicine is not scientifically based. Its root is the religion as laid out by Rudolf Steiner...." — Robert Hald-Smith, "Growing Up Being Made Sick by Anthroposophy", Waldorfcritics.org, January 30, 2007.

Anthroposophical doctors are MDs. They are qualified to practice real medicine, and they do so when they see fit. But they also allow their Anthroposophical convictions to sway them, as when they reject conventional medical procedures and follow Rudolf Steiner's guidance instead. Many of Steiner's medical statements strain rational credulity past the breaking point. Here are a few examples:

◊ "Five is the number of evil ... When, one day, medicine will make use of this, it will be able to influence beneficially the course of illness. Part of the treatment would be to study the illness in its development on the first and fifth days after its onset, on the separate days at the fifth hour past midnight, and again during the fifth week. Thus it is always the number five that determines when the physician can best intervene." — Rudolf Steiner, OCCULT SIGNS AND SYMBOLS (Anthroposophic Press, 1974), p. 42.

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

◊ “With pneumonia, the cause is always in the astral body [a nonphysical body]; pneumonia can occur in no other way.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE TEMPLE LEGEND (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1997), p. 60.

◊ “We must ask ourselves: In what constellation were we living when in the nineties [i.e., 1890s] the present influenza epidemic appeared in its benign form? In what cosmic constellation are we living at the present moment? By virtue of what cosmic rhythm does the influenza epidemic of the nineties appear in a more acute form today?" — Rudolf Steiner, FROM SYMPTOM TO REALITY IN MODERN HISTORY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1976), p. 89.

◊ “In cancer, the sensory-nervous system invades the metabolic-limb system and begins to assert itself there ... An ear that develops in the right place is a normal organ, but when even a very minimal latent ear or other sense organ develops in the wrong place, we are faced with cancer, or carcinoma." — Rudolf Steiner, THE HEALING PROCESS (SteinerBooks, 2000), pp. 141-142.

Much of this would seem laughable, if the subject — the healing of the ill — were not so serious.

We must not rely on Anthroposophical medicine to protect us — or our beloved young — during the coronavirus pandemic.

— Roger Rawlings

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MARCH 24, 2020

THE VILE VIRUS 

& TECHNOLOGY 

II. 

Here are further excerpts from the article about Anthroposophical medicine published in the French newsmagazine L'EXPRESS:

"Anthroposophists are wary of technology," says former Waldorf teacher Grégoire Perra [1]. "They especially hate earth-orbiting satellites. Because, according to Anthroposophists, when we sleep our astral body [2] leaves the earth's field and goes up to the stars, just as it does after we die. On its way upward, it must pass through the satellites. I have often heard Anthroposophists complain that these satellites prevent them from sleeping"...

[T]he Anthroposophical Clinic in Havelhöhe [3] was one of the first hospitals to offer COVID-19 tests ... [T]he clinic's medical director, Harald Matthes, gives a very strange view of his fight against the epidemic. He begins by asserting that the "virus only becomes dangerous with age" [4] ... For this health worker, a large number of young people must be infected in order to achieve "the indispensable 70% herd immunity [5]."

Asserting that he finds it "counterproductive" to close schools [6], Harald Matthes then develops his conception of a "salutogenic" medicine [7] ... [He says:] "Conventional medicine continues to be guided mainly by pathogenesis: it focuses on what makes us sick, such as the virus, which conventional doctors say must be destroyed. The salutogenic perspective emphasizes the development of immunity ... From this perspective, known in Anthroposophical medicine, it is good that younger people are infected first, to build up a collective immunity and ultimately to protect older people [8]. The situation reflects the debates on vaccination [9]..."

Steiner-Waldorf schools are regularly identified as the starting point for measles outbreaks [10]. Only last year, the Steiner school in Biel, Switzerland, was affected [11]. This is not surprising when you consider that vaccination rates in Steiner schools are much lower than in the rest of the population...

"For Anthroposophists, epidemics come from the spiritual world, are decided by the gods [12]," says [Grégoire] Perra. "It's like measles, they're trials we have to accept because it will strengthen us. That's why in Steiner organizations, not only are children allowed to have measles, but in the past ceremonies were organized to actively transmit the disease to others [13]. For Anthroposophists, both measles and coronavirus strengthen humanity in its spiritual evolution [14]. They do not say so openly...but they are against containment [15], because we must not oppose the epidemic." As a homeopathic and Anthroposophic general practitioner in Alsace [16] theorised a few years ago, for example, "a virus should not be considered as a 'mortal enemy' to be eliminated at all costs, but as a phenomenon accompanying the evolutionary path of the human era and of humanity"...

Grégoire Perra concludes: "For a convinced Anthroposophist, it is not very serious to die, because there is reincarnation [17]. If you die of the coronavirus, it means that you haven't found sufficient strength for the ordeal. But you will reincarnate after a journey to the planets, where the gods will grant you extra strength to succeed in your next life"....

[3/24/2020    https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/societe/sante/5g-contamination-bienvenue-ces-medecins-qui-diffusent-des-theories-folles-sur-le-coronavirus_2121606.html    This article originally appeared, in French, on March 23. Translation by Roger Rawlings, leaning heavily on www.DeepL.com/Translator.]

Waldorf Watch Footnotes 

[1] As a child, Perra was educated in Waldorf schools. He later became a Waldorf teacher and a leading Anthroposophist in France. Later yet, however, he renounced both Anthroposophy in general and Waldorf education in particular. [See, e.g., "He Went to Waldorf".]

[2] According to Anthroposophical doctrine, this is an invisible envelope of soul forces that incarnates around the age of 14. [See "Incarnation".]

[3] This is the Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Havelhöhe Klinik für Anthroposophische Medizin [https://www.havelhoehe.de/startseite.html].

[4] I.e., it endangers only old people. This is, of course, false. As L'EXPRESS points out, 

"[A] study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells that 38% of patients hospitalized with coronavirus were under 55 years of age." Children seem to withstand the coronavirus better than their elders, but some children have contracted serious cases of COVID-19. E.g., "Emerging epidemiologic reports on COVID-19 in children in China show that, while they are less likely than adults to be infected and have severe illness, they are still vulnerable to the pandemic coronavirus ... Children of all ages in Wuhan and surrounding areas were susceptible to the COVID-19 virus, and one — a 14-year-old boy — died from it" [http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/03/childrens-covid-19-risks-unique-chinese-studies-find].

[5] "Herd immunity" is generalized immunity attained within a group when a high percentage of the group's members have been vaccinated. Usually, the minimum vaccination rate for herd immunity is pegged at 90 to 95%, not 70%. E.g., 

"To get herd immunity against measles, for example, 93% to 95% of people in a community have to be vaccinated" [https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/news/20181130/what-herd-immunity-and-how-does-it-protect-us].

[6] Despite Anthroposophical resistance to closing schools, many Waldorf schools have obeyed governmental orders to shut down during the pandemic. [See, e.g., "The Coronavirus and Waldorf Ed. - V", March 21, 2020.]

[7] I.e., medicine that focuses on what makes us healthy (the sources or genesis of health as opposed to the sources of disease).

[8] They would presumably protect the elderly by establishing a social setting in which herd immunity prevailed. (The children would have developed immunity by contracting, and then recovering from, the disease. Their bodies thus would have developed antibodies protecting them from reinfection. This method of attaining immunity carries a far higher risk than vaccination — the children would have gotten sick and thus endured the harm potentially inflicted by the disease.)

[9] While Anthroposophical medicine does not wholly reject vaccination, it comes close — as Dr. Matthes indicates here. It is better for children to undergo various diseases, he indicates, than to be artificially rendered immune to these diseases. [See, e.g., "childhood diseases" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE).]

[10] See, e.g., "Waldorf, Measles, and Black Magicians", May 9, 2019.

[11] From Swissinfo:

"At the beginning of February [2019], 60 children who had not been vaccinated were sent home after measles erupted in the Steiner School in the town of Biel. Families with an anthroposophical lifestyle, as advocated by Rudolf Steiner, are often restrictive with vaccinations because of the purported benefits of getting a disease naturally. Many others fear the side effects of vaccines more than the underlying diseases that they protect against." — Swissinfo.ch [https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/infectious-disease_why-some-swiss-people-still-get-measles/44774826].

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

[13] These, allegedly, would have been formalized versions of "measles parties" arranged so that kids with measles could infect kids who had not yet contracted measles. [For a description of measles parties generally, see, e.g., "The Return of the Measles Party", in The Guardian — https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2001/jul/26/healthandwellbeing.health.]

[14] The purpose of life, Anthroposophy teaches, is to evolve to higher and higher levels of spiritual consciousness. [See "evolution of consciousness" in the BWSE.]

[15] I.e., containment of the disease, COVID-19.

[16] Alsace is a region in northeastern France, on the borders of Germany and Switzerland.

[17] See "Reincarnation".

— R.R.

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MARCH 23, 2020

THE VILE VIRUS 

& TECHNOLOGY 

I. 

Anthroposophical medicine — the form of medicine often practiced in and around Waldorf schools — is coming under increased scrutiny and criticism as the coronavirus pandemic spreads. Here is the beginning of an article from the French news magazine L'EXPRESS [Paris, France]:

PSEUDOSCIENCES

5G, contamination welcome... 

These doctors are spreading 

crazy theories about coronavirus...

By Thomas Mahler

Anthroposophical doctors, who are followers of the occultist Rudolf Steiner, advocate contamination for young people or blame 5G [1].

Could Covid-19 have arisen as a result of 5G? In a video recorded at the Health and Human Rights Summit in Arizona, Dr. Thomas Cowan develops an unassailable argument [2]: The coronavirus appeared in China, which is at the cutting edge of this technology, while Africa, which is "not a 5G region," is proving to be less affected by the pandemic for the time being. According to Dr. Cowan, every major epidemic in the modern era can be explained by exposure to new electromagnetic fields, hence their rapid spread. To our readers who are about to throw smartphones and Internet modems out of their windows, it should be pointed out that Thomas Cowan is a former vice-president of the American Association of Anthroposophical Physicians. 

In the video he quotes the Austrian occultist Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), founder of Anthroposophy, who, after the Spanish flu of 1918, claimed that viruses were excretions of toxic cells. At the end of his "demonstration," Thomas Cowan targets vaccines [3] which, with their adjuvant [4] containing aluminium salts, would make us perfect receptors for electro-magnetic fields. Unsurprisingly, the video [of Dr. Cowan's talk] went...viral. R&B singer Keri Hilson tweeted that "people have been trying to warn us about 5G for YEARS".....  

[3/23/2020    https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/societe/sante/5g-contamination-bienvenue-ces-medecins-qui-diffusent-des-theories-folles-sur-le-coronavirus_2121606.html    Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator.]

Waldorf Watch Response 

Anthroposophy is generally averse to modern technology, considering it to be at least potentially demonic [5]. Rudolf Steiner warned that electricity will one day "spread evil over the earth, and evil will invade the earth by coming in an immediate way out of the forces of electricity” [6]. Computers, in particular, tend to distress Anthroposophists, many of whom think the terrible demon Ahriman [7] will be brought to Earthly embodiment by computer technology [8]. 

The coronavirus pandemic might possibly alter the Anthroposophical/Waldorf view of science and technology [9].

Possibly.

Scientists worldwide are currently rushing to discover treatments and vaccines to combat the coronavirus. Meanwhile, as educational institutions around the globe send students home, many Waldorf schools are bowing to the need to conduct classes long-range, via the Internet. 

We can only hope these developments will ease Anthroposophists away from their anti-science, anti-technology inclinations. Maybe they will come to appreciate, if only slightly, the benefits of modern progress. This would, however, require them to jettison much of their fundamental belief system [10], so perhaps we should not expect too much.

By the way, is it possible — as L'EXPRESS says — that Anthroposophists might actually "advocate contamination for young people"? Do Anthroposophists think COVID-19 might actually be good for kids?

Yes, some Anthroposophists undoubtedly think so. According to Anthroposophical teachings, illnesses can be blessings [11]. People may need to undergo various illnesses for reasons of karma and/or astrology [12].

As long as Anthroposophists cling to beliefs like these, their acceptance of modern science and technology will surely be limited.

Waldorf Watch Footnotes 

[1] 5G is the fifth generation of wireless communication technology.

[2] Much may be lost in translation. L'Express is mocking Dr. Cowan.

[3] Anthroposophical medicine does not wholly oppose the use of vaccines, but there is nonetheless a strong anti-vaxx sentiment in the Anthroposophical community and in the Waldorf movement. [See "vaccination" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE).] 

[4] According to the Centers for Disease Control, "An adjuvant is an ingredient used in some vaccines that helps create a stronger immune response in people receiving the vaccine. In other words, adjuvants help vaccines work better" [https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/adjuvants.html].

[5] See, e.g., "Spiders, Dragons and Foxes".

[6] See "electricity" in the BWSE.

[7] See "Ahriman".

[8]  "[T]he whole computer and Internet industry is today the most effective way to prepare for the imminent incarnation of Ahriman." — Sergei Prokofieff, "The Being of the Internet" (philosophyoffreedom.com, 2015). Also see David Black's booklet, THE COMPUTER AND THE INCARNATION OF AHRIMAN (Rudolf Steiner College Press, 1981).

[9] For the Anthroposophical/Waldorf view, see "science" and "technology" in the BWSE.

[10] See "Anthroposophy" in the BWSE.

[11] See, e.g., the Anthroposophical text BLESSED BY ILLNESS (Anthroposophic Press, 1983), by L.F.C. Mees, .

[12] See, e.g., "The Coronavirus and Waldorf Ed. - I -", March 14, 2020.

— R.R. 

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MARCH 21, 2020

THE CORONAVIRUS 

& WALDORF ED. 

V.

The Anthroposophical community worldwide, including the Waldorf educational movement, is struggling to respond appropriately — within the context of their belief system — to the coronavirus pandemic.

Here are a few glimpses of actions being taken by members of the Anthroposophical/Waldorf community in the USA:

1.

"Dear Steiner Families ... New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sunday that public schools in New York City would be closed until April 20th, as the city deals with the spread of the COVID-19. Barring any change in circumstances, our school will remain closed through April 19th ... Beginning on Monday, March 30th, we will be shifting to a distance-learning program [1]. We expect all students to participate fully. A technology questionnaire to determine how to best support each family in accessing the information and materials is forthcoming ... The College of Teachers [2] began discussing and considering distance-learning approaches, options, and variations two weeks ago, and teachers from this group have been in consultation daily since the likelihood of closing in April appeared imminent late last week. In the coming days the College of Teachers will provide a statement about distance learning that aims to contextualize how Waldorf education can (and must) continue despite the present isolating and fear-inducing circumstances. The College of Teacher’s pressing work in this moment is to consider not only ramifications for pedagogy and program in the coming months but also to intuit [3] how an imagination [4] of school, worldwide, will be permanently different in the aftermath." — Rudolf Steiner School, New York City, letter to parents, March 19, https://steiner.myschoolapp.com/podium/push/default.aspx?i=333720&s=901&snd=8777aea8-cea5-4617-8705-a0a5d67d9622.

2.

"To dispeal [sic] fear & build courage during this time of uncertainty around the coronavirus, many of us are doing constructive things like the Hallelujah in Eurythmy [5], & The Foundation Stone Meditation [6] at Sunrise (or anytime) every morning to create a high vibration of Love & Light - Please join us for the healing of all [7]." — Rudolf Steiner Branch (Chicago), Anthroposophical Society in America, https://www.rudolfsteiner.org/chicago/.

3.

"COVID-19 is in the news and on everyone’s mind ... With small children, shielding them from troubling information is ideal. Children in early childhood should be kept from the news if possible [8] ... It’s important to communicate once you know a child has some, even very limited, knowledge of the virus to be sure that they do not awfulize [sic] the small amount of information they have ... [For older students:] There is much misinformation, conspiracy, and fear-based reporting online that an older child may be exposed too, even in texts of conversations with peers. Arming teens with knowledge about realistic and trusted news sources and information [9] may be extremely valuable to share." — Philadelphia Waldorf School, https://phillywaldorf.com/talking-to-children-about-covid-19/.

4.

"Dear Sacramento Waldorf School Parents ... After the most collaborative day of faculty-staff devotion [10] one can imagine, your child's School-to-Home packets will be ready for distribution starting at 10:00 a.m. today ... We are adhering strictly to the 6 FOOT or more distancing guidelines as community members come and go on campus. Absolutely no exceptions ... Please drive slowly. Park and walk to the Linden Hall curbside service or drive slowly past LH, turn around at the basketball courts and form a car line in front of LH. No 'frog-hopping' ... Mailing this first round of curriculum was beyond our capacity due to the 3-dimensional items that the children need to begin these weeks of working from home [11]. This is our opportunity to exercise the patience and goodwill that this global event invites ... Confessions of a Waldorf Teacher: Usually I avoid worksheets like the plague. Now we are avoiding the plague with worksheets!" — Sacremento Waldorf School, letter to parents, March 17, https://sacwaldorf.org/about-sws/community-health/.

Waldorf Watch Footnotes 

[1] Like other educational institutions affected by the current crisis, many Waldorf schools are turning to computer technology (online learning) to continue their educational efforts. This is particularly challenging for Waldorf schools, however, because the Waldorf belief system — Anthroposophy — generally takes a dim view of modern technology, considering it to be in many ways demonic. [See, e.g., "Spiders, Dragons and Foxes".]

[2] In many Waldorf schools, the "College of Teachers" is the central administrative committee. The members of the College are generally those senior teachers who are deeply devoted to Rudolf Steiner and his doctrines. Indeed, meetings of the College often include group study of Steiner lectures or writings. [See "college of teachers" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE).]

[3] Intuition is one of the three primary modes of non-rational thought employed by Rudolf Steiner's followers. The others are imagination and inspiration. All three modes, as comprehended in Anthroposophy, are forms of clairvoyance. [See "clairvoyance", "imagination", "inspiration", and "intuition" in the BWSE.]

[4] An "imagination," in the Anthroposophical sense, is a mental picture produced by clairvoyant imagination.

[5] Eurythmy is a form of temple dancing devised by Rudolf Steiner. [See "Eurythmy".] Waldorf teachers often perform eurythmy for their own benefit, and Waldorf students are often required to participate in eurythmy classes. Concerning "Hallelujah in Eurythmy," see, e.g., "The Sacred Word Halleluiah" [https://eurythmyonline.com/wp-content/uploads/documents/Halleluiah.pdf].

[6] This is a lengthy meditation produced by Rudolf Steiner on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone at the Anthroposophical cathedral, the Goetheanum. [See "The Foundation Stone Meditation" and "The Goetheanum" in the BWSE.]

[7] Like other Anthroposophical treatments for disease [see "Steiner's Quackery"], eurythmy and meditation may have distinctly limited medicinal value. (Critics would say these treatments may no value at all.)

[8] Shielding young children from disturbing information may be sensible, in at least some situations. The question arises, however, where to draw the line. When are children too young to be told the truth? And what sorts of truths should be withheld? Anthroposophical answers to these questions may be different from the answers found by others. Anthroposophy generally turns its back on the modern world (one might say the real world), modern science, and much of modern scholarship. [See, e.g., "Materialism U."] Anthroposophical thinking in general is often akin to feel-good fantasization. [See, e.g., "Reality and Fantasy".] The value of such thinking — especially in a crisis — is surely questionable.

[9] Sources that Anthroposphists deem "realistic and trusted" are generally limited to sources found within the Anthroposophical/Waldorf movement itself. Outsiders may find such sources to be distinctly unrealistic and untrustworthy.

[10] Faculty meetings at Waldorf schools are often devotional. Waldorf faculty members often think of themselves are fulfilling a priestly function. [See "Schools as Churches".]

[11] Waldorf schools sometimes support homeschooling efforts of various types, and the current crisis may lead to a redoubling of such support. However, as a general rule, Waldorf faculties attempt to maintain close supervision of children, often with the effect of diminishing the role played by the children's parents. [See, e.g., News Brief #1, Waldorf Watch News, March 8, 2020.]

— R.R.

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MARCH 18, 2020

◊ NEWS BRIEF ◊

THE CORONAVIRUS 

& WALDORF ED. 

IV.

It may quickly become impossible to track the course of COVID-19 infections in and around Waldorf schools. We won't try to maintain a complete list. 

But here is a report on what may be the first COVID-19 case at a North American Waldorf school.

From Victoria News [British Columbia, Canada]:

Comox Valley school exposed to COVID-19

Island Health sent out statement advising school community of a positive test

[By] Scott Stanfield

A member of the Comox Valley Waldorf School has tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

In a statement obtained by the Comox Valley Record, Island Health [the regional health authority] has confirmed the positive test.

“This individual is in isolation at home, doing well and being monitored daily by public health,” Medical Health Officer Charmaine Enns states in a letter dated March 15.

She added that individuals from the school who have been in contact with this member while at school are receiving daily follow-up by public health, and have been advised to self-isolate...

A spokesperson for Waldorf School confirmed the positive test, but could not divulge details of the patient – whether it was a student, or staff member – for privacy purposes.

Provincial health officials announced Tuesday that 83 new cases of COVID-19 have been identified, bringing the total number of cases to 186 in B.C. [British Columbia]...

Of seven people hospitalized in B.C. due to COVID-19...four are in intensive care units...

An order to cancel gatherings has dropped from 250 to 50 or more people. [Charmaine Enns] credits businesses, organizations and municipalities for shutting down operations....

[3/18/2020     https://www.vicnews.com/news/comox-valley-school-exposed-to-covid-19/    This article originally appeared on March 16.]

.Comox Valley Waldorf School apparently remains in session today. However, the school previously announced that it will soon go out of business. [See "The Tide Flows, The Tide Ebbs", February 25, 2020.]

— R.R.

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MARCH 17, 2020

THE CORONAVIRUS 

& WALDORF ED. 

III.

Anthroposophical medicine — medical care rooted in Rudolf Steiner's occult preachments — is often practiced in and around Waldorf schools. [1] The consequences can be serious. [2] Anyone interested in joining a Waldorf community should consider the implications carefully.

The following is from the website of the Anthroposophical headquarters, operating within the cathedral called the Goetheanum [3]:

The Corona Virus [4]

12 March 2020

[By] Georg Soldner [5]

...If an infection occurs, viruses penetrate into the organism. The organism recognizes that certain cells are made alien by the viruses, beginning to do something other than what is best for the whole. It begins to turn against these cells in order to eliminate them ... Anyone who dies of a viral infection can therefore be seen as a victim of their own immune defense, whose regulation is an expression of the individual "I-organization", the I-presence in the body [6].

Alienation from the body

The more a person is already in a situation where the physical body is becoming alien to her or him [7], the more susceptible she or he is to this viral disease, now called COVID-19. Of course, this is especially true at a higher age, when bones shrink and muscle mass decreases, or in the case of chronic illnesses...

The less I am present in my body...the more easily the infection can spread in the body and the more serious the consequences can be ... Unfortunately, conventional medicine has no helpful medication and no vaccine to offer in this case [8]...

What helps people overcome the illness is everything that helps them better penetrate and warm their body, and be able to feel more at home in it...

Relationship to the Sun [9]

This virus has particularly negative characteristics from a medical point of view. It can take a very long time for the organism to wake up and notice that there is a foreign guest on board, threatening to cause harm. There is a known case ofthe [sic] illness in which the disease only broke out 27 days after infection. On average, however, this period is 5 days, and 95 percent of all cases manifest after 12.5 days. Therefore, those affected are quarantined for a long period of two weeks. This virus is also more contagious than a normal flu virus [10]. On average, one person with the normal flu virus infects 1.3 other people, whereas someone with the corona virus is more likely to infect 3 other people (for a highly infectious disease such as measles or whooping cough, the figure is 12 to 18). The infection rate is therefore higher than with influenza, and it also takes longer to manifest. The combination of these characteristics, which favor an epidemic spread, make physicians worldwide nervous. [11]

Relationship to the animal kingdom [12]

However, one big puzzle arises: Where do these apparently novel viruses come from and why did they develop? Interestingly enough, many of the viruses come from animals. The corona virus probably comes from the Javanese bat. So why do viruses from the animal kingdom become dangerous for humans? We are currently inflicting untold suffering on animals: Mass slaughter and experimentation on laboratory animals causes pain that the animal kingdom is helpless to bear. Can this suffering lead to consequences that alter viruses that are native to the animal organism? ... This raises not only the microbiological question of the origin of the virus, but also the moral question of how to deal with the animal world [13]...

What can we do?

There are a number of measures we can take in our personal lives to help our organism overcome the disease. These include abstaining from alcohol, moderating sugar consumption, and maintaining a rhythm of life with sufficient sleep and an active relationship with the sun ... [I]t is extremely worthwhile to go outdoors every day and in winter, if possible, at noon, to connect with the periphery, with the elements of the cosmos [14] ... Vitamin D tablets can only replace the absorption of sunlight to a limited extent. Potentized phosphorus and correspondingly potentized meteoritic iron in the morning can also support the immune system as light substances [15]...

A healthy breathing between human beings

If illness occurs, quarantine is currently recommended, although mild cases can now be treated at home. It seems important to me that Anthroposophic Medicine has decades of experience in treating viral and bacterial pneumonia without antibiotics [16]...

What weakens the lungs [17]? Two things: a lack of relationship to the earth and the sun [18], and social tensions. It is therefore advisable to protect your own lungs, this respiratory organ [sic], from the inside and outside by trying to balance social tensions. In my view, those who are in unresolved social conflicts are increasingly at risk here. Medicine has promoted the belief that vaccinations can protect against all infections. This is a mistake [19]....

[3/17/2020    https://goetheanum.co/en/news/the-corona-virus    This article originally appeared, in German, on March 12. The English translation, quoted above, appeared on March 13.]

Waldorf Watch Response

A premise of Anthroposophical medicine is that physical health is a reflection of spiritual health. A person who lives healthfully — correctly incarnated, in tune with nature, warmed physically and spiritually by the Sun, and so on — will generally resist and overcome disease. So Dr. Soldner makes statements like this: "What helps people overcome the illness is everything that helps them better penetrate and warm their body, and be able to feel more at home in it." The Anthroposophical corollary is that one's emotional and mental attitude is crucial. Ordinary medicine is inadequate because it is guilty of "only looking at the physical and...seeing it as mostly separate from the mind and emotions."

There is some truth in the Anthroposophical vision — but also a great deal of falsehood. Being healthy — physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually — is indeed beneficial. It indeed strengthens us, so we are less likely to become ill and we are more likely to recover rapidly from any illness that may befall us. This is true. (It is also tautological — it simply says that being healthy makes us healthy.)

But there is a great danger in the Anthroposophical approach: It may lead the unwary to reject real medicine and adopt quack treatments instead. Antibiotics and vaccines are not perfect, but rejecting them can undermine health in the most profoundly damaging ways. By contrast, "alternative" treatments such as homeopathy [20] and the use of "potentized meteoritic iron" [20] are virtually certain to be useless at best or seriously harmful at worst [21]. 

Conventional medicine — real medicine — does not yet have cures or vaccines for fighting COVID-19. But this should not lead us to adopt bogus treatment strategies — it should not cause us to rely on quack remedies that cannot produce real, positive results.

Waldorf Watch Footnotes 

[1] See "Steiner's Quackery".

[2] See, e.g., the section "Doctor" in "Spotlight on Anthroposophy". Also see "Growing Up Being Made Sick by Anthroposophy".

[3] See the section "The Goetheanum" in "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?" (The Goetheanum stands outside Dornach, Switzerland.)

[4] This designation presumably draws attention to the Sun's corona. Implicitly, the nature, cause, or cure of COVID-19 is — from an Anthroposophical perspective — related to the Sun. Anthroposophists are prone to find (or invent) spiritual meanings based on flimsy or nonexistent indications. Scientists coined the term "coronavirus" in the late 1960s because such viruses are globular and have projections that create a fringe that roughly resembles a corona. But there is, in reality, no particular connection between these viruses and the Sun. (We will have more to say about the Sun presently.)

[5] Soldner, an Anthroposophical doctor, is deputy head of the medical section of the School of Spiritual Science, located at the Goetheanum. "Spiritual science," in Anthroposophical belief, is Anthroposophy itself: It is a belief system that claims to be a rational method for obtaining objective knowledge of the spirit realm.

[6] According to Anthroposophy, the "I" is one's spiritual ego: one's true, spiritual individuality. The "I-organization" is the "I" united with its more august extensions: the higher I (one's transcendent spiritual identity, one's developing divinity) and the highest I (the godly being we can become when the higher I is united with the universal I, which may be considered the Holy Ghost). [See "I" and "I organization" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.]

[7] Anthroposophy teaches that we can become alienated from our physical bodies in several ways. We may fail to incarnate properly, for instance, or our incarnation may weaken for various reasons. The result is that we are not fully present in our bodies, which can make room in our bodies for invasive hostile entities. [See, e.g., "Double Trouble".]

[8] Anthroposophical medicine proceeds from the postulate that conventional science and medicine are faulty; therefore, treatments based on Anthroposophy are offered as better alternatives. It is true that conventional medicine does not yet have vaccines or cures for COVID-19 — but turning to pseudoscience instead would be a grave error.

[9] Strangely, the section under this heading ("Relationship to the Sun") — I reprint the section here in full — makes no reference to the Sun. 

The implicit argument is that Sun forces (coming directly from the Sun or indirectly from sources related to the Sun) warm the body and thus promote health. The Sun holds a special place in Anthroposophy — it is believed to be the home of the Sun God, whom Anthroposophists identify as Christ. [See "Sun God".] The Sun is said to have marvelous curative powers — powers employed by Christ: 

“It is...important that the deeds of Christ Jesus are always seen in relation to the physical sun, which is the external expression of the spiritual world that is received at the point where Christ’s physical body is walking around. When Christ Jesus heals, for instance, it is the sun force that heals.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE UNIVERSAL HUMAN (Anthroposophic Press, 1990), pp. 65-6.

[10] COVID-19 is comparable to flu or influenza, but it is a different disease. The World Health Organization draws the distinction: 

"By following good respiratory hygiene you protect the people around you from viruses such as cold, flu and COVID-19." [https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public].

[11] Statistics of the sort offered by Dr. Soldner are far from firm; much about COVID-19 remains to be learned.

[12] In Anthroposophical belief, animals are generally entities cast aside during the course of human evolution: They are beings who were unable to evolve further, and therefore they were left behind. [See "Evolution, Anyone?"]

[13] In Anthroposophical medicine, diseases are thought to reflect moral and spiritual causes far more than mere physical causes. The argument Soldner makes here is that humans bring viral infections on themselves by abusing the animals that are hosts of the viruses. Soldner speculates (without providing evidence) that when human mistreat animals, we cause viruses in the animals to mutate into forms that are harmful to humans. Implicitly, this argument is related to Anthroposophical belief in karma: We create our own destiny through our actions — our sins come down on own own heads. [See "Karma".] 

(Personal note: I advocate animal rights. I love animals. Nonetheless, I find Soldner's argument speculative, mystical, and dubious.)

[14] Going outdoors at noon would presumably maximize one's exposure to the Sun. Note, though, that the Anthroposophical approach is meant to align one more fully to the entire cosmos — the physical realm and the spiritual realm.

The steps recommended here ("abstaining from alcohol, moderating sugar consumption," etc.) may have general beneficial effects, but there is no reason to think they have any special efficacy for dealing with COVID-9. For real medical advice concerning COVID-19, see, e.g., the recommendations issued by the Centers for Disease Control: "How to Protect Yourself" [https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/prevention.html], "Protect Your Family" [https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/protect-family.html], and "Protect Your Home" [https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/protect-home.html].

[15] These steps — taking vitamin D, potentized phosphorous, and potentized meteoric iron — are offered by Dr. Soldner as ways to receive some of the Sun's benefcial influences (the substances he lists are "light substances"). Few if any non-Anthroposophical physicians would make these recommendations, particularly with reference to COVID-19.

Meteoric iron tablets (also containing lactose and wheat starch) have been produced by Weleda, an Anthroposophical health and beauty provisoner. Instructions: 

"Let 1/2 tablet (child under 6 years, tablet may be crushed) or 1 tablet (6 years to adult) dissolve in the mouth 1 to 3 times daily at least 15 minutes before meals. Or as directed by your health care professional." [https://www.weledapharmacy.co.nz/products/category/UGWXBXYM-m/40METIRO-M--meteoric-iron-20x-tablets-90] 

[16] In concert with its general anti-scientific approach, Anthroposophical medicine largely rejects antibiotics. In mainstream medicine, by contrast, antibiotics are recognized as one of the greatest boons to human health produced by modern science.

The success rate of Anthroposophical treatments devoid of antibiotics is, to put the matter mildly, questionable.

[17] COVID-19 is sometimes said to be acquired when the virus is inhaled, thus entering the lungs. Here, Dr. Soldner suggests weakened lungs are most susceptible. 

The CDC indicates, on the other hand, the COVID-19 is not primarily contracted by being inhaled into the lungs:

"The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person.

"• Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet).

"• Through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

"These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs." [https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/transmission.html]

[18] I.e., incomplete incarnation on Earth, and incomplete connection with the health-conferring Sun.

[19] There is a strong anti-vaxx attitude in Anthroposophic medicine, an attitude than can have damaging effects. Waldorf schools where large percentages of students are unvaccinated can become centers of contagion. [See, e.g., "Chickenpox in Asheville".]

Like antibiotics, vaccines are extremely valuable products of modern medicine. Indeed, vaccines are essential supplements to antibiotics. Denying the value of vaccines can cause great harm. While vaccines are not perfect (what is?), their effectiveness has been proven overwhelmingly. 

"Through vaccination, smallpox was eradicated worldwide by 1980, and polio cases declined by 99 percent. Other examples of diseases for which vaccines have been developed include mumps, measles, typhoid fever, cholera, plague, tuberculosis, tularemia, pneumococcal infection, tetanus, influenza, yellow fever, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some types of encephalitis, and typhus — although some of those vaccines are less than 100 percent effective or are used only in populations at high risk. Vaccines against viruses provide especially important immune protection, since, unlike bacterial infections, viral infections do not respond to antibiotics." — "Vaccine", ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA, March 17, 2020.

[20] The National Institutes of Health debunk homeopathy mildly but thoroughly. Their primary recommendation: 

"Don’t use homeopathy to replace proven conventional care or postpone seeing a health care provider about a medical problem." [https://nccih.nih.gov/health/homeopathy.]

[21] Iron supplements can cause numerous problems. From Web MD: 

"Iron...can cause side effects such as stomach upset and pain, constipation or diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting ... High doses of iron are LIKELY UNSAFE for children. Iron is the most common cause of poisoning deaths in children. Doses as low as 60 mg/kg can be fatal. Iron poisoning can cause many serious problems including stomach and intestinal distress, liver failure, dangerously low blood pressure, and death. If you suspect a child has taken more than the recommended amount of iron, call your healthcare professional or the nearest poison control center immediately." [https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-912/iron] 

Anthroposophical practitioners advocate iron in several forms. E.g.,

"I will refer to basic observations, which link the outer appearance of human nature, illness, and remedial substance to their inner origins. Such views have been renewed for modern thinking by Rudolf Steiner ... A special form of iron is found on all continents: meteorites literally fall from the skies to the earth every year. This meteoric iron is a cosmic pure metal with a crystalline pattern not seen in earthly iron ... [Remember] the inner strengths of iron: courage and will power to fight ... The cosmic side of iron is traditionally connected with Mars, the god of warfare, and his red planet. Paracelsus wrote that iron is a universal force present in the planet Mars, in the metal, in the function of the gall bladder and the bile, and in plants permeated by the force of iron, such as the stinging nettle ... As a medication to boost the body defenses in flu and similar viral infections, we use iron phosphate in its homeopathic form." — Anthroposophical doctor Bertram von Zabern, "The Healing Gift of Iron", posted at healthy.net.

There appears to be no evidence that meteoric iron is safer or more beneficial than ordinary iron.

— R.R.

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MARCH 16, 2020

◊ NEWS BRIEF ◊

THE CORONAVIRUS 

& WALDORF ED. 

II.

Here are reports on what may be the first instance of the coronavirus having a direct impact on a Waldorf or Steiner school.

From The Scottish Sun [Glasgow, Scotland]:

VIRUS OUTBREAK - Coronavirus Scotland: 

Steiner School in Forres closes following 

‘confirmed case of Covid-19 within school’

[By] Alice Walker

A SCOTS school has been closed following a "confirmed case of Covid-19".

The Steiner School in Forres is set to close for one week following the announcement.

[Photo by Katie McMillan;

cropped for use here.]

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An image on social media shows the school has closed due to a "confirmed case" of coronavirus "within the school community"....

[3/16/2020    https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/5387356/coronavirus-scotland-steiner-school-forres/    This article originally appeared on March 14.]

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From The Press and Journal [northern and highland Scotland]:

Moray school to close for a week 

after ‘confirmed case of coronavirus’

By Susy Macauley

There are now two confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Highlands, the Scottish Government has announced.

Officials could not confirm how many cases are present in Moray, but a Forres school has been affected.

A notice on a door at Drumduan Steiner school indicated that it had postponed its open day, due to be held on Saturday, and the school would be closed for a week due to a confirmed case of coronavirus.

The case is believed to relate to a parent of one of the school’s children and the notice says the school will review the situation this Friday.

No-one from the school responded to the P&J’s request for comment....

[3/16/202    https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/inverness/2076238/moray-school-to-close-for-a-week-after-confirmed-case-of-coronavirus/    This article originally appeared on March 15.]

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MARCH 14, 2020

THE CORONAVIRUS 

AND WALDORF ED. 

Schools in many nations are shutting down as the world struggles to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

Many Waldorf and Steiner schools are complying with shut-down advisories and orders, although this threatens to violate some deep-seated Anthroposophical beliefs about disease.

Rudolf Steiner indicated that diseases may often be good for us — they help us to fulfill our karma. [1] Someone who has made certain errors during a past life may need to undergo certain diseases during this life in order to compensate. [2] If we prevent a patient from fully experiencing a disease that s/he needs to endure for her spiritual welfare, we may doom her to undergo the same disease — or something worse — during a later incarnation. So, for instance, Steiner said that inoculating an individual against smallpox can have unfortunate karmic repercussions.

"[W]e are merely accomplishing something to which the person in question will somehow have to produce a counterpart in a later incarnation when he has the smallpox poison within him ... If we destroy the susceptibility to smallpox, we are concentrating only on the external side of karmic activity.” — Rudolf Steiner, MANIFESTATIONS OF KARMA (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), pp. 165-166. [3]

That is to say, the inner side of karma — the deep, spiritual need to discharge one's karma — will be unfulfilled.

Steiner acknowledged that it is sometimes necessary to interfere with karma. He said preventing and curing diseases can be necessary; certainly, it can be humane. But he also issued cautionary guidance to his followers. Karma is serious business, he taught. In order to satisfy karma, some people move to areas where volcanic eruptions or deadly earthquakes will occur. They are right to do so, Steiner said: Suffering a terrible fate in this life can cleanse the soul, so that we may proceed to a higher level of existence in a future life.

"[W]e see...groups of human souls in their descent from pre-earthly into earthly existence wander to regions situated, for example, in the vicinity of volcanoes ... [S]uch places are deliberately chosen by the souls thus karmically connected, in order that they may experience this very destiny ... [They think] 'I choose a great disaster on earth in order to become more perfect....'" — Rudolf Steiner, KARMIC RELATIONSHIPS, Vol. 2 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1974), pp. 226-227.

Sometime very similar applies to disease, Steiner said. Suffering through an epidemic may be good for you.

"[T]he outbreak of an epidemic produces something we are seeking in order to compensate for something else ... [W]e are driven into certain conditions [4] where we may suffer some injury, the overcoming [5] of which will make us more perfect." — Rudolf Steiner, MANIFESTATIONS OF KARMA, p. 145.

Again, bear in mind: Steiner did not oppose all medical interventions. He did not say that all diseases should be welcomed and endured stoically. [6] But he did teach that apparent calamities may actually be blessings. [7] The torments of an volcanic eruption, or an earthquake — or an epidemic — may be just what you need.

It is a matter of karma, Steiner indicated. And it is a matter of astrological influence — the will of the gods as reflected in the patterns of the stars above us. So, for instance, figuring out what to do about an epidemic may require consulting the constellations of the zodiac.

“We must ask ourselves: In what constellation were we living when in the nineties [i.e., 1890s] the present influenza epidemic appeared in its benign form? In what cosmic constellation are we living at the present moment? By virtue of what cosmic rhythm does the influenza epidemic of the nineties appear in a more acute form today?" — Rudolf Steiner, FROM SYMPTOM TO REALITY IN MODERN HISTORY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1976), p. 89. [8]

If we want to understand our current situation and figure out how to respond, we need to study the stars.

Then, too, we should also consider the malign influences of demons. [9]

“[W]ith the dying out of the worst parts of the ancient population of which I have been speaking [in Asia], the whole region gradually became filled with demonic beings ... Their influence can best be seen at the time of the Great Migrations, when large masses of people, including Attila and his hordes, came over from Asia and caused great terror among the people in Europe. This terror made the population susceptible to the influences of the demonic beings ... As a consequence of the terror produced by the hordes coming over from Asia, there gradually developed what manifested during the Middle Ages as the epidemic of leprosy.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION OF MORALITY (SteinerBooks, 1995), p. 31.

The beneficent gods may send us disease for the perfection of our souls. But malevolent demons may send us disease for their own dastardly purposes. Sorting all this out is complex. It is occult. It is why we need Rudolf Steiner's wisdom. So Steiner indicated, anyway.

By the standards of modern science and medicine, Anthroposophical beliefs about disease (karma, astrology, the actions of demons) are extraordinary. But these are the sorts of beliefs devout followers of Rudolf Steiner must weigh when deciding how to respond, today, to the coronavirus pandemic. [10]

Waldorf Watch Footnotes 

[1] See "Karma".

[2] See "Reincarnation".

[3] See, e.g. "vaccination" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE).

[4] I.e., just as it can be wise to seek conditions favorable to volcanos or earthquakes, so it may be well to seek conditions favorable to disease.

[5] The "overcoming" may mean surviving the disease or succumbing but reaping the post-mortem benefits. In either case, experiencing the disease is beneficial. Preventing or eluding the disease would not be.

[6] For Steiner's general medical indications, see "Steiner's Quackery".

[7] For an exposition of the Anthroposophical view of disease — written long after Steiner's death — see L.F.C. Mees, BLESSED BY ILLNESS (Anthroposophic Press, 1983).

[8] For Anthroposophical teachings about astrology, see "Astrology" and "Star Power".

[9] See "Evil Ones"; also see the entry for "demons" in the BWSE.

[10] According to Anthroposophical beliefs about healthy childhood development, Waldorf schools probably should stay open during epidemics. Waldorf schools theoretically promote the correct (healthy) incarnation of children, thereby strengthening resistance to disease. (See, e.g., EDUCATION AS PREVENTIVE MEDICINE - A Salutogenic Approach (Rudolf Steiner College Press, 2002), written by Waldorf doctor Michaela Glöckler.) Children are theoretically fortified through such Waldorf-conferred benefits as the empowering of their egos and souls. (See, e.g., CHILDHOOD ILLNESSES AND IMMUNIZATIONS - Anthroposophic Ideas to Ensure the Wellbeing of Our Children in This Digital Age (SteinerBooks, 2017), written by Anthroposophical doctors Mark Kamsler, Andrea Rentrea, and Ross Rentea.) In reality, however, closing Waldorf schools is surely a more pragmatic measure having a far greater likelihood of success. 

— R.R.

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MARCH 10, 2020

SMALL STEINER SCHOOL  

PULLS BACK FROM BRINK 

Steiner or Waldorf schools in the United Kingdom (UK) have been under enormous pressure lately. Inspectors have found severe deficiencies at several of these schools. Some of the schools have closed, while others have either challenged the inspectors' findings or striven — with various degrees of good will — to implement changes that might satisfy the inspectors. [1]

Most media coverage has focused on relatively large Steiner/Waldorf schools. [2] But yesterday a report appeared focusing on a small Steiner school in the city of Lancaster.

From Lancaster Live:

Lancaster school avoids closure 

after making dramatic turnaround 

Lancaster Steiner School was threatened with closure but 

has since hired new staff to make changes ordered by Ofsted [3]

By Rachel Howarth

Lancaster Steiner School 

(Image: Google Maps)

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A Lancaster school, which was threatened with closure last year due to ‘serious regulatory failings’, has made marked improvements after hiring several new staff.

Lancaster Steiner School...received a letter from the Department for Education in October last year following an Ofsted inspection in November 2018.

Inspectors found that the school...was not meeting independent standards [4] checked during the visit.

Some of the concerns raised included that the school’s safeguarding policy was ‘not compliant’ with government requirements [5].

Parents of the 30 full-time and nine part-time students were notified about the failings...

In the October 2019 letter, the DfE [6] said that an action plan must be drawn up and implemented by January at the latest or the school could be ‘removed from the register of Independent Schools’ or be placed under operating restrictions [7].

Following another Ofsted visit in July, the school promptly hired a new headteacher (educational coordinator), two new teachers and four new trustees who have made vast improvements [8].

A progress visit made last month showed that the school was now meeting all of the independent school standards....

[3/10/2020   https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/lancaster-independent-school-avoids-closure-17892175    This article originally appeared on March 9.]

Waldorf Watch Footnotes 

[1] See "The Steiner School Crisis".

[2] See "Inadequate: Bristol, Frome, &..."

[3] Ofsted is the UK government's Office for Standards in Education.

[4] In the UK, independent schools (which finance themselves) are not held to the same standards as state schools (which are financed by the government). For a summary of UK independent school standards, see http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/3283/schedule/made. 

[5] One of the chief deficiencies found at various Steiner schools has been failure to adequately protect the students from harm — failure to "safeguard" the children. However, numerous other deficiencies have also been found at the schools, including ineffective management and poor teaching. [See, e.g., "The Steiner Crisis - Continued".]

[6] This is the UK government's Department for Education.

[7] I.e., the school would either be ordered to close or it would be placed under tight controls.

[8] Local news media often thump for local residents and institutions. Lancaster Live editorializes here, calling the improvements "vast." In fact, the primary changes seem to be the hiring of additional staff, some fine-tuning of the curriculum, and efforts by the school to make sure staff members understand the independent school standards.

The article concludes with this: 

Ofsted inspectors found that..."Trustees, leaders and staff are committed to ensuring that the independent school standards are met ... Trustees and leaders talk with confidence and knowledge about the independent school standards. They know what is needed for the school to consistently meet the standards." — Lancaster Live

In effect, the inspectors have praised the school's professed good intentions. Whether the school will consistently meet the standards in future remains to be seen. Apparently staff previously lacked knowledge of the standards, a situation that, arguably, is typical of the situation at other Steiner schools, which have goals and methods quite different from other schools'. [See, e.g., "Spiritual Agenda".] Significantly, the Waldorf/Steiner approach is not primarily focused on providing what is normally meant by a good education. [See "Academic Standards at Waldorf".]

— R.R.

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MARCH 8, 2020

◊ NEWS BRIEFS ◊

1.

From Wicked Local Beverly [Massachusetts, USA]:

Waldorf School opens 

homeschool registration 

Waldorf School at Moraine Farm has opened up 

registration for the second season of homeschool classes.

The homeschool program is offered on campus from 10 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. on Thursdays and is available to homeschooled children in grades one through eight.

Courses offered this upcoming winter and spring season include fine arts, handwork, outdoor science in nature, music, theater and circus arts for ages 6 to 10 and cyber civics for ages 11 to 14...

All courses are taught by Waldorf School at Moraine Farm faculty....

[3/8/2020    https://beverly.wickedlocal.com/news/20200305/greater-beverly-educational-news    This item originally appeared on March 5.]

Waldorf Watch Response 

Homeschooling is a growing trend, one that may or may not have merit. In general, homeschooling means keeping your children at home and teaching them yourself.

To send "homeschooled" children to a school so they can take courses taught by the school's faculty may seem self-contradictory. But it may make sense in some contexts. Parents who opt for homeschooling are often counterculturalists — they stand outside the mainstream. If they can find a countercultural school that will support or supplement their educational efforts, they may be grateful. And Waldorf schools certainly constitute a countercultural (unconventional, nonconformist, anti-establishment) movement.

Then, too, from Waldorf schools' point of view, forging ties with homeschooling families means the schools won't wholly lose the opportunity to mold a group of youngsters who otherwise might have enrolled full-time. From the Waldorf perspective, there is danger in completely independent homeschooling. Children taught entirely at home, by their parents, will not receive the spiritual guidance Rudolf Steiner wanted Waldorf teachers to provide. 

Far from allowing parents to educate their own children, Steiner indicated that Waldorf teachers should undo the harm parents may inflict on their kids. Hence, Waldorf teachers should — ideally — take control of the children as early as possible. Speaking to Waldorf teachers, Steiner made comments like these:

◊ "You will have to take over children for their education and instruction — children who will have received already (as you must remember) the education, or mis-education given them by their parents." — Rudolf Steiner, addressing Waldorf teachers, THE STUDY OF MAN (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), p. 16. 

◊ "[I]t might almost be preferable from a moral viewpoint if children could be taken into one's care soon after birth." — Rudolf Steiner, WALDORF EDUCATION AND ANTHROPOSOPHY, Vol. 2 (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 69. 

Before sending their children to a Waldorf school for any sort of instruction or activities, parents committed to homeschooling should carefully consider how much influence these schools may want to exert, and to what ends.

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2.

From FE News [United Kingdom]:

Being challenged by the perspectives of others. ​

A new platform for lecturers in anthroposophy 

in professional settings

By Goethenaum

The teaching of anthroposophy in professional settings is still informed by its origins in the German-speaking realm. Given the dissemination of anthroposophy around the globe and the changing of societal values, the Goetheanum Adult Education Program asks for forms of conveying anthroposophy that are suited to our time.

The teaching of Biodynamic Agriculture, Anthroposophic Medicine and Waldorf Education relies on specialist knowledge and insights into ‘general anthroposophy’, but the way anthroposophical contents are taught are still informed by their late nineteenth and early twentieth century origins. The faculty of the Goetheanum Adult Education Program therefore invites lecturers and adult educators to come together and develop forms of conveying anthroposophy that are suited to our time....

[3/8/2020    https://www.fenews.co.uk/press-releases/43480-being-challenged-by-the-perspectives-of-others-a-new-platform-for-lecturers-in-anthroposophy-in-professional-settings    This item originally appeared on March 7.]

Waldorf Watch Response 

This article originated at the headquarters of the Steiner movement, the cathedral called the Goetheanum, in Switzerland. The article comes to us, in other words, from the heart of Anthroposophy.

Rudolf Steiner developed his new religion, Anthroposophy, during the early years of the twentieth century. His teachings, which never made much sense, are now receding even further from rational consideration — they are becoming dated, crusty, indeed archaic. So Steiner's followers today are hunting for new ways to package and promote their century-old product.

Their efforts bear watching. New formulations of old falsehoods may require new responses.

But if you are interested in Waldorf education — if, perhaps, you are thinking of sending your children to a Waldorf school — the most salient point to grasp is that "The teaching of...Waldorf Education relies on specialist knowledge and insights into ‘general anthroposophy’." In other words, Waldorf teachers need to have knowledge of, and insights into, Anthroposophy.

To put this concisely, Waldorf teachers should be Anthroposophists. They should be deeply devoted Anthroposophists. Steiner said as much:

"As Waldorf teachers, we must be true anthroposophists in the deepest sense of the word.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 118.

If you send your children to a Waldorf school, deeply devoted Anthroposophists there will probably not teach them Anthroposophical doctrines per se, but they will almost certainly try to usher your kids toward Anthroposophy. Indeed, Anthroposophy pervades almost all parts of Waldorf education.

“You [Waldorf teachers] need to make the children aware that they are receiving the objective truth, and if this occasionally appears anthroposophical, it is not anthroposophy that is at fault. Things are that way [in a Waldorf school] because anthroposophy has something to say about objective truth. It is the material that causes what is said to be anthroposophical. We certainly may not go to the other extreme, where people say that anthroposophy may not be brought into the school. Anthroposophy will be in the school when it is objectively justified, that is, when it is called for by the material itself.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 495. 

Since Anthroposophists believe that their doctrines are the great, universal Truth underlying all other knowledge, they think that the presence of Anthroposophy is “justified” at virtually every point in every subject studied.

If you are attracted to a Waldorf school, you should mull over these matters carefully.

— R.R.

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MARCH 6, 2020

SEEKING CONTACT 

WITH THE GODS 

Announcement of an upcoming event sponsored by the Anthroposophical Society in America [New York City]:

Connecting to the Angelic Realm - 

Anthroposophical Meditation Workshop

with Agnes Hardorp and Thomas Mayer

Anthroposophy NYC, 138 West 15th Street, New York, NY 10011

1:30 - 4:30 pm - Introduction to anthroposophic meditation

We will become familiar with Rudolf Steiner's approach to meditation which meets the western mind quite differenty from many forms of meditation originating in the east. The work always involves a heightening of consciousness...

6 - 9 pm - Connecting to the angelic realm

After some introductory meditations, we will do a powerful meditation given by Rudolf Steiner to connect us to the angelic realm...

Suggested donation: $25 for one, $45 for both sessions

[3/6/2020    https://www.rudolfsteiner.org/activities/event/article/connecting-to-the-angelic-realm-anthroposophical-meditation-workshop-thurs-march-12-new-york-ny/]

Waldorf Watch Response 

The heightened consciousness sought by Rudolf Steiner's followers is clairvoyance. Steiner claimed to be clairvoyant, and he said he could teach his followers to develop psychic powers similar to his own. [See "Knowing the Worlds".]

The "angelic realm" is the domain of angels, archangels, and other spiritual beings who, according to Rudolf Steiner, are gods. Anthroposophy is polytheistic. Steiner taught that there are nine ranks of gods, the lowest of which include angels (rank nine) and archangels (rank eight). [See "Polytheism".]

Steiner wrote some meditations specifically for Waldorf teachers. [See "Teacher Training".] These meditations deal explicitly with the teachers' quest for clairvoyance — called, in the meditations, "powers of spiritual enlightenment" or "spiritual vision." Steiner taught that Waldorf teachers need to cultivate "the Waldorf teacher's consciousness" — a focused form of clairvoyance. [See "The Waldorf Teacher's Consciousness".] He said that not all Waldorf teachers are clairvoyant, but many are — and all of them recognize the importance of clairvoyance.

"Not every Waldorf teacher has the gift of clairvoyance, but every one of them has accepted wholeheartedly and with full understanding the results of spiritual-scientific investigation [i.e., the disciplined use of clairvoyance] concerning the human being. And each Waldorf teacher applies this knowledge with heart and soul." — Rudolf Steiner, WALDORF EDUCATION AND ANTHROPOSOPHY, Vol. 2 (Anthroposophic Press, 1995), pp. 224-225.

Students in Waldorf schools are not generally taught Steiner meditations, as such. But typically they begin each day by reciting, aloud and in unison, prayers written by Steiner. [See "Prayers".]

For a brief overview of meditations, mantras, and prayers used by Steiner's followers (including many Waldorf teachers), see "Power Words".

— R.R.

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MARCH 4, 2020

PRAYING FOR SCIENCE 

AND FOR HUMANKIND 

Here are the opening paragraphs of an opinion piece published in today's New York Times:

Coronavirus Is What You Get 

When You Ignore Science 

Scientists are all we have left. Pray for them. 

By Farhad Manjoo 

Opinion Columnist 

Let us pray, now, for science. Pray for empiricism and for epidemiology and for vaccines. Pray for peer review and controlled double-blinds. For flu shots, herd immunity and washing your hands. Pray for reason, rigor and expertise. Pray for the precautionary principle. Pray for the N.I.H. and the C.D.C. Pray for the W.H.O.

And pray not just for science, but for scientists, too, as well as their colleagues in the application of science — the tireless health care workers, the whistle-blowing first responders, the rumpled, righteous public servants whose long-ignored warnings we will learn about only when the 12-part coronavirus docu-disaster series drops on Netflix. Wish them all well in the fights ahead. Their weapons, the weapons of science, are all we have left — perhaps the only true weapons our kind has ever marshaled against encroaching oblivion.

It may sound paradoxical to plead for divine sanction of scientific pursuit. But these are dicey times for science and for scientists, and they need all the help they can get. As the coronavirus spreads, it is exposing the fraying seams of our overextended world. In societies as different as China and the United States, those seams are starting to look similar. The failures to contain the outbreak and to understand the scale and scope of its threat stem from an underinvestment in and an under-appreciation of basic science....

[3/4/2020    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/opinion/coronavirus-science.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage]

Waldorf Watch Response 

The Waldorf movement falls squarely within the anti-scientific wave sweeping through some segments of modern society. The founder of Waldorf education, Rudolf Steiner, opposed “scientific simpletons” with their “scientific trash” and their “logical, pedantic, narrow-minded proof of things.” He deplored “primitive concepts like those...of contemporary science.” What is wrong with science? "[S]cience speaks under the influence of the demonic Mars-forces." Hence, "[W]hen we listen to a modern physicist blandly explaining that Nature consists of electrons...we raise Evil to the rank of the ruling world-divinity.” [1]

Adherents refer to the underlying Waldorf belief system, Anthroposophy, as "spiritual science" — but there is nothing genuinely scientific about it. [2] Anthroposophy is actually a baseless, occult concoction — a new, contrived religion that Steiner pieced together, largely by ransacking Theosophy. [3] In steering his followers away from rationality and science, Steiner laid the foundation for such dangerous anti-scientific biases as the opposition to vaccines that frequently prevails within Waldorf communities. [4]

Science teachers in Waldorf schools face a daunting task. [5] They presumably need to convey at least a bit of real science to their students, but in doing so they violate the precepts of their founder. Steiner taught that scientists are usually wrong about almost everything. At best, he said, scientists gather trivial information about a phase of existence (existence in the physical universe) that will soon vanish. Here are a few samples of Steiner's statements about modern science:

◊ “It is because the Moon Beings remain so firmly entrenched in their fortress that modern scientists know nothing essential about heredity. From a deeper insight, and in terms of cosmic language, it could be said that when at the present time heredity is discussed in one or another domain of science, the latter is ‘Moon-forsaken’ and ‘Mars-bewitched’. For science speaks under the influence of the demonic Mars-forces and has not even begun to approach the real mysteries of heredity.” — Rudolf Steiner, “The Spiritual Individualities of the Planets” (THE GOLDEN BLADE 1988), GA 228. 

◊ “One could easily show that science, for all the isolated facts it keeps accumulating, has not enriched the life of mankind by a single concept.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN (Anthroposophic Press, 1948), p. 198.

◊ “No matter how far or how deeply our sophisticated sciences of physics and chemistry investigate the material world around us, the fact remains that what is investigated will all disappear along with earth existence itself. In the last resort, chemistry and physics have no value whatever beyond the earth. When the evolution of the earth comes to an end, all mineral substances will turn to dust and dissolve in the cosmos. Only what pertains to the plant, animal and human world [essences not found in science] will pass over to the Jupiter existence [i.e., the next stage of cosmic evolution].” — Rudolf Steiner, NATURE SPIRITS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1995) pp. 169-170.

◊ “[M]aterialistic physicists would be immensely astonished if they went up into space expecting to find the sun as they describe it in their science. Their descriptions are nonsense. If by some convenient transport the physicists could reach the sun, they would be amazed to find no gas whatsoever. They would find hollow space, a real vacuum. This vacuum radiates light.” — Rudolf Steiner, FROM SUNSPOTS TO STRAWBERRIES (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2002), pp. 135-136.

◊ "If physicists were for once to talk sense, they would not produce speculations about atoms and molecules.” — Rudolf Steiner, COLOUR (Rudolf Steiner Publishing Company, 1935), part 2, lecture 1, GA 291.

◊ “[T]he philosopher Mach…was a fanatical enemy of working with children’s youthful fantasy. He did not want any fairy tales told to children, or to teach children anything other than scientific trash about external sense-perceptible reality.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE RENEWAL OF EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 2001), pp. 93-94.

Waldorf schools (which place great faith in fairy tales [6]) endeavor to steer young minds away from "scientific trash" — what is known in rational circles as real science.

Waldorf Watch Footnotes

[1] See "Steiner's 'Science'".

[2] See "Science".

[3] See "Basics".

[4] See "Steiner's Quackery".

[5] “The [Waldorf] science teacher has a most difficult task. Natural science has become purely materialistic in its approach and the immense discoveries and their application in technology have produced a de-spiritualised and de-humanised world.” — Waldorf teacher Roy Wilkinson, RUDOLF STEINER ON EDUCATION (Hawthorn Press, 1993), p. 115.

[6] “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. [See "Fairy Tales".]

Fairy tales, like myths, are used in Waldorf schools to slip Anthroposophy into the curriculum. [See "Sneaking It In".]

— R.R.

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MARCH 3, 2020

DEATH AND THE DEAD 

FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS 

In dealing with outsiders, Waldorf schools almost always present themselves as nonsectarian, nondenominational academies. In reality, however, Waldorf schools are disguised religious institutions, built upon — and covertly intended to promote — the religion devised by Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophy [1].

One indication of the religious nature of Waldorf schools is their preoccupation with spiritual matters — matters that would usually seem out of place in secular schools. Consider death, for instance. What happens to us after we die? Where do dead people go? What is the real nature of death? Should we fear death, or celebrate it?

These are urgent questions. All of us face the prospect of death — all of us would like to face death with fortitude and even, if possible, with hope. Death is, without question, an extremely important subject. But, usually, consideration of death (its meaning, its philosophical implications, its theological import) is the province of churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques. It is not, usually, something probed at length in nonreligious schools.

But death is a central preoccupation in Waldorf thought. So, for instance, one publication put out by a Waldorf educational association urges Waldorf teachers to instruct young students to comfort and serve the dead:

"Should we [Waldorf teachers] foster ways to serve the dead with small children? [2] ... If death can live in adults' attitudes as a heavenly birthday [3], then the children will approach it as a fact of life ... Yes, celebrate the death day like an earthly birthday ... Children who become accustomed to celebrating from a very early age the birthdays and death days of people who are part of their social life, learn to accept the spiritual world of beings as real. Thus, they gain a basis for religious experience...." — Waldorf teacher Helmut von Kügelgen, WORKING WITH THE DEAD (Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, 2003), p. 2.

Talking to students about death is productive, von Kügelgen says — it helps children to accept the spiritual realm as real, and thus it helps them "gain a basis for religious experience." 

Talking to children about death, then, is one of the ways Waldorf schools function as religious institutions.

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An upcoming event at a Waldorf school in the USA reflects the Waldorf vision of death. In this instance, the event is aimed at adults — but it again reflects the religious nature of the Waldorf movement. Here are some excerpts from the announcement of the event:

Conscious Living, Conscious Dying, and the Journey Beyond

The Sacred Gateway

April 16 - 19, 2020

Detroit Waldorf School

Detroit, MI

• Bring a new consciousness to your own life and death

• Support those who are crossing and who have crossed over 

• Expand your practice and knowledge of working with the dying...

Thursday, April 16

4 pm   Screening of short film The Art of Natural Death Care    Detroit Waldorf School Auditorium...

Friday, April 17... 

10:00-12:00p    [P]re-conference [activity] at the Detroit Waldorf School ... Exploring the Beauty of Home Funerals and Green Burial...

1:45-3:00p   True Living is Dying: The Life-Giving Power of Death Keynote Discussion...

Saturday April 18...

2:15 - 3:45    Topic Workshops

• Consecrating our Dying...

• The Soul's Journey Through the Spheres After Death... 

• Acknowledging the End...

• After Deathcare as a Healing Art...

4:15-5:00    Death & Healing Keynote Conversation...

8:00-9:00    Memento Mori Ritual...

Sunday, April 19...

8:30-9:15    Choose: Eurythmy [4]...Threshold Singing [5]...or Poetry...

11:30-1:00    Green Burial Ceremony and Closing....

[3/3/2020    https://secure.anthroposophy.org/np/clients/anthroposophy/event.jsp?event=184&]

Waldorf Watch Footnotes

[1] See "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?" and "Schools as Churches".

[2] I.e., should Waldorf faculty teach small children how to serve the dead?

[3] When humans "die" on Earth, we simultaneously are born into the spirit realm: Each death day on Earth is a birthday in the spirit realm.

[4] Eurythmy is a form of spiritual dance devised by Rudolf Steiner. It is essentially a type of temple dancing. Students in Waldorf schools are usually required to do eurythmy. [See "Eurythmy".]

[5] I.e., these would be hymns or other spiritual songs focusing on the moment of death: the moment one passes the "threshold" into the spirit realm.

— R.R.

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