Waldorf student art [courtesy of PLANS, 

People for Legal and Nonsectarian Schools].

 SUBJECTS

The remaining chapters of RUDOLF STEINER ON EDUCATION present specific recommendations for specific subjects. I’ll skim over them pretty quickly, since I discuss much of this material on other pages at Waldorf Watch.

English

 (or the “mother tongue”)

Many myths, fairy tales, fables, and Bible stories. So, for instance, 

"The Old testament stories are the right material for children of nine; then scenes from Ancient History [sic] or Norse Stories [sic] (age ten), Medieval History or Greek Stories (eleven)...Rome (twelve), folklore of different races (thirteen), knowledge of peoples (fourteen).” — Roy Wilkinson, RUDOLF STEINER ON EDUCATION, p. 87.

Steiner’s doctrines never stray far from his racism and his conception of national differences ("different races...peoples").

That aside, Waldorf instruction involving literature tends to place great emphasis on the magical, spiritual, and mythical. The effect is to encourage students to believe in transcendent, metaphysical realms. Steiner taught that indeed myths, fairy tales, and other such imaginative works convey actual truths about the great beyond.

◊ “Actual facts concerning the higher Spiritual Worldslie at the foundation of all myths.” — Rudolf Steiner, UNIVERSE, EARTH AND MAN (Kessinger Publishing, 2003), p. 94.

◊“Fairy tales are never thought out [i.e., invented]; they are the final remains of ancient clairvoyance, experienced in dreams by human beings who still had the power ... All the fairy tales in existence are thus the remnants of the original clairvoyance.” — Rudolf Steiner, ON THE MYSTERY DRAMAS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1983), p. 93.

[For more on the Waldorf approach to English and/or literature, see “Oh My Word”. For more on Norse myths, see “The Gods”. To consider Steiner's teachings about races and peoples, see “Steiner’s Racism”, "Races", and "Differences".]

Math 

Steiner placed special importance on geometry with its

“symmetrical drawing (reflection) which stimulates inner perception [i.e., pictorial thinking or clairvoyance].” — Roy Wilkinson, RUDOLF STEINER ON EDUCATION, p. 97. 

This opaque statement reflects Steiner’s belief that geometry can convince children to believe in the supersensible realm — an ideal universe where they can find all the perfect triangles, circles, and rectangles that we draw so imperfectly here in the physical world.

Steiner said he experienced the mystical power of geometry in his own life: 

“Through his geometry book, that assistant teacher at Neudörf provided me with a confirmation of the spiritual world I needed then.” — Rudolf Steiner, AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 2006), p. 10. [1]

Or, as Steiner said elsewhere,

“Basic geometric concepts awaken clairvoyant abilities.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOURTH DIMENSION (Anthroposophic Press, 2001), p. 92.

[For more on math studies at Waldorf, see "Mystic Math".]

History

“We are all part of history, a fact which is considerably reinforced if we can accept the idea of reincarnation. Events are symptoms of inner processes, of spiritually guided progress.” — RUDOLF STEINER ON EDUCATION, p. 98. 

This is Anthroposophical doctrine, which indeed underlies the study of history at Waldorf schools. [See “Oh My Word” and “Evolution, Anyone?”] 

Note that, in the Waldorf belief system, the true essence of history is spiritual: History is the tale of mankind's evolution from an extremely dull consciousness in the phase called Old Saturn, on our way toward an extremely elevated form of conscious that we will attain in a phase called Future Vulcan. It is a "spiritually guided progress," with most of the guidance coming from the gods. [See "Everything" and "Matters of Form".] 

We evolve over the span of millennia, because we are born and reborn many, many times. This is the context in which Steiner said that Waldorf students should be taught about reincarnation. 

“For the seventh, eighth, and ninth grade independent religious instruction we could move into a freer form and give a theoretical explanation about such things as life before birth and after death.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 184. 

Geography

"The study of geography serves to develop a sense of space...[and] spiritual-cultural factors ... By comparing the eastern coast of America with the western coast of Europe, taking into consideration the flora and fauna, a connection can be established leading to the idea of the lost continent, Atlantis.” — Roy Wilkinson, RUDOLF STEINER ON EDUCATION, pp. 104-106. 

Spirituality ("spiritual-cultural factors") is woven into all Waldorf topics, including the sciences, including geography. Spirituality, and fantasy. Steiner taught that Atlantis really existed, so "the idea of the lost continent, Atlantis" is right at home in Waldorf geography studies.

"[Steiner said] there had been a great civilization on a continent which is now beneath the Atlantic Ocean ... The continent of Atlantis was destroyed by man's misuse of occult powers ... The story of Noah and the Flood is the story of the sinking of Atlantis...." — Roy Wilkinson, RUDOLF STEINER - An Introduction to his Spiuritual World-view, Anthroposophy (Temple Lodge Puvlishing, 2005), p. 69.

Geology

Wilkinson tucks geology into his description of geography [p. 106], but he has little to say about it. So let's turn to Steiner himself. 

Geology, like to much else, leads to belief in Atlantis, in Waldorf education. 

“We can show that the British isles have risen and sunk four times and thus follow the path of geology back to the concept of the ancient Atlantis ... [W]e should not be afraid to speak about the Atlantean land with the children. We should not skip that ... The only thing is, you will need to disavow normal geology since the Atlantean catastrophe occurred in the seventh or eighth millennium.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 25.

[See "geography" and "geology" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia; also see "Atlantis".]

Natural History

“The aim in animal study is to show that each animal species presents a one-sided development which is harmonised in the human being ... Without laboring the point it can be shown that both with regard to external form and soul qualities what is concentrated in man is spread out over the animal kingdom.” — Roy Wilkinson, RUDOLF STEINER ON EDUCATION, pp. 108-109. 

Steiner taught that most animals evolved from human beings, not vice versa. Animals display single qualities, whereas the full gamut of qualities is triumphantly bodied forth in humans. Animals were once embedded in the human evolutionary line, but when they reached the limits of their capacity of evolve, they dropped away. If animals had not separated from us so soon, they could have evolved to the heights we have reached. 

“When we say that certain beings remained at the Bull stage, others at the Lion, others at the Eagle, and so on, what does this mean? It means that if these beings had been able to wait...they would have become human beings. If the lion had not willed to enter into the earthly sphere too early, it would have become a man; the same is true of the other animals that had split off up till then.” — Rudolf Steiner, EGYPTIAN MYTHS AND MYSTERIES (Anthroposophic Press, 1971), lecture 8, GA 106.

[See "Neutered Nature" and "Four Group Souls".]

Practical Life, Handwork

Chapters 18 and 22 of RUDOLF STEINER ON EDUCATION discuss nonacademic activities in Waldorf schools. Steiner put great emphasis on these, as was inevitable given his discouragement of academic and intellectual pursuits. [See "Steiner's Specific".] We won't linger on them here, however — we are summarizing the academic subjects students study in Waldorf schools. [For more on crafts, see, e.g., “Clues” and the entry for "crafts" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.]

Science

“The 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.” — Roy Wilkinson, RUDOLF STEINER ON EDUCATION, p. 115. 

The task of the science teacher is difficult because Steiner rejected most of modern science. He called science “scientific junk” and he called scientists “scientific simpletons.” [2] Steiner preferred “Goethean” science in which you intuit (i.e., invent and project) spiritual essences in things. [See “Steiner’s ‘Science’”.] 

Ultimately, of course, Steiner preferred his own “spiritual science” in which you use clairvoyance to perceive (i.e., invent and project) spiritual essences in and behind things.

For Wilkinson and other Waldorf teachers (not all, but many), teaching real science becomes almost impossible in Waldorf schools. True-blue Waldorf science teachers are caught in a bind, having to choose between real science and Steiner's "science" — which they consider Higher and Truer.

“The teacher of the physical sciences in the Rudolf Steiner school is faced with a formidable task. He cannot morally be present in the school and teach unless he has absorbed, understood, and is in agreement with Rudolf Steiner’s basic conception of the world ... Material science and explanations cannot explain nature.” — Roy Wilkinson, TEACHING PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY (Rudolf Steiner College Press, 1997), p. 1.

Music, Art, Eurythmy

At Waldorf schools, the arts are thought to have spiritual powers and benefits. Arts are emphasized in order to attain such powers and benefits, which reverberate in the physical body.

“This is what gives art its essential lustre: it transplants us here and now into the spiritual world.” — Rudolf Steiner, quoted in THE GOETHEANUM: School of Spiritual Science (Philosophical-Anthroposophical Press, 1961), p. 25. 

When considering such statements by Steiner and his followers, you should realize that they are meant literally, not figuratively. Thus, for instance, Steiner said this:

“In having people do eurythmy [a form of spiritual dance devised by Steiner], we link them directly to the supersensible world.” — Rudolf Steiner, ART AS SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 247. 

It will come as no surprise that Wilkinson describes Waldorf arts education in ways that echo Steiner. Here are a few brief examples:

◊ "The frame of the human being is built according to musical laws ... Music creates an inner joy. Singing is beneficial to the physical body ... [I]t comes from the inner man, uniting him with the world ... [A]t about the age of nine or ten...music is experienced as something outside himself ... Music between the ages of nine and twelve is of particular importance. It is a regulatory factor in the breathing which in turn affects the circulation of the blood ... It helps the will to unfold... [etc.]" — Roy Wilkinson, RUDOLF STEINER ON EDUCATION, pp. 119-120.

◊ "Art [painting, drawing] has a harmonizing effect of the soul and it has a great part to play in education ... The child is left free to paint out of his own inner soul experience without copying [physical] objects. Form is created by colour and the line arises where colors meet ... [T]he teacher can talk about colours as if they were active beings [i.e., spirits]. This approach to color has the effect of stimulating the imagination." — Roy Wilkinson, ibid., pp. 128-129.

◊ "We can characteris [eurythmy] by calling it visible speech or visible song ... There is no intellectual content ... [It] brings something of the [dancer's] inner being to expression ... Eurythmy also has a therapeutic and harmonizing effect." — Roy Wilkinson, ibid., pp. 134-135.

Finding spirit through tones and colors; stimulating imagination (a step toward clairvoyance); using art (especially eurythmy) to cure students — this is art, Steiner-style.

[See "Magical Arts", "Mystical Colors", and "Eurythmy".] 

Foreign Languages

In an extremely short chapter, Wilkinson quotes Steiner advocating the learning of foreign languages. He does not quote Steiner saying such things as 

“The use of the French language quite certainly corrupts the soul.”— Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 558.  

But Steiner did say such things, and they are worth mulling over.

Nevertheless, Wilkinson says children should learn foreign languages. Which languages? Each Waldorf faculty can make its own selections, he says.

"The choice of modern languages [to be taught] lies with the College [of Teachers] and may vary from one school to another ... [I]t would be ideal if the same teacher can teach the mother tongue and whatever foreign languages are in the school curriculum ... Whatever [languages] he or she teaches, however, must be from memory and not directly from the book ... The so-called dead languages [e.g., Latin] fall into a different category ... For those [students] who wish to learn them the opportunity should be given." — Roy Wilkinson, RUDOLF STEINER ON EDUCATION, pp. 122-124.

The task of a Waldorf language teacher may be nearly as difficult as the task of the science teacher. (And the difficulty may be all the greater if s/he is assigned to teach French, which could corrupt the students' souls.)

Religion

Steiner said religion must be taught in Waldorf schools. We may think Waldorf schools today, seeking acceptability in secular circles, might sidestep this guidance. But evidence suggests otherwise. The Association of Waldorf Schools of North America has said: 

“Waldorf schools are nonsectarian [sic] and non-denominational [sic] ... The pedagogical method is comprehensive, and, as part of its task, seeks to bring about recognition and understanding of all the world cultures and religions.” [3] 

Providing "understanding" of "all" world religions will take up a significant swath of the school curriculum, obviously. 

The basic Waldorf attitude may be summarized thus: 

“Without religion no person is whole.” — Roy Wilkinson, RUDOLF STEINER ON EDUCATION, p. 136. 

The religion Steiner promoted was unusual. 

“I want you to understand what is religious in an anthroposophical sense ... [R]eligion connected with a specific church is not actually religious....” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 45. 

What is religious, "in an anthroposophical sense," is Anthroposophy — and Waldorf schools that are filled with religious feeling. 

“Religious instruction for children...must invoke the feelings ... A religious mood is the goal.”— Roy Wilkinson, RUDOLF STEINER ON EDUCATION, pp. 136-137. 

Steiner said "spiritual science" (Anthroposophy) would eventually make religion unnecessary for humanity, but in the meantime he occasionally acknowledged what he often denied: Anthroposophy is a religion: 

“[T]he Anthroposophical Society...provides religious instruction just as other religious groups do." — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 706.

Wilkinson paraphrases Steiner on the following religious issues (some of which we've considered previously): 

◊ “Very young children have a natural religious feeling since they are still at one with their surroundings [i.e., the cosmos].” — Roy Wilkinson, RUDOLF STEINER ON EDUCATION, p. 137. 

◊ With slightly older children, “possibilities are for the teacher to speak of events which are obviously life (spirit) processes." — Roy Wilkinson, ibid., p. 138.

◊ And for still older kids: "In the Bible mention is made of higher beings [i.e., gods, sometimes called "hierarchies"] and in this connection they can be discussed and explained (angels, etc.) ... The Christ event [i.e., Christ's incarnation on Earth] must always be touched upon ... [S]how the unique significance of Christianity." — Roy Wilkinson, ibid., pp. 139-140. 

◊ For all students. "Celebrations of the seasonal festivals [pagan and/or Christian observances] must naturally find their place....” — Roy Wilkinson, ibid., p. 140. 

Some of this may sound pretty good to you, some of it may not. Steiner placed Christ and Christianity at the center of his doctrines and at the center of religious instruction in Waldorf schools. If you are not Christian, this may trouble you. If you are a Christian, you should realize that Steiner’s professed “Christianity” is not what you find in any mainstream church. (“[R]eligion connected with a specific church is not actually religious.”) In Anthroposophy, Christ is the Sun God, the same god worshipped under other names by various pagan religions. [See "Sun God".] Steiner went so far as to “correct” the Bible by inventing a fifth, hidden gospel that tells the "truth" about Christ. [4] [See “Was He Christian?”] 

A tangent: While discussing religious instruction, in the chapter on religion, Wilkinson refers to school festivals. 

"Celebrations of the season festivals must naturally find their rightful place in the rhythm of the year." — Roy Wilkinson, RUDOLF STEINER ON EDUCATION, p. 140.

Every parent and visitor at a Waldorf school should take note. The pleasing festivals you see enacted in Waldorf schools are, in fact, religious observances. [See “Magical Arts”.] 

 ◊

With that, we have reached the end of RUDOLF STEINER ON EDUCATION. If you are considering sending your child to a Waldorf or Steiner school, you probably should contemplate carefully the picture Wilkinson (representing Waldorf found Steiner) has presented. 

[R.R.]

A KEY TO STEINERTHOUGHT

If you want an approach to evaluating Steiner’s doctrines, try the following: 

◊ Read any statement Steiner made — about childhood, education, science, history, life, death... Anything. Look at it, and simultaneously call to mind what you know to be true about that subject. Also call to mind what you sincerely believe to be true about that subject. Then ask yourself, does Steiner’s statement stand up? Do you see any reason to accept Steiner’s word on the matter? What evidence has he offered? What logic has he used? What grounds has he given you to believe him?

◊ Here’s a slightly different approach: Read any statement Steiner made, then study the subject covered by that statement. Steiner said so-and-so about world cultures, or the history of the solar system, or economics, or Africa, or... Whatever. Look at what he said, then study what scientists, philosophers, scholars, and researchers say about the same topic. Gather reliable, demonstrably true information, bolstered by the opinions of qualified experts. [5] Then compare the results to Steiner’s assertions. How does the work of Rudolf Steiner fare when judged in the light of real information?

◊ If you are religious, consult the Bible, the Qur'an, or any other holy text you trust. Talk to members of the clergy. Weigh Steiner’s assertions against what you learn. Then ask yourself whether Steiner’s doctrines can withstand this examination. Give careful consideration to Steiner’s occult and gnostic doctrines. According to these, the holy texts accepted by major religions are wrong in various important ways. Are you prepared to agree with him about this? Are you prepared to renounce your faith and follow Steiner in a different direction?

◊ If you are drawn to mysticism or New Age philosophies, comb through Steiner’s books, looking for passages that you find enlightening or inspiring. You may find none. But if you do come upon some, meditate on them. Turn them over in your mind. Ask yourself what is attractive about them. Are they based on verifiable truth, or do they merely represent a vision of how we might wish things to be? If they represent an alternative vision that appeals to you, compare that vision to the competing visions offered by other mystics and seers, and ask yourself how you can choose among them. One mystic says X, another says Y, yet a third says Z. All may spin alluring narratives, telling us that we are important and we have a glorious future. Certainly they will all appeal to the widespread human preference for the magical or wonderful. But when the mystics contradict each other on such basic issues as whether there is one God or a vast legion of gods, what criteria can you employ to choose among them, aside from subjective preference? [6]

◊ If you are struck by the opposite situation — if you find impressive similarities between Steiner’s doctrines and those of other mystics — tackle some scholarship: Have Steiner and the other mystics reached their conclusions independently, or have they influenced one another? Have they read one another’s works, attended one another’s lectures, cribbed from one another, taken cues from one another? Or, at a deeper level, have they drawn their ideas from common sources? Can you identify occult texts or traditions that they all have borrowed from? Or, deeper yet, can you identify common cultural or psychological reasons for similarities of doctrine? For example, do Steiner and the other mystics draw from archetypes that can be explained by the quirks of the human brain or psyche? Do the mystics' visions show us reality, or simply the way our minds tend to bend? [7]

◊ Finally, examine the overall contours of Steiner’s doctrines. Many people are persuaded that visions like Steiner’s must be true because they are so remarkably elaborate and detailed. Consider this carefully. Is there internal evidence of persuasive consistency in Steiner’s work, or do you find contradictions and loose ends? Consider other elaborate ideologies — what is the compelling case for accepting one as opposed to another? Compare Anthroposophy with other intricate mental constructs, both the sacred and the profane — Catholicism, Hinduism, myth cycles, Marxism, string theories — that are equally or even more fully thought-out. What makes one elaborate system plausible and others not? And where do you draw the line between plausibility and acceptance? [8] 

◊

I’ve been using this key to evaluate Steiner’s statements for several years, now. Here’s my conclusion: Steiner was a smart, studious, ill-informed fraud. He ransacked huge stocks of misinformation and delusion, then compiled it in a clever but tenuous edifice of vapors. Most of what he said is nonsense, and those few statements of his that seem impressive were almost always plagiarized, poached mainly from Theosophist Helena Blavatsky but also from a wide array of other sources, especially gnostic Christian mystics. He very rarely had an original thought, and he almost never had a true thought.

But that’s my conclusion. Take your time and make your own evaluation.

— Roger Rawlings

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Watercolor paintings by young Waldorf students

[courtesy of PLANS, 

People for Legal and Nonsectarian Schools]:

Waldorf schools are also called Steiner schools — they base their work on the "wisdom" imparted by Rudolf Steiner. But Steiner's "wisdom" tends to collapse when considered with even a particle of good sense. Here's one small example. (The implications for Waldorf education are acute, to precisely the degree that Steiner's statements are nonsense. How can a real system of education base itself on the loopiness of a benighted occultist?)

“[P]eople have completely forgotten how to consider things within the universe ... Animals usually go away before there is a volcanic eruption or the like; people stay put. Why do the animals move away? Yes, when the different influence comes, the different influence of the stars, it is like this with the animals. An animal is essentially made in such a way that it has its legs here [see drawing], there its spine, the spinal vertebra, and there its head. As the stars move along there, the whole spine is always exposed to the stars, vertebra by vertebra exposed to the stars, and they belong together; they belong together so much that we have 28 to 31 vertebrae in the spine and the moon takes 28 to 31 days to complete its orbit. The connection is as close as that.

"But humans walk upright. With them, only the head, this little bit of head, is exposed to the starry heavens. Their spine has been lifted out. So in humans only the blood is exposed to the star influence and not the nervous system." — Rudolf Steiner, FROM MAMMOTHS TO MEDIUMS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2000), pp. 128-129. 

[R.R. sketch, 2009, based on sketch on p. 128.]

If you're tempted to think there is even a particle of sense in Steiner's statement, ask yourself this: Are all of the stars directly overhead? Obviously not. Stars are scattered all over the sky — some are nearly overhead, but most are spread every which way. Starlight (and, theoretically, astrological influence) reaches us from stars high above, and stars midway up the arc of the sky, and stars down near the horizon. Every which way. So starlight hits us from all sides, and it hits upright bodies just as much as it hits horizontal bodies. (Half the stars in the sky are, in fact, below the horizon, even below our feet. If astrological inluences are believed to pass through the earth, then these stars also have influences on us.)

The other obvious flaw in Steiner's statement is that there is no such thing as astrological influence or "star influence." That's superstition, nothing more. This is typical of Steiner's statements. If you think about them, they start collapsing left and right, forming heaps of deflated flapdoodle.

Footnotes

[1] Steiner said he found geometry spiritually helpful later in life, as well. 

“A point infinitely distant to the right is the same as the point infinitely distant to the left. [paragraph break] It occurred to me that with the help of such ideas from modern geometry, the concept of space, which otherwise stares into a void, becomes comprehensible ... Again geometry brought me happiness as it had done in early childhood.” — Ibid., p. 31. 

We might note in passing, however, that his comprehension of geometry is flawed. A point infinitely to the right is infinitely far from any point to the left. Consider also Steiner's misuse of the concept of a point. [See "Serving the Gods".]

Math is important, Steiner said, but it must be taught in a spiritual way. Math shows order in the universe, which in turn reveals design. Thus, math (and especially "sacred geometry") reveals the divine basis of life and puts us in communion with the high spiritual powers. For these reasons, Steiner made such statements as this: 

“The child who has a right introduction to arithmetic will have quite a different feeling of moral responsibility from the child who has not.”  — Rudolf Steiner, quoted by H. v. Baravalle, TEACHING OF ARITHMETIC AND THE WALDORF SCHOOL PLAN (Publications of the Waldorf School, Adelphi College, 1950), p. 75. 

And this:

“If men had known how to permeate their minds with mathematics in the right way during these past years we should not now have Bolshevism in Eastern Europe.” —Ibid.

[2] Scientific trash: Rudolf Steiner, THE RENEWAL OF EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 2001), p. 94. Scientific simpletons: Rudolf Steiner, THE KARMA OF UNTRUTHFULNESS, Vol. 1 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), p. 276. 

[3] http://www.awsna.org, Frequently Asked Questions, Are Waldorf Schools Religious? [Since I first recorded this, it appears to have been changed to "whywaldorfworks"]. 

[4] Rudolf Steiner, THE FIFTH GOSPEL (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1995).

[5] It is would be useful to agree upon a sensible understanding of qualifications. As we have seen, Anthroposophists often argue that only Anthroposophists are qualified to have opinions about Anthroposophy. This self-protective stance defies all the norms of rational discourse. Genuine qualifications are signaled in several ways, such as by possession of advanced degrees from accredited institutions; extensive records of publication, especially in peer-reviewed journals; research that stands up to analysis and confirmation; the receipt of major honors, such as the Nobel Prize; and so forth. The ultimate test is the advancement of genuine human knowledge. 

Note that Steiner had some credentials in some areas. His doctoral dissertation, in 1892, dealt with the philosophy of Fichte. Later, he edited the "scientific" work of Goethe. This background did not, however, establish his qualifications in the field he chose for himself, "supersensible research." Indeed, as we have also seen, the only authority he claimed for his mystic doctrines was his own professed clairvoyant experiences. Given the almost certain nonexistence of clairvoyance (see, e.g., "clairvoyance." ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA), this is tantamount to an admission of disqualification. Steiner failed the ultimate test — he provided mankind with no new genuine knowledge. 

[6] Steiner assigned extreme importance to intuition. Especially in its high, perfected form — Intuition — it is the ultimate form of clairvoyant wisdom, he said. In reality, however, intuition is generally just the irrational preference each of us has for activities and ideas that ring our individual bells. Our half-forgotten experiences in growing up, the values we internalized starting in the crib, the subjective preferences adopted from our friends and family — all manner of irrational influences create in each of us ingrained preferences that generally lie below the level of consciousness. So it is intuitively obvious to me that one activity or idea is “right,” while it is intuitively obvious to you that precisely the opposite activity or idea is correct. We can intuit almost anything, but basing our adult decisions on such predispositions can be a severe error. Indeed, one major goal of education is to enable us to supplant intuition with reason. 

[7] We may be wired in ways that lead us into certain mistaken attitudes and beliefs, such as superstition. 

“The appetite for such beliefs appears to be rooted in the circuitry of the brain, and for good reason. The sense of having special powers buoys people in threatening situations, and helps soothe everyday fears and ward off mental distress. In excess, it can lead to compulsive or delusional behavior.” — Benedict Carey, “Do You Believe in Magic?”, THE NEW YORK TIMES, Jan. 23, 2007, p. D1. 

Arguably, the illusions our wiring causes may include religion itself. See, for example, Paul Bloom, “Is God an Accident?”, THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY, December, 2005, p. 105, and Robin Marantz Henig, “Darwin’s God,” THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, March 4, 2007, especially the discussion of “the byproduct theory.” 

[8] T. H. Meyer, editor of LIGHT FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM, argues that “spiritual science is just as exact and objective as any [other] science.” — p. xxvi. He lists three methods of “confirming” spiritual science, including appreciation of internal consistency. But upon examination, all three confirmations collapse. This is so even if we stipulate that Anthroposophy is internally consistent and rigorously exact (which it is not). [See, e.g., the footnotes to "Steiner's 'Science'".] 

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[R.R.]

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