ITEMS FROM THE WALDORF WATCH NEWS

An Announcement

"ANTHROPOSOPHY, THE GOSPELS, AND THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY 

– A MORNING WORKSHOP WITH CLAUDIA BROWNE

"Great Lakes Waldorf Institute is delighted to offer a mid-summer morning dedicated to exploring Rudolf Steiner’s path to spiritual understanding.

"In this morning class we will study this wonderfully translated and abridged lecture [by Rudolf Steiner], which is an elegant summary of at least six complicated anthroposophical themes: the relationship of anthroposophy to religion, the evolution of consciousness, mythology, biological evolution, the path of initiation, and, above all, the meaning of the Incarnation. 

"Accompanying our study will be some artistic exercises in geometric drawing.

"Saturday, July 21st, 2018   –   9:00 am – 12:00 pm"  

[Great Lakes Waldorf Institute, July 18, 2018, https://greatlakeswaldorf.org/2018-summer-programs/]

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The announcement refers to this lecture, abridged by Frederick Amrine:

[Independently published, January, 2018.]

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Waldorf Watch Response:

Anthroposophy attaches great importance to the figure of Christ. Steiner taught that the future of humanity hinges on our acceptance of Christ. Steiner lectured on the four gospels of the New Testament, he prayed to Christ, and today throughout the Anthroposophical community — including in Waldorf schools — the festivals of the Christian calendar are celebrated. For all these reasons, Anthroposophy is often mistakenly deemed a branch or denomination of Christianity.

But the differences between Anthroposophy and Christianity are enormous. Anthroposophy is polytheistic, whereas Christianity is one of the world’s great monotheistic faiths. [See “Polytheism”.] The Christ revered in Anthroposophy is not, in the traditional Christian sense, the Son of God — rather, he is the Sun God, the god who dwells on, and controls, the Sun. He is the same god as Apollo, or Hu, or Baldr. [See “Sun God”.] Steiner found significance in the four Christian gospels, but he also found serious faults in them — so much so that he wrote his own new-and-improved fifth gospel. [See “Steiner’s Fifth Gospel”.] While Steiner’s teachings derive, in part, from the gnostic Christian tradition [see “Gnosis”], they include numerous beliefs that are arguably incompatible with Christianity, such as karma and reincarnation. [See “Karma” and “Reincarnation”.] Overall, the differences between Anthroposophy and Christianity are far greater than their similarities. [See “Was He Christian?”]

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The announcement of the upcoming class at Great Lakes Waldorf Institute mentions several topics. Let’s review them briefly. (I will not confine myself to the contents of the lecture in question but will range over Steiner's teachings more generally.)

1. The relationship of Anthroposophy to religion. Steiner claimed that Anthroposophy is a science, not a religion. This “science” employs clairvoyance to study the spirit realm. There are at least two major problems here. The first is that clairvoyance does not exist. [See “Clairvoyance”]. Thus, there can be no science that depends on the use of clairvoyance. The second problem is that Anthroposophy is very clearly a religion. The practice of Anthroposophy entails faith, reverence, prayers, meditations, spiritual guides, spiritual observances, submission to the gods, and efforts to fulfill the will of the gods. Anthroposophy lays out the path to spiritual improvement and salvation for its adherents, and it threatens spiritual loss and perdition for everyone else. Anthroposophists believe that they are on the side of the gods, and they believe that their critics are on the side of the demonic powers. Anthroposophy certainly is a religion. [See “Is Anthroposophy a Religion?”] 

2.  The evolution of consciousness. This is the central subject of Anthroposophy. Steiner taught that we are evolving, through a long series of reincarnations, to higher and higher levels of spiritual consciousness. We began our existence in an extremely dim state during an evolutionary period called Old Saturn. Subsequently, we evolved through the Old Sun and Old Moon periods, becoming more highly conscious along the way. We now live in the Present Earth period. In the future we will evolve to the Future Jupiter, Future Venus, and Future Vulcan periods. Throughout this extremely long progression, we are aided by nine separate ranks of gods. When we complete our evolution, we will stand above all these gods; we ourselves will be the supreme deity of the cosmos. [See “Everything”. Also see the entries for “evolution of consciousness” and “historical narrative of Anthroposophy” and in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.]

3. Mythology. Anthroposophists believe that myths are true — they are the stories told by ancient clairvoyants, describing the things they had seen and experienced during their visits to the spirit realm. The myths given greatest emphasis in Anthroposophy — and in Waldorf schools — are Norse myths, which Anthroposophists believe give a true account of human evolution. [See “The Gods”.] The problem here, of course, is that in reality myths are only myths: They are fictions.

4. Biological evolution. In Anthroposophical belief, the evolution of our bodies is far less important than our spiritual evolution (the evolution of our consciousness). But Steiner did teach that our physical, biological bodies are evolving in conjunction with the evolution of our souls. Steiner’s account of such evolution has nothing to do with Darwin’s account, and it is unsupported by any scientifically verifiable information. Thus, for instance, Steiner taught that when we lived “on” the Moon (that is, when we passed through the Old Moon period), we had soft, pliant bodies that floated through the dense lunar atmosophere. [See “Lunacy”.] Steiner's descriptions of our other stages of biological evolution are equally hallucinatory.

5. The path of initiation. This is Anthroposophy itself, the path we should follow if we want to evolve properly. We become “initiates” when we develop clairvoyance and then attain the hidden or “occult” spiritual knowledge needed for our spiritual advancement. Initiation is a central doctrine in Anthroposophy. [See “Inside Scoop”.] Most Anthroposophists consider themselves initiates, as do many Waldorf teachers. Steiner claimed that he has received a super, double initiation. One corollary of the concept of initiation is this: Initiates will usually withhold their great secrets from the uninitated. Thus, you cannot expect Anthroposophists to tell you things that they think are beyond you. Anthroposophists and Waldorf representatives are often highly secretive when dealing with outsiders. [See “Secrets”.]

6. The meaning of incarnation. The meaning, as understood in Anthroposophy, is implicit in the points we have already reviewed. We incarnate on the physical plane, from time to time, as part of the process of our evolution. Between our lives on the physical plane, we dwell in the spirit realm, preparing for our future reincarnations. Our goal is to evolve to higher and higher conditions of consciousness during our progressive reincarnations. But it is possible to move downward instead of upward. Evildoers and the spiritually blind may fall to lower evolutionary conditions in their future reincarnations. Truly evil souls may eventually “fall out of evolution” altogether, losing their possibility of accompanying Anthroposophists on their journey to the ultimate peak of evolution, when they will become the supreme deity of the cosmos. [See, e.g., “The Tenth Hierarchy”.]

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That’s my summary of the six topics that will be discussed in the upcoming class. But of course I am standing on the outside, looking in. If you want to know for sure what will be revealed in the class, perhaps you should sign up.

A Home for the Gods

From Steinerbooks:

"A growing question in Waldorf kindergartens and schools is to what extent is Waldorf education bound to the Christian religion and to what extent is it more universal. The answer points towards the modern mysteries, for Waldorf education is centered around the Christ as a Universal Being who has helped humans in their development from the beginning of time. Rudolf Steiner speaks of the Christ in the present time as dwelling in the etheric world surrounding the Earth through which each incarnating soul passes ... Waldorf education strives to create a place in which the highest beings, including the Christ, can find their home, but it is not connected to one religion or another." — Joan Almon, WHAT IS A WALDORF KINDERGARTEN (SteinerBooks, 2007), p. 53.

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Waldorf Watch Response:

Almon is a Waldorf teacher and co-general secretary of the Anthroposophical Society of America. 

Waldorf schools usually deny that they are religious institutions — except when they admit that they are. The schools also usually deny that they are specifically Christian — except when they claim that they are. The truth is that Waldorf schools are very religious, but the religion involved is not Christianity — it is Anthroposophy. Here are some of the Anthroposophical doctrines peeking out from the above quotation. Bear in mind that these arise in a SteinerBooks publication about Waldorf kindergartens: 

◊ “Modern mysteries”: Anthroposophy consists of “occult knowledge” or “mystery knowledge" of the spirit worlds attained through clairvoyance. In this sense, "mysteries" are occult spiritual truths.

◊ “Christ as a Universal Being”: The Christ in Anthroposophy is not the Son of God as Christians usually conceive Him; rather, the Christ in Anthroposophy is the Sun God, a god centered on the Sun who (according to Anthroposophical belief) has been worshipped by various peoples in various ways throughout history. Christ came to Earth more or less as described in the Bible, Steiner taught, but Christ has also acted to influence human evolution at other times and places. 

◊ “Christ...dwelling in the etheric world”: In Anthroposophical doctrine, the Second Coming of Christ has already occurred, but not on the physical Earth; instead, Christ returned to the invisible “etheric” world beyond the Earth. 

◊ “Incarnating souls”: This concept is crucial to Waldorf education; true-blue Waldorf teachers are less interested in conveying knowledge to their students than in helping the students to incarnate here on Earth. 

◊ “The highest beings”: These are gods. Anthroposophy is polytheistic, it recognizes a vast number of gods arrayed in a hierarchies that extend from a level just a bit higher than humans to levels vastly higher than humans. 

◊ “Create a place in which the highest beings...can find their home”: Anthroposophy is centered on human beings, not gods. Indeed, Anthroposophy teaches that the gods worship us, and we will one day evolve to be higher than the existing nine ranks of gods. The universe is, or will be, ours, and we can make it a fit place for the gods to dwell in. Waldorf schools, as an active extension of Anthroposophy, seek to realize this ideal, to the greatest extent possible, here and now. Waldorf schools are, in this sense, temples or churches — homes of the gods. [See "Schools as Churches".]

◊ “Not connected to one religion”: Anthroposophy is a religion, but a very odd one. Among its odder doctrines is the belief that it is not a religion, per se, but a “science” — specifically, the “occult science” or “spiritual science” described by Rudolf Steiner in such books as AN OUTLINE OF OCCULT SCIENCE. As indicated previously, this “science” entails the use of clairvoyance to study the higher spirit worlds. 

[For more on these matters, see, e.g., “Everything”, “Sun God”, “Polytheism”, “Why? Oh Why?”, “Is Anthroposophy a Religion?”, "Was He Christian?", “Incarnation”, etc.]

Destroying by Defining

"You ask me to define 'anthroposophy.' But to do so would be to destroy it." — Waldorf educator John Fentress Gardner, private correspondence.

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Waldorf Watch Response:

Waldorf teachers generally acknowledge that their educational methods arise from Anthroposophy, but they very often try to avoid explaining what Anthroposophy is.

This is — at least sometimes — a conscious ploy, an effort to stave off scrutiny. Waldorf education is built on many occult beliefs, and Waldorf teachers often realize that they must not admit this in public. As Rudolf Steiner said, 

“[W]e have to remember that an institution like the Independent Waldorf School with its anthroposophical character, has goals that, of course, coincide with anthroposophical desires. At the moment, though, if that connection were made official, people would break the Waldorf School’s neck." — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 495. 

So mum’s the word.

At another level, however, the disinclination to pin down the meaning of “Anthroposophy” is genuine and heartfelt. Anthroposophists believe that their system is a living, evolving spiritual force that transcends ordinary human concepts and categories. Possibly they are right about this. (And possibly they are wrong. One definition of “Anthroposophy” that Anthroposophists usually reject but that is often borne out in practice is this: Anthroposophy is what Rudolf Steiner taught. Whereas Anthroposophists like to think that they are free to attain their own spiritual insights and thus create their own forms of Anthroposophy, to a very large extent what they really do is to devoutly derive their beliefs from Steiner’s lectures and books.)

The practical problem in all of this, if you are interested in Waldorf schools, is that you can hardly form a sensible judgment about the schools if Waldorf faculties refuse to explain their fundamental worldview. So allow me, please, to offer the following. It is by no means complete, but it is sufficiently accurate that many Anthroposophists themselves would likely accept it.

Anthroposophy was conceived by Rudolf Steiner, the author of such books as AN OUTLINE OF OCCULT SCIENCE and HOW TO KNOW HIGHER WORLDS. The word "Anthroposophy" has Greek roots meaning “human” (anthropos) “wisdom” (sophia). How is this wisdom obtained? Steiner's followers believe it comes through the use of “spiritual science,” a concept that Steiner adopted from Theosophy and applied to his own teachings. For Anthroposophists today, “Anthroposophy” and “spiritual science” are virtually synonymous. The “science” Steiner described (and that many Waldorf teachers try to practice) is the use of clairvoyance to gain “objective” knowledge of the spirit realm and its residents — including human beings, since we are essentially spirits (we visit the spirit realm every night, and we reside there between our earthly incarnations). 

Perhaps you believe in the spirit realm. Perhaps you believe in clairvoyance. Perhaps you think that by sharpening your own clairvoyance you can attain what Steiner called “exact clairvoyance,” which will allow you to make independent, objective investigations of the spirit realm. If so, fine. Then the Waldorf way of thinking is probably acceptable to you. 

In any event, you should know what Steiner's followers mean when they speak (or whisper) the word “Anthroposophy” inside a Waldorf school. Don’t passively allow Waldorf teachers to avoid your questions. Most of the activities found in Waldorf schools have their roots in Anthroposophy. Waldorf teachers owe you and your child an honest exposition of this crucial fact.

Portals

[Nanaimo.] 

"Locally handmade Waldorf Inspired home decor - $10 (Nanaimo) - We are a pair of local mama friends who have come together to offer lovingly handcrafted items for you and your loved ones...for children, adults, house and home! We love the beauty (both visual and tactile) of natural materials and hope our items will bring a little joy and magic to your space."  

[5-7-2011  http://nanaimo.en.craigslist.ca/hsh/2368306370.html]

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Waldorf Watch Response:

Waldorf schools often serve as portals into an alternative world: the world of Anthroposophy. There is much beauty in these portals and in that world. Steiner stressed the need for schools to surround children with beauty, and Waldorf schools often accomplish this. The purpose is occult — ultimately, the purpose is initiation into the occult system Steiner devised, Anthroposophy. But there is no denying that, on the surface at least, Waldorf schools are often very attractive. [See “Magical Arts”.]

In addition to stressing beauty, the Anthroposophical lifestyle contains other appealing elements: emphasis on natural materials,* simple wooden and woolen toys, organic foods, an unhurried daily pace, green values, and the like. The obverse of these attractions, however, is that in Waldorf communities most of the advantages of contemporary life are rejected. Anthroposophical life generally turns its back on the modern world and moves in a retrograde direction, back into the darkness of superstition and mysticism. Steiner, of course, claimed that his thinking was progressive and forward-looking, but really it was largely medieval. [See “Superstition”, “Magic”, "The Ancients", and “Occultism”.]

If you become enamored of a Waldorf school and its Anthroposophically centered community, you may find yourself drawn further and further into an all-encompassing way of life. You may be led to study Waldorf-based books on how to raise your children in a proper Waldorf way, how to be a proper Waldorf mother, how to be a proper Waldorf housewife, how to make bread the Waldorf way, how to make Waldorf soups, and so on and so forth. You can confine yourself to Waldorf-style songs, Waldorf-style poems, Waldorf-style prayers. You can outfit your home with Waldorf-inspired furniture and decorate your walls and windows with Waldorf-inspired art. You can ingest Waldorfish vitamins, and use Waldorfish herbal medicines, and anoint yourself with Waldorfish skin-care products. You can let Waldorf take over all parts of your life.

The potentially all-inclusive nature of Anthroposophical life is one reason some people call Anthroposophy a cult. The other major reasons are that Anthroposophy consists of peculiar spiritual teachings, and it depends almost wholly on the pronouncements of a single individual: Rudolf Steiner.

Think carefully before entering a Waldorf portal.

* Is it possible that the Nanaimo window hanging is made of plastic? Heaven forfend.

Personality

"Anthroposophists generally practise what they preach...but only up to a point. We certainly have no difficulty in rejecting most of the world's recognized authorities, along with the orthodoxies of politics, economics, medicine, science, art, agriculture and education that they represent — except when they just happen to fit in with something that we are pushing. As a group we believe that we have access to knowledge that puts us in a superior position, and the tendency to let this feeling of superiority show is one of the most off-putting features of the anthroposophical personality." 

— Waldorf teacher Keith Francis. [See "His Education".]

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Waldorf Watch Response:

What is "the anthroposophical personality"? 

To generalize: There is a layer of sweetness. Anthroposophists believe in angels and fairies and living spirits in the heavens and earth. 

But there is also smugness, a sense of superiority — Anthroposophists think they know more than anyone else about almost everything (and what they don't know isn't worth knowing). 

There are traces of pseudo-intellectualism: Anthroposophy is a complex system; adherents read brain-jarring tomes by Rudolf Steiner and others, and they develop intricate rationalizations to support what they read. 

There is inflexibility. Anthroposophy is The Truth, and anyone who assails it is probably demonic, while anyone who leaves the fold is beneath notice, having chosen The False. 

There is a countercultural inclination, a certain rebelliousness: Authorities are distrusted while the inviolable authority of the Self is affirmed. 

Overall, the Anthroposophical personality is defined by delusion. Believing that the heart is truer than the brain, Anthroposophists think that what they feel must be true. Believing in clairvoyance or "higher consciousness," Anthroposophists think that what they sense must be true. And thus rationality withers. Believing only what they wish to believe, Anthroposophists cut themselves off more and more from reality, they become more and more remote and more and more defensive (because, despite their determined efforts, a shadow of doubt haunts the Anthroposophical night).

Spiraling

"Castlecrag's Anna Davis in the labyrinth 

she created at the Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School." 

[Photo: Elenor Tedenborg; North Shore Times]

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Waldorf students lighting candles at the center

of an Advent spiral laid out on a floor in their school.

[Suncoast Waldorf School.]

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"Each Winter the whole school celebrates the Festival of Whitsun, or Pentecost, in a hall beautifully bedecked with flying white doves made for the festival by the Lower School classes. This is the festival of the Holy Spirit, the divine force that became an inner flame, giving inspiration to the Apostles, so that they could carry Christianity into the world each with their own understanding, beyond distinctions of race or culture. Twelve candles representing the twelve disciples are lit from one central candle by a child from each of our twelve classes." —  Taikura Rudolf Steiner School

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"Our Annual Advent Spiral will take place at Tin Mountain Conservation Center on Sunday, December 5th in the evening. This event, for children four to nine years old, is an opportunity to experience the mood of the season. The children walk through a spiral of evergreen boughs carrying candles in apples. They light their candles from a single candle in the center and as they walk out of the spiral they place their lit candles along the path. The darkened room is gradually illuminated by the shining of the many candles, just as our inner striving brings the light of understanding into the world. Your family is invited to attend and children between the ages of four and nine are welcome to participate. This is a magical evening — please watch your newsletter for more details to come!" — White Mountain Waldorf School

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"After singing roll, I choose a child, perhaps this would be the child of the day (or my little helper) to come up and light the candle on the nature table. The candle is lit out of reverence, to set a mood, much like you would at church or at the dinner table. Then the child returns to his place and we say our morning verse which was written by Rudolf Steiner: 

'The sun with loving light

makes bright for me each day.

The soul with spirit power

gives strength unto my limbs.

In sunlight shining clear

I do revere, O God,

the strength of humankind,

which thou so graciously

has planted in my soul,

that I with all my might,

may love to work and learn.

From Thee come light and strength.

To Thee rise love and thanks.'

"...[T]he candle is blown out and the class sits down." — Former Waldorf teacher Lani Cox ["Ex-Teacher 2"]

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“One Alamo woman hopes to open a Waldorf school in San Ramon [Texas, USA], bringing this experiental [sic] learning style to the Tri-Valley. Dana Jain, a longtime Waldorf teacher, Luna Loca restaurant owner and resident of Alamo since 2002, is in the early planning stages of opening a Waldorf school in the location previously occupied by Mudd's restaurant. Jain has organized a Wednesday evening candle-lit 'Spiral of Light' ceremony, to help acquaint parents with Waldorf education ... The Spiral of Light activity typically occurs in a Waldorf first grade and appealed to Jain when she discovered the Waldorf method in 1974. Children will walk a short spiral of branches toward a central light. At the center, the children will light a candle, and return outward through the spiral, leaving a candle along the path making the spiral increasingly lit with each child's journey.” — News item, December, 2010

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"The Advent Spiral, a kindergarten and lower grades festival, is one of light, movement, and symbolic change. A spiral of greens or ribbons of cloth is laid out on the floor and decorated with crystals, shells, plants, and carved animals representing the kingdoms of nature. Each child walks to the center, carrying an unlit candle, which is lighted from the tall brightly-burning candle there. Moving outward, the child places the candle somewhere along the spiral pathway, bringing it to light. This passage reflects winter's dark growing to a close and the renewed promise that spring light and life will begin again. The Advent Spiral is also perhaps the most deeply moving community festival of the year.  As part of the Adult Education program, opportunity is provided for adults to walk the spiral and experience its beautiful and powerful symbolism. Children are also welcome if they can honor the mood of quiet contemplation." — Austin Waldorf School  (Advent is the religious festival preceding Christmas.)

[Sanderling Waldorf School

and

Waldorf School of Lexington.]

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Anthroposophists, having studied Steiner, usually know what various Anthroposophical symbols denote. Many parents and some teachers at Waldorf schools do not know. They should make the effort to learn. Here, for instance, is a statement Steiner made about the spiral as a symbol. Note that he was discussing a religious holiday, Christmas. The Anthroposophical meaning of the spiral symbol in the observance of Christmas (and the period leading to it: Michaelmas and Advent) involves astrology, Atlantis, and the Aryans. This is just one instance of the pagan occultism that lurks within the symbolic ceremonies enacted in Waldorf schools.

"Earthly events are determined by what occurs in spiritual realms. Take the sign of Cancer, for example. Its true significance is not always known, but this sign, which consists of two intertwining spirals, when rightly understood points to the dawn of a new age. Whenever an important event occurs in the world, whenever one stage of evolution is superseded by another thereby bringing something new into the world, two such spiral movements intertwine. One spiral of the sign of Cancer indicates the end of the Atlantean culture; the other, the beginning of the Aryan culture. Our ancestors thus perceived in the heavens the outward sign for the rise of the new Aryan culture. At a later time the sun entered the sign of Gemini, the Twins. This is the sign of good and evil, the sign that governed Persian thinking. Then the sun entered Taurus. Here we have the third post-Atlantean period with its veneration of the Bull in the Egyptian Apis cult, the Babylonian cult of the Bull and its sacrifice, and the Mithraic cult of ancient Persia. Man brought the sacrifice of the Bull down to earth from the heavens where it was inscribed." — Rudolf Steiner, SIGNS AND SYMBOLS OF THE CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL (Anthroposophic Press, 1967), lecture 1, "The Birth of the Light", GA 90f. [For more on this, see "Advent Spiral at Waldorf" at Open Waldorf.]

Having people walk through a spiral, receiving light, means having them enact the spiritual journey toward spiritual enlightenment. This is a deeply religious, mystical, and astrological ceremony. 

“As the seven planets [of astrology] group themselves within, and pass through the twelve signs [of the Zodiac], so if man is to live into cosmic space he must pass through seven times twelve, or rather seven times eleven stages, to attain spirituality. The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac may be pictured as forming a spiritual periphery in the centre of which is man himself. Now man does not reach the spiritual realm spread around him simply by advancing from a centre outwards; he must expand in spiral form; he must advance, as it were, in seven spiral movements. Each time he completes one spiral turn he has passed through all the twelve signs; he has in this way to pass through seven times twelve points. Man gradually expands in spiral form through the cosmos — this is naturally only an image for what man experiences — and in circling thus, on the seventh journey through the twelve signs, spirituality is reached.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW (Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co.,1946), lecture 5, GA 123.

Notice how in his readings of Biblical passages, Steiner brings in pagan/astrological concepts that have little or nothing to do with the actual contents of the Bible. Adherents of mainstream faiths should be even more troubled than secularists to learn of pagan Anthroposophical doctrines and their application to Waldorf schooling. [For more on spirals, see "spiral" and "spiral walk" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.]

MAKING IT PLAIN

(Nearly)

Occasionally Anthroposophists make plain the real nature of Waldorf schooling. They are especially prone to do this when they are addressing each other, not outsiders. 

Here are passages from a book written by an Anthroposophist, primarily addressing an Anthroposophical audience. This is a highly authoritative text, published under the imprimatur of the Rudolf Steiner College Press. The author taught at Waldorf schools, helped found Waldorf schools, lectured widely on Anthroposophical subjects, was an educational advisor at numerous Waldorf schools, and served as Director of the Rudolf Steiner College, which has an active Waldorf teacher-training program. René Querido's statements are about as authoritative as any Anthroposophical statements can be, short of those issuing from the mouth or pen of Rudolf Steiner himself.

[Rudolf Steiner College Press, 1995.]

We will begin with a few quotes that sketch Steiner’s religious teachings, then go on to see how these teaching shape Waldorf schooling.

◊ “The Being of Christ, the Christ Impulse [the spiritual-evolutionary power given us by the Sun God], and the Mystery of Golgotha are vast subjects Rudolf Steiner deals with in a variety of books and lectures....” — THE ESOTERIC BACKGROUND OF WALDORF EDUCATION, p. xv.

◊ “Often Steiner speaks of what he calls ‘the Mystery of Golgotha.’ He characterizes it as the turning point in humanity’s evolution, the most important event ever to occur for the world. The Mystery of Golgotha comprises the events in the life of Christ including His death and resurrection on the hill of Golgotha....” [p. xvii]

◊ “[T]he living Being of the Christ by no means ceases to affect what happens on Earth after His resurrection, but continues to work powerfully through the ages. This is what is called ‘the Christ Impulse.’” [p. xvii]

◊ “Rudolf Steiner dealt with the Christ Impulse in pedagogy even before the founding of the first Waldorf school in 1919 ... I have made an attempt to bring many of these indications together and especially to follow the ‘golden thread’ of teaching out of the background of the Father (and Mother) forces in the early grades, of the Son forces in the middle grades, and through the Holy Spirit in the high school.” [p. xii]

◊

◊ “What is the difference between a Waldorf teacher and one who works in the pedagogical world at large? ... [T]he Waldorf teacher discovers his or her own profound need to embark on the meditative path ... [L]et me quote a verse given by Rudolf Steiner:

In the beginning was Christ,

And Christ was with the Gods,

And a God was Christ.

Deep in each human soul

The Being of Christ indwells.

In my soul too He dwells

And He will lead me

To the true meaning of my life.” [pp. 2-3]

Waldorf teachers seek this meaning, this is their meditative path, and this is the path they hope to steer children toward. (Note, by the way, that in Steiner's verse Christ is not the Son of God or a member of the Triune God. Christ is a god, one of many. He "was with the Gods," he was "a God".)

◊ “Steiner...called upon the founding circle of twelve teachers [at the first Waldorf school] always to remember that their karma had placed them in that situation and that they would have to reckon with the reality of the spiritual world. He advised them that in the evening, before proceeding with the meditation they had chosen, the should beseech Angels, Archangels, and Archai [i.e., they should pray to these gods] to help them in their activities for the following day [i.e., their work at school the next day]; and that in the morning, after their meditation, they would know themselves to be connected with the Beings of the Third Hierarchy [i.e., Angels, Archangels, and Archai, who constitute the third subdivision of gods].” [p. 15]

◊ Astrology plays a significant role in Waldorf thinking. So does the concept of initiation: gaining entry into inner spiritual circles that possess occult knowledge. “The following diagram may be of assistance. [The Apostle] St. Luke was able to work out of the transformed Bull [i.e., Taurus] ... Mark gained his insight from the Lion [Leo] ... Matthew [worked] out of the forces of the Waterman [Aquarius] ... John [was the] most deeply initiated and represents the transformation of Scorpio ...

LUKE                                                                MARK

Compassion                                                Courage

(Bull)                                                                  (Lion)

Christ as Healer                Christ as Cosmic Power

THE COSMIC SUN BEING

[I.e., the Sun God, Christ]

MATTHEW                                                          JOHN

Observation, Awareness      Deepening Reverence

(Waterman)                    (Scorpio turned into Eagle)

Christ Jesus as Man                The Mystery of Christ

[p.22]

The essential question for any parent considering a Waldorf school is whether you want believers in astrology and occult initiation, among a welter of other occult beliefs, to teach your child. But let's push on, looking more closely:

◊ “The Inner Structure of the Curriculum

“Rudolf Steiner explains that Waldorf education is not a method, but a striving to awaken children and teenagers [to spiritual truth] ... In the two verses [i.e., prayers] that we say with the children at the beginning of the main lesson, both for the younger and older students [See "Prayers"], we find that in each the outer ‘sun-lit world’ and the inner ‘soul realm’ are addressed. The Being of God to whom we appeal is mentioned in both ... [W]e see that the deeper aspects of the curriculum build a firm bridge between the outer world perceived with the senses (the kingdoms of nature) and the inner world of soul and spirit.” [pp. 25-26]

◊ “[A]ll subjects [taught at Waldorf] arise out of the interplay of the creative forces of the Heavenly Father world and the Earth Mother. [paragraph break] In the first grade this is reflected very clearly in nature stories, fairy tales, and folk tales. [Steiner taught that fairy tales are true clairvoyant accounts of the spirit realm.] In the second grade [there are] animal stories...[and also legends that deal] with human beings who have shown particular ability in rising above much of humanity...St. Francis, St. Elizabeth, St. Bridget ... The third grade illustrates clearly the creative powers of the Godhead.” [pp. 27-28]

◊ “In the fourth grade a further dimension is added ... When we turn to the Norse stories [i.e., Norse myths] in fourth grade, we hear another creation myth, very different from Genesis. The gods and goddesses appear on the scene  [Steiner taught that myths are true clairvoyant accounts of the spirit realm] ... But the dramatic saga ends with the twilight of the gods. The gods retreat and human beings must learn to stand on their own ... Gradually the Father world withdraws so that the human being might begin to play his central role.” [p. 30] This is a key Anthroposophical doctrine, that human beings are the center of the universe and, indeed, the gods worship us. [See “The Center”.]

◊ "[I]t would be preferable to teach the children from the first to the fourth grade (ages seven to ten, approximately) out of the mood of the Father forces ... In a sense, pantheism is at home during these years." [p. 30]

◊ “Rudolf Steiner refers to sacrementalism in education ... If we as teachers can truly develop a feeling for what the child, through birth, is bringing with him or her through the Christ forces, a valuable undertone is created that will help us with our task. [paragraph break] This passage will lead us over to the next chapter where we shall concern ourselves with the Christ Impulse as it permeates the curriculum of grades five to [sic: through] eight.” [pp. 34-35] 

A side excursion: Querido raises the possibility that Steiner may have been wrong about some things. Perhaps individual Waldorf teachers will discover spiritual truths that Steiner missed. Individual clairvoyant exploration of the higher worlds is a central promise of Anthroposophy (the individual may make new, greater discoveries). And yet look at what we have seen: References to Steiner and his teachings remain the touchstone for everything ("Rudolf Steiner shows clearly..." "Steiner called upon..." "Rudolf Steiner explains..." "Rudolf Steiner refers...") Faith in Steiner is the basic requirement, even when Anthroposophists tell themselves otherwise. [See "Guru".]

◊

The rest of the book continues in much the same vein. Two of the sections in later parts of the book bear the titles "What is the Nature of the Holy Spirit?" and "What Is My relationship to the Cosmic Christ?" In sum, Waldorf education is an occult form of religious education. Here are two final quotations (one being a repetition of a quotation we saw previously). The first asks what Waldorf teachers do for their students, and it answers in religious terms: Taking each student's soul qualities and past lives into account, Waldorf teachers attempt to continue the work begun by the gods (the "Hierarchies") before the child was born. (Waldorf teachers think they can learn about students' past lives and the intentions of the gods through clairvoyance.) The gods are infused by the spirit of Christ; they work on His behalf; and Waldorf teachers should do the same. Waldorf teachers strive to fill the world with the Christ Impulse — the impetus that the Sun God provided for mankind's further evolution.

I.

"What Are the Consequences for the Students in Our Care?

"We should ask ourselves...what were the characteristics, the particular qualities of [students'] souls before birth when they were guided by the Hierarchies on the way down to embodiment? ... If we deepen this line of thought, we shall take into account [students'] spiritual origins as they manifested themselves in previous incarnations ... [W]e should without jumping to quick conclusions also consider to which spiritual streams the students belonged ... Rudolf Steiner [said] we should consider what we do in education as a continuation of the work of the Hierarchies ... [T]he Christ Being working through the Hierarchies can accompany us in our everyday task ... Christ in our time is truly reappearing ... [I]t is for each one of us to strive towards this reality and find like-minded colleagues [i.e., other Anthroposophical Waldorf teachers] ... Rudolf Steiner [said] 'Anthroposophy seeks in every detail to be a striving towards the permeation of the Christ Impulse in the world." [pp. 84-88]

II.

To wrap this up, let's return to one of the first quotations I offered from THE ESOTERIC BACKGROUND OF WALDORF EDUCATION. It specifies the ultimate religious purpose of Waldorf schooling and it tells how this purpose shapes the curriculum. Waldorf teachers should enact the Christ Impulse, receiving guidance from different godly sources when teaching at different grade levels: 

“Rudolf Steiner dealt with the Christ Impulse in pedagogy even before the founding of the first Waldorf school in 1919 ... I have made an attempt to bring many of these indications together and especially to follow the ‘golden thread’ of teaching out of the background of the Father (and Mother) forces in the early grades, of the Son forces in the middle grades, and through the Holy Spirit in the high school.” [p. xii]

The references here to Father and Mother have to do with the various complementary sides of spiritual power and wisdom. [See, e.g., "God" and "Goddess".] When Anthroposophists speak of the Son and Holy Spirit, they are attempting to link their faith with mainstream Christianity. Their views are ultimately incompatible with the mainstream, however. [See, e.g., "Gnosis", "Rosy Cross", and "Was He Christian?"] 

◊

When Waldorf teachers walk their meditative path, assisted by prayers written by Rudolf Steiner, they are enacting their creed, the religion known as Anthroposophy. When they lead students toward a meditative path, assisted by prayers written by Rudolf Steiner, they are again enacting their creed. They do these things for the sakes of their souls and the souls of their students. Christ the Sun God gave us the Impulse that can lead to higher and higher spiritual evolution, Steiner taught. In this sense, Christ came to save our souls. If Waldorf teachers were to fall away from their path, they would run the risk of descending into the Eighth Sphere (in essence, hell). Anthroposophy is essentially no different from many other religions: It has a creed, it specifies good actions and condemns evil actions, and it holds out the promise of salvation and the threat of perdition.

As Querido makes plain, the activities of Waldorf teachers are essentially religious, undertaken in service to both Christ and Humanity.

MORE ITEMS FROM 

THE WALDORF WATCH NEWS

I posted the following on the "news" page early in 2011.

Waldorf's Aims

"[Waldorf] education is essentially grounded on the recognition of the child as a spiritual being, with a varying number of incarnations behind him, who is returning at birth into the physical world ... Teachers too will know that it is their task to help the child to make use of his body, to help his soul-spiritual forces to find expression through it, rather than regarding it as their duty to cram him with information...." — Anthroposophist Stewart C. Easton, MAN AND WORLD IN THE LIGHT OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 1989), pp. 388-389.

◊

Waldorf Watch Response:

Genuine Waldorf schools (those that adhere to Rudolf Steiner's stated objectives and procedures) aim to benefit children in a number of ways, few of which have much to do with education.

 ◊ The overall curriculum is designed to help children incarnate on a fixed schedule (etheric body by age seven [1], astral body by age fourteen, “I” by age twenty-one [2]).

 ◊ A basic objective is helping students fulfill their karmas so that they can evolve properly. (As Easton indicates, reincarnation is a basic Waldorf belief.)

 ◊ An effort is also made to maintain children’s supposed innate connections with the spirit realm.

 ◊ Magical forms of thought (imagination, intuition, inspiration) are emphasized — they are meant to lead toward development of clairvoyance.

 ◊ A warm, hazy love of the mystical and fabulous is encouraged, in the hope that students will, as adults, become full Anthroposophists.

 ◊ Arts are emphasized because Steiner said they provide direct avenues to the spirit realm.

 ◊ Science is de-emphasized because Steiner associated it with the dreadful demon Ahriman. [See “Ahriman”.] When science receives attention in Waldorf schools, it is often reshaped according to "Goethean" precepts. [See "Steiner's 'Science'".] The "science" embraced as true by Steiner's followers 's "spiritual science" — that is, the anti-scientific faith called Anthroposophy.

 ◊ Children are classified by race and “temperament,” and the schools endeavor to help the kids overcome the “drawbacks” of the races and temperaments to which they belong. [See “Races” and “Humouresque”.]

None of this makes a particle of sense. And very little of it has any connection to what we normally think of as education. [3] Certainly, Waldorf teachers do not "cram" their students with information. The less a Waldorf student is exposed to real knowledge of the real world, the better Waldorf teachers will be able to pursue their aims.

[1] Completion of this stage is signaled by the replacement of baby teeth with adult teeth — a process given extraordinary importance by Anthroposophists.

[2] Anthroposophists believe that in addition to a physical body, a fully developed human being has an etheric body (essentially a constellation of life forces), an astral body (soul forces), and an "I" (spirit forces that realize divine human individuality). According to Waldorf belief, the latter three constituents are invisible; they can be discerned only through clairvoyance. These three incarnate gradually, through a series of seven-year-long phases. [See “Most Significant”.]

[3] Indeed, little of it is clearly revealed in standard Waldorf PR mottoes: The schools say they educate “head, heart, and hands,” and they claim to equip students for "freedom." [See "Holistic Education" and "Freedom".] As descriptions of Waldorf methods and objectives, such statements are fundamentally misleading unless they are accompanied by detailed expositions of Anthroposophical doctrines.

Disclosure

From The Margaret River Mail:

"A Steiner kindergarten may start in Margaret River [Australia] if Yallingup Steiner School can find suitable premises ... Current plans are for a K4 Kindergarten in 2011, to expand to include K5 in 2012. Steiner schools are based on Rudolf Steiner’s educational philosophy, 'to address the latent possibilities in human beings of advancing beyond the present-day accepted limits of cognition to an awakening, by self-discipline and exercise, to a knowledge of the spiritual worlds underlying outer existence.'"  

[9-22-2010  http://www.margaretrivermail.com.au/news/local/news/general/school-seeks-site/1948729.aspx]

◊

Waldorf Watch Response:

Hear, hear. The quoted description of Steiner’s educational philosophy comes far closer to genuine disclosure than we usually see when Anthroposophists speak or write publicly. According to Anthroposophical beliefs, the “limits of cognition” are supposed to be overcome through the development of clairvoyance, which allows an “awakened” individual to know the higher spirit worlds. That set of esoteric concepts does indeed lie close to the core of Waldorf education. [See “Clairvoyance”, "Higher Worlds", and "Knowing the Worlds".]

Lacking

From The Denver Post:

"Twenty-five third graders at The Denver Waldorf School begin a language arts lesson with Ecclesiastes and finish with bon appétit. 'To every thing there is a season...,' they recite, led by student teacher Vernon Dewey. It's a verbal warm-up amid the colorful surroundings that make no secret of the private school's artistic and spiritual elements. While not a religious school, Denver Waldorf touches many traditions. This year, students hear stories from the Torah. The source of the archetypal tales that form the backbone of language arts shifts each year, from fairy tales to mythology to Shakespeare. Yet, it's a classroom without textbooks — only the 'lesson books' students make where classroom work creates a basis for page after page of cursive writing and colorful drawings. The current assignment tackles the story of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac."

[2-5-2010  http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_14338568]

◊

Waldorf Watch Response:

The Denver Waldorf School may be more candid than other Steiner or Waldorf schools about its spiritual agenda, but the description given above is lacking in several respects. Anthroposophists call their belief system "spiritual science" and say it is not a religion, although the system involves prayers, meditations, and religious observances. Anthroposophy is indeed a religion [see "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?"], and Waldorf schools generally attempt to spread it [see “Spiritual Agenda”]. Children often start each Waldorf day by reciting, in unison, a prayer written by Rudolf Steiner. [See, e.g., "Prayers".] Ordinary textbooks are absent from many Waldorf classrooms because they contain real-world knowledge of the kind generally rejected by Steiner’s followers. [See, e.g., “Steiner’s Blunders”. For information about Waldorf lesson books, see “Lesson Books”.]

Occult Roots

From Nursery World:

"Representatives from Montessori and Steiner awarding bodies and trainers are due to meet for a second time later this month with CWDC [Children’s Workforce Development Council] and Department for Education officials [UK], in an attempt to resolve the dispute about the validity of their qualifications....

"Both Montessori and Steiner awarding bodies are seeking continued recognition for their level 4 qualifications and exemption from the CWDC level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People's Workforce.

"...Janni Nichol, early childhood representative for the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship, confirmed that Steiner qualifications had also had their deadline extended.

"She said, 'We are waiting for the meeting to see if we might even be exempt from requirements to fit within CWDC requirements and have our training accepted as quality training for early years practitioners who wish to follow our specific philosophy and ethos.'"  

[6-1-2011  http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/1072652/Deadline-Montessori-Steiner-Level-4-training-extended/]

◊

Waldorf Watch Response:

Steiner or Waldorf schools frequently seek exemptions from ordinary educational standards and assessments. Their “specific philosophy and ethos” are quite different from ordinary schools’ and may indeed not include much that would ordinarily be considered parts of a real education. [See, e.g., “Academic Standards at Waldorf”, “Soul School”, and “Spiritual Agenda”.]

Steiner schools and Montessori schools are sometimes mistaken for one another, and they do bear some superficial similarities. Both offer alternatives to conventional educational approaches, but the Steiner system is rooted in occultism while the Montessori system is not. [See, e.g., “Ex-Teacher 5”.]

Rudolf Steiner (for whom Steiner schools are named) often explicitly placed himself and his followers in the sphere of occultism. For example, 

◊ "In occultism...we speak of the Mars half of Earth evolution and of the Mercury half."  — Rudolf Steiner, THEOSOPHY OF THE ROSICRUCIAN (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1966), p. 80.

◊ "When speaking of bodies in occultism, we speak of solid, liquid and gaseous bodies." — Rudolf Steiner, “The Earth's Passage Through Its Former Planetary Conditions” (ANTHROPOSOPHIC NEWS SHEET 33-34, Aug. 23, 1942), GA 100.

 ◊ “[I]n occultism we call the Moon the ‘Cosmos of Wisdom’ and the Earth the ‘Cosmos of Love.’" — Rudolf Steiner, THE INFLUENCE OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS ON MAN (Anthroposophic Press, 1961), lecture 6, GA 102.

The implications for Steiner or Waldorf schools are profound. Here's one more Steiner quotation: 

“That we stand within such a stream as our spiritual scientific movement must be seen as grace bestowed by spiritual powers [i.e., the gods]: for this movement is a necessity of the future, and it has been granted to us to be the first to stand within this current that must flow into humanity’s future evolution if it is not to grow arid and wither away.  As an occultist one can see that such fertilization is absolutely necessary. Let us look on it as a grace and blessing that we may feel duty bound to offer a helping hand in this fertilizing process." — Rudolf Steiner, ESOTERIC CHRISTIANITY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2000), p. 275.

Note that by "spiritual science," Steiner means his own form of Theosophy: the derivative movement he dubbed Anthroposophy. He tells us how "an occultist" looks upon what the gods have done and what human beings must do. Moreover, in discussing these things, Steiner indicates the motivation behind Waldorf schools and other Anthroposophical enterprises. Steiner told his followers that they are "the first" to possess the new spiritual wisdom that humanity must acquire in order to evolve properly. The "spiritual powers," the gods, gave Anthroposophists a holy mission "as a grace and a blessing" — Anthroposophists are "duty bound" to make sure that "humanity’s future evolution" goes as it should. If Anthroposophists do not discharge this mission, humanity will "grow arid and wither away," a truly terrible prospect. This is the ultimate reason that Waldorf schools are generally uninterested in giving students a regular education. Anthroposophists think they are doing something far, far more important. [See "Occultism".]

Here is a mildly edited version of something I posted on the news page in 2010.

There are times when plain speaking is necessary.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Our thoughts create spiritual beings 

who live, for real, in the spirit realm. 

We have evidence of this 

in the plays of Shakespeare. 

Shakespeare's thoughts created real beings 

who live in the spirit realm...."

— Rudolf Steiner, 

FACULTY MEETINGS WITH 

RUDOLF STEINER 

(Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 336.

Today's quote of the day, seemingly so absurd (OK, really so absurd), deserves some commentary. Steiner truly did teach that thoughts create real spiritual beings. That is why he could say that Shakespeare's characters are alive and walking around now in the spirit realm. Shakespeare had good thoughts, presumably, and thus he created good spiritual realities. But Steiner also said that evil thoughts create evil spiritual realities; for instance, 

“[L]ying and slander [create beings that] now flit and whirr about in our world and belong to a class that we call ‘phantoms.’" — Rudolf Steiner, NATURE SPIRITS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1995), pp. 83-84. 

Phantoms (and ghosts or specters) really exist, because we make them really exist. In the same enlightening vein, one of Steiner's eminent disciples was able to end his exposition of Anthroposophical doctrines with these words: 

"If these ideas [i.e., the doctrines of Anthroposophy] are not true, they should be true. What we believe shapes the reality. If we become conscious of these ideas and hold them, they will become true." — Dr. Ronald E. Koetzsch, "Anthroposophy 101".

What in the world? Let's back up. Perhaps Rudolf Steiner's key "insight" was this: 

"I am an I only to myself; to every other being I am a you.” — Rudolf Steiner, OCCULT SCIENCE - AN OUTLINE (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1979), p. 49. 

What he meant was that only I know the felt truth of my inner reality; and to me my inner reality is all that matters. We might call this "radical subjectivity" — I do not need to look out into the world, I only need look inside myself and I will discover the truth. And if, looking inside, I do not find what I want to find, my thoughts will create it — I will create a new reality, like Shakespeare, like fabricators and fantasists, like Koetzsch.

This is perhaps Steiner's key "insight." But what Steiner was actually describing, without realizing it, was insanity. An "inner reality" may be nothing but a bundle of delusions, quite divorced from objective, external reality. Indeed, my "inner reality" probably will consist of nothing but delusions if I only look into myself and consult only my own wishes. Consider Dr. Koetzsch's advice: If what I have told you is wrong, pretend it is true and then it will be true. Dr. K's advice is nonsense. If Dr. K tells us that a spiritual being called Santa Claus really comes down our chimneys and leaves us gifts, we can easily check (set up a remote camera, get Jolly Ol' St. Nick on film — or at least see gifts appearing out of thin air). When we try this experiment, we will learn that Dr. K is wrong. But he says that if we believe hard enough, Santa Claus will really exist. This is lunacy.

And yet this is what Anthroposophy and Waldorf education aim for: radical subjectivity. The attitude they recommend is this: I am extremely intuitive (OK, imaginative; OK, clairvoyant). What's more, my intuitions are true. Sometimes my intuitions discover truths that already exist, and sometimes they create new truths (abracadabra: Santa lives!). You see, I am in tune with the infinite. I am the berries, boy: I am a microcosm of the macrocosm, what I find within myself is exactly what really exists in the wide universe — or if it doesn't exist yet, my intuitions will make it exist.

Now, this is a comforting idea, I suppose. But it is wrong. And no amount of thinking it is true will make it true. What we find inside ourselves may sometimes be true; but very often it will be false. ◊ I think I am the reincarnation of Rudolf Steiner. Well, no, I am not — and no amount of believing this fantasy will make it true. ◊ I think Angelina Jolie secretly loves me. Well, no, she does not — and no amount of believing this fantasy will make it true. ◊ I think Rudolf Steiner made a lot of sense. Well, no, he did not — and no amount of believing this fantasy will make it true.

You see, what Steiner peddled were fairy tales. And even about fairy tales he was mistaken. 

"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.

Oh, Rudolf. Think before you speak. Fairy tales are invented; they do not give us clairvoyantly accurate reports about anything. [See "Clairvoyance".] Watch: "Once upon a time a sweet little fairy named Roger Rawlings leapt up and smote to the ground a terrible ogre named Rudolf Steiner. The End." OK. There's a fairy tale. And according to Steiner, it is true, since "All the fairy tales in existence are the remnants of the original clairvoyance.” Of course, he didn't mean this. And, of course, I'm not being serious. But still...

Anthroposophy and Waldorf (or Steiner) schools try to lure us toward radical subjectivity. Any adult who wants to be radically subjective is free to do so. But no adult should lure children toward that form of "reality." Why? Because it is insane. I'm sorry if this is blunt. I'm sorry if Anthroposophists take offense. But there are times when plain speaking is necessary. One of those times is when the fate of our children is in the balance.

◊

[For more on the sort of "thinking" promoted in Waldorf schools,

see "Thinking Cap".]

◊

The process by which our thoughts create real spiritual beings — according to Anthroposophical belief — is complex. Steiner's teachings are almost always complex. He created an aura of near-plausibility by parading his extensive knowledge of esoteric texts, and by weaving mind-blowing elaborations. Still, a little calm reflection enables us to see through the flummery.

According to Steiner, people "create" spiritual realities with their thoughts because thoughts and emotions are disembodied and they are thus "spiritual." Spirit interweaves with the merely physical, and actually infuses it everywhere. And the reverse is true, in a limited sense: Everything physical has tendrils, as it were, that reach into the spirit realm.

OK. So here's how lying, slander, and other vile thoughts create such monstrosities as phantoms and ghosts:

"If a person, let us say, has told a lie during the day, its effect remains in the physical body and is to be seen by clairvoyant perception while the person sleeps. Let us suppose this person is altogether un-truthful, piling up lies, then he will have many such effects in his physical body. All this hardens, as it were, in the night, and then something very important happens. These hardenings, these 'enclosures,' in the physical body are not at all agreeable to the beings who from higher worlds must take possession of the physical body in the night and carry out the functions otherwise exercised by the astral body and ego. The result is that in the course of life and by reason of a body diseased — one might say — through lies, portions of those beings who descend into man at night become detached. Here we have again detachment processes and they lead to the fact that when a man dies his physical body does not merely follow the paths which it would normally take. Certain beings are left behind, beings which have been created in the physical body through the effect of lying and slander, and have been detached from the spiritual world. Such beings, detached in this circuitous way, now flit and whir about in our world and belong to the class that we call 'phantoms.' They form a certain group of elemental beings related to our physical body and invisible to physical sight. They multiply through lies and calumnies, and these in actual fact populate our earthly globe with phantoms. In this way we learn to know a new class of elemental beings.

"But now, not only lies and slanders but also other things belonging to the soul life produce an effect on the human body. It is lies and slanders which so act on the physical body that a detaching of phantoms is caused. Other things again work in a similar way on the etheric body. You must not be amazed at such phenomena of the soul: in spiritual life one must be able to take things with all calmness. Matters, for example, which have a harmful result on the etheric body are bad laws, or bad social measures prevailing in a community. All that leads to want of harmony, all that makes for bad adjustments between man and man, works in such a way through the feeling which it creates in the common life that the effect is continued into the etheric body. The accumulation in the etheric body caused through these experiences of the soul brings about again detachments from the beings working in from the spiritual worlds and these likewise are now to be found in our environment — they are 'spectres' or 'ghosts.' Thus these beings that exist in the etheric world, the life world, we see grow out of the life of men. Many a man can go about amongst us and for one who is able to see these things spiritually, his physical body is crammed, one might say, with phantoms, his etheric body crammed with spectres, and as a rule after a man's death or shortly afterwards all this rises up and disperses and populates the world. " — NATURE SPIRITS, pp. 84-85.

QUOTE OF NOTE

"Every domain of human thought and activity — education, medicine, agriculture, social, economic and political life, art, architecture, religious life, care for the elderly, and so on — must be renewed on the basis of a spiritual understanding of the human being." — Dr. Ronald E. Koetzsch, "Anthroposophy 101".

This is a comprehensive catalog of every significant sphere of life here, in the physical realm. If Anthroposophists had their way, absolutely everything here in the physical realm would be remolded to conform to Anthroposophy. 

Anthroposophists may be deluded, but their ambitions are limitless.

[See "Threefolding".]

Charters?

From The Buffalo News:

"[A] group is asking the state for permission to start a Waldorf-inspired charter school in Buffalo [New York State, USA]. The Wisteria Charter School ...would offer Waldorf-style education tuition-free for the first time in Western New York ... Wisteria's founders say they plan to incorporate the hallmarks of Waldorf education — imaginative play, handwork, daily outdoor experiences, strong community connections — into their program while still meeting the testing requirements set out by the state and federal government."  

[1-12-2011  http://blogs.buffalonews.com/school_zone/2011/01/the-next-wave-of-charter-applications-in-buffalo.html]

◊

Waldorf Watch Response:

Efforts to create Waldorf charter or free schools continue apace. A key reason is indicated in this news item: When schools become part of a public school system, they can stop charging tuition, so they can offer their form of schooling to far more families. At present, Waldorf schools largely cater to well-off families who can afford fairly stiff tuition charges. The creation of Waldorf (or "Waldorf-inspired") charter schools would change this.

The key issue for officials who may consider granting charters to Waldorf schools is how closely the schools will adhere to the educational tenets laid down by Rudolf Steiner and his devout Anthroposophical followers. There may be variation from one Waldorf school to another, but any fully fledged Waldorf charter school that adheres to Steiner's tenets will be deeply immersed in occultism. [See, e.g., "Spiritual Agenda" and "Soul School".]

A short test that might be given to education officials considering applications from Waldorf groups is this: Please define the word “Anthroposophy.” Officials who cannot do so are clearly unprepared to make a sensible judgment concerning Waldorf or “Waldorf-inspired” schools.

Additional questions might include: 1) How many bodies do fully formed human beings have, according to Waldorf belief? Answer: Four. 2) What is the primary mechanism that guides the formation of school classes, according to Waldorf belief? Answer: Karma — the karmas of the students and the karma of their teacher. 3) What organs are the seats of knowledge and cognition, according to Waldorf belief? Answer: Not the brain, but invisible organs of clairvoyance. 4) What is the primary task that should be undertaken by teachers, according to Waldorf belief? Answer: True-believing Waldorf teachers are on a messianic mission to promote human spiritual evolution. 

Education officials (and parents) who cannot answer such questions might find value in reading "Here's the Answer".

Vaccines

From dailyprogress.com

"Area's first measles case in over 20 years

"The Charlottesville-Albemarle Health Department [Virginia, USA] announced Thursday that there have been three cases of measles in the area...

"Exposures may have occurred on May 20 at the Charlottesville Waldorf School [and elsewhere] ...

"...Waldorf, a private school serving students from preschool to eighth grade, confirmed that a student was one of the three cases. The school cancelled classes today to hold a vaccination clinic for the school community...

"[Health official Dr. Lillian] Peake said she doesn’t yet have a full idea of the seriousness of the situation, which is technically considered an outbreak.

"There were three cases of measles throughout Virginia in 2010, Peake said, and only one case in both 2009 and 2008. Prior to that, the last case in Virginia occurred in 2001."  

[5-26-2011   http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2011/may/26/7/measles-case-ar-1066570/]

◊

Waldorf Watch Response:

The result of withholding vaccination is that diseases that have long been under control are now recurring, needlessly endangering the lives of children.

Waldorf schools generally do not officially oppose vaccination. But often a high percentage of students at Waldorf schools are unvaccinated. Sometimes this is largely the parents’ choice, but the choice is consistent with underlying Waldorf misgivings about vaccination. Rudolf Steiner taught that vaccination may sometimes be appropriate, but he said vaccination only treats the physical side of karma, so it is, by itself, inadequate. He also taught that vaccination may hold severe dangers since the forces of evil will use vaccinations to attack the good people of the Earth, cutting them off from the spirit realm.

Vaccination, in and of itself, does not get to the root causes of disease, Steiner said. 

“If we destroy the susceptibility to smallpox [through vaccination], we are concentrating only on the external side of karmic activity.” — Rudolf Steiner, MANIFESTATIONS OF KARMA (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2000), pp. 165-166.

Because illness is a matter of karma, Steiner taught, shielding someone from contracting a disease can be a serious error — an individual may need to undergo that disease to fulfill her/his karma. We should not interfere with karma unless we are very, very sure that we know what we are doing.

Steiner also told his followers to fear vaccinations for another reason. Black magicians and other evildoers will create vaccines that deaden people to the spirit: 

“Endeavors to achieve this will be made by bringing out remedies to be administered by inoculation [i.e., vaccination]...only these inoculations will influence the human body in a way that will make it refuse to give a home to the spiritual inclinations of the soul.” — Rudolf Steiner, SECRET BROTHERHOODS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), pp. 90-91.

Maybe the vaccine you receive will help you avoid smallpox. This may be good or bad. It will be very bad if your karma requires  you to have smallpox. And in any case, as the doctor or nurse approaches you with a syringe containing a vaccine of some sort, can you be sure it is a vaccine that will protect you from smallpox, or is it a vaccine that will destroy your soul?

Wackiness of this sort poses a very real threat to the health of children whose parents or teachers, in accordance with Steiner’s teachings, withhold needed medical treatment. [See “Steiner’s Quackery”.] Note that the Charlottesville Waldorf School admirably (if belatedly) arranged a vaccination clinic for the school community. Numerous students at the school had not been vaccinated previously.

◊

Rudolf Steiner encouraged his followers to believe they are surrounded by enemies, including secret brotherhoods of evil conspirators who plan to destroy human spirituality. He said conspiratorial evildoers murder people so the victims’ souls can learn, in the afterlife, occult secrets that human beings should not yet possess. The plotters then use mediums (spiritualists who can communicate with the dead) to learn these secrets, which they proceed to use in the furtherance of their dastardly schemes. One atrocity planned by black magicians and materialistic scientists is to create vaccines that will make people turn away from the spirit realm. 

Some vaccines, Steiner said, may have value in preventing certain diseases, but other vaccines will destroy the human soul. Consider the implications. How will you know which vaccines are ok and which ones are not? Perhaps avoiding all vaccines would be the wisest course. And thus Steiner’s teachings steer people away from imaginary dangers (black magicians, mediums, secret occult brotherhoods) while steering toward very real dangers (some children will inevitably die if they are denied the vaccines that could save them). [See “Double Trouble”, “Enemies”, and “Steiner’s Quackery”.]

Here is Steiner, discussing such things:

Short form: 

“When things that ought to come later [in human development] make their appearance as spiritual premature births by the means I have described — through criminal occult activity — when this happens those whose intentions towards humanity are not good, in other words those who are black or grey magicians, can gain possession of such secrets.” — Rudolf Steiner.

Long form: 

“[M]urder was committed when a member of the order of Thugs [a secret occult brotherhood] was instructed by anonymous superiors to murder such and such an individual. [1]

“Those in authority who set such things in train knew very well what goal they were pursuing ... The goal of all this was to make those human beings [i.e., the murder victims] pass through the gate of death violently [so that they] would thus be equipped with the capacity that would enable them after death to know certain secrets... [2]

“[Then] certain suitable individuals are schooled [by the dark conspirators] to be mediums. They are then put into a trance and the streams coming from the spiritual world are guided to the mediums by certain methods in such a way that the medium makes known certain secrets that cannot be made known in any other way. The only way they can be made known is when a person who has been violently killed uses over in the other world certain forces which have remained usable as a result of the violent death... [3]

“...When things that ought to come later make their appearance as spiritual premature births by the means I have described — through criminal occult activity — when this happens those whose intentions towards humanity are not good, in other words those who are black or grey magicians, can gain possession of such secrets. [4] 

“Such things have indeed been going on behind the scenes of external events during the current decades ... Certain circles in this materialistic age are striving to paralyze and make impossible all of humanity’s spiritual development, through causing people by their very temperament and character to reject everything spiritual and regard it as nonsense. [5]

“A stream of this kind — and it is already noticeable in some isolated individuals — will become deeper and deeper. A longing will arise for there to be a general opinion: Whatever is spiritual, whatever is of the spirit, is nonsense, is madness! Endeavors to achieve this will be made by bringing out remedies to be administered by inoculation just as inoculations have been developed as a protection against diseases, only these inoculations will influence the human body in a way that will make it refuse to give a home to the spiritual inclinations of the soul. People will be inoculated against the inclination to entertain spiritual ideas. Endeavours in this direction will be made; inoculations will be tested that already in childhood will make people lose any urge for a spiritual life.” [6] — Rudolf Steiner, SECRET BROTHERHOODS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), pp. 88-91.

“Nonsense” is the word, all right. The idea that “black or grey magicians” can discover occult secrets through the use of murder and mediums is nonsense. The idea that secretive materialistic evildoers will create vaccines to destroy the human capacity for spiritual experience is nonsense. Steiner’s teachings, in other words, are nonsense.

Steiner would have us believe that opposing him means that we are spiritually blind, that we think spirituality itself is a sham. This is manifestly untrue. Many of us who criticize Steiner do so in part because he so clearly subverted spirituality. He took some of mankind’s highest and most wondrous impulses and packaged them as a set of deep dark secrets, an immense puzzle of occult hocus-pocus. [7]

Steiner's teachings are nonsense. Steiner’s conspiracy theories are nonsense. Steiner’s demonization of his opponents is nonsense. The death of human spirituality may come from irrational, grotesque nightmares peddled by the likes of Rudolf Steiner. It will not come from the enlightened efforts of human beings to find truth by opening their eyes and sensibly, intelligently examining the magnificent universe in which we live.

[1] The Thugs were a band of murderers in India. What Steiner says about them is more or less true. But whether anything else Steiner says here is true is, at a minimum, highly questionable.

[2] Steiner is saying that secret brotherhoods of evil conspirators stage murders because the souls of murdered people gain secret knowledge when they pass over into the spirit realm.

[3] The evil conspirators use mediums to receive secret occult knowledge from the murdered souls.

[4] The secrets gained through murders and mediums are things that humanity should not yet know, but the evildoers — black or grey magicians — want these secrets now, intending to use them for evil purposes.

[5] The evil conspirators want to destroy human spirituality. They want to blind us to spiritual truths and thus confine us to the material or physical world.

[6] Evil materialistic scientists (aka, black magicians) will create vaccines that will make people turn away from spirituality. The vaccines will be given to children, destroying their spirituality near the very beginning of life.

[7] Even agnostics and atheists should honor true spirituality. Whether or not a separate spirit realm exists, spirit is important in the real, physical world. The spirit of honesty, the spirit of truthfulness, the spirit of sisterhood/brotherhood, the spirit of service to others, the spirit of good stewardship, the spirit of compassion, the spirit of love — these are very real and very important, not as mere abstractions but as powerful forces in our lives. Beauty, wonder, awe, meditative transcendence, intellectual discovery, manual skillfulness, good works, high ideals — these can make the human spirit soar, and the pursuit of moments (stretched perhaps to hours or lifetimes) when we experience this selfless enlargement of the self is a supremely worthy activity. It makes us human in the best sense.`

[Anthroposophic Press, 1998.]

If you want to learn about Waldorf education, 

this book and its companion (Vol. 2) provide a good starting point.

Rudolf Steiner is long gone, but many Waldorf teachers today 

continue to study his words devotedly;

indeed, much Waldorf teacher training revolves around the study 

of Steiner's books and lectures. [See "Teacher Training".]

For a look at Waldorf faculty meetings presided over 

by Steiner, see "Faculty Meetings".

Blogs such as the one quoted below are no substitute 

for an in-depth examination of the Waldorf movement.

Continuing Ed

[Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training.]

Anyone who doubts that Waldorf education is mystical and/or religious should look into the spiritual training that new Waldorf teachers receive, as well as the continuing spiritual education that veteran Waldorf teachers undertake throughout their careers. 

Alicia Hamberg at The Ethereal Kiosk has helpfully summarized lectures given recently at the New Impulse Conference 2012 at the Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training [California, USA]. 

Here are some of the matters discussed in those lectures by Claus-Peter Röh. I will quote from the summaries posted by the conference organizers. — R.R. 

"Nowadays, children are waking up and are being called upon to use their head forces too early [1] ... Our astral body is much better at sensing and exploring an impression, of having a correct feel for it... [2]

"The curriculum is a vessel that gently carries a child through his development from being one with the world to...looking outward [at] the world [3] ... The teacher must ask herself of each student, ‘Are the ego and the physical body together in the right way?’ The teacher must then use the curriculum to bring about the balance between the ego and the body. [4] Within each lesson there must be a constant breathing from outer (the will) to inner (the ego) ... Forces of soul cultivated early on transform into forces of cognition in later years ... [5] The Waldorf curriculum is filled with wisdom and possibilities to assist each child in his path of development [6]... 

"Rudolf Steiner indicated that it was our task as teachers to develop the limb man and part of the chest man and then let them awaken the other part of the chest and the head [7] ... When engaging in sculpture, painting and form drawing, we are working out of the limbs through the will. In music, singing and speech we are working in part from the chest through feeling. If we only worked one-sidedly with these forces, there would be an imbalance ... Through creative and musical activity one can develop the forces needed to bring real meaning to their thinking life, and it this task that brings real purpose to the teacher [8]... 

"The teacher who radiates this care for the child is not judgmental but interested in seeing the child as a spirit force that comes to the teacher for higher reasons [9] ... This ability to see the spirit force in a child comes to all of us in ordinary moments of working with children [10] ... [A Waldorf teacher] was struck by the age and wisdom that flashed through the eyes [of a young child]. This is like the flash of intuition that the higher self has in times of trouble. We need this flash to be able to respond to the spirit force in the children [11] ... So often we do not seek the counsels of the higher self until we have exhausted everything else ... [Claus-Peter] put the three phases of childhood into his own language. The first stage he characterized as ‘Movement into consciousness.’ For the next stage, from 7-14, he gave the phrase ‘We heard the Child.’ Finally he called the last stage of childhood ‘I know you.’ [12] ... These three ages require three methods. First we communicate to the child in living pictures, then we give the child room to feel heard, then we recognize that the child wishes to be known. [13] 

"Claus-Peter spoke about how daily meditation can help us reach deeper levels in our teaching, allowing us really to see the children. We strive to reach beyond our conscious mind, into the realm of living pictures, and even beyond that to the realm of will, so that we will be able to follow through and actually carry out our ideas and plans for teaching [14] ... Steiner called meditation the only truly free deed since we don’t need to do it for any outer reason, we must simply want to do it for our own self-development. Claus-Peter discussed the teachers’ meditation given by Steiner and said that every teacher needs to find his or her own way to connect with the meditation; it’s not the same for any two individuals [15] ... As in meditation when we put effort in and finally get something back from beyond ourselves, in teaching something similar happens when we get something back from the children." [16]

[For more on Waldorf teacher training, see "Teacher Training".]

[1] In Waldorf belief, children should not use their heads or brains much until they have developed other "forces," and even then use of the intellect is generally downplayed unless intellect is conditioned by emotion and clairvoyant imagination. Waldorf education generally works to delay the children's "waking up" — young students are meant to be held in a dream-like consciousness as long as possible. [See "Thinking Cap".]

[2] Steiner taught that in addition to the physical body, fully incarnated humans have etheric, astral, and ego bodies — constellations of developmental, soul, and spirit forces. [See "Incarnation".]

[3] In Waldorf belief, children arrive on Earth attuned to the spirit realm and the spiritual level of earthly existence. Only slowly does the child settle within her/himself and start to see the world as separate from the self.

[4] The Waldorf curriculum is not primarily meant to provide a good education, as usually conceived, but to help integrate the various components of the human organism as occultly conceived. The "ego" mentioned here is the ego body or "I"; the "body" mentioned here is the physical body.

[5] By preparing the spirit properly — immersing a child in myths and occult beliefs — Waldorf schools try to ensure that the brain, when it finally wakes up, will understand the universe properly (i.e., in accordance with Anthroposophical beliefs). [See "Indoctrination".]

[6] The path of childhood development is the process of incarnating our invisible bodies: the etheric body becomes fully incarnate around age seven, the astral body around age 14, and the ego body around age 21 (the end of childhood). Waldorf teachers try to help children incarnate properly so that the various parts of each child's being — such as the physical body and the etheric body — are properly balanced. Likewise, various spiritual functions — such as the will and the inner ego force — should be balanced. The primary focus is on the soul with its soul forces, and the spirit with its spirit forces. Steiner differentiated between soul and spirit. The former is the portion of one's spiritual self that exists only during a single incarnation; the latter is the portion of one's spiritual self that is carried from incarnation to incarnation.

[7] Steiner taught that the human organism has three systems: the head system, the limb/metabolic system, and the chest or trunk system. [See "What We Are".] Each of these, perceived occultly, is a separate "man": the head-man, the limb-man, and the chest- or trunk-man. These "men" embody the "forces" of thinking, willing, and feeling, and each has both lower and higher parts.`

[8] This is the process, mentioned earlier, of developing other forces before emphasizing the capacity for thought.  All parts of the Waldorf curriculum are meant to have mystical impact; the arts in particular are thought to be pathways into the spirit realm. Form drawing is the repetitive sketching of geometric forms, meant to awaken clairvoyant capacities.

[9] Waldorf teachers believe that their students chose them during the kids' previous lives in the spirit realm; a class comes together because of their karmas and in accordance with the will of the gods. A Waldorf teacher thus has immense authority: S/he has this group of children "for higher reasons."

[10] “Seeing” the spirit force within a child — i.e., perceiving the child’s spiritual essence — is a major goal for Waldorf teachers. This requires spiritual or psychic insight, i.e., clairvoyance. Waldorf teacher Eugene Schwartz has described how Waldorf teachers use “everyday clairvoyance” for this purpose. [See, e.g., Schwartz’s WALDORF EDUCATION (Xlbiris, 2000).]

[11] This is an anecdotal example of the Waldorf approach — a Waldorf teacher perceives a student's spirit reflected in the eyes. Such perception occurs when the "intuition" of the "higher self" (i.e., the clairvoyant power of the spiritually enlightened self) is employed.

[12] These are the stages of incarnation mentioned earlier.

[13] The Waldorf approach is meant to subtly shift as the children grow older, incarnating new capacities. As we saw previously, the teachers attempt to "develop [each child's] limb man and part of the chest man and then let them awaken the other part of the chest and the head." [To examine the Waldorf approach, described in more accessible terms, see “Curriculum” and “Methods”.] "Living pictures" are visualized or clairvoyantly imagined realities — embodiments of the gods' living thoughts. [See "Thinking".] Claus-Peter describes the child gradually emerging to conscious assertion of the ego, awake in the world (as occultly conceived).

[14] Like other Anthroposophists, true-blue Waldorf teachers use the prayers, meditations, spiritual exercises, etc., prescribed by Rudolf Steiner. [See, e.g., VERSES AND MEDITATIONS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004).] Waldorf teaching cannot be performed properly without these spiritual preparations.

[15] Steiner prescribed two meditations for teachers. 

◊ "He...suggested specific exercises and meditations for teachers to help them work more consciously on the Earth on behalf of the spiritual powers [i.e., gods]." — Roberto Trostli, RHYTHMS OF LEARNING (SteinerBooks, 1998), p. 54. 

◊ “The first meditation describes what our task is: to overcome the abyss between subject and object, inner and outer. The first meditation has to do with Imagination. This meditation is to be done in the evening before preparations and before one’s personal meditations. We are seeking the powers of enlightenment with this meditation ...The second meditation has to do with Inspiration ... In America we should strive to speak the verses in German ... Dawning light...wisdom as seen within. I am the mediator between the above and the below. Steiner gave this meditation to Maria Roeschl Lehrs in the Autumn of 1923, four years after the first was given.” — “Ponderings of the College of Teachers”, http://www.awsna.org/PonderingsCollegeTeachers.pdf]. 

Steiner summarized the Waldorf teacher's role in these words: 

"I [the teacher] am the mediator between the divine spiritual world and the child. The child believes me and accepts what I say, but does not yet understand it ... When [in later life] something arises in the soul that was once accepted on trust and is only now understood, we can see that to teach properly we must not consider only the immediate moment but the whole of life. In all that we teach children, this must be kept in view." — Rudolf Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL GROUND OF EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 2004), p. 34. 

[16] Waldorf education, as described here, is spiritual communing between teacher and student. As we have seen, however, the teacher's authority and influence are meant to be great; the child is molded in accordance with Anthroposophical precepts.