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BABY SCIENCE

(with, again, racism in the mix)

When Dan Dugan attended an open house at the San Francisco Waldorf School, he thought he'd found the most beautiful school in the world.

...He enrolled his son in sixth grade, and everything went well for a year.

Trouble began when Dugan picked up one of Steiner's books, on sale at the school. Steiner lectured (Germany, 1922): "If the blonds and blue-eyed people die out, the human race will become increasingly dense if men do not arrive at a form of intelligence that is independent of blondness."

...Then his son complained "they're teaching us baby science." A specialist science teacher had told the sixth grade "the elements are earth, air, fire, and water." Dugan looked at several science lesson books, and found more bad news.

...Worse than the occasional items of cult pseudoscience was what was left out.

...[Dugan] requested a hearing with the 'college of teachers' which runs the school. He was refused, and a delegation of teachers informed him that the family would be expelled unless he stopped making trouble.

...Dugan sent a survey to all 270 parents in the school ... Thirty-two responded ... [A]lmost none knew about or agreed with the pseudoscientific statements taken from Steiner literature. It appears that their children were being indoctrinated in weird science without their knowledge. 

— "Weird Science at Steiner School", 

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 16 (Fall 1991), page 23: 

http://waldorfcritics.org/active/articles/Weird_Science.html.

OCCULT SCIENCE

"Occult Science is the antithesis of Natural Science.” 

—Rudolf Steiner, AN OUTLINE OF OCCULT SCIENCE

(Anthroposophic Press, 1972), 

preface to editions 16-20, p. xiv, GA 13.

Steiner's central doctrines, which constitute his "occult science," are laid out in the book shown above. Various editions have been given slightly varying titles, including ◊ AN OUTLINE OF OCCULT SCIENCE, ◊OCCULT SCIENCE - AN OUTLINE, and ◊AN OUTLINE OF ESOTERIC SCIENCE.

By "occult science," Steiner meant the use of disciplined clairvoyance to investigate the spirit realm and, by extension, the physical realm. Steiner also used the term "spiritual science" for the same clairvoyant enterprise. When he was a Theosophist, his "spiritual science" was his brand of Theosophy. After he broke away to found Anthroposophy as a separate spiritual movement, he applied the term "spiritual science" specifically to Anthroposophy.

Occult science, esoteric science, spiritual science, Anthroposophy — for Steiner and his followers, they are all essentially the same. They do indeed stand as antitheses of natural science. And they form the basis of Waldorf education.

MATERIALISM, SCIENCE, AND AHRIMAN

Steiner describes unseen beings who tempt and waylay us in two very different directions. On one side, there are the servants of Lucifer, the fallen angel of light. They are beings who have brought humanity great gifts, but who would abandon the goals of the highest hierarchies and create a blissful kingdom of spiritual light and delight for themselves. On the other side, there are immensely powerful beings who strive to blind us to the spirit, powers for whom it is self-evident that the universe is a machine and that what can be measured, weighed, and quantified [i.e., the view taken by scientists, "materialists"] is the only reality. These spirits of materialism belong to the dark power that the ancient wisdom called Ahriman, or Angra Mainyu.

 — Waldorf teacher and headmaster 

Henry Barnes, 

A LIFE FOR THE SPIRIT: 

Rudolf Steiner in the 

Crosscurrents of Our Time

 (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), 

[R.R.]

Here are items adapted from the Waldorf Watch News.

(To some degree, they repeat points we have already seen;

to some degree, they extend those points into new terrain.)

In each instance, I quote from an online posting, 

then I offer a response.

1.

Help wanted; a posting by the Federation of Rudolf Steiner Schools in New Zealand:

"This is an exciting new opportunity for inspired educators at this new Whitianga Kindergarten. We are seeking experienced, fully qualified Early Childhood educators who wish to work & live in an idyllic location.

"This new Kindergarten will work alongside the established Kuaotunu Rudolf Steiner Kindergarten & be managed & governed by the Kuaotunu Kindergarten Charitable Trust."  

[11-24-2011]

◊ 

R.R. Response:

When the official bodies representing Waldorf education use words like "inspired," they presumably know precisely what they mean. [1] In Anthroposophical belief, inspiration is a form of psychic vision, and Waldorf teachers are expected to cultivate it. Rudolf Steiner taught that most human beings today lack clairvoyance, but Waldorf teachers should attain it. No other preparation is sufficient, he said: 

"[P]hilosophy does not suffice, only pedagogical principles and methods do: exact clairvoyance." [2] 

Precise, focused clairvoyance is the "basis" of Waldorf schooling. Here is the same quotation again, given at greater length:

“Now, if we are working as teachers — as artists in education — on human beings, we must enter into relation with their supersensible [i.e., supernatural], creative principle...the supersensible [essence] that lives in the human being's self. The anthroposophical method of research makes this possible and so provides the basis for an art of teaching and education." [3] 

Those Waldorf teachers who have not yet become clairvoyant should at least accept the guidance of those among their colleagues who claim to possess clairvoyance now. 

"Not every Waldorf teacher has the gift of clairvoyance, but every one of them has accepted wholeheartedly and with full understanding the results of spiritual-scientific investigation [i.e., the use of clairvoyance]." [4] 

According to the Waldorf belief system, there are three levels of clairvoyance in our future: imagination, inspiration, and intuition. By following Steiner's instructions, people can attain these levels now (or so Steiner said). The rest of humanity will have to wait until we evolve to higher "planets" after the end of our Earth existence.

“Now let us consider the three states of consciousness which are still to come ... The next state known to the initiate is the so-called ‘psychic-consciousness’ or Imagination ... On the planet which will replace our Earth, the whole of humanity will have this psychic-consciousness’ or Imagination, the ‘Jupiter’ consciousness ... Then there is the sixth state of consciousness man will one day possess ... Man will look deep, deep into the nature of beings, when he lives in this consciousness, the consciousness of Inspiration ... This will be the consciousness of man when our planet will have passed into the ‘Venus’ condition ... The seventh state of consciousness is the ‘spiritual consciousness’ or Intuition...which [man] will have in addition to all the other states of consciousness when he will have reached ‘Vulcan’.” [5]

Believe me, please. I understand how bizarre all this is. But I am not telling you what I think; I am telling you what Rudolf Steiner's followers think. You and I may have difficultly believing that Steiner's followers embrace such doctrines, but they do. Some Waldorf teachers have more faith in Steiner's doctrines than others do, but the majority evidently accept the "wisdom" provided by Rudolf Steiner. Bear in mind, Waldorf schools are also called Steiner schools. The central authority in the Steiner system is clearly identified — it is Rudolf Steiner — and you have just read some of his authoritative statements.

Did the Federation of Rudolf Steiner Schools in New Zealand have any of this in mind when specifying that they want "inspired" teachers? Perhaps not. But this is what the word actually means in the Steiner/Waldorf universe. I thought you might like to know.

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Footnotes for this Section

[1] Or, sometimes, perhaps they don't. But let's focus on the Anthroposophical meaning of such terms, whether or not the Steiner representatives who use the terms fully understand what they are saying.

[2] Rudolf Steiner, WALDORF EDUCATION AND ANTHROPOSOPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 1995), Vol. 1, p. 208.

[3] Ibid., p. 207.

[4] Rudolf Steiner, WALDORF EDUCATION AND ANTHROPOSOPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 1995), Vol. 2, p. 224.

[5] Rudolf Steiner, UNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN BEING, (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1993), pp. 30-31. Note that when Steiner speaks of planets in such contexts, he was describing future stages in the evolution of the solar system. Thus, for instance, the Jupiter that lies in our future is not the Jupiter we see in the sky today. Rather, it is a new incarnation of the entire solar system, constituting a condition Steiner called "Future Jupiter.".

2.

Statement in The Huffington Post by a mother who has her daughter in a Waldorf school:

“Contributing to our beliefs about protecting the slow innocence of childhood are the Waldorf principles of Ginger's school. They ask that parents don't show any media at home to the young ones and if they must, not on a school night ... I think we are on the rare side even at a Waldorf school, in that most kids watch at least something here and there, many on a weekly basis. And I do want my children to be of this world and learn how to balance all its goods and ills. Sometimes I worry about how and when we will start to introduce more media.” 

[5-14-2011  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/abi-cotler-oroarty/kids-tv_b_848864.html]

 ◊ 

Response:

Parents are undoubtedly wise for monitoring and limiting their kids’ exposure to TV, video games, the Internet, and other high-tech modern gimcrackery. But before following Waldorf media policies, you might consider the reasons Waldorfers dislike these things. One objection, from a Waldorf perspective, is that kids who watch TV, prowl the Internet, see movies, and so forth, may absorb disturbing information about the world — that is, they may gain information that runs contrary to the esoteric beliefs built into the Waldorf worldview. 

According to Waldorf belief, not only students but even teachers need to be shielded from modern media. Listen to the steps one young woman took when preparing to join a Waldorf faculty: 

“When I embarked on the journey of becoming a Waldorf teacher and working with children, I knew I had to change some of my behavior. I stopped swearing. I weaned myself off of television and the daily news....” [See “Ex-Teacher 2”.] 

Notice that she didn’t just quit watching TV, she stopped following the daily news. Shutting out the wide, physical, real world is standard practice in the enclosed, insular, phantasmagoric Waldorf world.

There is also a deeper reason for the Waldorf aversion to high-tech gadgets. According to the occult doctrines of the Waldorf belief system, the terrible demon Ahriman threatens to destroy humanity, robbing us of our souls. Ahriman wants to drag us down to his realm of materialism, intellect, and technology. In other words, TV is demonic, it is devilish, and this is why we should avoid it. 

“Everything that has arisen in recent times in the way of materialistic science and industrial technology is of an out-and-out ahrimanic nature, and if it were to spread without there being any Christ understanding, it would chain human beings to the earth. Human beings would not progress to the Jupiter evolution.” — Rudolf Steiner, GUARDIAN ANGELS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2000), p. 55.

Steiner taught that after our present stage of evolution, which (as you may have noticed) is occurring here on the planet Earth, we will proceed to our next stage, which will be a Jovian period called Future Jupiter. But we won’t get to Future Jupiter if Ahriman captures us and chains us to our present level of existence. So, for goodness sake, turn off your TV!

(As for "Christ understanding" — this is what Steiner claimed to offer. If you really want to understand Christ, you need to accept Steiner — or so Steiner said. Steiner will inform you that there were two Jesus children, two boys who were raised by separate sets of parents named Mary and Joseph. One of Jesuses had been Zarathustra in a previous life, the other embodied the spirirt of Buddha. One of these boys was from the Solomon line of descent, the other was from the Nathan line. During the process of growing up, the two Jesuses fused together spiritually in order to create a single, appropriate vessel — the "Solomonic-Nathanic Jesus" — to receive the Sun God, who came down from the Sun and dwelt here on Earth inside the body of the Solomonic-Nathanic Jesus. Humanity now knows the Sun God as Christ. More correctly, "Christ" (the Sun God) was for a short time the "Solomonic-Nathanic Christ Jesus" living as a man here on Earth. After He was crucified, His blood carried His essence into the Earth. He now empowers us for our further evolution — he is our Prototype. [See "Was He Christian?"] This, if you please, is the proper "Christ understanding." If you do not have it, you are liable to get confused by watching TV, going to a conventional church, or making any of the other errors people outside the walls of Waldorf are so very prone to make.)

3.

From a discussion at waldorf-critics [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/waldorf-critics/message/25619]:

"Waldorf teachers believe that if they tell a story, or put on a puppet play, and the children later act out the story in their play, that's 'creative.' But if the children do exactly the same thing with a TV plot or character, somehow, that's the opposite of creative, it's a sign of a terrible problem. This makes no sense. There is absolutely no difference in the play, and no reason children can't play creatively on the basis of TV characters or scripts. Of course, some TV shows are pretty dumb. But children usually give things their own twist, anyway; and there's nothing guaranteeing the children will play "creatively" in response to a story or play, either. Often, they simply reenact it literally the same way they might a TV plot." — Diana Winters

◊ 

Response:

Waldorf schools often have “media policies” under which parents promise to curtail kids’ exposure to television, computers, recorded music, and so forth. This can seem charming — the Waldorf world is quiet, centered, natural. Certainly there is something to be said for the Waldorf approach. Sitting zonked-out in front of a TV screen for hours on end is obviously bad for children. Spending hours in front of a computer screen is probably not much better (depending, perhaps, on the sort of software the child is using). Constant chatting and text-messaging on smart phones is probably a bad idea, as is playing violent video games. Some forms of rock ‘n’ roll and rap are twisted, and much of popular culture is lowbrow and sexually perverse. And so forth. So there is something to be said for the Waldorf approach.

But all things in moderation. Trying to completely disconnect kids from the wide world outside Waldorf’s pastel walls may do more harm than good.

You may want to investigate the underlying reasons for Waldorf’s hostility to technological gadgets and everything that goes with them. Steiner taught that the modern world is infected with the dire influences of the terrible demon Ahriman. Science, technology, and intellect are heavily influenced by this spiritual monster, and the products of technology are especially demonic. The very use of electricity portends terrible things: 

“[T]he exploitation of electric forces...will enable man to spread evil over the earth, and evil will invade the earth by coming in an immediate way out of the forces of electricity.” — Rudolf Steiner, “The Overcoming of Evil”, ANTHROPOSOPHIC NEWS SHEET No. 7/8 (General Anthroposophic Society, 1948). 

Electrical devices are thus potentially evil, and the more technologically sophisticated the devices become, the more dangerous they become. Following this line of “logic,” Steiner’s followers deplore television and, even more, computers. They see the actual incarnation of Ahriman in these devices. Thus, for instance, Rudolf Steiner College has published a booklet by David B. Black, titled “The Computer and the Incarnation of Ahriman”.

ALL of technology worries Anthroposophists, not just the most advanced gizmos. Anthroposophists believe that evil has spread across the world due to the use of such inventions as steam engines, and the evil has intensified as technology has progressed. 

“[W]hat has been said here about the steam engine [it helps demons to incarnate] applies in a much greater degree to the technology of our time...television, for example. The result is that the demon magic spoken of by Rudolf Steiner is spreading more and more intensively on all sides ... It is very necessary that anyone who aspires towards the spiritual should realise clearly how the most varied opportunities for a virtual incarnation of elemental beings and demons are constantly on the increase." — Anthroposophist (and former Waldorf student) Georg Unger, "On 'Mechanical Occultism'" (MITTEILUNGEN AUS DER ANTHROPOSOPHISCHEN ARBEIT IN DEUTSCHLAND {i.e., Announcements Concerning Anthroposophical Work in Germany}, nos. 68–69, 1964). 

The Waldorf outlook is backward and benighted. It fears the modern world and tries to hide from it. Sending children to Waldorf schools means sending them into pockets of fantasy where reality is — to the maximum extent possible — blocked out. The damage done to children as a result can be considerable. 

For more on such matters, see, e.g., 

“Ahriman” and “Spiders, Dragons and Foxes”.

[R.R.]

BECOMING AN AUTOMATON

Steiner on motion pictures

(watching movies turns you into a robot): 

“[F]ilm-pictures strike the eye and imprint themselves on the brain; the process is repeated as often as possible, so that the impression is intensified and finally it has been absorbed. In that way, however, one becomes a mere automaton, a spiritual automaton ... One becomes a spiritual automaton and there is no need, for example, to understand anything at all about the human organism [i.e., you will not embrace Anthroposophy: the word means “knowledge of the human being”] ... [W]ithout any knowledge of man, one becomes a spiritual automaton. Life today runs very largely on there lines.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE DRIVING FORCE OF SPIRITUAL POWERS IN WORLD HISTORY (Steiner Book Centre, 1972), lecture 2. 

There is some truth in Steiner’s critique, but not much. Watching a movie (and/or watching TV) is generally a more passive experience than reading a book, for instance, or listening to a stimulating lecture. 

Let's consider the difference between movies and books. Waldorf media policies generally deplore motion pictures along with other electronic media. And there is something to be said for the Waldorf point of view: Many movies indeed provide very little positive, healthful mental stimulation. Yet the difference between watching films and reading books is far smaller than Steiner's followers often claim. Learning to "read" films — especially sophisticated ones, with challenging jumps, flashbacks, elements of mystery, and psychological depth — is comparable to the process of learning to read books. Granted, many movies are essentially junk, offering nothing but bland entertainment, but the same can be said about many books. Excellent movies, on the other hand — like excellent books — stretch and invigorate the mind. They enrich rather than deaden. Far from turning us into unthinking robots, they stimulate us to enlarge our minds and our sympathies. The important difference is not really between various media (movies vs. books, for instance), but between junky entertainments and superb works of art. We should aim for, and celebrate, great art in all its forms; we should not fear any particular medium because it may strike us, at least initially, as new and strange. Steiner delivered his lecture in 1923, when motion pictures were still new and strange (and television was still in the process of being invented). Steiner generally feared modernity; he generally had a regressive, backward vision. Today, nearly a century later, we should no longer be restricted by narrow-mindedness like his. 

Now let's circle back to the subject of lectures. The specific polarity Steiner described, in the quotation above, was not the difference between movies and books, but between movies and lectures. At one level, Steiner was merely plumping for his own art form, the lecture, which was his bread and butter. He saw movies as a threat to his occupation. 

“[A] great many people today would actually prefer, instead of lectures, a film during which they need not follow in thought what is being presented to them, but can give themselves up to it without any inner activity at all, letting everything pass by them.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE DRIVING FORCE OF SPIRITUAL POWERS IN WORLD HISTORY, lecture 2.

But what we have said about books vs. films applies to lectures vs. films. Listening to a lecture may be a bit more mentally challenging than watching a movie, but perhaps only a bit. Watching an excellent movie is surely a better use on one’s time than listening to the sort of irrational and senseless lectures Steiner delivered. The effect of such lectures is generally perplexity, a daze, a diversion into realms of fantasy — very much like watching fantastical films. Rational, intellectually substantive lectures are one thing; occultist farragoes are another. [See, e.g., "Steiner's Illogic" and "Steiner's Blunders".] Who is more likely to become an "automaton" — someone who watches, and laughs off, STAR WARS, or someone who gullibly internalizes the contents of such lectures as we find in THE DRIVING FORCE OF SPIRITUAL POWERS IN WORLD HISTORY?

VULCAN SUPERMEN

Here is an item from the former 

Quotes Archive at the Waldorf Watch Annex.

Waldorf education is based on Anthroposophy — Steiner's occult body of teachings, which he also called "spiritual science." And Anthroposophy is based on...  Well, it is based on some very strange propositions. Consider this: Steiner said that we have reliable spiritual science because superhuman beings — such as supermen from Vulcan — are bringing us messages from the spirit realm. This is an astonishingly preposterous foundation on which to build anything. Perhaps there is a spirit realm. Perhaps superhumans visit the Earth all the time. Perhaps. But there is no Vulcan. Hence there are no Vulcan supermen bringing us messages. If Anthroposophy depends on the existence of imaginary beings like Vulcan supermen, then there is no valid basis for Anthroposophy, meaning there is no valid basis for Waldorf education.

What we are discussing here is extremely weird and complicated, I know. But I am not making it up. These are Steiner's own teachings.

Let's take it a step at a time.

Vulcan is a hypothetical planet, nearer to the Sun than Mercury. Scientists once believed such a planet existed, but they discarded the idea long ago. We know today there is no Vulcan. But Vulcan looms large in Steiner's teachings. [See “Vulcan”.]

Here is a brief statement of Steiner’s teachings about Vulcan and its connection to spiritual science: 

“Vulcan beings are now actually entering this earth existence ... And it is thanks to the fact that these beings from beyond the earth are bringing messages down into this earthly existence that it is possible at all to have a comprehensive spiritual science today ... The beings I have spoken about will descend gradually to the earth. Vulcan beings, Vulcan supermen, Venus supermen, Mercury supermen, sun supermen, and so on will unite themselves with earth existence.” — Rudolf Steiner, MATERIALISM AND THE TASK OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (SteinerBooks, 1987), p. 261.

OK? Steiner says that Vulcan, in some sense, exists. And beings from Vulcanare coming to Earth, bringing us messages upon which spiritual science stands. (Steiner also says that beings from other planets are descending, or will descend, to Earth. Whether this improves his argument is open to debate.)

You may already get the drift: Steiner's doctrines are loco. But let's slow down even further to give the guy a chance. Here is the same quotation again, this time given at length. Steiner seems to say that Vulcan exists in the solar system today, perhaps not as a planet but as a “sphere” (a term he used to denote the area of the solar system bounded by the orbit of a planet). This gets a bit confusing, since the “sphere” of Vulcan would be the area bounded by the orbit of the planet Vulcan — but does Vulcan exist as a planet? And, come to that, do the planets orbit the Sun? Steiner sometimes said they do, but he also sometimes said they don’t. [See “Deception”.]

Be all that as it may, here’s what Steiner said about "Vulcan men" and "Vulcan supermen." Background: At an early stage of life on Earth, human souls fled to the other planets. (Didn’t your teachers tell you this?) Then, during the age of Atlantis, these souls returned to Earth — they came from planets such as Saturn, Mars, and Vulcan (see the reference, below, to “Vulcan-men”). Moreover, Steiner said that “Vulcan Beings” or “’Supermen’ of Vulcan” are coming to Earth today. Where are they coming from? Vulcan. [1]

I turn the microphone over to R. Steiner. He starts with the return of humans who had fled to other planets:

“Whereas in ancient Atlantean times [i.e., while we lived on Atlantis] these human beings descended to earth from Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and the other planets — and it was therefore a matter of human soul beings entering the earth existence then — now a time is beginning when beings who are not human are coming down to earth from cosmic regions beyond. These beings are not human but depend for the further development of their existence on coming to earth and on entering here into relationships with men. [2]

“Thus, since the eighties of the nineteenth century, heavenly beings are seeking to enter this earth existence. Just as the Vulcan men were the last to come down to earth,  so Vulcan beings are now actually entering this earth existence. Heavenly beings are already here in our earth existence. And it is thanks to the fact that beings from beyond the earth are bringing messages down into this earthly existence that it is possible at all to have a comprehensive spiritual science today. [3]

“Taken as a whole, however, how does the human race behave? If I may say so, the human race behaves in a cosmically rude way toward the beings who are appearing from the cosmos on earth, albeit, to begin with, only slowly. Humanity takes no notice of them, ignores them. It is this that will lead the earth into increasingly tragic conditions. For in the course of the next few centuries, more and more spirit beings will move among us whose language we ought to understand. We shall understand it only if we seek to comprehend what comes from them, namely, the contents of spiritual science. This is what they wish to bestow on us. They want us to act according to spiritual science; they want this spiritual science to be translated into social action and the conduct of earthly life. [4]

“Since the last third of the nineteenth century, we are actually dealing with the influx of spirit beings from the universe. Initially, these were beings dwelling in the sphere between moon and Mercury, but they are closing in upon earth, so to say, seeking to gain a foothold in earthly life through human beings imbuing themselves with thoughts of spiritual beings in the cosmos. This is another way of describing what I outlined earlier when I said that we must call our shadowy intellect to life with the pictures of spiritual science. That is the abstract way of describing it. The description is concrete when we say: Spirit beings are seeking to come down into earth existence and must be received. Upheaval upon upheaval will ensue, and earth existence will at length arrive at social chaos if these beings descended and human existence were to consist only of opposition against them. For these beings wish to be nothing less than the advance guard of what will happen to earth existence when the moon reunites once again with earth. [5]

“Nowadays it may appear comparatively harmless to people when they think only those automatic, lifeless thoughts that arise through comprehension of the mineral world itself and the mineral element's effects in plant, animal, and man. Yes, indeed, people revel in these thoughts; as materialists, they feel good about them, for only such thoughts are conceived today. But imagine that people were to continue thinking in this way, unfolding nothing but such thoughts until the eighth millennium when moon existence will once more unite with the life of the earth. What would come about then? The beings I have spoken about will descend gradually to the earth. Vulcan beings, Vulcan supermen, Venus supermen, Mercury supermen, sun supermen, and so on will unite themselves with earth existence. Yet, if human beings persist in their opposition to them, this earth existence will pass over into chaos in the course of the next few thousand years.”  — Rudolf Steiner, MATERIALISM AND THE TASK OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1987), lecture 14, GA 204. [6]

◊

Rudolf Steiner’s teachings, Anthroposophy, represent his version of Theosophy. Both Theosophists and Anthroposophists call their systems “spiritual science” — that is, they claim that their systems present verifiable, objective information about the spirit realm. According to Steiner, spiritual science is possible because beings such as the superhumans of Vulcan are bringing us messages. If this impresses you, you may be ripe for joining Steiner’s cult. Otherwise, you may agree with me that Steiner’s statement reveals the complete falsehood of Anthroposophy. There is no Vulcan, hence there are no “Vulcan beings, Vulcan supermen” coming to Earth. By extension, then, there is no basis for “spiritual science” — aka, Anthroposophy. And, since Anthroposophy is the basis of Waldorf education, there is no valid basis for Waldorf education. QED.

(Oh, OK, I know. It is probably unfair to totally blow off Waldorf education because Steiner said nutty things about Vulcan. But you get the drift. Are you prepared to you send your child to a school run by people who accept the nutty things Steiner said about about Vulcan and many other matters? Not all Waldorf teachers believe this stuff; but a number do.)

P.S. Steiner tried to scare us. He sometimes resorted to fire-and-brimstone railings, and he does that here. He asserts that if we don’t believe him about “Vulcan beings, Vulcan supermen” and all the rest, “this earth existence will pass over into chaos.” But I’m not worried, at least not about Steiner's specific bugaboo. Are you?

The real danger Waldorf schools represent is the possibility that people will slip back into medieval superstition and ignorance. For this is what “spiritual science” is. Steiner spun grotesque, foolish fantasies — and some people believe him. That’s their right. But don’t let any of them “educate” your child.

◊

Footnotes for this Section

[1] Reading Steiner is a bit like having a root canal. I will do my best to ease the pain by providing paragraph-by-paragraph paraphrases, below. I will also toss in some supplementary info.

[2] The third phase of our evolution on Earth occurred on the continent of Lemuria. Things got dicey during our Lemuria years, so most humans fled to other planets. After Lemuria sank, the survivors moved to Atlantis, and — thinking things were getting better — the humans who had gone to other planets returned to Earth. We now live in the post-Atlantis period, and now superhuman beings are coming from various planets to the Earth. They are doing this because they need to do so in order to evolve to yet higher states of divinity — by entering into productive relationships with Earth humans, they will improve themselves.

[3] Since the 1890s, superhuman beings have been coming to Earth from the heavens. Back during the Atlantis period, humans who had gone to Vulcan were the first to return to the Earth. Likewise, today Vulcan superhumans are the first heavenly beings to come down to the Earth. Various heavenly beings (superhumans) are already here on Earth, and it is because they have brought us messages from the spirit realm that today we can have “spiritual science” — which is to say, Anthroposophy, the objective “science” that describes the spirit realm.

[4] Sadly, most humans have been rude to the superhuman visitors. Mainly, people have ignored these wondrous visitors. This will lead to tragedy for the human race. More and more superhumans are coming down, bringing us the knowledge contained in spiritual science (i.e., Rudolf Steiner’s teachings). The superhumans want us to accept spiritual science (i.e., Rudolf Steiner’s teachings). If we don’t, woe betide.

[5] Since about 1860, there has been a large influx of superhumans from various planets to the Earth. (Technically, the superhumans come from the “spheres” of the planets, not the planets themselves. For instance, the sphere of Mars encompasses all of the solar system within the orbit of Mars. Planetary spheres nestle inside one another. The spheres of some planets, such as Venus, exist within the Mars sphere, just as the Mars sphere exists within other, larger spheres, such as the Saturn sphere.) The first superhumans to descend, as we said before, came from the Vulcan sphere (i.e., the sphere of the planet inside the orbit of Mercury [see "Supermen"]). Superhumans gain a foothold on Earth by being received into the thoughts of the good people who do not rudely ignore them. The good people (spiritual scientists, i.e., Rudolf Steiner’s followers) transcend “shadowy intellect” to create images (or “imaginations”) or pictures of the spirit realm. This is a bit vague, but to be clear: Superhuman spiritual beings are coming to Earth and we must receive them. If not, there will be BIG trouble. These superhuman beings are preparing the way for our future evolution, when the Moon will merge into the Earth. If we ignore them (i.e., if we ignore Rudolf Steiner), woe betide.

[6] People nowadays — “modern” types — think in a dead way; they think with their physical (mineral) brains. (Contrast this with the spiritual “imaginations” of Anthroposophists.) People nowadays are materialists who think materialistically (i.e., with their brains), and they actually revel in such thinking. (Woe betide.) If people keep thinking in this dead, brainy way, there will be hell to pay when the Moon reunites with the Earth. The superhumans from Vulcan, Venus, the Sun, etc., will have come down and united themselves with the Earth. If we still rudely ignore them, the Earth will be plunged into chaos lasting thousands of years. (And won’t you be sorry then, all you rude fools who didn’t listen to Steiner?) 

◊

For more on all this, see "Supermen".

[R.R.]

THE ENEMY

Ultimately, for Steiner, genuine science is the enemy. It is directed by the evil god Mammon (aka Ahriman):

"Those living in the present age must also realize that no reconciliation is possible between the God Mammon in our time — between the modern ‘scribes’ and scientific pundits — and the direction of thought that must provide human beings to-day with the nourishment they need." — Rudolf Steiner, LOVE AND ITS MEANING IN THE WORLD (SteinerBooks, 1998), p. 126.

Science is the enemy. The force providing humans the spiritual nourishment they need, according to Steiner, is Anthroposophy or — to put it plainly — his own teachings.

For Steiner's views on one pseudoscience, 

please use this link: "Alchemy"

You may also be interested in "Magic"

and/or "Magic Numbers"

Imagination  - Inspiration - Intuition

"People in former times, the ancient Greeks, for example, were chiefly receptive to the colour red. They lived within red. Today we have to find our way into living in the other part of the spectrum, the blue ... What is pouring into the sense organs now is something that will gradually develop in a natural way through the eyes as Imagination, through the ears as Inspiration, and through the sense of heat as Intuition." 

— Rudolf Steiner, 

BLACKBOARD DRAWINGS 1919-1924 

(Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), 

p. 41. 

[R.R. sketch, 2011, 

based on the one in the book.]

ADDENDUM FROM THE WEB

Science, as taught at Waldorf schools, is heavily based on the work of the German author Goethe. Hence, it is often referred to as Goethean science.

Here is an excerpt from an interesting Internet posting from July, 2009. Materials taken from the Web should be handled with care, since so many are unreliable. This one seems to generally pass muster, but draw your own conclusions.

Because the item is so long, I have omitted extensive chunks. The locations of the omissions are marked "<snip>".

PSEUDOSCIENCE:

NOT A VALID EDUCATIONAL CHOICE

by "Unity"

(Member of the Labour Party)

http://www.ministryoftruth.me.uk/2009/07/22/pseudoscience-not-a-valid-educational-choice/

and

http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2009/07/23/pseudoscience-is-not-a-valid-educational-choice/

Despite their carefully cultivated (and heavily sanitised) public image as a haven of faintly hippyish liberal arts education rooted in an absurdly over-romanticised view of childhood, Steiner Schools (also known as Steiner-Waldorf and Waldorf Schools) are, in reality, just one arm of an occult society founded in the second decade of the 20th Century by Rudolf Steiner – The Anthroposophical Society – which actively espouses and promotes a fundamentally unscientific world view.

<snip>

[W]hat really concerns me, so far as this article goes, is what one discovers on digging into the nature of so-called ‘Goethean science’ as it’s practiced within Steiner Schools.

Goethean Science is somewhat difficult to describe in simple terms, largely because answers to the question ‘what is Goethean science?‘ are almost invariably wrapped up in copious layers of cod philosophy and psychobabble, but it is possible to get something of a flavour of how it differs from real science from this statement.

The idea is that the Goethean does not need to superimpose a rationalistic or reductionistic explanatory mechanism over top of the observed phenomenon, but rather simply takes the intuitive imaginative experience at face value.

A philosopher would call that a phenomenological approach. A scientist would call it ‘making shit up’ – and that’s pretty much the size of it. So-called Goethean ’scientists’ simply disregard all the proven tools provided by the scientific method, i.e. logic, reason and evidence, in favour of treating their own imaginings and subjective impressions as an alternative form of ’scientific truth’.

<snip>

As you might well expect, whenever you find an attempt to fashion an alleged gap in Darwinian evolutionary theory, the idea that life is product of some kind of supernatural special creation won’t be following too far behind and, as the noted science education[ist] Eugenie C Scott notes in her 1994 article ‘Waldorf Schools Teach Odd Science, Odd Evolution‘ this is certainly true of the account of evolution taught in Steiner schools.

The [Steiner] Waldorf version of evolution is especially concerned with the relationship of humans to animals, but this relationship is quite different from that of mainline evolutionists. “It becomes apparent that man is a compendium of the animal kingdom; alternatively expressed, that the animal kingdom is the human being spread out.” The human “essence” passed through a number of “spiritual states” on the way to becoming human, which was a relatively recent event. “Dr. Steiner considers animals to be the by-products of human development. Man has been involved from the beginning but not in a physical form. Man existed spiritually and the animal forms represent physically incarnated soul forces which the human being had to dispense with in order to mature sufficiently to receive the ego. … As in life…we are trying to overcome the lower passions to evolve to something higher, so throughout evolution, the passions were separated out from man and these were incorporated as animals.”

For our final example of the kind of rubbish that passes for ’science’ in Steiner education we’ll leave the biological sciences and turn to a delightful account of a middle school physics lesson as related by Christian Smits in a paper entitled “A study of the element ‘Water’“.

Yes, even before we look at of the content of the paper, there’s a pretty obvious problem to be addressed.

From chemistry we know that there are 92 naturally occurring chemical elements plus something of the order of another 25 or Transuranic elements that scientists have managed to create, artificially, within nuclear reactors, none of which are actually water… or air, fire and earth, all of which Steinerians consider to be elements as well. Aristotelian dogma is, sad to say, alive and well and still being taught as ’science’ in Steiner schools.

<snip>

[T]he good news for Steiner educators is that [researchers] Jelinek and Sun did find some evidence that the heavy emphasis on observation and subjective interpretation in Steiner Schools does give rise to some measureable benefits in terms of a more rapid development of non-verbal inferential reasoning skills in children educated in Steiner School as against those in mainstream education. 

<snip>  

The bad news ... As a first step Waldorf should disregard Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy as the source of accurate scientific concepts. The basis for this recommendation is that Steiner’s teachings do not pass the tests of empiricism (a,b,c and d)*, are not testable by anyone (e), have not changed much, if any, since Steiner introduced them (f), and rely on paranormal statements that cannot be verified (g). Accepting many of Rudolf Steiner’s scientific indications in light of the absence of empirical evidence violates the core premises of the scientific paradigm. The anthroposophical argument is that Rudolf Steiner applied empirical investigations in the spiritual world where he garnered higher spiritual truths, but even if this turns out to be accurate it must be discarded as scientifically valid because it cannot be replicated by anyone. If and when the scientific paradigm can ever be overturned with an anthroposophical paradigm because a preponderance of empirical evidence demands it, anthroposophists will have reason to celebrate; but there is little in the current paradigm to suggest this is likely.

In short, what Jelinek and Sun actually concluded was that the apparent benefits of Steiner Education’s methodological approach to science education are routinely and systematically squandered on the teaching of pseudoscientific nonsense....

*Lettered references refer to an outline of the scientific paradigm which immediately precedes these conclusions in Jelinek and Sun’s paper.

<snip to end>

◊

For Steiner's view of Goethe,

see "Goethe".

I deal with issues of science on several other

pages at this website, such as 

“Lesson Books" 

“What We're Made Of”

“Humouresque" 

“Neutered Nature"

and “Steiner’s Blunders”.

"Everything" and the essays that follow it examine Steiner's

“scientific” accounts of the distant past

as well as the distant future.

THEORIES AND FACTS

A helpful dose of reality:

Although all scientific statements are corrigible [i.e., prone to correction], it does not follow that they can't be placed in a continuum of probabilities that range from virtual certainty to almost certain falsehood. No one doubts, for instance, that the earth is shaped like a ball, goes around the sun, rotates, has a magnetic field, and has a moon that circles it. It is almost certain that the universe is billions of years old and that life on earth evolved over millions of years from simple to more complex forms. The big bang origin of the universe is not quite so certain. The inflationary model of the universe is still less certain. And so on ... Science is like an expanding region with a solid core of truths that are very close to certainty. As you move outward from the core, assertions become progressively more tentative .... It is important to understand that, when a theory becomes strongly confirmed by repeated observations and experiments, it can move across a fuzzy boundary to become recognized by the entire scientific community as a fact. That planets go around the sun was once the Copernican theory. Today it is a fact. That material objects are made of molecules was once a conjecture. Indeed, for many decades it was ridiculed by many physicists and chemists. Today it is a fact ... It is also important to understand that so-called revolutions in science are not [usually] revolutions in the sense of overthrowing an earlier theory. They are benign refinements of earlier theories. Einstein didn't discard Newtonian physics. He added qualifications to Newtonian physics ... Nobody denies that scientists invent theories by creative acts similar to those of poets and artists. But once a theory is formulated, it is tested by a process that, in the long run, is singularly free of cultural bias. False theories are not shot down by a change in language, but by the universe. 

— Martin Gardner, 

ON THE WILD SIDE 

(Prometheus Books, 1992), 

pp. 79-81.

COMFORTING FALSEHOODS

A final comment on unreality:

The Anthroposophical use of language is frequently slippery. Anthroposophists say their system is a science, when it isn't. They say their system is not a religion, when it is. They say their doctrines are not racist, when they are. They say their doctrines promote freedom, when they don't.

The intent, in all these instances, is not necessarily to deceive us (although Steiner may have worked intentionally to deceive). Generally, such misstatements arise from Anthroposophists' misunderstandings of various issues, and their self-deception. Believing themselves to be members of a divine movement, in harmony with the gods and devoted to universal betterment, they wear rose-tinted mental glasses. They see what they want to see, they define things as suits their predispositions, and they tell themselves comforting falsehoods. 

They fool themselves. But we need not accept their misstatements nor enter into their illusions.

  [R.R.]