MEDITATION, SCIENCE,

AND CLAIRVOYANCE

Poking around in Anthroposophical publications can be rewarding. Here is a Waldorf teacher stating, more or less openly, that Waldorf schools train students in forms of thought that lead them to Anthroposophy:

"When a foundation of observation and disciplined thinking is established, the high school science teacher now introduces a new type of thinking ... [T]his 'new' thinking is called phenomenological thinking ... [F]irst a phenomenon is carefully observed; second, the rigors and laws of thinking and science are applied ... third, everything up to now is laid to rest, the mind is cleared, and the phenomenon itself is allowed to speak. The student observes what comes forward while keeping the mind from straying ... This activity opens on up to new possibilities ... This type of thinking is freed from the senses and allows the universe to speak through the individual. It is a type of thinking which is truly moral and can be the fertile ground for the 'new' science of the twenty-first century." — David S. Mitchell, THE WONDERS OF WALDORF CHEMISTRY (Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, 2004), pp. 12-13.

The "new" thinking is a form of meditation ("the mind is cleared...keeping the mind from straying"). It is precisely the sort of thinking Steiner advocated for producing clairvoyant powers. Meditation, in Anthroposophy, is a steppingstone to clairvoyance.

◊ "This kind of meditation may reach any of a number of stages, from the smallest gain in moral strength to the highest attainments of clairvoyance." — Rudolf Steiner, THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY (SteinerBooks, 1998), p. 222. 

◊ "Whoever wants to acquire imaginative clairvoyance develops this force through meditation and gradually attains it." — Rudolf Steiner, SLEEP AND DREAMS (SteinerBooks, 2003), p. 124. 

◊ "Many people object they have tried to meditate in all kinds of ways but are still not becoming clairvoyant. This lack of clairvoyance simply shows they do not want the strength and activity I have just described." — Rudolf Steiner, THE PRESENCE OF THE DEAD ON THE SPIRITUAL PATH (SteinerBooks, 1990), p. 6.

The "new" thinking is "freed from the senses" because Steiner taught that clairvoyance is seated not in the physical brain with its nerves attached to physical sense receptors,  but in non-physical organs of clairvoyance with their incorporeal receptivity. 

◊ "And just as natural forces evolve the physical eyes and ears of the physical body, out of living matter, so will the organs of clairvoyance evolve themselves from the spiritual feelings which are thus evoked." — Rudolf Steiner, THE WAY OF INITIATION (Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply co., 1910), p. 83. 

◊ "Out of these feelings and the thoughts that are bound up with them, the organs of clairvoyance are formed." — Rudolf Steiner, HOW TO KNOW HIGHER WORLDS (Wilder Publications, 2008), p. 26.

Students may not leap straight to clairvoyance (in reality, they cannot, since clairvoyance is a fantasy). But by using "phenomenological thinking" as described by Mitchell, they will be on their way. Phenomena and/or the universe itself will "speak through the individual" as through a clairvoyant or seer. And the "new" science this will lead students toward is spiritual science, i.e., Anthroposophy. 

"Steiner held that Anthroposophy or spiritual science should adhere to the scientific method, but only insofar as this is rigorous, honest, phenomenological, experimental, logical, and repeatable. He also proposed, as a goal and ideal, what in the ancient mysteries and in the traditional cultures was taken for granted: the unity of science, art, and religion. Clearly, then, the science he spoke of was not conventional science of the abstract mechanical-materialist type. Modern science in this sense was, in fact, a deviation from what, had a different lines of emphasis been followed, would have produced a very different scientific approach. The corrective was to create an alternative science based on different assumptions." — Anthropososphist Christopher Bamford, introducing Steiner's WHAT IS ANTHROPOSOPHY? (Anthroposophic Press, 2002). p. 19.

In sum, Mitchell, Bamford, and Steiner tell us clearly that Waldorf schools try to inculcate a meditative form of thought that leads Waldorf students toward an embrace of Anthroposophy.

[R.R.]

AFTERWORDS

I.

Steiner’s advocacy of “imagination” can be found in many of his lectures and books; ditto his dismissal of rational thought and the testimony of the five physical senses; and ditto his use of language that obscures as much as it enlightens. Here’s a characteristic, elusive yet revealing example. Analyzing a Rosicrucian text, THE CHEMICAL WEDDING OF CHRISTIAN ROSENKREUTZ, Steiner describes a vision of a unicorn showing deference to a lion. I’ll quote Steiner, then circle back and discuss the passage in detail. 

"[The spiritual seeker] feels the possibility arising of using his faculties of understanding in a way suited to the spiritual world. His possession of this capacity appears before his soul in the imagination [sic] of ‘the unicorn bowing before a lion’ ... Were we to consider this as a symbol rather than a real imagination [sic], we might say that it pictures an event in the soul of the spiritual seeker through which he feels himself capable of thinking what is spiritual [sic]. But such an abstract idea would not express the full essence of the soul event that we are considering. For the event is experienced in such a manner that the sphere of personal sensory perception is extended beyond the boundary of the physical body. In the spirit realm the seer experiences beings and events external to his own essential being ... When such extended consciousness arises, mere abstract conceptions cease, and the imagination appears as the necessary form of expression for what is experienced.” [25] 

Why didn’t Steiner express himself more clearly? A self-professed savant who does not want to be challenged would find obscure, stupefying language useful. Readers may feel inadequate to challenge such language; some, indeed, may figure that such semi-unintelligible language must proceed from profound depths of wisdom. Well, let’s see. Taking it from the top:

The seeker “feels the possibility arising of using his faculties of understanding in a way suited to the spiritual world. His possession of this capacity appears before his soul in the imagination of ‘the unicorn bowing before a lion.’” So, the seeker “feels” (not thinks) that s/he may be developing the ability to understand spiritual truths (“the possibility of understanding...the spiritual world”). This ability entails a different way of seeing, one that is appropriate for spiritual matters (“understanding in a way suited to the spiritual world”). The seeker possesses this ability when an image (an “imagination”) appears “before his soul” as if projected there or seen with one’s (spiritual) eyes (one’s new “faculties of understanding” which can be variously termed second sight, psychic power, or clairvoyance).

Steiner continues: “Were we to consider this as a symbol rather than a real imagination, we might say that it pictures an event in the soul of the spiritual seeker through which he feels himself capable of thinking what is spiritual.” A crucial point. If we take the image (a unicorn bowing before a lion) as a mere symbol or picture, we might think the seeker is merely describing an event occurring within his/her soul (“it pictures an event in the soul of the spiritual seeker”). But if we think this way, we fail to grasp the true nature of what the seeker has perceived: “But such an abstract idea would not express the full essence of the soul event ... For the event is experienced in such a manner that the sphere of personal sensory perception is extended beyond the boundary of the physical body.” That is to say, our “abstract idea” (that the seeker is dealing with a symbol) is too weak to “express the full essence of the soul event.” The seeker has used a supersensory mode of apprehension (his/her “sphere” of “perception” has reached “beyond the boundary of the physical body”) to perceive a true spiritual event: the “essence of the soul event” that is accurately conveyed as a unicorn bowing to a lion. 

Steiner goes on, “In the spirit realm the seer experiences beings and events external to his own essential being ... When such extended consciousness arises, mere abstract conceptions cease, and the imagination appears as the necessary form of expression for what is experienced.” Using his/her super-method of seeing, the seer “experiences” spiritual beings (such as may appear as unicorns) and events (such as may appear as bowing). The faculty of imagination provides “the necessary form of expression” enabling the seer to formulate an accurate representation of a spiritual experience that otherwise would remain beyond human apprehension (the event is “external to his own essential being” — it is alien but it objectively exists and can be experienced by an adept). 

In this passage, we may recognize a subtle distinction between clairvoyance (the ability to apprehend spiritual beings and events) and imagination (the means of expressing what clairvoyance has revealed). This is, however, a distinction without an effective difference. If the imagination were to create a false image (e.g., the lion bows to the unicorn) all would be undone. So the imagination needs to express what clairvoyance has truly apprehended (the unicorn bows to the lion) and do so in a true image (the unicorn bows to the lion).  

Whew. While Steiner does not use to term “clairvoyance” in the sentences we’ve just examined, we can hardly mistake his meaning, given that he often spoke of clairvoyance and sometimes explicitly equated it with imagination, as we saw in the first part of "Thinking Cap" (“Essentially, people today have no inkling of how people looked out into the universe in ancient times when human beings still possessed an instinctive clairvoyance ... If we want to be fully human, however, we must struggle to regain a view of the cosmos that moves toward Imagination again...”). 

In the real world, perception and expression are distinct activities, but they blur in Steiner’s teachings. For him, they are components of clairvoyance/imagination which is the path to truth. Well, let’s consider that. William Wordsworth recognized the magical allure of images that we half-create:

Wordsworth anchors his thoughts in nature, reality, the language of the sense. Steiner skims past these to fantasyland. To become Steiner’s followers, we would need to do the same. Specifically, we would need to employ supersensory methods that supersede the evidence of our physical senses and the operations of our rational brains — or, failing that, we would need to accept the accounts given us by one who claims to have transcended physical limitations. In other words, we would need to embrace blurred perceptions that arise, at least in part, from subjective, “felt” fantasies — which would incline us to embrace the dissimulated visions served up by one who claims the “gift.”

That way lies madness. We can “imagine” or “half-create” almost anything. Hogwarts. The Imperium. Mordor. The Seven Cities of Gold. Atlantis. Ancient cities inside the Moon. Ancient beings wandering through the bowels of the Earth. Nessie. Little green men. Anything. Unicorns bowing to lions. What fun. But such conceptions are not knowledge — they are fantasy. And if we accept them as truth, they are fantasy run amok.

.

.

II.

Anthroposophy is an escapist fantasy. [26] How can smart adults possibly fall for it?

Quite possibly the deepest explanation is that all human beings have an inborn tendency toward certain forms of self-deception, and Anthroposophists happen to fall for a certain version of one nearly universal delusion. A fascinating theory formulated by cognitive psychologists is that we are born with an innate predisposition to believe in the supernatural. [27] This predisposition does not prove that the supernatural exists; it only means that our brains are wired in such a way as to lead us to think the supernatural exists. Specifically, our brains malfunction in a way that makes supernatural beliefs feel right to us.

According to the theory, we think about physical objects differently than we think about psychological objects (i.e., creatures with minds). A block of wood is just a physical lump, in our view. We generally don’t see anything magical about it. But we feel very differently about living creatures, beings that have minds. We tend to forget that such creatures are themselves physical, and that their feelings and thoughts are produced by a physical lump called a brain. Instead, we tend to think feelings and thoughts exist separately from the brains that produce them and the bodies that experience them. This leads us to feel that minds are not bound to bodies, and therefore the notion of bodiless “souls” feels right to us.

From the concept of bodiless souls, obviously, it is easy to jump to the idea that entirely nonphysical beings exist, beings that have no physical bodies at all but that are wholly spiritual. In Steiner’s doctrines, such beings include a vast array of “gods.” Steiner never offers any evidence that these gods exist. Instead, he relies on our innate willingness to believe in them. And a great many of us, including some very smart people, are quite willing to believe despite the absence of proof.

Another way to look at this: Because we know that minds have intentions, it feels right to us to believe that most events and objects result from someone’s intentions. We are inclined to think that most events and objects were planned, they didn’t just happen. If the world exists, then it must have been intended — it is a “creation” — which means that there must have been a “creator.” We may know, in our rational brains, that some things happen by accident. We may even know that, according to science, it is possible that the universe itself came into existence for no perceptible reason — maybe it just happened. We are capable of thinking such thoughts, but they feel unnatural to us. It is much easier for us to accept our innate predisposition to assume there must be purpose and intention behind everything. [28] For Steiner and his followers, this means accepting the unproven idea that the universe is aswarm with all sorts of spiritual beings who are the real cause of everything physical.

In sum, the theory is that a belief system like Anthroposophy is built on illusions that are caused by the way our minds naturally, but imperfectly, function. [29]

An extension of this theory is that our brains have evolved the way they have because certain illusions are comforting to us. [30] Instead of feeling helpless in the face of an indifferent or even hostile universe, we convince ourselves that we have access to special powers that can protect us. We can use spells, incantations, invocations, prayers, and so forth, to bring various spiritual beings over to our side. During the long course of human evolution, individuals who had such feelings about the “spirit realm” were empowered by them — they gained an evolutionary advantage from them (they withstood trials that caused others to collapse or flee). So they survived and handed down the brain circuitry that produce such feelings. As a result, their descendants were born with a predisposition toward such feelings. Generation after generation, this predisposition became more and more deeply imbedded in us — that is, our brains have wound up wired in such a way as to lead almost all of us, including the brightest among us, to tend to fall for occult beliefs: belief in the invisible realm behind the visible, belief in the great beyond, belief in...

But where does this leave us? The only thing we can conclude about our bias in favor of supernatural beliefs is that it has been useful to us, strengthening us to face the vicissitudes of life. But we do not know — rationally, sensibly, based on clear evidence — that our various supernatural or occult beliefs are true. Indeed, if we force ourselves to think rationally, we may realize that we have no good reason to accept such beliefs. Consider the implications. What if the spiritual powers we appeal to and try to use don’t actually exist? What if we have simply made them up, unconsciously, because of the way our brains tend to work? In that case, raising children in an atmosphere of magic and mysticism — such as the occultism underlying Waldorf education — means leading them astray, teaching them things for which we have no real evidence. We lead them not into the light of truth but into the shadows of falsehood.

One still larger implication also needs to be faced. If there is no rational reason to accept Anthroposophy, the same argument might be applied to all other supernatural systems, including orthodox religions. This is worth considering, long and hard, in one’s most solemn and reverent meditations. But we needn’t reject all religion in order to see the problems inherent in Steiner’s doctrines. My purpose is not to assail any mainstream faith. If you are a devout adherent of such a faith, your beliefs are a matter between you and your God — no one else should attempt to intrude into this most private sphere. So I would simply say this: An important distinction can be drawn between established religion, on the one hand, and superstition, occultism, and hocus-pocus, on the other. Steiner’s doctrines distinctly fall into the latter category. If great faiths such as Judaism and Christianity do not arise from human self-deception, heretical creeds like Anthroposophy almost certainly do.

.

.

III.

On April 28, 2009, many months 

after writing the foregoing 

sections of “Thinking Cap,” 

I posted the following message 

at the waldorf-critics discussion list 

(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/waldorf-critics/message/10059). 

I’ll append it here, although it repeats 

some material covered previously.

I have edited the message slightly for use here.

Steiner wanted Waldorf teachers to be Anthroposophists, but he knew that some non-Anthroposophists would need to be hired, and indeed many teachers at many Waldorf schools today are not Anthroposophists. Further, many Anthroposophists are not "initiates" — they stand, by Anthroposophical standards, at a relatively low level of spiritual advancement. At many Waldorf schools, only an inner circle of the faculty really knows what the schools are doing. Sometimes these insiders hold special meetings of a body referred to as the college of teachers. The discussions there are often, in effect, secret. (In other Waldorf schools, the "college" may be open to a larger number of teachers, and the rules of confidentiality may be considerably relaxed.) Steiner urged his followers to be secretive — he claimed to be giving them "mystery" knowledge that would actually be harmful to the uninitiated if it were revealed to them. The uninitiated consist of everyone on Earth except Anthroposophical insiders. So, figuring out what is what in Waldorfworld often calls for detective work. 

Much Anthroposophical lore is arcane or esoteric. To outsiders, such lore may often seem incomprehensible. Consider the question fo clairvoyance, for instance. There is no absolute requirement that a Waldorf teacher must be clairvoyant. But possessing clairvoyance is considered desirable in devout, true-believing Waldorf circles, and many devout, true-believing insiders on Waldorf faculties believe they are clairvoyant. (The danger posed by a Waldorf school may well stand in direct proportion to the percentage of the faculty who delude themselves into thinking they are clairvoyant. They are lying to themselves, positioning themselves in a fantasyland toward which they hope to shepherd students. The danger is less, of course, at "Waldorf" schools that have veered away from Anthroposophy.) There is a general presumption among devout Waldorf faculties that clairvoyance is available and should be used by as many Waldorf teachers as possible — at a minimum, Waldorf teachers should use what one of their number, Eugene Schwartz, calls "everyday clairvoyance." [31] But, according to general Anthroposophical precepts, any Waldorf teacher who can use higher forms of clairvoyance should do so. Indeed, as I will indicate, "the Waldorf teacher’s consciousness" prescribed by Steiner boils down to clairvoyance.

Here are a few relevant comments by Steiner:

"[W]e [Waldorf teachers] should neglect no single opportunity of quickening the inner life of soul and spirit." [32] 

To do this, Waldorf teachers need to develop something special and precious:

"[I]t is essential for you to realize that as teachers we need to develop a consciousness of our own ... [W]e must work to develop this consciousness, the Waldorf teacher’s consciousness ... [It] is hardly present anywhere else in the world." [33] 

This unique consciousness will provide marvelous benefits: 

"[It will make us] capable of mastering the task of the Waldorf school ... This is possible, however, only if we have a clear understanding of what humanity has lost in the last three or four centuries." [34] 

What has been lost? It is the understanding that true education is therapeutic, it aims at healing humanity. In our age, humans existing here on Earth are incomplete, unwell, ailing. True (Waldorf) education seeks to revive the knowledge that when humans descend from the spirit realm to life here on the physical plane, they are in great need of restoration.

"What has been lost is the realization that when the human being enters the world out of his pre-earthly existence he is...a being who needs to be healed ... [T]he activity of education [must be] brought into connection with the activity of healing." [35]

The illness of modern humanity, as Steiner indicated, reflects our loss of its old, intuitive clairvoyance. To be healed, to become "fully human," we must become clairvoyant again.

"Essentially, people today have no inkling of how people looked out into the universe in ancient times when human beings still possessed an instinctive clairvoyance ... If we want to be fully human, however, we must struggle to regain...Imagination [i.e., clairvoyant awareness]." [36] 

Or put it this way: 

"The goal of all our educational thinking must be to transform [educational] thinking so as to rise fruitfully from the level of physical thinking to spiritual thinking." [37] 

"Spiritual thinking" is the transcendent awareness made possible by devout clairvoyance.

Boiling down what we’ve just seen: The "Waldorf teacher’s consciousness" is, or hinges on, clairvoyance. And note that "clairvoyance" and "imagination" are virtually interchangeable terms, in the Anthroposophical vocabulary ("[We've lost] an instinctive clairvoyance ... [W]e must struggle to regain...Imagination"). Waldorf schools are often celebrated for emphasizing imagination. The celebrants rarely realize that what the schools really promote is clairvoyance — they don’t realize, in other words, that the schools are occultist institutions.

Here is Steiner again talking to Waldorf teachers: 

"As teachers in the Waldorf School, you will need to find your way more deeply into the insight of the spirit and to find a way of putting all compromises aside ... As Waldorf teachers, we must be true anthroposophists in the deepest sense of the word in our innermost feeling." [38] 

In Anthroposophy, "to find your way more deeply into the insight of the spirit" means using clairvoyance — specifically, "exact clairvoyance" that confirms Steiner's doctrines.

More tidbits: 

"When we teach, in a certain sense we take up again the activities we experienced before birth. We must see that thinking is a pictorial activity which is based on the activities we experienced before birth." [39] 

By "pictorial activity," Steiner meant the formation of "imaginations" or images that are attainable through clairvoyance and/or its precursors, imagination, inspiration, and intuition. Seen in broad Anthroposophical terms, the three precursors are versions of clairvoyance. Waldorf teachers should employ them, and they should help their students to move toward developing them. As we saw, above, humans must "regain a view of the cosmos that moves toward Imagination again...." This (imagination, i.e., clairvoyance) is what Waldorf schools aspire to.

As for what Steiner meant by "activities we experienced before birth": He said that spiritual powers (i.e., gods) guide us during the intervals between our earthly incarnations. Waldorf teachers should carry forward the work of those spiritual tutors. Note the messianic self-importance implied in this. 

"We [Waldorf teachers] want to be aware that physical existence is a continuation of the spiritual, and that what we have to do in education is a continuation of what higher beings [i.e., gods] have done without our assistance. Our form of educating can have the correct attitude only when we are aware that our work with young people is a continuation of what higher beings have done before birth." [40] 

Anthroposophists believe that children are born with memories and knowledge derived from their past spiritual lives. The purpose of early childhood education at genuine, Anthroposophy-based Waldorf schools is to keep children young so that they retain this spiritual knowledge as long as possible — ideally all the way into adulthood. And, centrally, note that Waldorf teachers can know (or think they know) what the spiritual tutors were doing only if they are either clairvoyant or blindly obedient to Steiner, accepting his occult preachments.

Waldorf teachers also need to understand mankind's future evolution, which again is something they can grasp only if they are either clairvoyant or blindly obedient to Steiner. 

"[W]e wish to lay the foundation for a good pedagogy ... We should be very clear about which human tendencies are present for a distant human future." [41]

In brief, top-level Waldorf teachers believe they are clairvoyant and, indeed, they think they are on a messianic mission: 

"As teachers we are co-workers in the actual guidance of the world." [42] 

[SteinerBooks, 2009.]

These are the stages of "higher knowledge" as conceived in Anthroposophy and in Waldorf schools: imagination, inspiration, and intuition. 

[See the entries for these terms in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.]

◊

For whatever it may be worth, here is one of Steiner's descriptions of thought. 

“When a thought penetrates into astral space it forms a denser layer around the hollow brought about by the thought. Around this hollow, coloured phenomena make their appearance. A glimmer begins to light up. It is the thought-form which we then see. The astral substance surrounding it becomes denser and thereby brighter. The added brightness which arises around the thoughts soon disappears; but if the thought is connected with an intense impulse of passion, it has a relationship with the densified astral substance and gives it life. Thus people who are still very undeveloped but very passionate create living beings in astral space when they think. This ceases later; when people evolve and become calmer such beings no longer arise when they think. But now you understand that there are beings on the astral plane which originate from human beings and also from animals; for in the case of certain animals too, such beings are formed, and indeed with far greater intensity. The animal however presses its own impulses into its own astral form, so that it usually creates its own form, its own image in astral space.” — Rudolf Steiner, FOUNDATIONS OF ESOTERICISM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1982), lecture 19, GA 93a. 

[R.R. sketch, 2010, based on the one in the book.]

◊

According to Steiner, real thinking does not occur in the brain. Real thinking occurs in others places, such as in our bones.

"Within the brain there is absolutely no thought." — Rudolf Steiner, WONDERS OF THE WORLD (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1983), p. 119.

The truest thoughts come to us from the spirit realm. Thinking that we do on the physical plane (with our brains, as it were) is severely constrained and untrue — it is the "thinking" forced on us by our karma. It is ephemeral, temporary, and incorrect except insofar as it helps us compensate for the errors we committed in past lives (that is, insofar as it helps us discharge our karma).

“As soon as we begin to think with our fingers — and one can think with one's fingers and toes much more brightly, once one makes the effort, than with the nerves of the head — as soon as we begin to think with that part of us which has not entirely become matter, when we think with the lower part of our being, then our thoughts are the thoughts of our karma." — Rudolf Steiner, BLACKBOARD DRAWINGS 1919-1924 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), p. 126. 

[R.R. sketch, 2009, based on Steiner's in BLACKBOARD DRAWINGS.]

◊

"The dreams of young infants are quite marvellous. Infants' dreams still show that the child has the powers in him to shape and develop his body. They are truly cosmic. The child dreams of the things he experienced before he came down to earth ... [L]ooking at the dreams of young infants one can see exactly that they have the way of developing their brain in their dreams. Later the dreams will become very peculiar if someone does not led a well-ordered life; they will increasingly fall into disorder." — Rudolf Steiner, FROM LIMESTONE TO LUCIFER (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1999), pp. 194-195. 

[R.R. sketch, 2009, based on the one on p. 122.] 

Steiner said the physical body and brain are developed due to the influence of spiritual powers flowing into the physical realm through such vehicles as dreams. Note that Steiner indicated that infants' dreams are true. He likewise claimed that his adherents can have true spiritual visions while asleep if they lead a "well-ordered life" by following his precepts. It is worth pausing to ask how Steiner knew the content of infants' dreams. He couldn't know, of course. But he claimed he knew such things thanks to his use of "exact clairvoyance." [See "Exactly".] Note also that Steiner did not deny that the brain in associated with thinking processes of some sorts. But, he suggested, the brain's main function is to act like a radio receptor, receiving thoughts beamed down by the gods. One Waldorf teacher — a widely read Anthroposophical author — puts the matter thus:

"[T]he brain...mediates between the spiritual world and the physical world just as a radio mediates between the broadcaster and the listener ... The brain does not produce thoughts." — Henk van Oort, ANTHROPOSOPHY A-Z (Sophia Books, Rudolf Steiner Press, 2011), p. 17.

◊

[R.R. snap, 1993.]

The sort of "thinking" advocated in 

Waldorf schools is little more 

than fantasizing. 

Use your "clairvoyance," 

and there's no end to the wonders 

you will apprehend.

"People gaze open-eyed at the rainbow. But if you look at the rainbow with a little imagination [i.e., basic clairvoyance], you may see there elemental Beings. These elemental Beings are full of activity, and they demonstrate their activity in a most remarkable manner. At the yellow you see some of them streaming out from the rainbow, continually coming out of it. They move across, and the moment they reach the lower end of the green they feel drawn to it. You see them disappear at this point [green]. On the other side they come out again. To one who views it with Imagination, the whole rainbow is a revelation of the spiritual. It is in fact a spiritual cylinder, wonderful to behold. And you may observe too how these spiritual Beings come forth from the rainbow with extreme fear, and then how they go in with an absolutely invincible courage. When you look at the red-yellow, you see fear streaming out, and when you look at the blue-violet you have the feeling: there all is courage and bravery of heart.

"Picture it to yourself. What I see before me is not just a rainbow! Here beings are coming out of it, there beings are disappearing into it. Here is anxiety and fear, there is courage.  And now the courage disappears again. That is the way to look at the rainbow!" — Rudolf Steiner, ART (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), pp. 241-242.

Anthroposophical "thinking" may be attractive, 

but it is seldom true.

OUR SINGING HEARTS

Many Anthroposophists consider themselves to be hardheaded realists. They deny that they slavishly follow Steiner — they consider themselves to be independent spiritual seekers, dispassionate investigators of the spiritual realm. The subjectivity that Steiner advocated and that they embrace leads them to make this claim. They trust their own intuitions, their own spiritual “insight.” This is a central reason that schisms develop among spiritualists: Each seeker has his/her own visions, and since no one else can confirm or even investigate such subjective, private states of mind, no one can dissuade a spiritualist from her/his deeply felt convictions. But subjectivity and emotion are not, in truth, avenues to knowledge. They produce, at best, cozy dream states. The spiritual “investigations” conducted by mystics are, in the end, indistinguishable from fantasy. 

Here is a representative sample of Anthroposophical writing: 

"The reality of Being behind all life was revealed only by a courageous passage through the portal of death; the way to Hades must be trodden by the living  human being. The phoenix of the sun must arise from the ashes. So there appeared at the third stage — which Rudolf Steiner called that of Intuition — the great mystery of Transubstantiation: spirit-birth from material death. The spiritual side of the world of matter revealed itself and instead of what we now call Chemistry, there appeared the choir of spiritual Beings, resounding and living in an indescribable radiance of light." — Ita Wegman, "The Way of Initiation in the Ancient Mysteries, and the Way of Knowledge in Modern Times", ANTHROPOSOPHY, A Quarterly Review of Spiritual Science, No. 4. Christmas 1930 Vol. 5.

Accepting Anthroposophy depends on intuition: Someone hears or reads Anthroposophical statements and just knows  they are true. This conviction is unarguable; it is not rational but intuitive. The heart sings, the spirit soars, and a convert has been made. The obvious problem is that people can intuit anything, including the conviction that Anthroposophy is bunk. The heart sings and the spirit soars for different reasons among different individuals. In reality, intuition is utterly unreliable, and Anthroposophy's dependence on it indicates the shallow emptiness of Anthroposophy. Hardheaded realists understand that truth is won through hard, rational explorations. When, during our search for truth, our hearts sing, we probably need to calm down and question ourselves carefully. A singing heart is a wonderful thing; joy is wondrous beyond description. But feeling or intuiting something is quite different from actually learning or knowing something. And happiness that is built on fantasy rather than truth cannot last; it is, at its core, false, so it must eventually collapse. True wisdom and true happiness can only be built on rational comprehension of reality: that is, on truth. When we base our lives on rational truth, then we may go to work finding real solutions to mankind's problems. And then one day our hearts may truly sing.

Perhaps I should add that I do not reject Anthroposophy because of an intuition. I reject it because objective evidence and rational thought compel the rejection.

To examine more of Rudolf Steiner's statements

about ordinary forms of thought or intellect,

see "Thinking".

For a look at the role brain chemistry

may play in spiritualistic belief, 

please see "Dopamine".

Many of Steiner's doctrines contain elements

that are little more than superstition. 

For an overview, see "Superstition".

Footnotes Continued

[25] Rudolf Steiner, THE SECRET STREAM (Anthroposophic Press, 2001), p. 174.

[26] In using the word “escapist,” I am characterizing the belief system, not the adherents of the system. I do not claim that all Anthroposophists are escapists, only that Steiner’s doctrines invite escapism. Analogy: If I were to say that Communism is a lousy system, I would mean that Communism is bad, I would not mean that all Communists are louses.

The escapism inherent in Anthroposophy is reflected in the similarities between Steiner’s doctrines and fantasy fiction, including science fiction. As one of Steiner’s critics has written, 

"[Steiner’s] so-called ‘thinking,’ his supposed power of supersensible perception, led to a vision of the world, the universe, and cosmic history which is entirely unsupported by any evidence, which is at odds with practically everything which modern physics and astronomy have revealed, and which is more like science fiction than anything else.” — Anthony Storr, FEET OF CLAY (Free Press, 1996), p. 81.

[27] Paul Bloom, “Is God an Accident?”, THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY, December, 2005, p. 105, www.theatlantic.com . See also Robin Marantz Henig, “Darwin’s God,” THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, March 4, 2007, at www.nytimes.com , especially the discussion of “the byproduct theory.”

[28] Randomness is generally repugnant to humans, yet it is a basic reality. For example, the primary law of the branch of physics called quantum mechanics is the uncertainty principal. [See, e.g., “uncertainty principle.” ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA.] Likewise, a whole new branch of science has arisen studying the chaos or unpredictability found throughout nature. [See, e.g., “chaos theory.” ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA.]

People have an especially hard time accepting the possibility that our own existence may result from random events. We reject this possibility almost with knee-jerk eagerness. Of course, it may be true that God or the gods created us, and that our lives have spiritual meaning. But our reflexive eagerness for spiritual affirmation does not, in itself, confer such affirmation. Indeed, Anthroposophists and others may flee to spiritualism not because they have good reason to do so, but because they are emotionally unable to bear the possibility that the universe is neutral and uncaring. 

“Darwin...had the intellectual toughness to stick with the deeply discomfiting consequences of his theory, that natural selection has no goal or purpose. Alfred Wallace, who independently thought of natural selection, later lost faith in the power of the idea and turned to spiritualism to explain the human mind. ‘Darwin had the courage to face the implications of what he had done, but poor Wallace couldn’t bear it,’ says William Provine, a historian at Cornell University.” — Nicholas Wade, “A Mind Still Prescient After All These Years” (THE NEW YORK TIMES, Feb. 10, 2009), p. D4. 

Turning to spiritualism because the evidence leads us to it would be one thing; turning to spiritualism because we can’t bear to face facts would be something else.

[29] In this context, it is important to remember than in science the word “theory” does not denote uncertainty, as such. A scientific theory is a well-developed explanation of phenomena, based on hard evidence. A theory may turn out to be wrong, in which case it will be replaced by a better theory, but it is not just a guess or a supposition.

The functioning of the brain eluded Steiner. Steiner taught that the material universe arises from the supersensible realm, the realm of spirit, feeling, and true cognition. He claimed that our minds have extraordinary powers, because of our connection to the spirit realm. Central to all his doctrines is belief in clairvoyance. He also credited the existence of other mental “powers” such as telepathy and telekinesis (the power to move and alter physical objects by thought alone), which he said are produced by aging too fast. 

“[I]f a person falls victim to encroaching age too early...[l]ower forms of clairvoyance, such as telepathy, telekinesis and so on...occur....” — Rudolf Steiner, SOUL ECONOMY: Body, Soul, and Spirit in Waldorf Education (Anthroposophic Press, 2003), p. 132.

According to Steiner, if the brain produces anything, it produces "materialistic” thinking. 

“When people are as blinded by materialistic thoughts as they became during the nineteenth century and right into the present, the physical body becomes a copy of the spirit and soul living in materialistic impulses. In that case, it is not incorrect to say that the brain thinks. It is then, in fact, correct. By being firmly enmeshed in materialism, we have people who not only think poorly about the body, soul, and spirit, but people who think materially and feel materially. What that means is that materialism causes the human being to become a thinking automaton, that the human being then becomes something that thinks, feels, and wills physically.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 115.

Such thinking leads to utter error, according to Steiner, and it has the most pernicious results. Note that Steiner describes the physical body as being a copy of the spirit and soul (he distinguished between these — here, I’ll use the shorthand “mind”). He argued that our minds not only can manipulate real objects, as in telekinesis, but they actually create real objects and beings. Bad karma arises from bad thoughts, feelings, and actions, and it may include bodily disfigurements, tumors, and illnesses. [See “Steiner’s Quackery”.] A flawed body is a product of flawed impulses. Other unfortunate physical realities are also embodiments of mental, emotional, and spiritual errors, Steiner taught.

Our errors can create real beings who reside in the spirit realm. After we die, we meet the Guardians of the Threshold, which are manifestations of our errors. 

“[T]he false thoughts that have been produced stand there as living beings before one.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE OCCULT MOVEMENT IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND ITS RELATION TO MODERN CULTURE (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1973), p. 125. 

We cannot get past the Guardians until we overcome the errors that they embody. Here’s part of what the first Guardian of the Threshold says to the human soul: 

“My being will be changed and become radiantly beautiful when you have made amends for all your wrongs and so purified yourself ... My threshold is built of every feeling of fear still within you and every feeling of reluctance in the face of the strength you need to take on full responsibility for your thoughts and actions. As long as you still harbor any trace of fear at directing your own destiny, the threshold lacks an essential element.” — Rudolf Steiner, HOW TO KNOW HIGHER WORLDS (Anthroposophic Press, 1994), p. 186. 

To find truth, according to Steiner, we must get beyond the brain and use clairvoyance, which he said is not located in the brain but in incorporeal organs of clairvoyance. But not just any clairvoyance will do. Just as material (intellectual, brain-bound) thinking leads to error and problematic realities, so does faulty spirituality. Truth can be obtained only through what Steiner called “exact” clairvoyance, which enables us to perform correct investigations of the spirit realm. The Guardians embody false spiritual investigations: 

“Just as thoughts are living realities, false results of investigation are real powers which are there directly one crosses the Threshold of the spiritual world [i.e., the Guardians, representing false spiritual investigation, are met as soon as one dies].” — Rudolf Steiner, THE OCCULT MOVEMENT IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND ITS RELATION TO MODERN CULTURE, p. 125. 

The findings of exact clairvoyance are, in essence, nothing but Steiner’s doctrines — the strength and responsibility Steiner advocated boil down to following Steiner. [For more on the Guardians, see "Guardians". The first Guardian is our self-created barrier to the spirit realm; the second Guardian, originally forbidding, turns out to be Christ, who becomes our ally not our opponent.]

In the end, all that Steiner offers — aside from his self-promotion — is an elaborated version of wish fulfillment. Exercise the magical powers of your disembodied mind in order to get what you want, he advises. Have the right feelings, think the right thoughts, and you will control your destiny. Most of us would like to control our own destinies, of course. And certainly we all should take responsibility for our thoughts and actions. But only the rational use of the brain, directing us in constructive and compassionate action, can produce real benefits. To believe that our lives are entwined in mystical karmic forces, and to seek solutions in occultist fantasies, is a refusal to accept real responsibility for ourselves and our world.

[30] See, e.g., Benedict Carey, “Do You Believe in Magic?”, THE NEW YORK TIMES, Jan. 23, 2007, D1, www.nytimes.com .

[31] Eugene Schwartz, WALDORF EDUCATION: Schools for the Twenty-First Century (Xlibris Corporation, 2000), p. 34.

[32] Rudolf Steiner, DEEPER INSIGHTS INTO EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 1983), p. 17.

[33] Ibid., p. 21.

[34] Ibid., p. 21.

[35] Ibid., pp. 21-22.

[36] Rudolf Steiner, ART AS SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 256.

See "The Waldorf Teacher's Consciousness". 

[37] DEEPER INSIGHTS INTO EDUCATION, p. 29.

[38] Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 118.

[39] Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 62.

Imaginations are Steiner's alternative to ordinary thinking, such as rationality, logic, intellect. 

"[O]rdinary thoughts are inadequate to grasp what spiritual science [i.e., his doctrines] can investigate ... I assume you all know what I have said about imaginations ... It is these imaginations and not our ordinary ideas which we must have in our souls...." — Rudolf Steiner, THE DRUIDS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2001), p. 13.

Steiner said that imaginations exist on a scale extending from error caused by the body to true clairvoyant insight attained by the spirit:

"Hallucinations, pictures that appear before human consciousness and that do not reveal a corresponding reality upon closer, critical examination — such hallucinations, such visions, are something diseased if we consider them from the standpoint of human life as it unfolds between birth, or conception, and death. When we describe hallucinations as something abnormal, however, as something that certainly does not belong to the normal course of life between birth and death, we have in no way grasped the inherent nature of hallucination.

"... If the body conceptualizes as body, it conceives hallucinations; that is, it brings hallucinations into consciousness. If the spirit conceptualizes as spirit, then it has imaginations; if the soul, which is the mediator between the two, begins to conceptualize, that is, if the soul conceptualizes as soul, then neither will the unjustified hallucinations pressed out of the body arise, nor will the soul penetrate to spiritual realities. Instead it will reach an undefined intermediary stage; these are fantasies. Picture the body; between birth and death it is not an instrument for conceptualizing. If between birth and death it conceptualizes nevertheless, it does so in an unjustified and abnormal way, and hallucinations thus arise. If the spirit conceptualizes in really rising out of the body to realities, then it has imaginations. The soul forms the mediator between hallucinations and imaginations in faintly outlined fantasies.

"If the body conceptualizes as body, hallucinations arise.

"If the soul conceptualizes as soul, fantasies arise.

"If the spirit conceptualizes as spirit, imaginations arise." — Rudolf Steiner, THERAPEUTIC INSIGHTS (Mercury Press, 1984), lecture 3.

[40] THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE, p. 37.

[41] Ibid., p. 80.

[42] DEEPER INSIGHTS INTO EDUCATION, p. 41.

◊

Note: John Fentress Gardner and A. C. Harwood had long, influential careers as Anthroposophical educators, lecturers, and authors. Several publications by both men are still available. Mr. Gardner’s career was interrupted by the scandal I have described — see “The Waldorf Scandal” — but he continued to write and publish thereafter.