Rudolf Steiner's repudiation of real knowledge went beyond antipathy to science; he essentially derided all modern scholarship and knowledge.

"Today's historians, sociologists, economists, and politicians who derive their rules and laws solely from the physical plane*...are like someone who, when faced with an onerous task, begins to tackle it by lying down and going to sleep on a couch ... This is indeed in most cases how those belonging to the life of culture and the life of the various scientific disciplines set about their work."

— Rudolf Steiner, SECRET BROTHERHOODS 

(Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), p. 97.

* I.e., the level of reality that verifiably exists: what is often called the real world. —  R.R.

The demon Ahriman, with his cold and desiccated intellectual powers, wants to lure us into accepting the dead knowledge of modern scholarship:

“One of the things Ahriman wants for us is that we produce lots of libraries, storing lots of dead knowledge all around us." 

— Rudolf Steiner, POLARITIES IN THE EVOLUTION OF MANKIND 

(SteinerBooks, 1987), p. 163.

Intellectuals are possessed by various spirits working, sometimes, at cross purposes. Intellectuals thus become confused and blind; they dwell in Maya. One Anthroposophist has expressed this in the following words:

"[D]ifferent Spirits — normal and abnormal Archangels, normal and abnormal Archai; in all, therefore, no less than four distinct ranks of Beings — work in conjunction or in contrast to one another, in diverse ways. No wonder therefore if historians, sociologists, philosophers, seeing only what appears in the world of Maya and being more impressed with the external outcome now of the one, now of the other kind of spiritual influence, will give so many apparently conflicting definitions of [important terms]."

— George Adams Kaufmann, SOULS OF THE NATIONS 

(Anthroposophical Publishing Co., 1938), lecture 2.

All in all, Steiner and his followers disparage the work of "so-called educated people":

"The time must come when [we] take up the irksome task of thinking not only in the way thinking is taught by the so-called educated people in the universities ... [We must] take...this view of the world which derives its direction, its concepts and ideas out of the spiritual world. Humanity must not be allowed to remain in the dormant state it wants to retain with those abstract, generalized concepts not only striven for but called noble by the [modern] age."

 — Rudolf Steiner, SECRET BROTHERHOODS 

(Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), p. 92.

Excerpt from

Spotlight on Anthroposophy

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2

by Sharon Lombard 

Leaving Waldorf was a very difficult time for my family. Our world was turned upside down and inside out. Although some people have positive experiences with the schools, others have troubling encounters with the movement. Years ago an ex-Waldorfer observed:

I think most parents get "attached" to their kids being in the Waldorf schools and they just want to look the other way when something uncomfortable comes up. Or, they view the teaching as somehow superior because it is not of this "materialistic" world we live in. Especially when a parent starts their child in the younger grades. By the time the child is in the school for a number of years, the school has become so much a part of their identity that they cannot face the possibility of letting go. It's very subtle but one begins to feel it is more and more difficult to relate to others outside the Waldorf circle. Eventually I felt I was living on some sort of "Anthroposophical island." This alienation, coupled with my troubling questions finally convinced me that something was very wrong ("Heather", private fax to Dan Dugan, May 8, 1996).

Recently, Waldorf parent Nicole Foss reflected:

If Anthroposophy were only a church, our paths would never cross, but Anthroposophy does not restrict itself to its circle of True Believers. Instead it sets up schools where these disguised beliefs are foisted upon unsuspecting parents whose opinions can be disregarded because they don't "know the path." These parents are expected to follow unknowingly the requirements of a religion which denies to them that it even exists, and may be criticized in their ignorance for anthroposophical incorrectness. No wonder so many parents initially feel bewildered and later angry for having been deceived (Foss, 2003, March, 16. "Percedol", http://www.waldorfcritics.org/active/archives/WCA0212.html.)

An ex-Waldorf teacher who has recently filed suit against the New York Waldorf School for racial discrimination, Charmaigne Usher-Paulson, expresses her feelings of loss on a private Internet forum of ex-Waldorfers:

I realized today, that we all are in mourning.  We mourn the loss of what could, should have been. The sorrow, anguish, and anger that are laced within our words demonstrate the sincerity of our aspirations for true community and our reaction to deception.

I believe that we will utilize our strength, integrity, vision and hope towards true renewal. The Waldorf movement does not "own" beauty, art, songs, and the idea of reverence for the earth. These ideals belong to us all and we will impart these principles to our own family and community. Furthermore, we will impart these things to others in a way the Waldorf movement could never do. We will impart these things with love. That is the thing that is missing from them, love (Usher-Paulson, 2002, October, 20. "Hello from Charmaine," waldorf-survivors-only@yahoogroups.com, private communication).

You cannot love people if you are duping them. Ms. Paulson also writes: "When you are involved in the movement you are either "in" or "out". If you do not espouse and adhere to the group, then you are "out"" (2002, October, 21. "Lawsuits"" private communication).

After beginning my study of Anthroposophy, while emerging from Waldorf, I was cast into a state of grappling with metaphysical concepts like never before. I endured nightmares prompted by the realization that I had been duped and from reading Steiner's bizarre subtext. I agonized to discern "what is real or unreal," while at the same time facing my daughter's illness.  It was a period of much sadness, confusion, and anger. Discovering Waldorf's subtext forced me to confront my own reality and reaffirm my own perspective on life. Knowledge of Anthroposophy enabled me to put Waldorf into context and to recognize its omnipresence in my daughter's lesson books. By reading Steiner, I gained an understanding of our experiences as well as the words with which to speak about them. I came to know that as an infidel, Anthroposophy is incompatible with my perception of reality, and, as an artist, it conflicts with my vision of art. Steiner's racist doctrine coincides with my experience of Apartheid — the reason I left my native South Africa.  I went on to take a couple of classes on cults and new religious movements at the University of Miami and have become fascinated with alternate realities and cultic studies. I now have a much better grasp of beliefs, believers, groups, leaders, followers and my own personal worldview. Ironically, I had sent my daughter to Waldorf to get an education, when ultimately, it was I who got the education.

Steiner told his followers that an "occultist will never dream of imposing dogmas," instead:

[H]e is one who tells what he has seen and tested in the astral and spiritual worlds or what has been revealed to him by trustworthy and reliable teachers. He does not desire to convert but to quicken in others the sense that has awakened in him and to enable them to see likewise. (Steiner, 1961, chapter X, paragraph 1, http://wnelib.com/Steiner/Lectures/Places/Paris/19060606p01.html.)

While Steiner's "desire" inadvertently awakened me to the veiled esoteric base of Waldorf schooling, it did not lead me to "see likewise"; to the contrary, it was "to quicken" me to leave the group and eventually become a Waldorf critic. My research brought to light who the founder of Waldorf really was, how his doctrine steeped in the occult impacts all aspects of his followers" lives and how to decode Anthroposophic double-speak. A pluralistic society allows room for all, but Waldorf needs to be more open in clarifying its esoteric base. Prospective parents are entitled to be informed of the concealed Anthroposophic mission of this schooling system. Some may experience the warmth of belonging as freedom; I was scorched by the harsh light of Anthroposophy. You are either a moth drawn to the light, or you are instead drawn to the porch. As a friend observed, "You are drawn to Waldorf not because of what it is, but because of what it is not." [http://waldorfcritics.org/active/articles/lombard_sharon_csr0202j.htm]

When considering Rudolf Steiner's educational philosophy, remember that it is based on occult doctrines. Waldorf schooling is intended for people who possess multiple invisible bodies, and who live in an environment full of invisible corpses. Here is some of what Steiner said about what happens to us after we die and prior to our next earthly incarnation:

“After death this whole, damaging world of passion becomes perceptible to the ego, and the ego then feels itself drawn to every being and every thing that has enkindled such a passion, in order that this passion may again be destroyed in the ‘consuming fire’ in the same way it was created. Only when man in his backward journey [a review process after death] has reached the point of his birth have all the passions of this kind passed through the fire of purification, and, from then on, nothing hinders him from a complete surrender to the spiritual world. He enters upon a new stage of existence. Just as, at death, he threw off the physical body, then, soon after, the ether body, so now that part of the astral body falls away that can live only in the consciousness of the outer physical world. For supersensible perception there are, thus, three corpses: the physical, the etheric, and the astral corpse. The point of time when the latter is thrown off by man is at the end of the period of purification, which lasts about a third of the time that passed between birth and death. The reason why this is so can only become clear later on, when we shall consider the course of human life from the standpoint of occult science. For supersensible observation, astral corpses are constantly present in the environment of man, which have been discarded by human beings who are passing over from the state of purification into a higher existence, just as for physical perception there are physical corpses in the world in which men dwell.” — Rudolf Steiner, AN OUTLINE OF OCCULT SCIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1972), chapter 3, GA 13. 

— R. R.

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[R.R.]

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Steiner noticed that most people notice that the universe we see around us is nothing like the universe he described. His explanation was that we just happen to live in a time when we and our surroundings are made of dense material (physical stuff, consisting of atoms or sublunar what-have-you), and we just happen to live in a locality where the laws of science hold more or less true. But Steiner asserted that his descriptions are accurate in other times and places, above the lowly, earthly domain. He claimed to know this thanks to his clairvoyance, a faculty that — inconveniently for him — does not actually exist. But it's what he claimed. 

"What people discover on the earth by way of natural laws loses its validity more and more as they distance themselves from earth." — Rudolf Steiner, BLACKBOARD DRAWINGS 1919-1924 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), p. 98

Steiner's visions are, in multiple ways, alluring. For some people, they make sense — or, at least, they offer an appealing explanation of life and its meaning. The challenge for the rational mind is deciding whether such allures and appeals have any basis in reality. Consider the future, for instance. It is unknowable — it has not occurred yet. Yet Steiner claimed to see it clearly. Thus, he taught that following the Earth phase of human evolution, we will proceed to the Jupiter phase. 

◊ “Just as wisdom shines towards us on the Earth, so on Jupiter there will come fragrantly towards the Jupiter beings that which is evolving here on Earth as love — from the purely sex-love to Spinoza's ‘Divine Love.’ It will send out perfume as plants send out their various aromas ... Future evolution will bring about the full community of the spirit, that is, on Jupiter the belief will begin to prevail that there is no health and happiness of the one without the health and happiness of all the rest, and indeed to an equal degree.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE INFLUENCE OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS UPON MAN (Anthroposophic Press, 1961), lecture 6, GA 102. 

◊ “A lily is the visible expression of a word that was once spoken by the creator. Much depends on which words and vowels one speaks, which thoughts and feelings one sends out, because they will become visible during the Jupiter, Venus, etc., earth conditions [i.e., the form our planet will take during Future Jupiter, Future Venus, etc.]. The mineral, plant and animal kingdoms here on earth are likewise the expression of what Moon dwellers once said and thought. That's why mantras and the words of meditations have the letter sequence and the word sounds that they do, because they only have their effect in that particular sequence. What we do and create will be visible on Jupiter, for instance Koeln Cathedral will be visible as a larger formation, Raphael's paintings will surround Jupiter like clouds or a mirage. Our music will resound as music of the spheres over there on Jupiter.” — Rudolf Steiner, FROM THE LESSONS OF THE ESOTERIC CLASS (transcript, Rudolf Steiner Archive), GA 266.

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

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

[R.R. sketch, 2009, 

based on sketch on p. 128.]

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

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

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[FROM MAMMOTHS TO MEDIUMS, p. 128.]

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"Try to picture the sun and moon both contained in the earth and oysters that had no shells, but were slime. When lumps of this substance separated off, new oysters developed, and so forth. They were so huge and lay right next to each other so that you could not have told them apart. What did the earth look like at that time? It looked like our brain, whose cells also lie next to each other. They only difference is that these cells die off, whereas in that very ancient time the huge oysters cells were one next to the other, and the sun constantly developed forces, because it was inside the earth. Yes, gentlemen, the earth was here [see drawing], and there was a giant oyster, another next to it, and many other huge lumps of slime, which continuously propagated ... If you had looked at the earth at that ancient time, it would have resembled a gigantic creature that contained within it the forces of the sun and of the moon." — Rudolf Steiner, FROM CRYSTALS TO CROCODILES (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2002, pp. 143-144. 

[R. R. sketch, 2009, 

based on sketch on p. 143.]

What are we to make of such balderdash? Here's one suggestion: Call it balderdash (or flapdoodle, or bunkum) and walk away.

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[FROM CRYSTALS TO CROCODILES, p. 143.]

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Here are excerpts from

Waldorf Education — One Family's Story

http://www.waldorfeducation.me.uk/

When I was at the Waldorf School I didn't see it as a cult, in fact, I remember thinking the idea ridiculous when I heard that this was being said by some people. It was only after leaving, when I joined the Waldorf Survivors online support group and read articles on the Internet that I began see that the behaviour of Waldorf people was what many people would call cultish.

When we joined the school we knew nothing of Anthroposophy and had never heard of Rudolph Steiner. We were attracted by what appeared to be an alternative style, arts-based, child-centred education.

Once in, however, we gradually became indoctrinated. I admit that I in particular, was very vulnerable. I was very disillusioned by conventional education because of my own experiences. Waldorf people think they have the answer to everything and I believed them. They encourage you to believe that conventional education is very damaging to children.

...You are expected to devote a great deal of time to helping and supporting the school. I do not see this as unreasonable in itself as it helps to keep the fees down, but this together with the unconventional lifestyle you are expected to follow, has the effect of isolating you from people outside of the community.

...Anthroposophists have their own type of alternative medicine ... Anthroposophists don't believe in vaccination and were explaining why they felt it to be damaging. Some of the new parents were becoming concerned as they had had their children vaccinated. It was then said that they were not to worry because any damage would be healed because they were in a Waldorf School. Looking back, I can't believe I accepted this.

The thing is, once you accept these ideas, the thought of your children going to any other school fills you with fear.

...Teachers at Waldorf Schools are usually Anthroposophists. It is claimed that this is not taught to the children, and it is not taught directly. However, everything they teach is influenced by their beliefs. 

...When you join a Waldorf School they are not open with you about their true purpose. They will tell you as much as they think you will accept. Then gradually they indoctrinate you with their ideas. 

I think the word indoctrinate is justified because they put great pressure on you to conform. Free thinking is just not allowed. 

...I feel this is different from expressing opinions. I often disagree with friends, but I do not try to make them feel guilty. Nor do I insist I am right. This sort of nonjudgmental attitude is simply not tolerated at a Waldorf School. They ARE right. The is no other alternative.

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Endnotes

[1] Rudolf Steiner, THE ORIGINS OF NATURAL SCIENCE (Anthroposophist Press, 1985), p. 51.

[2] "Sir Isaac Newton." ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, Online, 03 Jul. 2009.

[3] THE ORIGINS OF NATURAL SCIENCE, p. 51.

[4] For Steiner’s conception of gravity, see “Secrets”.

[5] See “Everything”.

[6] Carol Glatz, “Recycled stars make right materials for life, says Vatican astronomer”, CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE, June 26, 2009.

[7] Amy Yee, “Tibetan Monks and Nuns Turn Their Minds Toward Science, NEW YORK TIMES, June 30, 2009, p. D3.

[8] See "Steiner's Blunders" and "Steiner's 'Science'".

[9] Dismissing a rationalist, Steiner once said this:

“He did not want any fairy tales told to children, or to teach children anything other than scientific trash....” — Rudolf Steiner, THE RENEWAL OF EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 2001), p. 94. 

Steiner always preferred fantasies such as fairy tales rather than the truths of science.

[10] HUMAN VALUES IN EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 2004), p. 122.

[11] Scientific simpletons: Rudolf Steiner, THE KARMA OF UNTRUTHFULNESS, Vol. 1 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), p. 276.

Scientific trash: Rudolf Steiner, THE RENEWAL OF EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 2001), p. 94.

Pedantic proof of things: Rudolf Steiner, ART AS SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 240.

Primitive concepts: Rudolf Steiner, HOW CAN MANKIND FIND THE CHRIST AGAIN (Anthroposophic Press, 1984), p. 54.

Demonic Mars forces: Rudolf Steiner, “The Spiritual Individualities of the Planets” (THE GOLDEN BLADE 1966).

World-ruling divinity: Rudolf Steiner, "Concerning Electricity", ANTHROPOSOPHIC NEWS SHEET, No. 23/24, June 9, 1940.

[12] Rudolf Steiner, INVESTIGATIONS INTO OCCULTISM SHOWING ITS PRACTICAL VALUE IN DAILY LIFE (Kessinger, facsimile of 1920 edition).

[13] The prefatory note can be found in, e.g., CHRIST IMPULSE AND DEVELOPMENT OF EGO-CONSCIOUSNESS, SECRETS OF THE THRESHOLD, COSMIC AND HUMAN METAMORPHOSES, WONDERS OF THE WORLD, THOUGHTS ON EASTER, and INNER NATURE OF MAN AND LIFE BETWEEN DEATH AND REBIRTH, all by Rudolf Steiner. During the Christmas season, 1923-24, Steiner announced plans for a school of spiritual science (i.e., Anthroposophy). See Johannes Kiersch, A HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL OF SPIRITUAL SCIENCE (Temple Lodge Publishing, 2006). The primary center for Anthroposophical studies today is located at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland.

[14] Rudolf Steiner, RUDOLF STEINER, AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY (SteinerBooks, 1980), p. 388.

[15] Rudolf Steiner, OCCULT SCIENCE - AN OUTLINE (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1969), p. 305.

[16] Ibid., pp. 309-310.

[17] Ibid., p. 300. 

[18] Ibid., p. 105.

[19] Ibid., p. 299.

[20] Rudolf Steiner, MISSION OF THE FOLK SOULS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), p. 97.

[21] RUDOLF STEINER, AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, pp. 386-388.

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[R.R.]