How does Christianity spread?

"There is something curious about the Christian impulses! Intellectuality, knowledge, learning appear not to have been present during the spreading of these impulses.One could say that Christianity spread regardless of what people thought for or against it, so much so that it seems to have found its antithesis in modern materialism.

What is it then that spreads? Not Christian ideas, not the science of Christianity.

One could still say that the moral feelings which are planted through Christianity are spread. One has only to observe the rule of morality in these times and one will find much justification for the anger of the representatives of Christianity against real or alleged enemies of Christianity. Also the morals which could reign in the souls of the less educated do not impress us much when we observe to what extent they are Christian.

What is it then which spreads? What is so curious? What is it which marches through the world like a victorious procession? What worked in the people who brought Christianity to the Germanic, to the foreign world? What works in modern natural science, where the teaching is still veiled? What works in all these souls, if it isn't intellectual, not even moral impulses? What is it?

It is Christ himself, who goes from heart to heart, soul to soul, who traverses the world over the centuries, whether or not people understand him!"

Rudolf Steiner, Oslo, October 1st 1913 (GA148)

True Price in a Free Market

"A ‘true price’ is forthcoming when a person receives, as counter-value for the product he has made, sufficient to enable him to satisfy the whole of his needs, including of course the needs of his dependants, until he will again have completed a like product."  Rudolf Steiner, 29 July 1922

As I start reading on associative economics it seems that the biggest problem facing anyone trying to implement this would be how the idea of true price interfaces with the real market. For example, if I bake a loaf of bread my true price would be substantially higher than for a bakery producing lots of loaves. In a perfect market my loaf will not sell because cheaper ones are available.

For associative economics to work there would have to be a disruption of the market through people placing a value on the community aspects of trade and production. At this point i am unsure how that could be achieved.

What is Anthroposophy? Part 2

The Nature of the Human Being

Rudolf Steiner’s understanding of the human being is primarily threefold - body, soul and spirit. He believed that we experience the world through this threefold nature. This is primarily explained in his book Occult Science - An Outline.

• The body is the vehicle in which the soul and spirit travel and experience the world.
• The soul links those experiences of the world to our own existence - our desires, passions and interests.
• The spirit allows these experiences of the world to reveal themselves for who and what they are.

Here is an example of how we experience the world through these three natures. Imagine a flower. Through our body we can see the flower is colourful and has a fragrance. This awakens a sense of joy and pleasure in our soul. Our spirit then recognises the rose’s inherent qualities of fragility and impermanence. In this way we have fully experienced the flower rather than just observing it.

This reflects Steiner’s idea of the world in which we live as being threefold:

1. In the physical world we form a world outside of us. 
2. In the soul world we develop a world within us. 
3. In the spirit world we learn about a higher world beyond ours. 

Steiner subdivided the three natures of body, soul and spirit into nine facets. All of these work together as part of the same unitary body:

body
material body - the physical organs of the body.
etheric body - the blueprint of the shape of the human body.
soul body - the boundary that contains the soul within the limits of the physical body.

soul
sentinent soul - the processing centre for information derived from our senses - where tastes and passions are centred.
mind soul - the thinking and reasoning part of the soul which receives perceptions from the physical senses and the invisible world.
consciousness soul - the part most connected with the invisible world.

spirit
spirit self - the part of the human that exists in the spirit realm.
life spirit - the divine force that fuels us.
spirit body - container for the spirit part of the threefold nature.

The Seven Fold nature of the Individual

Following his identification of these nine facets of the human individual, Steiner then simplified them to seven by combining the soul body & sentient soul and calling it the astral body and combining the mind soul and the consciousness soul into the “I” or ego.

Those seven subdivisions are:

1. physical body - the physical organs of the body.
2. etheric body - the  life force that the life force that maintains the physical body's form until death.
3. astral body - the centre of our desires, drives and passions. 
4.  I - our individual essence - our sense of self.
5. spirit self - the part of us that exists in the spiritual realm.
6. life spirit - the divine force that fuels us.
7. spirit body - container for the spiritual parts of the threefold nature.

How these work together

The I lives within the body and soul which act as vehicles through which it can experience life. The spirit lives within the “I” which allows it to experience the physical life. It needs the “I” because it is part of the immortal spirit world which can not directly experience the mortal nature of the physical world. The “I” acts as a conduit through which the spirit can experience this.

The difference between animals, plants and humans

Steiner used these different bodies to differentiate between plants, animals, humans and inanimate objects.

• Minerals only have a physical body.
• Plants have physical and etheric bodies.
• Animals have physical, etheric and astral bodies.
• Human beings have physical, etheric, astral bodies and an “I”.

The relationship of the physical, etheric and astral bodies

The etheric body keeps our physical body alive and binds the astral body to it. The life processes and forces in our etheric body heal and maintain our physical body. It is the life force through which we are kept alive. At death the etheric body gradually detaches from the physical body. At this point physical forces overwhelm the body and it decays. This is why Anthroposophical Medicine addresses medical issues through spiritual awareness  of the etheric and astral bodies as well as the physical body and the “I” of the patient.

Sleep

During sleep the astral body and the “I” leave the physical confines of the body. The experiences had during sleep have an effect on the etheric body. Steiner suggested that there were two kinds of dreams, or sleep experiences. The first is echoes of things that have happened during the day combined with some things from the astral world. These may have some effect on the etheric body, but there is a second kind of experience. This consists of thoughts sent to the sleeper from higher individuals (Steiner sometimes used the theosophical term “masters” to describe them). By spending the daytime pursuing noble thoughts and meditation  a person can become receptive to these messages and thoughts during sleep.

What is Anthroposophy?

This article has been written to provide basic information about the spiritual path known as Anthroposophy, which was first formulated by Rudolf Steiner. Anthroposophy means literally “knowledge of the nature of man” and is sometimes called “spiritual science”.

The principal idea of Anthroposophy is that it is possible to use scientific methods to undertake spiritual investigations. Steiner came to this idea logically after deciding that the categorisation of things as either physical or spiritual was artificial and arbitrary.

There is no division between the physical and spiritual world

Today’s world is dominated by two views. Firstly, Materialistic nomism,  typified by pure science and the new atheist movement, says there is only one world. This is the physical world that we can see and that we can investigate with science. Secondly, the dualism of the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), which says that there are two worlds: the physical world that we can see and investigate and a spiritual world which we can not.

Steiner said  that this division is artificial and caused by people choosing to categorise things as either spiritual or physical for arbitrary reasons. Steiner believed that the physical (visible) world and the spiritual (invisible) world are inextricably linked and suggested a nomism in which physical and spiritual forces are both manifestations of the same reality. For example, if a man raises his right hand we could understand this by talking about his brain, skeleton and muscles. We might also understand this as an act of his will, and understand why he was raising his hand. Every physical action has a spiritual cause or connection to this invisible or “supersensible” world.

Steiner believed that it was possible to perceive and investigate this invisible world by a process of free thought that he called “intuitive thinking”. Steiner postulated in his book “The Philosophy of Freedom”  that the only really free activity we undertake is the thinking we do inside our own heads. Even then, some of our thoughts are constrained by social norms, external moral or religious rules or learned behaviours. Steiner suggested a number of exercises which could be used to develop our ability to think freely, leading to an ultimate state which he calls the “ethical individualist”.

The Ethical Individualist

The ethical individualist is someone who knows how to think scientifically and use observational analysis to examine his own thoughts and the situations he finds himself in. This means that knowledge of his thoughts and decisions about how he may act in any situation are obtained by pure reason alone. Steiner called this process “intuitive thinking”.

To prevent outside influence on his decision making the ethical individualist uses conceptual analysis to examines each situation in light of the general principles of ethics rather than specific moral laws. This means that any resulting deed originates within himself and is truly free.

The ethical individualist still studies and tries to live according to the generally agreed ethical principles and laws of society (such as science, sociology or ecology) but he also uses his imagination to create ideals of action from these principles. This moral intuition creates a plan of action, or a goal. Without such idealistic plans moral laws and ethical codes codes are unproductive.

The ethical individualist is self empowered because these goals become the content of his own being. They are pursued not as a matter of duty, but out of love for the deed itself. His goals  empower his will against all obstacles and motivate him to acquire the necessary technical knowledge to accomplish them.

In short , the three essential capabilities for the ethical individualist are:

1. Ethical Intuition. The ability to intuitively select an ethical principle that applies in a particular situation.
2. Ethical Imagination. The ability to imaginatively translate that general ethical principle into a specific ideal of an action that may be carried out in reaction to that situation.
3. Ethical Technique. The ability to transform the world according to our individual ethical imaginations without violating the natural laws by which things are connected.

Initiation

Rather than a magical state conferred through a ritual, initiation is simply  the point at which someone becomes able to perceive the spiritual world. Steiner believed that initiation was open to all and could be achieved by a programme of self training through meditation and spiritual exercises. There is no need for any priest or ceremonial activity in order for someone to achieve this state. The process for initiation was explained by Steiner in his book “Knowledge of the Higher Worlds And Its Attainment”.

The Scientific Investigative Method

Rudolf Steiner rejected eastern style mystical clairvoyance and replaced it with focused meditation. By meditating on a subject, whether it be a physical object or a spiritual issue, Steiner believed that new intuitions would appear. These intuitions could then be tested by logic, in relation to existing knowledge, or through comparisons with the spiritual investigations of others.

Steiner’s starting point was that the definition of an investigation as “scientific” is decided by the methods used rather than the subject matter. Having concluded that the physical and spiritual worlds were really the same holistic world any part of it could be investigated with the scientific method i.e. systematic observation; measurement and experiment; and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.

To Steiner, natural science (biology, physics, chemistry and mathematics) and spiritual science (his methods for perceiving the spiritual aspects of the world) were part of the same process. He observed the spiritual world through meditation, but subjected these observations to reason to determine if they were valid and truthful. This process of considered reflection is important because the data being observed is coming through the human mind, which is a subjective tool. This is why he emphasised the need to become free in our own thinking - as ethical individualists. Without freeing our thinking the risk of bias, error or deception from spiritual scientific investigation would potentially make these observations worthless.

Steiner’s Spiritual Insights

Rudolf Steiner’s work is underpinned by his philosophical work on freedom, his new method of self initiation and his use of scientific observation to examine the invisible world. He went on to write a number of books and give hundreds of lectures on the spiritual insights he gained from using these methods. These spiritual insights were the result of his own meditative processes, through which, he believed he received information from the supersensible world. However, he was always careful to ask people to test these ideas through their own investigations. Because of this Steiner’s Anthroposophy was a process of discovery rather than a fixed credal faith.

That said, there are a number of important insights given by Steiner which are central to current Anthroposophical thinking. I hope to write further articles on these in the near future.

The Threefold Social Order

The Threefold Social Order is a holistic, human orientated, view of society developed by Rudolf Steiner developed during the difficult financial period following the first world war.

In Steiner's view society is divided into three areas of activity:

Economics
Some people have skills and some people have a need for those skills. The role of economics is to match these up with each other for the betterment of human beings.
The principal value in the economic sphere is: brotherhood and cooperation

Culture
This is activity which works with the spiritual development of individuals including spirituality but also wider cultural activity like art, music and other areas of creativity.
In order to develop, each individual must be free to think for themselves. Steiner covered this in his major philosophical work “The Philosophy of Freedom” which proposes the concept of the ethical individualist.
The principal value in the cultural and spiritual sphere is: freedom

Politics
This is the work of the state and the law, which is required to hold society together. However, the state must act in a just way.
The principal value in the political sphere is: equality

These three principal values mirror the motto of France which originated during the French revolution: Liberté, égalité, fraternité.

For society to function healthily the three areas of activity (economics, culture and politics)  need to be held in balance.If one dominates then society will not function properly.

For example:

Under a communist or fascist system where the state is dominant there is no freedom and the economic system can not match needs with skills. This incorrect balance can stop society from functioning properly.

Under a capitalist system which puts heavy emphasis on economics and profit culture and spirituality will be squeezed out and equality will be threatened as the ability to access certain things is governed by how much money someone has.

In an anarchistic or libertarian system where there is freedom to do as the individual pleases, without any ethical consideration then equality and cooperation will be reduced and society will not function well enough to produce the food and other resources needed for survival.

The threefold social order seeks to hold the three spheres of activity in balance so that no one of them dominates and each can support the other. At the heart of this is the ethical individualist taking responsibility for his own actions in those spheres through the correct use of money, ensuring his own spiritual and cultural development and upholding equality. These values can be seen in the various anthroposophical initiatives in education, social care and banking.

The challenge of social threefolding is that it puts the emphasis for the welfare of society back on the individuals within it. It does not seek answers from government, but from each member of society. For that reason it is impossible to fit the concept within existing political structures. It is neither socialist or capitalist, neither left or right wing, neither liberal or conservative. It is, however, a concept which matches modern society’s move towards individuals rather than communities. The threefold social order may provide a framework within which individuals can act to improve the way that society works without formal political structures and without the vagueness of the recent "occupy movement".

Crop circles, biodynamic farming, homeopathy and the Eucharist

These may appear to be totally unconnected subjects, but they do have a common thread. Whether it is making a crop circle, stirring a preparation 500 for biodynamic gardening or celebrating the eucharist - something is being done with an intention and although nothing could be identified in the material with a microscope things seem to happen at a spiritual or energetic level. In the case of crop circles strange creatures may be sighted. With homeopathy an improvement in condition. With biodynamics a better crop yield.
It seems to me that the act of will involved in doing these things could carry an intention of goodwill and purpose which acts on another (etheric) plane.
I am a natural sceptic, but when I see a pattern amongst these disparate subjects it's hard to ignore. It is certainly very old wisdom as the Eucharist attests.

My Anthroposophy Hat

Friday was the 87th anniversary of the death if Rudolf Steiner. As I headed out to a screening of the new documentary The Challenge of Rudolf Steiner I reached for my hat only to notice, for the first time, how stereotypically anthroposophical it is. The number of anthroposophists who wear this style of hat from Peter Selg onwards must be quite high. However, I didn't choose this hat. It was bought for me by a friend who thought it would suit me, yet she has little exposure to anything Steiner related.
Maybe it's just a fashionable hat or maybe the hat chose me?

Some thoughts about hats as metphors of belief from Free Fall by William Golding:

I have hung all systems on the wall like a row of useless hats. They do not fit. They come in from outside, they are suggested patterns, some dull and some of great beauty. But I have lived enough of my life to require a pattern that fits over everything I know; and where shall I find that ? Then why do I write this down ? Is it a pattern I am looking for? That Marxist hat in the middle of the row, did I ever think it would last me a lifetime ? What is wrong with the Christian biretta that I hardly wore at all ? Nick's rationalist hat kept the rain out, seemed impregnable plate-armour, dull and decent. It looks small now and rather silly, a bowler like all bowlers, very formal, very complete, very ignorant. There is a school cap, too. I had no more than hung it there, not knowing of the other hats.

A bit of prescience from Rudolf Steiner

This could have been written today:

"You will no doubt have heard that certain people are over and over again proclaiming to the world that democracy must spread to the whole civilized world. Salvation lies in making the whole of humanity democratic; everything will have to be smashed to pieces so that democracy may spread in the world... Concepts are taken for reality, and as a result illusion may take the place of reality where human life is concerned by lulling people to sleep with concepts. They believe the fruits of their endeavours will be that every individual will be able to express their will in the different democratic institutions, and they fail to see that these institutions are such that it is always just a few people who pull the wires, whilst the rest are pulled along. They are persuaded, however, that they are part of democracy and so they do not notice they are being pulled and that some individuals are pulling the strings. Those individuals will find it all the easier to do the pulling if the others all believe they are doing it themselves, instead of being pulled along. It is quite easy to lull people to sleep with abstract concepts and make them believe the opposite of what is really true. This gives the powers of darkness the best opportunity to do what they want. And if anyone should wake up they are simply ignored." Rudolf Steiner, The Fall of the Spirits of Darkness, 1917

Review - Key to Life by Iddo Oberski

Rudolf Steiner’s Philosophy of Freedom is one of the most influential texts in modern philosophy. It has influenced educators, politicians and theologians and tens of thousands of ordinary people whose names will never be publicly declared. It is Steiner’s first major work and whilst it underpins his later development of Anthroposophy, the Philosophy of Freedom is a stand alone work in its own right. An understanding of the ideas contained in the Philosophy of Freedom can benefit anyone even if they have no interest in Steiner’s later ideas.

Unfortunately, the Philosophy of Freedom is a rather complex and impenetrable book. This is partly due to Steiner’s style - he tends to repeat and go over material to make the same point several times - and partly due to some of the older translations which are still in common circulation.

In his book “Key to Life” Iddo Oberski gives an outline of the main arguments contained in the Philosophy of Freedom and explains how Steiner came to those conclusions. The book is written in an  enthusiastic style with many practical examples from the author’s own life. Oberski also gives some advice on the best way to approach and read the Philosophy of Freedom.

Before reading this book I had two abortive attempts at reading the Philosophy of Freedom. Having now read “Key to Life” I have gained the confidence to read have another go and will be able to refer back to this book as I read. I would recommend “Key to Life” as the first step for anyone considering exploring the Philosophy of Freedom.

Similarities between Doctor Who, Rudolf Steiner and Goethian Science

For some time I have noticed that there are some quite strong similarities between elements of Doctor Who and the world of Rudolf Steiner. I have outlined some of them in this article. If you have any thoughts please leave a comment.

Names and appearance
Steiner was known to his friends as “The Doctor”. He usually dressed in the flamboyant Edwardian clothes of his student days (resembling Hartnell and McGann’s Doctor Who characterisations).

The 1st Doctor (William Hartnell)

The 8th Doctor (Paul McGann)

Rudolf Steiner

The Science of Spirituality
The science of doctor who is similar to Goethean science. Steiner edited Goethe’s scientific works and developed many of his ideas from Goethe (and his friend Friedrich Schiller). The difference between the manufactured and organic worlds is blurred. In Steiner we see this in his architecture which seems to grow rather than be constructed. In doctor who the Tardis is not simply a machine, but an organic entity with a life and a life force. In the Doctor Who story Logopolis the planet's physical structure is dependent on the continuous mathematical calculations of its inhabitants. This is an example of spiritual activity (thought) being integral to the physical world, something quite in line with Steiner's ideas.

The Doctor uses his senses to understand the physical world. Often being able to sense things rather than observing them through empirical means as a conventional scientist would.

"Do you know like we were saying, about the earth revolving? It's like when you're a kid, the first time they tell you that the world is turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it... the turn of the earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour. The entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour. And I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world. And, if we let go..." (The Doctor,in Doctor Who episode Rose 2005).

This is rather like Goethe’s idea that we cannot divorce ourselves from nature and have to use our senses to understand phenomena in order to truly understand them. Steiner took Gothe’s idea and developed it into a spirtual science which he called “Anthroposophy”.



Intuitive Thinking
Steiner proposes intuitive thinking as a path to knowledge about the physical world and the spiritual world beyond. The Doctor relies on intuitive thinking, often sensing disturbances in the time dimension in the way that Steiner (or any initiate) senses things in the spirit world.


Time
Steiner often refers to standing outside of time. Here in the earliest written record of his work (a letter written in 1881 when he was 19 years old):

It was the night from January 10th to the 11th. I didn’t sleep a wink. I was busy with philosophical problems until about 12:30 a.m. Then, finally, I threw myself down on my couch. All my striving during the previous year had been to research whether the following statement by Schelling was true or not: “Within everyone dwells a secret, marvelous capacity to draw back from the stream of time—out of the self clothed in all that comes to us from outside—into our innermost being and there, in the immutable form of the Eternal, to look into ourselves.” I believe, and I am still quite certain of it, that I discovered this capacity in myself.

Organic vs Designed
Tardises are said to be grown from a coral like substance.

Tardis Interior (from David Tennant era)

 Steiner’s second Goetheanum has a similar organic feel.

Steiners Second Goetheanum in Dornach

In Doctor Who inanimate objects can take on other significances like the every day objects which make up the current Tardis console. Phenomena that we consider to be paranormal are within the Doctor’s sense of reality.


The Master
At the age of fifteen, Rudolf Steiner began learning the secret occult lore of plants from Felix Korgutski who later introduced him to another man Steiner always referrs to in his writings as "the Master”. The Master spiritually initiated him. Steiner never revealed the identity of “the Master”.

In Doctor Who we never know the true identity of The Master. The relationship between the Doctor and the Master is never made clear although it was apparently intended to reveal him as the doctors brother just prior to the death of Roger Delgado, the first actor to play him. In Doctor Who spin off books it has been suggested that the Doctor and the Master were childhood friends, but the title “Master” does suggest some teacher/pupil relationship.


Hidden history and the hidden universe
The Doctor is always portrayed as being wise and having lots of knowledge of historical events. This is often special inside knowledge as if he had witnessed those events. He has access to additional hidden history about people and events from world history which he obtained from his time travel. In a similar way Rudolf Steiner got special hidden information from his spiritual investigations (e.g. The Fifth Gospel).

During his public lectures Rudolf Steiner displayed the same characteristics as the Doctor, as described here by his friend Friedrich Rittelmeyer (founder of The Christian Community):

...whether he was dealing with the burning of the Templars, or of the "Friend of God" from the Oberland, Dr. Steiner always spoke as if he needed no history books, but had himself been an actual witness of all these events. (From "Rudolf Steiner Enters my Life" by Friedrich Rittelmeyer)

Initiation
In Doctor Who, Time Lords are initiated through education on Gallifrey within an enclosed, hierarchical, society. The latest series of Doctor Who have shown flashbacks of the initiation of The Doctor and The Master.



Mythology
Many of the Doctor Who stores feature archetypes like messianic figures. The Doctor himself has become more messianic as the series has progressed. Often creatures of mythology are said to exist in the  real world. Vampires, angels and witches are just three recent examples. Steiner believed that magical creatures exist whom he refers to as “sylphs” within a different realm or dimension of reality which can be accessed by spiritual investigation (usually involving clairvoyance and meditation) in a similar way to The Doctor visiting a distant planet or going into another time stream where the rules of physical science are different. The Doctor experiences clairvoyance at various times, especially in relation to the Time Lords and Gallifrey. There is an assumption that the supernatural exists and Atlantis and other mythical ideas are common to the world of Steiner and Doctor Who.

Doctor Who (since its return in 2005) has contained the back story of a time war, which is not dissimilar to the "war in heaven" with The Doctor and The Master almost replacing Ahriman and Lucifer.


Is there anything to this?
Doctor Who developed over many years and has no single originator. People like Verity Lambert, Sidney Newmann and Barry Letts were pivotal figures in its early development, but there is no evidence that any of them were anthroposophists. Still, Steiner’s writings are well known and influential beyond the confines of the Anthroposophical Society and if someone was to pick a big thinker with an other worldly personality then he would be an obvious choice, especially in the world of the 60’s and 70’s where the esoteric was considerably more mainstream than it is today. Also, if you were a writer looking for a different phenomenology of science then Goethe and Steiner are obvious sources. Easier to base something on their ideas than start from scratch I don’t think the similarities between Steiner and Doctor Who are deliberate, but they do make sense in the context of the time.

Christianity as Mystical Fact by Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner

I am currently reading Christianity as Mystical Fact by Rudolf Steiner. I have a book copy but you can read an online version here. Like all of Steiner's transcribed lectures it can be heavy going due to the translation, but his inital argument stands good. This is that no amount of historical investigation into the biblical account can ever prove the spiritual claims of Christianity (even something as simple as "God is love" is not proveable by historical investigation or critical analysis of the biblical texts). He then looks at the scientific method and tries to apply it in terms of what he calls "spiritual science" before looking at the mystery religions and initiation. In other words he is establishing imparted "gnosis" (knowledge) as the way of knowing truth rather than "pistis" (faith in a creed or in the bible).

I don't think any of this is a surprise, but he does slightly downplay the scientific method of spiritual investigation which goes a little against the grain of some of his other writings. The main emphasis seems to be on initiation into secret teaching which is something hinted at in the gospels and more so in "secret Mark" and the Hebrew version of Mark (which includes the story of the raising of Lazarus normally only present in John and which has a chapter of its own later in the book).

Its an interesting discussion given that creationism's main aim is to prove the spiritual truth of the gospel by proving the bible's historic truth. Its a rather futile effort. On the other side, attempts to prove the resurrection by using its spiritual results as evidence (e.g. James Martin's article in this month's Life and Work magazine) seems equally unlikely. In both cases any truth in the message is subserviant to the evidencial basis of how it was first delivered. Until we can get beyond that we will not be able to get to grips with the teachings of Jesus.

I continue to read.

A summary of Rudolf Steiner's theology

Rudolf Steiner

Following on from my article about Steiner influence in Edinburgh I thought I would give a brief summary of the theological and philosophical ideas contained in Rudolf Steiner's writings. Its a very brief resume and it may not be 100% accurate and it is simply my understanding of what he was writing about. However, I think it gives a number of important clues to why so many social care and educational organisations have originated within Anthroposophy. I have underlined these where I think they exist.

Philosopher or theologian?
Steiner has two sides to his work. Firstly as a philosopher (especially his early writings) and secondly as a theologian following his involvement with Theosophy. His theology is most pronounced in his Christology which, although wildly different from orthodox Christianity, jumps through hoops to try and deal with some inconsistencies in the biblical account of Jesus' origins.

These sections are in no particular order.

Nature of the person
We tend to consider human beings as animals or mechanical beings. Steiner views man as body, soul and spirit

• Spirit - Eternal
• Soul - evolving (our psychological make up)
• Body - temporal

He also has a  four fold articulation of the person which applies to anthroposophic medicine or steiner (aka Waldorf) education:

• Physical - physical/material structure of the body (the minerals that make up our body)
• Etheric - source of life and growth (metabolic processes of the body, plants also have this)
• Astral - consciousness (desire to experience pleasure and pain, dreaming consciousness, all animals have this)
• Ego or “I” - self awareness (waking consciousness, specific to humans)

Ego

Steiner uses the word Ego differently from Jung. Steiner's ego is self consciousness. This is the bit that undergoes reincarnation. He divides it into lower and higher ego. The ego has to be in control of the three lower functions. Christ has conferred on us the principal of individuality. God describes himself as “I am”. This is given to us when Christ is incarnated, died and risen (which Steiner refers to as a single event he calls "the mystery of Golgotha"). We are all individuals but at the same time we are one.

Transformation
We have the ability to transform our abstract ideas into concrete ideals by recognising ourselves as body, soul and spirit and using higher faculties to transform the world.

Karma

In Hinduism and Buddhism karma is about cause and effect. People suffer consequences for actions in a previous life. Steiner uses the word karma more flexibly to mean something like destiny. Steiner did not believe that personal blame was always attached to someones actions because something could happen as the result of someone elses actions or by accident or chance. Steiner believes that we are destined to be with the people we need to be with in order to improve our spiritual being during this life and that these associations are organised by divine beings (angels). He calls these karmic relationships.

Reincarnation and development
We can take our intention to heal and transform the earth into the next life and build on it.  Humanity as a whole is developing as time moves forward. Each step is appropriate for its time. We need to live free in the moment to accept what comes, being awake to the possibility that we may be connected to other people in ways we do not expect. We need to set aside physical or personality issues that may repel us and accept human beings as they are.

Evil
Steiner describes evil has a twofold nature which he gives these names.

• Luciferic - removing someone from the earth, entirely spiritual, away from tasks of life (interest in spirituality, not entering into earthly life, abandoning the earth to its own fate)
• Ahrimanic - fetters us to the earth, materialistic, binding us to the earth so that we can never experience divine intelligence or the spiritual world. (technlogy, power, control, fear of loss of control, reductionist).

These are qualities of our own being, not physical entities although they could be incarnated as such and he prophesies an incarnation of Ahriman in the third millenium after Christ.

On the one hand Scientists and religious fundamentalists tend towards the ahrimanic, mechanistic view of life and become bogged down. On the other hand the religious ecstatic is unable to function in the world as he is too spiritual. What is “good” is the balance between these two extremes. Christ acts as the mediator of these two extremes.

The lie
The lie is the diminishing of the individual by mass manipulation and the mass media whether in politics, advertising or celebrity culture. Technology is isolating people from one another and we are living in an artificial, imaginary, world. It is also deadening our spiritual senses. We need to counter the power of the lie to maintain reality. To counter the lie we need to come to a knowledge of the truth of man as Body Soul and Spirit and the inherent dignity which this signifies.

Freedom
When Steiner talks about freedom he is not talking about a libertarian or anarchistic view of freedom but an state of "freedomhood" which is innate but which we can diminish. In his view we need to take account of others and not do anything which would affect their freedom. We cannot control the world, but we need to be active in it, not passive, and responding to what we experience physically and spiritually. Personal freedom of thought is essential.

Thought
To Steiner thinking is a sense which we can develop and use to understand and experience the spiritual realm. We do not wait for revelation. We can reach towards spiritual knowledge through thought. Thought is a sense. Thinking is a spiritual activity which we can develop until we are able to see the hidden divinity (the Christ) in every human being. Our ultimate aim should be to get to the point of being unable to sleep while another human being suffers.

Cosmic Christ
In summary, Steiner believes that Christ is a seperate being from Jesus. He is an avatar who came into Jesus at his baptism. At the crucifixion his blood saturated the earth and transformed in a type of transubstantiation.
Steiner views Jesus as the cosmic Christ of John's gosepl, beyond traditional religion and waiting to be discovered. He is active in the earth in the spiritual (etheric) realm. He can only be experienced with a higher faculty or consciousness. We are called on to develop these so we can experience Christ. Christ provides the impulses and ideas for developing ourselves and helping others.

Steiner believes there were two seperate Jesus children (one descended from Nathan one from Solomon). Since Steiners day we have discovered that the Essenes expected two Messiahs so a belief in two is not unique to Steiner. Matthew and Luke’s gospels have different genealogies of Jesus. Zoroaster’s ego reincarnated into the Solomon Jesus which is why the Magi came looking for him. The Solomon Jesus is very knowledgable and is the one described as a boy in the temple with the teachers of the law. The Nathan Jesus is very loving and compassionate but his physical body was weak. Today we might  consider him to have a learning disability. However, his astral body was inherited from the Buddah.  Buddah’s mission is to develop a sense of compassion and love eventually perfecting himself through many reincarnation cycles. At the age of 12 the ego of Zoroaster transmigrated from the Solomon Jesus into the ego of the Nathan Jesus so we have a fusion of the two. Knowledge and compassion are now combined. The Solomon Jesus dies and Mary goes to live with the family who have the Nathan Jesus plus his brothers and sisters. There is then a gap from the age of 12 to 30. Steiner advances the idea that Jesus spent this time with the Essenes. This was before the discovery of the dead sea scrolls, so Steiner is quite early in promoting this. Jesus rejects the way of the Essenes and wanders in the desert eventually meeting John the baptist who had also rejected the Essene teachings. John is a reincarnation of Elijah. John becomes Jesus’ teacher. John baptises Jesus at the age of 30 and at that moment the Christ being descends from the sun and takes up residence in Jesus. Christ is important to Steiner because he is composed of these various spiritual beings and perfected souls. None of these can incarnate again because they are perfect. This is why Steiner rejects a second coming of Christ as a physical being.

Christ lives for three years and is then dissolved into the etheric body of the earth through his blood in a form of transubstantiation of the earth. He then descends into hell (the afterlife) and illuminates it. Changing it from the dark place the Greek’s understood it to be into something more like the Egyptian understanding of the afterlife.

The Christ event is pivotal to Steiner because brings true individuality.  People are no longer part of a tribal group, they are individuals. This is typified by his use of the “I am” statements in John’s gospel and God (the Christ being)  revealing himself as “I am” to Moses in the burning bush. Christ teaches people how to be true individuals which opens up new possibilities of spiritual contact for those who take up the Christ impulse. This is part of a new phase of evolution where people can perfect their etheric bodies thorugh renewed contact with the spiritual world.

Angels
The spiritual beings (angels) are interested in us, but this is intended to be a relationship. There are barriers between us and the angels, generally the Ahrimanic influence.  We can come to know these beings by developing our spiritual faculties which allow us to overcome the Ahrimanic influence.

Fall
Steiner’s idea of the fall is that at some point in history human beings stopping having contact with spiritual beings and reduced their etheric bodies to occupy the same space as their physical bodies so they could not sense or experience the spiritual. The coming of Christ makes it possible to reverse this. The latest stage of human development has been from about 1400 AD when people started using their individuality to have mastery over the physical world using machines. Steiner sees this as an incorrect use of individuality and the cause of a lot of society’s problems. He believes that in 1879 he believes there was a war between the archangel Michael and ahrimanic beings who had been expelled from the astral plane (heaven) and were wandering the earth looking for the souls of men. As a result of this war (which resulted in great political unrest and the first world war) Michael became part of the etheric body of the world along with Christ. This begins a new spiritual age where the intellectual mind will be put to spiritual use through “spiritual science” which Steiner called Anthroposophy.

Creation myth
Steiner’s creation myth is very complex involving the different types of spiritual beings existing before the current solar system. These are the angels of today and are the agents of creation. Creation takes place on the spiritual plane which means that his creation myth is not intended as a description of physical events. Steiner gets this information by clairvoyant means from the Akashic record which is described as a recording or memory of knowledge of past events within the physical substance of the earth.

Conclusion
Steiner invites us to enter on a spiritual path, but does not seek to control us or lay down a categorical method. We are to develop our thinking faculty until we can recognise interconnectedness.

Anthroposophy is a world view embracing every aspect of the world because the world is a living whole with everything being interconnected.  The human being is at the centre of that because we are a  microcosm of this interrelatedness as body, soul and spirit.

Finding Rudolph Steiner

Following on from my recent article about Rudolf Steiner and Edinburgh, readers might be interested in this documentary film by David Antonelli called Finding Rudolph Steiner currently being shown online at Culture Unplugged.

The film is 88 minutes long and begins with scenes from a video game.

Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophical influence in Edinburgh

On my travels around Edinburgh I keep seeing references to Rudolf Steiner. I did wonder if this was just the result of studying Steiner at university making me more adept at spotting Anthroposophical references, but after a bit of investigation there does seem to be a thriving interest in Steiner in south central Edinburgh.

My own awareness of Steiner began when my dad started working as a volunteer physiotherapist at Camphill Blair Drummond. This led to me helping out with some musical activities their including a memorable performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with a choir, and part of the orchestra, formed from people with learning difficulties who were part of the community there. This gave me a bit of an insight into some of the values behind Steiner education especially that each individual has a perfectly formed spirit regardless of external disabilities which is the reverse of the protestant Christian idea of original sin. I have always been impressed by the kindness and love of the Camphill people and the way in which they accepted me into their community as a visitor as if I was simply meant to be there at that time. Its a very special place.

I went on to study some aspects of Steiner as part of my Divinity degree. Not sure how I managed to squeeze that in, but I can remember trawling through the stack rooms at New College for dusty copies of original journals edited or written by Steiner.

Here are a list of organisations, web sites and establishments associated with Steiner education or Anthroposophy in the Edinburgh area. The Steiner influence is quite widespread. I thought I would publish it here in case anyone else goes looking for the same information.

• Garvald, charity supporting adults with disabilities.
• Mulberry Bush Shop, Morningside Road (run by Garvald)
• The Engine Shed, cafe providing training for people with learning difficulties
• Tiphereth, Camphill day service near Edinburgh
• The Christian Community, a movement for religious renewal utilising aspects of Steiner’s philosophy
• Rudolph Steiner School
• Floris Books (published literature on Steiner education and the Christian Community)
• Helois Fountain, Grassmarket - shop that stocks books by Rudolph Steiner
• Anthroposophical Society Edinburgh Group More details on Anthroposophy Scotland web site.
• Columcille Centre ,also houses the Anthroposophical Library.
• Life Science Trust , Pishwanton Woods.

Another list of Steiner related organisations in this area can be found here.

Note: This is my 200th article in this blog.

Update 20th August 2013
The Edinburgh group of the Anthroposophical Society has changed its name to "Anthroposophy in Edinburgh".

The Anthroposophical Library has moved from the Columcille Centre to the Christian Community.