The Rudolf Steiner Archive

5. Human Disposition, Talent, and Upbringing in the Light of Spiritual Science

[ 1 ] Ladies and gentlemen! Spiritual science, or theosophy, is at the same time a foundation for living, through what it offers us as human beings for the sake of knowledge. Because we are able to see beyond what is perceptible to the senses—beyond what is comprehensible only to the outer intellect—into the supersensible, this spiritual science serves as a tool that enables us to feel ourselves as members of the supersensible world. In this way, theosophy provides us with that nourishment of knowledge which flows like spiritual blood into our entire spiritual constitution, and we gain security and the strength of life by absorbing knowledge of the supersensible world. Yet this is only the case when we seek to incorporate the supersensible into our understanding. It is something else entirely when we face the developing human being as he enters existence through birth, as he is compelled, through the normal course of life, to assert—bit by bit, through the materiality of the body—that which is rooted in indeterminate depths as the human spirit and emerges more and more in the course of development. Here we are in a different situation than when we acquire knowledge, for we are not merely seeking the spirit through cognition; rather, through our help and action, we are meant to bring the spirit out of its hidden state into real existence. This perspective—from the outer physical realm into the spiritual—must come before our soul when considering a question such as the one that forms the subject of our reflection today.

[ 2 ] It must be emphasized from the outset that, for this question, a premise must be established in the sense of spiritual science. Spiritual science goes beyond what presents itself to us in human life—from birth, or even from prenatal development, through to death—as an individual life. It penetrates to the very core of the human being—to the spiritual-soul aspect that exists before birth and remains after death—to the core that can be traced from life to life through spiritual research, for we are, after all, speaking of repeated earthly lives. We make a strict distinction between these lives that a human being repeatedly spends on Earth between birth and death, and those lives that lie in between in a purely spiritual world. When a human soul-spirit enters into existence through birth, it brings into this life all the effects of those causes that are to be found in earlier lives. When we observe the developing human being, we see how, like a sacred mystery, what he has acquired in earlier lives and brings into this life gradually unfolds. The human being enters the present life and expresses himself spiritually, but he envelops himself with the qualities, characteristics, and abilities inherent in his hereditary lineage. Thus, the human being brings the spiritual-soul core of his being into his life, and in a certain way he experiences the powers and abilities that his ancestors can bestow upon him in the form of talents, character traits, and other dispositions. For human development, what is significant is the interplay between what a person brings from the spiritual world and what they have inherited from their ancestors. To truly answer the question of education in a deeper sense, we must be able to gain insight into the relationship between inherited predispositions and the spiritual-soul core of the human being.

[ 3 ] When we treat these repeated earthly lives and the effects of earlier lives on later ones as a fact of spiritual science, this provokes opposition from many people who do not wish to inform themselves thoroughly about the evidence that spiritual science can provide. There is no other way [than through practice] to gain the conviction that this truth truly exists. One can, of course, discuss at length whether a piece of iron claimed to be a magnet actually is one. One can put forward many arguments against it; one might say that the person making the claim seems credible, and so on, and the debate could go on indefinitely. But proof is provided when one takes a small piece of iron and sees whether it is attracted. Evidence is provided through practice. In a similar sense, one can become convinced of the truths of spiritual science.

[ 4 ] The educator can now say: What I encounter in the child poses a mystery to me; I must try to see whether what spiritual science asserts is true, whether something truly enters the world as a spiritual-soul core. It will then become clear that such a principle proves fruitful for education by enabling us to enrich the child’s life and to discern and draw out their innate capacities. We must focus our attention on the nature of these capacities if we are to distinguish between the spiritual-soul core and what the child has inherited. To do this, we must allow the human predisposition—everything that gradually reveals itself to us in terms of characteristics, abilities, talents, and so on—to come to the forefront of our view, and we will then find that it is inherent in the human soul to allow the individual powers to work together so that they support and sustain one another within a single organism. Nevertheless, we see that the soul forces of the human being—for example, thinking, feeling, and willing, or other forces—manifest in their strength independently of one another; indeed, so independently that we find, for example, people in whom the power of thought is so highly developed that they can be good thinkers, while the power of the will, by contrast, takes a back seat. Others, on the other hand, are people of strong will and are immediately ready to take action, but are not always able to hold their thoughts together in a comprehensive way and follow them logically. They act, but do not think much about it. Still others are driven by their emotions to do this or that without thinking it through. So we see: the individual abilities can be expressed to varying degrees. One person, for example, may be very musical, while other abilities take a back seat. Some people, on the other hand, lack the ability to do extensive calculations and so on.

[ 5 ] These faculties are thus independent of one another, yet they come together to form a single organism. When we consider a person’s soul forces in this way, it becomes clear that they enter into existence with a very specific tendency and disposition to bring the soul forces into relationship and connection with one another. If we turn our attention to what is inherited—that is, to the hereditary line—and then to what enters into existence from a previous life, we can see what connects these powers and predispositions. For this is how it is: What a person brings with them as the results of previous lives has the ability to organize these predispositions and shape them into a unified organism. Dispositions, characteristics, talents, and so on point us to the hereditary line. There is no more fascinating observation than seeing, on the one hand, how the spiritual-soul core works to connect the soul forces and form a unified organism, and, on the other hand, how the individual forces are inherited from ancestors.

[ 6 ] The humanities are capable of specifying very specific laws governing the relationship between these two elements. These can be understood as laws of nature, but in a higher realm. When such laws are stated, one must not attempt to refute them with observations obtained too easily. This is child’s play, even in the field of chemistry and physics. Let us suppose a physicist determines that the path a thrown stone takes through the air is a parabola. If someone then traces the path from the outside, they will see that it is not exact. Air resistance and other external circumstances cause the path to vary, but one arrives at the truth only by returning to the law. One can reach what underlies spiritual life as a law only by penetrating behind the scenes of existence.

[ 7 ] Now, two kinds of forces become apparent to us in the inner life of the human being; one kind we can describe more as the intellectual principle, or even as that of the imagination: Everything that constitutes a person’s life of imagination—the way they conceive of things, whether they move slowly from one idea to another or can make rapid connections between thoughts, whether they can follow thoughts with keen insight and over a wide range, and so on. Such people—who easily develop vivid mental images, who are able to clothe facts in images of the imagination, in short, who possess a particularly active intellectual and imaginative element, who are inventive, and who have the ability to come up with many ideas—we must regard as representatives of one side of the inner life. The side of emotions, on the other hand—of passions and drives—the way someone is quickly captivated by this or that, whether they have many interests or are apathetic, and so on—that is the other side. The latter is more closely associated with what we call the character element, while the former is more closely associated with reflection and interiorization. We must strictly distinguish between these two sides, for when we observe life, the laws of development reveal themselves to us only when we can trace how the spiritual-soul core of the human being, which passes from life to life, appropriates one element or the other.

[ 8 ] We generally find that the child inherits the aspect related to interest, passions, and attention more from the father; the spiritual-soul core of the human being borrows these elements from the father, where it finds what passions are—that which confronts events in life and intervenes in external life. When a human being seeks to incarnate, they are drawn—as if by a magnet—to the father who can impart to them the qualities of interest, strength of character, and so on, that are suited to their individual nature. They seek out the father who offers them this possibility. The qualities of the intellectual and the imaginative they inherit more from the mother. In general, if one does not take more specific causes into account, one can say that the child’s mental character arises when the spiritual-soul core brings about something like a mixture of the mother’s intellect and imagination with the father’s temperament and drives. How these qualities are blended depends on the overall disposition of the spiritual-soul core. We can explain the nature of the elements belonging to the will and the emotional nature by looking to the father. Whatever the core of the being possesses in terms of imagination and intellect, we must seek in the mother. The children of the same parents are so different because the spiritual-psychic core of the being blends the paternal and maternal elements in various ways.

[ 9 ] However, we must examine this in greater detail and distinguish between male and female offspring. Careful observation of life will also confirm this law—that is, if the qualification is applied in the same way as with physical laws, and if secondary circumstances are not elevated to the status of the main issue. For what is present in the mother’s soul is more easily inherited by her sons, and in such a way that it is transformed in the son to a certain extent. If the mother is imaginative but operates only within the narrowest circle, the mother’s soul acts in such a way that it, as it were, descends a level in the son and imparts to him the outer organ predisposition, so that he expresses this predisposition to a greater extent. The mother remains within the soul element in a narrow circle; the son manifests what she possesses in her soul, but imprinted in the brain as his instrument. What she lived out within her innermost circle becomes his capacity to engage with the world. A talent for which the mother shows a predisposition can come into being in this way. And what descends more into the physical constitution through the mother is intermingled with and permeated by what is inherited from the father. This is how it is with sons.

[ 10 ] It’s different with daughters. Here we see how what the father embodies in the details of his profession and so on finds greater expression in his overall personality. What is a physical predisposition in the father—the outer, physical human being—manifests itself as it ascends into the daughter’s soul. Transformed into the soul, this is what the father possessed in terms of outer characteristics. In the daughter, what was more of the physical human being in the father appears to us in a spiritualized form. It is particularly interesting—and one can almost state it as a law of nature—that the mother, in relation to her soul, descends into the son and appears in the physical realm, while the father, with what he is in the physical human being, ascends into the daughter’s soul.

[ 11 ] One could demonstrate this in hundreds and thousands of cases, and life itself will prove one right everywhere. It will be explained here using just one particularly characteristic example—Goethe, in whom this general law is especially evident: What was admired in the mother as a spiritual quality within her inner circle emerged in her son in a “downgraded” form and was admired by the world. Mrs. Goethe had a penchant for storytelling, which could have a stimulating effect within her inner circle. In Goethe, it had become a mental disposition, so that he became a personality who made an impact on the world.

[ 12 ] We also see the opposite in him in a wonderful way, namely in his sister Cornelia. Goethe the councilor was exceptionally likable because of his strong character and his serious demeanor. In his public life, he stood firm as a thorough, serious man. Let us take a look at how Goethe relates to his father. What is peculiar is that the outward character traits—temperament, thoroughness, and so on—are passed down to the son. When people with the same dispositions live side by side, they sometimes repel one another. There was never an intimate relationship between Goethe’s father and son. The sister, however, had absorbed her father’s thoroughness into her soul as depth of character and seriousness, blending it with warmth—as is often the case when external qualities are transformed into inner qualities within us. That is why the siblings were such loyal companions: because the qualities that Goethe found unappealing in his father had penetrated into his sister’s soul.

[ 13 ] Can we not see this peculiar survival of the mother’s psychological traits in the son’s physical features everywhere? Throughout world history, we see the relationships between sons and their mothers—for example, in the case of the poet Hebbel. He was the son of a bricklayer. If one knows him and has met him in person, one knows that the gruff, pedantic qualities he possessed were already evident in his outward appearance. His hands were far too long, his legs even more so, and his coat even longer still, and his movements were angular. He inherited all of this from his father, yet he could not get along with him. In contrast, it was his mother’s simple disposition that he so beautifully describes to us. We see how her inner world, having descended a level, reemerges in his poetic personality. That is the source of the understanding between the two, and it was his mother alone who made it possible for him to escape the fate of becoming a bricklayer. Everywhere we look, in everyday life and in history, we can see that this law holds true universally.

[ 14 ] But how should an educator proceed when faced with this interplay between inherited traits and the spiritual-soul core of a child’s being? One must, as best and as fully as possible, focus on the way in which certain characteristics we observe in children are found at a different level in the parents. However, we must not regard the child as a copy [of the parents], for then we would fail to take into account the transformation whereby the mother’s soul qualities descend into the physical realm in her son, and conversely, how the father’s physical qualities are transformed in the daughter’s soul. Today, people are inclined to acknowledge transformations of natural forces; natural science shows, for example, how natural substances are transformed into heat. Yet people do not acknowledge that these laws also apply to the spiritual realm. A true art of education can only come into being when people become aware that spiritual science can extend into such areas of life as education.

[ 15 ] People are always talking about individuality. What, exactly, is individuality? Today, people refer to the word only in very abstract terms. But if one understands how individuality arises—as the child’s spiritual-soul core not only absorbs but also transforms the qualities of the father and mother—one can grasp it in concrete terms. Then pedagogy moves from the abstract to the concrete, from materialistic abstraction to true reality. Now, someone might object: You tell us that the spiritual-soul core envelops itself in what is given to it in the form of inherited forces. But we view the human being as a unified being; how, then, can we distinguish between what is inherited and the spiritual core of the being?

[ 16 ] If we look at development only superficially and focus solely on the individual, we will not make any progress. But life offers us evidence—ample evidence—to show how the spiritual-soul core of a being envelops and permeates what comes from parents and ancestors. It was precisely geniuses like Newton or Humboldt, who achieved great things, who did not do particularly well in school and were regarded as having limited talent. One could name many other famous figures who also developed slowly, while child prodigies advance rapidly. In the case of Newton, Humboldt, and others, the fact is that they brought a rich inner core into this life, that much is sprouting and growing within the soul, and that this process of working through what had been inherited from their parents had to proceed slowly. This rich inner core requires more time, for it must first refine the inherited powers, transform them, gradate them precisely, and so on. Thus, rich natures—who are called to give much—must work longer at adapting the material they have inherited.

[ 17 ] This will actually become increasingly evident, for today the person who brings strong soul forces into the world has to struggle hard against all the fierce resistance, since very rigid, sober, and firmly established hereditary traits are passed down—traits that are not very flexible—so that it takes a long time to adapt them precisely to the individual’s core being. Child prodigies reach their limits quickly, since they rapidly assimilate the abilities inherent in their genetic lineage and absorb them in a one-sided manner. It soon becomes apparent, however, that their talents dry up and wither away. When we consider these most extreme cases—the slowly developing genius, the rapidly developing child prodigy, and all the stages in between—we see how the spiritual-soul core works its way through the obstacles.

[ 18 ] We also find this slow process of working one’s way through in Goethe. If, like me, one has humbly and extensively studied Goethe for three decades, one may well say—without running the risk of being misunderstood—that: When one surveys Goethe’s life, one notices a slow progression in the development of his aptitudes and talents. — We do indeed find the tendency toward what he became already within him when, as a child, he offered sacrifices to the great God; but what a struggle he endured throughout his life to bring forth what was inherent in him, overcoming the many obstacles posed by his physical nature. We recognize him, when he expresses his great thoughts—for example, in the second part of *Faust*—as a mature man standing alongside the young Goethe, who, in comparison to the older Goethe, wrote many works that were immature. How does what is said here run counter to the judgment of our time, when editions of his early works are particularly praised—for it is thought that he achieved his greatest feats there. The young Goethe, it is said, poured forth great and mighty things. He is exalted to who knows what heights. And of the older Goethe, some say that he cobbled together the second part of *Faust* later in life. Very few understand that he developed and deepened his art slowly and gradually, that the Italian world nurtured him from within, and that the core of his being increasingly removed the external obstacles. In short, they do not understand the older Goethe because he is too lofty for them. Even during his lifetime, he had to suffer the fact that his later works were decried as the products of old age. He expresses this in the following verse:

There they praise Faust,
And whatever else
Rages in my writings,
In their favor;
The old Mick and Mack,
That delights them greatly;
The rabble thinks,
That they are no longer what they were!

[ 19 ] It is particularly evident in Goethe’s case how the core of his intellectual and spiritual being rose to its zenith in the second half of his life, and no one who believes that the whole of Goethe was already present in his early writings can truly understand him. People do understand the young Goethe better, but they attribute this not to the fact that they do not understand the older Goethe, but to the fact that he had declined. Thus, even in the case of this great mind, we can see confirmed how the core of one’s spiritual and soul nature works its way into the outer forms.

[ 20 ] Someone might now come along and say: You’re talking about an essential core that must exist in order to group and organize abilities. But we need only point out that the most important characteristics nevertheless lie in the hereditary line and can be explained by it. For example, there have been 25 to 28 musicians in the Bach family over the past few centuries. So how can you say that the essential core is the main factor? Similarly, there have been a whole series of prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family of Basel. In their case, one can see particularly clearly how strongly mere heredity seems to influence them, for some of them were destined for something entirely different, yet it still drove them toward mathematics later in life.

[ 21 ] To understand this correctly, one must properly grasp the relationship between the spiritual-soul core of one’s being and one’s inherited predispositions and talents. To be a musician, one needs a musical ear; but this belongs to the physical organization—that is, to the outer shell. Just as one inherits the shape of the nose, the hands, and so on, so too do the finer inner organs that lie hidden beneath the surface of the physical body. A spiritual-soul core that strives to acquire physical tools for musicality will feel drawn to families that can pass on musical organs. What is the basis of musical talent? Not on the brain, which is the organ of logic, but on the structure of the ear canals. One must examine the individual relationships closely. Such ear bones of a specific shape are inherited from generation to generation. The same is true of the Bernoullis. Those who need a predisposition for geometry will seek out such a family. Thus, what life shows us corresponds here once again with what spiritual science asserts. We can better understand and shed light on life when we bring to mind in this way the connection between heredity and predisposition and the resulting harmony or disharmony.

[ 22 ] When we distinguish between the spiritual-soul core of a being and that in which it lives, life means the interplay of these two elements. Let us consider a child in the very first weeks of its life. Its features are still indefinite, its organs not yet fully functional; it cannot yet walk, and so on. But if we think about it properly, we know that where features and abilities are still indefinite, the core of the being is still at rest and is only gradually working its way to the surface toward definiteness. What the human being will later become emerges from the indeterminate nature of movements, gestures, and so on. It works its way up from indeterminate depths to the surface, and more and more the outer shell becomes an expression of what lives within the human being. In later life, the outer appearance expresses much more of what the human being truly is. In the youthful child, the forces that will one day express themselves in his features, in his hand gestures, and so on, still lie dormant. In later life, a person reveals the imprint of his inner soul character in his physical form. The outer, the shell-like aspect, becomes more and more [a mirror] of his true self; what he is as a spiritual being is revealed in the physical.

[ 23 ] In the first life, a person works more into their physical body. There is something very interesting associated with this fact, and it operates with the same regularity as a physical law. With regard to hereditary patterns, a distinction must be made between what children born in the early years of marriage inherit and what those born in later years of marriage inherit. The first children display, in a remarkable way, the ability to shape their inherited traits in the freest manner; they are able to do so in a more individual way, independent of their parents. Later-born children are more compelled to yield to the strong influence of heredity; they become more of a reflection of their parents. Children born in the early years of a marriage find it easier to blend their inherited traits; heredity exerts less of a tyrannical influence on them. Those born in the later years of a marriage must exert greater effort, for the power of heredity exerts a stronger influence on them. Consequently, we see these children becoming increasingly similar to their parents. Of course, this can be counteracted by a wide variety of circumstances, but in the context of current scientific research, this is a law.

[ 24 ] When we consider these laws of heredity, the true relationship between a person’s predisposition, talent, and upbringing becomes apparent. Such laws can only be put to use in the life of the soul if they do not remain mere theories and insights, but rather if they are transformed into sensations and feelings. It is remarkable how such feelings, kindled by insight, give us the ability to tactfully discern which qualities are striving to come into being in a person. If we have the good will and the sensitivity for this, then we face the developing human being as if before a sacred mystery, and the secret of education lies in the fact that, when we approach them with such a feeling, they themselves solve the mystery for us. They themselves show us which abilities can be drawn out of them. Then there is no need for much speculation; rather, tact provides us with the proper guidance not to burden the child with something that cannot be developed in them at all. This brings the educator into the proper relationship with the child. Then we regard the human being we are to educate as a sacred mystery and not—as many educators often do—as a vessel about which one can discuss what is best to pour into it. That is an entirely superficial point of view! We must not forget that life often compels us to guide the child toward something that, in our opinion, does not lie within their individual nature, so that they may advance in life. But in general, all the talk about education is usually less about what the child is more or less suited for, and more about family relationships and an upbringing befitting their social standing. We must, however, grasp the demands of life and individuality in a concrete sense, bring the spiritual-soul core and the inherited predispositions into harmony, and strive to solve the riddle presented by life’s circumstances. A mystery can be solved in various ways; one must simply recognize it. Then one can allow the child to become many different things; otherwise, despite all speculation, one will often fail to find the right path.

[ 25 ] It is precisely in such areas [as education] that the fruitfulness of spiritual science for life becomes evident. Spiritual science is not merely theory, but something that can and does prove its worth in life every day and every hour—for the progress of all humanity and of individual human beings. It immerses us in life in such a way that we acquire the security, strength, and confidence we need for life. Thus, this chapter on disposition, talent, and education demonstrates to us that, indeed, because human beings have passed through many lives, they carry a mystery at the core of their being, and that life, in the broadest sense, must be a solution to this mystery.

[ 26 ] The better we find an answer to the mystery within us, the happier, more secure, and more fruitful a person’s life will be—we must adopt this as our motto. The spiritual and soulful core of our being, which passes through many births and deaths, is a mystery, and life is the solution. And blessed is the person whose spiritual core is a truly profound mystery and who has the opportunity to solve it. For the deeper the mystery, the greater the opportunity to enrich life; the more meaningful our life will be; the more vibrant and joyful our entire life will be; and the greater our ability to serve our fellow human beings.