The Rudolf Steiner Archive

25. The Task and Goal of Spiritual Science and Spiritual Seeking in the Present

Question and Answer

Question: What is the view of the humanities regarding Swedenborg?

[ 1 ] Rudolf Steiner: Swedenborg is like a person who has a cataract in one eye and therefore does not see quite clearly. He focused on the defect in his eye. It is very often said—and even more frequently believed—that spiritual insight precludes a scientific education. But it is only after Swedenborg has already had an outstanding scientific career that he becomes a spiritual researcher. His spiritual insight goes even beyond that; he can, after all, raise all the objections others might have himself. This is a crux for scientists: that someone is first a great experimenter and then turns to the occult. People then say that he simply ceased to be scientific later on, so one must distinguish between a “morning dilemma” born of sound thinking and an “afternoon dilemma” born of delusional thinking! Of course, one cannot rely on Swedenborg in every detail, but he did, after all, gain insight into the spiritual world. At the same time, however, he is an example of how spiritual faculties can present falsehoods to human beings. This applies both to the saying, “Man errs as long as he strives,” and to the saying, “A good person, in his dark striving, is well aware of the right path.” For man is, after all, designed for truth and not for falsehood.

Question: What about free will?

[ 2 ] Rudolf Steiner: “Read my *Philosophy of Freedom* for more on this.”

Question: How can consciousness exist when a person has no body?

[ 3 ] Rudolf Steiner: First, one must be clear about what is meant by “consciousness.” It is only since Descartes that “consciousness” has been discussed in abstract terms; before that, the focus was more on the soul and the soul’s powers. Today there is even a “philosophy of the unconscious,” but consciousness is, after all, a quality of the soul. The soul is present during the night, even if not consciously so. Wundt’s abstract definition—“The soul is the unity of phenomena of consciousness”—is unsatisfactory. Outside the body, however, these processes also become conscious; through spiritual development, one even attains a higher state of consciousness. This is carried into ordinary consciousness like a memory; in a sense, it only comes to consciousness through thinking. Otherwise, it would be like dreams that a person does not remember. Beginners often say: “I experience nothing in the spiritual worlds, even though I do the exercises.”—They can still experience an immense amount; they simply do not remember it in ordinary consciousness. This is also necessary in many cases. It is a blessing for human beings that the moral law flows down to them unconsciously.

Question: What can be said about the thinking horses and Rolf the dog from Mannheim? The animal is said to be able to calculate the square root of a seven-digit number in five minutes—a task that would take a mathematician two hours.

[ 4 ] Rudolf Steiner: I have not seen the Elberfeld horses, so I cannot speak about them; I have seen only Mr. von Osten’s horse, Clever Hans, but that was enough to give me a picture of these, after all, complicated matters. A private lecturer offered a thoroughly materialistic explanation, even though such explanations are generally considered idealistic. He said it involves a subtle play of facial expressions on the part of the person solving the math problem. He added, however, that although he had studied facial expressions for a decade, the movements in the human face in this case are so subtle that even he cannot detect them—but the animal can. So it takes ten years to judge a person, and then there is a facial expression that only a horse can judge—not even a horse breeder.

[ 5 ] The truth is this: when one is outside the body, the body becomes “mathematized”; for one leaves mathematics behind in the body, which one then observes. Even a horse can do this. It is connected to currents that circulate around the Earth. Through this, latent abilities can develop that would otherwise remain undeveloped. One should not be too dismissive of these things; otherwise, the world might well be somewhat astonished by them.