The Rudolf Steiner Archive

114. The Essence of Anthroposophy

[ 1 ] Over the course of the two hours that Dr. Rudolf Steiner stood at the lectern in the Vereinshaussaal, the reluctance to discuss anthroposophy with this man grew. […] His very clear, slow manner of speaking is monotonous, lifeless, and dry; he escalates his pathos—in which the long, viscous sentence structures are embedded—more and more into an exclamatory tone that is hard to bear. A distinct South Baden-Swiss dialectal tinge, on the other hand, is not bothersome. A man of medium height dressed in black except for a white collar; a man with a firm, angular head; an energetic face beneath a strong, not very high forehead, from which his dark hair is combed smoothly back. Energetic features around the chin and mouth, which is beardless. It is strange that one cannot see this man’s eyes! His dark eyelids are almost always lowered as he blinks. It often looks as if he were reading from a manuscript lying on the lectern. But he speaks extemporaneously … with his gaze lowered. His hands gradually become more animated. Yet he reveals no real temperament or passion.

[ 2 ] Is this supposed to be the man who captivates tens of thousands? Who exudes such a powerful personal presence? He does not strike us at all as a strong personality. Despite his degrees in philosophy and medicine, one could easily imagine him standing in the pulpit of a small sect church in southern Germany. But actually, he doesn’t even come across as an intellectual.

[ 3 ] Steiner’s lecture was not poorly structured. He began by paying homage to all branches of science, especially the natural sciences, whose standing he fully acknowledged, only to immediately emphasize that anthroposophy claims to be a science—a science of the supersensible employing exact research methods similar to those used in the laboratory, the clinic, and the observatory. But in the very same breath that he labeled anthroposophy a science, Steiner asserted that anthroposophy is addressed to all people, to all simple minds. Nor did he resolve the contradiction by suggesting that not all followers of anthroposophy need to become “spiritual researchers.” Many might be content simply to observe what the “spiritual researchers” had discovered. For this reason alone, he could not resolve the contradiction, since even the “observation”—and indeed the understanding and experiencing—of the anthroposophical teachings places such extraordinary demands on the individual. Even the outline of his methodology, as presented in the lecture, demonstrated that one must first familiarize oneself with a very peculiar new terminology—a requirement that is by no means a simple matter for all “simple minds.” Steiner’s path to anthroposophy led through the following consideration: Neither in the natural sciences nor in mysticism are there forces at work that can penetrate the supersensible. Anthroposophy now asks: Do such forces exist? And answers this question as follows: “That depends on practice.” Anthroposophy seeks to show how such forces—which, as Steiner asserts, lie dormant in the soul—can be awakened. To this end, he developed a system of exercises designed to strengthen the powers of thought, feeling, and will in human beings. These are meditation and concentration exercises which, when practiced rhythmically, are intended to enable us to free ourselves from the constraints of physical and nervous life and gradually attain ever more perfect stages of knowledge. Steiner speaks here of imaginative, inspired, and intuitive knowledge. In connection with these levels of knowledge, he speaks of pre-birth existence and existence after death, of the supersensible body within us, which he designates with the dreadful term “body of formative forces.” He speaks of the “opacity” of the normal body and the “transparency” of the anthroposophically developed body; he believes that anthroposophy creates new foundations for the understanding of moral forces. And then Steiner goes on to speak of the cosmic forces, of the solar aspect, which represents the forces of youth, and the lunar aspect, which represents the forces of old age; he speaks of the application of these supersensible insights to our medicine and believes in a revitalization of the arts, education, the economy, and religious and moral life—through anthroposophy! […]