The Rudolf Steiner Archive

17. Address Delivered at the Anthroposophical Education Conference

[ 1 ] My dear friends! The questions and longings that weigh on your hearts—since you have gathered here as young people—are ones that, to a greater or lesser extent, have been felt in the hearts of today’s youth for about two decades, ever since the time that, based on an understanding of human evolution, is called the end of the Kali Yuga and the dawn of the Age of Light. From the outset, this can easily lead to a misunderstanding if one places the dawn of the Age of Light precisely in our own time. There is not much evidence of things becoming brighter. One could even go so far as to say: Conditions have become more confused and darker since the turn of the century. That is simply the way it is: just as there is inertia in external physical phenomena—whereby a body retains the state it has assumed—so it is with all human beings: they still retain a certain inertia. We can see how this persistence occurs; how most people today are not people of the 20th century, but rather, with most of them, one has the feeling that one must have seen them a hundred years ago—or even longer. They have not merely remained stuck at a certain stage of life, but—paradoxical as it may sound—they have remained stuck at the stage they were at long before their birth. Nevertheless, when one looks at the beings who are active in the destiny of the Earth, one finds in them that human beings have outgrown an age in which they were more or less unconsciously guided by creative spiritual powers that direct the soul through spiritual forces. Humanity has grown into that era in which certain spiritual beings have withdrawn, while others—who have directed their impulses more toward human freedom—have intervened in the development of humanity. With their present level of consciousness, people today generally still understand very little about this intervention of entirely new spiritual forces in the development of humanity. But since the turn of the century, young people have had, deep in their subconscious, a particular kind of inner experience through which they show that they sense: something is shaking the development of humanity like an earthquake. Now people come and say: It has always been this way. Youth has always rebelled against what old age or tradition has imposed in any given era. Very clever people then say: The crown princes are the opponents of the emperors. Youth rebels against old age.

[ 2 ] That, however, has always been the case to a certain extent. But what is alive in young people today—in some cases quite unconsciously—simply wasn’t there before. And one could say that there has never been such a great discrepancy, such a stark contrast, between how young people’s inner experiences are expressed outwardly and what those inner experiences actually are. We have seen all kinds of youth movements: the Wandervogel movement, the free youth groups with their various names—we have seen all sorts of things of this kind—such a withdrawal from everything that older people currently consider civilization, a desire to escape to forces that one does not yet wish to name. From the very beginning, it seemed quite clear to me that deep in the subconscious of a large portion of today’s youth there actually lives a tendency toward a remarkably profound understanding that a great, earthquake-like upheaval must take place in the entire development of humanity.

[ 3 ] Sometimes one perceives such things in a deeply moving and powerful way. I always like to point out an example that happened to me in Norway. A very young person, a high school student, came to see me. They wanted to turn him away because they thought such a young guy could only bother me—in these matters, people don’t always mean well. As fate would have it, I was just walking out the door when I let him in, because I felt that even though he was very young, it was necessary to have a conversation with him. He explained to me: “Among us high school students, there’s a longing for something that high school doesn’t give us. We’d like to start a youth magazine—just among us high school students.” “Can’t you help us?”—“I’m willing to help in every way possible if the project comes to fruition,” I said. Then I spoke a little longer with this young man, who was a high school student, not even close to graduating yet. It became clear that, in the most subconsciously lucid way, what many call a “youth experience”—something that is understood very little by those who are old—was present there.

[ 4 ] I asked many older people what they understood by the “youth experience.” Their answers included: “Young people have always been rebellious!” I also asked young people who claimed to have had this “youth experience.” I didn’t get any answers from them either. And yet I knew that many who could not provide an answer were, in their subconscious, familiar with the “youth experience.” Very little of it comes to the surface when young people talk about it, but it is very clearly present in the subconscious. What young people feel very clearly and strongly comes to the surface, for example, when they admire, say, a natural landscape. People have always admired nature, but not in the way today’s youth do. Perhaps today’s youth do so in a much more imperfect way. But today’s youth do it in such a way that they clearly feel: We are helpless. We must first access even the simplest admiration of nature through the most elementary forces.

[ 5 ] You see, when you come face to face with something like this, you feel so deeply, deeply what inner significance this entire youth movement has. Just think back to that powerful call to nature, as expressed, for example, by Rousseau and his followers. There, too, was a youth movement that even erupted explosively—far more impetuous than today’s youth movement. What became of it? All of that turned into the greatest philistinism of the 19th century—precisely what makes young people today feel so isolated within contemporary civilized society. What remains of intellectual life—the kind of thing that people conventionally take pleasure in or even get annoyed by—has grown stale. Young people feel much more than that; they feel it. But here I must place the greatest emphasis on the more intellectual aspect. There is so much revolutionizing and reforming going on today. It is so horribly old-fashioned, so terribly moribund, to want to revolutionize. These are all things that a person born at the turn of the century—if they are honest with themselves—cannot really grow into. That is how young people feel. Young people feel: We were unable to grow up—even as children, we could not grow up alongside older people from whom we could have learned a joyful enthusiasm for nature. No, we actually saw our souls grow up wildly. — And that’s when the urge arose: Out! Somewhere, anywhere! Always just out of what the centuries have brought forth!

[ 6 ] Yes, you see, when I talk about this matter, I speak vaguely. That is precisely what is necessary in life: vague, but heartfelt. If you try to reduce it to the usual philistine clarity, you distort it.

[ 7 ] Well, this experience of youth—I observed it at dawn. Now it is daytime. I observed it at dawn; I was able to perceive the difference between the young people of the 1870s—who were, after all, young then, full of youthful enthusiasm—and those who, out of that youthful enthusiasm, viewed the old as gray and then behaved in a youthful manner. I saw—I am speaking, dear friends, in a concrete sense—such a representative in the 1880s. He gave full expression to his enthusiasm by delivering a grand speech in honor of a fallen hero of the 1848 Revolution. I listened to that speech. “There’s a court councilor in there,” I said. And that’s exactly what he became. I met others—people who, even back then, were unable to grow into the tradition of any profession that had taken shape. I have seen young people of the 1880s sink into their graves prematurely because it was simply impossible for them to witness the emerging development of humanity. Back then, there was a subconscious youth movement that had something very peculiar about it, which I would like to describe as follows: It had—please do not misunderstand the expression—it had something of modesty, of bashfulness. They did not admit what they felt. What they felt did not want to rise to the surface of existence; it would rather wither away than come to the surface of existence. Above all, it could not grow into what the normal development of people at that time demanded. Then came more years, more decades. The vessel became, so to speak, full, overflowing. The bashfulness could no longer continue. Young people had to ask themselves what they were suffering from, what they were longing for. Yes, you see, we were able to observe this flowing into various youth associations of this youth movement.

[ 8 ] Not so long ago, a number of such people also joined the anthroposophical movement. In a remarkable way, a certain understanding was found between the anthroposophical movement and what lives in the hearts of young people. Today, despite the short period of time that has elapsed, young people have in many ways truly grown into and matured within the anthroposophical movement across a wide range of fields. But what we need above all in the youth movement is a willingness to understand people in a human way; otherwise, we will not get beyond fruitless debate. To understand people in a human way! It is of no consequence whatsoever what the content of our conversations is, or what we are talking about. The essential thing is that we have a heart for what the other person feels. On that point we will agree; on that point we can always agree. But that is precisely what must be understood from the heart, and in this regard it would be necessary for certain young leaders within the youth movement to grow even more in their trust in the sincerity and reliability of the anthroposophical movement. Otherwise, we will not make progress with the Youth Section.

[ 9 ] At first, I felt I had to establish the Youth Section for the sake of those who feel, in a sincere and clear way: “The longing for youth is within me in today’s lifestyle.” May they truly come together in this Youth Section of the Anthroposophical Society; then we will bring about what I refer to in the “Mitteilungen” as “youth wisdom.” It should not be something pedantic; it should be something developed through heartfelt action and heartfelt understanding among people. Certainly, it is a matter of feeling our way, lovingly grasping how things are lived in youth today. First, we tried to send out a survey to the youth asking how they envision the youth movement, so that thoughts might arise—perhaps not thoughts, but rather, better yet, emotional outbursts, spurts of will. Everything could have been included. Nothing came of it. — So I took a more direct approach and have now sent out a survey to young people. You will have read it: “How do you imagine the world of humanity around 1935 should be, if what you long for in your youth is to have a place in it?” This is something that, if taken seriously, invites a great deal of deep reflection and a great deal of deep feeling. We will truly only make progress if that progress is entirely sincere, not just empty rhetoric—that is what matters.

[ 10 ] Where is our old world headed? When we immerse ourselves in the old world, we see that we do not live according to the three parts of the world order that were outlined in the threefold division. Today we live in clichés, we live in convention, we live in routine. Clichés, convention, routine: this is what has taken hold in all areas. From childhood onward, young people hear how they are supposed to behave toward others, in this way or that. They cannot conform to this because, since the turn of the century, they have received a completely new impulse in their souls.

[ 11 ] I could already sense quite clearly: Decades before the end of the Kali Yuga, something is emerging that cannot be fitted into any profession as it has traditionally been understood since ancient times. But I took it very seriously. I myself was never tied down by a profession. If I had become entrenched in a profession, there would be no anthroposophical movement today. The anthroposophical movement is, after all, something that was created entirely free from all tradition. The slightest inclination toward one thing or another would have made the anthroposophical movement impossible.

[ 12 ] All those who cannot understand that such a thing must be done from the very beginning are opponents of the anthroposophical movement. In this way, the anthroposophical movement is the purest expression of youth. Why shouldn’t youth and the movement come together? If, then, an anthroposophical movement is to be honest—and youth needs to be honest—what is needed above all else? Courage! You either learn it very quickly or not at all. Real courage! The courage to say to oneself: The life of the world must be rebuilt from its very foundations.

[ 13 ] I have never seen anything else inscribed in the subconscious of young people. That is truly the case: The world must be rebuilt from the ground up. Now come all the arguments against it. People discuss all sorts of things; they are happy to gloss over certain aspects. In doing so, people distort what, in the subconscious, genuinely seeks to be honest and requires courage. The anthroposophical movement can be the highest school of courage. However, it is difficult for the anthroposophical movement to become a school of courage because many people today do not place it at the forefront of their lives, but rather regard it as something that runs parallel to their lives. This can already be seen in the external events. Gradually, it’s becoming increasingly common that we don’t even know how to deal with the fact that we’re constantly being invited to courses held somewhere where people spend their summers—just as a side note, like going to the countryside. Why not have anthroposophy instead of the concerts we usually attend? It is a symptom—in itself, it is not bad—but it is a symptom of the fact that the resolute courage is lacking to immerse oneself in the substance of the main issue, to truly connect with the spiritual essence of anthroposophy, not with the shadow of anthroposophy. It is, after all, a matter of feeling. I do not wish to criticize; I merely want to draw attention to these symptoms.

[ 14 ] The youth movement must be able to connect with what I described yesterday as the great goal of the century—the impulses of the Michael era. But to do so, young people must learn to look deeper within themselves and avoid all abstract daydreaming. Then the great problems will present themselves. No philistine understands this when told that Michael has lost the cosmic intelligence; he has remained above. Now that Michael appears without what he once administered, the task at hand is for humanity on Earth to rise up to reclaim it with him and for him. Young people will understand such things when they understand themselves. Today, such ideas are often taken merely as a poetic or other kind of disguise for something abstract. That is not the case. The point is that the spiritual is essential, that we must learn to interact with the spiritual. That we also gain a sense of how the spiritual behaves differently than it did some time ago. A century ago, a morning panorama of the sun was something that represented the glow—the misty glow—of a spiritual world. One could see: behind the curtain, behind the misty glow, the spiritual lives; before, it was glowing faintly; in the course of the 19th century, it changed: it became blazing. Flames are now emerging from that glow, and it is not true when someone describes a sunrise today using the examples of Herder or Goethe. It has changed: back then it was glowing; today it has become blazing. From the flames emerges the spiritual force that calls us to action and kindles our activity. The spiritual world has taken on a different gesture toward the physical world!

[ 15 ] If one understands these laws of the spiritual world, it will be possible to prevent the movement of the 20th century from becoming as philistine as the post-Rousseau era has become. If what can now inspire young people—by virtue of their very youth—is grasped with understanding by the spiritual world that exists, then the Michael era will dawn. If they are unable to do so, then the philistinism of the 20th century will be infinitely greater than that which followed Rousseau. There have never been more well-behaved citizens in any earlier century than in the 19th century, even though people in earlier times were unfamiliar with Rousseauism. We speak here a great deal about the Waldorf school principle and new pedagogy. The most important thing is to remain in a state of growth. Every day there is a danger that things will go sour. — That is what matters: not falling asleep while clinging to habits when one is supposed to do something, when one is supposed to prepare something. We must get into the habit of creating a chasm between sleeping and waking; we must be able to sleep properly, but also to wake up properly. Yet we are constantly sleeping where we ought to be awake. We are not of such a nature that we tell ourselves: we must keep waking up anew, again and again; otherwise, all reform and revolutionary movements are of no use to us. It is precisely with the best of endeavors that things turn out much worse when they are seized upon by philistines. Where there is a strong light, there is also a strong shadow. What is necessary is not that people devise this or that plan for what should happen, but that they feel: the spiritual world outside speaks from a blazing nature; the sunrise has become something else.

[ 16 ] But our hearts have also changed; we no longer carry the same hearts within our chests. Our physical heart has grown hard, while our etheric heart has become more flexible. We must find a way to turn to our supersensible heart. We must understand spiritual science in this light. Spiritual science, as dry as it may sound, has become something everyone is talking about. Science is something rather rotten. We must be clear about this: it is spiritual science that must live in our hearts. The hearts of young people are perfectly suited to sensing what is right in this realm. One must have the courage to truly think it through. Out of his enthusiasm, Schiller had much to say to the world. He died under strange circumstances. But they did perform an autopsy on him and found his heart. It was an empty sac, completely dried up, burned.

[ 17 ] Thus will all hearts burn that are seized by renewal. If we want to take spirituality seriously, then we must courageously admit to ourselves: If we are unable to live in harmony with the world, it is because we need new hearts. But we should not regard this merely as a cliché. If we become aware that we have new hearts—that new hearts must perceive the world quite differently from old hearts—and if we take this very seriously, then the youth movement will become something like a flame that will meet the flame of the sunrise head-on.

[ 18 ] But that can only come about—not through discussions about being young, not through talking about experiences. Yet one experiences strange things. In Breslau, the older people welcomed me by calling me “Father.” Among the young people, they said I was the youngest of all, even though I was three times as old as most of those present. Yes, what matters is that one can admit this to oneself. Flames from within, flames coming in from without: the two flames must merge. It is not a matter of learning this or that, or of determining or defining things. What matters is that one truly stirs up a new enthusiasm. Nietzsche coined a beautiful phrase about Michelet. Michelet, after all, appears to many as a man capable of enthusiasm. Michelet, says Nietzsche, is enthusiasm that takes off its coat. — For Michelet always had time to take off his coat when he became enthusiastic. Michelet always had time to enter into enthusiasm with warmth, but to take off his coat in the process. You can sense how this man put on his silk vest, and you can sense how he has time to truly get into his enthusiasm, slowly taking off his coat. — But true enthusiasm is that which has no time to take off its coat, that which sweats beneath the coat and does not notice that it is sweating. Therefore: Enthusiasm, my dear friends! Enthusiasm that overwhelms us so much that we keep our coats on, that we feel compelled to develop that enthusiasm out of life itself—full and immediate. Today we truly need to overcome what clings to itself, what is weary. It is so futile to want to become clear-headed. Nor must we have time to seek clarity in the old way. We need to truly be swept up in enthusiasm. Enthusiasm will do everything. Then the word will have meaning: Enthusiasm carries the Spirit within it. — That is something very natural. We need enthusiasm. Enthusiasm carries God within it. There is God in the word.

[ 19 ] Grow inwardly one with the flame that is kindled today, so that the Michael impulses may be realized! Without flames, they cannot be realized. But in order to live and work through the flame, it is necessary to become a flame oneself. Only the flame is not consumed by the flame. If we can feel that we are becoming flames that are not burned by the flames, then we can calmly leave our physical hearts behind as empty vessels, for we have the etheric heart, which will understand that humanity is entering a new age: the age of spirituality. This merging with spirituality will be the full experience of youth.